Popcorn & Candy is DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

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The Germs’ Darby Crash (Shout! Factory)

The Decline of Western Civilization

Director Penelope Spheeris went on to direct Wayne’s World and The Beverly Hillbillies. But in this classic 1981 film she documented the volatile Los Angeles punk scene with a mixture of stark black & white interviews and concert footage. All your favorites are here, from pre-Rollins Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, Fear and X – and the forgotten Catholic Discipline (who sez the French can’t rock?) aren’t bad either. The film was out of circulation for years, and I haven’t seen it since Spheeris introduced it at the AFI’s Kennedy Center incarnation. But this weekend the AFI Silver screens new DCPs of the complete Decline trilogy, with Spheeris appearing in person Friday night for screenings of the first two films.

Watch the trailer.
Friday, October 16 (with director Penelope Spheeris in person) and Monday, October 19 at the AFI Silver. Check the AFI schedule for screenings of the other films in the trilogy.

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Omid and Jafar Panahi (Kino Lorber)

Taxi

A Tehran cab drivers picks up a variety of colorful passengers in this comedy-drama from director Jafar Panahi. Several years ago, the Iranian government forbade Panahi from making movies for 20 years. But this is the third film he’s made under those restrictions, this time with a dashboard cam and the help of smartphones and point-and-shoots wielded by his passengers. The film is a breezy 82 minutes, and if it’s heavy-handed for a character to recite the Draconian restrictions of the current Iranian film industry (good guys can’t wear a tie, for instance), at least that character is supposed to be his niece. Every film Panahi makes on the sly is a political statement against a repressive regime, but he seems to be having fun here. Still, one can’t help but wonder, as critic Mike D’Angelo did, “if he can make this, surely he can make a movie that’s not about his inability to make a movie.”

Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at E Street Landmark Cinema.

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(First Run Features)

Welcome to Leith

Directors Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker document the attempted takeover of a North Dakota town by white supremacist Crag Cobb. The New York Times‘ Stephen Holden writes that, “Mr. Cobb is a truly scary presence whose eyes burn with fervor as he describes his racist, anti-Semitic agenda. At the same time, he is articulate, intelligent, determined and dangerous.” The Washington DC Jewish Community Center’s fall film series is in full swing, with weekly screenings of new fiction and documentary features, many of which you won’t see anywhere else.

Watch the trailer.
TONIGHT, October 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th St NW

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John Lund, Gail Russell and Edward G. Robinson

Night has a Thousand Eyes

Stage mentalist Triton (Edward G. Robinson in an uncharacteristically vulnerable role) suddenly develops the ability to see the future. But can he use his powers to save those close to him? Noir City DC returns to the AFI Silver this month with old favorites and obscurities—and in this case, a 35mm print of a movie that is not available on DVD. This year’s festival highlights include director Edward G. Ulmer’s raw classic Detour (October 24 and 28), Robert Aldrich’s atomic-age thriller Kiss Me Deadly (October 23 and 29), the delirious Technicolor (DCP, unfortunately) of Leave her to Heaven (October 25 and 27), the greatest drum solo in film history in Phantom Lady (October 23 and 25), and much more. See the complete schedule here.

Watch the trailer.
Saturday, October 17, Tuesday, October 20 and Wednesday October 21 at the AFI Silver.

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Joe Sishido and friends

Gate of Flesh

The Freer’s Seijun Suzuki retrospective continues this weekend with a 35mm print of a film that the gallery calls, “part social realist drama, part sadomasochistic trash opera.” Chipmunk-cheeked Nikkatsu heavy Joe Sishido stars as an ex-soldier who wanders into a bombed out building where a group of prostitutes hold court. Also screening this weekend, a 35mm print of Suzuki’s 1965 yakuza drama Tattooed Life. The Freer writes that this was “the first film to earn Suzuki a warning about “going too far” from his Nikkatsu bosses… [it] contains one of his most iconic and audacious violations of film form: a final fight scene in which the floor suddenly and illogically disappears, and the action is filmed from below the actors’ feet.”

Watch the trailer for Gate of Flesh.
Gate of Flesh screens Friday, October 16 at 7 p.m. Tattooed Life screens Sunday, October 18 at 2 p.m. At the Freer. Free.

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This is your brain on Psychotronic

Stupendous! THE WPFS Superhero and Monster Appreciation Night

The Washington Psychotronic Film Society presents “a show of shorts, clips, trailers, and music videos celebrating our favorite superheroes and monsters from TV, video, and the movies.” I have no idea what’s up their sleeve, but it sounds like a fun evening, so come and support your favorite local schlockmeisters.

Monday, October 19 at 8 p.m. at Acre 121. Free

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Also opening this week, Tom Hanks stars as attorney James Donovan in Steven Spielberg’s Cold War drama Bridge of Spies. We’ll have a full review tomorrow.