Popcorn & Candy is DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
Woody Harrelson (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp)
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Everything is better with Woody Harrelson. The actor who broke out playing a goofy, simple-minded bartender on Cheers has developed an impressive resume that frequently infuses his comic touch with an unexpected darkness (see his excellent performance in Wilson earlier this year). In the latest installment of the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise, Harrelson goes all out in what the New York Times’ A.O. Scott describes as, “a renegade colonel … who goes full Heart of Darkness, staging a one-man remake of Apocalypse Now in a medical base he has refashioned into a concentration camp.” Plus there are apes. The buzz is good on this blockbuster—stay tuned for a full review from SFist for confirmation.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at area theaters.
(Neon)
THE B-SIDE: ELSA DORFMAN’S PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Director Errol Morris began his career documenting a pet cemetery in the 1978 film Gates of Heaven, but in recent years he has specialized in hard-hitting interviews with military figures like Robert McNamara (The Fog of War) and Donald Rumsfeld (The Unknown Known). His latest documentary is more congenial, spent with an old friend he’s known for 25 years. Elsa Dorfman is a Boston-based portrait photographer who specialized in large format Polaroids—until, that is, the financially troubled company discontinued the film that was her bread and butter. Now 80, she’s a charming subject herself with stories about her longtime friend Allen Ginsberg, notable subjects like musician Jonathan Richman, and the rise and fall of instant photography. But Morris is perhaps too close to his subject to give this film the richness of his other work; one wishes he had spent more time on what gave the film its title, the “B-side” being the large-format portraits that were rejected by her clients, sometimes for seemingly arbitrary reasons. Still, this is a must-see for anyone interested in photography and the change from analog to digital formats that led to Dorfman’s retirement.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Landmark E Street Cinema.
Ed Sullivan and Ray Charles (MPS Legacy Productions)
SULLIVISION: ED SULLIVAN AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
Everybody knows that Ed Sullivan’s influential television show was a cultural force that brought Elvis Presley and the Beatles into millions of American homes. But the host also booked such African-American artists as Ray Charles and The Supremes, despite protests from southern sponsors. This weekend, the fifth annual March on Washington Film Festival presents a panel moderated by WHUR’s Jacquie Gales Webb to accompany a preview clip of this upcoming documentary. Panelists include actress Diahann Carroll, filmmakers Margo Speciale and Suzanne Kay, and Smithsonian curator, Dr. Dwandalyn Reece. See the complete festival program here.
Watch Ray Charles performing on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Saturday, July 15 at 3:00 p.m.at the Navy Memorial, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. $20. Buy tickets here.
(Courtesy of the Freer)
Washington area moviegoers are fortunate to have access to a wealth of free repertory screenings at such venues as the National Gallery of Art and the Library of Congress (where, full disclosure, I work). One of the annual highlights of this programming is the Freer’s annual Made in Hong Kong Festival. For 22 years, it’s given local cinephiles a chance to see new and classic cinema from one of the world’s most consistently entertaining industries. Hong Kong filmmakers frequently put a fresh spin on genres that may seem played out— take, for instance, the vampire comedy. In this 2017 film, a young man learns that he’s descended from generations of vampire hunters; naturally, he falls in love with “a particularly cute bloodsucker named Summer (Malaysian pop star Lin Min-chen).” Also screening this weekend, the mental illness drama Mad World (Friday, July 14 at 7 p.m.) and the gangster anthology thriller Trivisa (Sunday, July 16 at 1 p.m.), produced by the great Hong Kong director Johnnie To. See the complete festival schedule here.
Watch the trailer here.
Vampire Cleanup Department screens on Sunday, July 16 at 3:30 p.m. at the National Museum of American History, Warner Bros. Theater. Free.
Gerry & The Pacemakers (Loud and Quiet)
The monthly repertory screenings at the Library of Congress’s Mary Pickford Theatre continue next week with this rarely revived 1964 vehicle for the lesser-known British Invasion act Gerry and the Pacemakers, who shared a manager (Brian Esptein) and a producer (George Martin) with a more famous group of Liverpudlians. With appearances by The Black Knights, The Blackwells, Earl Royce and the Olympics, and Cilla Black. Shown with the beach-themed short, “Rhythm ‘n’ Greens,” narrated by Robert Morley and featuring Hank Marvin and the Shadows. The Pickford Theatre will be screening 35mm prints of both films.
Watch the trailer.
Wednesday, July 19 at 7 p.m. at the Mary Pickford Theatre, third floor of the Madison Building, Library of Congress. Free. Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis. Doors open at 6:30 pm.
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Also opening this week, a 17-year old girl (Joey King) is given a music box that grants her seven wishes in the horror movie Wish Upon. We’ll have a full review tomorrow.
