Popcorn & Candy is DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
Harry Dean Stanton (Magnolia Pictures)
Character actor Harry Dean Stanton died on September 15 and left behind a legacy of unforgettable performances in such TV westerns as Bonanza and a wide range of movies from Pretty in Pink and Repo Man to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. But outside of Wim Wenders’ 1984 drama Paris, Texas, Stanton seldom had a leading role. Directed by John Carroll Lynch (a character actor who graduated from Catholic University’s Department of Drama) from a script by Logan Sparks and Drago Sumonja, Lucky riffs on the alienation of that film, but with more maudlin results. With a sprawling and talented cast that includes David Lynch, Tom Skerritt, and James Darren, the age and experience on screen alone makes this watchable. It’s too bad most of the dialogue is stilted, each character taking its turn spouting ideas rather than coming alive. Still, Stanton’s hard-boiled delivery, sunken eyes, and patient shuffle makes this sendoff worth a look.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Landmark Bethesda Row
Copyright © 2016 Paradox/Nordisk Film Production/Film Väst/Zentropa Sweden/Copenhagen Film Fund/Newgrange Pictures
In April 1940, Nazi forces invaded Norway, asserting that it was saving the neutral country (whose ports had strategic value) from British takeover. The figurehead King Haakon (Spectre‘s Jesper Christensen) is forced to choose between a traitorous surrender or a resistance that would open the doors to vicious German air raids. At 133 minutes, the film’s immersive tension drags, despite viscerally shot battle scenes. But with the help of hand-held camera work from cinematographer John Christian Rosenlund, director Erik Poppe (1000 Times Good Night) paints a frantic, time-stamped portrait of three fateful days in which a country must decide to fight or flee.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Landmark E Street Cinema.
(The Criterion Collection)
Journalist Peter Breck checks himself into a mental asylum to try to catch a killer, but instead gets caught up in an institutional web of electroshock therapy, nymphomaniacs, and insane character actor Timothy Carey. Director Samuel Fuller’s sensationalistic 1963 drama is an indictment of a broken system of a nation. Co-presented with the National Building Museum in tandem with their exhibit, Architecture of an Asylum. The NBM’s Assistant Curator Deborah Sorensen will introduce the October 10 screening.
Watch the trailer.
Monday, October 9—Wednesday, October 11 at the AFI Silver.
(Birth Movies Death)
Tokyo guitarist Seiji was so blown away by Link Wray’s simmering 1958 instrumental “Rumble” that he went on to form the Japanese garage rock revivalist group Guitar Wolf. In this 1999 B-movie directed by Tetsuro Takeuchi, Guitar Wolf saves the world from alien zombies. Dominic Griffin wrote at Birthmoviesdeath that the film “is a singular aberration in the world of cult cinema, balancing over the top theatrics with genuinely touching moments of sincerity,” and furthermore, that “this shit is bananas.”
Watch the trailer.
Tuesday, October 10 at 8 p.m. at Suns Cinema, 2107 Mt. Pleasant St. NW.
(Ravepad)
The Washington Psychotronic Film Society developed next week’s program before the death of Hugh Hefner, but the subject matter of this 1969 comedy is a timely coincidence. Don Knotts stars as the publisher of a bird-watcher’s magazine that’s hit hard times, so he enlists the aid of a new partner (Edmond O’Brien), who wants to transform the publication into a gentleman’s magazine. Anne Francis stars as the editor who turns Barney Fife into a swinging playboy. In a strange interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1969 that ties in with Knotts’ satirical reinvention as a sex symbol, comedian Bill Dana asks Knotts to, “[take] your thumb out of your mouth and [take] your security blanket off your head,” to which the scrawny actor replies, “I can’t move the blanket or my teddy bear will get cold.”
Watch the trailer.
Monday, October 9 at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel.
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Also opening this week, Blade Runner 2049. Stay tuned for Dominic Griffin’s review on LAist. And don’t miss our coverage of the 2017 Spooky Fest, which opens tonight at the AFI Silver.
