It’s easy to forget that Roman Polanski can be awfully funny. He’s directed outright comedy in the past, and his career best work in Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby is shot through with humor — it’s hard not to laugh at the director as he plays a diminutive Napoleonic thug, or at Ruth Gordon’s doddering, meddlesome neighbor. But his more recent work has been more rigidly serious, underseen, or just plain awful to appreciate or…

DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired Roman Polanski’s story is pretty familiar by now. Busted for sex with a minor and found guilty in a highly public trial, the director, during the prime of his career, fled to France to dodge a prison sentence and has never come back. Those are the basics, but just how accurate…

DCist apologizes for this month’s theater preview being a bit behind schedule (its resident critic keeps ending up travelling out of state), but there’s no reason to fret, as there’s plenty of interesting options playing at area venues during November. Bunnies: Not just cute like everybody supposes? Or man’s real best friend? The lead character of Vpstart Crow’s production of Harvey would say they fall into the “friend” camp, but everybody just thinks he’s…

This post comes from new DCist contributor Sam Biddle Like a host of museums not affiliated with the Smithsonian and not on the National Mall, the National Building Museum exists slightly off the tourists’ beaten path. However, as dedicated urban enthusiasts the museum is one of our favorites, and extremely Metro-accessible to boot. This year the museum is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a free summer-long film series that began this weekend and will continue…