12 Years a Slave
Solomon (the brilliant Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a free black man, living in the North, who is abducted into slavery in 1841. Twelve years later, he's released. During those 12 years, he is a slave, and something of a stand-in for the modern viewer: He's intelligent, he's educated, and most crucially, he's attuned to the horror and injustice that surrounds him. Our attempts to comprehend life under slavery parallel his own: We share his terror when he wakes up in chains after a night of heavy drinking with two friendly-seeming white men. We understand his urge to fight back against those who have separated him from his family. We chafe to find him at the mercy of men who are his physical and intellectual inferior. And, through his eyes, the utterly schizophrenic nature of slavery is revealed. ALISON HALLETT Various Theaters.
Computer Chess
See review this issue. Cinema 21.
Dallas Buyers Club
See review this issue. Various Theaters.
Ender's Game
Written and directed by Gavin Hood, Ender's Game is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Orson Scott Card's science fiction classic, considering Card's book is all but inadaptable. There are sacrifices—the kids have been aged up, the violence has been toned down, and a plot involving Ender's siblings has been cut—but Hood dutifully manages the basics: Here's Ender, getting beat up; here's Ender, winning some cool zero-gravity battles; here's Ender, a child tasked with saving Earth. But dutifully managing isn't enough when the source material is this good. Ender's Game crams so much into so little time that none of it has any consequence. Alas, Card's book is about consequences. It's also a book that's profoundly, unforgettably sad—and sorrow is one emotion that Ender's Game: The Movie never conveys. ERIK HENRIKSEN Various Theaters.
Five Easy Pieces
"You keep on talking about the good life, Elton, 'cause it makes me puke." Fifth Avenue Cinema.
Fool for Love
Profile Theatre presents Robert Altman's acclaimed 1985 film, written by Sam Shepard and starring Randy Quaid—in a turn that would eventually get him such roles as "Cousin Eddie" in Christmas Vacation, "Russell" in Independence Day, and "Cousin Eddie" in Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure. Hollywood Theatre.
Getting to Know YouTube
See My, What a Busy Week! Hollywood Theatre.
Hecklevision: Over the Top
See My, What a Busy Week! Hollywood Theatre.
I Am Divine
A documentary that celebrates the life and career of Divine should be fun—and for the most part, I Am Divine is a laugh-out-loud blast, thanks in no small part to interviews with the enchanting John Waters. The blingy doc follows Harris Glenn Milstead's rise from wig-curious Baltimore shy guy to Waters' muse to being crowned the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. It's breezy, informative, and full of genuine love for the actor who died in 1988 of a heart attack. COURTNEY FERGUSON Clinton Street Theater.
Kung Fu Theater
A 35mm print of 1981's kung fu flick The Prodigal Son, featuring action choreography by Sammo Hung. Hollywood Theatre.
Let the Fire Burn
A found footage film chronicling what happened in 1985, when "a longtime feud between the city of Philadelphia and controversial Black Power group MOVE came to a deadly climax." Living Room Theaters.
Linsanity
A doc about NBA player Jeremy Lin. Sorry, Maya Lin fans. This is not the film you are looking for. Cinema 21.
The Motel Life
See review this issue. Hollywood Theatre.
The Northwest Filmmakers' Festival
See Film, this issue. Mission Theater, Whitsell Auditorium.
Possession
Fans of mindfuck cinema shouldn't miss this new, uncut 35mm print of Possession, Andrzej uawski's 1981 exploration of jealousy and madness. Made in the aftermath of a messy divorce and uawski's exile from his native Poland, it's a movie so relentlessly strange and so soul-shatteringly unnerving that it defies synopsis. NED LANNAMANN Hollywood Theatre.
Repo Man
Emilio! Academy Theater.
Terms & Conditions May Apply
Cullen Hoback's documentary has many of the calling cards of low-budget docs (unnecessary animation, an over-reliance on Hoback's presence and narration), but it does one thing extraordinary well: It draws a remarkably strong connection between Americans' total lack of online privacy and the buddy-buddy relationships that companies like Google have with spy-happy government agencies like the NSA. From presaging PRISM and the revelations of Edward Snowden to revealing just how much Facebook knows about you, Terms & Conditions is a troubling reminder of how much power tech giants have over idiots like you and me, who're happy to give up our rights so long as we can post one more dumb Instagram. Featuring interviews with the likes of Douglas Rushkoff and Ray Kurzweil, representatives from the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as Margaret Atwood and, for some reason, Orson Scott Card. ERIK HENRIKSEN Cinema 21.
Thor: The Dark World
See review this issue. Various Theaters.
The Visitor
Lance Henriksen, John Huston, Shelley Winters, and Sam Peckinpah (what?) star in this 1978 Italian sci-fi flick, in which an "intergalactic warrior joins a cosmic Christ figure in battle against a demonic eight-year-old girl, and her pet hawk, while the fate of the universe hangs in the balance." Okay! Hollywood Theatre.
Women's Edge Film Series
A "new collection of independent films for women and by women." This time: Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders. Clinton Street Theater.
