Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
See review this issue. Living Room Theaters.
Auto-Cinematic Video Mix Tape
From 1996 through the mid-2000s, Peripheral Produce was a valued part of Portland's film community, mediating the relationship between fringe filmmakers and general audiences with screenings, a VHS label, and the annual PDX Film Fest. Perhaps the oldest document from the organization is the VHS collection Auto-Cinematic Video Mix Tape, featuring early work from the likes of now-famous Portlanders Vanessa Renwick, Miranda July, and Jon Raymond. This week, to mark its long-awaited release on DVD, the Hollywood's screening Auto-Cinematic—and in addition to its grainy, pre-digital shorts that include everything from games of Mortal Kombat reenacted by Raymond to July answering questions as a 12-year-old Olympic swimmer, there will be new works from Portland's current-day experimental filmmakers, carrying on Peripheral Produce's legacy. MATT STANGEL Hollywood Theatre.
B-Movie Bingo
The Hollywood's series features B-movies, with the audience marking down clichés on a custom-made bingo card. This time around: 1992's Lady Dragon, starring Cynthia Rothrock as "an ass-beating lady who lives in a rat-infested hellhole in Indonesia and fights sweaty dudes for money." Hollywood Theatre.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
I'll let you in on a secret: Writing negative reviews is pretty easy. Every doofy plot twist and bungled CG jumpkick pulls you out of the moviegoing experience, allowing you plenty of time to compose elaborately mean puns for your headline. It's harder to review a movie when it succeeds—and I mean really succeeds, in that it draws you in completely. The surreal, fantastic Beasts of the Southern Wild is that kind of movie: You may leave the theater conflicted and even confused, but you won't be thinking about anything else while you're watching it. BEN COLEMAN Century Clackamas Town Center, Cinema 21, Kiggins Theatre.
Canyon Cinema Film Festival
Films from the distributor/filmmakers group Canyon Cinema, including work from Stan Brakhage and Jay Rosenblatt. Fifth Avenue Cinema.
CineBitch
A monthly fundraiser for Bitch, with "beer, feminists, and trivia/discussion, and often films that you meant to see 15 years ago but didn't." This month's film: Beth Harrington's Welcome to the Club: The Women of Rockabilly. Plus, a performance from the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls! Director in attendance. Mississippi Studios.
CineKink
See review this issue. Clinton Street Theater.
Conan the Barbarian
"What is best in life?" "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women." Presented by Cort and Fatboy and the Mercury. Bagdad Theater.
Dust & Illusions:
30 Years of Burning Man
A documentary about Burning Man that "questions our ability as humans to build communities that can satisfy everyone." (Dust & Illusion's findings aside, Burning Man has taught us one thing: Humans are certainly capable of building communities that can annoy everyone.) Clinton Street Theater.
Farewell, My Queen
Set in Versailles in the early days of the French Revolution, this straightforward period piece captures the paranoia of an aristocracy in their final days from the perspective of the servants whose livelihoods depend on the bloated, decadent French monarchy. Focusing on Marie Antoinette's personal "reader" (she reads fashion magazines to the queen), a young servant girl whose devotion to the queen proves dangerously misplaced, Farewell My Queen is a distinguished most notably by a lack of fussiness, and by star Léa Seydoux' cleavage, which gets ample screen time. ALISON HALLETT Fox Tower 10.
Grey Matter
Kivu Ruhorahoza's Rawandan film from 2011. Screens as part of the Northwest Film Center's Global Lens series. Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
"How many times do I have to tell you? You don't put a bra in a dryer! It warps!" Hotel deLuxe.
Home: The Story of Valsetz
Director Ronan Feeley's portrait of Oregon logging town Valsetz. Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
Klown
See review this issue. Hollywood Theatre.
Northwest Visionaries
Ken Levine's 1980 documentary about "the regional characteristics of Northwest art from the 1930s onward." Director in attendance. Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
The Queen of Versailles
See review this issue. Fox Tower 10.
Rare Films from the
Baseball Hall of Fame
Two hours of clips from the Baseball Hall of Fame, from commercials to highlight reels to footage of the 1958 Congressional Hearings on Baseball's Anti-Trust Status. Plus: Pete Rose! Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
Restless City
Andrew Dosunmu's drama about "an African immigrant surviving on the fringes of New York City." Clinton Street Theater.
Ruby Sparks
See review this issue. Fox Tower 10.
Step Up Revolution
Have you ever watched So You Think You Can Dance or America's Best Dance Crew and felt that they would be way more awesome in 3D and with Peter Gallagher? YES, right?! Then have I got the movie for you! It's called Step Up Revolution, and it is the most redonkulous thing I've ever seen. I don't actually know if "redonkulous" means "really awesome" or "really terrible," but either interpretation should work for this review. ELINOR JONES Various Theaters.
The Story of Film: An Odyssey Part I
See review this issue. Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
Taps
The 1981 drama starring Timothy Hutton. Hey! He lives here sometimes! Because Leverage! Laurelhurst Theater.
Total Recall
See review this issue. Various Theaters.
The Watch
The Watch feels like shopping at a big-box store. You get a bunch of Hollywood comedians all in one place, with a bit of sci-fi and action to boot. But despite the value, it's almost entirely devoid of personality and any sort of human touch. NED LANNAMANN Various Theaters.
