Alita: Battle Angel
I have never recommended seeing a movie in 3D, let alone IMAX 3D, because films should either succeed in 2D or they arenât worth seeing. But for Alita: Battle Angel, I willâfor the first timeâtell you to splurge on the IMAX. With this visually stunning adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's manga, we should applaud Alitaâs depth, not split hairs over her eyesâwhich, in the film, are irresistibly beautiful. (Opens Thurs Feb 14, various theaters) SUZETTE SMITH
Barton Fink
The cult of the Coen brothersâ Barton Fink is much smaller than the Dudeâs, but for the chosen few listening at the precise wavelength this freaked-out, disorienting satire is broadcasting on, Fink is sweaty, flame-broiled film nirvana. (Sun Feb 17, NW Film Centerâs Whitsell Auditorium) BOBBY ROBERTS
A City of Sadness
A rare 35mm screening of Hou Hsiao-Hsienâs 1989 drama set in post-World War II Japan, focused on four brothers caught in the turmoil of their country withdrawing from Taiwan and being placed under martial law under the Kuomintang government. (Mon Feb 18, NW Film Centerâs Whitsell Auditorium)
Cold Pursuit
âI went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping Iâd be approached by somebody. Iâm ashamed to say that, and I did it for maybe a weekâhoping some âBlack bastardâ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him.â âLiam Neeson, on the press tour for Cold Pursuit, ensuring there is no way you could possibly watch Cold Pursuit without thinking of this quote the entire time. (Now playing, various theaters)
Do the Right Thing
âLet me tell you the story of Right Hand, Left Hand. Itâs a tale of good and evil. Hate! It was with this hand that Cain iced his brother. Love! These five fingers, they go straight to the soul of man. The right hand, the hand of love. The story of life is thisâstatic. One hand is always fighting the other hand, and the left hand is kicking much ass.â (Mon Feb 18, Clinton Street Theater; Fri Feb 22-Thurs Feb 28, Academy Theater)
Fighting with My Family
Itâs really weird to look back at The Office now, knowing that Ricky Gervais would become an insufferable vial of smug poured into a bag of loose skin, Martin Freeman would end up being both John Watson and Bilbo Baggins, and Stephen Merchant would end up directing a Dwayne Johnson-produced biography of WWE superstar Paige. By many accounts heâs directed the best film about rasslinâ since The Wrestler, but without all the unrelenting, leathery misery that film trafficked in. (Opens Thurs Feb 14, various theaters)
Happy Death Day 2U
Two years ago, horror writer and director Christopher Landon (of Paranormal Activity fame) debuted Happy Death Day, a film that paired the time-looping premise of Groundhog Day with college students, creepy single-toothed baby masks, and classic slasher tropes. It was wildly popular, grossing $125 million from a $5 million budget, and had fans clamoring for a sequel. Happy Death Day 2U is the latest installment, and contrary to my expectations, itâs one of the best Blumhouse movies Iâve seen. In Happy Death Day 2U, fear and existential angst intersect with nonsensical science-fiction (at one point, a nerd uses a napkin to explain the multiverse) to create a perfectly serviceable, surprisingly feel-good horror movie. (Now playing, various theaters) CIARA DOLAN
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Heads up: If you've ever owned a dog, a cat, or a dragon, the final 20 minutes or so of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World will reduce you to a wheezing, weeping, snot-soaked wreck, and because this will happen at the very end of the movie, as soon as you stumble out of the theater, everyone is going to know that a children's movie about friendly dragons just reduced you to a wheezing, weeping, snot-soaked wreck, and this is a thing you will have to deal with for the rest of your life. Another heads up: The rest of the movie isn't very good. (Opens Thurs Feb 21, various theaters) ERIK HENRIKSEN
I Am Cuba
An anti-American, Cuban-Soviet-produced propaganda film from 1964 that suggests a fruitful, wondrous future under the caring, guiding hand of Fidel Castro. The politics might not hold up, but director Mikhail Kalatozovâs skills do. (Fri Feb 22-Sun Feb 24, NW Film Centerâs Whitsell Auditorium)
Isnât It Romantic
In Isnât It Romantic, Natalie (Rebel Wilson) is unlucky in love... until she suffers a blow to the noggin that transforms her world! It's impossible for me to explain how much I absolutely loved this movie without reminding myself (and everyone else) how much I hated the last romcom about a woman who suffered a brain injury that altered her reality: Amy Schumerâs I Feel Pretty. But Isnât It Romantic is everything that I Feel Pretty wasnât: itâs smart, itâs hilarious, and most importantly, it doesnât punch down. Plus, it has what I never realized every film needs, which is a bare-chested Liam Hemsworth playing the saxophone. (Now playing, various theaters) ELINOR JONES
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part squarely occupies (sorry!) a middle ground between the first Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie: The premise is played, but thereâs still some fun to be had. (Now playing, various theaters)SUZETTE SMITH
Millerâs Crossing
Millerâs Crossing is everything the Coens ever were and everything theyâd ever be in the decades that followed. The dialogue, the plotting, the whiplashing tones, all sewn together in a way that makes everything feel effortless without making any of it seem easy. In honor of the very recent passing of acting legend Albert Finney, you need to witness his portrayal of gangster Leo O'Bannon on the Hollywoodâs screen, whichâdespite its considerable sizeâis still not big enough to contain Finneyâs performance. (Thurs Feb 21, Hollywood Theatre)BOBBY ROBERTS
Murielâs Wedding
For those of you who only just recently became aware of Toni Collette through her blistering, gut-churning performance in 2018âs feel-bad-hit-of-the-summer, Hereditary, you are in for a goddamned delight of a treat if you travel way back in time to Toniâs breakout role in this painfully-awkward-yet-charming-as-fuck Australian comedy from 1994. (Fri Feb 15-Thurs Feb 21, Academy Theater) BOBBY ROBERTS
Never Look Away
This factually loose, three-hour biopic inspired by the early life of German artist Gerhard Richter is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, best known for his 2006 East German film The Lives of Others. Unfortunately, Never Look Away is a tastelessly romantic, sun-dappled vision of WWII. Richter himselfâwhoâs still alive, and can now see a film play fast and free with the murder of his aunt by Nazisâsaid in a recent, far more riveting New Yorker article that he dislikes both the film and the director who made it. (Opens Fri Feb 15, various theaters)SUZETTE SMITH
Oregonâs Black Pioneers
OPB's Oregon Experience series turns its focus to one of the most underrepresented stories in the stateâs history: The large role Black explorers, farmers, trappers, and merchants had in shaping the stateâs future, despite the white settlers who tried to force them out. (Screens Wed Feb 20 at Oregon Historical Society; airs Mon Feb 25 on OPB)
Pipe Organ Pictures: Wings
Before you break out your Thomas Haden Church T-shirt, keep in mind that this is a screening of 1927âs silent film Wings, with an original score composed and performed by Jonas Nordwall on the Hollywoodâs newly refurbished pipe organ. (Sat Feb 23, Hollywood Theatre)
Police Story and Police Story 2
Conventional wisdom is that Drunken Master II is as good as Jackie Chan ever got, the perfect mix of action, comedy, and âHoly shit, human beings arenât allowed to do that, right?â But conventional wisdom is made to be broken, and Police Story is the kind of film that says, âWho gives a shit about a perfect mix when I can just turn everything up full blast?â Jackieâs singing! Heâs dancing! Heâs so in love with his bone-breaking stunts heâs just gonna rewind and show it to you another three times! A shopping mall gets demolished! Thereâs a goddamn pie fight in here. (Police Story Sat Feb 16, Hollywood Theatre; Police Story 2 Fri Feb 22, Hollywood Theatre) BOBBY ROBERTS
Re-Run Theater: Deep Space Nine Double Feature
The Hollywoodâs monthly TV party pays tribute to the best Star Trek that ever was. Tonightâs double feature is the best example of how Deep Space Nine looked to the past as a means to evolve and improve into the future, with âTrials and Tribble-ationsâ as a literal homage to the old days, and âFar Beyond the Starsâ as a heartfelt, spiritual one. (Wed Feb 27, Hollywood Theatre) BOBBY ROBERTS
Repressed Cinema: A Bucket of Blood
Ian Sundahl dedicates this monthâs entry in his ongoing showcase of rare 16mm delights to the memory of character actor Dick Miller with a screening of the 1959 Roger Corman classic A Bucket of Blood. (Tues Feb 19, Hollywood Theatre) BOBBY ROBERTS
They Shall Not Grow Old
For They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson and his team his team got their hands on archival footage from WWI, then used computers to colorize, clean up, and speed-correct the film to make it more realistic. With the addition of narration from veterans recorded by the BBC years later and some unobtrusive, newly recorded foley, the documentary gives us a fresh, immersive look at images from more than a century ago. (Now playing, various theaters) NED LANNAMANN
The Umbrella Academy
See review, this issue. (Streams Fri Feb 15, Netflix)
The Wandering Earth
Based on a story by the remarkable Chinese science-fiction author Liu Cixin, The Wandering Earth often feels like any number of generic, CGI-bloated American disaster movies. But at its best, the Chinese blockbuster captures a bit of the brain-stretching majesty and humbling intelligence of Liu's writing. Every once in a whileâwhether its the characters' traversal of a silent Shanghai that's been enveloped by ice, or the lonely sight of a mostly dead Earth, hanging in the endless void of spaceâThe Wandering Earth feels grand, beautiful, and desolate, with a perspective that can only come from a straightforward accounting of humankind's impermanence and meaninglessness. (Now playing, Century Eastport 16) ERIK HENRIKSEN
Wyrd War Presents: 2019: After the Fall of New York
Wyrd War loves digging through â80s detritus and sharing schlock treasures with fellow appreciators of vintage trash. One of the decadeâs most unrepentant garbagemen was Italian director Sergio Martino, who, after apparently catching a marathon of Alien, The Road Warrior, and Escape From New York, threw a couple bucks towards the chiseled slab of man that was Michael Sopkiw and imagined a cheapjack post-apocalyptic 2019 that is, in many ways, still more dignified than the real 2019. (Sat Feb 23, Hollywood Theatre) BOBBY ROBERTS