Welcome to What to Watch This Weekend™, a weekly post in which I tell you what to watch this weekend! I will continue doing this post until you have watched everything you should watch.
The POW Film Fest rolls through the weekend, with screenings at the Clinton Street Theater and the Hollywood Theatre. Elinor Jones writes that the 2019 edition—which marks the annual festival's 12th year—offers "an expansive program featuring the work of non-dude filmmakers."
They Live is at the Academy. "There are more than a few theaters across the country who have screened 1984 in response to the continued tenure of our corrupt, racist, slumlord sex offender of a president," writes Bobby Roberts. "But while familiarizing yourself with Orwell is always a good idea, John Carpenter’s last bonafide classic—1989's paranoid, left-wing, grindhouse sci-fi satire They Live—is a much more appropriate film for the strange, bewildering time we occupy."
Ned Lannamann saw Tim Burton's weird Tim Burton's Dumbo remake, and calls it "a truly bizarre artifact in which artistic vision collides with corporate slurry-making, with both fully visible on screen."
Ned also saw a slew of other movies that're coming out this weekend: The Aftermath ("Let me summarize The Aftermath for you as briefly I can: Keira. Knightley"), The Mustang ("A violent convict in a Nevada prison tames a wild horse—or does the horse tame him?"), and Hotel Mumbai ("A fairly traumatic thing to sit through").
Tank Girl is at the Hollywood, with Bobby pointing out that the 1995 cult classic "centers on an irreverent feminist anti-hero who gives not one solitary fuck about protecting for any dude's limited conception of what 'comic book' movies can be."
Tragically, one of this weekend's movies we were most looking forward to—The Beach Bum, a film that looks to be Harmony Korine's spiritual sequel to the amazing Spring Breakers, and a film that features Matthew McConaughey in what looks to be the most Matthew McConaughey role of all time—wasn't screened for Portland critics. Which is a bummer, because look:
Usually when movies aren't screened for critics, it means they are bad. I refuse to believe that is the case with The Beach Bum, which is my favorite motion picture even though I have not yet seen it. (And I ask you: Is it mere coincidence that one of Laurelhurst Theater's showtimes for The Beach Bum is at 4:20 pm? Probably not.)
Which leads us to movie times—and a reminder that, as ever, you can find much more to see and read in The Best Movies & TV Shows To Watch in Portland.
