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Amazing Grace
Even at a remove of 47 years, and even with Aretha Franklinâs Amazing Grace album firmly established as a familiar classic in the canon of recorded music, the movie is a staggering thing to behold, and is probably the greatest filmed document of American gospel music that has ever been captured. While everyoneâs relationship with God (or lack thereof) is different, I donât think thereâs anybody who can sit through Amazing Grace and not pick up on something recognizably holy in this music. Whether itâs proof of a divine creator is entirely up to you; for me, itâs more than enough that the music itself is capable of attaining the quality of what we generally think of as divine. (Now playing, Cinema 21, Hollywood Theatre) NED LANNAMANN
Araby
A 2017 Brazilian slice-of-life drama from co-writers/directors Affonso UchĂ´a and JoĂŁo Dumans, about a teenager whoâwhen heâs not tending to his sick brotherâjust sorta rides his bike aimlessly around town until he discovers the diary of an itinerant worker and falls into the strangerâs journey toward self-improvement. (Fri May 3-Sun May 5, Fifth Avenue Cinema)
Ask Dr. Ruth
On a recent episode of The View, 90-year-old sex therapist and media personality Dr. Ruth warned the roundtable of women that threesomes are "very bad" for a marriage. "Do not engage in a threesome," she said, "because that third person might be a better lover." This is bad advice. Have threesomes. But this documentary isn't about Dr. Ruth's advice, it's about Dr. Ruth. And damn, her story is long overdue for a good documentary. She is a pioneerâand a very funny one. (Now playing, Cinema 21) CHASE BURNS
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Avengers: Endgame
See Movies & TV, this issue. (Now playing, every theater, everywhere, all the time)
The Best of Enemies
The Best of Enemies is based on events that took place during the summer of 1971 in Durham, North Carolina. (The filmâs marketing copy describes it as âthe racially charged summer of 1971,â like it was the only oneânothing racially charged around here anymore!) Durham held a 10-day community forum on school integration, co-chaired by opposing town leaders: Black community organizer Ann Atwater (played here by Taraji P. Henson), and president of the local chapter for the Ku Klux Klan, C.P. Ellis (Sam Rockwell). But even to say these people are just âopposingââthat doesnât work. You canât âLetâs hear them out!â or âThere were very fine people on both sides!â with white supremacy, yet thatâs exactly what The Best of Enemies attempts. (Now playing, various theaters) ELINOR JONES
Dogman
Matteo Garroneâs BAFTA-nominated film about a low-key dog groomer in an Italian suburb who also slings a little yayo on the side. Does he end up complicating his pupper-populated life thanks to unsavory coke-related acquaintances? Mmmmmmaybe. (Opens Fri May 3, Living Room Theaters)
Donnie Darko
âSometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!â (Fri May 3-Thurs May 9, Academy Theater)
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Zac Efron is Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, the story of how Ted Bundy murdered a lot of women in the 1970s. Director Joe Berlingerâs film is adapted from The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy, a memoir detailing the six-year relationship author Elizabeth Kloepfer had with Bundy as he, yunno, murdered women. Yet Zac Efron is top-billed, Zac Efron takes up all the space on the poster, Zac Efron has the most screen time, and for some reason it seems to believe you donât already know that Ted Bundy killed a whole bunch of women. Spoilers: Ted Bundy was a fuckinâ serial killer. (Streams Fri May 3, Netflix)
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Family
Isolated, work-obsessed Kate (Taylor Schilling) is forced to take care of her 11-year-old niece Maddie (Bryn Vale) during a family emergency. The twist in Laura Steinelâs formulaic comedy is that Maddie wants to be a Juggalo, and the film includes a sequence set at the Insane Clown Posseâs infamous Gathering of the Juggalos. Actually, thereâs a bigger, better twist with the admittedly slender, sitcom-y Family: Itâs legit hilarious, with a phenomenal supporting cast that includes Brian Tyree Henry, Kate McKinnon, Matt Walsh, and Natasha Lyonne as a Juggalette. Plus, Schilling is flat-out terrific, and the movie warmheartedly recognizes thereâs more to being a Juggalo than face paint and Faygo. (Opens Fri April 26, Fox Tower 10) NED LANNAMANN
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The last great(ish) thing Terry Gilliam ever did, this adaptation of Hunter S. Thompsonâs gonzo travelogue is probably the closest anyone ever got to lifting the lid on Thompsonâs dome and accurately portraying the nest of writhing, hyper-aggressive lizards screaming, shitting, and fucking behind his eyeballs. Itâs also one of the few movies about being fundamentally altered that works best while seen stone sober. Sure, people love getting ripped out of their fucking gourd and putting on the Johnny and Benicio show (BTW, this is also the last great thing Depp ever did), but the real power of Gilliamâs work is in how he manages to translate the feeling of Hunterâs astronomical fucked-upitude to utterly straight, square minds. (Mon April 29, Clinton Street Theater) BOBBY ROBERTS
The Films of Maya Deren
NW Film presents a curated weekendâs worth of works from writer/director/ethnographer Maya Deren, who was one of Americaâs most influential figures in early avant-garde cinema. (Fri April 26-Sun April 28, NW Film Centerâs Whitsell Auditorium)
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I donât know why Italians decided to start making westerns in the 1960s, but the resulting subgenre is a bizarre caricature of a caricatureâlike Russian nesting dolls building increasingly falsified (but undeniably gripping) narratives off of each other. Clint Eastwoodâs iconic Man with No Name is quietly cunning, constantly sunburned, chain-smoking cigarillos, lightning-quick with his equalizer (which he hides under a sweet-ass poncho), and committed to his own (often convoluted) sense of justice. Eastwoodâs stoic and vengeful gunfighter probably wasnât the best role model for young menâfeel your feelings, my dudesâbut more than 50 years later, the mystery shrouding his character still captivates. (Fri April 26-Thurs May 2, Academy Theater) CIARA DOLAN
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Hail Satan?
Like the Satanic Temple, director Penny Laneâs Hail Satan? isnât quite what it seems: Yes, Laneâs affectionate and funny documentary does feature some pig heads getting slammed onto spikes, and yes, there are some naked writhing people. But Hail Satan? is more interested in the organizationâs vision of âcontemporary Satanismââone that doesnât include worshipping the Devil but does include progressive activism and providing a âsocio-political counter-mythâ in a country thatâs too often characterized as a âChristian nation.â (Full disclosure: I am a member of the Satanic Temple, and I urge you to join me. But in a scary demon voice, like this: JOIN ME.) (Now playing, Cinema 21, Hollywood Theatre) ERIK HENRIKSEN
Hellboy
Well, this was a mistake. Eleven years after Guillermo del Toroâs second and final Hellboy movie comes this exhausted, exhausting reboot thatâs drenched with pointless, joyless gore and scabbed over with dumb exposition and dumber jokes. Stranger Thingsâ David Harbour, taking over Hellboyâs horns from Ron Perlman, does his best to liven things up, but heâs foiled by an overcrowded, confused script (a baby thatâs secretly a pig man? Sure! A Leni Riefenstahl cameo? Uh...) and a supporting cast thatâs uniformly terrible. (Ian McShane is unexpectedly lousy; Milla Jovovich is her usual level of lousy.) Sloppy, frantic editing and uninspired direction from Neil Marshall make this thing feel about 20 hours long, and itâs one of those movies that clearly cost a bunch of money to make but still looks cheap. (Now playing, various theaters) ERIK HENRIKSEN
Her Smell
Iâll start by stating the obvious: Elisabeth Moss is a really, really good actor. Her Smell might be the greatest testament to her talent yet; itâs her third movie with writer/director Alex Ross Perry, and Mossâ performance as riot-grrrl-era rock star Becky Something is provocative, immersive, and galvanizing. Itâs also both grueling and inspiring to sit through. Itâs a tough movie to recommend, but Moss really is one of the best actors in the world right now, and Perry knows how to conjure a precise emotional mood even as it seems like everything happening onscreen is utter chaos. (Now playing, Cinema 21) NED LANNAMANN
High Life
French arthouse director Claire Denisâ first science-fiction film depicts outer space in a way weâre not used to seeing on screen: through the utter absence of visual information. The spaceship is a clunky rectangular box, its interiors are shabby and grimy, and the cosmos is represented by a few sprinkles of light on a black background. Denisâ story is abstract and nonlinear, and her characters function like allegorical symbols rather than humans. Some will be impressed by the weightiness of Denisâ jag into zero gravity, but for me, High Life was a frustrating experience, a collection of half-developed ideas being sucked into an unfocused void. (Now playing, Fox Tower 10, Laurelhurst Theater) NED LANNAMANN
The Intruder
A movie all about how you probably shouldnât buy a house from Dennis Quaid. Or Randy Quaid, for that matter. If you can aspire to a Quaid-free existence, thatâs probably a good place to be. (Opens Fri May 3, various theaters)
Little
Itâs been a while since we had a good olâ body-switch comedy. Well, okay, Shazam! just came out, but not everything gotta be superheroes all the time, right? Regina Hall is a shitty boss with Issa Rae as her put-upon assistant. One day, under way too much pressure, Hall wishes she could be a little kid again. Wish granted. Now sheâs 14-year-old Marsai Martin from Black-ish, who (no lie) got the movie made after watching Big for the first time and telling producer Kenya Barris about it. Not screened for critics. (Now playing, various theaters)
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Long Shot
Thankfully, Long Shot isn't another addition to the mid-2000s family of comedies where dude-bros are nagged to death into loving beautiful women. Itâs maybe... 10 percent that. The other 90 percent is a reverse Pretty Woman, including lots of making out, amazing outfits, and yes, Roxette. Seth Rogen is fully competent as a funny schlub, and Charlize Theron destroys as a secretary of state and presidential hopeful, and the two of them together areâI know, this is weirdâcharming as hell. (Opens Fri May 3, various theaters) ELINOR JONES
Missing Link
The latest from Hillsboro-based stop-motion studio Laika is astonishingly beautiful. From the secluded, cerulean glens of Pacific Northwest timberland to the jaunty, slate-topped roofs of Victorian London, every scene represents artwork on the highest level from an army of masters in their craft. But despite its visual splendor and charming premiseâa lonely bigfoot recruits a hard-luck cryptozoologist and a feisty adventuress to transport him to what he hopes will be a welcoming tribe of Himalayan yetiâitâs perplexing that a studio thatâs had trouble with cultural representation in the past (âWhy is the movieâs main cast so white?â asked BuzzFeed about 2016âs Kubo and the Two Strings) would pick a colonialist gadfly to serve as Missing Linkâs protagonist. (Now playing, various theaters) BEN COLEMAN
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Network
In 1976, Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumetâs Networkâabout the corporatization of everything and its resultant debasement of the newsâwas considered many things: Sharp, insightful, ridiculous, mean, and silly. Many thought it was over-the-top, and in some ways (particularly the heads meeting discussing the risk/reward ratio of an on-air assassination) it still is. At some point over the next 20 years, it was reduced to a catchphrase you vaguely knew about but hadnât actually seen: âIâm as mad as hell, and Iâm not gonna take this anymore!â Divorced from context, Network became a face-value celebration of righteous indignation. But watching Network in the 21st century is profoundly bewildering and upsetting, because almost nothing in it reads as over-the-top now. It basically all happened. It might as well be a docudrama, charting the rise of Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch; a how-to guide for grifting millions of desensitized simpletons through the combined powers of branding, inarticulate rage, and loud noises. Oh, itâs still funnyâbut in the way gallows humor can put a scratchy chuckle at the back of an already-noosed throat. (Fri April 26-Sun April 28, Fifth Avenue Cinema) BOBBY ROBERTS
Penguin Highway
Anime penguins? Anime penguins. Odds are pretty decent this story will be the single cutest thing you see in a theater all year. (Fri April 26, Hollywood Theatre)
Performance
Shawn Levy is a man who has worn many hats in Portland. Film critic, author, scholar, benevolent godfather of Portland Timbers fandom, the list goes on. A recent addition to that list is âfilm programmerâ via his âSwinginââ series at the Hollywood Theatre. Previously heâs paid tribute to Italian cinema, and this spring heâs giving love to London with a rare screening of Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammellâs 1970 art film Performance, about a mobster who gets his mind blown while hiding out at Mick Jaggerâs town house. (Mon April 29, Hollywood Theatre)
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QDoc: Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival
See Movies & TV, this issue. (Thurs May 2-Sun May 5, Hollywood Theatre)
Red Joan
A dull, floppy, and fictionalized account of the life of Melita Norwood, an Englishwoman who gave A-bomb secrets to Soviets after World War II. The virtually espionage-free Red Joan leaps haphazardly backward and forward through time, with old Joan played by Dame Judi Dench at her Dench-iest, with young Joan played by Sophie Cookson (Roxy from the Kingsman movies). The charming Cookson tries her best (Dench barely registers), but legendary theater director Trevor Nunn doesnât seem to have much of an eye for film, turning the story into a sub-par episode of Masterpiece. NED LANNAMANN (Opens Thurs May 2, Fox Tower 10)
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RZA: Live from the 36th Chamber
Few kung fu movies are as rightfully revered as The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, the 1978 Shaw Brothers classic starring Gordon Liu. Even if you haven't seen it, you've seen and heard the movie's repercussions, in everything from the Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) to Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. This weekend, Wu-Tang founder RZA is performing a live, original score to 36th Chamber's picture. RZA's well-documented love for 36th Chamberâand his history with and knowledge of martial arts movies in general, from appearing in Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai to writing, directing, scoring, and starring in The Man with the Iron Fistsâshould make for a remarkable screening. (Sat April 27 & Sun April 28, Hollywood Theatre) ERIK HENRIKSEN
Tuca & Bertie
Review forthcoming at portlandmercury.com. (Streams Fri May 3, Netflix)
UglyDolls
(Shrugs, drags deeply on cigarette.) Yeah. Sure. Fuck it. Whatever. (Exhales, closes eyes, rubs temples.) (Opens Fri May 3, various theaters)
Under the Silver Lake
At the beginning of Under the Silver Lake, listless slacker Sam (Andrew Garfield) becomes infatuated with his new neighbor Sarah (Riley Keough). The day after they meet, she disappears, and he spends the rest of the film bumbling across Los Angeles looking for a woman he barely knows (âI couldnât even find her onlineâ). Though it sources inspiration from the likes of Rear Window, Chinatown, LA Confidential, and Inherent Vice, Silver Lake is a thoroughly millennial noir; fueled by paranoia and FOMO, Sam obsessively attempts to decode the patterns, symbols, and subliminal messages he believes are encrypted in Americaâs glut of seemingly disposable media (even Vanna Whiteâs facial expressions). Thereâs a flurry of intriguing ideas and visuals crammed into the filmâa dog serial killer, a secret club beneath the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, an exâs face on a billboard advertising contact lensesâbut theyâre all dead ends. It doesnât help that itâs got a painfully unlikable protagonist; Sam thinks heâs a detective uncovering the cityâs sinister underbelly, and even if he is, heâs also a vibrator-sniffing narcissist stalking women who never asked to be found. Under the Silver Lake touches on some promising themes: the simultaneous desire to be beloved and fear of being followed; the paranoia that perhaps everything youâve ever dreamed of being a part of isnât real; and how the line between reality and fantasy can blur in Movie City. But it doesnât have anything smart to say about any of those thingsâinstead, itâs just the pretty shell of a film that couldâve been great. (On demand, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, etc.) CIARA DOLAN
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Us
Us, an exceedingly great slasher movie and Jordan Peeleâs follow-up to Get Out, is a movie about doppelgängersâour evil twins that, according to folklore, must be killed, lest they kill us and assume our identities. But Us is also about shadows emerging from their own darkness; the illusory depths of mirrors; the fear we project onto the âotherâ instead of examining our own brutality; and, more abstractly, the barbaric history of slavery and mass genocide that America has unsuccessfully tried to bury, how the country is actively destroying itself, and what itâll look like when its chickens finally come home to roost. (Now playing, various theaters) CIARA DOLAN
Wyrd War Presents: Hagazussa
Wyrd Warâs fourth annual Walpurgisnacht celebration is all kinds of phantasmagoric. âBut wait,â you ask, âHow many kinds of phantasmagoria are there?â The answer resides in the fucked-up forests of Hagazussa: A Heathenâs Curse, Lukas Feigelfeldâs 2017 supernatural 15th century drama about an orphaned daughter amongst superstitious rabble, inexorably drawn to a terrible power. (Tues April 30, Hollywood Theatre)