The ABCs of Death 2
If you're like me—not yet ready to let the season's scary movies go gentle into that blood-soaked night—the anthology ABCs of Death 2 is here to keep the horror alive. Really more gross and gory than spooky, the second in the genre short-film series features a cavalcade of international directors who each helm a film for every letter of the alphabet. It's a marathon to watch 26 films in two hours—which widely range in tone, story, and quality—but when individual directors hit their marks, they pack a punch. Keep eyes peeled for Kristina Buozyte's creepy K Is for Knell, the distinctly British G Is for Grandad by Jim Hosking, and make-up artist Sôichi Umezawa's fantastical Y Is for Youth. COURTNEY FERGUSON Hollywood Theatre.

Art and Craft
Mark Landis perpetrated a massive ruse by donating his forged versions of pedigreed paintings to museums across the American South for decades. He became the obsession of one museum employee determined to take him down, who declared, “He messed with the wrong registrar.” (Surely, this is a sentence never before assembled.) Landis is a con man, an art forger described as “impressive” and “prolific” by the advertisements for the terrifically unpredictable, refreshingly human new documentary Art and Craft. But from the first scene, it’s obvious he is not a swashbuckling criminal or even a man out to prove anything. He’s feebly slouching his way across the parking lot toward a Hobby Lobby, where he gets his supplies. Stories about art forgers are usually about humans’ worst tendencies: disdain, envy, boasting. Art and Craft is the story of a person who just wants people to be nice to him the way he says they “seldom” are, because he’s odd and mentally ill. JEN GRAVES Living Room Theaters.

Big Hero 6
See review this issue. Various Theaters.

Birdman
There's no doubt that Alejandro González Iñárritu's latest is very clever about what it says. The question is if it has anything to say. ERIK HENRIKSEN Various Theaters.

recommended Citizenfour
See review this issue. Living Room Theaters.

Dear White People
The central conflict in Dear White People is driven by Sam (Tessa Thompson, AKA Jackie from Veronica Mars!), a fired-up young activist who hosts a satirical radio show where she instructs white people on the nuances of how to behave in a multiracial world. There's entirely too much plot, but Dear White People shines interpersonally, as its characters navigate how race factors into relationships, self-presentation, and group identification. And it doubles as a catalog of how creepy even the most well-intentioned white people can be—if you haven't yet gotten the "don't touch black people's hair" memo, there are some skin-crawlingly effective scenes that will drive the point solidly home. ALISON HALLETT Cinema 21.

recommended Harmontown
See review this issue. Hollywood Theatre.

recommended Interstellar
See review this issue. Various Theaters.

recommended Kung Fu Theater
The Hollywood's Kung Fu Theater series presents a rare, 35mm screening of 1983's Shaolin vs. Lama, about the adventure of Sun Yu Ting, a monk who must learn the Buddha Finger technique to defeat the Lama Chief wreaking havoc across the land. Hollywood Theatre.

Laggies
See review this issue. Various Theaters.

recommended Nightcrawler
A pulpy rush that's shot to mirror the nocturnal, grainy world of freelancers who monitor the police scanner and speed to crime scenes to be the first one with sensational video. Unblinking and gaunt, Jake Gyllenhaal's Bloom is a fascinating misfit who discovers his strengths in this new, macabre calling. NED LANNAMANN Various Theaters.

The Northwest Filmmakers' Festival
See Film, this issue. NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.

Portland German Film Festival
Zeitgeist Northwest's Portland German Film Festival looks to appeal to a wide audience this year, featuring films for children, teens, and adults. Few films were available for review, but Jeremy J.P. Fekete's docs on cult favorite actor Udo Kier (ME-UDO ... Starring Udo Kier) and legendary portrait photographer Robert Lebeck (Moments: The Photographer Robert Lebeck) are exceptionally candid. (Kier is an absolute ham; he'll unexpectedly break into English to deliver a fake testimonial for V8: "It's like poison. Very pleasant poison.") The festival's features run the gamut, from the US premiere of comedy The Whole Shebang, to Austrian hiphop dance flick (?) Rise Up! And Dance, to Roraima: Climbers of the Lost World, featuring gorgeous views of the imposing South American mountain. On Mon Nov 10, the festival will screen Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1981 classic Lola—with actor Armin Mueller-Stahl in attendance, who will receive a lifetime achievement award. More at portlandgermanfilmfestival.com. THOMAS ROSS Cinema 21.

Portland Latin American Film Festival
A screening of the 2009 Costa Rican drama Of Love and Other Demons, based on the book by Gabriel García Márquez. More at pdxlaff.org. Hollywood Theatre.

recommended Raising Arizona
"Edwina's insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase." Academy Theater.

recommended St. Vincent
St. Vincent is contrived. It's contrived in the best way. Do you want to watch Bill Murray act like a sarcastic prick, but secretly have a heart of gold? Do you want him to have an unorthodox-yet-rewarding relationship with a precocious young boy like all the best parts of Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Bad Santa, and Bad Words? Do you want these adversarial relationships eventually to lead to understanding? Yeah, St. Vincent is about as procedural of a feel-good Sundance comedy as Law & Order: SVU is a cop show—but when the dialogue is sharp and the acting is perfect, that's a pretty damned fine thing to watch. VINCE MANCINI Various Theaters.

Sundance Film Festival Animated Short Films
Sundance-approved animated shorts, screening as part of an OMSI animation film festival that coincides with the museum's "A Look Inside Animation" exhibit. The festival also includes screenings of Akira, Ernest & Celestine, A Cat in Paris, Sita Sings the Blues, ParaNorman, and others; more at omsi.edu. OMSI Empirical Theater.

The VCR That Dripped Blood Part II
A montage of old video clips from Seattle's Scarecrow Video—or, as the press release puts it, "An orgy of rare video so mind-meltingly shocking you may not survive with both eyeballs." SOLD. Hollywood Theatre.

Viva
Director/star Anna Biller's 2007 tribute to American sexploitation films. Fifth Avenue Cinema.


recommended MEANS WE RECOMMEND IT. Theater locations are accurate Friday, November 7-Thursday, November 13, unless otherwise noted. Movie times are updated daily and are available here.