Arresting Power: Resisting Police Violence in Portland, Oregon
Making good use of archival footage from the Oregon Historical Society, local documentary Arresting Power is at its strongest when telling the origin story of Portland's police accountability movement—providing potent evidence that the marches and demands for change that have erupted post-Ferguson are part of a decades-long tradition started by our city's African American community. Many of those leaders also appear on camera, sharing their wisdom alongside testimonials from community members like Shirley Isadore, whose daughter Kendra James was killed by Portland police in 2003. It's a good primer for anyone who cares about accountability. But it's also too bad—in part because work on Arresting Power began well before today's unrest—that we don't also hear from some of the newer, younger leaders who've been stepping forward within the movement in recent months. DENIS C. THERIAULT NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
The Babadook
Writer/director Jennifer Kent's first feature is incredibly smart and insightful. Here's a horror film that's legitimately good (!), and has thoughts about the hardships of motherhood, the frustration of being a child, and the psychological dangers of tamping down feelings. COURTNEY FERGUSON Hollywood Theatre, Living Room Theaters, VOD.
Batman Returns
Tim Burton's leather-fetish fantasy epic about a disgruntled mutant who kidnaps Christopher Walken's kid in a bid to become mayor of a nightmare. Co-starring Michelle Pfeiffer as a cat-themed dominatrix, with appearances by a serial murderer calling himself Batman. BOBBY ROBERTS Academy Theater.
Big Eyes
The first live-action film Tim Burton has made without his bauble-spangled muse, Johnny Depp, since 2003, and a refreshing departure from the usual Burton world of guyliner and reaction shots. But as much fun as it is to see Burton warm up his frozen palette and leave goth camp for the sci-fi '50s (his perfect sandbox, strangely), he seems to have broken the knob off his volume control. VINCE MANCINI 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 Hollywood Theatre.
Bottle Rocket
"I don't mean to offend you, Bob, but your brother's a cocksucker." Laurelhurst Theater.
The Effect of Dada and Surrealism on Hollywood Movies of the 1930s
Film historian Dennis Nyback presents clips from eight feature films that show how "Hollywood cheerfully took serious art movements and dropped them into feature films without any framing devices to enchant and mystify the audiences reeling from the Great Depression." Hollywood Theatre.
Exit Marrakech
Zeitgeist Northwest presents the new drama from Caroline Link, about family turmoil between a teenage son and his father, a theater director. More at portlandgermanfilmfestival.com. Clinton Street Theater.
Hecklevision
A series where the audience texts their best jokes directly onto the screen. This month, text your snide remarks at the oily, balding majesty that was 1980s-era Hulk Hogan in No Holds Barred. Hollywood Theatre.
The Imitation Game
This Alan Turing biopic is a big, sepia-toned war drama designed to make audiences feel the acute shittiness of a world in which a gay genius kills himself (spoiler) because his sexuality was criminalized by the very government that should have protected and celebrated him. ALISON HALLETT Various Theaters.
Inherent Vice
See review this issue. Various Theaters.
The Interview
The latest from the filmmaking team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg is also the least successful. The most original aspect of The Interview is the portrayal of Kim Jong-un, played with a terrifying charm by Randall Park. The North Korean dictator is allowed to fire off some scathing bon mots about America's rampant materialism and broken prison system, and is shown to be surprisingly human—a rich brat driven by the most universal of dark motivations: daddy issues. On the international stage, he is a ruthless despot—but on screen, he is just a big, angry, lonely baby. (And a ruthless despot.) DAVID MANNING Various Theaters, VOD.
Kung Fu Theater
The Hollywood's Kung Fu Theater series presents a rare, 35mm screening of Shogun Assassin, 1980s live-action retelling of Lone Wolf and Cub. You might know it from the three million times Wu-Tang Clan have sampled it. Hollywood Theatre.
Norte, the End of History
This year's Best Foreign Language Film nominee from the Philippines, about a law-school dropout on the run after committing a double murder. Hope he doesn't end up in a Philippipenitentiary! NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
Pink Floyd: The Wall
"Hey, does anybody wanna come see The Wall with me on Saturday night? Thought I might try an experiment—see it straight once." "Don't do it! You'll regret it, man. Trust me." —Freaks and Geeks, season one, episode two, "Beers and Weirs" Clinton Street Theater.
Re-run Theater
Re-run Theater presents Saturday Cartoon Mayhem, featuring Jonny Quest, The Secrets of Isis, and Thundarr the Barbarian, with SchoolHouse Rock bumpers and classic ads. BOBBY ROBERTS Hollywood Theatre.
Selma
See review this issue. Various Theaters.
Shock Waves
The 1977 horror flick about a Nazi breeding an army of zombie warriors under the ocean. Hollywood Theatre.
Tak3n
See review this issue. Various Theaters.
The Thanhouser Studio and the Birth of American Cinema
A documentary about the life and times of silent film pioneers Edwin and Gertrude Thanhouser. More at nwfilm.org. NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
Unbroken
Angelina Jolie's film about Olympian Louis Zamperini's less-than-fantastic times during WWII. If you want approachability or nuance or anything, go away! Everything here is just totally fucking unbroken, forever. MARJORIE SKINNER Various Theaters.
Wild
As a whole, Jean-Marc Vallée's adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's harshly beautiful memoir works phenomenally well, and at its best, it's as striking and intense as the book. ERIK HENRIKSEN Various Theaters.
Winter Sleep
See review this issue. Living Room Theaters.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Almodóvar! Fifth Avenue Cinema.
MEANS WE RECOMMEND IT. Theater locations are accurate Friday, January 9-Thursday, January 15, unless otherwise noted. Movie times are updated daily and are available here.
