99 Homes
See review this issue. Various Theaters.
The Black Panthers:
Vanguard of the Revolution
See My, What a Busy Week! Hollywood Theatre.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Watching The Diary of a Teenage Girl is like being hugged by a Lisa Frank panda while floating on a sea of Hitachi Magic Wands and cotton candy. Its color palate is indica-laced rainbow sherbet. Its heart is a sentient mug of hot cocoa. Its eyes are Bel Powley's cartoonishly gigantic, wide-open baby blues. It's also about statutory rape, and that juxtaposition's caused no shortage of controversy for Marielle Heller's directorial debut. That's too bad, because at its core, Teenage Girl is about a 15-year-old coming into her own as an artist, a storyline I wish more people cared about enough to write into movies. MEGAN BURBANK Academy Theater, Laurelhurst Theater.
The End of the Tour
When a writer means as much to you as David Foster Wallace means to so many, you really don't need to see him impersonated on-screen by that dude whose dick you saw in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. For the rest of us, though—the more moderate fans who marvel at Wallace's essays and short stories, even as our copies of Infinite Jest remain permanently dog-eared at page 281—there's much to appreciate about The End of the Tour. ALISON HALLETT Laurelhurst Theater.
Freeheld
See review this issue. Cinema 21.
Friday the 13th
See My, What a Busy Week! Laurelhurst Theater.
The Gift
A slow-seething psychological thriller. COURTNEY FERGUSON Laurelhurst Theater.
He Named Me Malala
See review this issue. Various Theaters.
Kung Fu Theater
This is the only known 35mm print of 1982's Five Element Ninjas, one of the single greatest kung fu films ever made. You got Gold Ninjas, Wood Ninjas, Fire Ninjas, Water Ninjas, Earth Ninjas, and then a squad of young ninjas who have to take 'em out. Starring the Venom Mob as some goddamn badass fuckin' ninjas. BOBBY ROBERTS Hollywood Theatre.
The Martian
Set in a fantastical near-future in which America adequately funds its space program, The Martian follows a man who's been marooned 140 million miles away and is forced to spend his days desperately trying to delay his all-but-inevitable death. It's funnier than it sounds. ERIK HENRIKSEN Various Theaters.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
1984's pop horror flick. Starring Johnny Depp before Johnny Depp became the world's most irritating person. Hollywood Theatre.
On Art and Artists
The NW Film Center's series of movies about... well, art and artists. This week's offerings: Beauty Is Embarrassing, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, and Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art. More at nwfilm.org. NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
Pan
See review this issue. Various Theaters.
Portland EcoFilm Festival
A screening of Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis' climate change documentary This Changes Everything, which starts with Klein saying she's never liked climate change documentaries. (She even takes a shot at polar bears' struggling on melting ice: "Is it really possible to be bored by the end of the world?" she asks.) Klein points out climate change is the result of a 400-year-old ideology that "the earth is a machine and we are its masters"—an idea that became reality with the exploitation of fossil fuels, allowing humans to ignore the planet's natural cycles. With climate change, Klein says, humans are realizing "we're just guests here, and we can get evicted." There are some boring parts in This Changes Everything—like when Klein ticks off well-worn statistics that warn of impending doom—but there are also plenty of moving moments in the story, the final message of which is that humans have a chance to reverse climate change through direct action against corporations that put economic gain above all else. Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein in attendance. SHELBY R. KING Hollywood Theatre.
Portland Queer Film Festival
The 19th installment of the festival (it was formerly the Portland Lesbian & Gay Film Festival) offers seven days' worth of documentaries, features, and web series. The fest's closing night screening is queer athlete doc Out to Win, with subjects Billy Bean and Conner Mertens in attendance. More at pdxqueerfilm.com. Cinema 21.
(Re)Discoveries: New Restorations, New Prints
A series of newly restored films. This week's selection: Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings from 1939. NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
The Shining
"Hi, I've got an appointment with Mr. Ullman. My name is Jack Torrance." Academy Theater.
Sicario
Denis Villeneuve's new drug thriller is phenomenal. Its story is both personal and political, a scathing portrait of the drug war, as well as an elemental allegory in which moral dilemmas are depicted by characters crashing violently into each other. NED LANNAMANN Various Theaters.
Trick or Treat
Charles Martin Smith's 1986 horror flick, featuring Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne. Hollywood Theatre.
Voices in Action: Human Rights on Film
The NW Film Center's human rights film series. This week: Gini Reticker's The Trials of Spring and Laurent Bécue-Renard's Of Men and War. More at nwfilm.org. SUZETTE SMITH NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
The Walk
Philippe Petit didn't die when he walked a high wire between New York City's World Trade Center towers back in 1974. This is not a spoiler, it's a well-known fact—and the person playing Philippe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) lets you know this right from the get-go in Robert Zemeckis' biopic The Walk. So where's the dramatic tension? It comes from the dizzying, vertigo-inspiring scenes of Petit navigating the 110-stories-high wire, where a strong breeze or even an angry bird could send him toppling to earth. Yes, it's all done with CG, and that doesn't make a goddamn bit of difference because those looooong, seemingly never-ending scenes are fucking terrifying. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY Various Theaters.
MEANS WE RECOMMEND IT. Theater locations are accurate Friday, October 9-Thursday, October 15, unless otherwise noted. Movie times are updated daily and are available here.
