UPDATED 11/1/2014: La Vida y los Muertos has been added to Sunday’s programming schedule and The Notebook to this weekend’s releases.
Thursday
Frankenstein + Bride of Frankenstein (6:00p — Pinney Branch Library)
The Pinney Library presents a Halloween double feature of the Universal Studios classics. You’ll have to wait until next year for the reboot. FREE.
Coraline (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
An 11 year-old girl (Dakota Fanning) discovers a door to a parallel dimension where her workaholic parents (Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman) are far more caring. They also have buttons for eyes but Henry Selick’s adapting a Neil Gaiman story so what did you expect? FREE.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (7:30p, 10:00 — AMC Star)
Warm Bodies (9:30p — Union South Marquee)
Nicholas Hoult’s still sentient zombie slowly returns to his human form when he meets survivor Teresa Palmer in this zombie rom-com. Or should I say “zom-com?” I should stop. FREE.
All freakin’ weekend
Nightcrawler (Sundance, AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a skinny weirdo who scams and slithers his way to a successful career in crime journalism and at the low, low price of sacrificing empathy for his fellow humans. Connect with him on LinkedIn!
Birdman (Sundance)
Former superhero icon Michael Keaton returns to form in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film about a former superhero icon returning to form.
Sundance live-action and animated shorts (Sundance)
Two collections of acclaimed Sundance shorts close out this fall’s Screening Room Calendar. Among them: Rose McGowan’s widely-touted “Dawn” and 2014 Wisconsin Film Fest alum “Afronauts” (which is good). Sundance.org has details on the complete lineups.
The Notebook (Sundance)
For the record, I totally thought this was a 10th anniversary screening of the Nicholas Sparks sob-fest — and from the looks of Rob Thomas’ review, I wasn’t the only one. Two young boys spend the remaining years of World War II in hiding, with nothing but a trusty notebook to record the horrors they’ve seen. Yeah, definitely not a Nicholas Sparks movie.
Before I Go To Sleep (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
50 Worst Dates? Nicole Kidman plays a woman who wakes up every morning with no memory of the day before. She soon discovers that not all is as it seems, though when your doctor is Mark Strong you kind of have it coming.
Current Theega (AMC Star)
Saw: 10th Anniversary (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
Leigh Whannell and James Wan’s original gets a one-week re-release that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Maybe a foot.
Friday
Coraline (6:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
The Wicker Man (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Touted by your friendly neighborhood Cinematheque as “The Final Cut,” this DCP presentation of Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man closes out a month of FREE “Halloween Horror.”
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (7:30p, 10:00 — AMC Star)
Warm Bodies (8:30p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Saturday
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (10:00a — Point, Eastgate)
$5.
Warm Bodies (6:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Shoulder Arms + How I Won the War (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
A Hard Day’s Night‘s Richard Lester re-teams with John Lennon for a production that’s far less whimsical and far more satirical. Lester’s biting World War I treatise will be preceded by Charlie Chaplin’s 1918 (!) film Shoulder Arms, with both screening FREE on 35mm.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (7:30p, 10:00 — AMC Star)
Coraline (8:30p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Sunday
Torn Curtain (2:00p — Chazen Art Museum)
Paul Newman’s American scientist “defects” to Communist Germany in the hopes of uncovering Mother Russia’s Cold War secrets. Newman’s lone collaboration with the Master of Suspense might be rare, but “Rare Hitchcock” isn’t for another two weeks. FREE.
Coraline (3:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
La Vida y los Muertos (6:30p — Union South Marquee)
Life and the Dead is a visual documentary-style mosaic “that captures the beauty, the joy, the sadness and the magic of the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico.” Presented FREE by the UW Latin American, Caribbean & Iberian Studies program.
Monday
The Wedding Ringer (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
Kevin Hart is “best man for a night” to Book of Mormon alum Josh Gad in a FREE WUD Film sneak peek of the upcoming January comedy.
Tuesday
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (4:00p, 7:00p — Point, Eastgate)
$5.
Wednesday
Interstellar (Sundance)
Christopher Nolan’s newest film looks to take us on a journey to other ends of the cosmos with Anne Hathaway and that guy from the Lincoln commercial. Sundance, as they’ve proudly trumpeted on Twitter, is showing the film early and on 35mm. You’ll have to wait another week to get the “IMAX Experience,” but in the meantime can we all stop comparing this to 2001?
The Nightmare Before Christmas (12:45p, 6:45p — Sundance)
How’s this for serendipity? After catching Coraline at The Marquee, audiences can see Henry Selick’s macabre “Classic,” where intrepid ghoul Jack Skellington sinks his fingers into the heart of Christmas. On second thought, I’m pretty sure serendipity is banned in Halloweentown.
The Strange Little Cat (7:00p — MMoCA Lecture Hall)
The Strange Little Cat takes the prize for “most redundant title” among any Spotlight film this year, but its intimate 24-hour catalog of one family’s day inside their Berlin apartment promises quirk and malaise in equal measure. Learning under the tutelage of the inimitable Béla Tarr, Swiss-born twins Ramon and Silvan Zürcher make their feature-length debut with a project they’ve self-described as a “horror film without any horror” — even if the presence of cats contradicts such a concept. Doors at 6:30p. Admission is $7 for general audiences and FREE to MMoCA members)
Music Within (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
Ron Livingston plays a Vietnam Vet whose residual hearing damage inspires him to become an activist for disabled Americans. Co-presented FREE by WUD Film and Advocates for Diverse Ability.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (7:00p — Point, Eastgate)
$5.
Mio fratello è figlio unico (My Brother Is an Only Child) (7:10 — UW Education Building, Rm L196)
Two brothers (Elio Germano and Riccardo Scamarcio) find themselves drawn toward wildly divergent political paths in 1960s Italy. FREE.