Thursday
Food Chains (6:00p — Monona Terrace, 4th floor lecture hall)
The City of Madison, Centro Hispano and REAP Food Group offer another chance to catch Sanjay Rawal’s documentary on the state of U.S. farm labor. FREE.
Wisconsin’s Mining Standoff (6:30p — Central Library, Rm 302)
Like any good documentary troupe, Milwaukee’s 371 Productions report on underserved populations and underseen topics. Last year’s collaboration with Al Jazeera’s “Fault Lines” has resulted in one of the most concise documents of the proposed mines in Ashland and Iron County, unafraid of confronting project developers with difficult questions. Recent events have left GTAC’s proposal in doubt but Dave Blouin of the Madison chapter of the Sierra Club will be in attendance to discuss the looming threat of other projects to the Penokee Hills region. FREE.
The Breakfast Club 30th Anniversary (7:30p — Point, Eastgate)
Don’t mess with the bull, or you’ll get the horns. Mess with old age, and you’ll get celebrations of Brat Pack movies that feel like they came out freaking yesterday.
All freakin’ weekend
It Follows (Sundance, AMC Star, Eastgate)
A critical favorite out of Cannes last year, It Follows creeps its way to Madison theaters 10 months after its premiere. The Guest‘s Maika Monroe and a group of sex-curious friends are pursued by the titular “it,” a boggart-like being that takes the form of its prey’s worst fear, whatever they may be. Is a mid-sized movie market more terrifying in person? (Asking for a friend)
Song of the Sea (Sundance)
Counted among the best of 2014’s animated films, Book of Kelis‘s Tomm Moore presents this Celtic fairytale of two siblings who learn that one of them is a selkie, a creature divided by one existence on land and another in the sea.
Wild Tales (Sundance)
Produced by the brothers Almodóvar, the “Tales” comes from this anthology’s six segments. The “Wild” comes from those segments harboring tension and madness, exploding cars and explosive wedding parties. Charming, really.
Home (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate, Stoughton Cinema Café)
A lone surviving girl (Rihanna) pairs up with a rogue alien (Jim Parsons) after his race relocates Earth’s entire population. Based on the acclaimed children’s story The True Meaning of Smekday.
Get Hard (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
Up for a 10-year sentence for tax evasion, Will Ferrell hires Kevin Hart to harden him up for the slammer. The one problem: Hart’s never been to jail. Primed to be the Let’s Be Cops of prison movies — in that it completely undermines the prescient realities of its subject matter. Maybe I’m reading too much into it?
Friday
Liberty in North Korea (5:30p — Union South Marquee)
Documenting both a rescue of North Korean refugees and the ongoing oppression of the county’s citizens under past, present, and (in all likelihood) future regimes. FREE.
“Pinney Mini” Film Festival (6:00p — Pinney Library)
Wisconsin Film Fest staffers arrive with directors from three of last year’s best local shorts to drum up excitement for the coming festival. From where I’m sitting, it’s probably working. FREE.
Fuse: Memoirs of the Hunter Girl (6:45p — Alicia Ashman Library)
In this expansion of Kazuki Sakuraba’s light novels, a young huntress sets out to investigate rumors of hybrid samurai fused with dogs. FREE via Alicia Ashman’s Anime Club.
Pharaoh (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Jerzy Kawalerowicz adapts Bolesław Prus’s historical novel concerning Pharaoh Ramses XII and the timeless trappings of power. Extravagant and yet remarkably muted given its grand scope, Kawalerowicz’s three-year epic dragged his cast and crew through 100+ degree desert temperatures and destructive, dusty winds. Weirdly, Pharaoh‘s muted colors aren’t from sand damage. This 60s production stands out for how much it >doesn’t try to stand out. Another FREE Marty Scorsese Polish Masterpiece.
Saturday
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (2:00p — Hawthorne Library)
The other lengthy epic playing this weekend, only Jackson’s muted aesthetics probably weren’t intentional. FREE.
Brighton Rock (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Featuring Lord — yes, Lord — Richard Attenborough reprising his role as demented ruffian Pinkie Brown, Cinematheque’s FREE screening of this Boulting Brothers’ 1947 noir is both tribute to the British thespian and right in line with their programming. And don’t take my word for it; take Amanda McQueen’s.
Sunday
Play Misty For Me (2:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
The ‘Tek’s announcement earlier this month that the repertory program would be cancelling their presentation of Red Sky at Morning was bittersweet. Like all good things, even “deteriorating” prints eventually come to an end. On the plus side, they’ve replaced it with a double-down on last week’s Beguiled with Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut. In Play Misty For Me, the Man with No Name hooks up with a young woman who gives him more than he bargained for. Everything ends, but let’s all ignore the inevitable heat-death of the universe with a late correction that still fits the mold of this “Universal ’71” retrospective. FREE.
Monday
Still Mine (2:00p — Alicia Ashman Library)
The library’s FREE “BOOM” adult series screens this anti-Amour, where James Cromwell and Geneviève Bujold downgrade a North Atlantic lifestyle to match their aging reality.
Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington DC (7:00p — High Noon Saloon)
Scott Crawford is dead set on capturing the DC punk scene’s uniqueness — and with his documentary Salad Days he largely succeeds. Bridging the decade-and-some-change flowering of the genre in the nation’s capitol, Crawford pulls from underground concert footage and a who’s-who of musicians, journalists, and scenesters. It’s an encompassing project that complicates an overlooked genre while encapsulating indie music’s ever-revolving door. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 day of the show.
Magic Mike (7:00p — Point, Eastgate)
Aaand another screening of Steven Soderbergh’s stripper drama. $5.
Tuesday
What is Young? (6:30p — Central Library, Rm 302)
Sponsored by Options in Community Living, producer Mary Jo Oathout hosts this FREE profile of five Madisonians raised in state institutions. Several of the featured subjects will also make an appearance.
The Breakfast Club 30th Anniversary (7:30p — Point, Eastgate)
Wednesday
Gigi (2:10p, 7:30p — Sundance)
Pilot Error (4:00p, 7:00p — Point)
A Milwaukee journalist investigates the disappearance of a friend and 211 other passengers after their plane mysteriously vanishes in this indie venture filmed, in part, at Mitchell International Airport. Hey, is that Menominee Falls’ Richard Riehle?
Fast & Furious 6 (7:00p — Point, Eastgate)
Justin Lin’s final contribution to the series preserves its new action/heist shine, even when the additions of Gina Carano and Luke Evans’ Special Ops baddie make things feel a bit overstuffed. Dom Toretto’s got family, but maybe it’s time to think about legal emancipation. $5.