Thursday
Lolita (6:00p — Central Library, Rm 302)
While the most essential of the Madison Library’s film programs is taking the summer off, we’re glad the rest of Madison is starting to pay attention to Central Cinema. (FREE.)
All freakin’ weekend
Love and Mercy (AMC Star, Point)
Paul Dano stars as Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson, at once endlessly talented and relentlessly tormented by demons exacerbated through his recreational drug use. John Cusack stars as Brian Wilson, at once endlessly talented and relentlessly tormented by demons exacerbated through his recreational drug use 20 some years later. A 2014 holdover from the Toronto International Film Festival, director Bill Pohlad (who’s made a name for himself producing introspection in the wilderness for awards circuit Hollywood) bisects the troubled musical genius’s life in his inclusion of Elizabeth Banks’s savior/Cadillac salesman and the apparently authentic vice grip of exerpimental psychiatrist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti). Although the conspicuous absence of the most Sundance-y release this weekend from playing at Sundance sounds like the talking point, the real draw to Love and Mercy is the score, courtesy of the boundary-pushing Atticus Ross.
Spy (AMC Star, Point, Stoughton Cinema Cafe)
Melissa McCarthy is the least suspecting spy imaginable in this Paul Feig action-comedy. Really though, is there an actor who could be more suspecting than Hollywood’s foremost physical comedian? As a brilliant but unappreciated paper pusher, McCarthy’s CIA Agent Susan Cooper goes into deep cover in Paris to track the whereabouts of a nuclear device, bumping into Rose Byrne’s socialite, Byrne’s confidante Bobby Cannavale, and top agent Jason Statham. Allison Janney is on hand to provide her special brand of wry humor.
Dil Dhadakne Do (AMC Star)
Bollywood cross-over star Anil Kapoor is at the head of a cantankerous family that embarks on an ill-fated (but probably hilarious) cruise trip in this Indian dramedy.
Insidious: Chapter 3 (AMC Star, Point, Stoughton Cinema Cafe)
Saw may be dead and gone but like it or not, James Wan/Leigh Whannell productions have become the premiere horror releases of the year. In Chapter 3, the guy who watched Cary Elwes hack off his own foot makes his directorial debut with the origin story behind Lin Shaye’s ghost medium character from the previous installments. Again, like it or not.
The Muppets Take Manhattan (Fri-Sun — Point)
No, we don’t understand why Marcus is ending Muppet Mania with the worst one either.
Friday
Selma (6:30p — Pinney Library)
FREE.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show Brew ‘n View (9:00p — Majestic Theatre)
Tickets to Majestic’s multi-annual Rocky Horror event are $8 in advance, $10 day of show. Doors at 7:30p.
Rooftop Cinema presents “W.O.R.D. G.A.M.E.S.” (9:30p — Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Rooftop Sculpture Garden)
As you might have read, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art celebrates ten years of playing obscure, weird, and downright fun art films on the museum rooftop this year. Their first program of the summer is a nonsensical collection of wordplay and homophones, with shorts from avant-garde humorist John Smith, found object enthusiast Kerry Laitala, and the departed Robert Nelson all finding amusing ways of toying with our beloved, often confusing language. (Admission is FREE to MMoCA members and $7 for the rest of us.)
Monday
North by Northwest (9:00p — Memorial Union Terrace)
FREE.
Tuesday
Top Gun (6:30p — Pinney Library)
Tony Scott > Ridley Scott. (FREE.)
Wednesday
Goldfinger (2:00p, 7:45p — Sundance)
Goldfinger isn’t the best James Bond film, but it is the most James Bond film. The template for future sequels and Austin Powers spoofs alike, Sean Connery’s punny, laser-filled tango with rotund gold dealer Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) is enough fun 50 years later that we can enjoy it while still turning up our noses at romancing the gay out of Honor Blackman. (Don’t worry. Shirley Bassey’s saucy main titles stand the test of time.)