Steven Soderbergh’s final (?) theatrical release, “Side Effects,” plays for FREE this weekend at the Union South Marquee.
Thursday
Side Effects (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
The title in Steven Soderbergh’s Hitchcockian thriller refers to the unfortunate aftereffects Rooney Mara experiences when taking an experimental pharmaceutical courtesy of Dr. Jude Law. While you can enjoy two FREE screenings courtesy of WUD Film, I’ll be busy looking for the magic pill that makes me forget about Soderbergh’s whole “retirement” thing.
Clean Guys of Comedy (7:30p — Point, Eastgate)
Marcus Theatres gives an encore presentation of this comedic medley, featuring stand-up from Dave Coulier, Jamie Kennedy, and Heath McDonald.
Star Trek Into Darkness (9:30p — Union South Marquee)
Having vanquished Nero and safely split the Trek universe into two distinct timelines, that other crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise can now take on the Federation’s greatest threat, Benedict Cumberbatch and Bad Robot Productions’ Hype Machine. With J.J. Abrams moving on to tackle the next Star Wars film, there’s no better time than now to catch a FREE screening of Star Trek Into Darkness… which is more or less the spiritual predecessor to the next Star Wars film. Co-presented by WUD Film and the 2013 Wisconsin Science Festival.
Friday
Sleep Dealer (3:00p — Union South Marquee)
In this near-future thriller, three strangers risk everything they have to disrupt the “hive mind” network that joins everyone together. You, on the other hand, don’t have to risk anything to see this FREE co-presentation between WUD Film and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Star Trek Into Darkness (6:30p — Union South Marquee)
Drug War (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Johnnie To’s Drug War, a procedural featuring a police captain who partners with a captured drug lord, first premiered at last year’s Rome International Film Festival, and it’s finally made its way to Madison by way of the Cinematheque’s FREE “Premiere Showcase.” UW’s own Prof. David Bordwell, a veritable expert on Hong Kong cinema, shares his thoughts here.
The Princess Bride (7:00p — Garner Park)
Madison Parks’ “Moonlight Movie” series concludes with The Princess Bride, the movie that’s nigh impossible to hate. The tale of Princess Buttercup, Westley, Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, Vizzini, Prince Humperdinck, Miracle Max, Count Tyrone’s six fingers, Peter Falk, that kid from The Wonder Years, giant rats, and warthog-faced buffoons comes FREE to all at the magical court of Garner Park.
Side Effects (9:30p — Union South Marquee)
Dark City (11:59p — Union South Marquee)
Whether or not Alex Proyas has lived up to the very promising start of his career is debatable, but his 1998 science-fiction noir Dark City earned praise from critics and a cool four stars from Roger Ebert, who also famously recorded a commentary track for the film: “Dark City has been created and imagined as a new visual place for us to inhabit. It adds treasure to our notions of what can be imagined.” Now imagine two FREE midnight screenings.
All freakin’ weekend
Enough Said (Sundance)
Apart from passing away at the far-too-young age of 51, the tragedy in James Gandolfini’s career was his late emergence away from the New York mobster persona that defined him for much of the last decade. Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who pursues a relationship with Gandolfini before promptly discovering he’s also the ex-husband of her friend, played by frequent Holofcener collaborator Catherine Keener.
Fill the Void (Sundance)
Rama Burshtein directs this story of a young Hasidic Jewish woman, forced into an arranged marriage with a much older widower, who must decide between remaining loyal to her family or loyal to herself. Winning Best Actress (Hada Yaron) at the 2012 Venice Film Festival and selected as Israel’s entry into the Oscar’s Foreign Language category, Fill the Void is the latest entry in Sundance’s Screening Room Calendar.
Don Jon (Sundance, AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
Didn’t get a chance to see WUD Film’s exclusive sneak preview of Don Jon last week? Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s stylish directorial debut about porn addiction and the lasting impacts of images on our relationships opens wide this weekend. Just don’t go in expecting a romantic comedy.
Baggage Claim (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
Adapting his own novel to the big screen, David E. Talbert directs Paula Patton, a woman who embarks on a 30,000 mile journey to woo one man into becoming her husband. Seems pretty reasonable.
Rush (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
The Dissolve has a great piece on the general ambiguity of Ron Howard’s directorial career, and while it does seem weird that the same dude directed A Beautiful Mind and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I can’t deny that Rush, which chronicles 1976’s heated rivalry between Formula One racers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) looks awesome.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
Phil Lord and Chris Miller may have moved on to bigger and block-ier things in directing The Lego Movie, but the Clone High showrunners struck gold with 2009’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. So much gold in fact, that Sony Pictures Animation wanted a sequel to the punny insanity of a world so imaginatively integrated with culinary delights. Shrimpanzees? Tacodiles? Watermelophants?!?! And now I’m hungry.
Metallica: Through the Never (AMC Star)
“Through the Never” certainly isn’t the best track off of Metallica’s “Black Album,” so it seems strange to name Nimród Antal’s IMAX 3D surrealist /concert film after it. Then again, for a mvoie where Dane DeHaan’s roadie essentially faces down one of the freaking Four Horsemen during a Metallica concert, what doesn’t seem strange?
Saturday
Kung Fu Panda 2 (10:00a — Point, Eastgate)
Take the kids this weekend to catch one of Marcus Theatres’ two $3.00 screenings of Kung Fu Panda 2. Or heck, don’t take the kids with. Just don’t act like Hans Zimmer and John Powell aren’t musical gold together.
Star Trek Into Darkness (6:30p — Union South Marquee)
Un flic (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Jean-Pierre Melville’s final film seems like a fitting conclusion to the Cinematheque’s FREE series on the French filmmaker. Un flic stars Alain Delon as he tries to catch four bank robbers while resisting the advances of a transvestite informant.
Star Trek Into Darkness (9:15p — Union South Marquee)
Dark City (11:59p — Union South Marquee)
Sunday
Fantastic Voyage (2:00p — Chazen Art Museum)
The late Richard Fleischer’s sci-fi classic, in which a submarine is shrunken down and sent into the bloodstream of a dying diplomat, should look gorgeous on the 35mm print the Cinematheque is screening as part of its “Cinemascope at 60” series at the Chazen.
Star Trek Into Darkness (3:00p — Union South Marquee)
Monday
The Hunt (9:30p — Point, Eastgate)
Struggling to retain custody of his son, Mads Mikkelsen plays a teacher who is wrongly accused of a terrible crime in this Danish language drama.
The Thing (4:45p — Point, Eastgate)
John Carpenter really did a number on his remake of The Thing From Another World, where Kurt Russell and a team of arctic scientists fend off a shape-shifting alien organism. Rob Bottin and Stan Winston’s still-impressive practical effects really did a number on my sleep habits, too.
Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black (7:30p — Point, Eastgate)
Marcus Theatres presents the comedic stylings of loudmouthed funnyman Lewis Black at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit.
Tuesday
The Hunt (4:45p — Point, Eastgate)
The Thing (7:30p — Point, Eastgate)
Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black (10:00p — Point, Eastgate)
Wednesday
Vertigo (1:40p, 6:45p — Sundance)
Is Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller really worthy of sitting atop the best films in the latest Sight and Sound Poll? Sundance is giving you two chances to praise/balk at the established canon.
The Hunt (5:30p — Point, Eastgate)
The Thing (10:20p — Point, Eastgate)
Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black (1:00p, 3:30p — Point, Eastgate)
Mountainfilm on Tour (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
The year-round, worldwide tour sees “Mountainfilm in Telluride” bring a selection of FREE festival short films to Union South, all concerning adventuring and the outdoors.
Def Leppard Viva! Hysteria Concert (8:00p — Point, Eastgate)
British metal band Def Leppard loves their 1987 album Hysteria so much they decided to perform the entire thing in Las Vegas, recording the full concert and screening it just for you. Oh, can you feel it? Do you believe it?