Thursday
“Films By Peter Tscherkassky and Pat O’Neill” (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
We haven’t seen much from Starlight Cinema, WUD Film’s avant garde unit, so this presentation is a welcome surprise. Both Tscherkassky and O’Neill are renowned for their experimental filmmaking, and this collection at the Union South Marquee will screen four films on 35mm including O’Neill’s kaleidoscopic domestic life critique “Outer Space.” FREE.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (9:30p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
All freakin’ weekend
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (Sundance)
A colleague of the now-retired Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata is a master of animation in his own right with Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko, and My Neighbors the Yamadas all to his highly reputable name. Unsurprisingly, his latest has found its way on many top ten lists already. A bamboo cutter and his wife find a small, magical girl in a stalk of bamboo and raise her as their own as she quickly grows — and grows detached from her surroundings. Essential viewing. (You don’t even have to take my word for it.)
Exodus: Gods and Kings (Sundance, AMC Star, Point, Eastgate, Stoughton Cinema Café)
Whitewash criticisms be damned, Ridley Scott can create the right kind of spectacle when he wants to, and while his adaptation of the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt probably has too many white “Egyptians,” it’s a sure bet Scott will include towering storms and gargantuan waves. I’m still afraid to ask Christian Bale what insane thing he did to prepare for playing Moses.
Friday
What If (6:00p — Union South Marquee)
What if you were actually in love with your best friend? What if you were Daniel Radcliffe and your best friend was Zoe Kazan? What if I stopped talking like this? FREE.
Guardians of the Galaxy (6:00p — Hawthorne Branch Library)
FREE.
Meet Me in St. Louis (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
A promising new life in New York creates all kinds of heartache for a Missouri family in this 1944 Vincente Minnelli musical. I don’t know if I’m more excited for Judy Garland in 35mm or to hear Associate Vice Chancellor of Arts & Humanities and Comm Arts Professor Lea Jacobs personally introduce this. FREE.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (8:30p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Life of Brian (11:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Saturday
Elf (2:00p — Pinney Branch Library)
FREE.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (6:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Comm Arts Student Showcase (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Students, teachers, friends, and Madison bloggers unite! Once more, the bi-annual showcase will show the best from UW-Madison’s brightest. FREE.
What If (8:30p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Life of Brian (11:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Sunday
Family Plot (2:00p — Chazen Art Museum)
His final completed film. Alfred Hitchcock’s macabre (what else?) comedy features Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris on the hunt for a lost family heir. Get it? FREE.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (3:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Monday
“The Hobbit Marathon” (12:30p — AMC Star; 12:45p — Point, Eastgate)
Watch all three Hobbit films two days ahead of the release of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Or don’t. Long was the way that fate them bore.
The Great Beauty (2:00p — Alicia Ashman Branch Library)
FREE.
Wednesday
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (Sundance, AMC Star, Point, Eastgate, Stoughton Cinema Café)
The lives of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, and Thorin Oakenshield converge with thousands of men, wargs, orcs, and elves in the conclusion to Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films. The results have been middling (and that’s without comparing them to The Lord of the Rings), but maybe that love triangle finally gets interesting?
White Christmas (1:25p, 7:15p — Sundance)
Cloud Atlas (5:30p — Alicia Ashman Branch Library)
The Wachowskis’ sweeping, science-fiction ballad has its faults (and several of them are nose-sized) but even Cloud Atlas‘s sloppiest, shoddiest moments are no match for its lyrical storytelling and beautiful messages. You can discuss David Mitchell’s original and once-thought unadaptable novel before watching the movie for FREE.