The Clips Beer & Film Tour, Alicia Ashman’s Anime Club screens Oblivion Island, The End of the Tour, and The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Thursday
New Belgium Clips Beer & Film Tour (9:00p — Olin Park)
New Belgium’s traveling charity show stops by Olin Park for a program of fan-made short films and a whole lot of beer. Admission is FREE, with all proceeds from concessions going toward the Wisconsin Bike Fed. (Doors at 7:30p.)
All freakin’ weekend
The End of the Tour (Sundance)
I won’t make an Infinite Jest joke; chances are you’ve already heard one and I haven’t read it. In any case, it doesn’t sound like any preparatory reading is required with James Ponsoldt’s latest, a dramatization of Rolling Stone writer David Lipsky’s interview with David Foster Wallace. Ponsoldt didn’t shy away from the ugly aspects of substance abuse in Smashed or young love in The Spectacular Now, and yet Jason Segel’s performance as Wallace has received praise for its warm personification, a nuanced attempt to shave off a splinter of the author’s ultimately unknowable genius.
Phoenix (Sundance)
Nelly Lenz (Nina Hoss) survived the Holocaust, but at a terrible price, and after facial reconstructive surgery renders her unrecognizable, she strains to repair the life she once shared with her husband (Ronald Zehrfeld), who may or may not given her up in the first place. Hitchcockian but never without its own vision, Phoenix was such a highlight in our Wisconsin Film Festival experience that it made Grant Phipps’s entire Saturday worthwhile. Capital Times editor Rob Thomas is also hosting a post-show chat on Tues, Sept 1.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Sundance, AMC Star, Point)
15 year-old Minnie Goetze (Bel Powley) hits her sexual awakening in stride when she begins having sex with Alexander Skarsgård. The only problem is that “the handsomest man in the world” is also the boyfriend of her mother (Kristen Wiig). Only the romantic entanglements are awkward in this teen’s story, as Marielle Heller’s coming-of-age film shies away from sex-shaming its character’s feelings. After adapting the 2002 graphic novel into an off-Broadway play (and starring in the lead role herself), Heller’s debut reflects back on its source material with colorful animated touches that mimic Minnie’s newly empowered imagination.
We Are Your Friends (AMC Star, Point)
Remember the 30 Rock episode where Tracy Jordan tries writing the greatest song of all-time? Now imagine that, except Tracy’s an aspiring disc jockey (Zac Efron) and instead of Tina Fey’s sharp, left field auteurism, the thing’s directed via a slick, “Social Network lite” style. I’ll wait for the remix.
Friday
The 48 Hour Film Project Awards Party (5:00p — High Noon Saloon)
If you didn’t catch the two 48 Hour Film Project screenings on Wednesday, you can come see the best of the best when this year’s award winners are presented at the High Noon Saloon. ($5.)
Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (6:45p — Alicia Ashman Library)
In a twist on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Haruka is sucked into Oblivion Island, the world of the neglected. Shinsuke Sato’s CGI feature film makes for an unapologetic CGI departure from the Alicia Ashman Anime Club’s more traditional repertoire. (FREE.)
Into the Woods (8:00p — Penn Park)
(FREE.)
Saturday
The Raven James Chronicles: The Waiting Room (1:00p — High Noon Saloon)
The nightmares of paranormal psychic Raven James (Daniel Harris) continue in Makeshift Media Group’s short film premiere. Having cornered the spirits that seek his help into a subconscious plane called “The Waiting Room,” Harris’s alcoholic medium is visited by the ghost of a dead man who makes a startling discovery about his past life’s marriage. After last year’s A Hot Summer Chill at the Badger Bowl, director Ben Wydeven whips up another yarn centered around his short fiction character. ($5.)
Jaws (2:15p — Hawthorne Library)
(FREE.)
Monday
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (7:00p — Point)
If you haven’t had your fill of Marcus Theatres’s retro series, there are now Mafia-themed selections for you. And this requisite (?) Ladies Night entry. Bah.
Top Gun (9:00p — Union Terrace)
Celebrate the last Lakeside Cinema event of the summer with the superior Scott brother’s groundbreaking action style. (FREE.)
Wednesday
A Walk in the Woods (Sundance, AMC Star, Point)
Robert Redford is a ruggeder, handsomer and less prolific-er iteration of Bill Bryson, Des Moines transplant and author of the pop science milestone A Short History of Nearly Everything. Fox sitcom stalwart Ken Kwapis adapts Bryson’s 1998 memoir of the same name as Bryson, after spending much of his adult life in Britain, starts fresh in New Hampshire.
Airplane! (2:10p, 7:50p — Sundance)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (7:00p — Point)