Thursday
Women in Space (6:30p — Central Library, Rm 302)
The Community Cinema series’ latest looks at the impact of women on space engineering and exploration. From Eileen Collins to Jerri Cobb, this PBS Makers presentation will be followed by a discussion with the Global Science Institute’s Dr. Margaret Turnbull. FREE.
Los Dioses Rotos (6:30p — Humanities 1651)
A college professor becomes embroiled in a world of drugs and prostitution when she sets out to uncover the myth of an infamous Cuban pimp. Part of the UW Latin American, Caribbean, & Iberian Studies Program’s FREE Cuban Film Series.
Sorcerer (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
Four truck drivers — among them, Roy Scheider — are tasked with transporting tons of nitroglycerin across a South American village. At Wednesday’s presentation of the The Exorcist in the Marquee, Cinematheque director Jim Healy referred to this thriller as Friedkin’s finest work. As the series on the director wraps, I suppose there’s only one way to find out. FREE.
Maleficent (9:45p — Union South Marquee)
James Newton Howard’s excellent score actually makes Disney’s latest and not-so-greatest live-action remake watchable. Oh, what sorcery is this? FREE.
All freakin’ weekend
Wetlands (Sundance)
Carla Juri plays a sex-obsessed teen who lands in the hospital after a shaving accident in her lower regions. During her stay, she tries to reconnect her divorced parents, hits on her beguiling male nurse, and entertains diatribe after diatribe about the liberating powers of bodily fluids. Judging from its trailer, Wetlands looks like it plays into the naive and occasionally disgusting charm of Juri’s worldview for an extremely stylish effort.
For No Good Reason (Sundance)
Johnny Depp pays a visit to famed Hunter S. Thompson artist and collaborator Ralph Steadman. Does Sundance sell Flying Dog beer at the concessions?
Kill the Messenger (Point)
Jeremy Renner stars as Gary Webb, the blacklisted American journalist who helped expose a CIA-funneled crack-cocaine ring between Nicaragua and Los Angeles in the 1980s.
The Judge (Sundance, AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
A hotshot lawyer returns home to find he must defend his ornery judge and father against murder charges. Robert Downey, Jr. looks even less comfortable than Robert Duvall in this poster. Now that’s acting.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate, Stoughton Cinema Cafe)
This adaptation turns Judith Viorst’s beloved children’s book into Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Dracula Untold (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
The massively fictional Dracula (Fast and Furious 6‘s Luke Evans) origin story you never knew you wanted — or maybe knew you never wanted?
Friday
Casper (10:00a — Point, Eastgate)
Yes, with Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci. $2.
Edge of Tomorrow (6:00p — Hawthorne Branch Library)
FREE.
Maleficent (6:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil le Clercq (7:00p — Alicia Ashman Branch Library)
Nancy Buirski documents George Ballanchine and Jerome Robbins’ romances with famed dancer Tanny le Clercq against a backdrop of productions of Claude Debussy’s The Afternoon of a Faun. FREE.
Marketa Lazarová (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Just before joining a convent, a lord’s young daughter (Magda Vášáryová) is kidnapped by a rival band of knights. František Vláčil’s “brutal and magical vision of the Middle Ages” is considered among the finest works in Czech cinema. FREE.
The Double (8:30p — Union South Marquee)
In Richard Ayoade’s meditation on Dostoyevsky’s novella, the life of Jesse Eisenberg’s sad sack changes irrevocably when he meets his doppelganger (Jesse Eisenberg). WUD Film gives those of you who missed this during Cinematheque’s summer screening another (FREE) chance. Co-starring Mia Wasikowska.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (11:00p — Union South Marquee)
I seem to be in the minority in believing Freddy Krueger’s franchise hasn’t aged particularly well, so I’ll leave this one to Matt Singer of The Dissolve, where they’ve been writing about Wes Craven’s original all week:
“Federico Fellini famously said that ‘the cinema uses the language of dreams.’ But few directors have ever made movies using the language of bad dreams more effectively than Wes Craven.” (FREE.)
Saturday
Casper (10:00a — Point, Eastgate)
$2.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (10:00a — Point, Eastgate)
$5.
One Direction: Where We Are (AMC Star — 12:55p, 7:00p; 12:55p, 7:00p – Eastgate; 7:00p — Point)
Ads for the British pop group’s concert tour film proclaim this as an exclusive one weekend only event. Mercifully, it looks like Madison’s engagement is even shorter.
The Double (6:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Mauvais Sang (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Starring Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, and Denis Lavant, Leos Carax’s international debut explores a future where passionless lovers are being wiped out by a mysterious new disease. FREE.
Maleficent (8:30p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (11:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Sunday
Casper (10:00a — Point, Eastgate)
$2.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (2:00p — Chazen Art Museum)
In Hitchcock’s 1956 remake of his own 1934 film, Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart’s son is kidnapped after they witness the strange demise of a mysterious informant. What’s with all the kidnapping this weekend, Cinematheque? FREE.
Maleficent (3:00p — Union South Marquee)
FREE.
Hawaiian Punch (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
NYU grad Nandan Rao has been making a name for himself both in making microbudget cinema and in his support of indie film as a spearheader of the digital venue Simple Machine. In last month’s interview with his sometimes collaborator Brandon Colvin, Colvin described Hawaiian Punch as a “crazy blend of documentary and fiction about… Mormons in Hawaii.” I’m in. Micro-Wave Cinema will feature a discussion with Rao via Skype after the film. FREE.
Monday
Stories We Tell (2:00p — Alicia Ashman Branch Library)
FREE.
Nicky’s Family (6:30p — Central Library, Rm 302)
This documentary uncovers the story of Englishman Nicholas Winton’s rescue of nearly 700 Czech and Slovak children at a time just before the outbreak of World War II. FREE.
Travel Adventure Series: Sudan – The Inside Story with Karin Muller (7:30p — Union South Marquee)
After filming for three months in Sudan, Karin Muller presents the results of her documentary work in one of the most conflict-ridden parts of the world. uniontheater.wisc.edu has full pricing details.
Tuesday
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (4:00p, 7:00p — Point, Eastgate)
$5.
Travel Adventure Series: Sudan – The Inside Story with Karin Muller (7:30p — Union South Marquee)
Wednesday
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (7:00p — Point, Eastgate)
$5.
Venus in Fur (7:00p — MMoCA Lecture Hall)
Roman Polanski throws theater director Mathieu Amalric in the snares of Emmanuelle Seigner, an actress who gets the drop on Amalric as he places the finishing touches on his latest stage play. Limited to the two actors and confined to a single theater space, Polanski’s latest certainly sounds intimate. FREE to MMoCA members and $7 for general admission. Doors open at 6:30p.
The Apostle (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
Robert Duvall’s preacher moves to Louisiana and starts a nifty radio program. Co-presented by WUD Film and the UW Lubar Institute.
Happy Family (7:10p — Education L196)
A veritable “Italian Stranger Than Fiction,” Mediterraneo‘s Gabriele Salvatores directs this comedy about a writer whose characters come to life to give feedback, however unwanted, on their respective fates in the novel. Presented FREE by UW’s “La Cineteca” film series.