Remorques, Queen of Earth, Mad Max: Fury Road and Micro-Wave Cinema returns
Thursday
The Yes Men Are Revolting (6:30p — Central Library, Rm 302)
In their third feature film, absurdist culture jammers Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos bring their hijinx to shaming climate change deniers. (FREE.)
The Lanthanide Series (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
Through her voracious appetite for the medium, filmmaker Erin Espelie has delved into social and environmental questions with experimental fortitude. In this “video essay,” the UC-Boulder lecturer pairs non-fiction and musings on black mirrors to forecast the effects of digital technology on us all. Ironic or not, it’s in DCP. (FREE.)
Mad Max: Fury Road (9:30p — Union South Marquee)
Maybe it’s the superhero fatigue at the box office, but it seems like nobody caught moviegoers off guard this summer like George Miller. Across the sand-swept wastelands of his lawless apocalypse, hideous excuses for men fight for control of the few valuable resources left. When Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) makes a break from a ruthless warlord to bring his captive wives to freedom, Max (Tom Hardy) is the only one who can save her. Except it it’s her saving him. All I know is it’s September and I’m still thinking about Fury Road. (FREE.)
All freakin’ weekend
Queen of Earth (Sundance)
As the title character in Listen Up, Philip, Jason Schwartzman was the easy draw in Alex Ross Perry’s bruised snapshot of misanthropes and the twisty lives they lead, but you could stay for Elisabeth Moss and her turn as Philip’s one-time lover starting life anew. This time, Perry’s back with Moss, and her life seems like it’s at an end. After a devastating breakup with her boyfriend (Kentucker Audley), Catherine (Moss) stays with her longtime friend Virginia (Katherine Waterson) for a week-long vacation that might actually be making things worse. Mad Men may be over, but Elisabeth Moss is just getting started, and Madison Film Forum‘s Edwanike Harbour sounds like she agrees.
Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet (Sundance)
The Perfect Guy (AMC Star)
Michael Ealy says all the right things, knows when to help a lady out, and can apparently grind on the dance floor. But Sanaa Lathan starts questioning her new boyfriend’s bonafides when his short temper gets him into some trouble.
The Visit (AMC Star, Point)
WUD Film offered a FREE sneak peek of M. Night Shyamalan’s new thing earlier this week. Now you have to pay for it — in one way at the very minimum
Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown (Fri – Sun 10:00a, 12:30p, 3:00p — Point)
WAH-WAH. WAH-WAH-WAH WAH-WAH. WAH-WAH. WAH.
(Charles Schulz’s lovable gang races against a band of bullies at summer camp. $5.)
Friday
Mad Max: Fury Road (6:00p — Union South Marquee)
(FREE.)
The Trial (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
While I’m over here getting Squid and the Whale flashbacks, this “Kafkaesque” adaptation of Franz Kafka’s 1925 novel is churning up all sorts of ideas in Grant Phipps, from Scott Stossel memoirs to The Third Man and Terry Gilliam’s bonkers masterwork Brazil. (FREE.)
Wild Tales (8:30p — Union South Marquee)
Damian Szifron’s six-story Argentine anthology sorta just came and went at Sundance this past spring. Here’s Rob Thomas’s original review:
The point of these stories — that the veneer of respectability that camouflages man’s essential barbaric nature can be ripped away at any time — is hardly original, and “Wild Tales” has little profound to say about the human condition. But what it is is a lot of fun, pulling a steady stream of I-can’t-believe-I’m-laughing-at-that laughs out of the viewer. Szifron is at times a needlessly showy director, with shots that deliberately draw attention to themselves without adding much to the film. But he keeps the pace nimble, and the balance between high spirits and low behavior maintains throughout.
(FREE.)
Wet Hot American Summer Brew ‘n View (9:00p — Majestic)
With Netflix’s semi-original prequel series signaling the return of Andy, Susie, Ben, Gene, Victor, Beth, McKinley, Lindsay, Coop, Katie, and series co-creator David Wain, Majestic’s $5 Brew ‘n View feels like a bittersweet sendoff to summer.
Gremlins (11:00p — Union South Marquee)
Um, at least it’s before midnight? (FREE.)
Saturday
Wild Tales (6:00p — Union South Marquee)
(FREE.)
Remorques (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
As Cinematheque retraces the underaprrecated work of French wartime master Jean Grémillon, LakeFrontRow and Madison Film Forum will be diving a little deeper into the selections. This week, our own Grant Phipps kicks things off with a fantastically pedigreed look at the swirling, melodramatic tale of a romance and one ship captain’s life. (FREE.)
Hump! Tour 2015 (7:30p, 10:00p — Barrymore Theatre)
Dan Savage’s sex-positive homemade porn festival makes two stops in Madison. (Admission is $18 in advance, $20 day of the show.)
Mad Max: Fury Road (8:30p — Union South Marquee)
(FREE.)
Gremlins (11:00p — Union South Marquee)
(FREE.)
Sunday
Adam’s Rib (2:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
(FREE.)
Mad Max: Fury Road (3:00p — Union South Marquee)
(FREE.)
Wild Tales (6:30p — Union South Marquee)
(FREE.)
God Bless the Child (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Unable to care for her childre, a chronically depressed mother (Rebecca Graham) leaves her five kids to fend for themselves for the day. I never thought a no-budget indie could stir up memories of Adventures in Babysitting, but Micro-Wave Cinema always surprises with something. (FREE.)
Monday
The Godfather Part II (7:00p — Point)
As if Mario Puzo’s sweeping, scathing look at the death of the American dream couldn’t get any more sweeping or scathing. Forget whether The Godfather Part II is better than Coppola’s first chapter and just appreciate that you’re getting another stone cold classic on the big screen for $5.
Wednesday
The Godfather Part II (7:00p — Point)
($5.)
Timbuktu (7:00p — Pinney Library)
Timbuktu playing at this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival was a big deal. If you missed it, Madison Library’s FREE screening is a lesser big deal.
Caro Diario (7:00p — Helen C. White Building, Rm 4281)
La Cineteca’s FREE on-campus Italian language program is back for the fall semester, kicking things off with unabashed leftist Nanni Moretti as he directs his own life in this faux-documentary and autobiography.