UPDATED 3/1/2014: Screenings of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 have been added to Saturday and Sunday
Thursday
Oscar-nominated live-action short films (2:00p — Eastgate)
Oscar-nominated animated short films (4:30p — Eastgate)
Benvenuti al Sud (7:00p — UW-Madison Education Building, L196)
This week’s Italian-language film “Welcome to the South,” courtesy of La Cineteca, is a comedy where an overambitious postal worker is sent to work in Southern Naples as punishment. FREE.
Starlight Cinema Avant-garde series (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
WUD Film’s FREE avant-garde programming is back with experimental films from the likes of Stan Brakhage (Dog Man Star Prelude) and Kenneth Anger (Scorpio Rising).
20 Feet from Stardom (9:30p — Union South Marquee)
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Academy Awards, 20 Feet from Stardom shines the spotlight on the backup musicians who perform outside of it. FREE.
Friday
Joi Baba Felunath – The Elephant God (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
This time, Cinematheque’s “Treasure from the Academy Film Archive” is none other than Satyajit Ray on 35mm — a crime caper where the “Bengali Sherlock Holmes” scours India for a lost idol. FREE.
20 Feet from Stardom (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
Thunder Soul (7:00p — Alicia Ashman Branch)
It’s not often a high school is nationally renowned for its band program, but between 1960 and 1978, that’s exactly the kind of attention Houston’s Kashmere Stage Band attracted. In a kind of real-life Mr. Holland’s Opus moment, past students reunite 35 years later for a tribute concert to their former band leader. FREE.
Singin’ in the Rain (9:30p — Union South Marquee)
Children of Men (11:59p — Union South Marquee)
Picture an immaculately-constructed action sequence, with dozens of synchronized stunts and edge-of-your seat action all contained in a single, muscular long take inside one of the best pop culture stories told in the last ten years. And no, I’m not talking about True Detective. Alfonso Cuaron…
All freakin’ weekend
The Wind Rises (Point)
Legendary Hayao Miyazaki’s purportedly final film tells the early life of Japanese engineer Jiro Horikoshi through dream, career, and romance. For those who have waiting nearly three months (read: presumably everyone), this is joyous news, even if it has been dubbed over with English-speaking actors. And here’s Matt Patches on the complicated process involved in doing just that.
Wadjda (Sundance)
Wadjda, a Saudi film about a young girl who enters a Koran recitation competition to help win a bicycle, isn’t just the first feature-length film shot by a Saudi woman. It might also be the first film ever to be directed entirely from inside a mini-van. Seriously.
Non-Stop (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
$150 million in ransom money. A non-stop flight full of potential suspects. One U.S. Air Marshal. His name? Liam Neesons.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues “Super-sized R-rated Version” (AMC Star)
The legend certainly continues in this nearly 2.5 hour cut of the further travails of Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 news team. This time, Ron won’t get the boot for dropping an f-bomb on live television.
Stalingrad 3D (AMC Star)
World War II’s famous (and hugely pivotal) battle gets the Battle: Los Angeles treatment. “3D” must have been one of the Marshall Plan’s key stipulations.
Son of God (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
In addition to implicating the Hebrews in Christ’s crucifixion, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ drew attention for its gritty depiction of ‘ole J.C. himself. In this new version, The Bible co-creators Roma Downey and Mark Burnett ask a new question: What if Jesus had rock star good looks?
Saturday
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (10:00a — Point, Eastgate)
The “2” in this sequel to Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s smash food film is because tickets are just $2.00 (source: citation needed).
“Best Picture Festival” Day Two (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
The remaining Best Picture nominees at this year’s Academy Awards is about the only category one could place Philomena, Her, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, and Dallas Buyers Club.
At Berkeley (1:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
In addition to giving Lawrence of Arabia and every extended edition of Lord of the Rings a run for their money, Frederick Wiseman’s gargantuan four-hour documentary provides a thorough examination of life on the University of California campus. Cinematheque provides a thoroughly FREE screening.
Feminist: Stories from Women’s Liberation (2:00p — Goodman Branch Library)
Jennifer Lee’s documentary provides historical and contemporary context to the feminist movement. FREE.
Mulan Sing-Along (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
First a Frozen Sing-Along and now WUD Film’s creating their very own sing-along opportunities? There’s an awful lot of Disney goodwill goin’ around lately. Maybe it’s got something to do with this new Disney streaming app. FREE.
Le Petit Soldat (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
A Frenchman avoiding enlistment falls in love with an Algerian sympathizer in Jean-Luc Godard’s film that was banned in his own home country for three years. FREE.
Cannibal! The Musical (9:30p — Union South Marquee)
Before South Park… Before Book of Mormon… Before Orgazmo…? there was Cannibal! The Musical. Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s cult comedy project plays FREE.
Barbarella (11:59p — Union South Marquee)
Who needs the Excessive Machine when Roger Vadim’s sci-fi pulp offers enough thrills and outrageous laughs all on its own? Jane Fonda stars in the title role. FREE.
Sunday
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (11:00a — Point, Eastgate)
Rope (2:00p — Chazen Art Museum)
Hitchcock’s thriller, in which two young men play a game of chance with their newly-strangled victim, was famously envisioned as a single long take. As cameras could only hold so many feet of 35mm film however, the resulting picture instead consists of 11 ten-minute long takes. Hitchcock might as well be phoning it in. FREE.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (3:00p — Union South Marquee)
Stephen Sondheim’s musical revealed that murdered townsfolk were being baked into the worst pies in London. Now if only we could figure out what Tim Burton’s been eating these last few years. FREE.
Monday
Grease (12:10p, 2:45p, 5:20p, 7:55p, 10:30p — Point; 12:30p, 3:30p, 6:30p, 9:30p — Eastgate)
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John kick off Marcus Theatres’ $5 musical spotlight that runs throughout March.
Tuesday
12 Years a Slave (6:30p — Pinney Branch Library)
Broadway Danny Rose (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
Woody Allen writes, directs and stars as Danny Rose, a talent manager who cozies up to a mobster’s ex-girlfriend. FREE.
The Loving Story (7:00p — Wisconsin State Historical Society)
The second part in the Wisconsin Historical Society’s four-parts Civil Rights documentary series, The Loving Story tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a biracial couple whose Virginia home was raided by authorities in 1958. FREE.
Wednesday
Grease (1:00p, 3:35p — Point; 12:30p, 3:30p — Eastgate)
Rear Window (1:35p, 6:55p — Sundance)
Jimmy Stewart stars as an immobilized photographer who becomes witness to a murder in this stunning anticipation of D.J. Caruso’s Disturbia. FREE.
Viva Riva! (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
In Djo Munga’s thriller, a small-time operator returns to his hometown city in Congo where years of lifting gasoline finally catch up with him. Co-presented FREE by WUD Film and the Center for Humanities Research Workshop on “New Media and Mass/Popular Culture.”