Thursday
The Neverending Story (12:00p, 2:20p, 4:40p, 7:00p — Point; 12:10p, 2:30p, 4:45p, 7:00p, 9:15p — Eastgate)
Le fate ignoranti (7:00p — UW Education Building, L196)
A widow discovers her deceased husband was secretly seeing another man in this drama. What’s “scandalous” in Italian? Presented GRATIS by La Cineteca.
WUD Distinguished Lecture Series presents: Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick (7:30p — Varsity Hall, Union South)
So this isn’t a film per se, but how often does the director of Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July come to Madison? A noted conspiracy theorist, Stone will appear alongside American University’s Peter Kuznick in Varsity Hall for FREE which, coincidentally, seems too good a deal not to be conspiracy.
Friday
Donkey Skin (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Jacques Demy adapts this French fairytale where a princess (Catherine Deneuve) avoids an unwanted marriage with the help of her fairy godmother. Really, it’s much more delightful than the title sounds. FREE.
Inside Llewyn Davis (7:00p — Alicia Ashman Branch Library)
FREE.
All freakin’ weekend
Mini_Indie Film Festival (Thursday – Sunday — Union South Marquee)
Your favorite film festival with the conspicuous underscore is back! Friends at Madison Film Forum have a cute little preview for this cute little collection of independent films that includes everything from new Michel Gondry to a short film competition. FREE.
The Railway Man (Sundance)
Colin Firth stars as a British World War II vet who seeks out the tormentor that tortured him in a Japanese prison camp. Talk about holding grudges. Nicole Kidman co-stars.
Finding Vivian Maier (Sundance)
Co-directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel (nephew of the late, great Gene Siskel), this documentary a historian’s search for the person behind Vivian Maier’s nanny — a nanny who snapped over 100,000 photos during her lifetime.
The Invisible Woman (Sundance)
Director Ralph Fiennes swaps playing a decades old Brit with questionable facial hair for Dickens, a centuries old Brit with questionable facial hair in this period drama about the secret affair the author shared with Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones).
The Other Woman (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton exact revenge on the man they’re all romantically entangled with: Charles Dickens. Or Nicholaj Coster Waldau. (It should be Charles Dickens).
Brick Mansions (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
Shouldn’t this be the LEGO Movie sequel? Paul Walker, Parkour co-founder David Belle, and RZA star
The Quiet Ones (AMC Star, Point, Eastgate)
Mad Men‘s Jared Harris plays a professor who attempts to create a poltergiest by torturing a young woman in this “based on a true story” horror film that’s probably not all that based.
Saturday
Car Free Klezmer (2:00p — Pinney Branch Library)
A part of the Pinny Branch Library’s Earth Day celebration, “Car Free Klezmer” promotes an environmentally message about transportation with some awesome Klezmer music to boot. Madison’s own Yid Vicious will play music live. FREE.
The Boston Strangler (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Richard Fleischer depicts the infamous string of Massachusetts murders in this police procedural starring Curtis De Salvo in the lead strangling role. FREE.
Sunday
Marnie (2:00p — Chazen Art Museum)
The penultimate entry in Cinematheque’s Hitchcock series at the Chazen, Marnie stars Tippi Hedren as a psychologically disturbed thief and Sean Connery as the man who tries to help her. FREE.
Micro-Wave Cinema presents It Was Great But I Was Ready to Come Home & Empire Builder (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
It’s a double feature from Kris Swanberg with two indie flicks featuring strong female protagonists. In-person filmmaker appearances return to Micro-Wave Cinema! FREE.
Monday
Blazing Saddles (12:00p, 2:25p, 4:50p, 7:15p, 9:40p — Point; 12:00p, 2:20p, 4:40p, 7:00p, 9:15p — Eastgate)
Mel Brooks’ Western satire rounds out the weirdest $5 movie month in recent memory. And only at a Marcus Theatre near you!
Robocop (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
Paul Verhoeven’s uber-violent sendup of action movies takes place in a dystopian future bereft of order, morality, and Robocop remakes. FREE on 35mm.
Tuesday
Inherit the Wind (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
My junior year, our high school biology class watched this dramatization of the 1925 Scopes Trial. I can still vividly recall Spencer Tracy’s towering performance as Henry Drummond. And I don’t remember much from that class. Co-presented FREE by WUD Film and the Isthmus Society.
Wednesday
Blazing Saddles (12:00p, 2:25p — Point; 12:00p, 2:20p — Eastgate)
Gladiator (1:15p, 6:30p — Sundance)
Sundance slots in Ridley Scott’s 2000 crowd pleaser as the latest in its sword ‘n sandals series. Are you not entertained?!
Who is Dayani Cristal? (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
Gael García Bernal leads this real-life search for the identity of a dead body found in the Arizona desert. Co-presented FREE by WUD Film, LACIS, and the Havens Center.