FILM CAPSULES CP
Jonathan Visser) and a clever twist, it’s a concentrated, half-hour dose of dark science-fiction irony. On-screen bonus: local icon Bill Cardille as your Serlingesque host. Also featured at this Film Kitchen are three shorts by politically minded prankster Travis Irvine, including: “Journey to the End of the World,” shot in actual Mayan ruins on Dec. 21, 2012 (“This is the apocalypse high five!”); “Death and Difference in Dallas,” with person-in-the-street interviews about the JFK assassination; and “Pumped About Democracy.” In the latter, an earnestly bespectacled Irvine and crew hit drunken Halloween festivities in small-town Ohio just before the 2004 presidential election in order to ask young revelers, “Are you pumped about democracy?” (The humor resides in how much less or more seriously interview subjects take the question than does Irvine himself.) And filmmaker Alex Abramson screens three locally shot music videos for rapper Eclypse. 8 p.m. Tue., Jan. 14 (7 p.m. reception). Melwood Screening Room. $5. 412-681-9500 (Bill O’Driscoll)
= CITY PAPER APPROVED
NEW THE ARMSTRONG LIE. A couple of years ago, seven-time Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong and documentarian Alex Gibney teamed up to film what they hoped would be Armstrong’s victory lap: winning the grueling, multi-day bike race in 2009 while consistently testing clean for performanceenhancers, thereby silencing the growing chorus of critics who suspected him of doping. Two immediate questions: Why would the presumably clear-eyed Gibney get swept up in the Armstrong myth-making machine, and why would Armstrong, who knew he was dirty, throw in with an award-winning muckraker like Gibney (Enron, WikiLeaks)? Both those questions get answered in Gibney’s film, which offers: a précis of Armstrong’s career; plenty of armchair psychology about who the cyclist was and what he meant to fans and detractors; and still more explanations and apologies from Armstrong. It’s fascinating on all accounts, with plenty of blame to go around. Starts Fri., Jan. 10. Harris (Al Hoff)
CP
Film Kitchen’s “Meet Your Maker”
REPERTORY MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD. This new 40-minute IMAX film depicts things that are ordinarily too fast, too slow or too small for humans to see; some things are just invisible. But through technologies such as high-speed and time-lapse photography, electron microscopy and nanotechnology, director Louie Schwartzberg gives us a peek. Highlights include: watching mold grow; popcorn popping; and the teeny-tiny structures on the wing of a butterfly. Forest Whitaker narrates the film. Screens daily. Rangos Omnimax, Carnegie Science Center, North Side
SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS. In Preston Sturges’ biting 1941 comedy, a pampered Hollywood director (Joel McCrea) goes on the road disguised as a hobo to learn the truth about the downtrodden masses. Screens as part of a month-long, Sunday-night series of blackand-white classics. 8 p.m. Sun., Jan. 12. Regent Square
The Armstrong Lie THE LEGEND OF HERCULES. The full story of Hercules, legendary strongman of Greek myth. Kellan Lutz (Twilight series) plays the he-man; Renny Harlin directs. In 3-D, in select theaters. Starts Fri., Jan. 10 LONE SURVIVOR. Peter Berg’s actioner, based on “lone survivor” Marcus Luttrell’s memoir, recounts the 2005 mission in which four members of SEAL Team 10 (Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch) attempt to capture a Taliban leader in a remote Afghan village. Things quickly go from bad to worse to tragic, as the men are trapped and outgunned. This will be a polarizing film: Some viewers will laud it for showing the “real” story of heroic Navy SEALs; others will enjoy a better-thanaverage war actioner, with lots of gruesome injuries; and still others will see another jingoistic Hollywood/military co-opt. Giving the real soldiers the benefit of the doubt for a harrowing ordeal, and Berg some marks for tension (and one horrifying fallingdown-the-mountain sequence), I mostly found this film depressing — a perversely entertaining reminder of all the blood and treasure that’s been lost. It’s long been human nature to celebrate brotherhood under fire and “heroic” deaths in battle, but what’s depicted here seems like an especially futile exercise. Starts Fri., Jan. 10. (AH)
N E W S
+
EVANGELION: 3.0 YOU CAN (NOT) REDO. Another installment in the Japanese anime Evangelion series from Hideaki Anno. The tale, set in the future after Earth has been attacked, resumes 14 years after the events of the last film. 7 p.m. (subtitled) and 9 p.m. (dubbed) Fri., Jan. 10. Hollywood WEIRD SCIENCE. More high school hi-jinks from John Hughes in this 1985 comedy starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith and Kelly LeBrock. In it, a couple of nerds use their computer to bring a dream woman to life. 10 p.m. Fri., Jan. 10; 10 p.m. Sat., Jan. 11; and 7 p.m. Sun., Jan. 12. Oaks LENNY COOKE. Ben and Joshua Safdie’s new bio-doc looks at the non-career of Lenny Cooke, who in 2001 was rated the nation’s No. 1 high school basketball player, but who went undrafted in 2002. 7 and 9:15 p.m. Sat., Jan. 11. Hollywood RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL. This touring program offers a slate of short films (narrative, documentary, experimental, animated) that focus on life and places outside of the big cities. This year’s program includes: footage of the Northern Lights; a look at crop circles in Holland; reindeerherding in Finland; work at a Christmas-tree farm; bird-nest cams; 1950s Kodachrome footage from the Country Music Hall of Fame; and two Native American brothers who ride in demo derbies. 4 and 7 p.m. Sun., Jan. 12. Hollywood
TA S T E
+
M U S I C
+
KIDS FOR CASH. Robert May’s new documentary examines the 2008 “kids for cash” scandal, in which Luzerne County, Pa., judges received financial kickbacks from a for-profit prison to which they sentenced kids for often minor transgressions. 7:30 p.m. Thu., Jan. 16. Hollywood ANDY WARHOL FILMS. Selections from Warhol’s Factory Diaries series (1971-75) and other shorts screen. Ongoing. Free with museum admission. Andy Warhol Museum, North Side. www.warhol.org
CLUE. Jonathan Lynn directs this 1985 mystery comedy adapted from the popular board game. Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn head an ensemble cast. 7:30 p.m. Wed., Jan. 8. AMC Loews. $5 SUMMER IN FEBRUARY. Jonathan Smith’s new period melodrama is set amid the Newlyn School of artists in early-20th-century Cornwall. Among them was the bohemian Lamorna Group, and a torrid love triangle. The film stars Dominic Cooper, Emily Browning and Dan Stevens (the ill-fated Matthew on Downton Abbey). 7:30 p.m. Thu., Jan. 9. Hollywood
FIGHT CLUB. David Fincher’s darkly comic 1999 mindbender follows a depressed young man (Edward Norton) as he finds a savior in a new buddy, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), and a new hobby in the secretive underground world of bare-knuckles fighting. (Remember, if anybody asks — there is no Fight Club screening.) 7:30 p.m. Wed., Jan. 15. AMC Loews. $5
Rural Route Film Festival FILM KITCHEN. The monthly series for local and indie film is highlighted by “Meet Your Maker.” Pat Francart’s lovingly made Twilight Zone riff centers on a physicist trying to replicate the Big Bang. With its careful black-and-white cinematography, a strong cast (including local stage pros like John Amplas and
Silents, Please! Sunday, January 26th, 2:00PM
SUMMER IN FEBRUARY (2013) - 1/9 @ 7:30pm Period romance for all you Downton Abbey lovers. Buy a ticket, get a free small popcorn & soda _________________________________________ EVANGELION 3.0 YOU CAN (NOT) REDO 1/10 @ 7pm (subbed) & 9:30pm (dubbed) _________________________________________ LENNY COOKE (2013) - 1/11 @ 7pm & 9:15pm Documentary about a number one ranked high school basketball player who in 2002 shockingly ended up undrafted for the NBA. _________________________________________ ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW - 1/11 @ Midnight _________________________________________ THE RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL
New live score premiere by Tom Roberts
“Best Of/Shorts Tour” - 1/12 @ 4pm & 7pm - Includes a piece
on reindeer herding in Finland, a Will Oldham narrated nature short, and beautiful 1950s Kodachrome footage from the Country Music Hall of Fame. More at www.ruralroutefilms.com/tour
1449 Potomac Avenue, Dormont 412.563.0368 www.thehollywooddormont.org
S C R E E N
+
A R T S
+
E V E N T S
This project supported in part by a Seed Award from The Sprout Fund
HOLLYWOOD THEATER 1449 Potomac Avenue, Dormont 412.563.0368 +
C L A S S I F I E D S
27