Drunken Dogs, Blood-Drinking Beasts and Bad Cockney Accents: This Week's Movie Revivals

Strange Brew plays Nov. 21-26 at the Academy Theater
By AP KRYZA
Every week, AP Kryza of AP Film Studies brings you the best revival screenings around town. Most of these theaters serve beer. Plan accordingly.
  1. The NW Film Center dedicates the week to some of the finest looks at World War I, including Jean Renoir’s The Grand Illusion, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Big Parade and Kubrick’s Paths of Glory. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. Through Nov. 23. See nwilm.org for full listings. 
  1. The Red Violin traces the 400-year history of a Nicolo Bussotti violin, which survived war and being yelled at by Samuel L. Jackson. The actual violin will be present, and played by Elizabeth Pitcairn of the Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra. Hollywood Theatre. 6:15 pm Thursday, Nov. 20. 
  1. Last year, Saving Mr. Banks showed us Walt Disney wooing author P.L. Travers into loving his version of Mary Poppins. That story was bullshit. Travers hated it. Take a listen to Dick Van Dyke’s cockney accent in the Disney film to hear why. Kiggins Theatre. Opens Friday, Nov. 21.
  1. Roman Polanski’s Chinatown might be the most labyrinthine and confusing detective tale of the modern era. It’s also the best. Laurelhurst Theater. Nov. 21-26. 
  1. Beer-drenched Canadian comedy Strange Brew is perhaps the smartest goofball comedy ever. Between Rick Moranis extinguishing a fire with urine and a drunken dog that flies, it’s easy to miss that it’s a sly update of Hamlet, with Bob and Doug McKenzie as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Academy Theater. Nov. 21-26.
  1. Nora Ephron couldn’t have known that naming You’ve Got Mail after an AOL catchphrase would have dated it so quickly. The Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan rom-com is still as grating as that dial-up noise. 5th Avenue Cinema. 7 and 9:30 pm Friday-Saturday and 3 pm Sunday, Nov. 21-23.
  1. Bad Movie Nite screens a mystery flick apparently about mind-controlling, blood-drinking beasts. Clinton Street Theater. 9:30 pm Friday, Nov. 21. 
  1. Cinema Classics presents Roxie Hart, a 1942 take on Chicago starring Ginger Rogers. Hollywood Theatre. 2:15 pm Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 22-23. 
  1. Feast Your Eyes showcases two food films by Les Blank, Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers and Yum, Yum, Yum: A Taste of Cajun and Creole Cooking. Hollywood Theatre. 7 pm Sunday, Nov. 23. 
  1. With imagery that makes Dali’s surrealism look like a kids’ coloring book—pig-riding demons, bleeding bread, slain children—and enough psychedelic color washes to give Dario Argento a seizure, Soviet director Yuri Ilyenko’s The Eve of Ivan Kupalo will leave your mouth agape and your brain swirling. The 1968 mindbender tells the story of a peasant who sells out to the devil to win the hand of his love. Or something like that. It’s an exceptionally bizarre example of Ukrainian poetic cinema. Read more about it in this week's column. Hollywood Theatre. 9:30 pm Monday, Nov. 24.
  1. Grindhouse rolls out a secret screening of a rare 35 mm flick that you probably don’t want to take your mom to, unless she’s really into boobs and violence. Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Nov. 25. 

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