Venture to the movies this weekend to take your mind off the inauguration. Whether you want to see a new release like The Founder (a drama about the origin story of the McDonald's empire, starring Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch) or pretend you're taking a mini-vacation to Japan (while watching Juzo Itami's Tampopo, a comedy about food and consumption, or Throne of Blood, a Kurosawa adaption of Macbeth), our film critics have picked the best options for you. If you need more ways to distract yourself, you can always start preparing early for the 2017 Academy Awards by watching these likely nomineesâor check out our complete movie times calendar and our Things To Do calendar for everything happening this weekend.
Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile appâavailable now on the App Store and Google Play.
Jump to: Friday Only | Sunday Only | All Weekend
FRIDAY ONLY
1. Throne of Blood
I've sworn off the original Macbeth for the next decade (one too many high school productions), but Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, adapted from Macbeth, is a horse of another color. Toshiro Mifune is Washizu (Macbeth), bluff, humorous, sincerely happy as the stalwart vassal of a great lord, but, alas, a bit of a dim bulb. The steely Isuzu Yamada, on the other hand, as Asaji (Lady Macbeth), radiates intelligence from every pore, and we're breathless at the drama she manufactures from absolute stillness; her lips scarcely seem to move as she pours poison into her poor husband's ears. When after the murders her stillness changes to unceasing, frantic motion, it's the wreck of her mind that we feel the most. BARLEY BLAIR
Grand Illusion
SUNDAY ONLY
2. The Bad Sleep Well
As you will gather from the title, this is a rather dark film, a story of corruption, murder, and revenge, if not actually based on Hamlet then nonetheless having many interesting parallels. Toshiro Mifune plays a young corporate functionary out to destroy the executives who killed his father; human feelings complicate his strategies and render him less able than the bad, who... well, who sleep awfully well, don't they? The opening 20-minute wedding scene is among the most famous in the history of film. BARLEY BLAIR
Grand Illusion
ALL WEEKEND
3. 20th Century Women
Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman made an important point about the year Mike Millsâs latest film, 20th Century Women, is set, the year 1979. That year âwas the last moment of calm before the counterrevolutionâthe takeover of the culture by money fever, fashion, and Reaganite unreality.â Because 2015 is beginning to look much like 1979, Mike Mills, who is famous for directing Beginners, may have made the right movie at the right time. 20th Century Women also has a much-praised performance by the great Annette Bening. CHARLES MUDEDE
SIFF Cinema Egyptian & Guild 45th
4. The Ardennes
Debut director Robin Pront focuses on Flemish characters stuck on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. Sylvie (Veerle Baetens) is a recovering drug addict who wanted to be a pop star, but ended up as a waitress in a strip club. Her former boyfriend, Kenny (Kevin Janssens), is an ex-con with a terrible haircut and a worse temper. While he was locked up, she fell for his brother, Dave (cowriter Jeroen Perceval), and they've been keeping it on the down low. From the moment he exits the pen, it's clear that Kenny is gonna fuck things up for the lot of them. He's Robert De Niro in Mean Streetsâor Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver. There would be no movie without him, but it's hard to feel anything for a racist stalker who insults the disabled. If anything, The Ardennes resembles Nicolas Winding Refn's visceral debut, Pusher more than any recent Belgian films, right down to the chilly techno score. It's an accomplished piece of work, but it's also a bummer, not only because the only LGBT characters (Jan Bijvoet and Sam Louwyck) are psychopaths, but also because the last act is so unrelentingly grim. Suffice to say: Cain and Abel have nothing on these twisted cats.KATHY FENNESSY
Northwest Film Forum
5. Arrival
Arrival is an ominous, thrumming, beautiful thing that starts out being about aliens who need a decoder ring. It ends up being about something quite different. Arrival is about Big Thingsâand the manner in which Villeneuve gets to them, as his camera slowly traces structures and landscapes both familiar and strange, canât help but surprise and impress. Visually and aurally remarkable, Arrival sometimes unfolds like a clever puzzle and other times like a raw-nerve thriller; throughout, with heart and wit, Heisserer and Villeneuve never lose sight of the filmâs charactersâcreatures in a situation thatâs weird and mournful, exciting and threatening. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Meridian 16 & Sundance Cinemas
6. Elle
Elle, Paul Verhoeven's first feature since 2006âs Black Book, is a breathtakingly twisted piece of work, utilizing a tremendous central performance by Isabelle Huppert that bridges some markedly taboo fault lines concerning power and sexuality. And somehow the damned thing is also funny, usually at the least opportune moments. Based on a novel by Philippe Djian, the plot follows a rich, gives-no-shits Parisian video game producer (Huppert), who suffers a horrific sexual assault at the hands of a masked home invader. After the attack, she proceeds to do... virtually nothing expected, investigating her friends and neighbors while moving towards an endgame that even she seems to find mysterious. Her small smile while buying an axe could launch a thousand think pieces. ANDREW WRIGHT
Grand Illusion
7. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
"I'm annoying," says Eddie Redmayne to Dan Fogler in the opening half-hour of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Heâs like Doctor Who with gout, and yetâjust like the good Doctor in even his lamest incarnations, thereâs just enough charm glimmering beneath the surface and shining through the contrivances that you canât write him off entirely. Fantastic Beasts, featuring an original screenplay by J.K. Rowling, is annoying in the manner of Scamander: It is eager to please and amaze, but undersells its spectacle until that spectacle becomes perfunctory. Itâs a goofy blast of kid-lit in love with Looney Tunes-inspired adventureâexcept when itâs a sour metaphor for child abuse and intolerance that owes one hell of a debt to Stephen Kingâs famous prom queen. But somehow, the two stories are sewed together just tightly enough that the TV pilot-esque clumsiness of Fantastic Beasts (there will be four more of these films, likely transforming ASAP into The Dumbledore Prequels) can be forgiven for the power in its climax. BOBBY ROBERTS
Pacific Place
8. Fences
Recently, while leaving a screening of the solid and engaging film adaptation of August Wilson's play Fences, which was directed by Washington himself, a man walking behind me said to the woman walking next to him that this is not the kind of Denzel Washington film he likes. It's too act-y, it's all about the Academy Awards. Clearly, he wanted Washington to shoot more and talk less. But Fences has no guns and a whole lot of talking about lifeâit deals with failed dreams, race relations in mid-century America, marital problems, parenting problems, working-class problems, drinking problems, problems with debts, mental health, and, ultimately, death. What might kill the character Washington plays in Fences, Troy Maxson, is not a car chase or a shoot-out, but blocked arteries to the heart. He is a normal guy with a very standard suite of personal and social issues. The man behind me was correct: It is likely that Washington will be recognized by the Academy for this performance. And thank God! It is good to see a great actor take a break from his fall into the abyss of crap and produce something of social, artistic, and cultural value. The Academy will probably also recognize Viola Davis, who plays Rose Maxson, Troy's wife. CHARLES MUDEDE
Various locations
9. The Founder
The story of McDonaldâs is as American as that fast-food restaurantâs version of apple pieâa dubious, deep-fried log of chemically sweetened goo. The business was started by two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald (Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch), who brought production-line efficiency to their small San Bernadino hamburger stand. Emphasizing consistency and American values, the McDonalds were fleeced by a middling salesman (Ray Kroc, played by Michael Keaton) who transformed their stand-alone burger joint into the biggest chain in the country. The movie avoids some obvious routes, like that of an aw-shucks space-age fable of business, gumption, and the American dream. Nor is it a sharp slice of invective that takes down the corporate fat cat who served unhealthy yet convenient sustenance to billions. This is to The Founderâs credit, but itâs a weird, mostly unsatisfying watch. The Founder raises more questions than it answers, which is maybe the point. How did the hapless Krocâs luck change so drastically for the better? How did the McDonalds boys utterly fail to protect themselves? And how should we feel about a man who got everything he ever wanted by ripping off his business partners and screwing over his long-suffering wife (Laura Dern)? That last question is the most interesting, but thereâs not enough meat in The Founder to make it one worth thinking about. NED LANNAMANN
Pacific Place & Sundance Cinemas
10. Hidden Figures
The function of white ideology is to place the blame of black poverty on black people themselves. They are not smart enough, they are lazy, they are like childrenâtherefore they live in the projects, they are on welfare, they perform poorly academically. But the golden bowl of this logic gets a crack whenever a person or an event makes the truth visible: Blacks are as stupid or as smart as any other group of people. This is why a movie like Hidden Figures is so importantâa film about a black mathematician, Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), who worked for NASA and participated in its key projects in the 1960s. The mathematician was also a woman, and so she challenged not only white ideology but also male ideology. She had to be hidden twice. The movie also stars Janelle MonĂĄe, who made her mark in the best movie of 2016, Moonlight. CHARLES MUDEDE
Various locations
11. Jackie
Natalie Portmanâs portrayal of then-First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy is nothing less than amazing, perfectly capturing Jacquelineâs intense drive, strength, occasional pettiness, and overwhelming grief. She, along with director Pablo LarraĂn and a talented cast, go a long way to reshape our shared memories of Kennedy as simply a fashion plate in a pink pillbox hat, revealing a figure far more complicated and heroic. Jackie is a stunning, heart-wrenching meditation on truth, the American ideal, and the incredible pressure on first ladiesâwomen who represent just as much, if not more, than their husbands. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Various locations
12. La La Land
You guys, I LOVED La La Land, and you will too. Donât be afraid of it just because itâs a musical about a struggling actress (Emma Stone) and a pretentious jazz musician (Ryan Gosling) who meet and fall in love and sing and dance in a romanticized, cartoony LA. Yeah, itâs splashy and grandiose and full of hazy violet Southern California sunsets, but its emotional core is genuine. Take it from shriveled-hearted me, the Unearned Sentiment Police: La La Land is a grand, over-the-top, razzly-dazzly love story that wonât make you puke one bit. It might even help you forget the horrors of reality, however momentarilyâand after the year weâve had, that practically makes La La Land a public service. MEGAN BURBANK
Various locations
13. Lion
Based on Saroo Brierleyâs memoir A Long Way Home, the film, an inspiring drama that earns tears without jerking them, begins with five-year-old Saroo (played by a bouncing ball of energy named Sunny Pawar) becoming separated from his mother and brother and ending up a thousand miles away in Calcutta. Sarooâs path may be unclear, but Lionâs isnât: Like the train that took him away in the first place, the film moves steadily toward its tearful destination, propelled by sincere performances and Volker Bertelmann and Dustin OâHalloranâs gently urgent musical score. Kidman shows great tenderness as the adoptive mother, underscoring the theme of âfamilyâ not being limited by biology, and Patel is serious-minded and haunted. But itâs little dynamo Sunny Pawar that youâll remember best, his infectious cheery optimism encapsulating the filmâs hopeful tone. ERIC D. SNIDER
Sundance Cinemas & Meridian 16
14. Live by Night
Live by Night suggests that Affleck may be on one of his many upswings. Itâs a far from perfect movieâI hesitate to even call it a good oneâbut thereâs effort and care and ambition within its muddled narrative. Severely condensed from the middle volume in Dennis Lehaneâs three-book gangster series (I have not read Live by Night, but its follow-up, World Gone By, is excellent), the film has all the problems inherent in cramming a 400-page epic into a two-hour runtime. Fortunately, it also hangs on to some of the things that make Lehane a superb writerânamely, a fresh framing of gangster tropes with an eye to historical accuracy, and a tight interweaving of plot and character that give stretches of Affleckâs film real momentum. There are scenes in Live by Night thatâre as good as anything Iâve seen on a screen this past year. There are also numerous sequences that are flat-out baffling. NED LANNAMANN
Pacific Place & Sundance Cinemas
15. Manchester by the Sea
In Manchester, Lee Chandler (Affleck) seems content to shovel walkways and unclog toilets for a living in Boston, until word comes that his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler, seen in flashbacks) has died of a heart attack. Joeâs will stipulates that he wants Lee to move back to his titular hometown and become Patrickâs guardian. Lee, however, is haunted by past events and resists, with a toddlerâs tenacity, every effort by the people around him to help him come to terms. I feel for the guy, and you will too, but after two hours, I wanted to grab him by the collar and tell him to buck up. After all, heâs at least going to get an Oscar nomination out of it. MARC MOHAN
Various locations
16. Moana
Moana is the Disney princess movie everyone needs right nowâor, at the very least, Moana is the princess I've been dreaming of since I was a little girl. Not every kindergartner can see herself in Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or, even nowadays, Frozen. After years of witnessing people of color gunned down and beaten on-screen, having a whole movie dedicated to showcasing the knowledge and beauty of brown people felt restorative. Yes, Moana is an animated children's movie, but it is important for children of color to be able to see movie audiences sit in awe of their people's stories. Representation matters regardless of age. ANA SOFIA KNAUF
Meridian 16 & Varsity
17. Moonlight
Moonlight is a film that has all of the major film critics in the country singing the loudest praises, and is already breaking box-office records, and happens to be a coming-of-age tale of a black American male. But I want to make this clear: The director of Moonlight, Barry Jenkins, did not come out of nowhere. He also directed and wrote one of the best films of the previous decade, Medicine for Melancholy (2008). The wonder is that it took him so long to make his second feature, which will most likely make a big splash at the next Oscars. Expect Jenkins to be one of the few black Americans to win the award for best director. CHARLES MUDEDE
Various locations
18. Office Christmas Party
Office Christmas Party rolls out joke after joke like an ever-patient Santa with a bottomless bag of toysâplenty of âem donât work, but only a Grinch wouldnât crack a smile as the party devolves into expected chaos. McKinnon, as the officeâs repressed HR rep, is an expected standout, but I was surprised by Aniston, whose unbelievably mean boss might be even funnier. You probably wonât want to talk about it the morning after, but this Office Christmas Party is a surprisingly fun time while it lasts. NED LANNAMANN
Varsity
19. Paterson
Paterson is beautiful throughoutâvisually, in how Jim Jarmusch and cinematographer Frederick Elmes capture the wondrousness of an urban morning, and aurally, with Paterson's poems (written by Ron Padgett) becoming as much a part of the film as Laura's bulletproof optimism or the rumble of the 23. But there's something else beautiful about Paterson: Jarmusch's clearheaded, straightforward reminder that the most worthwhile art is made by those who scrounge, who have day jobs, who are the same as us: the people who drive and ride the bus, or who try to take up guitar and wonder if they can sell their cupcakes, or who hone their rhymes while waiting for the washing machine. The people who get through each day, finding and sharing bits of hope and truth as the world crumbles around them. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Meridian 16
20. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
This is one of the darkest films in the Star Wars series. In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the theology of that faraway galaxy with its Force takes a backseat, and the troubled soul of the rebellion is at the controls. The Empire is not a joke. Its economic and military power is immense, and the power of its uniformity is almost unstoppable. To challenge it, you need more than just the Force. A rebel must, above all, feel that the realization of the ideal futureâhere in the form of a harmonious, heterogeneous galactic societyâfar surpasses (1) the evils of war and (2) the self. If you miss this point, the sacrifices of a revolution, then you will not understand the greatness of Rogue One. CHARLES MUDEDE
Various locations
21. Tampopo
When a trucker in a cowboy hat ambles into Tampopo's noodle shop, he dispenses some sagely advice on noodle preparation before getting into a fight with some thugs in the joint. When he wakes up the next morning, Tampopo asks him to train her to be a master noodle chef. Reluctantly, he agrees. That's the main storyline in a movie that goes down many divergent and often extremely funny paths. Even more than his obvious love of movies and filmmaking, director Juzo Itami infuses Tampopo with a love of food, from its noble preparation to its sensual consumption. Pushing that to its extreme, the movie also has an erotic scene with two lovers and some food which puts the eager wannabe 9 1/2 Weeks to shame. ANDY SPLETZER
SIFF Cinema Uptown
