Oddballs, Events, & Rep

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Ali Farka Touré: Springing From the Roots This hour-long 2000 French documentary honors the late Malian musical icon, who died this past March. Interviews and musical clips alternate to help form a profile of both the influential bandleader and the broader musical traditions of the Niger region that he helped influence. (NR) Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 206-267-5380. $5-$8. 7 and 8:30 p.m. Tues. Aug. 15-Thurs. Aug. 17.

Grease Maybe Hollywood stopped making musicals during the '70s, but somebody forgot to tell the cast of this tuneful, cheerful paean to the '50s. Adapted from the Broadway show, the 1978 Grease offers premium family fun with John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, and the wonderful Stockard Channing. This is a sing-along screening, so don't be surprised if the picnickers next to you stand up to dance and belt out "You're the One That I Want." In fact, such behavior is pretty much expected, so practice first at home in the shower. (PG) 4000 California Ave. S.W. (West Seattle), 425-445-5672. Free. Dusk. Sat. Aug. 12.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Screened in series between the first and third installments of the Lucas-Spielberg trilogy, 1984's shrill, frenetic Doom generally grates on your nerves, making a literal roller coaster out of the action; the violence is way too intense for its original summer matinee audience. (The film is alleged to have prompted the creation of the PG-13 rating.) Harrison Ford is his usual reliable self with fedora and bullwhip, while Kate Capshaw (Spielberg's future wife) is a poor replacement for Karen Allen in Raiders of the Lost Ark (see below). The child actor (Jonathan Ke Quan) doesn't help matters. Lucas and Spielberg would later wisely turn to an older figure, Sean Connery, when looking for a male foil in The Last Crusade. (PG-13) Majestic Bay, 2044 N.W. Market St., 206-781-2229. $6-$9.50. Midnight, Fri. Aug. 11-Sat. Aug. 12.

Karaoke Video Challenge Local filmmakers unleash their own musical spectaculars. The background videos are shot in advance; then one brave soul, fortified by beer, sings along to the final work. NOTE: Event is 21 and over. (NR) Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 206-267-5380. $8-$10. 8 p.m. Mon. Aug. 14.

King of Hearts A huge favorite in Seattle, but not of ours, the 1966 King ran for over a year at this theater when it was called the Movie House and run by Randy Finley (who'd later build, and still later sell, the Seven Gables chain). Finley obtained the rights to this WWI saccharine-satire in 1973, and it became a cash cow for his growing empire-which eventually outgrew the tiny theater subsequently renamed the Grand Illusion. Alan Bates plays the Scottish soldier who single-handedly liberates a French town being run by the escaped inmates of the local insane asylum. So you get the idea: who's to judge who's sane amid the insanity of war? It's a cloying fable full of circus animals and costume pageants, and the innocent crazies make many supposedly wise observations about our penchant for conflict. Geneviève Bujold plays a cute inmate who catches Bates' eye; both performers went on to better things. (NR) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 206-523-3935. $5-$7.50. Fri. Aug. 11-Thurs. Aug. 17.

March of the Penguins This Oscar-winning 2005 French documentary follows the incredible Antarctic breeding cycle of the Emperor penguin, and the casting is impeccable. Marching single-file across an icy plane, swaying with each step or tobogganing when tired, dwarfed by huge ice formations like Monument Valley, their 70-mile procession to their annual breeding ground takes on the grandeur of Lawrence of Arabia or a John Ford Western. Unfortunately, Morgan Freeman's droning narration script is insipid. (G) Fremont Outdoor Movies, N. 35th St. and Phinney Ave. N., 206-781-4230. $5. 7:30 p.m. (doors open); show at dusk. Sat. Aug. 12.

MirrorMask Derived from one of his graphic novels, Neil Gaiman's MirrorMask galumphs along in static panels, prioritizing flash over thought, hyperextending a story that would barely sustain a children's picture book. This all-digital 2005 Alice in Wonderland variation does have scores of sublimely creepy otherworldly images, although the blitzkrieg of fantasy concepts is preceded by a laborious setup involving the plucky heroine. But the passage down the rabbit hole offers nominal relief: Gaiman is no Lewis Carroll, and he works in a decidedly post-Freudian ether. The ideas are arbitrary and rhymeless, the visuals inventive but empty, the good-versus-evil plot simplistic by the standards of Alice, The NeverEnding Story, and even Labyrinth. (NR) MICHAEL ATKINSON Egyptian, 801 E. Pine St., 206-781-5755. $6-$9. Midnight. Fri. Aug. 11-Sat. Aug. 12.

Napoleon Dynamite Here we have familiar gork-show genre staples—tawdry Mean Girls; aggressive, oversexed bullies; creepy, not-overly-sympathetic ciphers; the inevitable-as-the-worm-turns Big Dance—yet co-writer/director Jared Hess improbably manages to redeem these figures with a paucity of profanity or cruelty in this 2004 cult hit. Unlike the typical gork hero, who routinely learns a life lesson via standing up for himself/finding the courage to court his crush, Idaho supergeek Napoleon (Jon Heder) doesn't really grow at all over the film's brisk 82 minutes. That's part of the fun—he's true to himself, not to movie conventions. Dynamite carves its own niche in cultdom thanks to the almost supernaturally lethargic performance of the 26-year-old Heder, who brilliantly embodies a teen 10 years younger. (PG) Andrew Bonazelli South Lake Union Discovery Center, 101 Westlake Ave. N., 206-342-5900. $5. Dusk. Fri. Aug. 11.