Local & Repertory Clutch Local director Jay Rowlands debuts his drama about

Local & Repertory

Clutch Local director Jay Rowlands debuts his drama about muscle-car enthusiasts at this 21-and-over event. (NR)

Admiral, 2343 California Ave. S.W., 938-3456, clutchthemovie.com. $10, Sat., June 29, 8 p.m.

Laurence Anyways From the talented young gay Quebecois director Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother), this new drama has its hero (Melvil Poupaud) declare he wants to live as a woman, which naturally upsets his girlfriend (Suzanne Clement). The film is set over several years during the ‘90s, a period perhaps less accepting of transsexuals than today. (NR)

Pacific Place, 600 Pine St., 888-262-4386, amctheatres.com, Opens Fri., June 28.

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Love Free or Die Screed as part of Pride Week, this is the recent documentary about gay bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who’s won accolades for his role in the LGBT community. (NR)

Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., 622-9250, fryemuseum.org, Free, Sat., June 29, 2 p.m.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome The last and arguably weakest of George Miller’s post-apocalyptic Outback adventure yarns, Thunderdome is still a lot of fun. Mel Gibson had his character down: grave, taciturn, dangerous, but not yet hardened into self-parody. Tina Turner hardly seems out of place as a despotic desert queen; she certainly looks suitably regal, and she scored a massive hit with “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome).” Still, the first two Mad Max films were better and scruffier; and it is those two that the 2014 reboot (directed by Miller, starring Tom Hardy) will likely refer back to. (PG-13) Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., 686-6684, central-cinema.com, $6-$8, June 28-July 3, 9:30 p.m.

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Movie Mondays 1978’s most popular film cemented John Travolta’s movie superstardom—and gave Olivia Newton-John her only taste of it. Today it’s being tagged “the original high school musical.” Grease—despite the fact that everyone in the cast is obviously old enough to be running the P.T.A.—still looks like the stuff of which legends are made. When the T-Bird gang first calls out “Hey, Zuko!” and the camera zooms in to capture Travolta’s magnificent mug, you know you’re in the presence of a god. Zac Efron? As if. 21 and over. Ticket price is your drink price. (PG-13) STEVE WIECKING The Triple Door, 216 Union St., 838-4333, thetripledoor.net, $3, Mon., 8 p.m. Through Aug. 19.

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Paris Is Burning SEE THE WIRE, PAGE 17.

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Rawstock Drink specials and live performances accompany this 21-and-over event. Among the short films being screened are Evan Viera’s animated Caldera, music videos by J. Tillman (one including Aubrey Plaza), and Shawn Telford’s The Last Virgin. (NR)

Columbia City Theater, 4918 Rainier Ave. S., 723-0088, rawstockmedia.com, $12-$15, Thu., June 27, 8 p.m.

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Rebel Without a Cause SEE THE WIRE, PAGE 17.

Ongoing

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Before Midnight

Before-ophiles already know that Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) are now a couple and the parents of adorable twin girls. On vacation in Greece, the Paris-based family is contemplating a move to the U.S., where novelist Jesse’s teen son lives. But Celine has a career back in Paris, and she naturally takes his suggestion as an affront. From the first 10-minute take in the car ride back from the airport, kids snoozing in the rear seats, Before Midnight becomes their on-again/off-again argument about who has to sacrifice what for a relationship, what sexual spark keeps it burning, and how shared romantic history becomes both a burden and a bond. Your tolerance or enthusiasm for the third chapter of Celine and Jesse’s intermittent romance will depend on your feelings about Richard Linklater’s last two talkathons featuring the same duo: 1995’s Before Sunrise and 2004’s Before Sunset. That’s really all the guidance you need: If you cherish the first two movies, as I do, the third installment feels necessary—a midlife tonic for all those foolish old romantic yearnings, a trilogy driven by fallible, relatable characters rather than franchise economics. (R) BRIAN MILLER Harvard Exit, Thornton Place, Sundance, others

The Bling Ring Sofia Coppola has made just three features since Lost in Translation, her 2003 breakthrough. She’s in her early 40s now, and somehow ought to be past The Bling Ring. The real-life case of teenagers who robbed the houses of L.A.’s most vacuous stars must have sounded ripe for a satirical spin around the block. The crime spree grows naturally from the friendship of sociopathic Rebecca (Katie Chang) and easily led gay kid Marc (Israel Broussard). They execute the burglaries by Googling the busy schedules of fave celebs, which makes locating their empty houses easy enough. Their equally vapid friends, Nicki (Emma Watson), Sam (Taissa Farmiga, sister of Vera), and Chloe (Claire Julien), join the nocturnal prowls. More giggly pranks than criminal exercises, these break-ins qualify as “something to do” for idle, privileged teens. So the kids are not all right, and Coppola wants you to know that—even if it already seemed obvious from the news story itself. (R) ROBERT HORTON Pacific Place, Guild 45th, SIFF Cinema Uptown, others

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The East Brit Marling teams once more with Sound of My Voice director Zal Batmanglij for The East, another intense piece that operates on a bigger scale. Hired by a private intelligence agency to infiltrate an eco-terrorist group called The East, Sarah (Marling) rolls into the unwashed ranks of these self-styled environmental avengers. They repay corporate atrocities by visiting similar outcomes on the offending CEOs and their families—an oil company exec might get toxic sludge dumped in his house, for instance. Sarah begins to see things from the other side, and it helps that the nouveau hippies in the crowd are charismatic (Alexander Skarsgård), devoted (Ellen Page), and attractive. Patricia Clarkson adds frost as Sarah’s boss, and her resemblance to Marling is a mirror for the younger woman’s choice: Develop a conscience or become me someday. (R) Robert Horton Sundance

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Frances Ha Co-written by and starring Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach’s latest is an unabashed tribute to the actress’ distinctive (don’t you dare say “quirky”) charms. The outline of a typical indie picture is in place, as we follow 27-year-old Frances and her New York apartment-hopping over the course of a few months. In the early reels, we mark Frances’ closeness to her BFF Sophie (Mickey Sumner), a bond that will fray as Sophie gravitates toward her boyfriend. The appeal of Frances Ha comes from Gerwig’s pluck and the film’s sprightly sense of play. Many scenes last only a few seconds, and consist of the kind of overheard conversational snippets that capture the found poetry of random eavesdropping. These bits provide a sense of Frances’ life, and perhaps hint at its disconnectedness. The film also conjures up Baumbach’s love of the French New Wave, and his soundtrack is peppered with vintage ’60s music by Georges Delerue. Frances Ha succeeds on its genuinely inventive rat-a-tat rhythm and Gerwig’s unpredictable delivery. (R) ROBERT HORTON Meridian, Sundance, others

Much Ado About Nothing Summer is the time for Shakespeare in the park, and Joss Whedon’s enjoyably playful comedy is staged in the yard and interiors of his Hollywood home. Much Ado isn’t a vanity project, since Whedon’s cast members are all pros from television. Still, it has the feel of a weekend-home amateur theatrical, with everyone straining to put on a jolly good show. Among the large ensemble cast are Nathan Fillion, Clark Gregg, and Reed Diamond. As quarrelsome lovers Beatrice and Benedick, Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker have a better grasp of the language, but their careful syllables don’t always match the sense of the words. There’s a lot of clowning and eye-rolling here that matches the contemporary mood. Prone to mugging and bluster, Denisof struggles with Benedick’s soliloquies, which Whedon ought to have cut to match his movie’s breezy modern tailoring. (PG-13) BRIAN MILLER Harvard Exit, Lincoln Square, Sundance

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SOMM Documentary director Jason Wise follows four guys preparing to take the grueling master sommelier exam, basically a cram-course Ph.D. in wine. The candidates are Brian McClintic, Dustin Wilson, Ian Cauble, and DLynn Proctor. Brian, Dustin, and Ian are the California bros, who meet regularly to taste, spit, and describe. (DLynn lives elsewhere and gets less screen time.) In addition to being a geeky celebration of wine, SOMM offers a torrent of words as our heroes struggle to articulate what’s on their tongues. Ian is the overbearing alpha-taster of the obsessive, one-upping bunch, whose group dynamics suggest a Christopher Guest mockumentary. By the time we get to Dallas for the big exam, we’re so invested in these four funny, personable fellows that failure would be shattering for us, too. (NR) BRIAN MILLER SIFF Cinema Uptown