Brightest Young Things

Sure, you can spend 10 bucks to see Transformers 2 (don't) or wait in a ridiculously long line for BRUNO (Sascha Baron Cohen's humor is better on the small screen, I think) and add to that ridiculous amount of popcorn and soda money but since you live in DC (hey hey!) you can spend ZERO DOLLARS and see something like 85 000 amazing free cinematic experiences every week.
I used to write this guide to said free cinematic experiences every week and then I took a little break, but what with Screen on the Green reopening this week and whatnot-what better time than now to bring it back to life.
Print for personal use and/or share and email with your friends.
(and-click on the links for further details-ed)

naturally, we kick of with:

MONDAY

As I just said, today is the first day of Screen on The Green. Wheee. Its a short series this summer so better make the most of it. Pack a picnic, get a good blanket and get there early to stake out a good position.
This week on the agenda:
Close enounters of the 3rd kind
movie starts at dusk

Watch the skies! Richard Dreyfuss embarks on an obsessive quest for answers after witnessing a low-flying UFO. Legendary French director Francois Truffaut plays a scientist seeking communication with the (friendly?) aliens. Stephen Spielberg takes us from Mexico to Mongolia, from India to Indiana to show that we earthlings are not alone. The majestic musical score was Oscar-nominated, but double nominee John Williams lost to himself for “Star Wars.” Pre CGI, “Encounters” is movie magic of the first kind.

TUESDAY
Another staple of the Free Movie environs in DC is The Washington Psychotronic Society. To know it is to love it.
This, and every Tuesday, they will show the weirdest little movie that could, just for you, at the Warehouse Theatre.
This week:

Treasure of the Amazon
movie starts at 8pm sharp

Stuart Whitman and Donald Pleasence star is this UN-PC flick about a washed-up, misogynistic, native hating, alcoholic, whacked-out adventurer, who hacks, and kills his way along the Amazon looking for a lost treasure.

which brings us to:

WEDNESDAY
Sadly, the movie at the Japanese Cultural Center is sold out but there are 2 exceptional other offerings:

SCRATCH @ NOMA summer screen
Documentary about hip-hop DJing, the birth of turntablism, the legends and the culture

and

Royal Tenenbaums @ Asylum
Did you know Asylum is now playing free Wes Anderson movies every Wednesday?
I bet you didn't.
I mean, I only know because I tied my bike to their bike rack this past week and saw the (teeeeeny) poster in their window. You missed Rushmore and Bottle Rocket, but Tenenbaums are this week and all is good with the world

BONUS:
Capitol SKyline Hotel's pool is hosting a DIVE-IN (geddit?) screening of "The Big Lebowski" and while it costs 10 bucks to go, you get a free White Russian with your ticket, so it all kind of evens out, right?

which brings us to

THURSDAY
Now, I am yet to attend a single one of Tingey Plaza's 80s bike-in movies, but I am planning to go, I promise.
This week they have:

Top Gun
so get your homoerotica on and feel the need, the need for speed.

Speaking of 80s movies, on

FRIDAY
Rosslyn's Gateway park hosts their weekly "I love the 80s" movie Picnic so if you're in the mood for
Short Circuit
which of course you're into, since it involves both robots AND Steve Guttenberg, you know where to go

For those into something a little more cultured (I know, I know) the Hong Kong film festival is free @ The Freer and Sackler and today they are playing

Mr. Cinema at 7pm

Made in honor of the tenth anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, Samson Chiu’s “moving tribute to the eternal adaptability of the territory’s folk” (Derek Elley of Variety) covers forty years of the island’s history as seen through the eyes of a left-wing film projectionist and his family.

which you can also catch at 2pm on Sunday as well.

Have fun this week and if I missed something, please feel free to berate me in the comments.
I can totally take it