A handy day by day guide to free movie entertainment this week. Including some events of actual and somewhat historical significance.

Monday

King, a Filmed Record @ AFI Silver, 1pm
Happy Martin Luther King Dat Everyone! Celebrate by watching this riveting (and 3+ hours) compilation of documentary footage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from the Montgomery bus boycott to the "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, from the dogs of Selma to the Nobel Prize and the fateful balcony in Memphis. Includes narration and on-screen commentary from Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Charlton Heston, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Clarence Williams III and others. Co-directed by Hollywood notables Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

more details here

Tuesday

Plan 9 from Outer Space @ Dr. Dremo's, 8pm
This is it kids. Dr. Dremo's is about to close, AND THIS IS THE FINAL Psychotronic film society screening.
And of course, its a doozy.
Also known as "the worst movie ever made", Ed Wood's classic "Plan 9 from Outer Space" stars Bella Lugosi and the recently decesaed Vampira (r.i.p), and is summarized by Psychotronics as:

Outer space aliens in pie tins or hubcaps on visible strings send down hoo-doo rays to resurrect the recently dead and scare the bejezus out of some local yokels. It’s their big plan to take over the Earth. Their 9th plan! (So I guess somebody got their arses fired for screwing up the last 8 plans. Space unemployment….who woulda thunk.) The aliens manage to stir up some delicious desires for Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson who die and become mixed-up zombies. Scarey stuff. As usual, because of the horrible nature of this film, the WPFS will provide medical assistance with an underpaid jive-ass nurse.

more details here

Wednesday

Three for the Road @ Japanese Information and Cultural Center, 6.30 pm
A comic-buddy road trip film filled with humor and adventure. There are also many touching moments as the film explores the many sides of friendship. In this version of the classic story the men travel to Osaka in search of the legendary Telesco fish and its supposed healing powers. The movie just got released in Japan this past November and has been a big hit in its homeland.

more details here

Thursday

Love Com @ Japanese Information and Cultural Center, 6.30
Japanese Cultural Center is keeping busy and buzzy this week with 2 free movies. And this one's description reminds me so much of my middle school that I am almost afraid to attend:

Risa is just too tall and too intimidating for the boys at her school to like her. She longs for the attention of a boy. Atsushi is just too short for a girl to be interested in him. Despite the difference in height, the two share everything from their taste in food to their favorite band and become the best of friends. Can they overcome the inches that separate them and become the perfect couple everyone says they will be?
Based on the comic book “Lovely Complex” by Aya Nakahara, Love Com is a story about two friends who slowly come to realize they are perfect for each other, despite a difference in stature.

more details here

Friday

Rule of The Game @ Freer Sackler, 7pm
If you've overdosed on Japanese movies this week, there is always the diversion that is the Iranian Film Festival over at Freer Sackler.
Iranian comedies are seldom seen outside of Iran: that makes this goofy knee-slapper by Ahmad Reza Motamedi a rarity for more reasons than its large ensemble cast of famous actors. Every stereotype on the socio-economic scale is shamelessly exploited for laughs when a ragged clan discovers it shares an inheritance with a family of high-living snobsters. Think “Tehran Hillbillies.”

more details here

Saturday

Art Film Festival @ National Gallery of Art, 2pm
The annual International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal is the most renowned festival devoted to films on fine art, architecture, music, dance, and cinema. The National Gallery salutes this festival on the occasion of its twenty-fifth year in a two-day program presenting award-winning films from the 2007 event. On Saturday, January 26, selections include Car-men, a short dance interpretation of the opera by Czech choreographer Jirí Kylián (28 minutes); The Giant Buddhas, a feature-length documentary on the Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 (95 minutes); and Yves Klein, La Révolution Bleue, a portrait of the innovative artist (52 minutes).

more details here

Sunday

Art Film Festival @ National Gallery of Art, 4pm
On Sunday, January 27, the festival continues and selections include Citizen Lambert: Joan of Architecture, a glimpse into the world of Canadian architectural historian and urban activist Phyllis Bronfman Lambert (52 minutes); The Art of Henry Moore, a new biographical survey with archival recordings and rare footage from the Henry Moore Foundation (60 minutes); and selections from Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film (120 minutes)

more details here

now go be frugal.