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The NW Film Center goes middlebrow every Thursday for the
rest of the summer, with evening outdoor screenings on Hotel deLuxe's
garage rooftop. As you can see, I've ditched our 0-to-100 scale for
something a bit more appropriate to the occasion. You'll catch on.
Filmusik Live: Missile to the Moon: "Portland is rad."
The alfresco series starts strong with '50s sci-fi trash getting spiffed up by the awesome folks of Filmusik, who will be contributing a live original score and voice dubbing to Missile to the Moon, for which I have just invented the Best and Most Ridiculous Giant Spider award. 8 pm Thursday, July 21.
Female: "I actually forgot I was outside with people I hate."
Michael Curtiz's sharp little number about slutting around was released in 1933, so of course mogul and maneater Alison Drake must be shamed and tamed in the final 10 minutes. The cool thing about 1933, though, was that it wasn't 1934, which is when the MPAA prudes began enforcing the Hays Code; for 50 minutes, then, Drake is a proudly libidinous and unsentimental woman who conscripts her livery to help her ensnare lovers and ditches her dudes once they get soft on her. 8 pm Thursday, July 28.
Viva Las Vegas: "It's cold and I want to go home. Or die."
I don't understand Elvis. I don't understand people who like Elvis. I don't understand the appeal of his oil-spill voice. I don't understand why his aw-shucks mugging is considered charming or even permissible in this day and age. I don't know what to tell you. Elvis is in this movie. Go buy a Beatles album. 8 pm Thursday, Aug. 4.
The Outsiders: "I'm outside. On a roof. Watching a movie. Cool."
A fine homage to Nicholas Ray and a great excuse to gaze upon the denim-strangled packages of Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez and the Karate Kid, The Outsiders finds Coppola turning the failed soundstage experiments of One From the Heart into something it doesn't hurt to watch. 8 pm Thursday, Aug. 11.
Police Story: "This beer line is long. I don't care. At least it's moving."
Police Story is widely considered one of Jackie Chan's finest achievements, which will have you questioning the very idea of wide consideration until you remember that Chan's list of achievements includes Police Story 2, Police Story 3, Police Story 4 and Rush Hour. 8 pm Thursday, Aug. 18.
Goldfinger: âStars are pretty.â
With chest unwaxable and wit unflappable, Sean Connery's 007 takes on Auric Goldfinger, Oddjob and Pussy Galore in the Bond film you've already seen even if you haven't. Too timid to work as camp and too smitten with rank double entendres to work as anything more than a slimy joke trapped in a 12-year-old's soft head, Goldfinger is bad but not terrible, which means it's pretty awful. 8 pm Thursday, Aug. 25.
SEE IT: The Top Down: Rooftop Cinema series is presented by NW Film Center on the top deck of the Hotel deLuxe garage, at the corner of Southwest 15th Avenue and Yamhill Street. $9.
WWeek 2015