Tonight's your last chance—or in some cases your only chance—to see the following movies on the big screen in Portland before they disappear forever and everything turns into Suicide Squad. Here, as always, are movie times, and here are this week's movie reviews.
The Great Outdoors
Of all the movies John Hughes has either written or directed (or both), 1988's The Great Outdoors is probably the least, holding down the bottom of his filmography with Baby's Day Out when it's even remembered at all. Which is kind of unfair to this mildly mean-spirited-yet-goofy family comedy. It quickly became a basic-cable staple in the '90s, allowing audiences to savor the antagonistic interplay between John Candy and Dan Aykroyd reminiscent of Porky and Daffy cartoons, and enjoy the subplot about a vengeful bear with a raw ass. But above everything else, The Great Outdoors should be championed for finally revealing the dark truth behind one of America's favorite processed foods: Hot dogs are made out of lips and assholes. BOBBY ROBERTS Mission Theater.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
When alien gourds start replacing everyone you love and civilization devolves and A DOG RUNS AROUND WITH A HUMAN FACE, who would you want at your side? Correct: Jeff Goldblum. ERIK HENRIKSEN Laurelhurst Theater.
Key Largo
There's just so much to get film-drunk on with John Huston's 1948 noir Key Largo. There's Karl Freund's amazing black-and-white cinematography, of course. There's the forever-mesmerizing chemistry between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, seasoned to perfection in their fourth and final team-up on film. There's the amazing bounty of hard-boiled dialogue ripping out of everyone's mouths like bullets spat from the business end of a tommy gun. But above all, there's Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco, soaking in a bathtub, chomping on a cigar, serving notice that while Sopranos and Corleones might rise in his wake, none will possess the lasting power of his swarthy, malevolent majesty. You wanna see some gangster shit? This is some gangster shit. Part of NW Film Center's Top Down: Rooftop Cinema series. BOBBY ROBERTS Hotel deLuxe.
Music of Strangers
The Music of Strangers is a documentary that further opened my eyes to Yo-Yo Ma. And you know what? He is one solid dude. Aside from playing the cello like an angel (not all angels play the harp), he also organized a supergroup of classical musicians in a project called the Silk Road Ensemble, the subject of this film. The original Silk Road, as nerds know, was a historic route for goods to leave the East for trade. This Silk Road is more of an exchange between East and West: Ma’s friends, from places like Iran, China, and Japan, bring their traditional instruments to Western-style classical music pieces and create a new sound, as well as a new interpretation of what’s “traditional” and “classic.” ELINOR JONES Fox Tower 10.
While I have not seen The Great Outdoors since I was a child—when my cinema diet consisted almost entirely of watched and rewatched and rewatched again VHS tapes of Three Amigos, Star Wars, and, yes, The Great Outdoors—I refuse to believe that it is not the comedic masterpiece I remember it being. Let's watch the trailer, shall we?
Okay. I feel 100 percent confident in my assessment: A COMEDIC MASTERPIECE. Whether you believe me or Bobby is up to you! (You should probably believe Bobby.)