RECOMMENDED: The name Ai Weiwei is not a household word, but trust us, you know at least something of his work. In his native China, he is both the nation’s most famous contemporary artist and its most outspoken critic. That he is both of these things in a land that is historically unkind to both artists and activists makes him, by default, kind of a bad motherfucker. So it helps that he also kind of is quite naturally; over the years, China has attempted to silence Weiwei in a variety of manners, from bureaucratic to downright thuggish; each time, his reputation grows, he becomes more of a hero in China, and his work becomes more compelling and more populist than before. Al Weiwei: Never Sorry is a doc about him, and you should really go see it.

ALSO NEW IN THEATERS: The Campaign, starring Will Ferrell as Will Ferrell sort of doing George Bush and Zach Galifinakis as Zach Galifinakis doing Ned Flanders; Nitro Circus the Movie 3D, which makes Jackass look like Jean-Fucking-Luc Godard; Hope Springs, in which Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep ponder a threesome or, as the truly kinky call it, an early bird special; The Bourne Legacy, introducing Jeremy Renner as the new Bourne, which is like, OK, sure, I guess; Killer Joe, in which Matthew McConaughey wears a cowboy hat, gets paid to kill people, is creepy; and Searching for Sugar Man, the rock doc about obscure 1970s psych hero Rodriguez.

For more recommendations on films currently in theaters, visit Philebrity’s Film Sweat archive. And click here for movie times. Need repertory film? Try Cinedelphia.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2012 at 2:25 pm.