Weekly Film Agenda: Matriculation Edition

After a sparse, lackadaisical August, the fall semester has arrived with a frenzied syllabus of film screenings: a slew of new documentaries, our favorite Terry Gilliam movies, a notoriously disorganized film festival, and a guest lecture from Bruce Campbell, chainsaw-wielder emeritus.

Thursday 9/7

Four Eyed Monsters
Two pale, artsy Brooklynites met through online personals, maxed out seven credit cards to make a movie about it, moved back in with their parents in Massachusetts, and made a popular video podcast out of the whole mess. Their awkward first date, still distributorless, devolves into glorious mutual scribbling and indie rock at the Somerville Theatre tonight, under the auspices of IFFBoston.
Somerville Theatre
7:30 pm, $8
Four Eyed Monsters: web site | IMDB | trailer

Year of the Devil (Rok dábla)
A fictional documentarian follows a rock star's comeback tour with a funeral band, and the ensuing the toll it takes on everyone involved (we've been promised necromancy an characters bursting into flames and whatnot), in Czechoslovakia's answer to This Is Spinal Tap.
Museum of Fine Arts, Remis Auditorium
8:15 pm, $8
Year of the Devil: web site | IMDB | clips

Friday 9/8

Mascot
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Somerville Arts Council presents "two often overlooked, yet historically significant silent films": Mascot, a brilliant piece of animation from 1934, and The Fall of the House of Usher, a hallucinatory 1928 adaptation of Poe. Live music for both will be performed by Cul de Sac, the Boston band for whom the term "post-rock" was allegedly coined.
Union Square, Somerville
8 pm (rain date Saturday 9/9), free
Mascot: IMDB
The Fall of the House of Usher: IMDB
Cul de Sac: web site | myspace

Bubba Ho-Tep
A geriatric Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell, on hand to introduce the film) and a black John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis), or possibly an endearingly delusional guy and another endearingly delusional guy, defend their nursing home from an ancient evil of Egyptian provenance.
Brattle Theatre
9:30 pm, $10
Bruce Campbell: web site
Bubba Ho-Tep: web site | IMDB | trailer

Saturday 9/9

Jesus Camp
Bostonist has always said that children should be seen and not have talking points. So we expect this documentary to terrify us, or drive us to Unitarianism.
Boston Film Festival at the AMC Loews Boston Common
7 pm, $10
Jesus Camp: web site | IMDB | trailer

Double Yellow II
The mysteries of bike messenger culture explained, in a documentary by Brookline resident, UMass & Hampshire College alum, and veteran messenger Jonathan Tomlin.
Coolidge Corner Theatre
Midnight, $8
Double Yellow II: web site | trailer

Tuesday 9/12

The Fisher King
Twelve Monkeys
Brad Pitt and Robin Williams are both at their best when playing crazy. The Brattle supplies a heaping double dose of the crazy in Tuesday's installment of their Terry Gilliam series.
Brattle Theatre
Twelve Monkeys: IMDB | trailer
4:30, 9:45 pm
The Fisher King: IMDB | trailer
7 pm
$9 double bill

Sacco & Vanzetti
Tony Shalhoub and John Turturro provide the voices of Nicola and Bartolomeo, respectively, in a new documentary about Massachusetts' own Italian-American anarchist martyrs. Director Peter Miller will be present and answering questions.
Boston Public Library (Copley Square), Rabb Lecture Hall
7 pm, free
Sacco & Vanzetti: web site | IMDB

Off The Couch: Little Miss Sunshine
Steve Carell's suicidal gay Proust scholar gets some therapy from local MD Howard Katz at Off The Couch, a series in which the audience is invited to discuss the Coolidge's regularly-scheduled feature films with the Boston Psychoanalytic Society.
Coolidge Corner Theatre
7:30 pm, $9
Little Miss Sunshine: IMDB | myspace | trailer