Seven

Visionary director Ang Lee can shift between intimate, character-driven dramas and spectacle-driven smashes that push the boundaries of cinematic language, and often, he achieves both. Coming off the success of the 3-D technical marvel “Life of Pi,” for which he took home a best directing Oscar, Lee has set even loftier goals for his experiments with cinematic visuals, which he has applied to the adaptation of the Iraq war novel “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.”

The extraordinary new film “Moonlight” exerts a tidal pull on your heartstrings, but honestly: It’s better than that. The reason it’s distinctive has less to do with raw emotion, or a relentless assault on your tear ducts, and more to do with the film medium’s secret weapons: restraint, quiet honesty, fluid imagery and an observant, uncompromised way of imagining one outsider’s world so that it becomes our own.

Two weeks ago, Karrie O’Neill quit her job as a dental assistant to focus on being a musician full time. It might seem like a risky proposition, but the Spokane native is optimistic about her future. She’ll release her new album, “Unrequited Love,” at the Bing Crosby Theater on Wednesday, performing alongside Seattle’s Star Anna and Whitney Mongé.

With its intriguing premise and handsome production values, “Arrival” continues an encouraging trend in science-fiction filmmaking, embodied by the likes of “Gravity” and “The Martian”: films that imbue the genre’s inherent flights of fancy with sophistication and meaningful subtext.

Glen Phillips has recorded and toured as a solo artist since his popular band Toad the Wet Sprocket took a break in the late ’90s. The singer-songwriter performs at the Bartlett on Saturday, playing an acoustic show that highlights selections from his long career.

Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” topped a strong weekend at the box office with $85.1 million from North American theaters, according to box office sales reported by the studios on Monday. The success of “Strange” also continues Marvel’s now fourteen-film streak of always opening in first place.

After three decades, new owners are re-imagining the S.S. Beryl, turning the old nautical-themed restaurant into The Barrel Steak and Seafood House.

Over the next six weeks, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen won’t be seen in just one monstrous project but two. He’s playing the chief villain Kaecilius in the latest big-budget production from Marvel Studios, “Doctor Strange.” If being in a comic book movie wasn’t enough, Mikkelsen stars in the next movie in the Star Wars universe, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” set to open in December.

Country singer Chris Lane comes to Spokane this week as an opener for the hugely popular duo Florida Georgia Line, but he’s now becoming a star in his own right. Lane’s debut solo album, “Girl Problems,” cracked the Top 10 on the country charts and one its tracks, titled “Fix,” is a No. 1 hit.

Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” is generally considered one of the greatest pieces of theater ever written, a tragic tale of two wayward sisters and the brutish man who comes between them. You might think a show that premiered on Broadway way back in 1947 would be antiquated and prudish, but “Streetcar,” which opens at Spokane Civic Theatre on Friday, remains shockingly contemporary.

The odds are good that Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil are responsible for a song you love. The retired songwriting duo have been dramatized in supporting roles in the Tony Award-winning stage biopic “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” which hits Spokane on Wednesday. Mann and Weil, who have been married for 55 years, discuss their long careers in show business, working for Phil Spector and what it’s like to be turned into theatrical characters.

“Doctor Strange” makes a big promise to infuse the superhero story with a much-needed frisson of strangeness. But as a product of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s hamstrung by its own origins. Despite the inventive visual imagery, city blocks that fold like origami and air that shatters like glass, it’s the same formula as the rest of the movies, which feel more and more like predictable products – down to the post-credits teasers – than films. Thankfully, it is an enjoyable product.

It can be difficult to be around lots of happy people when you’re feeling gray. That’s the conundrum of Branch (Justin Timberlake), a misanthropic and maudlin troll who just doesn’t fit in with his dancing, singing brethren in the animated feature “Trolls.” It’s easy to see where he’s coming from. His foil, Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick), bursts with a weaponized sense of joy, forcing her subjects into an oppressive regime of colorful, glittery glee, replete with complex choreography to Top 40 hits. Her cover medley of “Move Your Feet” and “D.A.N.C.E.” is a veritable assault on the senses.

“Hacksaw Ridge,” starring the goofily appealing Andrew Garfield as the real-life character Desmond Doss, may not be a perfect movie, but it strikes an unusual balance. It’s a violent film whose hero – and moral core – espouses non-violence. It’s a war film that will also appeal to a faith-based audience. It’s a film that at moments can feel relentlessly corny – and a second later, painfully, horribly real.

Halloween falls on a Monday this year, which means the most extravagant parties are happening on the weekend leading up to it. Here’s a selection of the events – some spooky, some not – that might get you into the Halloween spirit.