Glen or Glenda

Opening:

42—Biography of Jackie Robinson focusing on his first two years with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Starring Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie, Christopher Meloni and Max Gail. Directed by Brian Helgeland (The Order). Reviewed this issue. Amherst, Flix, Maple Ridge, Market Arcade, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

NO—Oscar nominee from Chile starring Gael García Bernal as an ad executive who uses his skills to defeat Augusto Pinochet in the 1988 referendum. With Alfredo Castro and Antonia Zegers. Reviewed this issue. North Park

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES—Three interlinked stories of men whose lives are marked by violence and betrayal. Starring Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Rose Byrne, Harris Yulin, Bruce Greenwood, and Ray Liotta. Directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine). Reviewed this issue. Amherst, Eastern Hills

THE SAPPHIRES—In 1968, four young Aboriginal women find escape from racism in Australia by working as singers in Vietnam. Starring Chris O’Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell. Directed by Wayne Blair. Reviewed this issue. Eastern Hills

SCARY MOVIE V—Sequel. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee (Soul Men). Maple Ridge, Market Arcade, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Transit Drive-In

TRANCE—In Danny Boyle’s first film since 127 Hours (and the 2012 Olympics), an art auctioneer enlists the aid of a hypnotherapist to recover a stolen painting. Starring James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel, and Rosario Dawson. Reviewed this issue. Eastern Hills

ETC:

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945)—Adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic story Ten Little Indians about ten people stranded at a remote mansion trying to discover which of them is killing the others. Starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, and June Duprez. Directed by Rene Clair. Screening Room

GLEN OR GLENDA (1953)—Everyone needs to see Ed Wood’s first and most personal film at least once. It’s an astonishing defense of transvestitism made at a time when few people even knew such things existed. Wood’s sincerity makes the ineptitude (which often borders on the berserk) oddly endearing: you’ll be quoting bits of Bela Lugosi’s incoherent monologue (“Pull de schtring!”) for days afterward. Screening Room

THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)—John Ford’s classic adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel set during the depths of the Depression, as an Oklahoma farm family, forced off their land, try to make their way to a better life in California. Starring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin, and John Qualen. Screening Room

THE ISLAND PRESIDENT—Documentary about Mohamed Nasheed, who can legitimately claim to be the human being most concerned about global warning: he is the president of the Maldives, the lowest-lying nation in the world and therefore the most threatened by any rise in the world’s ocean level. Aurora

LEONIE—Emily Mortimer as the American educator, editor, and journalist Leonie Gilmour and her struggles raising a mixed-race son in Japan in the early 1900s. Co-starring Shidô Nakamura and Christina Hendricks. Directed by Hisako Matsui. Screening Room

PETE KELLY’S BLUES (1955)—Jack Webb (who also directed) as a trad jazz bandleader playing at a speakeasy in 1927 Kansas City. With Janet Leigh, Edmond O’Brien, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Lee Marvin; look for Jayne Mansfield as a cigarette girl. Hallwalls

SWITCH—Documentary exploring the potential costs and liabilities of energy technologies including fracking, nuclear and “clean coal.” Free and open to the public. Tues, 10, 11:30 am. University at Buffalo, Knox 14 Lecture Hall (www.switchenergyproject.com)

WATCHMEN (2009)—Live action adaptation of the widely acclaimed 1986 comic series by Allan Moore about a group of retired superheroes in an alternate version of the United States facing the prospect of nuclear war. Starring Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, and Matt Frewer. Directed by Zack Snyder (300). Presented as part of the Buffalo Film Seminar. Market Arcade.