The Power of Air Conditioning Compels You

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 28, 2006 8:04PM

Folks, it’s going to be hot out there this weekend. If you’re out and about, drink water. Take breaks. Wear loose-fitting natural fabrics for God’s sake. You do not want to end up having to check yourself into the hospital, what with some people going out of their way to give “heat exhaustion” a bad name.

Much of Chicagoist will be braving the elements out at Union Park this weekend, but the siren call of an air-conditioned movie theater is getting harder and harder to resist. If spending the weekend in cinematic, Freon-filled ecstasy sounds right up your alley then allow us to make a few recommendations:

The Music Box has the most eclectic slate we’ve ever seen this weekend. Raiders of the Lost Ark continues to show daily at 9:20 p.m. in a new 25th Anniversary 35 mm print. For our money, this is Harrison Ford’s best film (stop your arguments now, you’re not going to convince us otherwise). Also, cinema’s first treatment of snakes on a plane.

Then, for all the fans of ELO, Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton John (both of you), there’s Xanadu at a midnight screening on Friday and Saturday nights. Rounding out their offerings is The War Tapes, a documentary made by soldiers serving in Iraq, screens there in matinees at 11:30 a.m. this Saturday and Sunday.

The Silent Summer Film Festival continues at the Portage Park Theater tonight with Aelita: Queen of Mars. We’d always heard that Mars needs women, but apparently this is untrue.

As part of a multi-venue celebration of the Pitchfork Music Festival, the live Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars film will screen at the Siskel Film Center at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Yet another chance to ponder how one makes love with one’s ego.

Finally, if you missed the Steven Soderbergh film Bubble the first time around (and who didn’t?), you can catch it at Doc Films this Saturday at 7 or 9 p.m.