Repertory

by Matt Prigge

Silk Road Odyssey: From Beijing to the Black Sea
(2006) (Shown on video): Traveloguists Mary Lee and Sid Nolan will perform live narration over their film, which shows their trek through Asia along the Great Silk Road. (Not reviewed.) Wed., Jan. 16, 2pm and 7:30pm.

Ambler Theater
$4.50-$8. 108 E. Butler Ave. 215.345.7855. www.amblertheater.org

The Wild Thornberrys Movie
(2002) (Shown on DVD): Produced by the same group who wrought Rugrats, the Nickelodeon show about a globetrotting adventurer family graduated to the big screen, complete with songs by Paul Simon. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Jan. 19, 11am.

Bryn Mawr Film Institute
$3.50-$9.25 (unless otherwise noted). 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr. 610.527.9898. www.brynmawrfilm.org

Jersey Justice
(2007) The BMFI once again plays host to a local feature, this time with John Charles Hunt ’s revenge drama about a woman whose husband was murdered. (Not reviewed.) Wed., Jan. 16, 7pm.

Barnyard
(2006) (Shown on DVD): The dire Steve Oedekerk (Kung Pow, those damn thumb shorts) contributed to the interchangeable detritus of cynically calculated CGI kiddie movies with this farm-set piece of whatever. Does it have plenty of celebrity voices to mask its doubtless creative shortcomings? You bet. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Jan. 12, 11am.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Live in Barcelona
(2002) (Shown on video): The trend toward projecting concerts in movie theaters reaches the BMFI with this Springsteen show, which donates nearly three full hours to the Boss and co. ripping Spain a new one. (Not reviewed.) Wed., Jan. 23, 7pm. $12-$17.50.

Colonial Theatre
$4-$7. 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville. 610.917.0223. www.thecolonialtheatre.com

The Bear
(1988) (Shown on film): G érard Brach, Roman Polanski’s regular co-screenwriter, penned this French-made nature film from Caroll Ballard-wannabe Jean-Jacques Annaud (Quest for Fire, The Lover) about a bear facing hunters. The bear is real—indeed, he’s the late bear star Bart the Bear—though the British Columbia surroundings are in fact the Bavarian Alps. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Jan. 19, 2pm.

Guys and Dolls
(1955) (Shown on film): More than half a century before non-singers Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter made mincemeat out of Sweeney Todd, Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons struggled with Frank Loesser’s musical about gamblers and the dames who struggle to love them. Like Todd, the actors make up for what they lack in vocal prowess with passionate delivery, though G&D at least has Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine and Stubby Kaye to take up the rear. A rare musical from Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve, Suddenly, Last Summer), the film looks like a Stanley Donen piece, but at 150 minutes, could really use some of his breakneck pacing. B- Sun., Jan. 20, 2pm.

County Theater
$4.50-$8.50. 20 E. State St., Doylestown. 215.345.6789. www.countytheater.com

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(2006) (Shown on DVD): If only we were so lucky. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Jan. 19, 11am.

Gershman Y
Various prices. 401 S. Broad St. www.pjff.org

Knowledge Is the Beginning
(2006) (Shown on film): The latest doc to survey the healing of Israeli-Arab wounds, Paul Smaczny ’s film surveys the traveling West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, whose members come from both sides. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Jan. 19, 8pm; Sun., Jan. 20, 2pm. $10-$12.

Beethoven’s Hair
(2005) (Shown on film): The latest from prolific documentarian Larry Weinstein traces the madcap journey of an encased lock of Ludwig van’s hair, snipped from his head just after his death in 1827. The trip makes pitstops at everything from the Holocaust to kitschy Arizonians, accompanied by music by you know who. (Not reviewed.) Mon., Jan. 21, 7pm. $10.

Little Theater
$5. 7141 Germantown Ave. 215.247.3020. www.mtairyvideolibrary.com

An Ideal Husband
(1999) (Shown on DVD): The wellspring of the well-cast but stodgy Oscar WIlde biopic, this stagy adaptation gets it backward: The funny parts (i.e., Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Minnie Driver) aren ’t so funny but the dramatic passages (Cate Blanchett and Jeremy Northam) actually pack a punch. Bring on A Woman of No Importance with Annette Bening and Sienna Miller already. B- Fri., Jan. 18-Sat., Jan. 19, 8pm; and Sun., Jan. 20, 7pm.

Trocadero
$3. 1003 Arch St. 215.922.LIVE. www.thetroc.com

The Neverending Story
(1984) (Shown on DVD): Ironically, eight minutes were snipped for the American release of this lavish West German English-language production, which plunges viewers into a fantasy world rife with memorably Teutonic imagery, including a flying dog, laser beam-shooting sphinxes and more than a couple dwarves. B Mon., Jan. 14, 7:30pm.

Wooden Shoe Books
Free. 508 S. Fifth St. 215.413.0999. www.woodenshoebooks.com

Bread and Roses
(2000) (Shown on DVD): Ken Loach, Britain ’s reigning working-class director, made a brief pitstop in America to showcase—what else?—the plight of illegal Mexican immigrants who all but run Los Angeles. Pilar Padilla plays a feisty woman who winds up battling the mustache-twirling powers-that-be at an office cleaning company (embodied by a surprisingly terrifying George Lopez—really). Adrien Brody soon swings by as a sexier version of Norma Rae’s Ron Liebman, trying to get everyone to unionize. Most of Loach’s films manage to be two-thirds infectious hanging-about and one-third unsightly message-mongering. Surely due to his unfamiliarity with the American West Coast, this is more half-and-half. B- Sat., Jan. 19, 7pm.