BY JACK CAMERON for WEEKLY VOLCANO 5/1/26 |
One of the nice things about having a local, big, classic independent movie theater is that it has the ability to host live performances. On Thursday, April 30, at 7 p.m., the Tad Robinson Band is playing. If you’re a fan of soul and blues, you won’t want to miss this one-time performance. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. There are also a limited number of VIP tickets for $50.
When the Blue Mouse isn’t hosting live music, it’s continuing its Bride or Die Series with the Kirsten Wiig 2011 comedy Bridesmaids. When two members of the wedding party compete over who is the best friend of the bride, hijinks ensue. This comedy proved that hilarity isn’t just a guy thing. It’s the highest-grossing female-led comedy of all time.
Bridesmaids is playing May 1–4 at 7 p.m. and May 1–3 at 3:45 p.m.
On Saturday, May 2, the Free Family Movie is the 1980s Sasquatch comedy Harry & the Hendersons. When a family encounters a friendly Sasquatch, they adopt him, and things go a little crazy. Legendary creature creator Rick Baker says that Harry is his favorite creature he’s ever created. Free Movie Saturday happens the first Saturday of each month at 11 a.m.
Over at the Grand Tacoma Cinema, they’re continuing their run of the Ryan Gosling blockbuster Project Hail Mary, in which an astronaut (Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship with no memory and a mission to save the cosmos.
If you’re looking for something more visceral and dark, Mother Mary stars Anne Hathaway as a pop star who engages a long-estranged costume designer friend to make her a dress for her big comeback and possibly exorcise her demons. Directed by David Lowery, who directed The Green Knight, this is sure to be a visual and passionate feast.
The Grand is playing I Swear. Based on the life story of Tourette’s syndrome campaigner John Davidson and set in the 1980s, this film follows the struggles of a man trying to make something of himself while suffering from a largely misunderstood illness.
The Christophers is A-list director Steven Soderbergh’s latest film. He describes it like this: “There’s an older artist at the end of his career, and a young apprentice-type rolls up, and there’s something not on the level about her presence.” The older artist is played by Ian McKellen. When asked about what genre the film falls into, Soderbergh told Variety, “We didn’t really think about genre. Human behavior was our compass.” Soderbergh’s creative partner in this is Ed Solomon, whom he’s previously worked with on Full Circle and the neo-noir No Sudden Move.
On May 1, one of the most highly anticipated movies in years comes out. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is the sequel fans have been demanding for twenty years. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci are all back. Meryl Streep famously doesn’t like to be in sequels of her own work. It took two decades of discussions to get her interested in coming back, but a sequel without her would be unimaginable.
In honor of International Workers Day on May 1, the Grand is presenting a special 4K restoration screening of the landmark 1991 Academy Award–winning documentary American Dream. This unflinching documentary follows the 1985–86 labor strike in Austin, Minnesota, that ripped a city apart. There are a limited number of free tickets for anyone with a union card. The one showing of the Barbara Kopple documentary is at 7:30 p.m. on May Day.
You may not be familiar with artist-activist Nobuko Miyamoto, but from her early roles in movies like West Side Story to co-creating A Grain of Sand, the first album of Asian American music, Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement is a documentary that follows the life of Miyamoto and her history of songwriting, activism, and living an artist’s life. Nobuko Miyamoto herself is scheduled to appear for a Q&A after the screening, moderated by filmmaker and community organizer Joy Muhammad. This special screening is at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 2.
On Sunday, May 3, a third documentary is being screened. 100 Years From Mississippi is an incredible story that begins in 1915, when Mamie Lang Kirkland was just seven years old. Fleeing Ellisville, Mississippi, with her parents, siblings, and John Hartfield, a friend of her father’s, they narrowly escaped a lynch mob. But when John Hartfield returned to Mississippi in 1919, he was killed in one of the most horrific lynchings of the era. 100 Years From Mississippi is director Tarabu Betserai Kirkland’s attempt to find out what really happened to John Hartfield, with the help of 107-year-old Mamie herself, who returns to Mississippi for the first time in one hundred years. The 2 p.m. Sunday screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, moderated by former Tacoma Poet Laureate Kellie Richardson.
On May 5 at 1:45 p.m. and 7 p.m., you can catch a screening of TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing. On the 30th anniversary of the death of writer, filmmaker, and cultural worker Toni Cade Bambara, director Louis Massiah uses archival footage and personal testimonies, including her friend and editor Toni Morrison, to bring her message to modern audiences. Propelled by a great jazz soundtrack, this film is kindling for the fire of activism.
Next week, the Blue Mouse concludes its Bride or Die series with the Julia Roberts romp My Best Friend’s Wedding. And the Grand welcomes Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon
