Johnny Depp’s Cheeto Jesus lampoons Donald Trump, Halt and Catch Fire keeps burning, and more AV fun

Thursday 8.18
Remember the excitement of waiting all day in high school for the bell to ring so you could go to a big concert that night? Bring your lawn chair to the patio of the Cinder Block Brewery at sundown and celebrate that pure feeling of rock-and-roll anticipation tonight with a free outdoor screening of the underrated 1999 teen comedy Detroit Rock City. Older folks will love its anarchic nostalgia, and younger kids will still relate to the adventures of 1970s high school boys who will do anything to get to a Kiss concert. Plus: craft beer!

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Friday 8.19
Frequent This American Life contributor Mike Birbiglia wrote, directed and stars in Don’t Think Twice, a small but effective dramedy about a NYC improv troupe that’s beginning to fracture. With solid assists from co-stars Keegan-Michael Key and Gillian Jacobs, this movie goes deep into the fears that performers of any kind share, from the insecurities of their own talent to the fear of selling out (and how attractive it can be for a struggling artist). It opens today at the Tivoli.

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Saturday 8.20
If you like the campy glam-rock thrills and fun of The Rocky Horror Picture Show but wish it were darker and weirder, give Phantom of the Paradise a shot tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse. Brian De Palma draws from his usual bag of cinematic tricks, and the score by diminutive ’70s game-show perennial Paul Williams is perfectly over the top for a story that crosses Phantom of the Opera and Faust with a satire of corporate-rock culture. This 35mm print is part of the Late Show series, showing at 10:30 p.m.

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Sunday 8.21
A 50-minute film starring Johnny Depp (and a pound of prosthetic makeup) as Cheeto Jesus, Funny or Die Presents: Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie is now available to stream on Netflix. Made in the style of a crappy VHS dub of an ’80s made-for-TV movie, the lampoon hits every aspect of the egomaniacal GOP candidate’s early business life, from his slum-lord beginnings to the little-recounted story of how he destroyed the USFL. Patton Oswalt, Alfred Molina, Stephen Merchant and ALF all lend a hand.

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Monday 8.22
An atmospheric ghost story in the tradition of 1960s classics The Innocents and The Haunting, Alejandro Amenabar’s 2001 The Others stars Nicole Kidman as a protective mother shielding her photosensitive kids from sunlight in an English country house, post-WWII. The film’s success hinges on her performance. Some might shy away from calling it a straight-up horror movie, since it relies on a slow, skillful build-up of suspense, but its reputation as a modern classic of the genre seems to solidify with each passing year. Newly streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Tuesday 8.23
AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire has been a critical hit in its first two seasons, but it has struggled to find a wide audience. The fact that it was renewed again illustrates the network’s faith in the show, which chronicles a quartet of tech-savvy entrepreneurs in the 1980s personal-computing revolution. It’s always been a slow-burn series, and moving locales from Texas to Silicon Valley will be a nice change of pace. The ratings, however, may prove make-or-break this season. I’m sticking with it — the two-hour Season 3 premiere is tonight.

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Wednesday 8.24
In March, SundanceTV bought Seasons 1 and 2 of the gritty Italian mob-family drama Gomorrah, hailed by the network as Italy’s “all-time most popular television series.” It premieres tonight. The show, based on the 2008 Cannes Film Festival’s stunning Grand Jury Prize-winning movie of the same name, will retain its Italian-language soundtrack (with English subtitles) and looks to be a big step forward in the internationalization of TV dramas. From its stellar notices overseas, this is already one worth watching out for.

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Eric Melin is the editor of Scene-Stealers.com and president of the KC Film Critics Circle.