The Americans resurface, 11.22.63 ticks on and more of the week’s must-sees

March 9, 2016

Thursday 3.10
If Darren Aronofsky’s surreal Black Swan left you wondering just how much pressure a real-life ballerina actually faces, then tonight’s free screening of the 2010 film at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library (4801 Main) might finally help you clear things up. It’s followed by a conversation with fifth-season Kansas City Ballet ballerina Tempe Ostergren and psychoanalyst David Donovan. Spooky eye makeup is optional. The movie starts at 6:30 p.m.

Friday 3.11
When Bosch, the Amazon Prime TV series adapted from Michael Connelly’s detective novels, debuted last February, it had more opening-weekend views than any of the company’s other original shows. Season 2 drops today, and most of its inspiration comes from Connelly’s Trunk Music novel. The first season was a great introduction to the world of grizzled Los Angeles cop Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver); expect the new episodes to develop the character more while reaching further into Connelly’s world.

Saturday 3.12
How up are you on your German Expressionism? If you’re a fan of film noir or horror, chances are lots of your favorite movies owe a debt to the 1920 silent film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. Experience this groundbreaking title, with a whole film class’s worth of fantastical images and twisted set design packed into a concise 70 minutes — streaming free with a Netflix subscription today.

Sunday 3.13
In last year’s Trumbo, one section of the movie was devoted to blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo working with low-budget schlockmeister producers the King brothers. The legendary noir they made together was 1950’s Gun Crazy, showing at 4 p.m. today at the Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet. This sexually charged pulp gets away with murder with its subtle and not-so-subtle allusions, powered by a frenetic performance by Peggy Cummins.

Monday 3.14
Episode 5 of the Hulu original event series 11.22.63, based on the Stephen King novel, hits the channel today. With only three more left, this should give you enough time to catch up on the alt-history conspiracy theory show, starring James Franco and produced by J.J. Abrams. Franco is a high school teacher who travels back in time to stop John F. Kennedy’s assassination. But the past doesn’t necessarily want to be messed with. The series is a major attempt for Hulu to try to compete with online subscription competitor Netflix, and it seems to be paying off.

Tuesday 3.15
Serious film fans may have to pinch themselves this week. In celebration of the probing new documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut, which opened Friday, Tivoli Cinemas in Westport is also showing Hitch’s voyeuristic classic Rear Window on the big screen at 7 p.m. Tomorrow night is Francois Truffaut’s disturbing Cornell Woolrich adaptation, The Bride Wore Black, also at 7. It’s worth shifting your plans to make all three.

Wednesday 3.16
The fourth season of the complicated, brutal spy series The Americans starts tonight on FX. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys are doing some of the small screen’s best work, playing a married pair of undercover KGB agents, deeply embedded in Reagan-era Washington, D.C. Last season, many of the show’s impossibly tense subplots reached the boiling point, including the couple’s daughter revealing her parents’ true identities to her pastor. Where can it go from here?