DC offers many great free opportunities to young interns and workers but the availability of advance screenings of feature films and documentaries may be one of the best. Often, talent from the film is also present and the receptions at movie screenings are some of the tastiest around.

Campus Progress recently did a premier screening of Generation Kill with David Simon and Evan Wright and Reel Progress, part of the Center for American Progress, regularly does advance screenings, most recently featuring Kevin Costner and his new film Swing Vote.

Case in point, check out a free screening of Women of Liberia: Fighting for Peace at the E Street Cinema on Tuesday July 29th at 7PM. The documentary follows ex-child soldiers, detailing the different struggles they face in the disarmament process. Sponsored by Amnesty International, a discussion with some of the women featured in the film and the Academy award-winning director will follow the screening. 

While I don’t think they’ll be any free food, the subject matter is incredibly important and the film is helping to rally support around the International Violence Against Women Act, a critical piece of legislation.

After I got linked to it via reddit, I was hoping against hope that this was some sort of hoax, a commentary, perhaps, on the degraded, increasingly inane state of mass media entertainment.

No, it's real. IMDB confirms that it will include the voices of Drew Barrymore, Salma Hayek, and Jamie Lee Curtis, all of whom will presumably, some might say hopefully, fall victim to some ancient Aztec curse shortly thereafter. (Or is it Incan? Some reddit commenters have pointed out that the trailer seems rather vague on the matter.)

Late edit: I only just now noticed this, but the rapping chihuahua (two words that should never appear consecutively, by the way), who is ostensibly Aztec (Incan? Mexican? You know, one of those Spanish countries down thurrr), has what is more or less a Brooklyn accent. Sweet.

The Times has an article highlighting some interesting research that might silent those reactionaries who tell us that violent movies are not only a sign of degeneracy, but also an actual cause of real violence. Two economists, Gordon Dahl and Stefano DellaVigna, argue that by taking people who might otherwise be violent and putting them in a closed, calm, alcohol -free environment on weekend nights, violent movies reduce the number of violent incidents:

Instead of fueling up at bars and then roaming around looking for trouble, potential criminals pass the prime hours for mayhem eating popcorn and watching celluloid villains slay in their stead.

“You’re taking a lot of violent people off the streets and putting them inside movie theaters,” said the lead author of the study, Gordon Dahl, an economist at the University of California, San Diego. “In the short run, if you take away violent movies, you’re going to increase violent crime.”

Professor Dahl and the paper’s other author, Stefano DellaVigna, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, attach precise numbers to their argument: Over the last decade, they say, the showing of violent films in the United States has decreased assaults by an average of about 1,000 a weekend, or 52,000 a year.

The stuttering response from the anti-fun forces is pretty funny. What they can’t seem to realize is that Dahl and DellaVigna have found a trade-off between engaging in behavior that could lead to violence and watching violent movies, “What would these people have done if they had not chosen to go and see a movie? Whatever they would have done would have had a greater tendency to involve alcohol. If you can incapacitate a large group of potentially violent people, that’s a good thing.”

But despite Dahl’s good work, the conclusion he drew from his research — that we just need ways to herd young men into movie theaters on weekend nights so they don’t drink and fight — has a pretty frightening implication:

“We need more Adam Sandler movies,” he said. “Even though I’m not a big fan of Adam Sandler, that’s the implication.”

So what if he threatened to kill Michael Moore? Clint Eastwood, while mayor of Carmel-by-the-sea California, repealed a long-standing law which forbade the eating of ice cream on the sidewalk.  That's progress, people.

I'll leave it up to your conscience whether attending one of the few remaining screenings of the Clint Eastwood films which have been playing every Friday at Rosslyn will violate your principles.  What gives me pause is not so much that he's threatened to kill Michael Moore but more that his characters are super-violent archetypes of idealized American masculinity. At least, in the early films.  While I haven't seen any of his recent films, it looks like Letters from Iwo Jima might actually give the enemy (albeit an enemy that no longer exists in the American mind) a sympathetic human story.  Ok, perhaps that really is progress.  I would've seen the film so I could back these judgments up with something, but war movies give me the willies.

Somehow, I missed the memo on this summerlong series of the old Eastwood classics, but fortunately, they've saved the best for last if, like me, you're just finding out.  Tonight's film, one I've never heard of, does very well on rottentomatoes.com.

But, the weather forecast for tonight looks horrible.  Not only is it in the upper 90's (yet again!), but there's a chance of storms.

So, even if the weather ends up being bad, you've got three more chances to see The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Shane and Unforgiven.  And a big thunderstorm tonight will give you an opportunity to see David and Layla, Talk to Me, or Ratatouille somewhere with a roof.

Get all the details: Link

(Note: To the fans of my sports-related posts, I’m not ignoring that beat—I’m just going to be so distracted until the Pistons re-sign Billups that I’ve got to focus on other things.  Bear with me, shouldn’t be more than another day or two.)

I love Nancy Drew.  I read all of my mom’s old mysteries when I was younger, sometimes staying in bed for hours to finish one of the yellow-bound volumes in a single sitting!  Nancy was smart, resourceful, and self-assured.  She had a gorgeous boyfriend (the charming Ned Nickerson), two best friends (plump Bess and sporty George), and a seemingly infallible talent for solving crimes.  I admired Nancy’s bravery, envied her independence, and generally wanted to grow up just like the stylish teenager with the “titian hair.”  

This summer, Nancy’s back, in her first live-action film.  I checked out a matinee yesterday at Gallery Place, and spent much of the delightful 99 minute movie in sheer nostalgic enjoyment.  I also got a little scared during some of the more suspenseful moments, which should explain to my friends why I avoid going to see actual horror flicks.

It’s almost the end of the work-week, but from what I can tell through my window the weather looks a little less than ideal.  Here’s a thought—why not stay home tonight, rent a movie, order some pizza, and make a night of it?

Truth be told, I have been waiting all month long for the opportunity to make this relevant: ladies and gentlemen, I hope you will enjoy this exercise in listing, and feel free to add, suggest, or critique in the comments!