Theaterical round-up for the 4/15 weekend

Did you do your taxes? Did you remember to mail them in/e-file? Really? Ok, good. Now you can sit back, relax, and look forward to a full weekend of movie watching. Here's some of what will be on screens around town:  You're guaranteed satisfaction at SIFF Cinema this week with "Simplicity is a difficult thing to achieve": The Films of Charlie Chaplin. It starts Friday night with CITY LIGHTS , continues through the weekend with double feature matinees of THE GOLD RUSH and THE KID with  THE CIRCUS and Chaplin's Short Films and evening screenings of THE GREAT DICTATOR and MODERN TIMES, then runs out the the week with LIMELIGHT, A KING IN NEW YORK, MONSIEUR VERDOUX and A WOMAN IN PARIS. Check the series site for all the what's-playing-when information and to buy a series pass. There's also a nice Chaplin career retrospective by Allen and Edward on The MacGuffin Podcast to get you in the mood. In other SIFF news, there's a meeting Saturday, April 16th at 10 at the Egyptian Theatre up on Capitol Hill for those wanting to volunteer at this year's festival. Trader Joe's Silent Movie Mondays series continues at Paramount Theater with King Vidor's 1928 bittersweet social commentary THE CROWD. Over at Northwest Film Forum, there's SOME DAYS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS, "a sad valentine to the forgotten discards of a throwaway society" starring Carrie Brownstein (of Sleater-Kinney and Portlandia) and James Mercer (from The Shins). Director & Portland native Matt McCormick and actress Renee Roman Nose will be in attendance for Friday night's shows. They also have THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA, a melancholy mystery from Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira, who turned 102 last December. NWFF is also hosting Three Dollar Bill Cinema's OUTLAW: JEAN GENET ON FILM series. The next film is on Saturday the 16th with the never released on home video DEATHWATCH (1966) starring Paul Mazursky, Michael Forest, and Leonard Nimoy as prisoners who form "the strangest triangle ever filmed." Central Cinema begins the weekend with THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN and  MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD (trailer NSFW), the latest splatterfest from the makers of TOKYO GORE POLICE and ROBOGEISHA. During the week, there's a PRETTY WOMAN Pajama Party on Monday, IFC Midnight's WRECKED starring Mr. Adrien Brody on Tuesday, and a CABIN BOY Quote-A-Long on Thursday.  On Wednesday, Central Cinema hosts the 20/20 AWARDS, in which a group of local film folks will re-award the Oscars from 1991. You can see the full list of nominees and more details here. Lastly, Grand Illusion Cinema has AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY, the controversial, influential, and downright hilarious comedian who was on the verge of breaking in to the mainstream before his untimely death from cancer at the age of 32.  We have several of Bill Hicks' stand-up DVDs, including the great SANE MAN, up in our Stand Up comedy section for your supplemental viewing needs.  Local comedian Derek Sheen will be on hand to introduce the 9pm show on Friday.  Herschell Gordon Lewis' gory BLOOD FEAST makes an encore appearance in the Late Night viewing spot.  Happy viewing to all.