Nicholas Ray's 1952 drama stars Robert Mitchum as a worn-out rodeo rider, Arthur Kennedy as his ambitious protege, and Susan Hayward as the protege's wife, whose yearning for respectability is seen as a passion as valid as any other. With cinematography by Lee Garmes in deliberately unglamorous black and white, it is an outstanding example of Ray's bleak, ambivalent romanticism.
Restored 35-millimetre print. ACMI, today 7pm and tomorrow 5.30pm.

2. BARRY McKENZIE HOLDS HIS OWN
(95 minutes) M

Brilliantly dumb gross-out comedies, the Barry McKenzie films were ahead of their time and funnier than almost all Australian cinema made since. This 1974 adventure pits the beer-guzzling, perpetually virginal hero (Barry Crocker) against the sinister Count Plasma (Donald Pleasence). Series mastermind Barry Humphries is in fine form as Aunt Edna, and there is a memorable cameo from Gough Whitlam.
Special 40th-anniversary screening, 35-millimetre print. ACMI, today, 4pm. Tickets $7 or less.

3. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
(99 minutes) M

Set in an imaginary Eastern European kingdom in the 1930s, Wes Anderson's latest quirky comedy-drama very oddly combines the styles of Ernst Lubitsch and Stanley Kubrick. For all the rococo trappings, it is probably Anderson's most straightforwardly sentimental film, and the dandified concierge, Monsieur Gustave, splendidly played by Ralph Fiennes, is certainly his warmest and most admirable hero.
Selected.

4. CHICKEN RUN
(84 minutes) G

The finest hour of Britain's Aardman studio, this 2000 claymation parody of World War II prison camp films is set at a poultry farm where chickens devise an escape plan. Beneath all the ingenious verbal and visual gags are some bleak resonances which the directors, Peter Lord and Nick Park, may not have fully intended.
Digitally projected. ACMI, today and tomorrow, 10.30am, 1pm and 3pm.

5. THE DARK CRYSTAL
(93 minutes) G

One of the weirdest entries in the Jim Henson catalogue is this 1982 all-puppet fantasy that follows an elfin hero (voiced by Stephen Garlick) on a quest to redeem a dying planet. Casting a morbid spell akin to that of David Lynch's Dune, it is an impressively uncompromised vision as well as a unique technical achievement.
Newly remastered version, digitally projected. Astor, tomorrow, 2pm, 5pm and 8pm.

6. ANY DAY NOW
(98 minutes) M

Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt play a 1970s gay couple who wage a custody battle over a boy with Down syndrome (Isaac Leyva) in Travis Fine's moving drama. A pointed attack on prejudices very much alive today, this is also an old-fashioned weepie, with Cumming going to town in what you might call the Bette Davis role.
Selected.

7. THE LEGO MOVIE
(101 minutes) PG

Directed by the team who gave us Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, this computer-animated comedy set in a world of LEGO figurines ranks as the most intellectual toy commercial since Speed Racer. The parodic plot centres on a construction worker (voiced by Chris Pratt) hailed as the hero destined to overthrow the tyrannical Lord Business (Will Ferrell). General.

8. THE WIZ
(134 minutes) G

Set in a transmogrified New York City, where witches run sweatshops and lions lurk outside libraries, Sidney Lumet's 1978 R&B remake of The Wizard Of Oz is spectacular, overblown and disturbing by turns. Diana Ross as an adult Dorothy and Michael Jackson as a freakish Scarecrow lead the African-American all-star cast.
Digitally projected. Astor, tomorrow, 7.30pm. Double feature with Xanadu.

9. ALADDIN
(90 minutes) G

This 1992 version of the Arabian Nights tale is one of the livelier products of the Disney revival. Robin Williams ad-libs manically as the voice of the genie, allowing the animators to let their imaginations off the leash.
Digitally projected. Palace Balwyn and Palace Dendy Brighton, today and tomorrow, 10.30am.

10. MUPPETS MOST WANTED
(113 minutes) G

The Muppets revival gets properly under way with this enjoyable caper, in which Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang embark on a European tour, unaware that their slimy manager (Ricky Gervais) is plotting to replace Kermit with an evil double. Songs, explosions and corny jokes naturally ensue.
General.