On the Marquee for the Week of April 29

The Milwaukee film scene is on fire this week. 

Among the numerous offerings: on Tuesday, Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence comes out on DVD and blu-ray; on Thursday, the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival and local scholar Michael Johnston offer up the one and only Tallulah Bankhead’s final film; and on Friday, not only does Iron Man 3 kick off the summer movie-going season with an early bang, the 2013 Milwaukee Underground Film Festival begins.

Tuesday, April 30: Silver Linings Playbook debuts on DVD and Blu-ray
Check local retail stores for availability.

Writer-director David O. Russell’s superbly realized dramedy casts Bradley Cooper (in an Oscar-nominated performance) as a 30-something bipolar man living with his parents (Robert DeNiro and Jacki Weaver, both in Oscar-nominated performances) following a recent stint in a psychiatric facility who develops and unexpected bond with a young, troubled widow (played by Jennifer Lawrence, in an Oscar-winning performance). Much like Russell’s previous film, The Fighter (2010), Silver Linings Playbook is a must-see for the amazing, lived-in performances given by its ensemble. Cooper and Lawrence are magic together despite the 15-year age gap between them. And it’s been years since DeNiro has truly given it his all in a performance as he does here. Nominated for a total of eight Oscars including best picture, the film is the first one since 1981’s Reds to land nominations in all four acting categories. It’s also the first film, other than the Rush Hour trilogy, that comedian-actor Chris Tucker has been in since Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1997). And with her win, 22-year-old Lawrence is the second youngest actress to win the best actress Oscar. The youngest? Marlee Matlin, who was 21 years old when she won for Children of a Lesser God back in 1987.

For one night only, legendary stage diva Tallulah Bankhead will play the UWM Union Theatre. Well her final film (1965’s Die! Die! My Darling!) will, anyway.

The event’s official announcement says: “Bankhead rarely graced the movie screen as she got older and in this, her last film performance, Bankhead, working for Hammer studios, uncorked the increasingly murderous, fanatically religious Mrs. Trefoile, who terrorizes her dead son’s former fiancée in a deranged project of justice, religious zealotry, and grief. Local scholar on all things Tallulah and keen social observer Michael Johnston (Cordially Yours) will be on hand to introduce the film and share holdings from his own collection of Tallulahery.”

The film co-stars a young Stefanie Powers (long before she starred in the hit television series “Hart to Hart” with Robert Wagner, and a young Donald Sutherland (making his feature film acting debut).

This annual student-run film festival showcases contemporary film and video work from here and abroad. It’s become one of the hottest tickets in town for moviegoers that can appreciate work that bucks tradition and takes creative risks with style and form and technique. If you haven’t been to one yet, don’t walk, run to the 2013 edition. Three days of programming are scheduled for this year’s festival starting Friday and concluding Sunday.

Friday, May 3: Iron Man 3 kicks off the 2013 Summer Movie Season

(Opens in all major local theaters, check listings for showtimes and ticket pricing)

The 2013 Summer Movie Season kicks off when Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and company return for the third installment in the wildly successful Iron Man franchise (well four, if you count Marvel’s The Avengers).This time out, Stark’s life is turned upside-down by a formidable foe known as the Mandarin (played by Oscar winner Ben Kingsley). Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow is back as Stark’s love interest, Pepper Potts, and so is Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes.