This week’s repertory series at the Brattle Theatre began simply as an excuse to screen “National Treasure” (2004), the ludicrous yet lovable heist picture in which Nicolas Cage plays a historian forced to steal the Declaration of Independence, on the Fourth of July. But the title of “National Treasure” becomes a double entendre when one considers that Cage is, himself, something of a national treasure: a reliably eccentric presence both onscreen and off who enlivens every film in which he appears. And while few would argue that “National Treasure” is Cage’s best movie, it effectively harnesses the actor’s batty charms into an irresistibly bombastic Hollywood blockbuster.
Which brings us back to the Brattle. All this week, the Brattle presents a series titled “National Treasures,” a program of winningly goofy popcorn epics starring actors who, likewise, embody a certain strain of all-American entertainer. “Charlie’s Angels” (2000), which screens Friday, offers a triple value in leading ladies Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz (to say nothing of the supporting cast, which includes Bill Murray, Tim Curry, Sam Rockwell and more). Sunday sees the Bronx’s favorite daughter Jennifer Lopez journeying across the Amazon in search of the “Anaconda” (1997). On Monday, Morgan Freeman saves the earth from a comet in “Deep Impact” (1998), and Tom Cruise steps into his signature role of Ethan Hunt in the first “Mission: Impossible” (1996). Tuesday brings a double helping of Denzel Washington in “Ricochet” (1991) and “Inside Man” (2006). The series wraps up on Wednesday with a pair of comedies starring two of the most beloved stars of the ’90s: Sandra Bullock in “Miss Congeniality” (2000) and Whoopi Goldberg in “Sister Act” (1992).
Then there’s good old Steven. “Jaws” (1975), which screens Friday through Monday, is not technically part of the “National Treasures” series — regular Brattlegoers know that it’s a longstanding Independence Day tradition at the theater — but, with the recent release of “Disclosure Day,” it’s as good a time as any to reflect on how lucky we are to have a filmmaker like Steven Spielberg still in our midst. Spielberg was not yet 30 when he directed his aquatic masterpiece, but his gifts are already readily apparent, from his instantly iconic trio of bickering fishermen to the Hitchcockian skill with which he (and editor Verna Fields) cuts together the suspense sequences. “Jaws” is among the most influential Hollywood pictures of all time, but, more than half a century after its release, it has lost none of its magic — and if that’s not a national treasure, I don’t know what is.
Over at the Somerville Theatre, the ongoing series “Kurt & Jodie” continues Monday with yet another pairing of Russell and Foster. This time around, the two actors star in very different tales of marital deception. “Overboard” (1987) finds Russell at his most madcap, playing a down-to-earth carpenter who tricks his wealthy but cruel client (Russell’s real-life partner, Goldie Hawn) into believing he’s her husband when she develops amnesia. “Sommersby” (1993), meanwhile, takes a decidedly more sober look at a similar story: Foster plays a woman whose husband (Richard Gere), previously thought dead, returns from the Civil War with a radically altered personality, leaving her with mixed emotions as she navigates her new situation. As different as the two movies are, they represent a fascinating moment of serendipity between these two parallel careers.
In preparation for the long-awaited release of “The Odyssey” later this month, the Kendall Square Cinema turns its Filmmaker Focus on Christopher Nolan. Few contemporary directors have more successfully wed cerebral science fiction with widescreen pop spectacle, and few films in Nolan’s filmography represent this more handily than “Inception” (2010), which screens Wednesday. Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play “extractors,” agents who can literally delve into their quarry’s subconscious to retrieve information. The plot is Nolan at his most heady, probing the boundaries between the dreamworld and reality. But what makes “Inception” so special is its visual invention, tossing its characters into a kaleidoscope of shifting dreamscapes and pop psychedelia. Time will tell if “The Odyssey” proves to be as much of a runaway phenomenon as some of Nolan’s greatest successes, but even if his career stopped at “Inception,” he would still be considered one of the greats.
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