Now Playing: Week of March 3, 2025
Experimenting with Google's Notebook LM to generate an aggregated list of films screening in Madison.
It’s about time that someone used AI to generate something useful to me. No, I don’t mean an AI generated image of a 54-year-old balding man with glasses and a slight paunch, holding two thumbs up, standing in front of movie theater with a marquee that reads “Madison” (more or less the prompt that generated the image above, transforming a photo of me as a reference). I mean something useful, like magically generating an aggregated list of films playing this week at commercial theaters and alternative venues in Madison. You would think that there would be “an app for that.”
Let me pause for a moment, catch my breath as an old man, and say a few words to the young folks out there. Back in my day, there used to be something called “movie listings” in “newspapers.” There would be advertisements for the moving picture shows, and also a comprehensive list of what was playing at each theater and showtimes. What happened to those listings (and “legacy media” in general) is a long story we won’t get into here. But one important reason the movie listings disappeared is that theater chains made it very difficult to maintain accurate listings within publication deadlines (I’m basing this on a conversation with an arts section editor, and personal experience when I ran a website called Madison Film Forum).
While there is no single app to find current movie listings in Madison, there are apps and websites to toggle between to figure out what’s playing in town relatively quickly. Personally, I prefer to use the Marcus Theaters and AMC Theaters apps on my phone, and only use Fandango when I want to look at Flex Brewhouse listings. But I have to look elsewhere for UW-Cinematheque, WUD Film, Cinesthesia, and other alternative venues. While I already know what’s playing at series I curate, Mills Folly Microcinema, MMoCA Cinema, and Duck Soup Cinema, it’s not easy to effectively publicize one-off screenings so that people can make plans to attend them in a given week.
A Modest Proposal
So here’s my plan. I will experiment with using Google’s Notebook LM to somewhat easily generate a weekly list of films playing at each regularly scheduled venue in Madison. I will post these lists on Mondays (more about that below) with some short annotations and notes. In future weeks, this introduction to the project will be replaced by either a short review or some general film-related commentary. It has taken me a while to figure out a Notebook LM methodology and workflow that will be compatible with the limited amount of time I want to dedicate to the lists. You can see my first attempt at the end of this post.
There are problems and shortcomings, but overall I think the results are useful within a certain set of expectations. First, these posts will just be a list of titles, not dates or showtimes. A few reasons for this, besides the obvious time commitment issues. First, there’s simply no way to guarantee accurate showtimes at the commercial chains, which is why my arts editor colleague simply gave up trying to do so years ago. Second, I see no reason to figure out for you when Captain America: Brave New World is playing today. To my mind, the important thing is to make sure you know it is playing in town, and let you take it from there. Finally, if I were to attempt to list more details, I would be flooded with messages about mistakes from trolls who don’t even have plans to see a film. If you happen to be a troll, please reference point eight in the User’s Manual, below.
The main shortcoming will be when these posts will appear: on Mondays. In many cases, I won’t be able to tell you if a film is going to end its theatrical run on Thursdays (replaced by new films on Fridays), because that information often is not posted for certain until Wednesdays. There are two reasons why I have decided to post the lists on Mondays despite this lack of information.
First, posts on Mondays will provide a few days to look ahead to my own programming (Mills Folly Microcinema and MMoCA Cinema) and the Madison Public Library Cinesthesia series on Wednesdays, as well as the Madison Premieres at UW-Cinematheque on Thursdays. I’m content being incomplete about Fridays at Marcus and AMC if I can bring more focus to these one-off screenings a few days ahead of time.
Second, there is another resource available on Wednesdays. Alex Lovendahl has also tackled the issue of movie listings in Madison with his Substack, The Horizon Line Madison, which I’m indebted to as I launch Moving Image Madison. At first it might seem like what I’m doing here is redundant, but as the weeks go on I think people will see that Alex and doing something slightly different (and I hope Alex sees it that way as well!). Readers will find it useful to consult both lists and use them in different ways. In fact, it will make the most sense to look at Alex’s Horizon Line first, on Wednesdays, and then follow up with Moving Image Madison on Mondays. I don’t think I would attempt this project if Horizon Line didn’t already exist.
User’s Manual
Each section of the list has a link embedded in the venue heading that will take you to the venue’s website or calendar page.
If you see a title that you recognize and want to see, click on the link in the venue heading to find out more about the film and showtimes.
If you see at title that you don’t recognize, click on the link in venue heading to find out more about the film, and consider taking a chance in life for once.
The brief annotations will foreground global cinema and independent features. I may include glib comments based on the trailer alone (example, A Sloth Story).
If it is Wednesday or later in the week, be sure to consult The Horizon Line Madison as well.
There are flaws in my Notebook LM workflow and procedures which may result in titles that are missing from the list, or titles that are listed but not playing. The Minecraft Movie kept showing up in the list, for example, but it does not open until April. Please have faith that I’m working on the best method possible within the time limits I have available to assemble the lists.
Ultimately, always check the venue’s website before making any plans (or getting your hopes up).
Do not contact me about errors and inaccuracies, because I’m not going to lose sleep over it. I’m doing just so much for you, and relying on you to understand what these lists can and cannot do for you. If the lists are not accurate enough for you, refrain from using them.
To demonstrate how little I’m worried about inaccuracies, each week (including this week) I’m going to include at least one completely made up title for my own amusement. Sometimes these titles will also have made up annotations to flesh out the joke.
Get out of your house and go see a movie.
UW-Cinematheque
EAT THE NIGHT
SWORD OF GRANADA 3-D (EL CORAZÓN Y LA ESPADA)
Great Ctek lineup as always, but if I had to choose one I would trust Jim Healy’s experience programming 3D films and check this out.
THE WILD BUNCH
THE APPLE
WUD Film
IGUALADA
KILL BILL VOL. 1
LADY SNOWBLOOD
LOVE LIES BLEEDING
NOVOCAINE
Sneak peek
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
UNION
AMC Fitchburg
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
A SLOTH STORY
Sketchy looking mid-to-low grade family animation.
AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: MARCH 3
ANORA
Just won Best Picture as I was typing this.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD
CASTLE IN THE SKY
Try to see Miyazaki on the big screen when you get a chance.
CHHAAVA
Review forthcoming (was my original plan for this post). Hindi-language historical action film.
CLEANER
COMPANION
CONCLAVE
DOG MAN
EX-HUSBANDS
GREEN AND GOLD
Green Bay Packers-themed drama.
HEART EYES
I'M STILL HERE
Just won Best International Feature Oscar. Review at Not That Rob Thomas.
IN THE LOST LANDS
LAST BREATH
LEGENDS OF THE CONDOR HEROES: THE GALLANTS
Martial arts from Tsui Hark. Read my review from last week.
MICKEY 17
New from Bong Joon-ho (Parasite), starring Robert Pattinson.
MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE
NATIONAL THEATRE: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
NE ZHA 2
Current global box office champion for animated feature film. I liked it, worth a look.
NIGHT OF THE ZOOPOCALYPSE
Hmm…I think I’d give Ne Zha 2 a try first.
NOVOCAINE: EARLY ACCESS ADRENALINE RUSH
OPPENHEIMER
PADDINGTON IN PERU
QUEEN OF THE RING
Indie drama about Mildred Burke, female wrestler from 1930s to 1950s.
RIFF RAFF
RULE BREAKERS
Drama about educating girls in Afghanistan, despite social and political obstacles.
SEVEN VEILS
New from Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), starring Amanda Seyfried.
SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON
Hindi-language film, positive Matt Zoller Seitz review at RogerEbert.com.
THE BRUTALIST
THE CHOSEN: LAST SUPPER (SEASON 5) PART 2
THE JERK
THE MONKEY
THE RULE OF JENNY PEN
THE UNBREAKABLE BOY
THERE'S STILL TOMORROW
“Italian box office phenomenon,” comedic drama set in postwar Rome.
Marcus Point Cinema or Marcus Palace Cinema
BROTHERS AFTER WAR
Documentary with veterans recalling their experiences in Iraq.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD
DOG MAN
GREEN AND GOLD
HEART EYES
I AM LIVING PROOF
IN THE LOST LANDS
INDIANA JONES TRILOGY MARATHON
LAFCADIO’S REVENGE
LAST BREATH
LEGENDS OF THE CONDOR HEROES: THE GALLANTS
MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE (3/3)
MICKEY 17
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM GQUUUUUUX -BEGINNING-
MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE
NATIONAL THEATRE: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
NATIONAL THEATRE: THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE
NE ZHA 2
NO ADDRESS
NOVOCAINE: EARLY ACCESS ADRENALINE RUSH
PADDINGTON IN PERU
RIFF RAFF
RULE BREAKERS
SABDHAM
Indian horror film, Telugu-language with subtitles.
THE MONKEY
THE UNBREAKABLE BOY
TRANSFORMERS ONE
Flix Brewhouse
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
ANORA
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD
CASTLE IN THE SKY
COMPANION
CONCLAVE
DOG MAN
GIRLS TRIP
LAST BREATH
MICKEY 17
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO
More Miyazaki, please!
PADDINGTON IN PERU
RIFF RAFF
THE JERK
“He hates these cans!!!”
THE MONKEY
Looking Ahead…
Mills Folly Microcinema: Experimental films by Richard Tuohy and Dianna Barrie, Wednesday, March 26, 7pm, Arts + Literature Laboratory
Duck Soup Cinema: The Dragon Painter (1919), Saturday, May 3, 2pm and 7pm