Impressive ‘Spotlight’ Continues Run; Neil Hamburger Film ‘Entertainment’ Screening Tonight (Thurs., 12/10/15)

1) Spotlight – More talk of Oscars with this drama about muckraking journalists. Tom McCarthy directs from a screenplay by McCarthy and Josh Singer about a team of reporters at the Boston Globe who, in 2003, revealed historical child sex abuse within the Boston Catholic Diocese and the decades-long cover up. Advanced word on the film is that it presents a vivid, documentary-style look at investigative journalism and the importance of this disappearing trade. You’ll be shocked to hear this, I know, but maybe TMZ shouldn’t be your only news source. A big cast of heavy hitters includes Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci and Len Cariou. Check Fandango for screens and times. (TH)

2) Entertainment – If you’re all “Fa-la-la-la-la-ed” out, I think I may have just the film for you. Gregg Turkington is a comedian and actor who is well-known by a few well-connected people. Over the years he’s developed the stand-up persona Neil Hamburger, a miserable, extremely unfunny comedian. In certain circles, especially with other comedians, Turkington’s Neil is a legend. And now Rick Alverson as director, along with Turkington and Tim Heidecker as co-writers, has created a loosely structured narrative around the Hamburger character. It’s about a washed up (and unnamed) comedian on a tour of low-life bars in the Mojave desert trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Entertainment is very much a movie for comedy insiders (maybe you know Alverson and Heidecker from the “Tim & Eric Awesome Show.”) If you’ve got a stomach for postmodern anti-comedy comedies, this might just be the Christmas gift you’ve been waiting for. 7:30 p.m. Hollywood Theater, 1449 Potomac Ave., Dormont.(TH)

3) One of the more interesting venues in town is Pittsburgh CLO’s Cabaret theater, an intimate space where the group presents comical musical fare in extended runs. Up currently is Altar Boyz, a cheerfully irreverent send-up of two popular trends: boy bands and Christian-themed music. The fictional Altar Boyz of the title are a group with members named Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan, and Abraham (he’s Jewish). Song-and-dance bits like “Church Rulez” and the hip-hop “Miracle Song” stop short of the outrageousness seen in The Book of Mormon but are quite rousing. The original off-Broadway production of Altar Boyz, by Gary Adler, Michael Patrick Walker, and Kevin Del Aguila, ran for five years, from 2005-10, and it has become a staple of regional theaters and fringe festivals worldwide. Through December 20. 7:30 p.m. CLO Cabaret, 655 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (MV)

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