Film

Shot on 16 mm film on a mere $7,000 budget, 2004’s “Primer” stands among the brainiest sci-fi movies ever made. But the technical story didn’t depend on a multi-million dollar Michael Bay budget — the director even filmed most scenes in one take. Jargon-laden dialogue made for a dense but rewarding script about a time-travel device that goes awry.

From the Seussian theme music to the silhouette of the man himself, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” is the most telling look at Hitchcock the person while still being an exhibition of Hitchcock the auteur.

The 30-minute program, which ran from 1955-62, gave Alfred Hitchcock the opportunity to showcase his uncanny, inherent hosting abilities, acting like a dry, sardonic distant relation all while sporting the look of a regal English butler.

Where: Area theaters

Rated: R

Directed by: Henry Alex Rubin

Starring: Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Alexander Skarsgård

Runtime: 115 min.

Opens: Friday

What: “United in Anger: A History of ACT UP”

When: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday

Where: Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis

Cost: $9

When the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power first took to the streets of New York in 1987, Jim Hubbard stood behind his lens ready to document history. Armed with a 16 mm camera, he began to chronicle the efforts of a community in unrest.

“Starbuck”

Where: Landmark Edina

Rated: R

Directed by: Ken Scott

Starring: Patrick Huard, Julie LeBreton, Antoine Bertrand

Opens: Friday

The opening scene of “Starbuck” finds its hero furiously masturbating, trying to produce enough sperm to fill a plastic vial. He flips through several pornographic magazines until he finally grunts, just one of David Wozniak’s (Patrick Huard) 533 sperm donations.

What: Filmmakers in Conversation: Chris Sullivan’s Consuming Spirits

When: 7:30 p.m., Friday; 3 p.m., Saturday

Where: Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis

Cost: $9 ($7 Walker members, students with ID and seniors)

Chris Sullivan’s experimental animation “Consuming Spirits” is a scrupulously handcrafted, novelistic tale of the darkly intertwined lives of three main characters, Earl Gray, Gentian Violet and Victor Blue, in a fictional Rust Belt town.

Every generation thinks they’re going to be the last ones slow-dancing in the bar when closing time comes around. The interest in how it’s all going to end is something that’s been around since the beginning, conjectures and speculation shared over a pint at the pub or while warming hands above a pile of hot coals burning in an industrial barrel.

If Hollywood has taught us anything about Mother Nature, it’s that her vast and bountiful animal kingdom is a wellspring of box-office gold. With a weakness to anthropomorphize creatures from towering dinosaurs to the tiniest titmouse, moviegoers have only been indulged further by the leaps and bounds of computer generated cine-magical effects that no longer require the use of a whip and a jar of peanut butter to make it look like Fido is cracking a one-liner. If Father Time has anything to say about it, it’s that real monkeys in furs and monocles are surefire entertainment.