An assassin lurking in the shadows, a shark in the water—that’s how Rahm Emanuel is described in the new documentary HouseQuake, which premiered at the E Street Cinema on Wednesday night.

The film—directed by Karen Price, daughter of Representative David Price—offers a behind-the-scenes look at the 2006 campaign and how Emanuel orchestrated one of the country’s most historic congressional elections. Price and her crew followed seven Democratic candidates: Heath Shuler, Tammy Duckworth, Baron Hill, Diane Farrell, Brad Ellsworth, Tim Mahoney, and Jerry McNerney.

In 2006, Democrats picked up 31 seats to seize control of the House, ending the “Republican revolution” that had reigned for 12 years. As President George W. Bush famously remarked, “It was a thumpin’.”

The think tank Third Way and Representative Chris Van Hollen hosted the premiere. Also in the audience were Representatives Price, Jerry McNerney, Baron Hill, and Ed Whitfield, and the Washington Post’s David Broder.

Tuesday, September 1
Yet another free movie festival comes to an end. Catch Chicago, the Oscar-winning musical starring Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Renée Zellweger, tonight at the last Bethesda Row Movies Under the Stars installment; 8:45. Oh summer, how we’ll miss you.

Wednesday, September 2
Stressballs should head to Foundry United Methodist Church (16th and P sts., NW) for a free introduction to meditation. This weekly series of guided seated and walking meditations is followed by a Vipassana-related question-and-answer session. 7 to 8:30; no registration required. E-mail meditationdc@gmail.com for more information.

Thursday, September 3
Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner, star of Signature Theatre’s Dirty Blonde, joins fans during Signature’s monthly Brown Bag Thursday event to answer questions and discuss her portrayal of Mae West in the musical. 1 to 2 PM in the theater’s Mead Lobby.

This Is Where I Leave You, the delightfully awkward novel about middle-aged family dysfunction, is on pretty much everyone’s must-read list this fall. Hear author Jonathan Tropper discuss the book tonight at Politics and Prose. 7 PM.

1. Sangria lovers should head to Nando’s Peri-Peri for a happy-hour deal featuring 32-ounce pitchers of the stuff for $4.95. It runs from 4 to 7 every day at the Dupont Circle location and Monday through Friday in Chinatown. The promotion ends September 7.

2. We’re a tad annoyed that no one (we’re looking at you, Alejandro) told us about Blingo at Sticky Rice. Every Thursday night, the Atlas District bar hosts a bingo/white elephant mash-up game, where bingo players can win prizes and steal better ones from their opponents. The game kicks off at 11 and usually runs until 1 AM. Free.

3. The Arlington Cinema ’n’ Drafthouse has a good roster of second-run movies, including Land of the Lost, starring Will Ferrell, and Sacha Baron Cohen’s Brüno. Tickets are cheap—$1 to $5.50, depending on when you go—and you can enjoy table service during the films. Both are being shown Thursday night.

4. The Comcast Outdoor Film Festival at Strathmore wraps up Friday with a screening of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Thursday night, it’s Slumdog Millionaire. The films are free, but donations to NIH Children’s Charities will be accepted. Movies start at 8:15.

5. Asylum in Adams Morgan is all grown up—the bar is celebrating its 18th birthday Friday night. To mark the occasion, bartenders will sling beers for 18 cents from 8 to 10 and for $1.80 from 10 to closing. A DJ will be on hand with dance tracks, and the local reggae band Lucky Dub will play at 9:30. No cover.

In 1979 the Washington Post ran an editorial endorsing Marion Barry for mayor, with the headline “Marion Barry for Mayor” that included the sentence, “What Mr. Barry seems to value, and to be offering, in other words, is precisely what we think the people of this city need.”  Thirty years later, Barry is more commonly known as a wacky old man, visibly ravaged by years of drug and alcohol abuse who’s still, at the age of 72, getting into scrapes that might make Keith Richards blush. But the city apparently still needs him, and Barry, as impervious to criticism and resilient as ever, is happy to oblige.

Maybe he’s too easy a target. But it seems like The Nine Lives of Marion Barry, a documentary by Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer that had its TV premiere Monday night on HBO, gives the Mayor for Life a relatively easy ride. Shooting finished in 2004, long before Barry’s tax evasion came to light, or his kidney transplant, or his 4th of July arrest for “stalking” a girlfriend whom he’d hired as a consultant. The cocaine busts are there, naturally, along with references to his philandering. But the filmmakers seem more interested in the early Barry, the energetic activist pursuing a PhD in chemistry who was pictured next to Martin Luther King at rallies, the man who led the Free DC movement and helped a city that was 80 percent black get a vote.

Summertime, and the outdoor movie watching is easy. Screen on the Green has finally released its summer movie schedule, and we've got the details. Never been? Screen on the Green features classic films on the National Mall between 4th and 7th Streets, and will start tonight with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Check below for the schedule and how to have a great evening while watching the free films.

At long last, we can plan our Mondays for the rest of the summer—the lineup for Washington's beloved free film series, Screen on the Green, has been released.

The roster kicks off with the Richard Dreyfuss classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind on July 20. Subsequent screenings are as follows:

• July 27: Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino
• August 3: On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando and Karl Malden
• August 10: Rebel Without a Cause, starring Natalie Wood and James Dean

The films, which are screened on the Mall between Fourth and Seventh streets, start at sunset around 8:30. Remember to bring a blanket or low chair. Oh, and bring bug spray—lots of bug spray.

Related:
Other Free Film Screenings in Washington 

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