North Hollywood

The iconic Batmobile from the 1960s television show is set for the auction block this weekend. The midnight-black and fluorescent-red-pinstriped car that Adam West's Batman used to battle villains in Gotham will be up for grabs Saturday at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. There is a reserve price for the car, but neither the auction house nor the car owner, famed car customizer George Barris, would confirm the lowest dollar amount they would accept. But auction organizers have indicated it's in the multimillion-dollar range.

The teenage coming-of-age story gets an ever-so-slight tweak in "Struck by Lightning," written by and starring "Glee" performer Chris Colfer, whose character is, in fact, struck dead by lightning in the film's opening moments. Nevertheless he narrates the tale, looking back on his life up to that moment. Turns out Colfer's Carson was a perennial outsider for his literary ambitions and desire to break free of the small town social hierarchy of his high school. Genial and heartfelt but essentially toothless, lacking in either snark or spark, "Lightning" is directed by Brian Dannelly, who previously made the 2004 high school religious satire "Saved" before moving into television work, which seems to have leveled out his style into a flat competence.

Twenty years ago, nobody would have included Lankershim Boulevard on a list of the most significant streets in the San Fernando Valley. Passing the front gates of Universal Studios was pretty much its high point; beyond that, as it ran north for seven miles toward Sun Valley and Interstate 5, Lankershim was a grim parade of gas stations, windowless storage warehouses and rundown motels. Today, the boulevard is emphatically on the rise, energized by a pair of Red Line subway stops, a rapid-bus route packed with riders and the flourishing North Hollywood Arts District.

The English manor comedy "Cheerful Weather for the Wedding" is lifted immensely by its cast, actors who can get their minds and mouths around the quip-heavy dialogue in the story of a young woman, Dolly ("Like Crazy" ingénue Felicity Jones), who may be more interested in a former paramour (Luke Treadaway) than the poor fellow she is about to marry. As family and assorted hangers-on flit about, many minor personal dramas bubble up while Dolly tries to make up her mind about her future.

After more than four decades in business, Arte de Mexico owner Jerry Stoffers has announced that he will close his 250,000-square-foot North Hollywood showroom complex early next year. Everything in the showroom will be liquidated at reduced prices: Hand-carved antique doors from India that were $2,000 to $6,000 will start at $595, and hand-carved wooden columns and sculpted marble colums from India that had been $1,500 to $3,000 will begin at $499. Accent chairs will start at $299 and ottomans at $99. Carved stone statues from Malaysia will start at $299, amethyst geodes from Brazil will start at $599, hand-carved antique doors from Mexico (an inexpensive coffee table top, perhaps?

“The Red Room” finds veteran writer Christopher Knopf elegizing golden age Hollywood via a once-prominent producer and his privileged brood. Although beautifully appointed, resolutely performed and not without promise, this locally topical family drama warrants reconsideration. Our protagonist: disillusioned, one-handed Edwin (a determined Brad Blaisdell), his mogul-hood ending at the same time as the fading studio system. Rose (the heroic Janet Fontaine), Edwin's long-suffering wife, strives to broach her epically demanding husband's armor while defending him and their sons -- ne'er-do-well David (Chad Coe)

This post has been updated. See note below for details. Bob Dylan famously called Smokey Robinson “America's greatest living poet” for the exquisite beauty, pain and affection in lyrics to “Tracks of My Tears,” “Tears of a Clown” and so many other songs Robinson wrote and sang during his heyday at Motown in the 1960s and 1970s. Now, Robinson's ready to share a side of his poetry largely separated from music in “Words,” a spoken-word program built around several long-form poems that Robinson will present in a pair of shows this weekend in North Hollywood.

Amiable and upbeat though it is, the documentary "Hollywood to Dollywood" lacks a compelling reason to see it. Unless you are a Dolly Parton zealot, which its two protagonists definitely are. Twin brothers Gary and Larry Lane, originally from a small town in North Carolina but now bona-fide Hollywood residents, are devoted to Parton, both as a performer and as a nonjudgmental source of inspiration. The twins are gay, but unlike Parton, their religious mother apparently does not accept them the way they are. For the last four years, they have put their "heart and soul" into a movie about their life, and they are bound and determined to have Ms. Parton star in it. So they and Gary's partner, Mike Bowen, rent a massive RV they nickname Jolene and take off on a 2,200-mile, eight-state road trip down Interstate 40. Their destination?

Someone needs to check whether Estuardo Marcos, a 5-foot-4, 154-pound junior at Hacienda Heights Los Altos, is wearing a Mighty Mouse T-shirt under his football jersey, because he keeps producing superhero-like results. How else to explain someone his size returning kickoffs 98 and 95 yards for touchdowns last week against L.A. Salesian? He also had a 27-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown and a 15-yard touchdown run. "I've got a real good kickoff return squad," Marcos said.

Talk about inspiring. Or better yet, sing about it. That's the takeaway from the joyous documentary "Once in a Lullaby," which profiles the 2010-11 chorus from Staten Island's PS 22, whose crowning achievement was performing at the 83rd Academy Awards show. Although producer-director Jonathan Kalafer was blessed with a talented, charismatic and diverse bunch of camera-ready fifth-graders to help tell the choir's amazing story, it's music teacher Gregg Breinberg who lands center stage here.