An American Werewolf in London
John Landis' innovative, hilarious 1981 werewolf masterpiece receives a screening where it belongs: smack on the big screen, in full, blazing glory. Starring David Naughton and Griffin Dunne, An American Werewolf in London is Landis' best film (despite its rather abrupt, fairly lame ending), and it showcases just how much talent the young director had before he hacked off Vic Morrow's head with a helicopter rotor blade during the shooting of Twilight Zone: The Movie. (SEAN NELSON) JBL Theater, Thurs Oct 30 at 7:30 pm.
APE CANYON
See Blow Up. Aftermath Gallery, Sat Nov 1 at 7, 9 pm.
The Brood
Killer babies! The Grand Illusion kicks off their month long From the Cradle To the Grave series with David Cronenberg's 1979 work in the arena, the tale of evil psychologists, deformed children, and killer babies. Killer babies! Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat at 11 pm.
Charlotte's Web
"T-double E-double R-double R-double I-double F-double I-double C, C, C...." Columbia City Cinema, Sat at 2 pm.
Curtis Salgado: My Favorite Things
See Blow Up. JBL Theater, Wed at 7 pm.
David Cross: Let America Laugh
See Stranger Suggests. Sunset Tavern, Mon at 8 pm.
DISCOVERING DOMINGA
Opening this year's Seattle Human Rights Film Festival is this film on a Guatemalan immigrant who grew up in rural Ohio. In her later years, she discovered she was one of the few who survived the Rio Negro Massacre. Following the screening, Christina Albo from Amnesty International will talk about life in Guatemala today. Frye Art Museum, Wed Nov 5 at 7 pm.
* Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary
See Blow Up. Guy Maddin's amazing spin on Bram Stoker's tome returns to the Little Theatre and all I can suggest is that you go. As soon as you can. You have never seen a take on Dracula like this one. It is a beautiful, haunting piece of work. Little Theatre, Fri-Sun at 7, 9 pm.
An Evening of Indy Horror Flicks
See Blow Up. Independent Media Center, Thurs Oct 30 at 6:30 pm.
* Girls Will Be Girls
Pitch-perfect camp isn't easy to do. But Girls Will Be Girls, written and directed by Richard Day, makes it look like it is. It's breezy, with a dark undertow and an easy comedic touch. The barbed bitchery is delivered by three drag queens. There's booze, pills, insurance fraud, drunk driving, abortion jokes, rape jokes, small-dick jokes, and a character asking offhandedly, "By the way, did you ever shit out that earring?" It's more disgusting than Divine eating shit. And funnier. (NATE LIPPENS)
Hell Hole High
See Blow Up. Aftermath Gallery, Sat Nov 1 at 11 pm.
* Horns and Halos
A gripping video documentary that follows the tortured path of a hack author who writes a critical biography of George W. Bush, and in the process, summons the demonic force of fate until he is a total wretch, unemployable and utterly discredited. Originally published by a reputable house, the book Fortunate Son (the one that claimed W. had been arrested for cocaine but listed no sources) was an instant bestseller in 1999, but was recalled when it was discovered that author J. H. Hatfield had spent time in jail for attempted murder. A few weeks later, the book was picked up by an independent, punk rock pseudoanarchist press, and so began Hatfield's descent into indignity. The movie chronicles the dopey passion of the new publisher, the mounting frustration of Hatfield, and the eerie sense of doom that enshrouds their efforts to get this specious piece of unsubstantiated journalism out into the world. The question that still burns as the credits roll (following an ending as chilling as any '70s conspiracy thriller) is why, if the book, author, and publisher are each such a joke, the campaign against them all feels so ominous, and so concerted? (SEAN NELSON) Consolidated Works, Fri-Sun at 8 pm.
Journey
Nissan and America Online presents Warren Miller's totally EXTREME 54th film, packed with mind-blowing snowboarding scenes and unparalleled demographic cred! 5th Avenue Theatre, Thurs, Sat at 6, 9 pm, Sun at 5, 8 pm.
* King Kong
"Some big hard-boiled egg gets a look at a pretty face and bang--he cracks up and goes sappy." Grand Illusion, Fri at 7, 9 pm, Sat-Sun at 3, 5, 7, 9 pm, Tues-Thurs at 7, 9 pm.
* Madame Sata
I am now convinced that Brazil has a monopoly on sex. All other nationalities merely scratch the surface; we think we are big time lovers, that we have the passion, feel the pressures of the flesh, but our agitations, longings, and ejaculations are nothing more than boyish or girlish when compared to the adult brilliance of Brazilian sex. In all of French, German, Japanese, Hong Kong, Hollywood, Bollywood cinema nothing has ever visually achieved the high temperatures of desire, the panther-like desperation for flesh, the grabbing, and the death-defying orgasms that are frenetically described in the Brazilian film Madame Sat-. Most of us would simply pass out in such a climate, be overwhelmed by the heat of these impossible bodies. The Brazilians fuck like Gods. That said, let me describe the plot of the film, which is loosely based on real events and characters. It is about a black transvestite/cabaret performer/petty criminal/capoeira martial arts expert who lived in the bohemian quarters of Rio de Janeiro in the '30s. His name is Francisco (Lazaro Ramos), and he is the surrogate father for a family comprised of another black transvestite named Taboo (Flavio Bauraqui), an aged white prostitute named Laurita (Marcelia Cartaxo), and her mixed baby. A fierce individual, Francisco wants the freedom to go anywhere in the city, to love anyone, and to sing anything, but his society refuses to open up and accept him. It confines him to his race, sexual preference, and ghetto. Nothing short of a supernova will liberate Francisco from the social prison; and this is precisely what we see on the screen, not an implosion but the explosion of a rising star. (CHARLES MUDEDE) Varsity, Fri-Sun 4:20, 7, 9:30, Mon-Thurs 7, 9:30 pm.
* Nosferatu
"Is this your wife? What a lovely throat." Columbia City Cinema, Fri at 8 pm.
* Re-Animator
Dude! Re-fucking-Animator! Uncut! Dude! Egyptian, Fri-Sat at midnight.
Shag Carpet Sunset
See Blow Up. 911 Media Arts Center, Fri-Sat at 7 pm, Sun at 2 pm.
Twisted Flicks: Creature from the Black Lagoon
Adding insult to injury, the old fish-man must contends not only with explorers on the Amazon, but with Jet City Improv's innane MST3K-isms. Historic University Theater, Thurs-Sat at 8 pm.
* Young Frankenstein
Gene Wilder--who built a career being both a sweet, composed gentleman and bug-eyed, raving lunatic--is perfect as the tortured Friedrich von Frankenshteen, and Marty Feldman certainly never did better. But it is the sweet-voiced Madeline Kahn who adds the vital third dimension to this comedy; a dimension that, since her untimely death, has only deepened to a softly tragic undertone. (Jamie Hook) Columbia City Cinema, Sat at 7:30 pm.
NOW PLAYING
* Alien: DIRECTOR'S CUT
See review this issue. Cinerama, Grand Alderwood
* American Splendor
As a comic-book movie, American Splendor is more like Crumb and Ghost World than like Spider Man or The Hulk. Along with a deadpan sense of humor, the focus is entirely on character and not at all on spectacle. There's also a tone found in underground comics that this movie perfectly captures. Smartly constructed and often surprising, American Splendor indulges in how artificial the filmmaking process is, and ends up with a heartfelt portrayal of a very real man. (ANDY SPLETZER)
Beyond Borders
Beyond Borders opens and closes in London, with jaunts to such cheery locales as Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Chechnya along the way. It stars the great Clive Owen and the rapidly deteriorating Angelina Jolie. It aims to be an important, life-affirming romance. It is, in a word, a disaster. This should come as no real surprise, for the film's premise--love among relief workers--shoots up a number of warning flares. A bloom of romance among starvation and genocide? The heart surely melts--after all, nothing spells sexy like the Khmer Rouge. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Brother Bear
The Disney movie to take your kids to between Pixar movies. Factoria, Metro, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center, Woodinville 12
* Bubba Ho-Tep
In an East Texas convalescent home, a penis-cancer-ridden Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) and John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) are awaiting death. The two geezers are revitalized when they band together to fight a mummy who's been sucking the souls out of old people's asses. Surprise number one is that the film, while being a complete piece of trash, is actually pretty great. Aside from its crackpot intelligence, fine acting, deadpan absurdity, and startling sweetness, however, Bubba Ho-Tep is exactly what you'd expect. (SEAN NELSON)
Die Mommie Die!
See review this issue. Uptown
Dopamine
Sundance will never shake its growing reputation as an incubator of mediocre work if it keeps throwing all its weight behind movies like Dopamine. Having gone through the Sundance Institute labs, the Sundance Film Festival, and now the Sundance theatrical-release series (before heading into a long life on the Sundance Channel), this movie has been polished down to your standard low-budget romantic comedy. (ANDY SPLETZER)
The Fighting Temptations
Cuba Gooding Jr. continues his winning streak of zany fish-out-of-water comedies (in the now-illustrious tradition of Boat Trip and Snow Dogs) with a role as a shallow chump who must successfully champion a ragtag gospel choir or risk losing his family's inheritance. And as you might well expect, Cuba's fish-out-of-water has long since begun to smell like shit. Costarring Beyoncé Knowles' abs, the paper-thin story is unimportant--functional only in its ability to daisy-chain together a series of rags-to-riches musical sequences, of which you are assured many. (ZAC PENNINGTON)
Good Boy
The only thing better than a talking dog movie (in this case, talking dogs from outer space) is a talking dog movie voiced by third-tier Hollywood celebrities. The agents of Matthew Broderick, Brittany Murphy, and Carl Reiner suggest "broadened horizons," and have a good laugh at their clients in Good Boy.
In The Cut
See review this issue. Grand Alderwood, Meridian 16, Metro, Woodinville 12
Intolerable Cruelty
To malign Intolerable Cruelty as the worst Coen Brothers film to date is really only a testament to their decades of consistency--a legacy of quirk and pop vision that seems to only improve with age. And despite its relative visual artlessness, Cruelty boasts quality (if not altogether brilliant) performances, a decent amount of humor, and some of the Coen's lyrical delivery. Even the worst Coen Brother's movie is still a Coen Brother's movie. But with its slapdash directions--and their names deeply buried amongst the screen credits--the whole debacle comes off with the sense that they owed somebody a favor. (ZAC PENNINGTON)
* Kill Bill Vol. 1
The first half of Quentin Tarantino's opus has very little character development, only the thinnest of stories, and more severed limbs than you can count. It is, in a word, brilliant. BRADLEY STEINBACHER
* Lost In Translation
Lost in Translation is a tiny movie, as light as helium and draped upon the thinnest of plots. There is very little conflict, and even fewer twists and turns. It is as close to a miracle as you're likely to get this year. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Luther
In Luther, which is directed by Eric Till and stars Shakespeare in Love's Joseph Fiennes as Martin Luther, the German theologian is portrayed as a radical liberal, as a man who spoke for the people and openly opposed the all-powerful Roman Catholic Church--its politics, its reading of the Bible, its shameless profiteering from the suffering and ignorance of the poor. Luther is successful because it's not really about Martin Luther at all, but about the general mood of an important period in Western history. The way the film is edited, written, photographed, and directed captures, as if from a mountaintop, a wider, larger arena of events, so that what is seen is not an individual but a whole society under great transformation. Not the will of Luther but the will of the abused German masses fuels the motor of this movie's epic narrative. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
* Matchstick Men
Ridley Scott has never been known for a feather touch; when given the choice during his lengthy career between beauty of image and subtlety of character, image has almost always trounced. But surprisingly, subtlety is in abundance in his new picture Matchstick Men, and the result is his best film since Thelma & Louise. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Mystic River
For all the "inexorability" and "meditation" of its violence, Mystic River feels desperately contrived. Whether director Clint Eastwood has some deep understanding of the nature of violence remains unclear. What is certain is that he knows how to make a movie, even a dumb one, well worth watching. I only wish someone would send him some better books. (SEAN NELSON)
Once Upon a Time In Mexico
Forget about everything the El Mariachi "trilogy" has come to represent in the past, and see Once Upon a Time in Mexico for Johnny Depp. That is the only aspect of the film that doesn't sell the audience short. (KATHLEEN WILSON)
Out Of Time
Denzel Washington gets set up again (can't America just leave a successful, sensitive, and respectable African American man alone? I mean, can't they?!?!), this time as a respected police chief, who must cover his tracks before being pinned with a murder.
* Pieces Of April
Starring Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, and Oliver Platt, Pieces of April has a look and feel that I hesitate to label "documentary-like"--gritty due to its transfer of digital to celluloid, mainly handheld, there is a certain spontaneity in the film, almost an improvised feel, that is enhanced by the sharp cast. Clarkson is particularly good (or "scary good," as Hedges calls her), becoming the heart of the film that the rest of the group rotates around. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Radio
Combining the two most odious tools at Hollywood's disposal--celebrities portraying the mentally handicapped and Cuba Gooding Jr. --Radio is something like Rudy meets The Waterboy. With "heart." Oh, the heart.
* Returner
It's the year 2084 and the human race isn't doing so well. We're fighting a losing battle against a militia of alien invaders who are systematically wiping us out. The trouble all began in October of 2002, when an alien landed on Earth. If we could have killed the alien right when it landed, we probably could have stopped the invasion before it began. Luckily for humankind, our future selves have a time machine. In the heat of battle, the only soldier able to make it into the time machine is a 15-year-old girl named Milly (Ann Suzuki), who is both cute as a button and lethal. Returner is a popcorn movie, plain and simple--where ultimately story takes a backseat to the kick-ass action, and the whole thing comes together to form an entertaining jumble. (ANDY SPLETZER)
Runaway Jury
Runaway Jury is completely solid and completely unsurprising--a John Grisham adaptation in the A Time to Kill vein, which is to say this: It is watchable Hollywood tripe.
The Rundown
The Rock, the guy from Dude, Where's My Car? (no, the other one), Ewen Bremner and Christopher Walken--in a cast destined for greatness--come together to fight crime or some shit in the Amazon. Most assuredly trash, but have you see the Rock's eyebrows? Hypnotizing.
Scary Movie 3
Maybe the Scary Movie franchise is smarter than I thought. Maybe their consecutively devolving sequels thrust upon a deaf-earred public are in fact just an extenstion of the grander joke on horror franchises. Or maybe some damn fool won't quit funding this shit. Be warned: 4's already in the fucking can. No, seriously.
* School Of Rock
Like Kindergarten Cop, the concept behind Rock is one of those near-hokey ones where "kids teach us more than we teach them," and where, in the end, everybody wins in some way because everybody loosens up a bit. What makes this movie different, though is that it tackles the parts of rock culture where people take themselves way too seriously, a subject that could use a little unwinding of its panties. (JENNIFER MAERZ)
Secondhand Lions
A film about a boy who is left by his mother to spend an indefinite amount of time with his uncles, who, upon first impression, are stubborn hicks with a big barn. Through stories told by Michael Caine, the boy soon learns that his uncles are not hicks at all, but war heroes with glorious pasts. The eldest uncle, Duvall, was in his youth a man of action, a great soldier who defeated powerful sheiks and seduced a dark woman while riding a wild horse on the shores of Arabia--a man-among-men who, even in his old age, has not lost an inch of his erection. Impressed by this example of pure manhood, Osment switches his dependency on Mommy for an even more unhealthy dependency on this violent father figure. This movie just sucks. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
* The Station Agent
Peter Dinklage plays Finbar McBride, a train aficionado who inherits an abandoned depot. The remote location suits him fine because he's not the most social of people. That doesn't stop the nearby Cuban hot dog vendor Joe (Bobby Cannavale) from talking to him, nor does it stop the woman who almost runs him over (Patricia Clarkson) from stopping by for an apologetic drink or several. They befriend him despite his better efforts to brush them off. Dinklage is positively magnetic here: what director Tom McCarthy has captured in his debut feature is a sense of happy loneliness--those times when it feels right to go for a walk and just look around and not talk to anyone. (ANDY SPLETZER)
Sylvia
See review this issue. Harvard Exit
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Tobe Hooper's classic gets destroyed courtesy of hacks Marcus Nispel and Michael Bay.
Underworld
Once again Romeo & Juliet is dusted off and given a refurbishing. This time the setting is the gloomiest of all gloomy cities, where vampires and werewolves wage a secret, exhausting war with one another. The experience: much Matrix-like action (save for the wire work), crackpot dialogue, and a PVC-clad heroine (Kate Beckinsale) who looks sexy as all get out, but can barely muster a sprint thanks to her garb. The result: a boring, uninspired hack work. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Veronica Guerin
Joel Schumacher is a costume designer turned screenwriter turned director who learned his craft in the bowels of the Hollywood machine. No matter how independent his projects appear in concept, they are always finished with a Hollywood sheen. It is that sheen that sinks Veronica Guerin. The movie is based on the true story of an Irish reporter who dared expose drug kingpins in print. Though she effected social change, she was killed for her trouble. Working closely with the family of the late Ms. Guerin, Schumacher bent over backward to show her as a saint and a martyr, and if it weren't for the talented Cate Blanchett in the title role, she would have come across strictly as a caricature instead of a character. Still, after a while you get tired of her never being wrong about anything. (ANDY SPLETZER)
