* Academy Leaders: 2004 Oscar-Nominated Shorts
As shorts packages go, this one's not so bad. The Oscar-nominated offerings are all skillfully constructed (no surprise there), and a few take advantage of the compact form to engage in some mild--and mildly interesting--experimentation. Chris Hinton's Nibbles, a gentle poke at consumerism and suburban recreation, is notable for its pulsing animation, a loopy style that lands somewhere between a toddler's scribbles and Popeye. And Squash, a movie about an employer's mind games, exploits the claustrophobia of the minimal set to great advantage (too bad about that overbearing soundtrack). On the more conventionally eccentric end of things, there's the winning film in the animated short category--about a twitchy, Polish, thalidomide child-adopting piece of clay named Harvie Krumpet--which ceases being cute and amusing about 10 minutes into the 23-minute runtime. The most successful of the lot, a live-action Slovenian short called (A) Torsion, resists classification. It's vaguely absurdist, a bit sentimental, and surprisingly moving. The story would probably work better in a less schizophrenic context, but here it's a nice reminder that cleverness isn't the only measure of a short film's worth. (ANNIE WAGNER) Little Theatre, Fri-Sun 7, 9 pm.
After Silence
A 2003 doc about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, focusing on the story of Bainbridge Island resident Dr. Frank Kitamoto. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs March 25 at 6:30 pm.
* Blind Shaft
See Stranger Suggests. Varsity, Fri-Sun 2:10, 4:30, 7, 9:15 pm, Mon-Thurs 7, 9:15 pm.
Bound
A 1996 Wachowski brothers thriller about a pair of lesbian gangsters who are determined to break ties with the Mob--but only after they make off with a hefty sum of Mobby money. Central Cinema, Fri-Sat 7, 9:30 pm, Sun 7 pm.
Brave New Shorts from the Queer Frontier
This program of short films and videos, curated by Bridget Irish (film programmer for Homoagogo and Ladyfest 2000, among other events), occurs in conjunction with CoCA's Neoqueer exhibit. There are films from across the country, including Olympia, Olympia, Olympia, Tacoma, Chicago, San Francisco, Brooklyn, and L.A. But no Seattle. Hey Seattle gays, don't you make movies? Center on Contemporary Art, Tues March 30 at 8 pm.
Bum's Paradise
A documentary about a group of homeless people living at a Bay Area landfill. When the city launches plans to develop a park on the site, the landfill's residents are again displaced. Filmmakers will be in attendance at both screenings. Central Cinema, Mon 7, 9 pm.
Dollar
The Ingrid Bergman Film Festival continues with this 1938 film by Gustaf Molander, with Ingrid Bergman as a rich Swede on vacation in the mountains. Nordic Heritage Museum, Thurs April 1 at 7 pm.
* The General
Yeah, yeah... Buster Keaton, classic silent cinema, blah blah blah. But guess what! Buster Keaton's work holds up better than ANY of the so-called classic screen comedians--Chaplin, Lloyd, the Marx Brothers (all of whom I'd take a bullet for)--and The General holds up better than most Keaton films. Buster plays Johnnie Gray, a Dixie boy who loves only three things: the South, his train, and a girl named Annabelle Lee. When the war of Northern aggression breaks out, all three of his loves fail him--the Confederacy tells him he's more important as an engineer than a soldier, Annabelle thinks him a coward, and his train is stolen by Yankees. Spoiler alert: He prevails, hilariously. (SEAN NELSON) Haller Lake Community Clubhouse, Sat March 27 at 7 pm.
* Girlhood
Girlhood, the newest film from Liz Garbus (one of the directors of the 1998 prison doc The Farm), is one of those strong, socially conscious documentaries you'd expect to see on PBS's POV series--if it weren't for all the cuss words. Shanae and Megan are young teenagers locked up in a juvenile detention center outside of Baltimore. Shanae, who has an open, angelic face and wears her hair in pigtails, is in for murdering a friend with a steak knife when she was 11. Megan's criminal history is more varied, but most recently she was booked for assault with a box cutter. Garbus deploys skillful juxtapositions--Shanae making the plaintive analogy, "You know how puppies need to be with their mothers?", and Megan stating dryly, "I feel like an old woman trapped in a young woman's body"--in order to tease out the girls' contrasting attitudes toward their incarceration. It's pretty clear from the start who's going to bounce back and who's going to stagnate, and that family, rather than strictly personal qualities of intelligence or psychology, is going to be the determining factor, but the major and minor developments in the girls' lives are gripping nonetheless. (ANNIE WAGNER) Consolidated Works, Fri-Sun 8 pm.
The Green Lens Experience
A screening of short videos by people in their teens and 20s. 911 Media Arts, Fri March 26 at 8 pm.
Intermezzo
This 1936 movie features black-and-white cinematography by Gregg (Citizen Kane) Toland and Ingrid Bergman in her first English-speaking role. Nordic Heritage Museum, Thurs March 25 at 7 pm.
Quatermass II
A British production from the '50s, this science fiction movie features aliens and a synthetic food factory. Movie Legends, Sun March 28 at 1 pm.
RIP--Rest In Pieces
This Robert-Adrian Pejo documentary about visual artist Joe Coleman features Hungarian autopsies, a cameo by Jim Jarmusch, and dynamite. Coleman will be in attendance. Seattle Art Museum, Sat March 27 at 7 pm.
Sources of Silly!
Vintage comedy for the innocents among us, featuring Laurel & Hardy, Harry Langdon, Charlie Chaplin, and more. Little Theatre, Sat March 27 at 2 pm.
Spaceballs
"I'm my own best friend!" Egyptian, Fri-Sat midnight.
Twenty-One Days
SAM's Best of Britain series kicks off with this movie about Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier's three-week frolic before Olivier must stand trial for murder. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs March 25 at 7:30 pm.
Zachariah
This 1971 adaptation of Herman Hesse's Siddartha is reportedly the "first electric Western." Sunset Tavern, Mon March 29 at 8 pm.
NOW PLAYING
* 21 Grams
Though fragmented and seemingly random, 21 Grams is musical; it feels, moves, and concludes like a massive musical composition. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
50 First Dates
After suffering a head injury, Lucy (Drew Barrymore) has lost her short-term memory. She wakes up every morning with a clean slate, remembering everything up until her accident, but nothing after that. Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is a commitment-fearing man-whore, taking advantage of Hawaii's plethora of tourists looking for hot one-night stands. It's a match made in heaven. But stupid emotions get involved (they always ruin every perfect plan), and Henry falls for Lucy. In order to continue a relationship, he has to come up with new ways to get her attention every day. Sounds silly, for sure. But know what? It's cute and funny too. (MEGAN SELING)
Agent Cody Banks: Destination London
Junior spies and big red telephone booths go together like ice cream and pie.
The Barbarian Invasions
Really, I can't understand how this film has gotten any good reviews at all. (ANDY SPLETZER)
Big Fish
Tim Burton's Big Fish is an ungainly, rambling piece of work built upon a bed of lies. The liar: a man named Ed Bloom who has spent his life spinning outrageous tales about himself, including run-ins with witches and giants, Siamese twins, and massive, uncatchable fish (hence the title). Sappy and cluttered, the entirety of Big Fish doesn't quite hold together. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Calendar Girls
At the end of Calendar Girls I walked out of the theater knowing the film wasn't quite as good as the condition of Helen Mirren's naked breasts made me want to believe it was. (KATHLEEN WILSON)
* City of God
Set in hell (a heated Rio de Janeiro ghetto) and narrated by a young newspaper photographer named Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), Cidade de Deus (City of God) describes the rise and fall of the legendary, psychopathic gangster Li'l Zé, who, after murdering every obstacle in his way, mercilessly rules the ghetto's turbulent drug trade. Though great to watch, Cidade de Deus curiously fails to comment on the reason why most of the people who live and die in the ghetto are brown, beige, and black. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
* Cold Mountain
Anthony Minghella steers the film into a few minor rough spots (including a somewhat clumsy beginning, and an occasionally annoying performance by Renée Zellweger as a lodger who helps Nicole Kidman on her farm), but the picture as a whole delivers a big, heartfelt epic. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is riveting because Lindsay Lohan's breasts are really, really juicy. (CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE)
* Dawn of the Dead
In a surprising twist, here is a remake that, while not on par with the original, at least puts up a good fight. Directed with impressive flair by Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead retains nearly everything from George Romero's classic. The capitalism satire has been somewhat watered down, but in its place we are given sprinting zombies, a la Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later--an actual improvement on the 1978 version. The final result: If you must remake something, this is the way to do it. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights works hard to drench its viewers with all the hot Latin passion they can handle. The end result: the tripiest tripe in Tripetown. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Whereas the last Michel Gondry/Charlie Kaufman collaboration, Human Nature, eventually crumbled under its own quirkiness (considerably helped along by the staggering blandness of Tim Robbins), Eternal Sunshine finds director and scribe fitting perfectly together. This is a film that travels far beyond most of our imaginations. It is also one of the most beautifully assembled romances you will ever see. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* The Fog of War
War is never a clean affair, and looking back on Vietnam--even with a firsthand guide such as the film's subject, Robert McNamara--it appears no cleaner. Some have complained about McNamara's refusal to fully admit his guilt--they seem to want him to apologize for the whole affair. No such words appear to be coming from the former secretary of defense, but what he offers instead is in some ways more interesting. McNamara is quite obviously riddled with guilt about Vietnam, which was a pitiful tragedy. As The Fog of War artfully shows us, McNamara is now a pitiful, tragic figure himself. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring is stuffy to a fault, no matter how many shots of Scarlett Johansson's pout director Peter Webber can fit in, and the final tally falls somewhere between the best of Merchant Ivory and the worst of Merchant Ivory. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Good Bye Lenin!
Because of Christiane's exceptionally delicate condition, her son Alexander cannot inform her that East Germany is no more, that the party and the socialist ideals that consumed much of her adult life are now a thing of the past. To protect her nerves as the outside world becomes more and more like West Germany, the inside of Christiane's room is maintained in the state of East Germany. The trick, and it is a trick devised by the clever director (Wolfgang Becker), works. In other hands it would have been silly and exhausted in a matter of minutes, but Becker manages to get over an hour's worth of comedy and drama out of it. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Hidalgo
Hidalgo screams Disney with its Wild West (and East, although it was actually shot in Morocco and Africa) adventure, and especially the hammy relationship between Frank Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) and his horse, who could easily play Mr. Ed if called upon for the upcoming remake of the '60s television series. Whenever Hopkins makes a fool of himself, Hidalgo the Wise raises his eyebrows, or snorts, and even bleeds if the mood calls for it, making Hidalgo quite possibly Mortensen's most romantic film to date. (KATHLEEN WILSON)
House of Sand and Fog
House of Sand and Fog is about many things, including stature and safety, racism and compassion, history and addiction. What it is not about, sadly, is subtle directing. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
In America
Director Jim Sheridan always turns up the emotion in his films, but at least his earlier movies took place in faraway Ireland. When all this emotion is suddenly close to home and out of its usual cultural environment, it's rather obnoxious and exasperating. Like a truck whose brakes have been tampered with, the emotion in this movie rolls uncontrollably down a steep road, swerving from side to side, until it finally hits a big tree. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Intermission
See review this issue.
Jersey Girl
See review this issue.
The Ladykillers
See review this issue.
Last Samurai
We have all seen The Last Samurai before when it was called Gladiator, or Lawrence of Arabia, or Dances with Wolves, and because of this, all the film can offer is the sight of Tom Cruise wielding a lengthy sword--a thought sure to excite fans of childish metaphor, but they may be the only ones. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Latter Days
Latter Days tells the story of a shallow L.A. fag and the Mormon missionary who enters his life (and more!) to teach him the value not only of spiritual depth, but of patience. The first half of the film is spent waiting for the inevitable moment when the obviously gay Mormon will allow the party boy into the kingdom of his underpants. The rest consists of wondering how and why you could ever possibly be expected to care about the travails and transformations of the two main characters. (SEAN NELSON)
* Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
After greeting the first two films with slack-jawed reverence, I found myself viewing the third with a kind of grumpy anticipation. What I soon discovered, however, was that the begrudging-ness of my affection for the film was no match for Peter Jackson's swashbuckling craft. If this is just a fantasy, Jackson seems to say, it's going to deliver on every level available. (SEAN NELSON)
* Master and Commander
If Master and Commander sounds soundly square, that's because square is exactly what the film is; massive and solidly made, Peter Weir's picture is a throwback, of sorts, to the works of David Lean, delivering the sort of rousing, smart, and earnest adventure rarely seen nowadays. Big and loud, thrilling and expensive, it is the type of film that only major Hollywood studios can produce. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Miracle
The prominent display of muscular young men achieving glory through physical exertion is not the only way in which sports movies are like pornography. The other big similarity lies in audience expectations; because the destination is a foregone conclusion in both forms, the pleasure of watching has got to be all about the journey. Miracle is good because it delivers a solid 90 minutes of credible buildup to a finale that is a matter of public record. (SEAN NELSON)
Monsieur Ibrahim
Had the movie remained within the limits of its basic plot, and stayed enclosed within this vibrant section of Paris (the busy narrow street; the boy's dark, book-packed apartment; the bright piazza where a teen girl practices American dance moves; and the small but well-stocked store), it would have been perfectly charming. But instead, the director, Franÿois Dupeyron, wanted something more than all he had--a warm relationship that develops between two people who come from opposing religions, ages, and races. This something more that the director wanted to squeeze out of the modest scenario is a major statement, a declaration about the fate of all mankind. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Monster
There are many things that work in Monster, beginning with the much-praised performance by its lead, Charlize Theron. Saddled with 20 extra pounds, buried beneath grime and makeup, Theron is outright amazing. However, on the whole, the picture is so bleak and depressing that it is nearly intolerable. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* NASCAR 3D
Finally, a reason to go to the IMAX theater! I mean the Lewis and Clark film is all right, but this is freakin' car racing, in magical 3-D, on an eight-foot screen with ear-shattering digital surround sound. Whether you even like NASCAR or not, the subject matter perfectly suits the medium. At first I was feeling oppressed by the big plastic wrap-around 3-D glasses, but once the film started, I was floored. The 3-D car crash scene, where the giant radial tire seems to come flying right out into the audience, is worth the price of admission alone. And other scenes, especially the pit stops and the views from inside the cars as they race are so loud and intense they'll give you goosebumps. The whole film is thundering and obnoxious--just like NASCAR itself. And laugh if you must at the overly enthusiastic NASCAR culture, but these people know how to have fun. Seeing parents and their kids watch this movie together--cars burning rubber and screaming around the track at speeds upward of 200 mph, while Ministry's "Jesus Built My Hotrod" blared from the sound system... well, it warmed my heart. (KELLY O)
Never Die Alone
See review this issue.
The Passion of the Christ
Where is the fire in Jesus? Under Mel Gibson's direction, there is not a whiff of threat in Him, and once all the blood has dried, the major villains are little more than mindless monsters, with the Jews, in the end, receiving the brunt of the blame. Because of this, Jesus himself loses most of his humanity as well, and causes The Passion of the Christ to lose its effectiveness for anyone beyond rigid believers. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* The Reckoning
This story may as well have been made into a Hollywood-looking movie (like A Knight's Tale), as it is after all a medieval murder mystery, but instead it is shot and edited in the terms of a documentary. Everything looks real: The forests are dark green and dank, the castle is harsh gray, and the townspeople all look like they're odiferous. The visuals are great but the story, in the end, is merely average. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
See review this issue.
Secret Window
Somehow Johnny Depp has the ability to play even the most eye-rolling moments with a brand of believable grace. Even John Turturro infuses his killer hillbilly with a real sense of menace that's reminiscent of Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear. Credit also goes to director/screenwriter David Koepp (Panic Room), who steadily guides the film. Add this to some unusual comic flourishes from Depp and Secret Window becomes a night of good popcorny entertainment. (WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY)
Something's Gotta Give
Do you really want to see Jack Nicholson's bare ass? (EMILY HALL)
Spartan
This movie opens with soldiers training in the woods, a military helicopter flying over the brooding twilight of a massive city (Boston), and a base operated by secret agents in black suits. Great images! The story then centers on one secret service agent, whose only meaning in life is his work. This agent is played by Val Kilmer. Suddenly the daughter of a powerful politician is kidnapped. Twists and turns lead Kilmer to a seedy stream of white slavery that connects Boston with Yemen. In Yemen, like everywhere else, the most valued object is a blond American teenager. And according to this film, made by a Jewish director, it is the duty of black Americans, Mexican Americans, and working-class white Americans, to protect, even at the cost of their lives, this all-American treasure--the blond beauty. At the film's end, a white jet plane flown by Swedish nationals carries the blond American away from the black dangers of Yemen. Need I say more? (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Starsky & Hutch
Despite my high praise for Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, Starsky & Hutch is not a great success. It's barely a marginal success--funny Ha, not funny Ha Ha. Far too obvious on many occasions, often derailed by Ben Stiller's overreaching, the film as a whole is little more than predictable fluff. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Taking Lives
I expected Taking Lives, the Angelina Jolie-Ethan Hawke serial killer mystery, to be mediocre. After all, the otherwise-talented Jolie, who plays an FBI agent solving a Montreal murder, is not well known for choosing dynamic projects. But the plot, as it turns out, is decent. While it's immediately obvious who isn't the killer, director D. J. Caruso plays the second half of the movie smart enough to keep you guessing. The acting, too, is well done: It's hard to take your eyes off the borderline-creepy Jolie as she concentrates on her work, and Hawke's portrayal of a nervous artist--witness to one murder, and potential victim--is both comedic and cute. The problem, however, is in their characters. There's little indication what makes Jolie's cop tick, let alone why she's such a super-agent that she's imported to help Canada. And Hawke's artist falls flat, though perhaps intentionally. Regardless, neither of their lives are fleshed out, which sinks what could otherwise be one of Jolie's better films. (AMY JENNIGES)
* The Triplets of Belleville
Writer-director-animator Sylvain Chomet invokes the same absurdly entertaining nostalgia that Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro tapped into for Delicatessen and City of Lost Children. The world Chomet has created contains the same deadpan sadness that lies at the base of those films--the world may be a cold and lonely place, but with a little inventiveness you can prosper. (ANDY SPLETZER)
Twisted
Nothing in Philip Kaufman's thriller Twisted is worth recommending. Nothing. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
