Tools
The Beaver Trilogy
A Beaver, Utah man's drag performance as Olivia Newton John is re-enacted and re-enacted again in this series of featurettes starring Groovin' Gary, Sean Penn, and Crispin Glover, respectively. Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat 11 pm.
Broken Wings
See review this issue. Varsity, Fri-Sun 2:10, 4:30, 7, 9:15 pm, Mon-Thurs 7, 9:15 pm.
Cry-Baby
A toned-down John Waters flick starring Johnny Depp and Amy Locane. Egyptian, Fri-Sat midnight.
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.
* Duck Soup
The Marx Brothers are the firmament of verbal and physical comedy, of high wit and low brow, the one thing you can always go back to and be assured of a life-affirming laugh. This film--by any measure their best, and easily one of the 10 funniest of all time--is a testament to the absurdity of the human race and the sheer, jubliant ridiculousness of being alive. Hail Freedonia! (SEAN NELSON) Central Cinema, Fri-Sat 7, 9 pm, Sun 7 pm.
The Early Years Live / DMPO's on Broadway
See Blow Up. This month's Music for America event features two Dead Kennedys movies plus voter registration. Sunset Tavern, Mon April 5 at 8 pm.
Far Too Gone
See Blow Up. 911 Media Arts, Tues April 6 at 8 pm.
* Fly Filmmaking Challenge Films
This event features a selection of films from the 2003 Fly Filmmaking Challenge at the Seattle International Film Festival, plus the documentary The Making of Fly Films from 2001. Cal Anderson Park Shelterhouse, Fri April 2 at 7 pm.
* Gaza Strip
Two major factors distinguish this almost unbearably powerful documentary, which examines the social and psychological conditions of life in the 28-mile Palestinian territory whose borders are Israel and hell, where bombs, bullets, and gas are as common as Seattle's raindrops. The first is that Gaza Strip employs no voiceover, so the subjects are left to speak for themselves while the images coalesce into desolate poetry. The second is that the filmmaker has made no attempt to "balance" his story with opposing viewpoints; the documentary is adamantly subjective, depicting life only on one side of the wall. Though this lends credence to the predictable claim that Gaza Strip is a piece of anti-Israel propaganda, and therefore anti-Semitic, it also protects the integrity of the film's perspective and ensures director James Longley's stated goal of showing a side of the second intifada typically overlooked by Western media. (SEAN NELSON) On the House, Fri April 2 at 7 pm.
James and the Giant Peach
"Ew! Wouldn't want one of those nesting in your knickers." Seattle Asian Art Museum, Sat April 3 at 1:30 pm.
* KILL! KILL! KILL!: A Weekend of Horror and Mayhem
See review this issue. The world is filled with sick and depraved souls. Truly troubled individuals. And chances are, many of them will make their way to the Little Theatre this weekend for its Kill! Kill! Kill! series. What can one expect from such a title? First up is Herschell Gordon Lewis' Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat, a sequel to his 1963 gore classic Blood Feast. Lewis has always been one of those beautifully untalented filmmakers--he has a gift for shock, but little else (see especially his hysterically awful flick Color Me Blood Red)--and Blood Feast 2 continues his tradition of ineptness. Filled with stiff, horrendous performances, balanced upon a paper thin plot, Blood Feast 2 has one specific goal: to turn your stomach. And for the most part, it succeeds, offering sights such as gouged eyeballs, meat-grindered limbs, and organs that really should stay internal. The end result is a proper sequel to Blood Feast, and an entertaining fit of filmmaking--that is, if you can keep it all down. Also on tap for the weekend are a tribute to scholckmeister Al Adamson, a Japanese import called Kazuko Rock that, according to the Little Theatre's press release, features a "guy getting raped by a human Tetris block," and much, much more. Enjoy the cinematic brutality. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER) All films screen at the Little Theatre. Bloodfeast 2: All U Can Eat, Fri April 2 at 8 pm. Screamplay (starring George Kuchar), Sat April 3 at 4:30 pm. Superstarlet A.D. , Sat April 3 at 7 pm. Kazuko Rock, Sat April 3 at 9 pm. Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Sun April 4 at 4:30 pm. Satan's Sadists, Sun April 4 at 7 pm. Carnival Rage, Sun April 4 at 9 pm.
The Loves of a Blonde
Milos Forman's comedy about a girl who falls in love with a band member from Prague is a touchstone work of the 1960s Czech New Wave. Movie Legends, Sun April 4 at 1 pm.
Only One Night
It's the stuff fairy tales are made of: an illegitimate son employed as a stable hand, a beautiful girl played by Ingrid Bergman.... Nordic Heritage Museum, Thurs April 8 at 7 pm.
* Rubin & Ed
See Blow Up. Crispin Glover stars as (what else?) a loner who's looking for the perfect resting place for his deceased feline. Howard Hesseman tags along. On Thurs April 1 at 7, 9, and 11 pm, you can see this bizarre comedy for only one buck at the grand re-opening of Seattle's favorite jewel-box cinema. Grand Illusion, Fri 5, 7, 9 pm, Sat-Sun 3, 5, 7, 9 pm, Mon-Thurs 7, 9 pm.
South Riding
SAM's Best of Britian film series continues with this 1938 film about intrigue and romance at a Yorkshire county council. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs April 8 at 7:30 pm.
SuperCluster II
A program of independent video shorts, followed by live music. Rendezvous, Thurs April 1 at 8 pm.
* Tom, Tom the Piper's Son
See Blow Up. Tom, Tom the Piper's Son (1969), a two-hour feature by legendary avant-gardist Ken Jacobs, is an elaborate, intertextual riff on the 1905 short of the same title. The original, itself an adaptation of an English nursery rhyme, depicts a young pig thief on the run from a village mob. It's a gleeful celebration of cinematic abundance, and everybody--filmmaker, actors, even a gaggle of geese and the stolen pig--seems terribly excited about packing as many details as possible into each frame. When the mob catches up with the errant child, the narrative abruptly ends, and Jacobs' extended meditation on the footage takes over. Excess gives way to minimalism as Jacobs zooms into isolated fragments of the picture, highlighting and exaggerating the shadow cast by an actor's hand, the shifting graphic pattern of trim on a costume, and the subtle chiaroscuro of film grain. It's an intriguing experiment, but when the original is reprised at the end of the piece, the clash of aesthetics is ultimately more disorienting than enlightening. The much shorter Opening the Nineteenth Century (1990) is another re-photographed work by Jacobs. This time, however, the main alterations Jacobs makes to the original (a Lumière Brothers travelogue) are to add 3-D and turn the picture upside-down--changes that succeed because they're entirely consistent with the priorities of those early shorts, blissed out on new technology and the outer limits of realism. (ANNIE WAGNER) Consolidated Works, Fri-Sun 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
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.
Along Came Polly
You know a movie can't be all bad when Phillip Seymour Hoffman falls down within the first 20 seconds. (EMILY HALL)
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)
Crimson Gold
See review this issue.
* 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, à 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
Egads! (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. (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)
The Gospel of John
A very dry re-telling of the story of Jesus that attempts to stick closely to the Gospel of Saint John (hence the title). The end result, not surprisingly, is as anti-Semitic as Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ--due in no small part, of course, to the anti-Semitic nature of the holy text itself. Directed by Philip Saville, the Jesus in The Gospel of John comes across as utterly paranoid, constantly badgering his disciples for proof of their love; even after his death, even after the resurrection, His ghost demands constant confirmation. He is, all told, the neediest prophet in all of cinema. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Hellboy
See review this issue.
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. (KATHLEEN WILSON)
Home on the Range
See review this issue.
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)
* Intermission
Intermission may at first glance appear to be a lob back to those bleak days of the '90s when indie films appeared to exhaust all angles of the crime genre (the film's plot: bank job, dirty cop, eager but simple-headed crooks). But the writing and performances (especially Colin Farrell) make up for the staleness of premise, and the result is a film worthy of a look, even if it's not an entirely memorable one. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Jersey Girl
Kevin Smith may have set out to make a film that celebrates family (spurred, no doubt, by the birth of his own child), but what he's made instead is little more than a Lifetime movie. It may be a Lifetime movie costarring the brilliant George Carlin, but it's still crap. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
The Ladykillers
The Ladykillers may prove to be the Coen Brothers' first blockbuster (what they surely hoped Intolerable Cruelty would have been), but this kind of fortune has deep consequences. Like many people, I have often dreamed that the brothers would one day be embraced by a massive audience, but that dream was pegged upon their not deviating from their talent. The Ladykillers, sadly, is a weak effort on their part. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
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)
Monsieur Ibrahim
Had the movie remained within the limits of its basic plot, and stayed enclosed within this vibrant section of Paris, 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)
* My Architect
My Architect isn't really about architecture, nor even about Louis I. Kahn himself, except insofar as the late master builder and his immortal buildings remain an enigma to his son Nathaniel, the filmmaker behind this extraordinary documentary. Nathaniel Kahn's film is about the void created by a father's absence from his children's lives, and the way that void is continually filled and depleted by the father's reputation. (SEAN NELSON)
* 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. 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
Director Ernest Dickerson never settles for a middle point, never strikes an average. He is either soaring or in the gutter, which may very well be the definition of good (ghetto) pulp. (CHARLES MUDEDE
The Passion of the Christ
Under Mel Gibson's direction, there is not a whiff of threat in Jim Caviezel's Jesus, 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. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
The Prince & Me
Julia Stiles falls in love with a Danish prince disguised as a college boy.
The Return
See review this issue.
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
I didn't dislike this movie nearly as much as I probably should have, which kind of makes me hate myself. (MEGAN SELING)
* 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)
Spartan
The story centers on one secret service agent, whose only meaning in life is his work. Suddenly the daughter of a powerful politician is kidnapped. Twists and turns lead the agent 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. (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. (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. The problem 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. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Walking Tall
The Rock plays an Army boy returning to his home in the faux Northwest hamlet of Ferguson, Washington.
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