Babette's Feast
A 1987 film about an insular 19th-century Danish family and the Frenchwoman who comes to live with them. Nordic Heritage Museum, Thurs March 31 at 7 pm.
Best of ASIFA East Animated Film Festival
A package of animated shorts, including Chris Hinton's 2003 work Nibbles. A gentle poke at consumerism and suburban recreation, Nibbles is notable for its pulsing animation, a loopy style that lands somewhere between a toddler's scribbles and Popeye. (ANNIE WAGNER) 911 Media Arts, Thurs March 24 at 7 pm.
The City of Lost Children
Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's film tells the story of a little girl named Miette who must face a nightmarish world of creepy adults and frightening villains who have lost the ability to dream. Egyptian, Fri-Sat midnight.
Dot the I
What hath The Usual Suspects wrought? Dot the I, a highly touted Sundance fave, begins well, yet fatally clevers itself into a hole in its quest to leave the audience gasping at the fade-out. The set-up: On the eve of her wedding to a snotty blueblood, a woman with a mysterious history and a serious temper has a chance romantic encounter with a tech-geeky starving actor (Gael GarcĂa Bernal, charming as always, yet nearing toxic Jude Law levels of overexposure). But isn't their bachelorette party meeting maybe just a tad too convenient? And what's with Bernal's fetish for surveillance cameras? To be fair, the initial love triangle/who's stalking whom scenario has a decent amount of open-ended promise (including a potentially fascinating digression about the nature of filmed reality versus video), but ultimately dumps it all in favor of an increasingly ridiculous series of third-act twists, culminating in a final whopper that would have even Keyzer Soze and M. Night Shyamalan calling bullshit. Debuting writer/director Matthew Parkhill has visual chops to spare, and proves himself a capable handler of actors (especially with the ludicrously hot Natalia Verbeke), but his narrative could really stand to lose some tinsel. (ANDREW WRIGHT) Varsity, Fri-Sun 2:30, 5, 7:20, 9:40 pm, Mon-Thurs 7:20, 9:40 pm.
Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine
The first word that comes to mind when you hear the phrase "a documentary about chess"--even if you're a huge chess enthusiast, even if you're a great fan of documentaries, even if you're a deaf-mute agoraphobic--has to be "boring." A thinking person doesn't have to work too hard to realize that chess is in fact a very fertile topic for a film, but the bias lingers--even in the heart of director Vikram Jayanti, who stacks Game Over with endless superfluities (old film clips, fun-house dummies, whispered voice-over) intended to spice things up. All these touches simply distract from the inherent drama of the story, thus rendering a potentially fascinating film a crashing bore.
In 1997, Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov accepted a challenge from an IBM computer called Deep Blue. He'd already beaten the machine once, and was interested in the ramifications of the human vs. computer battle. But the champion was devastated by Deep Blue's surprising (and controversial) win, and he hasn't been the same since. The documentary is at its best when the charismatic egoist Kasparov is on camera, ranting in a refined Russian accent about the corporate conspiracy to dethrone him, or accusing the machine's programmers (including five grandmasters) of cheating. Despite the film's attempts to thwart this very human drama, Kasparov's complaints take on increasing gravity and melancholy as they go. (SEAN NELSON) Varsity, Fri-Sun 2, 4:40, 7, 9:20 pm, Mon-Thurs 7, 9:20 pm.
Marrying the Mafia
A 2002 Korean film about a man and a woman who wake up in bed together with absolutely no clue how they got there (duh, haven't they heard of roofies?). Grand Illusion, Weekdays 7, 9 pm, Sat-Sun 3, 5, 7, 9 pm.
Move
A Benjamin Garry / Ryan McKenna documentary about the radical Philadelphia commune MOVE and their violent entanglements with local police. Consolidated Works, Fri-Sat 8 pm.
The Nomi Song
See review this issue. Northwest Film Forum, Daily, 7, 9:15 pm.
Sansho the Bailiff
The first in a series of free Japanese films at the UW, Sansho the Bailiff is a 1954 film by Mizoguchi Kenji about an exiled leader in medieval Japan. Savery Hall Room 239, UW campus, Thurs March 31 at 7:30 pm.
Situationist Internationale Film Festival
See Blow Up. Two programs of 1970s films by Guy Debord and René Vienet screen at the Rendezvous. Debord's film adaptation of Society of the Spectacle (1973) and Vienet's hilarious martial arts film / sociopolitical rant Can Dialectics Break Bricks? (1973), Fri March 25 at 6 pm. Debord's 1975 follow-up, Refutation of All Judgments, Pro or Con, Thus Far Rendered on the Film "Society of the Spectacle" and Vienet's sequel The Girls of Kamare (1974), Sat March 26 at 6 pm.
Son of Monster Mayhem!
An "all killer/no filler" compilation of classic film clips. Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat 11 pm.
Spies
Fritz Lang's 1928 silent film about an agent assigned to infiltrate a spy ring. Movie Legends, Sun March 27 at 1 pm.
NOW PLAYING
The Aviator
Scorsese attempts to cover up the lack of depth in The Aviator by focusing heavily on both Hughes' love life as well as his daring in the skies, but no matter how many romantic entanglements and spectacular crashes we see, the film itself remains superficial. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Bad Education
Bad Education announces itself with a rich melodramatic subject--Catholic clergy sex abuse--only to reject all predictable conflict for an emotional and thematic territory all its own. (DAVID SCHMADER)
Be Cool
A movie exec (John Travolta) tries his hand in music and (what else?) meets a girl (Uma Thurman) along the way.
Born Into Brothels
Rare is the documentary that feels too short, but this wrenching, multiple award-winning look at kids growing up within the squalid red-light sector of India begs out for a more detailed exploration. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Bride & Prejudice
Bride & Prejudice--even the title makes me simultaneously cringe and cackle--is shorter than you'd expect, some of the colors in that big party scene look a bit washed out, and a certain character bears an unmistakable resemblance to Ali G. But who cares? (ANNIE WAGNER)
Constantine
As crackpot Catholicism goes, Constantine ain't half bad--in fact, I enjoyed it far more than I expected. Keanu Reeves may struggle mightily during some of the quiet moments (if Latin wasn't already a dead language, he'd surely kill it), but his stumbles are more than made up for by the always welcome presence of Rachel Weisz. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Dear Frankie
The premise of Dear Frankie, the latest lightly accented and life-affirming import from the good folks at Miramax, is enough to make the wary reach for the insulin: a stalled-in-neutral woman with a mysterious past (Emily Mortimer) hires a strong and silent sailor (Gerard Butler) to impersonate her deaf son's long-absent father for a weekend. Romance blossoms, life lessons are learned, shaky family ties are strengthened, etc. While it certainly sounds precious enough, it is to the film's credit that things never quite develop in the way expected, and with a mildly bittersweet resolution unusual to the genre. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Diary of a Mad Black Woman flouts critical scrutiny so flagrantly that it feels redundant to call it a bad movie. (ANNIE WAGNER)
Downfall
There are a lot of sentimental war moments in Downfall, and the conceit that we are watching through the eyes of Hitler's sheltered and therefore ignorant (and therefore blameless) secretary, is flimsy on many levels. Because the characters are Nazis, their panic and its subsequent rash of suicides and murders are deeply satisfying. Because it's a movie, however, you're left with the unpleasant prospect of watching a bunch of rats slowly drowning for two and a half hours. There are better ways to go. (SEAN NELSON)
Finding Neverland
Marc Forster's third film, Monster's Ball, was complete and utter nonsense. His fourth film, Finding Neverland, is ordinary and dry nonsense. Clearly, Forster is a director of the middling order. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Guess Who
Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher star in this movie about a grumpy in-law-to-be and the white boy his daughter wants to marry.
Gunner Palace
For its footage of Baghdad, which we are used to seeing primarily through cable-news-adapted night-vision goggles or through smoky rubble littered with bodies, Gunner Palace is an invaluable aid in imagining the reality of the current war. But as a chronicle of its subjects as people, as an investigation into the psyche or even the behavior of soldiers, the film is a lot more problematic. As the filmmakers grow increasingly attached to these soldiers, who brag, smoke, rap, shoot, swim, eat, fart, dominate, curse, cruise, and otherwise assert their personalities for the camera, the less sympathetic the soldiers actually become. They're such vulgar bullies that it's impossible to sign off on the unstated premise that they're somehow victims of the war effort, or even of class war. They're just a bunch of slow-eyed fucks, and when the film switches gears midway to become a first-person chronicle of the directors' concern for the boys, it's hard not to lose all sympathy for either party. (SEAN NELSON)
Hitch
For the most part, the movie is dull because Will Smith plays a playa (a man who has all the right moves). It's only late in the film where things turn lively, as Smith finally wakes up and begins to do more of what he always did when he was as a teen rapper and a '90s TV star: comedy. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Hostage
Bruce Willis is a retired hostage negotiator who has to buff up his old skills in a neighborhood convenience store.
Hotel Rwanda
Hotel Rwanda isn't a great film in terms of photography or casting (many of the extras do not look like Hutus or Tutsis). It's a film held up entirely by Don Cheadle. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Ice Princess
Now I've never been a parent, but I imagine there are a few things a mom would never want to ever find hiding in her daughter's backpack. Ice Princess, Walt Disney's latest stupid "believe in yourself" after-school special, features one of those tense moments between mother and daughter when all dirty secrets are revealed. In this pivotal scene, Casey Carlyl's mom (Joan Cusack) watches in horror as the contents of Casey's backpack spills across the living room floor. Thinking her daughter has been putting in long hours as a math tutor, Cusack learns that that's far from the truth. What does she see? Condoms? Needles? An at-home abortion kit?! NO! SHE SEES MOTHERFUCKING ICE SKATES! Yeah, that's right. ICE SKATES. And a bright red sequined ice-skating leotard. AND SHE'S HORRIFIED. To repeat: STUPID. (MEGAN SELING)
In My Country
See review this issue.
Kinsey
The first half of Kinsey is exciting on a micro scale the way Kinsey's work was exciting on a grand one: It demonstrates that reason can prevail over mythology. Unfortunately, because it's a movie, the second half allows mythology--the mythology of narrative--to re-intrude, and the picture grows musty. (SEAN NELSON)
The Life Aquatic
Long stretches of The Life Aquatic feel malnourished, as if Wes Anderson spent so much energy creating the film's distinct reality that he forgot to provide reasons for that reality to exist. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Man of the House
A movie about a sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) who is entrusted with the lives of some vulnerable cheerleaders.
Million Dollar Baby
As sappy and Lifetime-y as the plot sounds, Clint Eastwood's skill with the performers keeps Million Dollar Baby afloat. Both Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman deliver graceful turns that mesh perfectly with Eastwood's grave brooding, and by the time the film takes a brutally tragic turn you can't help but find yourself yanked along emotionally. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Millions
Danny Boyle has crafted a kid-friendly fable with enough sly modern-day relevance to keep adults from checking their watches. An over-imaginative 7-year-old stumbles across a huge bag of loot in the field near his new house, days before the mandatory UK changeover to the euro. While the money initially brings nothing but good fortune, dealing with the newfound stash gets steadily more complicated as the deadline approaches. Teamed again with his 28 Days cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, Boyle successfully maintains a child's eye visual sensibility throughout, in a miraculously noncloying fashion. Every blade of grass is a nuclear Jolly Rancher green, bad guys block out the sun, tract houses quick assemble around the oblivious tenants, and landscapes stretch out for eons. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
See review this issue.
The Motorcycle Diaries
This is a film that should be taken for what it is: a beautifully constructed road movie with a dash of conscience on the side. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Nobody Knows
Kids in cinematic jeopardy have traditionally been a bit of a cheap, sure-fire shot for filmmakers looking to spice up their melodrama. Nobody Knows, a new film from Japan, takes the scenario to such wrenching extremes that it's hard to imagine the subject ever being touched on lightly again. Writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda's knowingly repetitious, minutely detailed approach to his subjects' deepening plight, filmed in what feels like real time, may occasionally plod, yet yields shattering dividends, to the point where the brief sight of a simple crayon doodle on a long overdue gas bill can bum you out for days afterwards. The film's 141 minutes are not an easy view by any stretch of the imagination, but the final devastating results aren't far from a masterpiece. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
The Pacifier
Vin Diesel belongs as a villain, not as a Navy Seal who moves in with a suburban family (the specifics are unnecessary; all you need to know is that the plot, such as it is, is utterly idiotic), and despite his game efforts The Pacifier is painfully inept. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Racing Stripes
Shit yes! I've got it! I've come up with THE BEST MOVIE CONCEPT EVER! Listen up: It'll be a story about a zebra. A baby zebra who was abandoned by the circus in the middle of the night during a rainstorm, but then picked up by some retired and heartbroken racing horse coach guy who hasn't gotten over the fact his wife died during a horseracing accident. He'll bring the zebra home, his wannabe horseracing daughter with the bad hair will fall in love with it and raise it like a horse and everything. What's funny, though, is the zebra won't know he's a zebra! Hahaha! I know, right? Since he grew up on a farm around a bunch of racing horses, the zebra will think he too is a racing horse! Oh man! Hilarity abounds! (MEGAN SELING)
The Ring Two
A followup to the 1998 film The Ring, again starring Naomi Watts.
Robots
Robots may seem like a heartwarming children's flick that relies on dazzling animation to cover up a predictable storyline and not-as-funny-as-it-should-be dialogue, but really it's the most PUNK ROCK MOVIE ON EARTH. (MEGAN SELING)
Schultze Gets the Blues
Sad, silent Schultze has nothing to look forward to but lonely nights spent drinking beer from huge bottles and practicing the turgid waltz his father taught him on the accordion. Then, one night, while flipping around the radio dial, he hears a zydeco song. Captivated by this utterly alien music, he can't bring himself to play, or listen to, anything else--which causes problems since he is expected to play his famous waltz at a local festival. Much of the film centers on the encroachment of Western ideas onto traditional European modes of living, so it's refreshing that director Michael Schorr allows his pilgrim's progress to unfold with ambivalence. There are no screeds here, just some very pointed, poignant observations about the slow death of the old way, already in progress. (SEAN NELSON)
Sideways
Blessed with pitch-perfect performances, especially by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, Sideways is a slight film, to be sure, but it's also one of Alexander Payne's least snide efforts. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Sky Blue
Juggling a plasma rifle and a book by Descartes simultaneously is usually a bad idea. Just try telling this to the majority of anime wizards, though, who for all their technical genius often insist on frontloading their future shocked plots with more high-minded digressions than even their jut-jawed heroes can successfully chew. Thankfully, Sky Blue, a new animated feature from Korea, ditches much of the ersatz philosophy and concentrates on pure explodo. Using a spiffy combination of CGI backgrounds and old-fashioned 2-D characters, it provides a feast for the eyes without overly taxing the brainpan. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
The Upside of Anger
Secretly sleazy yuppies, oversexed teens, upscale infighting--as a cinematic subject, the exploration of suburbia's dark underbelly could stand to spend some serious time in the ground. The Upside of Anger makes an all-too-blatant grab for the award-friendly glory road well plowed by the likes of American Beauty and Terms of Endearment, yet is nearly redeemed by a cast that wrings out every last bit of potential from the formula. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
A Very Long Engagement
I'm not saying it isn't corny. What I'm saying is that it's a fantastic movie, and unless you're the stated enemy of life and all that makes it worth living, you'll probably fall for it. (SEAN NELSON)
Walk on Water
See review this issue.
