Film

Film Shorts

42 UP -- Varsity Calendar

GIRL, INTERRUPTED -- Meridian, Metro, Oak Tree, others

SUPERNOVA -- Pacific Place, Oak Tree, others

AFI SHORTS NIGHT -- 911 Media Arts

ANDY KAUFMAN'S SHORTS -- Little Theatre

BEST OF BRITISH FILM -- Seattle Art Museum

LA SONNAMBULA -- Little Theatre

MAX OPHULS RETROSPECTIVE -- Grand Illusion

OTTO PREMINGER DOUBLE FEATURE -- Grand Illusion

OUTSIDE IN: NEW CHINESE FILM -- Seattle Art Museum

THE WOMAN IN GREEN -- Grand Illusion

January 21 -- Topsy-Turvy, The Gambler, The Emperor and the Assassin, Angela's Ashes, Play It to the Bone, La Ciudad, Down to You, Simpatico

January 28 -- The Flowers of Shanghai, Isn't She Great, Eye of the Beholder, Hamlet (old version)

*42 Up
Michael Apted has been filming a bunch of Brits every seven years, ever since they were seven years old. Now they're 42. Wow. Reviewed this issue. Varsity Calendar

AFI Shorts Night
The American Film Institute presents an award-winning evening of short student films. Titles include Marni Banick and Kelly Rose's John, about a frustrated longtime restaurant employee who musters up courage to stand up to his boss; and Anthony Dominici and Leonard Hartman's Gray Matter, a look at L.A. Coroner's Investigator William Beck as he examines the circumstances around a child's murder. AFI staff and alumni will be present for discussions. Fri Jan 14 at 8, $4. 911 Media Arts

*All About My Mother
"You are more authentic the more you are closer to what you've dreamed you are," says Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a silicone-laden, transgendered ex-prostitute in Pedro Almo-dovar's new film All About My Mother. Agrado's self-description is one of several such sentiments in the movie to acknowledge the strength that lies behind dreams and their lowly, more practical sisters -- deception and artifice. With his usual command of color and urgent flamboyancy, Almodovar has created a heartbreaking work that pays tribute not only to his biological mother but to the art of cinema itself, and the maternal hand it has had in shaping the improvisations of anyone trying to make the world match the scope of their reveries. (Steve Wiecking) Egyptian

Amazon
An IMAX examination of the lush forests and exotic animals of the Amazon river basin. Omnidome

*Andy Kaufman's Shorts
Two programs made during Andy Kaufman's (extended) wrestling phase. Created by Johnny Legend (who will attend the Thursday night screenings), My Breakfast with Blassie teams Kaufman with wrestler/singer Fred Blassie (Thurs-Fri Jan 13-14 at 5:30, 7:30, 9:30). Kaufman's girlfriend Lynne Margulies (played by Courtney Love in Man on the Moon) will introduce the Friday night screenings of her wrestling documentary, I'm From Hollywood, about Kaufman's rivalry with Jerry "the King" Lawler (Sat-Sun Jan 15-16 at 5:30, 7:30, 9:30). Reviewed this issue. Little Theatre

Anna and the King
Thailand hates it, the movie-going public is indifferent, and Jodie Foster has since decided not to star in the sequel to Silence of the Lambs. What else can go wrong? Cinerama, Grand Alderwood, Metro, Oak Tree

Any Given Sunday
Oliver Stone takes on football, as an Old Guard coach (Al Pacino) battles a reckless maverick quarterback (Jamie Foxx) all the way to the playoffs. I don't suppose anyone will be surprised at what runneth over Stone's cup: ear-splitting music, bolts of lightning, and growling, Wagnerian, slo-mo close-ups, among other things. Not a conversation squeaks by that the movie doesn't clobber you with it; Stone and co-writer John Logan have created dialogue that sounds like Arthur Miller getting a shot of steroids from a frenzied Sophocles. Stone's ham fist even takes a few ill-advised swipes at racial and, worse, sexual politics. There's hardly a woman in sight who won't bust your balls -- you don't want to know what becomes of Cameron Diaz. The thing moves, certainly, with Pacino and, surprisingly, Foxx in good form, but you can get this kind of bunk on Monday night without the pretense. (Steve Wiecking) Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro

*Being John Malkovich
It's the best film of 1999 and it has a monkey in it. Coincidence? We don't think so. Meridian 16, Varsity

BEST OF BRITISH FILM
SAM's series of British comedies and dramas continues. David Lean teams up with Noël Coward for In Which We Serve (Thurs Jan 13 at 7:30). The following week features David Lean's 1944 London family drama This Happy Breed (Thurs Jan 20 at 7:30). Call 625-8900 for more info. Seattle Art Museum

Bicentennial Man
Robin Williams, in sappy family mode, stars as a robot who wants to become human -- a theme which has been handled much better on Star Trek. Aurora Cinema Grill, Lewis & Clark, Metro, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

Boys Don't Cry
Bellingham native Hilary Swank deserves every accolade she's received for her portrayal of Brandon Teena, a boy born in a girl's body who was killed by hateful people who couldn't, or just wouldn't, understand that. Broadway Market

The Cider House Rules
Lasse Hallstrom's understanding that our decisions are hardly ever black or white makes him a keen choice for director of his latest project, an adaptation of John Irving's The Cider House Rules. A sprawling homage to David Copperfield, the story charts the maturation of beloved orphan Homer Wells (Toby Maguire), who learns about the crushing ambiguities of living from several unique characters, foremost among them the paternal Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), the orphanage director who doubles as the town's clandestine, caring abortionist. It's unusual for a major film release to touch on the subject of abortion, let alone with the plainspoken grace that Hallstrom and Irving (adapting his own work) bring to the material. Though Irving's adaptation has integrity, it is unable to envelop us with the dazzling juggling of years and characters that makes the book such a luminous accomplishment, and this limited scope is a weakness that mars an otherwise touching film. (Steve Wiecking) Guild 45th, Redmond Town Center, Uptown

Cradle Will Rock
Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock is a mess, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. Tackling the chaos surrounding the birth of the House Un-American Activities committee, specifically its attempt to close down the eponymous, politically sensitive play in 1936, Cradle Will Rock lands somewhere between Robert Altman's Nashville and Irwin Winkler's terrible 1991 film that also tackled the Red Scare, Guilty By Suspicion. As a director, Robbins has a perfect attention to detail, both in technique and performances, but as a screenwriter, he needs to learn that when an audience is confused by events, that audience won't give a rat's ass about those events. Still, for the most part, the film works. (Bradley Steinbacher) Harvard Exit

*Cremaster 2
An "epic Gothic Western" from New York City performance artist Matthew Barney, which features Barney himself as a serial killer from Utah, and Norman Mailer as Harry Houdini. With a lot of silliness, symbolism, and lavish visuals. (A West Coast theatrical premiere.) Thurs Jan 13 at 5, 7, 9. Grand Illusion

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
The title rhymes. That's funny. It stars Rob Schneider, the "Copy Guy" from Saturday Night Live. That's not funny. Meridian 16, Redmond Town Center

Dogma
Potty-mouthed writer/director Kevin Smith takes on faith and poop-monsters in his love letter to the Catholic religion. City Centre

*The End of the Affair
The End of the Affair is the story of a romantic triangle. In other words, it is a story about hate. The lovers are cynical novelist Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) and his friend's wife, Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore). Sarah's husband Henry (Stephen Rea) loves her too, but he's too gloomily practical a man to play the part of a rival suitor. That role gets filled by God. At first glance, the movie is as sedate and properly reserved as any literary adaptation (from Graham Greene) about religious faith should be. As a result, it can be slow going. But when Maurice's hunting down of Sarah becomes God's hunting down of Maurice, well, the movie perks up. While it lacks the grotesque, feverish intensity of the best Neil Jordan films, The End of the Affair shares their admirable curiosity about spikey characters caught in uncompromising situations, not to mention a fascination with fairy tales. (Bruce Reid) Pacific Place 11, Seven Gables

The Eruption of Mount St. Helens
The mountain blew up in 1980, and has been blowing up on film ever since. Omnidome

Fantasia 2000
The latest Walt Disney sweeping-animation-and- classical-music extravaganza, this time in thrilling 3D. Bring your own mind-altering substances. Pacific Science Center

Galaxy Quest
The cast of a Star Trek-like show are recruited by a (presumably good) alien race to save them from a (presumably bad) alien race. Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center

Girl, Interrupted
Winona Ryder is trapped in a mental institution. There is a God! Reviewed this issue. Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Meridian 16, Metro, Northgate

The Green Mile
Stephen King is a great writer, as seen in his ability to make the most generic stories interesting, surprising, and fun to read. But the stories themselves are usually not very good, which is why the movies based on the books are often so bad: The writing isn't there to save them. In a present day nursing home, Paul Edgecomb (Dabbs Greer) recalls the pivotal moment in his life 60 years ago when he looked like Tom Hanks and was in charge of a prison's death row and a magical prisoner was admitted who changed everybody's life. The bulk of this three-hour movie is his flashback. Yawn. Director Frank Darabont takes on big subjects like capital punishment, violence, and racism, and simplifies them to the point where you don't even have to think about 'em. Now where's the fun in that? (Andy Spletzer) Factoria, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center, Varsity

The Hurricane
Norman Jewison's third, and hopefully final, "problem film" (his first two being 1966's In the Heat of the Night and 1984's A Soldier's Story) is his least successful. In the Heat of the Night had Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier in top form, A Soldier's Story boasted a great black cast, but with the exception of dependable Denzel Washington, The Hurricane is marked by weak performances. The movie is based on a true story about Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a star boxer who was framed for multiple murders by a racist cop. Hurricane (played by Denzel) spent the next 20 years behind bars, where he wrote a book, thought a lot about the nature of American racism, and had a song devoted to him by Bob Dylan. The only interesting take this film has on his story is that it shamelessly portrays white Canadians as morally superior to their barbarian, gun-toting brethren south of their border -- a myth they have treasured since the days of slavery. (Charles Mudede) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree

Island of the Sharks
Them there's SHARKS on the IMAX screen! Swim with them at your peril. Pacific Science Center

La Sonnambula
As cinema, this 1952 film of Bellini's opera doesn't have much going for it: The camera tends to plop down in front of the action, the sets are strictly from hunger, and lip-synching seems a skill beyond most of the actors. If you're interested less in movies than in music, though, it might be worth your while. The tunes are quite lovely, and are delivered with a nice, light, bel canto touch by what I take to be a no-name cast (opera's not my forte). There are no subtitles, but the story is perhaps the slightest in all of opera (boy and girl are engaged; girl sleepwalks into the room of a wealthy Don visiting the town; boy, never having heard of somnambulism, calls off engagement), and it's quite easy to follow. Besides, the Seattle Opera's Jonathan Dean will be introducing the film, so I'm sure he can guide you through it. Then again, you could just buy a CD. Wed Jan 19 at 7:30. (Bruce Reid) Little Theatre

Liberty Heights
Set in 1954, Liberty Heights focuses on a family whose father (Joe Mantegna) runs a burlesque business and an illegal numbers racket. As he works, his two handsome sons (Adrien Brody and Ben Foster), are courting girls way outside of their social circles and community. Brody desires a WASP princess (Carolyn Murphy), an alcoholic because she can't cope with her father's homosexuality; the other (Foster) is crazy about a Negro whose father disapproves of her even thinking about dating a white boy. The very structure of this double courting forms (narrative-wise) a bold and broad attempt to map out the complex relationship that the Jewish immigrants had (and still have) with Negroes and WASPs, both of whom are the bedrock of American culture. In the end, everyone pulls a fine performance in this beautifully shot movie, which surely stands as Barry Levinson's crowning words on American anti-Semitism. (Charles Mudede) Uptown

Magnolia
Paul Thomas Anderson proves once again, after Boogie Nights, that he is an excellent filmmaker and a terrible screenwriter. Why, oh why, does he insist on writing his own scripts? In Magnolia, Anderson challenges himself and the audience right off the bat by introducing a seemingly irrelevant framing device, followed by nearly a dozen characters. He relentlessly pushes the camera forward in scene after scene, while the soundtrack sometimes gets so excited it jumps ahead of the image. This adrenaline high carries the film well into its second hour (of three!). Then Anderson tries to flesh out his characters, and the movie grinds to a complete halt. Like Tarantino, Anderson is adept at lifting good bits from other people's movies and making them his own; unlike Tarantino, he can't write a decent monologue to save his life. As for the themes of love and regret and the need to forgive, they all fall flat thanks to the lack of three-dimensional characters. (Andy Spletzer) Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Metro, Pacific Place 11

Man on the Moon
Finally, a movie about an off-putting comedian that everyone can love. For most people, this will be a great introduction to the avant-comedy of Andy Kaufman, but for those who already know a thing or two about his life and art, the movie works more like a greatest hits package, covering many of the highlights but never going any deeper. Kaufman was famous for never breaking character, for obfuscating his "true" persona so completely that nobody, not even those closest to him, knew who he "really" was. This is a barrier the movie never quite overcomes, despite some top-notch talent in front of and behind the cameras. As Kaufman, Jim Carrey is eerily amazing, and it's fun to watch him re-create some of the famous bits. But if there's a guiding principle to the film, it's to let people in on the joke behind Kaufman's art -- something he would never do himself. (Andy Spletzer) Aurora Cinema Grill, Meridian 16, Metro, Redmond Town Center

Mansfield Park
A poor girl is sent to live with wealthy relatives where she becomes the most popular girl there, thanks to her lower-class enthusiasm and upper-class pride. Based on the novel by Jane Austen. Harvard Exit

*MAX OPHULS RETROSPECTIVE
In Caught, a poor girl (Leona Ames) marries millionaire Robert Ryan, gets pregnant, and is soon living the good life. Unfortunately, she finds nothing but loneliness and pills in her beautiful Long Island mansion. Sat-Sun Jan 15-16 at noon. Grand Illusion

Next Friday
Those who enjoyed Friday and Players Club will not be disappointed by Next Friday. The story is as bad as the first one. It's about an escaped prisoner who wants to kill Ice Cube, so his father (John Witherspoon) sends him off to the safe suburbs to stay with his uncle, who bought a big house there after winning a million bucks in the lottery. But he soon learns that his uncle is about to lose his house (back taxes) and needs money ($3,200) to keep it. So it's up to Cube to save the day. Now I must make a confession. This film is way too crude for my taste; there is not one drop of intelligence (or beauty) in the whole damn thing, and Cube's depiction of women is more than deplorable -- they are either stupid or horny or liars or all three. And as for his portrayal of Chicanos, no white director could get away with that, and, in this regard, I think Cube should not be exempt from harsh criticism simply because he is from "tha hood." (Charles Mudede) Redmond Town Center, Uptown

Olympic Glory
International athletes and adrenaline junkies show off their skills and defy gravity at the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano. Omnidome

*OTTO PREMINGER DOUBLE FEATURE
Enjoy the classic Bonjour Tristesse, starring Jean Seberg and David Niven on the French Riviera, then stay for the little-seen but just as classic Bunny Lake Is Missing. Where did Bunny go? You have to see it to find out. Plays Fri-Thurs Jan 14-20. Reviewed this issue. Grand Illusion

*OUTSIDE IN: NEW CHINESE FILM
The Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, and Henry Art Gallery are teaming up to screen a series of modern/avant-garde Chinese films, in conjunction with their new modern/avant-garde Chinese art exhibit. The series begins with Hong Kong director Yim Ho's The Day the Sun Turned Cold (1994), about a young man who accuses his mother of killing his father 10 years earlier. Wed Jan 19 at 7:30, $6. Seattle Art Museum

*Show Me Love
How cathartic to see a movie about high school without the John Hughes sugarcoating. Awkward Agnes just turned 16 and she's got a secret crush on Elin. Elin is the popular girl with the reputation as a high school slut, whose boredom with the little town they live in drives her to drink booze and pop whatever's in the medicine cabinet, often nothing more than antacids. The characters are strong, but it's the details that make Show Me Love so believable -- the posters in the bedrooms, the impossible crushes, the high school social politics, and everybody's inability to say what they're really feeling. This movie will take you back to high school, but unlike high school, it'll leave you feeling good. (Andy Spletzer) Broadway Market

Sleepy Hollow
Johnny Depp plays Constable Ichabod Crane, sent to upstate New York in order to solve a rash of beheadings utilizing his newfangled "forensic science." A comedic period piece directed by Tim Burton. Aurora Cinema Grill, City Centre

Snow Falling on Cedars
An island in the postwar Pacific Northwest is the setting for a murder trial that reunites reporter Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke) with Hatsue Miyamoto (Youki Kudoh), the great love of his young life, who was sent to a Japanese-American internment camp and now suffers besides her accused husband, Kazuo (Rick Yune). Hicks has created a truly stunning visual design for the story, weaving burnished memories into every gorgeously wounded frame. Still, what fells the film is its lack of a compelling center; it starts to bore you without anyone to carry its consuming passions. Smoking around its edges are intriguing details about the appalling treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, but the romance that supposedly burns beneath all the pain of history is as remote as the hollowed cedar tree that acts as a touchstone for its lovers. (Steve Wiecking) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Metro, Pacific Place 11

*The Straight Story
David Lynch's G-rated film about an old man's journey to visit his estranged brother on a riding mower. Broadway Market

*Stuart Little
Stuart Little is about a mouse who has to learn how to live in a family, but he has some major problems to solve. For example, a gang of cats tries to kill him, he gets caught in a washing machine, and he almost sinks in a boat race. Only someone as little as Stuart could get caught in those kinds of problems. The computer animation was fabulous! The clothes Stuart wore were great -- even my mom wanted to get the pants. Michael J. Fox was a perfect choice to be Stuart Little, because Stuart is a funny mouse and Michael J. Fox is a funny guy. In some parts it's a little scary and intense, like Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, but I still think Stuart Little is a great movie for your whole family to see. (Sam Lachow, 9 years old) Factoria, Lewis & Clark, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

Supernova
Walter Hill's sci-fi epic, which was taken away from him by the studio and completed by Francis Ford Coppolla. Two crappy directors cannot a movie save! Aurora Cinema Grill, Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Pacific Place 11

Sweet and Lowdown
Perhaps realizing that Celebrity nearly collapsed under the unbearable impersonation of himself by Kenneth Branagh, Woody Allen has created a more complex doppelgänger this time in the form of Sean Penn, who plays a fictional 1930s jazz guitarist by the name of Emmett Ray. Emmett is a genius with music but a loser in love, using his self-proclaimed status as an artist as an excuse to behave with loutish abandon. Even though Penn's peerless craft allows him to move here with the sly, remarkable balance that has previously bolstered unseemly characters, Allen doesn't completely reward you for putting up with Emmett's boorishness. He takes too long to tell us what we already know. What distinguishes Sweet and Lowdown is its plaintive insistence, the deceptively lazy melancholy that occasionally breaks through and -- in perfect pitch with the music -- suggests that Allen realizes what a glorious mess he's made of both life and art. (Steve Wiecking) Guild 45th

The Talented Mr. Ripley
Anthony Minghella's last film, The English Patient, earned the writer/director quite a lot of praise and a shelf's worth of awards for how ingeniously he'd adapted a seemingly unfilmable novel. His latest film deserves no less, though for subtler reasons. Patricia Highsmith's classic crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley (1954) succeeds best as an unforgettably empathetic portrait of the mind and thoughts of Thomas Ripley -- forger, connoisseur, and one of the most fascinating sociopaths in literature. The movie version of The Talented Mr. Ripley captures both the sparkling surface and the ominous rumblings below, which is why it surpasses an earlier, contemporaneous Ripley adaptation from 1960: Rene Clement's attractive but shallow Purple Noon. (Bruce Reid) Factoria, Neptune, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center, Southcenter

*Toy Story 2
The second-highest grossing animated film of all time (behind The Lion King). Woody and Buzz take on issues of death and collectability. Grand Alderwood, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

The Woman in Green
It's Sherlock Holmes versus Moriarty in this tale of bizarre murders involving young women. Featuring Basil Rathboone as Holmes. Fri-Sat Jan 14-15 at 11. Grand Illusion

The World Is Not Enough
Poor Pierce Brosnan. In his third Bond outing he finally gets the whole secret agent act down, even giving classic Bond Sean Connery a run for his money, only to watch it undermined by an inept director. The fact that said director is classy Brit Michael Apted only adds a dash of salt to the wound. The World Is Not Enough has some of the best bad guys Bond has seen in years -- only they're not given anything to do. Instead, the story tosses in Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist in hotpants, and the rest of the film is pure paint-by-numbers. Apted proves to be so bad at directing action that even when Brosnan and Richards are disarming a nuclear bomb aboard some sort of speeding tunnel contraption at 70 mph, I was forced to stifle a yawn. Even the flashy credit sequence is dull. After 19 films, maybe Grandpa needs to go to bed. Aurora Cinema Grill, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Varsity