Cyclo, The Day the World Ended, Lies, Light Keeps Me Company, Northern Lights: New Films From Iceland

102 Dalmatians
Reviewed this issue. As evidence of just how much money Hollywood pays its movie stars to do the humiliating work they do, Glenn Close actually reprises her role as Cruella DeVille in this live-action sequel. Opens Thurs Nov 23. Majestic Bay, Metro

*All About Eve
This new print of All About Eve, we are assured, is stunning. No matter how crisp the images, however, they will never be a tenth as sharp as the dialogue. Joseph Mankiewicz was far from the most visually oriented of directors, but he compensated (in this film, at least) with a perfect ear for wicked conversation and a delight in having great actors ham it up delivering the wicked verbal barbs. In this definitive portrait of backstage bitchiness and backstabbing actresses, who needs pretty shots and impressive camerawork when you've got Bette Davis at her most imperiously, wittily grotesque; deliciously deceptive Anne Baxter; and the late, great George Sanders effortlessly striking the bull's-eye with every dexterously timed remark? (Bruce Reid) Opens Fri Nov 24. Egyptian

Blue Wild Angel: Jimi Hendrix Live at the Isle of Wight
Jimi sets fire to his guitar and it spreads to the silver screen in this rare concert film made at the height of his career. Shave the skin off your forehead, put a sheet of acid on the raw flesh, cover it with a bandanna, and head down to EMP for this one-night only treat. Mon Nov 27 only. JBL Theater at EMP

*Conspirators of Pleasure
Like the moon that controls the tides, our oceanic lives are pushed and pulled by nature's very own dominatrix, sexuality. A testament to such Freudian philosophies, Conspirators of Pleasure brings the reptilian underworld of our subconscious to the surface. Specializing in premeditative lunacy, one character invents homemade erotic devices which include hammering nails and gluing feathers to a rolling pin; another papier-mchés his old porno magazines into the dramatic bust of a rooster. These objects become the props for ecstatic rituals that are enacted with a bizarre and comic beauty. Far from the naiveté of the first kiss, these ridiculous individuals are the priests and priestesses of a powerful and chaotic sexuality; one that ventures to the operatic rendezvous of birth and death. (Suzy Lafferty) Fri-Sun Nov 24-26 only. Little Theatre

*The Diary Films of Anne Robertson
Reviewed this issue. Anne Robertson makes some of the most incredible, moving work ever put on film: Don't miss it. Wed Nov 29 only. Little Theatre

*Food, Food, Food!
See Stranger Suggests. A open potluck and Super-8 screening just for Thanksgiving!! Thurs Nov 23 only. Little Theatre

Live Nude Girls Unite!
Reviewed this issue. Strippers do the negotiating table-dance in this new documentary. Opens Fri Nov 24. Varsity Calendar

Pizza & Movies
Join the wacky crew over at Second Ave Pizza in Belltown for their semi-regular movie "festivals"--where all things nostalgic, kitschy, and most of all fun, rule the screen (plus it's good eatin'). This week: Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Cria! (1976). Second Avenue Pizza

*Shampoo
Reviewed this issue. Warren Beatty stars as a hairstylist with an unfortunate habit of fucking everybody in Los Angeles. Opens Fri Nov 24. Grand Illusion

Silent Cinema Classics
An evening of silent films, with Professor Hokum W. Jeebs providing musical accompaniment on the mighty Wurlitzer organ. This week: The Courtship of Miles Sandwich (1923) and His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz (1914). Hokum Hall

*Space is the Place
See Stranger Suggests. Sun Ra makes you feel his weirdness in this work of indescribable, inexpressable strangeness. Wed Nov 29 only. JBL Theater at EMP

*This is What Democracy Looks Like
This documentary, produced by the Independent Media Center and Big Noise Films, is partly a hokey, rock-the-protest video about the week the WTO came to Seattle. But it's also surprisingly captivating. It shows the mess of determined protesters, over-rehearsed cops, confused world trade representatives, blundering media, skittish politicians, and disgusting human-rights violations that made Seattle exciting for a week. Highlights include a guy in a suit comforting delegates as they cower inside a downtown hotel lobby, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz complaining about the "injustice" done to his store windows, and a "Strike fast, kick ass" sign the cops posted in one of their "peacekeeper" tanks. (Allie Holly-Gottlieb) Sun Nov 26 only. Broadway Performance Hall

Unbreakable
Reviewed this issue. Given a blank check after The Sixth Sense, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has returned the studio's largesse by delivering one of the worst films of the year. Opens Thurs Nov 23. Meridian 16

What Maisie Knew
What Maisie Knew is the first feature from Babette Mangolte, erstwhile cinematographer for Chantal Akerman and Yvonne Rainer. Inspired not so much by the plot as by the tone of Henry James' child's-eye view of divorce, the film has a slow, dreamy quality familiar from the trance-film genre, and Mangolte has a good feel for oneiric pacing. The best moments are long, long shots of odd, vaguely disturbing images: a sunny loft space almost completely obscured by gently swirling smoke; lovers pairing up based on names drawn from a hat; Phillip Glass getting a blowjob. And as you'd expect from her list of previous collaborators, Mangolte displays a quirky humor that keeps the pretentious moments in check; if much of the film plays like a cross between Bergman and Maya Deren, there's also at least one scene lifted directly from Sesame Street. Two corrections to Consolidated Works' program: this dates from 1975, not 1992; and its pairing for the evening, Jay Rosenblatt's Brain in the Desert, is a short, not a feature. Fri-Sun Nov 24-26 only. (Bruce Reid) Consolidated Works

WigglyWorld Studios presents an opportunity for King County artists to create an original trailer for the Grand Illusion or the Little Theatre through the Northwest FilmForum's Trailer Training program. Budget and honorarium included. Call 329-2629 for information. Application deadlines are Nov 30, 2000 and March 30, 2001.

Women in Film/Seattle seeks film, video, television, or new media work completed between Nov 1999 and Dec 2000 for the Seventh Annual Nell Shipman Production Excellence Awards. Entrants must live and/or work in the Pacific Northwest. Call 447-1537 to request an application; entries must be received by Dec 31.

*The 6th Day
Ahh, the glory of the movie star! In The 6th Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a helicopter pilot who is mistakenly cloned, thus becoming a double. Of course, a dastardly corporation is behind it all, and Schwarzenegger must topple it single (or, in this case, double)-handedly. But just in case you are turned off by the thought of Schwarzenegger and his double, be assured that the true star of The 6th Day is Vancouver, B.C.'s fantastic new Central Library, designed by the great Moshe Safdie. Cast as the villain's corporate headquarters, this stunning building upstages everyone, especially in the action scenes. Let's hope Rem Koolhaas' new Seattle Public Library can put us on the action movie map as gracefully! (Jamie Hook) Aurora Cinema Grill, Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Pacific Place 11, Varsity

Almost Famous
The truth of the matter is that this movie is nothing more and nothing less than a light and entertaining crowd-pleaser. Which is fine. Good, even. It's just that for a rock 'n' roll tour film set in 1973, the content comes across as so... clean--like R-rated content in a PG-13 package. (Andy Spletzer) Crest, Meridian 16

*Bedazzled
Stumbling across Bedazzled is like finding a bucket full of moonshine in the woods. It's not that the film is great, but it's awfully nice to meander into something that is simply, confidently good. Plus, I never knew that Brendan Fraser was HILARIOUS! His goofy, unrestrained performance as a schmuck making Faustian deals with the devil is a joy to behold--humble, manic, tidy, and sloppy all at once. (Jamie Hook) Grand Alderwood, Meridian 16, Redmond Town Center

*Best In Show
Christopher Guest's latest with Eugene Levy follows several dog owners on their quest for the blue ribbon at the 2000 Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. A well-executed, ridiculous little film lovingly mining ridiculous little people's ridiculous little lives. (Jason Pagano) Broadway Market, Grand Alderwood, Redmond Town Center, Seven Gables

*Billy Elliot
As the BBC put it, "You are heartless if you don't love every minute of this film"--and I'm not heartless. Thirty minutes into it, I gave in; there was no way I could hate it. I must make a confession: I almost cried during this film--yes, it's that touching. (Charles Mudede) Guild 45th, Harvard Exit

Bounce
Even fans of Don Roos' first film, The Opposite of Sex, will likely find Bounce to be bad. This being a Miramax production, it stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck. He's a successful ad exec with an empty life; she's a happy housewife married to a TV writer/ failed playwright. In a Chicago airport, Ben gives the bad writer his ticket and then the plane crashes. A year or so later, he tries to buy off his guilt by giving the widow, now a real estate agent, a sale that she's not qualified to make. They start dating. Everybody knows that when she finds out he's a creepy death-stalker that she'll rightfully dump him. Everybody, that is, but her best friend, her kids, and writer-director Don Roos. This movie is very wrong on many levels. (Andy Spletzer) Aurora Cinema Grill, Factoria, Metro, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

The Broken Hearts Club
Let's be frank: This film is so profoundly awful that it inadvertently succeeds in performing the tremendous social service of euthanizing the subgenre of the once-viable "gay film." God, it's bad. I will waste your time by telling you that the film is about a group of gay men in L.A. looking for meaning in their lives. But I can write no more. This film simply doesn't deserve it. (Jamie Hook) Broadway Market

*Charlie's Angels
Completely brainless, God bless its heart. Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu kick, chop, giggle, and dance their way through some sort of story involving technical thievery or... something. It doesn't really make sense, but then again, it doesn't really matter because director McG has created a world of lunacy where people levitate with relative ease, and there is absolutely no explanation for it. Hot chicks kick ass and fly, and either you accept it and have fun, or you don't. (Bradley Steinbacher) Factoria, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center

The Contender
In this Hollywood version of the Lewinsky affair (with the Clinton character recast as a woman), the Democrats make all the great speeches you wish they'd made during the 104th Congress, and the Republicans are as simply evil and as plainly hypocritical as you wish they were. The first hour of the movie--featuring murders, behind-the-scenes White House meetings, strong-arm politicking, and secret memos--is actually a blast, but once the trite sermonizing kicks in, you'll start wishing they'd just cut to more footage of the sex scandal. (Josh Feit) Uptown

Dancer in the Dark
Dancer in the Dark is a wonderful film in theory. In exposition, however, it suffers gravely from director Lars von Trier's ingrained contrarian aesthetic and growing avant-garde laziness. When the film is not wantonly sadistic, it is simply sloppy in a poorly thought-out way. While von Trier maintains his unique facility for the direction of small, crying women, his other tricks seem woefully inadequate for pulling off the feat he sets out to accomplish. (Jamie Hook) Varsity

*Hell, American Style
The holiday season can be a repugnant, sour time, when the joy of being an American is prodded to a dizzying, bilious, mordantly consumptive frenzy. Fortunately, the perfect antidote is at hand in this great selection of vintage American trash, curated by obsessive schlock collector Johnnie Legend. From the absolutely classic Sonny Bono film Marijuana (in opposition to the weed, he inadvertently became one of its most powerful advocates) to an extremely rare banned episode of Ozzie's Girls, in which David and Ricky Nelson are replaced with hip college chicks, one black and one white, this program should remind you happily: We live in Hell! (Jamie Hook) Grand Illusion

How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The Grinch is much different than the old cartoon. In this movie, the Grinch has a huge house with a telephone, a pulley, and trap doors. In the old cartoon he doesn't have any of that stuff. If you watch this you will find out where the Grinch came from, and why he hates Christmas. Like always, Jim Carrey is FABULOUS! He is sooo funny-- you couldn't find a better actor to play the part. On the other hand, the actor who played Cindy Lou Who was not very good--she was pretty corny. The Grinch was funny but not as good as I thought it would be. (Sam Lachow, 10 years old) Factoria, Lewis & Clark, Majestic Bay, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center

The Legend of Bagger Vance
Lying in the rough, Jack Lemmon starts to narrate a story about how, when he was 10 years old, he and a mystical caddy named Bagger Vance (Will Smith) helped keep local golfer Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon) from embarrassing himself in an exhibition match against the two greatest golfers in America. You see, Junuh "lost his swing" when he saw his buddies die in WWII, and he needs the love of a pretty good woman (Charlize Theron), the faith of a child, and some Zen-like advice from a mystical caddy to get it back. (Andy Spletzer) Cinerama, Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11, Southcenter

*Legend of the Drunken Master
Jackie Chan's best film is his 1979 breakout Drunken Master. This sequel from 1994 captures much of the high energy and goofy humor of that classic, and adds a greatly expanded budget that allows for some impressive sets, which the actors leap about and smash up to their hearts' content. The fight scenes are remarkable, but as always it's the throwaway bits that really blow your mind. Check out Chan's nimble leap up a wall and through an open transom; when you've picked your jaw up off the floor, remind yourself that's what movies are all about. (Bruce Reid) City Centre

Little Nicky
Adam Sandler has always been smart enough to cloud his aggressive gross-out humor (and nasty racism and homophobia) in a ragged, slapdash improvisatory structure that makes the films almost charming. The best moments in Little Nicky, a clunking, amateurish, but occasionally quite funny succession of gags about Satan's son hunting for his evil older brothers on the loose in New York come from such odd cameos as Jon Lovitz, Regis Philbin, John and Reese Witherspoon (no relation to the best of my knowledge), and that "nice, sweet man" Henry Winkler, who all obviously dropped in for a day and riffed on their lines to their heart's content. (Bruce Reid) Grand Alderwood, Metro, Northgate, Pacific Place 11

The Little Vampire
The Little Vampire is a magical and funny movie but I wouldn't recommend it to children under seven because it is pretty scary. The movie is about a kid that finds vampires and helps them find a certain stone so they can turn into humans. The only thing stopping them is the vampire killer. He is a pretty freaky guy and his truck is freaky, too. It has lights all over it because the vampires are scared of light. It also has a cross on it and a coffin on the side. (Sam Lachow, 10 years old) Uptown

Meet the Parents
Ben Stiller plays Greg, a male nurse living in an unnamed metropolis, about to pop the question to Pam, his kindergarten-teacher girlfriend. But he realizes in the nick of time that he must first ask her father (played with vicious delicacy by Robert De Niro) for permission. Happily, a trip home to attend her sister's wedding presents the perfect opportunity. But wait! Complications invariably ensue, and each new catastrophic development drives a wedge ever deeper twixt Greg and his beloved. (Tamara Paris) Grand Alderwood, Majestic Bay, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

Men of Honor
"History is made by those who break rules." That's the tagline for Men of Honor, which takes place when the American armed services were being racially integrated. Cuba Gooding Jr. portrays Carl Brashear, the first black underwater salvage expert in the Navy. Robert De Niro gives a bland performance as the master chief diver (love those military ranks!) who first tries to break Gooding, and then, when Gooding has disobeyed several of his orders, embraces his cause. It's bad, but it's not especially bad. (Barley Blair) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Majestic Bay, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

*Non-Stop
Take three losers--a would-be bank robber, a convenience store clerk with rock 'n' roll aspirations, and an incompetent bodyguard. Involve them in a plot that also includes a missing gun, a toy gun, big knives, short swords, gangster groups, a car full of cops, and a gauze mask. Satirize all the movies that all of these movie characters wish they were in. That's the task that Sabu set for himself when he wrote and directed Non-Stop. It takes six seconds--seven, tops--to realize that you're in the hands of a competent filmmaker. So stop reading right now and just go see it. (Barley Blair) Uptown

Once in the Life
So, y'all, I'ma tell you 'bout this FILM, yo. Coz this fuckin' film is the BOMB, yo. It's based on a fuckin' play by fuckin' Laurence fuckin' Fishburne, bitch. I'll fuckin' waste you if you go fuckin' see this film, though. Yo! I'm not saying it's a bad film, sabes? I'm just here, yo--its like about fuckin' doin' crime, doin' time and shit, you know? Like, they like brothers, you know? On the streets of fuckin' Brooklyn and shit, livin' the life with my man "20/20" and "Nine Lives" and "Tony the Tiger." So, you wanna know if this fuckin' film is any fuckin' good? Then, yo! You don't fuckin' like this fuckin' genre? Back off, motherfucka! I'll fuckin' waste you, bitch! BoomBoomBoom! (Jamie Hook) Uptown

Pay It Forward
After having been instructed by his social studies teacher to make the world a more benevolent place, Haley Joel Osment starts at the bottom, where the bums live amid burning oil cans, of course. About five minutes into his effort, Osment thinks he's failed and that the world is, in fact, shit. It's a performance that'll probably earn somebody an Oscar, but it just made me feel like kicking a kid in the teeth. (Kathleen Wilson) Factoria, Metro, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

*Pola X
Leos Carax remains the great poet of cinematic love, and Pola X is his finest testament to date. Casting off his life of comfort and abandoning his engagement to the privileged and lovely Lucie (Kathleen-Golubeva), young Pierre (Guillaume Depardieu), hustles himself and his newfound sibling, the dark-haired and raven-eyed Isabelle (Kathleen Golubeva), off to Paris to make a living. The blonde and ethereal Lucie arrives in Paris. She and Isabelle come to represent for Pierre a battle between two would-be truths which is played out as the struggle between light and darkness. (Bruce Reid) Grand Illusion

Red Planet
In American cinema, the worse the director, the more strangely symbolic the film becomes. Red Planet is a perfect example. For instance: the egg/sperm imagery throughout the film (this is a film about populating a barren wasteland, after all) is over the top. There is even a spaceship that blastulates just before hitting the surface of Mars--much as a zygote does before becoming embedded in the uterine wall. Plus, there is a great scene where sperm, represented by little bugs, which, in turn, represent God, attack Tom Sizemore and then explode. Strange things! (Jamie Hook) Aurora Cinema Grill, Factoria, Meridian 16, Metro, Redmond Town Center

Remember the Titans
Remember the Titans is set in the early '70s and based on real life, real people, the real America. It's a "problem film"--a movie about a black man (a football coach, in this case) who has to win the trust and love of angry, white racists. Incredible as this may sound, the movie is actually fascinating--not because it's well done or acted (nothing stands out in that regard), but because it has the manic pace of The Rock coupled with the content of Do the Right Thing. Now how in the world can you top that? (Charles Mudede) City Centre, Lewis & Clark, Metro

Requiem For a Dream
In Requiem for a Dream (based on the Hubert Selby Jr. novel of the same name, about the downward spiral of a trio of Brooklyn junkies), Darren Aronofsky opts to assault us with self-righteous imagery masquerading as some sort of daring bohemian technique. It is a conceit that manages to obliterate the few promising moments in the film. In the end, Requiem for a Dream comes off as so much high-school posturing: puerile; craven; and, in hindsight, embarrassingly tacky. (Jamie Hook) Broadway Market, Neptune

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
Take heart! For this is the season when the entertainment industry presents it's most enticing new kiddy-crack. Why waste time dabbling in the waters of those fancy foreigners with their unintelligible offerings (Teletubbies, Pokemon, etc.) or those epileptic fit-inducing upstarts who employ every cheap trick involving violence, sex, and subliminal messaging (everything on Fox Kids, for example). Your child does not need variety--your child needs success! And you know full well that the Rugrats have been, are, and for some time to come will be the bearers of the formula for success. Sing when you're winning my friends, sing when you're winning. (Kudzai Mudede) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree

What's Cooking?
What's Cooking frames four ethnically diverse families who face quite modern dilemmas on this most obese of our national holidays, Thanksgiving. Will machismo prevail or get its ass kicked when Elizabeth's new lover and her separated husband both show up? Will the Seelings' dinner-party guests find out that the Seelings' daughter's housemate is really her lesbian lover? Of course they will! In revealing these coveted secrets (and others), director Duringer Chadha shows us all that the true meaning of Thanksgiving is social discomfort, and this discomfort becomes a necessary tool that is used to reinvent traditional ideologies to make room for emerging social identities. Ultimately, the movie functions as a feature length soap opera, embarrassing everyone involved under the auspices of a greater good. (Suzy Lafferty) Broadway Market

*You Can Count on Me
As a teenager, alone in my teenager room in America, my greatest longing was for a state of sadness. My craving was so strong it became clear that "sadness" was the very root of desire for me. Now with my thoughts gathered in full-blown adulthood, I realize that all I wanted in my quest for "sadness" was to be an adult. In Kenneth Lonergan's, You Can Count On Me, "adult" and "sadness" and "American" become a knot of synonyms as the story focuses on the pure inability a brother and sister have with one another now that they're adults. It is as though being an adult, and a member of a grownup American family, is the path of loneliness and sadness. Without any trendy embitterment, the sad path of the story is inspired, beautiful and desirable. And the case is made for Loneliness as the Great American Pursuit. (Paula Gilovich) Guild 45th, Harvard Exit