This weekend at the movies, escape from the reality of life for a few hours by watching the best mob movie ever made, learning about the founder of modern Botswana in A United Kingdom, appreciating Jordan Peele's directorial debut, or catching up on Academy Award winners like Moonlight, Fences, and La La Land. See all of our critics' picks below, and click through the links to see specific movie times and trailers. For more options, check out our complete movie times calendar (as well as our list of special film events).
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THURSDAY ONLY
1. The Third Man
If this movie doesnât glamorize the life of black market profiteers in immediate post-WW II Vienna, then no movie ever did. Joseph Cotten plays Holly Martins, a âscribbler with too much drink in him,â trying to clear the name of his recently deceased best friend, the nefarious Harry Lime (Orson Welles, at his cherubic pinnacle). The acting, music, photography, and dialogue (script by Graham Greene, the British author, not the Native American actor) are peerless. SEAN NELSON
Scarecrow Video
FRIDAY ONLY
2. Happy Hour
During the weekend retreat that opens the film, Akari (Sachie Tanaka), a nurse without a filter, declares, "The future for 37-year-old women is bright." Counters Sakurako (Hazuki Kikuchi), a soft-spoken homemaker, "But it's dismal out there." Sakurako's marriage is more functional than fulfilling, and her teenage son is going through a sulky phase. Fumi (Maiko Mihara), an arts curator, appears to be happily married, but her editor husband's working relationship with a 25-year-old writer makes her uncomfortable. After eight unhappy years, Jun (Rira Kawamura) is in the midst of a divorce. As she tells the judge about her husband: "Violence is not the only form of abuse." After a trip to a hot springs, three of the women return to Kobe, expecting Jun to arrive later. Instead, she disappears. KATHY FENNESSY
Northwest Film Forum
FRIDAYâSUNDAY
3. GoodFellas
Opportunities to see the best mob movie ever made on the big screen must not be taken lightly. Among the things that make Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas endlessly rewatchable: ravishing cinematography, Joe Pesci's Oscar turn, worship-worthy performances from Debi Mazar and Catherine Scorsese (Martin's mom), the greatest soundtrack in film history, and bursts of horrifically cruel violence to keep things honest. DAVID SCHMADER
Central Cinema
4. Toni Erdmann*
Toni Erdmann, the character, is a death clown, a life coach, and a big, hairy Bulgarian monster. Toni Erdmann, the Oscar-nominated film from German filmmaker Maren Ade, is a farce, a tearjerker, and a bonkers take on globalization and its discontents. It begins with a shaggy German music teacher, Winfried (Austrian theater vet Peter Simonischek, soulful and impish), who likes to play practical jokes no one appreciates. When his daughter, Ines (the wondrous Sandra HĂźller), drops by for a short visit, she spends most of the time making work calls. Later, Winfried decides to visit Ines in Bucharest where his attempts to make her laughâinvolving a set of false teeth and a cheese graterâfall flat, so he reemerges as Toni Erdmann, a goofy gent who pops up at the most inopportune times. If the 162-minute film threatens to wear out its welcome, director Ade brings everything home with a humanist's light, loving touch. KATHY FENNESSY
Varsity Theatre
*(Oscar Nominee: Best Foreign Language Film)
SUNDAY ONLY
5. The Rules of the Game
Jean Renoirâs swirling, hard-headed humanist farce about the decadence of the French haute bourgeoisie has been magnificently restoredâjust in time for obit writers to punish themselves for abusing the term âAltmanesque.â This precise cross section of society is like a slice of cake, every layer more delicious than the last. Robert Altman said it himself: âThe Rules of the Game taught me the rules of the game.â ANNIE WAGNER
Northwest Film Forum
6. SHRIEK: The Wicker Man
Shriek is a recurring film class about women in horror (taught by Evan J. Peterson and Heather Marie Bartels) that features screenings as well as engaged, thoughtful, and hilarious discussions. On March 12, they'll host a screening of the 1973 version of The Wicker Man, which is host Evan J. Peterson's favorite film, and was described by Cinefantastique as "the Citizen Kane of horror movies."
Naked City Brewery & Taphouse
ALL WEEKEND
7. Before I Fall
Before I Fall is an all around well-made film that concerns a conventionally beautiful teenager who is trying to get out of the maze of the last day of her life. One of the movie's many excellent scenes has two teens running through the twilight of a green-dark forest. This is, indeed, green gothic at its best. Seattle-based visual artist Matthew Offenbacher was the first to theorize this kind of gothic aesthetic. He described it as a feeling, a mood (stimmung in the German expressionist sense) that captures the regionâs monstrous aspect. The dusky quality of its sharply slanted light, its dusk-green trees, its urban wilderness blending with the wilderness of the woods. All of this is in Before I Fall, which was filmed in and around Vancouver B.C., the capitalâthe Transylvaniaâof green gothic. CHARLES MUDEDE
Pacific Place
8. Fences*
Recently, while leaving a screening of the solid and engaging film adaptation of August Wilson's play Fences, which was directed by Washington himself, a man walking behind me said to the woman walking next to him that this is not the kind of Denzel Washington film he likes. It's too act-y, it's all about the Academy Awards. Clearly, he wanted Washington to shoot more and talk less. But Fences has no guns and a whole lot of talking about lifeâit deals with failed dreams, race relations in mid-century America, marital problems, parenting problems, working-class problems, drinking problems, problems with debts, mental health, and, ultimately, death. What might kill the character Washington plays in Fences, Troy Maxson, is not a car chase or a shoot-out, but blocked arteries to the heart. He is a normal guy with a very standard suite of personal and social issues. CHARLES MUDEDE
Varsity Theatre
*(Oscar Winner: Best Supporting Actress)
9. Get Out
Get Out is a feature-length version of the not-quite-joking sentiment among African Americans that the suburbs, with their overwhelming whiteness and cultural homogeneity, are eerie twilight zones for Black people. Far from being a one-joke movie, however, Jordan Peeleâs directorial debut is both a clever, consistently funny racial satire and a horror film, one that mocks white liberal cluelessness and finds humor inâbut doesnât dismissâBlack peopleâs fears. ERIC D. SNIDER
Various locations
10. Hidden Figures*
The function of white ideology is to place the blame of black poverty on black people themselves. They are not smart enough, they are lazy, they are like childrenâtherefore they live in the projects, they are on welfare, they perform poorly academically. But the golden bowl of this logic gets a crack whenever a person or an event makes the truth visible: Blacks are as stupid or as smart as any other group of people. This is why a movie like Hidden Figures is so importantâa film about a black mathematician, Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), who worked for NASA and participated in its key projects in the 1960s. The mathematician was also a woman, and so she challenged not only white ideology but also male ideology. She had to be hidden twice. The movie also stars Janelle MonĂĄe, who made her mark in the best movie of 2016, Moonlight. CHARLES MUDEDE
Pacific Place, Sundance Cinemas, and Admiral
*(Oscar Nominee: Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress)
11. I Am Not Your Negro*
Sixteen years after Lumumba, Raoul Peck, who is Haitian, has directed I Am Not Your Negro, a documentary about one of the greatest writers of 20th-century America, James Baldwin. Now, it's easy to make a great film about Baldwin, because, like Muhammad Ali, there's tons of cool footage of his public and private moments, and, also like Ali, he had a fascinating face: the odd shape of his head, the triangle of hair that defined his forehead, and his froggy eyes. Just show him doing his thing and your film will do just fine. But Peck blended footage of Baldwin with dusky and dreamy images of contemporary America. These images say: Ain't a damn thing changed from the days of Baldwin and the Civil Rights Movement. But they say this with a very deep insight about the nature of time. CHARLES MUDEDE
Ark Lodge Cinema, SIFF Cinema Uptown, and Sundance Cinemas
*(Oscar Nominee: Documentary Feature)
12. John Wick Chapter 2
As with the first John Wick, each action sequenceâand there are a lot of themâaims to entertain, surprise, and deliver the sort of thrill that can only come from a hyper-stylized, perfectly orchestrated shoot-out. Or car chase. Or fistfight. Even if it doesnât have the freshness of the original, Chapter 2 offers plenty: It never stops being Looney Tunes funny, but itâs also baroque, dark, and weird, moving at a burning-rubber pace. John Wick: Chapter 2 does not disappoint, and itâs a welcome reminder of how fun and exciting a well-crafted action movie can be. If Buster Keaton were alive today and saw John Wick in action... well, heâd probably be disgusted and horrified at how violent movies are now. But once he got over that, he'd probably clap pretty hard. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Pacific Place
13. Kedi
The enchanting Turkish documentary Kedi works triple time as a nature documentary, a travelogue, and a meditation on the human-animal bond. Director Ceyda Torun makes a case for Istanbul as the new Rome for stray cats. When she isn't soliciting the thoughts of caretakers and observers, her cinematographer, Charlie Wuppermann, shoots the furry subjects from ground level such that they fill the screen while humans fade into the background. These street-smart cats congregate around teahouses and markets for treats and back rubs. Torun follows several around town, like the orange tabby that steals food for her kittens, the gray tabby that sleeps in an auto shop, and the black-and-white cat that chases mice from a restaurant. She exalts these hardy creatures while portraying Istanbul as a city of compassionate citizens. It's a side of Turkey we don't see often enough. KATHY FENNESSY
SIFF Cinema Uptown & Guild 45th
14. Kong: Skull Island
In an interview with Suzette Smith, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts said: "Kong represents the vulnerability in all of us. He represents an unknown, mythic quality in the world. A big part of this film is also just about becoming okay with not having all the answers. There are things we cannot understand and the sooner we understand that the better off we are." SUZETTE SMITH
Various locations
15. La La Land*
You guys, I LOVED La La Land, and you will too. Donât be afraid of it just because itâs a musical about a struggling actress (Emma Stone) and a pretentious jazz musician (Ryan Gosling) who meet and fall in love and sing and dance in a romanticized, cartoony LA. Yeah, itâs splashy and grandiose and full of hazy violet Southern California sunsets, but its emotional core is genuine. Take it from shriveled-hearted me, the Unearned Sentiment Police: La La Land is a grand, over-the-top, razzly-dazzly love story that wonât make you puke one bit. It might even help you forget the horrors of reality, however momentarilyâand after the year weâve had, that practically makes La La Land a public service. MEGAN BURBANK
Various locations
*(Oscar Winner: Directing, Leading Actress, Original Score, Cinematography, Production Design)
16. The LEGO Batman Movie
Let's start with the good: Thereâs finally a Batman movie you can take the kids to! The Lego Batman Movie follows up 2014âs surprisingly wonderful The Lego Movie by focusing on that cinematic universeâs version of Batman, a growling, too-cool-for-school badass voiced by Will Arnett. With a blend of computer animation and actual Lego bricks, the dizzying Lego Batman bursts at the edges of the screen. Now for the bad: The Lego Batman Movie may be geared a little too much toward kids. Sure, there are plenty of wisecracks and throwaway gags for eagle-eyed grownups and Batman nuts, but the movie grinds to a halt several times so Batman can learn A Very Important Life Lesson. For a movie that contains this much pure silliness, itâs too bad it thinks it needs to talk down to kids. NED LANNAMANN
Various locations
17. Lion*
Based on Saroo Brierleyâs memoir A Long Way Home, the film, an inspiring drama that earns tears without jerking them, begins with five-year-old Saroo (played by a bouncing ball of energy named Sunny Pawar) becoming separated from his mother and brother and ending up a thousand miles away in Calcutta. Sarooâs path may be unclear, but Lionâs isnât: Like the train that took him away in the first place, the film moves steadily toward its tearful destination, propelled by sincere performances and Volker Bertelmann and Dustin OâHalloranâs gently urgent musical score. Kidman shows great tenderness as the adoptive mother, underscoring the theme of âfamilyâ not being limited by biology, and Patel is serious-minded and haunted. But itâs little dynamo Sunny Pawar that youâll remember best, his infectious cheery optimism encapsulating the filmâs hopeful tone. ERIC D. SNIDER
Meridian 16, Sundance Cinemas, and Admiral
*(Oscar Nominee: Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Score, Cinematography)
18. Logan
17 years after X-Men kick-started the superhero genre, we get something like Logan. Something that isn't just a great superhero movie, but a great movie. No disclaimers, no curve: Logan is fantastic. Make no mistake: Logan is such a superhero movieâsuch an X-Men movieâthat at one point Logan (Hugh Jackman) flips through an X-Men comic featuring his spandexed alter ego, Wolverine. He's not impressed. "Maybe a quarter of it happened," he grumbles, "and not like this." Despite his crankiness, Logan is full of the same stuff as the yellowed pages of X-Men and Wolverine: superpowered mutants. Nefarious evildoers. A rock-solid belief that violence fixes everything. But for all Logan's nods to genreâand it's as much a western as a superhero movieâit's about bigger things, too. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations
19. Manchester by the Sea*
In Manchester, Lee Chandler (Affleck) seems content to shovel walkways and unclog toilets for a living in Boston, until word comes that his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler, seen in flashbacks) has died of a heart attack. Joeâs will stipulates that he wants Lee to move back to his titular hometown and become Patrickâs guardian. Lee, however, is haunted by past events and resists, with a toddlerâs tenacity, every effort by the people around him to help him come to terms. I feel for the guy, and you will too, but after two hours, I wanted to grab him by the collar and tell him to buck up. After all, heâs at least going to get an Oscar nomination out of it. MARC MOHAN
Meridian 16 and Sundance Cinemas
*(Oscar Winner: Leading Actor, Original Screenplay)
20. Moonlight*
Moonlight is a film that has all of the major film critics in the country singing the loudest praises, and is already breaking box-office records, and happens to be a coming-of-age tale of a black American male. But I want to make this clear: The director of Moonlight, Barry Jenkins, did not come out of nowhere. He also directed and wrote one of the best films of the previous decade, Medicine for Melancholy (2008). The wonder is that it took him so long to make his second feature, which will most likely make a big splash at the next Oscars. Expect Jenkins to be one of the few black Americans to win the award for best director. CHARLES MUDEDE
Meridian 16 and Sundance Cinemas
*(Oscar Winner: Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor)
21. A United Kingdom
What made Botswana a success and its next-door neighbor Zimbabwe a complete disaster? A part of the answer can be found in the new and excellent movie A United Kingdom, directed by one of the few working black female directors in the world, Amma Asante. The film is about the founder of modern Botswana, Seretse Khama, played by David Oyelowo (Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma). Though Kingdom's plot is centered on how Khama, a black African aristocrat, met, romanced, and married a middle-class British white woman, Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), it also shows how their interracial relationship was a diplomatic mess for the UK government, which still had close economic and political ties with a country, South Africa, that made racial separation (apartheid) official around the time the Khama/Williams romance began (the late 1940s). CHARLES MUDEDE
Guild 45th & Pacific Place
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