THE FLINTSTONES IN VIVA ROCK VEGAS -- Various theaters

FREQUENCY -- Metro, Meridian

TIME CODE -- Neptune

WHERE THE HEART IS -- Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

WINTER SLEEPERS -- Broadway Market

THE BUNUEL COMPANION -- Consolidated Works

CHAC: THE RAIN GOD -- Varsity Calendar

EVERYONE'S CHILD -- Seattle Asian Art Museum

THE FILMS OF LUIS BUNUEL -- Seattle Art Museum

THE FILTH & THE FURY -- Varsity Calendar

GUYS AND DOLLS -- 911 Media Arts

INDEPENDENT EXPOSURE 4/2000 -- Speakeasy

LET MY PUPPETS COME -- Grand Illusion

LIFE IS TO WHISTLE -- Grand Illusion

MY SEX LIFE (OR HOW I GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT) -- Little Theatre

NIGHTMARE ALLEY -- Grand Illusion

PIECE D'IDENTITE (I.D.) -- Seattle Asian Art Museum

PRE-CODE CRIME FILMS -- Grand Illusion

SHOOTING GALLERY FILM SERIES -- Uptown

SPIKE AND MIKE'S SICK & TWISTED FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION -- Varsity Calendar

SUNSET BOULEVARD -- Egyptian

TRASH -- Egyptian

WHO THE HELL IS JULIETTE? -- Little Theatre

May 12 -- Battlefield Earth, Human Traffic, Center Stage, The Big Kahuna, El Norte, The Trial, Whipped, Screwed, Held Up

May 5 -- Gladiator, The Last September, Committed, I Dreamed of Africa, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, The Virgin Suicides, Adrenaline Drive, Up at the Villa

28 Days
This is a big Hollywood movie about addiction, which means everything is clean and rounded just where it should be sharp and messy. Sandra Bullock is the alcoholic in this case, and her behavior lands her in Serenity Glen, a touchy-feely rehab center filled with the requisite cuddly goofs and embittered oddballs. The film gives its star her big moments, but they're quieter than you'd expect. Filled with a wry, sidewise humor and genuine vulnerability, Bullock carries an ultimately phony movie with something resembling humanity. (Steve Wiecking) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

* All About My Mother
Pedro Almodovar's highly acclaimed new film, a mature look at women (with the obligatory drag queen). Broadway Market

American Beauty
Entertaining fluff. Take your typical suburban satire (midlife crisis, bitchy wife, disaffected youth), throw in some admittedly excellent performances, and what you get is the an Oscar-winning film, for better or worse. (Andy Spletzer) Aurora Cinema Grill, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center, Varsity

American Psycho
Based on the much-reviled book by Bret Easton Ellis, the movie is actually not bad. Really. In fact, it's pretty good. Set at the height of the Reagan '80s, Psycho deftly satirizes the deadening effect of unchecked corporate wealth and power. In his opening voice-over, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) himself recognizes how he's lost the ability to feel or care, moving through life with rituals of exercise, personal grooming, and hanging out at trendy restaurants with the boys from work. Then something inside him snaps, and he discovers the only way for him to feel anything, or at least relieve his tension, is by killing people. (Andy Spletzer) Cinerama, Lewis & Clark, Neptune, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

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

Black and White
A movie that purports to be about race, in which all of the black men are pussy-chasing rapper-gangsters, all the young white men are wimpy wiggers or gay, and all the old white men are crooked cops or dirty lawyers. All the white women have blatant jungle fever, and the only black female character with a speaking part is hysterical about all the interracial coupling. Robert Downey Jr., Ben Stiller, Bijou Phillips, Mike Tyson, Claudia Schiffer, Brooke Shields, and most of the Wu-Tang Clan star. (Erin Franzman) City Centre

* 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. Broadway Market

The BUNUEL COMPANION
To complement (and perhaps complete) Seattle Art Museum's Luis Bunuel series, Consolidated Works' smaller series boasts rarities and shorts. Death in the Garden (1956), in which a gang of outcasts from a small village hunt for treasure in the forest, kicks off the collection. A rare Bunuel adventure flick. Fri-Sun April 28-30 at 8. Consolidated Works

Chac: The Rain God
This long-lost 1974 film about spiritual struggle among rural Mexican villagers in desperate need of rain is well served by director Rolando Klein's decision to use conventional filmmaking techniques instead of those favored by documentaries. By forcing the villagers who made up his cast to hit their marks and utter their lines in multiple takes, Klein managed to draw assured, layered performances from his entire cast. Man-made interiors and caves are equally, beautifully lit, and Klein's sound crew captured obscure dialects during filming that would have been almost impossible to add later. The only thing missing is a story that matches the assured beauty of Chac's component parts. Thurs April 27 at 5:30, 7:30, 9:30. (Tom Spurgeon) Varsity Calendar

The Cider House Rules
Based on the John Irving novel, a period piece about life and abortion. Metro, Uptown

The Color of Paradise
The Color of Paradise has much of the patience, sincerity, and simplicity that have made Iranian films so popular in the past few years. It's also one of the most beautifully photographed movies you'll ever see, with green rolling hills and fields of flowers rendered with an almost tactile vibrancy, the colors leaping out as if from an impressionist landscape. Sadly, none of this makes up for the film's tendency to tug at the heartstrings so crudely you'd think it was trying to break them. The story follows a young blind boy who returns to his village after his school year in Tehran. Mohammad is thrilled to use his newly learned skill in Braille to decode the countryside around him. His sisters and grandmother are delighted that their beloved boy has returned. His father, however, sees Mohammad only as a burden to be endured. (Bruce Reid) Seven Gables

Cotton Mary
I recommend Cotton Mary only to aspiring filmmakers; watch it and you will see all the things you shouldn't do when making your big picture. Invert all of the errors (the sappy story, the shameless motives, the poor direction, the over- and under-acting) and you will instantly have a masterpiece. (Charles Mudede) Broadway Market

East is East
This decent little movie is set in the early '70s, in an English town called Salford. The great Om Puri plays a fanatical father married to a British woman (Linda Basset). They own a small chip shop and a small house, which is packed with seven rebellious kids. With the exception of one boy, all the children are headed one way (toward total assimilation of British culture), and the father the other (preservation of Pakistani values); all that's left is a big showdown in the end. A rather ordinary story, you will agree. But Puri saves the day by doing what he does best: deepening and extending his character's emotional and psychological range. (Charles Mudede) Broadway Market

* East-West
Oleg Menchikov and Sandrine Bonnaire play Alexei and Marie, a couple whose marriage collapses under the weight of the political oppression they encounter in Odessa during the post-WWII reconstruction of the Soviet Union. While both are appalled by the conditions, only Marie, who is French, seems to recognize the need to flee immediately. Alexei is cautious to the point of impenetrability. The conflict drives both of them to infidelity. But in the tumult of the oppressive social reality, these seeming betrayals play out paradoxically as the ultimate gesture of love. (Rick Levin) Harvard Exit

Enter the Dragon
A midnight screening of the classic -- the notorious -- the SENSEI of all martial arts dramas. Bruce Lee; a remote island; lots of fighting; and that distinct early-'70s look... what more could you possilby want? Fri-Sat April 28-29 at midnight. Egyptian

Erin Brockovich
Despite having been directed by indie superstar Steven Soderbergh, Erin Brockovich is just what it is: another big-budget Hollywood film starring Julia Roberts. In fact, because this is a Hollywood film, we suddenly notice aspects of Soderbergh's filmmaking that are harder to detect when he has complete control over his material: namely, how brilliant he is working with supporting actors, most notably men. In this case, it's Aaron Eckhart and Albert Finney. Without this, all you have left is a stupid plot and the dentiglorious spectacle that is Julia Roberts. (Charles Mudede) Factoria, Guild 45th, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center

Everyone's Child
A film by Zimbabwean director Tsitsi Dangarembgam, screening as part of the New African Cinema series at the Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park. Thurs April 27 at 6:30, $7. Seattle Asian Art Museum

Fantasia 2000
The latest Walt Disney sweeping-animation-and-classical-music extravaganza. Ends April 30! Pacific Science Center

* The FILMS OF LUIS BUNUEL
A thoughtful retrospective of the sensitive and satirical European/Spanish filmmaker's works. Nazarin (1958), with cinematography by constant Bunuel collaborator Gabriel Figueroa, is this week's feature. Thurs May 4 at 7:30; call 625-8900 for details. Seattle Art Museum

* The Filth & the Fury
Julien Temple (The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle) compiled this historically accurate portrait of the infamous Sex Pistols, with exclusive interviews with Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock, and of course Sid Vicious. Includes boatloads of unseen live footage, and an amazing capacity to energize even the most cynical viewer. The film covers old terrtory -- like the notorious Bill Grundy interview -- but it also offers revelations. Some are small (Paul Cook was the one with the "I HATE PINK FLOYD" t-shirt); some huge (John Lydon: "You don't write 'God Save the Queen' because you hate the English race, you write it because you love them and you're fed up with them being mistreated."). Odds are that if you have preconceptions about the band, they'll at least be tested, especially once you've seen the images of Johnny Rotten serving up slices of cake to needy working class kids on Christmas Day, 1977. Fri-Thurs April 28-May 4 at (Sat-Sun 12:30, 2:45), 5, 7:15, 9:30. (Sean Nelson) Reviewed this issue. Varsity Calendar

Final Destination
Okay, so when a boy has a vision of the plane he's about to take crashing in a big fiery ball, he freaks out and gets kicked off the plane, along with several other people. Then the plane crashes. Spooky. But you can't cheat death, and so the survivors start dying, one by one. That's the point of the movie. You can't cheat death. It never gets any more clever or complex than that. If you must cheat, then sneak into a screening without paying. That'll show 'em. (Andy Spletzer) Pacific Place 11

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty: the early years. Yabba dabba don't bother. Various Theaters

Frequency
What happens when a big studio executive submits his pet script -- a hodgepodge screenplay about time travel; ham-radio enthusiasm; the hazards of firefighting; baseball; mother love; and the father-son tag-team tracking down of a nurse-butchering psychopath -- to the front offices? New Line's President of Music Toby Emmerich's pitch for Frequency might have gone something like this: "It's sort of Backdraft crossed with Back to the Future and Seven, with a little Field of Dreams and Twilight Zone tossed into the mix." Mix is right: this utterly confused film is a perfect example of Hollywood's shameless tendency to pillage the graveyard for the spare parts of its own schmaltzy genres. The result is a Frankenstein monster of a movie that bumbles and stumbles across the thin emotional terrain of an Americanized (and therefore totally false) idea of nostalgia and redemption. And speaking of time travel: The time I traveled out of the theatre was 8:17, approximately 40 minutes before the thing ended. How's that for defying the laws of physics? (Rick Levin) Metro, Meridian

Galaxy Quest
The cast of a Star Trek-like show is recruited by a (presumably good) alien race to save them from a (presumably bad) alien race. Admiral, Crest

* Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
When he was young, Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) was saved from a group of street thugs by Louie (John Tormey), a low-level Mafioso who just happened to be passing by. In thanks, Ghost Dog pledged to serve Louie for the rest of his life, as faithful to him as any ancient samurai was to his master. Director Jim Jarmusch brings to Ghost Dog the same deadpan humor of his earliest films. (Andy Spletzer) Varsity

Gossip
A bunch of posh jounalism students (strike one) get an assignment: Identify the link between news and gossip (strike two). So, naturally, they decide to frame a mutual friend for date rape (yer outta there!). Factoria, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center, Southcenter

The Green Mile
Tom Hanks' death row is forever changed when a magical prisoner is admitted. Admiral, Crest

Guys and Dolls
New Day Films (www.newday.com) present I, Doll and Beauty Before Age, two films that examine beauty -- and conventional notions of beauty -- and how the pressure of "keeping up appearances" mounts steadily in modern cultures. The shorts cover both the male and female perspectives. Fri April 28 at 8, $5. 911 Media Arts

* High Fidelity
A romantic comedy for guys. John Cusack plays the cynically introspective Rob Gordon, the owner of a small record store who, for various reasons, has shit luck with women. He's a jerk, basically, but he's not altogether clueless about his jerkiness. He struggles and obsesses and makes lists that he thinks define his life, but he's no closer to understanding women than he was in the fifth grade -- which happens to be when he got dumped for the first time. Based on the popular novel of the same name. (Kathleen Wilson) Aurora Cinema Grill, Guild 45th, Harvard Exit, Lewis & Clark, Redmond Town Center

Independent Exposure 4/2000
Blackchair Productions' monthly showcase of short film/video/digital cinema by an international bevy of indie filmmakers returns this month with a cute theme ("April Showers") and an impressive lineup (including shorts from L.A., Toronto, and Japan). Don't miss it. Thurs April 27 at 7:30, $4. See Stranger Suggests. Speakeasy

Joe Gould's Secret
Joe Gould was a Greenwich Village icon, a self-conscious bohemian who would wander the streets cadging free meals, hitting up old friends for donations, and translating the squawks and quarks of seagulls into English. But Gould was most legendary for his grand, secretive project, a mammoth oral history that he compiled daily. This chronicle of the odd friendship that sprung up between Gould (Ian Holm) and writer Joe Mitchell (Stanley Tucci, who also directed) misses the point of friendship completely. (Bruce Reid) Broadway Market

* KEEPING THE FAITH

Any film that begins with a drunken priest staggering through the streets of New York and tumbling into a garbage pile is automatically fine by me. Edward Norton (who also directed) is the drunky priest and Ben Stiller a confused rabbi. They love the same girl, a rad chick they hung out with back in the fourth grade. The film is genuinely funny and sweetly romantic as it focuses on all aspects of the not-so-holy trinity. And surprisingly enough, co-star Jenna Elfman doesn't bug. (Kathleen Wilson) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Meridian 16, Metro, Northgate

LET MY PUPPETS COME

Gerand Damiano's 1974 X-rated musical puppet sex comedy Let My Puppets Come is sure to delight young and old with its raunchy, pornographic interludes among our fabric friends. Not available on video! Fri-Sat April 28-29 at 11. Grand Illusion

* LIFE IS TO WHISTLE

An incredibly lush fever dream of a film, Fernando Perez's Life is to Whistle builds a compelling picture of the possibilities for love and self-transformation in modern-day Havana. Narrator Bebe, an 18-year-old embodiment of happiness, takes us in and out of the lives of three orphans, all of whom suffer complicated relationships to tradition and surrogate families. Manipulating reality with a light touch, Bebe becomes the director's stand-in, arguing for art's ability to help Cuba confront its present-day political and social conditions. Metaphors aside, Whistle is an excellent wry comedy, set to the music of Bola de Nieve and Benny More. Fri-Thurs April 28-May 11 at (Sat-Sun 3), 5, 7, 9.

(Tom Spurgeon) Grand Illusion

LOVE AND BASKETBALL

Boy meets girl. Boy plays hoops with girl. Girl takes boy to hole. Boy is Omar Epps. Girl is Sanaa Lathan. Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Pacific Place 11

ME MYSELF I

Rachel Griffiths stars in this terrible remake of Sliding Doors(!), playing a single woman who, get this, is depressed because she has a successful career at the expense of a stable and happy family life. (Charles Mudede) Metro

MY SEX LIFE (OR HOW I GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT)

Arnaud Desplechin's modern-day romance epic, featuring some of France's hippest and most talented young actors. But this is not Friends à Paris. Instead, this ensemble cast brings intelligence, eroticism, and philosophical savvy to situations involving "complex women and tight sexual tensions." Thurs-Sun April 27-30 at 4:30, 8. Little Theatre

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

For those who adore vintage, kitschy melodramatic noir and pulp fiction (and DO NOT associate it with Uma Thurman in a jet-black wig), this 1947 "cult oddity" is right up your alley. Edmund Goulding's dark tale examines the trials and tribulations of a desperate carny (Tyrone Power) faced with the challenges of surviving in a seedy business. Based on the pulp novel by William Gresham. Thurs April 27 at 4:45, 7, 9:15. Grand Illusion

PIECE D'IDENTITE (I.D.)

Producer/director Mweze Ngangura's Congo-Belgium film wraps up the New African Cinema series in Volunteer Park. Thursday May 4 at 6:30, $7. Seattle Asian Art Museum

PRE-CODE CRIME FILMS

Check out this "scandalous" batch of pre-code crime films from the Columbia Pictures archives! All filmed before the oppressive, uptight Production Code was honored in the motion picture industry, these vintage movies have plenty of sex, violence, bootlegging, drugs, and "explicit behavior." The first film is Howard Hawks' Criminal Code, in which a convicted murderer fears for his life in jail. Grand Illusion

READY TO RUMBLE

David Arquette, Scott "James" Caan, and the great Oliver Platt star in this movie about professional wrestling. Despite -- or because of -- how stupid it is, it's kind of funny, especially when Platt, the least-likely sports hero since Gus, the field-goal-kicking mule, is chewing up the scenery. Two questions, however, are raised: (1) who decided that bathroom humor had to be literal? and (2) when did Kingpin become a genre? (Sean Nelson) City Centre

RETURN TO ME

A guy (David Duchovny) falls for a girl (Minnie Driver) who has received his dead wife's heart in a transplant. No, really. Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

THE ROAD TO EL DORADO

The Road to El Dorado is very adventurous and also very funny. It is similar to Journey to the Center of the Earth because it is about trying to get somewhere that is hard to get to. Two partners, Tulio and Miguel, are trying to reach El Dorado, the city of gold. When they get there, everybody thinks they're lords, so Tulio and Miguel have to pretend to be lords to get the gold. When they get what they want, Tulio wants to leave to Spain with the gold and live like a king, but Miguel starts to have fun in El Dorado and wants to stay. What are they going to do? Is Tulio going to go to Spain by himself, or are they going to stay together? (Sam Lachow) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Redmond Town Center

ROMEO MUST DIE

Romeo Must Die is pretty dumb, even for an action film, but Jet Li doesn't disappoint. He handily demonstrates how it's a lot more fun to fight without using guns. (Gillian G. Gaar) Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

When a movie is titled Rules of Engagement, I'm there. Too bad this one implodes like a giant star after a promising start. The performances of Samuel Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones, Blair Underwood, Guy Pearce, and Anne Archer are sucked into the resulting black hole. In the end, we are left with nothing -- absolutely nothing. (Charles Mudede) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree

SHOOTING GALLERY FILM SERIES

Indie film studio the Shooting Gallery presents a six-week film series, featuring movies that were well-received at various international film festivals. This week it's Mike Hodges' Croupier, an excellent, Jim Thompson-esque thriller about the underbelly of the London gambling world. Hodges is best known for directing the great existential gangster tone poem Get Carter some 30 years ago. Along the way he's lost none of his visual flair, his knack for tension-building, or his taste for beautiful actors. He's picked up a nice flair for the absurd touch, however, which makes this movie a somber, badass delight. (Sean Nelson) Uptown

THE SKULLS

Joshua Jackson (Pacey from Dawson's Creek) plays an ambitious working-class kid who's not only gotten into an Ivy League school, he's captain of their crew team. When he joins the secretest secret society on campus, the Skulls, he thinks all his troubles will be over. They'll pay all his debts, get him into the best law school, and will guarantee him a life of wealth and success. All he's gotta do is help them cover up the murder of his best friend. Well, that's too much, so Pacey starts fighting the corrupt secret society, and about this time the movie spins into insanity. Really, how can you take a modern day movie seriously when it ends with an old-fashioned duel? (Andy Spletzer) Aurora Cinema Grill, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

SPIKE AND MIKE'S SICK & TWISTED FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION

The impressarios of independent animation return with "a whole shitload of new films" that, unfortunately, struggle to provide even a quarter-shitload of humor beyond the same old sex, drug, and grandparent gags that dominate this year's offerings. As always, if you're really, really high, it will undoubtedly be the funniest shit you've seen all night. Fri-Sat April 28-29 at midnight. (Jason Pagano) Varsity Calendar

STUART LITTLE

A well-dressed mouse (voice of Michael J. Fox) is adopted by a family. Really, what more do you need? Redmond Town Center, Uptown

* SUNSET BOULEVARD

Billy Wilder's classic is back, revived and in 35mm for its 50th anniversary. Gloria Swanson is always a scream with her melodrama and tragic hyperventilating; and Erich von Stroheim is excellent as her patient butler. Fri-Thurs April 28-May 4 at (Sat-Sun 2), 4:30, 7, 9:20. Reviewed this issue. Egyptian

* TIME CODE

Mike Figgis has devised a crazy experiment: four interrelated films playing at once on a screen divided into quadrants. Fortunately, the content lives up to the form. Reviewed this issue.

U-571

What's long, round, and full of seamen? Why, it's a submarine movie! It's WWII, and Matthew McConaughey has to steal some decoding machine from the Nazis. Luckily, he's got Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, and Jon Bon Jovi on his side. Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

WHERE THE HEART IS

Natalie Portman stars as a young Paul Newman in this heartwarming heist movie about trashy poor people, one of whom will most likely be dying of some disease or giving birth to a baby of some kind before all is said and done. Factoria, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

WHERE THE MONEY IS

Poor Paul Newman. To say nothing of Linda Fiorentino and Dermot Mulroney. But poor, poor Paul Newman. Meridian 16, Metro, Redmond Town Center

WHO THE HELL IS JULIETTE?

Filmed alternately in Cuba, Mexico, and the U.S., Carlos Marcovich's complex tale about a young, Cuban street prostitute and her teen model/pop star friend examines the lives of two girls who had skimpy, rushed childhoods and share oddly parallel situations. Winner of the Mexican National Film Critics Award and the Latin America Cinema Award. Thurs-Sun May 4-7 at 5:30, 7:30, 9:30. Little Theatre

WINTER SLEEPERS

This is the film Tom Twyker made before he made Run Lola Run. Too bad it isn't as good. Reviewed this issue.