The Apple
Menahem Golan's 1980 musical masterpiece set in the future--you know, 1994--about two unsuspecting victims of the BIM corporation, as helmed by the evil suit know only as Mr. Boogaloo. Egyptian, Fri-Sat at midnight.
* BUSTER SHORTS
The High Sign, The Electric House, The Boat, and One Week, all featuring the great Buster Keaton, and live musical accompaniment by the Wurlitzer Organ of Hokum Hall. Hokum Hall, Fri at 7, 9 pm, Sat at 2 pm.
Drive In Sin
See review this issue. Seattle Art Museum, Fri at 7:30, 9:15 pm.
* False Promises: The Lost Land of the Wenatchi
A PBS documentary about the fruitless struggle of an American Indian tribe to claim rights granted to it by several legal treaties with the U.S. government. Tribal elder Mathew Dick and historian E. Richard Hart will be in attendance to answer questions. Seattle Central Community College, Tues at 6 pm.
Goke
In Goke: Bodysnatchers from Hell--a 1968 Japanese science fiction/horror film--a commercial airliner flies through a flock of birds (who are massacred in a fluttering mess against the windows); is hijacked in mid-air by one demented passenger; loses a wing after a rendezvous with a UFO; and then crash-lands in remote wilderness. (Even in the '60s, travel was a bitch.) The passengers who survive scramble to keep themselves alive while the distracted hijacker takes an interest in the UFO, which has landed nearby. While staring at it, a giant scar opens up on his forehead--vertical and fleshy, not unlike a gaping, luscious vagina. Whereupon a bubbly ooze flows out of the UFO and into his vagina-scar, transforming him into a bloodsucking monster. Somehow, we learn later, this is all a metaphor for atomic war. (CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE) Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat at midnight.
* Heartbreak and Triumph: The World of Douglas Sirk
See Stranger Suggests. The Grand Illusion's celebration of Douglas Sirk--the undisputed master of melodrama--comes to a lurching, dramatic crash this week with Imitation of Life and All That Heaven Allows. Grand Illusion, see Movie Times for details.
Light Show Pioneers
An exploration of the light shows of the 1960s, nationally and locally, that helped to forever warp a global approach to the live execution of rock music--and to this day help to reawaken my generally dormant migraines at every single performance I attend. JBL Theater, Wed at 8 pm.
* Nights of Cabiria
Contrary to Fellini's conscious intention, the three early films he directed that feature his wife Giulietta Masina (La Strada, Cabiria and Juliet of the Spirits) exist as a trilogy of sorts, half meditation on the mythology of the feminine and half testament to the unique talent of Masina. In Nights of Cabiria she plays a briny, frustrated whore, a victim of misplaced vulnerability, disposable almost unto death. Fellini caught a great deal of heat for his sexist portrayal of women in the course of his films. But in retrospect Fellini's characters are as much expositions of the values of the Italy he loved and fought with as they are extensions of his own personality and world view. Both novices and fans of the director will be well served in this pristine resurrection of a Fellini classic. (Riz Rollins) Rendezvous, Wed at 7 pm.
Signal 2 Noise: Recent Video Works
A smattering of recently-produced experimental video works, with a particular bent on the aurally-rooted representations of the medium. University of Washington, Thurs at 8 pm.
Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation
See review this issue. Varsity, Fri-Sat at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30 pm, midnight, Sun at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30 pm, Mon-Thurs at 7, 9:30 pm.
The Spy In Black
Continuing Seattle Art Museum's tribute to the cinematic exploits of those warmongering Brits, this 1937 World War I drama follows the story of a German spy and his love affair with a double agent for the queen. Seattle Art Museum, Thursday at 7:30 pm.
Visual Music Festival 2003
See review this issue. Little Theatre, see Movie Times for specific details.
Waco: A New Revelation
The controversial documentary that reportedly spawned new investigations in both houses of congress, 911 Media Arts remembers a tragedy 10 years later with an anniversary screening of Waco: A New Revelation. 911 Media Arts, Fri at 8 pm.
* Yellow Submarine
"Eh, senile delinquents." Sunset, Mon at 8 pm.
NOW PLAYING
About Schmidt
An exhausted Jack Nicholson is an Omaha actuary facing the nothingness of retirement. A road trip confirms his--and your--worst fears about everything. The film is cynical mid-life crisis porn. (Sean nelson)
* Adaptation
Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze have created a rich entertainment, stuffing it with enough meta-plot twists to fuel half a dozen lesser movies, and bringing it to the screen with brilliant performances by Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep. (DAVID SCHMADER)
Agent Cody Banks
"When it comes to girls, I suck." That's the central conflict in Agent Cody Banks, a dumb movie about a smart teenager who leads a double life as a regular kid AND a top-secret CIA agent. (CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE)
Anger Management
See, it's funny because they yell a lot. Cinerama, Factoria, Majestic Bay, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center, Woodinville 12
Assassination Tango
Assassination Tango is a piss-poor film. The story rambles in one direction then veers into a blind alley, the performances wind on and on like improv class in the seventh circle of Cassavetes hell, and the characters are wafer-thin excuses for the worst kind of cinematic vanity. (SEAN NELSON)
Basic
Remember when the prospect of Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta co-starring in a movie together would have be exciting? Yeah, me neither.
* Bend It Like Beckham
Essentially a traditional coming-of-age story, though with a spicy ethnic twist: A hot Anglo-Indian teenage girl in outer London pursues her dream of professional soccer stardom against the wishes of her traditional Sikh parents--immigrants who, still steeped in Indian culture, are only concerned with her educational and marriage prospects, and consequently just don't get it. The predictable conventionality of the plot structure is expertly obscured by the pleasures of the journey. (SANDEEP KAUSHIK)
Boat Trip
The film opens with a montage of Cuba Gooding Jr. dancing to James Brown's "I Feel Good." Seriously. I sat through 94 minutes of this shit, and for that I deserve a Pulitzer. (ZAC PENNINGTON)
Bowling For Columbine
For a while, Moore seems on to something--a culture of fear endemic to our country--but in the end, he shortchanges the psychological complexity in favor of cheap shots. He wants to say something great, but ultimately doesn't. Can't, maybe. Because he isn't really a social critic, he's a demagogue. (SEAN NELSON)
Bringing Down the House
Queen Latifah and Steve Martin navigate the deeply familiar plot with enough wit and flair to keep the audience howling with glee, stumbling only in the final quarter with--I wish I were kidding--the bumbling kidnap of a wealthy dowager. Still, it is the model of a film that aims low and triumphs, and you should go see it. (DAVID SCHMADER)
Bulletproof Monk
BULLETPROOF! MONK! Varsity
Catch Me If You Can
Why, given the talent involved, does Catch Me If You Can so thoroughly deflate as it unspools? The answer, methinks, is Spielberg's sheer, obvious boredom. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Chasing Papi
Okay, some dumb schmuck is engaged to three women in three different cities, right? Alright, so then, like, all of a sudden, they're all in the same city, okay?
* Chicago
Basically, the last hour of Chicago is a mess. Nevertheless, I recommend it for the Fosse-inspired choreography and Catherine Zeta-Jones' star-turn as Velma Kelly. (DAN SAVAGE)
* The Core
Filled with entertaining, unnecessary complications, along with surprisingly well-formed characters, this film somehow works--if not on an intelligent level, at least on a popcorn one. It is tight and entertaining and completely absurd, and a near-perfect way to squander 120 minutes, especially if you need a break from CNN and whatever real-life disaster is currently occurring. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Based on a popular Cartoon Network series of the same name, this is a beautifully drawn, brightly colored, candy-coated piece of shit. (CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE)
Daredevil
First some good news: Just two months until Ang Lee's The Hulk arrives. Now the bad news: Daredevil is stunningly bad. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Derrida
Near the beginning of Derrida, a television interviewer establishes the impressive credentials of Jacques Derrida, the French philosopher and father of the theory of deconstruction. Filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering Kofman contrast this clip with footage of a forgetful Derrida at home as he searches for his keys. The juxtaposition is funny, to be sure, but it also humanizes a man known to be a great and at times difficult thinker, and Derrida continues that tone throughout, making you laugh as you learn some of the basics of the man's ideas. (ANDY SPLETZER)
Dreamcatcher
I remember when Steven King used to have an imagination. When I read Skeleton Crew and Night Shift and all those other 400-page paperbacks, I'd be afraid to sleep with the lights off for weeks. But this movie, with its mucusy red alien invertebrates, is worse than terrible. (JENNIFER MAERZ)
Dysfunktional Family
Eddie Griffin is no Richard Wright. Nor is he funny. He was dumb as a young man; and he is dumb as a Hollywood movie star. Avoid. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
* Far From Heaven
Todd Haynes' pitch-perfect inclusion of sexual confusion and racial bigotry into Douglas Sirk's original mix gives him the power to transcend his source material and create a melodramatic masterpiece all his own. (DAVID SCHMADER)
* Gangs of New York
Scorsese invests the picture with increasingly biblical gravity in an attempt to portray the birth of a nation as a violent, ritualistic collision between two men.(SEAN NELSON)
* The Good Thief
See review this issue. Harvard Exit
Head of State
Chris Rock stars in a film about a Washington D.C. city councilman who yells a lot, turned unexpected presidential hopeful--who yells a lot. Word!
* The Hours
I was prepared to hate this movie. I was so wrong. This is a really good movie. (BARLEY BLAIR)
House of a Thousand Corpses
The Rob Zombie movie. No, seriously. Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Almost funny. (SEAN NELSON)
The Hunted
A problematic soldier played by Benicio Del Toro is trained to be a killing machine for some elite army unit. The uneven story fails to properly explain why and how the once brave soldier went insane and started killing deer hunters in the woods; or why Tommy Lee Jones, who is an excellent killer and hunter, is also a pacifist who worries about the hunting of wild animals, refuses to use a gun, and has never killed a person. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
The Jungle Book 2
AKA Clear Cut!
Kangaroo Jack
If there's one thing that I love more than talking animals in sunglasses, it'd have to be Christopher Walken.
* Laurel Canyon
Though a plot description might lead one to believe Laurel Canyon is a bedroom farce between hippies and yuppies, the film is in fact a smart, emotionally insightful exploration of the multigenerational consequences of the quest to live free. Frances McDormand is astounding. (SEAN NELSON)
Levity
See review this issue. Metro, Uptown
* Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
A deeply rousing tribute to the spirit of resistance in the face of certain defeat. (SEAN NELSON)
A Man Apart
See review this issue.
* A Mighty Wind
See Stranger Suggests. Guild 45th
Morvern Callar
Morvern Callar is not an engaging film--it is precisely the opposite of engaging. It refuses to engage, stubbornly holding you at arm's length. Which doesn't mean it's not good--it is, but its truths are hard-won and not terribly pleasant. (EMILY HALL)
* Nowhere in Africa
A rich Jewish family leaves Germany in 1938 and moves to Afric, where they can avoid the Nazis, but have to deal with some other issues like, oh, the lack of water. Naturally, the characters all experience guilt, but there are also treasures here you never see in any movie. (CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE)
Old School
Here's a film that relies on a whole list of old clichés (marriage is a ball and chain; the school losers vs. the campus suits) to deliver comedy that's actually really funny in a dumb kind of way. (JENNIFER MAERZ)
Phone Booth
I swear I'm just as shocked by this as you are, but dig this: Phone Booth, the new film by Joel Schumacher--yes, that Joel Schumacher--is pretty damn good. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* The Pianist
There's no heroism in the picture, and all redemption is tempered by the knowledge of what's coming next. It's here, in the deeply Eastern European black comedy of this knowledge, that the film and its maker mark their territory most boldly. (Reassuring the Poles that "the Russians will be here soon" is a classic Polanski irony.) (SEAN NELSON)
Piglet's Big Movie
From the fever dreams of Christopher Robin comes another exploration of the Jungian neuroses of Hundred Acre Wood's most unbearably anxious citizens.
* The Quiet American
The movie is worth seeing if only because it shows how America can do the wrong thing with the best of intentions. (ANDY SPLETZER)
* Rabbit-Proof Fence
Director Phillip Noyce makes all the right decisions in telling what could have been a big slab of moist, liberal liver and onions. But Instead of indomitable metaphor and sackcloth villainy, we see a measured tale of a secret history, and of basic human desires asserted in the most inspirational ways. (SEAN NELSON)
Rivers and Tides
Andy Goldsworthy, the subject of this documentary, makes things out of nature--icicles, shards of stone, leaf, thorn, tufts of sheep's wool--and lets nature take them apart. There is something both arrogant and humble at work here: the very Western wrestling of order out of chaos; the kind of acceptance of entropy associated with Zen. This is probably what makes Goldsworthy such a popular artist among the well-meaning; a glossy book of photographs of his work graces the coffee table of every super-liberal environmentalist you know. For the most part, director Thomas Riedelsheimer gives this wit room to breathe, although the New Agey plinka plinka music is truly awful. Silence, I think, would have been more respectful, more surprising, more Goldsworthian. (EMILY HALL)
Spun
The latest take on addicts, Spun, chooses neither to pass judgment on narcotics nor make you care about the people who devour them, instead turning 96 minutes about crystal meth addicts into a harmless collage of rootless characters. Spun was directed by Swede Jonas Akerlund, a man better known for making music videos (Madonna, Prodigy, U2) than feature films, and his experience in the attention- span-deficient medium makes for a visually entertaining buzz that wears off the minute you leave the theater. (JENNIFER MAERZ)
* Stevie
See review this issue. Varsity
* Talk to Her
Talk to Her, Spain's camp bad boy Pedro Almodovar's latest film, contains no drugs or sex, and I didn't even notice until it was over. That's because Almodovar has always trafficked in extreme emotions and the actions that spring from them. Actions and craziness often overshadow feelings in his earlier films--but with Talk to Her, Almodovar gives us the most mature and deeply felt of his movies. The story of two comatose women (one a female bullfighter and the other a ballerina), the two men who care for them (Benigno, a male nurse, and Marco, a writer), and the friendships that grow between them. The two men deal differently with their sleeping beauties: Marco retreats into silence and Benigno, who cared for his mother before becoming a nurse, talks and carries on as if Alicia were awake and responsive. The movie unfolds with grace and still manages to shock while being funny, strange, morally complex, and moving. (NATE LIPPENS)
Tears of the Sun
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Tears of the Sun takes the United States' 1994 blunder in Rwanda and transfers it to Nigeria, where the president and his family have been assassinated in a military upheaval, and armed militias are marching through the country slaughtering civilians. In an attempt to rescue an American doctor (Monica Bellucci) working as a missionary, a group of Navy SEALs, led by Lieutenant Waters (Bruce Willis), is sent in for an evacuation. Unfortunately, the film itself exists in a Hollywood foreign-policy pipe dream, as our indefensible policy of only interceding in atrocity when American interests are at stake is abandoned, and the American military does right by humanity for a change--a plot decision that may make for smooth consumption by the American public, but which, in reality, is completely dishonest. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Ten
For an hour and a half, a dashboard camera is trained on one woman and the passengers she shuttles about in her car through the city of Tehran. The passengers include the woman's sister, a handful of her downtrodden friends, a prostitute whom she doesn't seem to know, and her own asshole of a teenage son. Their conversations--imperfect, elusive, drawn out, tangential, and sometimes irritatingly repetitive (which is to say, like most car ride conversations)--are the movie's substance. Abbas Kiarostami, the popular and prominent Iranian director, does strikingly little visually, to great effect. Sometimes the camera only shows one character while the other character, to whom the first is talking, sits just outside of the frame. And structurally there is no discernible arc to the film: no beginning, no end. In total, what emerges throughout the course of the 10 dialogues is a depiction of ordinary Iranian life, carried out in the most ordinary way (CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE)
A View From the Top
Playing out like something of saccharine, low-rent version of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, A View from the Top is pure ocular wonderbread--featureless, familiar, and entirely inoffensive. Characters appear and disappear without relevance or explanation, the plot plods along with heartwarming comic relief, and the whole slapdash mess ends almost painlessly. Almost. (ZAC PENNINGTON)
What a Girl Wants
Amanda Bynes, Colin Firth, and Kelly Preston star in Girls Gone Wild: London Edition, in a film filed somewhere between "Coming of Age," "Fish Out of Water," and "Product Placement Opportunity."
