Down for Dada
Copresented with the Sprocket Society and the Northwest Film Forum, it's a series of 16-mm rarities from the golden age of cinematic surrealism, with a collection of short films and a feature film by Hans Richter (in collaboration with the likes of Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Man Ray, and John Cage). With musical accompaniment by Lori Goldstein. Northwest Film Forum
Zero Motivation
It's a new Israeli comedy set among the ranks of the Israeli military, aiming for sort of a M*A*S*H vibe but set in a women's division. It's already picked up an award at Tribeca and was a standout at the 2014 Israeli Academy Awards. Varsity Theatre
Wild
Where's Reese Witherspoon going this time? Well, she's unplugging from her failed marriage and heroin (yes, heroin) addiction, and heading off on a grueling, life-resetting trek along the Pacific Crest Trail. Based on the best-selling memoir by Cheryl Strayed, from the director of Dallas Buyers Club. Guild 45th
The Conformist
This classic Italian film was made when Bernardo Bertolucci was considered an important filmmaker. There are few (if any) critics who hold this opinion when it comes to his recent work.
SIFF Film Center
It's a Wonderful Life
The Grand Illusion has been making people cry with this movie for 44 years now. Grand Illusion
Holiday Favorites
SIFF trots out its tried-and-true, perfectly engineered cinematic entertainment machines—we're talking Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in Smell-O-Vision, The Princess Bride Quote-Along, Fiddler on the Roof on Christmas with a Chinese buffet. SIFF Cinema Uptown
The Hobbit Marathon
All three Hobbit movies—the two you've already seen and the one you haven't seen yet—when laid end to end, extend from here to the rings of Saturn. Make the trek over the course of one long day, in the comfort of the new and improved Cinerama. Cinerama
Annie
This hiphop-era remix of an old comic strip that was made into a popular Broadway musical in the '70s was produced by Jay Z and Will Smith, and it stars Jamie Foxx.
Wide Release
Hoop Dreams
It's been 20 years since this epic, aching documentary about two high-school basketball players trying to weather poverty, injury, prejudice, and all the regular teenage angst to boot. It's the piece of filmmaking that Roger Ebert described as "the great American documentary," presented here on a new digital restoration. Northwest Film Forum
The Imitation Game
Benedict Cumberbatch stars in this prestige-packed biopic of Alan Turing, the British computer analyst who helped end World War II by cracking the Nazi code before being criminally prosecuted for homosexuality and chemically castrated. But in the relentlessly conventional Imitation Game, Turing's reduced to the quirky father of "what we now call 'computers!'" It's a film about code-breaking that's stultifyingly formulaic. (DAVID SCHMADER) Harvard Exit
Home Alone
If you haven't seen this movie in a while, try watching it again. If you're a human, you'll soon be overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of on-screen sadism and torture. One wonders which is worse: what Macaulay Culkin does to Joe Pesci in Home Alone or what Joe Pesci does to pretty much everyone he meets in Casino. Central Cinema
Viva la Liberta
Toni Servillo plays twin brothers in this political drama set in contemporary Italy. Landmark Theatres
Winter Sleep
Directed by the great Nuri Bilge Ceylan, this Turkish film is set in a snowy, isolated community in the region of Anatolia. It won the 2014 Palme d'Or and is Turkey's entry into the Academy Awards for best foreign language film. Grand Illusion
Sing-a-Long-A Sound of Music
It's your chance to do out loud what you always do in your head anyway, and it's not every day you can see a movie at this beautiful and ornate theater. 5th Avenue Theatre
Inherent Vice
Finally someone has made a movie based on a novel by the legendary American writer Thomas Pynchon. That someone is none other than Paul Thomas Anderson. Wide Release
Selma
In this movie, which is set during the civil rights movement, a British-born Nigerian plays MLK, and a British-born half-Nigerian plays MLK's wife. A black American, Ava Marie DuVernay, directed the history-heavy pic. Wide release
Life Partners
It's a romantic comedy set around the tensions that arise between two women in their 20s—one straight and one lesbian—whose best friendship with one another must inevitably address incoming romantic interests. Landmark Theatres
50/50 Fest: Double Indemnity and LĂ©on: The Professional
Central Cinema will occasionally pair two movies that were made 50 years apart. This time, it's Luc Besson's cult classic and Billy Wilder's noir masterpiece. Central Cinema
My Last Year with the Nuns
Pranks, loogies, the tragic end of a dirty magazine collection, a pile of telltale vomit on the classroom floor—these are some of Matt Smith's memories from growing up Catholic on Capitol Hill in the '60s. So is the casual racism and homophobia of his fellow kids and grown-ups alike, and he relates it all with an unsettling, deadpan blue-eyed stare. This film is based on his one-man show, and the transfer from stage to cinema is exceptionally well-accomplished. (BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT) Northwest Film Forum
Midnight Adrenaline at the Egyptian
See if you can spot the common thread amongst these (each runs for one weekend, Friday and Saturday, at midnight each night): Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Dazed & Confused, The Big Lebowski, and Reefer Madness. SIFF Cinema Egyptian
Goodbye to Language
Jean-Luc Godard's newest film is in 3-D (for real), and Seattle is one of the few places you can see it. It takes a look at a relationship between a man and a woman from the perspective of a wandering dog, and it's already netting some fantastic reviews. It's copresented here in association with the Northwest Film Forum and the Seattle Art Museum. Cinerama
She's Beautiful When She's Angry
This documentary covers threads of the feminist movement, ranging from the middle of the 20th century to the current day, and it examines what's been gained and how impermanent those gains sometimes seem to have been. Varsity Theatre
American Sniper
Clint Eastwood directs.
Wide Release
Better Off Dead
John Cusack as a teenager.
Central Cinema
The Shop Around the Corner and Philadelphia Story
You really can't do much better than these. Item one is the Ernst Lubitsch gem that's perhaps best known today as being the basis for You've Got Mail. Item two is a brilliant acting showcase—among much else—and your only chance ever to see Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Katharine Hepburn grace the same screen at the same time. Both on 35 mm. Grand Illusion
Children's Film Festival Seattle
It's the 10th birthday of this festival, which hopes to inspire a love of cinema and art and beauty in the youngest among us. Featured are more than 150 films—animations, features, and shorts—from around the world, as well as some live performances. Northwest Film Forum
Mr. Turner
Mike Leigh, who has been making excellent films for a long time—Naked, Topsy-Turvy, Another Year—now turns his attention to the brilliant British painter J.M.W. Turner in this new biopic. Harvard Exit
Naked Lunch
It's a 35-mm presentation of David Cronenberg's twisting, feverish take on Burroughs's nightmare. Drugs, insects, and everything in between abounds. Grand Illusion
Troll 2
Some call it the worst movie of all time, but certainly all will agree on its place among the cinematic disaster canon. Central Cinema
Burroughs: The Movie
It's a documentary about William Burroughs. Howard Brookner, the director, started it as his senior thesis in 1978, and it ended up getting blown up into a feature, first released in 1983. To say Burroughs is a pretty wacky guy is probably the understatement of a lifetime. Grand Illusion
Frank Capra Restored
Five new 4K restorations of films by Frank Capra, one of the great directors of Hollywood's golden era. Which? It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can't Take It with You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. SIFF Cinema Uptown
Seattle Asian American Film Festival
An assemblage of contemporary films that relate to or are by Asian Americans.
Ark Lodge Cinema
Noir City 2015
Eddie Muller, "the Czar of Noir," returns with his selection of classic and rediscovered film noir favorites—this is a perennial favorite among Seattle moviegoers and should not be missed. Peppered among the program are often films that you can pretty much see nowhere else, and Muller is an eminently knowledgeable guide—he lives this stuff. SIFF Cinema Uptown
Fifty Shades of Grey
"'Does this mean you're going to make love to me tonight, Christian?' Holy shit. Did I just say that? His mouth drops open slightly, but he recovers quickly. 'No, Anastasia it doesn't. Firstly, I don't make love. I fuck... hard. Secondly, there's a lot more paperwork to do, and thirdly, you don't yet know what you're in for. You could still run for the hills. Come, I want to show you my playroom.'" Wide release
Harold & Maude
The perfect date movie, about a death-obsessed young man who falls in love with an old woman's impending corpse. SIFF Film Center
Scarecrow Video Presents VHSEX 3
They've "penetrated Scarecrow Video's Sexploitation room once again in search of more awkward adult situations, humorous humping, and weird sexual interludes—all from vintage videotape! Adults only!" Grand Illusion
Ark Lodge Cinema
4816 Rainier Ave S, 721-3156, arklodgecinemas.com
Central Cinema
1411 21st Ave, 686-6684, central-cinema.com
5th Avenue Theatre
1308 Fifth Ave, 625-1900, 5thavenue.org
Grand Illusion
1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org
Guild 45th
2115 N 45th St, 547-2127, landmarktheatres.com
Harvard Exit
807 E Roy St, 323-0587, landmarktheatres.com
Northwest Film Forum
1515 12th Ave, 267-5380, nwfilmforum.org
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
801 E Pine St, 324-9996, siff.net
SIFF Cinema Uptown
511 Queen Anne Ave N, 324-9996, siff.net
SIFF Film Center
Seattle Center, 324-9996, siff.net
Varsity Theatre
4329 University Way NE, 632-6412, landmarktheatres.com