* dECO dAWSON
The coming of Canadian filmmaker/ playwright/ Guy Maddin collaborator dECO dAWSON (hey look! the wrong letters are capitalized! must be an artist!) will be heralded by a parade down 15th Ave. E., leading to the Little Theatre, where dAWSON will gIVE a lECTURE on cINEMA hISTORY at 6pm. Wed Feb 12.

Do You Copy?
The dissaffected Kinko's employee--the tortured, worthy voice of his generation--daydreams in florescent in this 83 minute DIY piece from Portland, which was conceived and completed in 25 days. Capitol Hill Arts Cooperative, Sat at 8 pm.

* Grand Illusion
There's nothing "added" or "restored" to this release of Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion, just a crisp new print. Still, you should flock to the theater. This 1937 masterpiece about WWI prisoners of war is one of those handfuls of films I can't ever imagine seeing enough. Grand Illusion doesn't cry out at the barbarism of mankind; indeed, it's surprisingly short on portraying hardships of any kind. More wisely and patiently, Renoir focuses on the fading aristocratic ideals, the class and racial antagonism masked by politeness, the pain of missed communication, the tragedy of an empty dining table--all packed into a beautifully acted and photographed story. How great a director was Renoir? Well, this is one of the best films ever made, and everybody I know agrees he went on to make even better ones later on. (Bruce Reid) Grand Illusion, Fri-Sun at 4, 6:15 pm, Tues-Thurs at 6:15 pm.

* Letter From An Unknown Woman
Forgive the rank pretentiousness of the following lines, but I stumbled onto this incredible film on a rainy Parisian night, and was bowled over by the broken tenderness of its romantic agony. Joan Fontaine (ah...) and Louis Jourdan (uh...) play the ill-fated would-be lovers, victims of their own delusions (she) and vanity (he) in turn of the century Vienna. Bring your hankies. (SEAN NELSON) Seattle Art Museum, Fri at 7 pm.

The Murder of Fred Hampton
A 1971 documentary on the rise and subsequent death of Fred Hampton and his Black Panther Party (along with their impeccable fashion sense). Seattle Central Community College, Thurs Feb 6 at 1 pm.

* Open Screening
This monthly screening series at 911 is one of the most hit-or-miss events in town: no curators here, merely willing hosts to whoever submits a film. For only $1, however, it's also one of the best deals. (BRUCE REID) 911 Media Arts, Mon at 8 pm.

Plastic People of the Universe
Unlike the handful of other "art-rock" and "proto-punk" bands of the late '60s, Czechoslovakia's Plastic People of the Universe faced actual oppression--the kind of their American counterparts' seditious wet-dreams--including prohibition and imprisonment by the state. The Seattle premiere of this 90 minute documentary illuminates the career of this enigmatic band. EMP's JBL Theater, Wed at 7, 9 pm.

* Rock And Roll Won't Wait
See Stranger Suggests. Hosted by DJ Spencer Moody. Sunset Tavern, Mon at 8 pm.

Russian Ark
See review this issue. Varsity, Fri-Sun at 2:10, 4:30, 7, 9:20 pm, Mon-Thurs at 7, 9:20 pm.

*
Stalingrad

In the stand-off that was to become Hitler's Waterloo, a platoon of young German soliders freezes to death (in body and in spirit) through the ruthless Russian winter. Grand Illusion, Fri-Thurs at 8:30 pm, no shows on Monday.

Terror From Within
Remember when "terrorist" wasn't just another synonym for "Arab"? Yeah, me neither. But apparently 911 Media Arts has video evidence about some white guy named McVeigh who also apparently killed a lot of people. 911 Media Arts, Fri at 8 pm.

Third Antenna
See review this issue. Little Theatre, Thurs Feb 6 at 7, 9 pm.

NOW PLAYING

25th Hour
We spend the first half of 25th Hour trying to figure out who turned in heroin dealer Ed Norton. Then all of a sudden we're not in that movie at all. The mystery is solved summarily, and we're left with nearly another hour to go and not a single three-dimensional character to fill it with. (BARLEY BLAIR)

* 8 Mile
The Marshall Mathers version of the underdog-done-good idea works because you believe the story. (JENNIFER MAERZ)

* About Schmidt
Starring an exhausted Jack Nicholson as a retired insurance actuary, this is an entertaining film, whose comedy alone sustains the entire picture. (CHARLES MUDEDE)

* Adaptation
Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze have created a rich entertainment out of this impossibility, 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)

Antwone Fisher
Denzel Washington directs with the same dignity that he brings to his work as an actor. The performances are realistic but not self-conscious, the score avoids drowning the film in syrup, and the production design gives us deep, dramatic settings without stealing focus. (MATT FONTAINE)

Biker Boyz
A shit-eating redux of that golden cinematic nugget known as The Fast & the Furious, Biker Boyz puts our urban heroes atop whining Hondas in a film that will no doubt make more money in its opening weekend than I will in my entire life.

Bowling For Columbine
Michael Moore wants to say something great about America and guns, but ultimately doesn't. Can't, maybe. Because he isn't really a social critic, he's a demagogue. (SEAN NELSON)

Catch Me If You Can
Long stretches of Catch Me If You Can are filmed so lazily, in a manner so devoid of energy, that the entire enterprise falters, producing more of a shrug than general excitement. Add to that a script that stumbles between oversentimentality and near-cartoonishness, and the end result is a thrilling, near-unbelievable story rendered dull and even more unbelievable. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)

* Chicago
Basically, the last hour of Chicago is a mess. In addition to not trusting his material, director Rob Marshall doesn't appear to trust either of the two movie-musical solutions he picks. Nevertheless, I recommend Chicago. You'll have to endure Richard Gere as Billy Flynn, of course, but it's a small price to pay to watch the Fosse-inspired choreography and Catherine Zeta-Jones' star-turn. (DAN SAVAGE)

City of God
Fernando Meirelles' Cidade de Deus (City of God) draws its energy, visual flourishes, and narrative strategies from two American sources: Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese. Though great to watch, the film curiously fails to comment on the reason why most of the people who live and die in the ghetto are brown, beige, and black. (CHARLES MUDEDE)

* Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is audacious and ridiculous and completely fucked, both on the page and on celluloid, and for that its subject Chuck Barris should be recognized for what has long been ignored: his undeniable genius. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)

Darkness Falls
The premise: A ghost is haunting the town of Darkness Falls. Said ghost is that of Matilda Dixon, an old bat wrongfully slaughtered by the town over 100 years ago. And how does she exact revenge? By killing children who have lost their baby teeth. Zzzz. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)

Deliver Us From Eva
A tragic loss of parents left oldest sibling Eva the boss of her sisters, and now that they've grown up, the men in the sister's romantic scope want Eva to get her own guy so she'll butt out. Enter LL Cool J, or just ignore him and enjoy the film for what it is, another chick flick where the bonding is done at the beauty salon. Pacific Place, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark (KATHLEEN WILSON)

Die Another Day
After about two hours of workmanlike action and suspense, and a battery of sexual innuendo about as subtle and charming as a herpes sore, the 20th James Bond film finally surrenders to its own muddled identity. (SEAN NELSON)

Drumline
We all know that you can take the boy out of the 'hood, but you can't take the 'hood out of the boy. What this film presupposes is, maybe you can? (JONATHAN MAHALAK)

* 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)

Final Destination 2
If those goddamned teenagers don't stop having visions of their own demises, thereby causing 'rifts in death's design," Hollywood's gonna have to make a LOT more of these.

Frida
Frida is yet another artist's story that has been stripped of nuance. (EMILY HALL)

* 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)

A Guy Thing
It's official: Guys ARE the new girls. And A Guy Thing is the final proof. Jason Lee is at his best when he's angry, ranting, and spouting philosophical bullshit, not when he's a spineless, henpecked, about-to-be-married guy who gets the thrill of his life via involvement with Julia Stiles. Whee. (KATHLEEN WILSON)

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a thunderous bore. (SEAN NELSON)

* The Hours
Altogether, I hoped the movie was a shapeless pasticcio that would let me make cruel fun. I was so wrong. This is a really good movie. (BARLEY BLAIR)

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey star in this romantic comedy about a cad who makes a bet and the journalist who learns to love him. Pardon me while I vomit.

Factoria, Meridian 16, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center, Woodinville 12

Just Married
Ashton Kutcher is SO FUCKING SEXY. (DAN SAVAGE)

Kangaroo Jack
"G'day morons!"

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The film resonates so deeply, despite its potentially embarrassing fantasy trappings, because the filmmaker recognizes that violence and sacrifice are unavoidable aspects of the survival of civilizations. (SEAN NELSON)

Love Liza
See review this issue. Varsity

Maid in Manhattan
While pretending to tell the truth about class distinctions, Maid depends too hard on the pretty American fiction that such distinctions are only a matter of money. (EMILY HALL)

* My Big Fat Greek Wedding
I love how this movie has been playing for like 25 years and has made 200 grillion dollars and no one I know has seen or even heard of it. (SEAN NELSON)

Narc
This cop drama is pure garbage. (SEAN NELSON)

National Security
The sea of advertising for this Martin Lawrence vehicle (that mandatorily buses in whitey Steve Zahn) features the image of a crazed Lawrence stalking the streets of California wielding a handgun. How quickly we forget.

Nicholas Nickleby
Douglas McGrath's adaptation of Charles Dickens' 800-page novel has funny moments, dramatic moments, Victorian costumes, and convincing street scenes of bustling 19th-century London. Nevertheless, at times, the film does feel rushed. (CHARLES MUDEDE)

* The Pianist
For all the possible autobiography of the story, Polanski's latest masterpiece is most personal when it stares into the abyss of the Holocaust and finds nothing looking back. (SEAN NELSON)

The Quiet American
See review this issue. Metro, Uptown

* Rabbit-Proof Fence
Director Phillip Noyce makes all the right decisions in telling what could have (justifiably) been a big slab of moist, liberal liver and onions; a tale of indomitable metaphor and sackcloth villainy. Instead it is a measured tale of a secret history, and of basic human desires asserting themselves in the most inspirational of ways. (SEAN NELSON)

real women have curves
A thought-provokeless piece of silky propoaganda. (MICHAEL SHILLING)

The Recruit
A perfect example of no-risk filmmaking. Recent M.I.T. grad Colin Farrell is recruited by CIA agent Al Pacino. Why does Farrell spurn possible millions with Dell computers to become a spook? The disappearance of his father, who may have been an agent himself--oh, and the really hot CIA trainee he has his eye on might also have something to do with it. Predictably, everything is not what it seems, and predictably The Recruit, though solidly made, doesn't really add up to much. Pacino naps his way through his role, and the director, Roger Donaldson, shows close to zero imagination. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)

The Santa Clause 2
The most unnecessary sequel since Silent Night, Deadly Night 4.

Shanghai Knights
Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson reprise their roles as zany martial artist and smart-ass sidekick (respectively) in this sequel to the almost unbearable (except for Wilson, who has elevated the art of being the only good thing about terrible movies to unprecedented heights) Shanghai Noon. Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Oak Tree, Pacific Place, Varsity, Woodinville 12

* Star Trek: Nemesis
This action-heavy sequel is rumored to be the last cinematic voyage of the entire Star Trek franchise. To be honest, Picard's crew appears to have exhausted its usefulness. (KUDZAI MUDEDE)

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. The movie unfolds with grace and still manages to shock while being funny, strange, morally complex, and moving. (NATE LIPPENS)

Treasure Planet
Updating Robert Louis Stevenson's pirate classic for the space-age is a fun conceit. Unfortunately, this kid's movie is far too wholesome to thrill. Kids simply won't pay attention. (JOSH FEIT)

Two Weeks Notice
Well, I didn't cry, but I'm still ashamed to admit that I actually liked Two Weeks Notice, mostly because there is no "rescuing" going on in the movie--just a rich guy and a dedicated lawyer trying like hell not to fall in love with each other. (KATHLEEN WILSON)

The Wild Thornberrys
Nickelodeon's marginally successful animated series--the movie!