Alice Adams
See Blow Up. SAM kicks off its winter film series--a tribute to Katharine Hepburn--with this 1935 film featuring Hepburn as a small-town social climber. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs Jan 8 at 7:30 pm.
Beat the Devil
See Blow Up. Rendezvous, Wed Jan 14 at 7:30 pm.
Candy Snatchers
A rare print of a '70s exploitation flick where the kidnapping of a teenage girl starts off a drug-flavored, incest-spiked rampage. Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat 11 pm.
Changing Light, Night Shooting, Blur the Elastic
See Blow Up. Three experimental films accompanied by live music. Rendezvous, Thurs Jan 15 at 7:30 pm.
Ed Wood
Tim Burton's ode to the man who launched the paper-plate UFO. Egyptian, Fri-Sat at midnight.
Film Ridiculoso
See Blow Up. Rendezvous, Thurs Jan 15 at 9:30 pm.
Flag Wars
A penetrating documentary about the (gay, white) gentrification of a (working-class, black) community in Columbus, Ohio. Little Theatre, Fri-Thurs, 7, 9 pm. No show Mon.
Heaven and Helsinki: The Complete Aki Kaurismaki Retrospective
See review this issue. All films screen at the Grand Illusion. Crime and Punishment: Fri 7 pm, Sat-Sun 3, 7 pm. Ariel: Fri 9 pm, Sat-Sun 5, 9 pm. The Match Factory Girl: Tues-Thurs 7:15 pm. I Hired a Contract Killer: Tues-Thurs 9 pm.
Movies of Mass Destruction
Annihilation and catastrophe, projected for your viewing pleasure. Sunset Tavern, Mon Jan 12 at 8 pm.
Open Screening
Anything goes, as long as it's under 10 minutes and in VHS or DVD format. 911 Media Arts, Mon Jan 12 at 8 pm.
Prizefighter
See Blow Up. A new series of experimental film and video, this round featuring nightmares for easily frightened air-travelers. Center on Contemporary Art, Sun Jan 11 at 8:30 pm.
Sneak
The Sneak series of film previews continues its third season. For more information, see www.sneakfilms.com. Pacific Place, Sun 10:30 am.
Sylvia Scarlett
See Blow Up. This 1935 film crashed and burned upon its initial release, but the prospect of Katharine Hepburn in drag keeps viewers coming back nearly 70 years later. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs Jan 15 at 7:30 pm.
Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War
See Blow Up. It's a big claim for a little movie, but the interviews with government officials promise to be intriguing. 911 Media Arts, Fri Jan 9 at 8 pm.
We Can Now Be Heard
We Can Now Be Heard, a doc exploring the history of the reproductive rights movement, is being screened to commemorate the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. New Freeway Hall, Thurs Jan 15 at 7:30 pm.
NOW PLAYING
* 21 Grams
Though fragmented and seemingly random, 21 Grams is musical; it feels, moves, and concludes like a massive musical composition. 21 Grams is not a perfect work of art--it gets to be a bit long toward the end--but as with all great music, it manages to leave, once all of its parts come together, a strong impression on the senses. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
* Bad Santa
Thank the Lord someone has finally helped take the piss out of Christmas with a pure, spitefully cynical spirit. And that person, surprisingly, is Billy Bob Thornton. The usually despicable actor is the pants-wetting, booze-swilling Man in Red crowning the sour Christmas tree that is Bad Santa. Allowing me to review this movie was one of the best Christmas gifts I could receive this year; it's the antithesis of a feel-good film--actually, it's a feel-shitty film that, if you love brutal humor, will warm you like spiked eggnog. (JENNIFER MAERZ)
Big Fish
Tim Burton's Big Fish is an ungainly, rambling piece of work built upon a bed of lies. The liar: a man named Ed Bloom who has spent his life spinning outrageous tales about himself, including run-ins with witches and giants, Siamese twins, and massive, uncatchable fish (hence the title). Sappy and cluttered, the entirety of Big Fish doesn't quite hold together. It is a well-meaning effort, but it ends up missing its marks. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Calendar Girls
I'll be honest here: At the end of Calendar Girls I walked out of the theater knowing the film wasn't quite as good as the condition of Helen Mirren's naked breasts made me want to believe it was--for all its lovely scenery and romantically sexual botanical metaphor, the movie's pace jerks abruptly between breezy and boring. (KATHLEEN WILSON)
The Cat In the Hat
Not as terrible as everyone is saying, but still not good. (Dakota Fanning, however, is superb.) Now, with both The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat being thus "tainted," let's just hope Hollywood stays far, far away from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. (MEGAN SELING)
Chasing Liberty
Chasing Liberty depends on the appeal of Mandy Moore as the daughter of the President. It assumes we'll buy that her charm and goodwill make international relations fall into place like so many Scrabble tiles. Except that she is not in the least appealing, which causes the plot to collapse at the center, sucking the whole movie into a dark vortex and pushing it out the other side like a prolapsed intestine. Moore is one of those mushy-faced pop star/actresses who depends very hard on the method she learned at the 90210 School of Acting: the eyes rolled skyward to indicate frustration, the fists balled to indicate impatience, and other shortcuts to establishing character. Everyone she meets falls under her spell and develops a Taste For Life, including the uncommonly cute Matthew Goode, who obliges with the most understated Virgin Deflowering in the history of cinema. (EMILY HALL)
Cheaper by the Dozen
Speaking from a former nanny's point of view, unless you're expressly accompanying a child, don't be tempted by Cheaper by the Dozen's star power (Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Ashton Kutcher), the charming 1950 original starring Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb, or, well, Ashton Kutcher--this is the kind of kid's fare that is to be savored by the parent/caretaker once it's out on video. (KATHLEEN WILSON)
* Cold Mountain
Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain is a burly, brooding romantic epic set during the Civil War and starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Renée Zellweger. It is a film that is both affecting and passionate, and it makes you believe that no matter how many inane love stories Hollywood produces, romance still isn't dead. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
The Cooler
The Cooler is a small, unremarkable film that has been getting a decent amount of attention due to one simple thing: sex. In the film, director Wayne Kramer has managed to give audiences something all too rare in films these days, and that something is a sexy scene that not only causes the audience to flush, but makes sense to them as well. But the film itself feels cluttered and unfocused, especially as it limps toward a ridiculous climax that not only doesn't work, but nearly undermines the entire picture. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Elf
No matter how tanked you get before you hit the theater, nothing will change the fact that Elf is a kids' movie. Written and directed by a softened John Favreau (Swingers), Elf is the vehicle that finally puts Will Ferrell on the Jim Carrey path from adult comedian to sensitive family-movie guy. Not that there's anything really wrong with that, but for my comedic dollar, I'd stick with Ferrell's Old School way of doing things. (JENNIFER MAERZ)
Girl with a Pearl Earring
See review this issue.
House of Sand and Fog
House of Sand and Fog is about many things, including stature and safety, racism and compassion, history and addiction. What it is not about, sadly, is subtle directing; blessed with great performances and an interesting story, the film is nearly derailed by ham-fisted direction from first-time director Vadim Perelman. Which is too bad, since Perelman definitely has talent with actors--if only he'd let up on the thundering score. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
In America
Director Jim Sheridan always turns up the emotion in his films, but at least his earlier movies took place in faraway Ireland. When all this emotion is suddenly close to home and out of its usual cultural environment, it's rather obnoxious and exasperating. Like a truck whose brakes have been tampered with, the emotion in this movie rolls uncontrollably down a steep road, swerving from side to side, until it finally hits a big tree. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Intolerable Cruelty
To malign Intolerable Cruelty as the worst Coen brothers film to date is really only a testament to their decades of consistency--a legacy of quirk and pop vision that seems to only improve with age. (ZAC PENNINGTON)
Last Samurai
We have all seen The Last Samurai before when it was called Gladiator, or Lawrence of Arabia, or Dances with Wolves, and because of this, all the film can offer is the sight of Tom Cruise wielding a lengthy sword--a thought sure to excite fans of childish metaphor, but they may be the only ones. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Looney Tunes Back In Action
Dumb. (MEGAN SELING)
* Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
After greeting the first two films with slack-jawed reverence, I found myself viewing the third with a kind of grumpy anticipation. What I soon discovered, however, was that the begrudging-ness of my affection for the film was no match for Peter Jackson's swashbuckling craft. If this is just a fantasy, Jackson seems to say, it's going to deliver on every level available. And it does. Unburdened from the need to be relevant, the director reveals a far deeper mission: to make these absurd surroundings not only cinematically credible, but emotionally resonant. (SEAN NELSON)
* Lost In Translation
Lost in Translation is a tiny movie, as light as helium and draped upon the thinnest of plots. There is very little conflict, and even fewer twists and turns. It is as close to a miracle as you're likely to get this year. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Love Actually
"Trite" doesn't begin to describe Love Actually, a movie that America will probably gobble up like grease in a bucket of gravy because it's about love and Christmas, and who doesn't like love at Christmas? And really, who doesn't love Hugh Grant? (JENNIFER MAERZ)
* Master and Commander
If Master and Commander sounds soundly square, that's because square is exactly what the film is; massive and solidly made, Peter Weir's picture is a throwback, of sorts, to the works of David Lean, delivering the sort of rousing, smart, and earnest adventure rarely delivered nowadays. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Mona Lisa Smile
There is an extraordinary scene in Mike Newell's Mona Lisa Smile, an emotionally brutal few moments in which the perilously cracked veneer blocking the anger within Kirsten Dunst's privileged and viperous Wellesley girl splinters away, releasing a storm of cruel, outward criticism in footage that aches with the character's underlying self-hatred. Rather than strike back, however, the girl's classmate (Maggie Gyllenhaal) wordlessly wraps her arms around the shaking, still screaming student, and by sheer force of empathy directs the torrent to cease. This scene is in the tradition of Newell's Enchanted April, and it helps demonstrate the director's canny awareness of the secret language spoken silently among women. (KATHLEEN WILSON)
Monster
See review this issue.
My Baby's Daddy
I wish I could tell you this movie was a biopic about the Virgin Mary, but alas, it's about a bunch of guys whose girlfriends get pregnant at the same time.
* Mystic River
For all the "inexorability" and "meditation" of its violence, Mystic River feels desperately contrived. Whether director Clint Eastwood has some deep understanding of the nature of violence remains unclear. What is certain is that he knows how to make a movie, even a dumb one, well worth watching. I only wish someone would send him some better books. (SEAN NELSON)
Paycheck
John Woo takes on the classic cinematic themes of amnesia and bags of money.
Peter Pan
P. J. Hogan's Peter Pan is big and colorful and only occasionally scary. It is also aimed directly at the tykes; sugary and sappy, it is a triumph of special effects and completely harmless as entertainment. Which may be its biggest problem. Unlike Pixar's work, or the Harry Potter films, Peter Pan offers very little for adults--or at least adults sans children--to appreciate. Children, though, are sure to enjoy it over and over, so good luck to all those people who have decided to breed. You're going to need it. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER
Something's Gotta Give
Here is a movie so filled with unappealing, uninteresting people, inane, pandering dialogue, and contemptuous pop psychologizing that it is humiliating to watch. I spent most of the film doodling on my notebook, in the dark. Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton spoof their on-screen personas--his cad, her compulsive nervous wreck--so thoroughly that they may very well erase years of good work in the process (and never mind that in this token bone tossed to the elderly among us who are apparently longing for a romantic comedy of their own, the lady is still a good 10 years younger than the gent). And do you really want to see Nicholson's bare ass? (EMILY HALL)
* The Station Agent
Peter Dinklage plays Finbar McBride, a train aficionado who inherits an abandoned depot. The remote location suits him fine because he's not the most social of people. That doesn't stop the nearby Cuban hot dog vendor (Bobby Cannavale) from talking to him, nor does it stop the woman who almost runs him over (Patricia Clarkson) from stopping by for an apologetic drink or several. They befriend him despite his better efforts to brush them off. Dinklage is positively magnetic here: What director Tom McCarthy has captured in his debut feature is a sense of happy loneliness--those times when it feels right to go for a walk and just look around and not talk to anyone. (ANDY SPLETZER)
Stuck on You
Stuck on You, like Me, Myself & Irene and Shallow Hal, is a failure--far too long and built upon the ricketiest of premises, the picture unfolds before you in a painfully bland fashion, trudging along for 120 minutes until it reaches its predictable conclusion. Hilarity, alas, is in very short supply. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
The Triplets of Belleville
Writer-director-animator Sylvain Chomet invokes the same absurdly entertaining and overwhelmingly brown nostalgia that Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro tapped into for Delicatessen and City of Lost Children (all three filmmakers are indebted to Terry Gilliam's Brazil). The world Chomet has created contains the same deadpan sadness that lies at the base of those films, not to mention Buster Keaton's comedy--the world may be a cold and lonely place, but with a little inventiveness you can not only survive, but prosper. (ANDY SPLETZER)
The Young Black Stallion
Are you an 11-year-old girl who loves horses? No? Then, I'm afraid to say, this might not be the movie for you. Sorry. (AMY JENNIGES)
