ByDesign '04
See review this issue. Opening party at Goods, Thurs Feb 5, 7-9 pm. The remaining events all take place at the Little Theatre. "Historic Shorts: Graphic Films of the '60s" screens Fri Feb 6 at 7, 9 pm. "Seattle Moves" screening and discussion take place Sat Feb 7 at 5 pm. "Entropy: New Shorts and Music Videos" plays Sat Feb 7 at 7, 9 pm. "Sh*t from Shynola" screens Sun Feb 8 at 6 pm. The live event "Eames Science with Scientific American" occurs Sun Feb 8 at 8 pm.
The Conner Brothers
Olympia denizens Joseph and Dylan Conner present their short films, with subject matter ranging from MP3s to zombies. Filmmakers will be in attendance. 911 Media Arts, Fri Feb 6 at 8 pm.
Galaxy Quest
Dumb, but somewhat funny. Galaxy Quest begins as a spoof of Star Trek (both the show, and the continual Trekkie conventions), and by the end turns into a remake of The Last Starfighter. Tim Allen plays the William Shatner character who, along with his crew, is transported to a distant galaxy to save a (presumably good) alien race from annihilation from a (presumably bad) alien race. Every obvious joke imaginable is tossed into the screenplay, and most of them misfire, but the movie has a giddiness that almost makes it worthwhile. And Sigourney Weaver is absolutely stunning as a blonde. Egyptian, Fri-Sat midnight. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Howard Hawks' 1953 film about two transatlantic lounge singers played by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell is the campy feature in Central Cinema's very first edition of GLAMN!, a gay and lesbian movie night. It's a sing-along, so be sure to treat your bedroom mirror to a couple of rounds of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" before you launch your version in public. Central Cinema, Sat-Sun 4, 7 pm.
Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice
A documentary about the eponymous journalist. New Freeway Hall, Thurs Feb 5 at 7:30 pm.
h In My Skin
Because the film is bloody and stomach-turning, In My Skin's grace is all the more startling. Director Marina de Van, who has collaborated in the past with Franÿois Ozon, has considerable talent, especially when it comes to the film's gore. The picture is explicit, to be sure, but the elegance in which de Van has framed that explicitness borders on romantic--and makes suffering seem a worthy endeavor. Grand Illusion, Fri 7, 9 pm, Sat-Sun 3, 5, 7, 9 pm, Tues-Thurs 7, 9 pm. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Joysticks
The second installment of the late night series "The Grid, the Game, and the Girl," Joysticks is a raunchy teen comedy from the '80s about kids trying to prevent their precious video arcade from being shut down. Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat at 11 pm.
h Kiki's Delivery Service
SAM's Hayao Miyazaki series continues with this film, a speculative look at what would have happened had World War II and its antecendents never occurred. Seattle Art Museum, Sat Feb 7 at 1:30 pm.
Movies of Mass Destruction
Annihilation and catastrophe, projected for your viewing pleasure. Sunset Tavern, Mon Feb 9 at 8 pm.
h The Philadelphia Story
SAM's Katharine Hepburn series continues with George Cukor's 1940 film, featuring a zany love triangle made up of Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs Feb 5 at 7:30 pm.
h Red
The third in Krzysztof Kieslowski's film trilogy about contemporary French society, Red is perhaps the most widely revered film in the director's oeuvre. Seattle Art Museum, Fri Feb 6 at 7:30 pm.
Royal Wedding
Fred Astaire stars in this rollicking comedy about a sibling dance act with scheduling problems. Rendezvous, Wed Feb 11 at 7:30 pm.
The Same River Twice
This unique documentary cuts between footage of a group of friends working as river guides in the 1970s and those same men and women as middle-aged adults in the 21st century. As nudism gives way to button-down shirts, and youthful strength to the first signs of physical decline, the film traces those qualities of personality and belief that leave no visual mark on their bearers. Varsity, Fri-Sun 1:20, 3:20, 5:20, 7:30, 9:30 pm, Mon-Thurs 7:30, 9:30 pm.
Seattle Arab & Iranian Film Festival
See review this issue. All films screen at Broadway Performance Hall. Rana's Wedding plays with the short My Josephine, Fri Feb 6 at 7 pm. Letters in the Wind with Deadtime, Fri Feb 6 at 9 pm. Divine Intervention, Sat Feb 7 at 2 pm. Independent Media in a Time of War with journalist Amy Goodman, Sat Feb 7 at 5 pm. Forget Baghdad, Sat Feb 7 at 7 pm. Sleepless Nights, Sat Feb 7 at 9 pm. A Man in Our House, Sun Feb 8 at 2 pm. A Thousand and One Voices, Sun Feb 8 at 5 pm. The Fifth Reaction, Sun Feb 8 at 7 pm. Threads, Sun Feb 8 at 9 pm. Ford Transit with Futbol Palestina, Mon Feb 9 at 7 pm. Our Times with Tehran the 25th Hour, Mon Feb 9 at 9 pm. We Loved Each Other So Much with Trains-Trains, Tues Feb 10 at 7 pm. Satin Rouge, Tues Feb 10 at 9 pm. Bedwin Hacker, Wed Feb 11 at 7 pm. Ten with A Walk with Kiarostami, Wed Feb 11 at 9 pm. Exam, Thurs Feb 12 at 7 pm. The Road to Love, Thurs Feb 12 at 9 pm.
Super Celluloid Open Screening
This quarter's theme is "Sequels." Bring your very own Part II in Super-8 format to the Little Theatre at least 48 hours before the show to see your tiny movie on the big screen. Little Theatre, Wed Feb 11 at 8 pm.
h Tokyo Story
A poignant 1953 film by Yasujiro Ozu about the failure of several adult children living in Tokyo to welcome their visiting parents. Movie Legends, Sun Feb 8 at 1 pm.
Woman of the Year
George Stevens' 1942 film features questionable political content, Spencer Tracy, and... you guessed it, the inimitable Katharine Hepburn. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs Feb 12 at 7:30 pm.
NOW PLAYING
h 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)
h Along Came Polly
You know a movie can't be all bad when Phillip Seymour Hoffman falls down within the first 20 seconds. It's one of life's great mysteries why you can watch one movie, such as this one, which is full of predictable humor, improbable situations, unlikely segues, and unnecessary pop psychology (in lieu of character or motive), and not be filled with loathing for yourself, the world, and Brad Steinbacher for sending you to see it, and why another, quite similar movie (such as Something's Gotta Give or Chasing Liberty) makes you want to slit your wrists--but there it is. Along Came Polly has Ben Stiller playing one of his anxious-Ben characters and Jennifer Aniston as a flaky nouvelle hippie with an appealing catch in her voice. They meet, and you can guess the rest, especially if you've seen There's Something About Mary. There's also Hoffman, who's absolutely grand as a repellent former child star, Hank Azaria as a scuba instructor with one of those unreal foreign accents that only he can pull off, and some other people doing other things that I can't remember because I was too busy laughing at the blind ferret jokes. (EMILY HALL)
Barbershop 2: Back in Business
Ice Cube returns as Calvin, owner of a Chicago barbershop. With Eve and a cameo by Queen Latifah.
The Big Bounce
Owen Wilson as a romantic lead in a film is kinda odd (the guy's nose is completely phallic, in a broken phallus kinda way), but add the word comedy to the romantic tag and it's a whole other ball of surf wax. This movie is total Saturday afternoon head--and eye--candy. Beautiful beaches, beautiful women, guys dumb as a box of Q-tips, cameos from Willie Nelson and Harry Dean Stanton, and Wilson and (lesser character) Charlie Sheen as two goofy dudes trying to sort out the players from those getting played. From the author of Out of Sight comes a movie about criss-crossed double-crossing in Hawaii that'll make you laugh harder than it'll make you think--which is to say, not too strenuously for either activity, but it's still a lot of fun. (Or maybe I've just been away from sun and sand for too long). (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. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
The Butterfly Effect
Dude, where's my chaos theory? The latest feature-length advertisement for Ashton Kutcher's bone structure, this film is so stultifyingly poor on every level that unless you're (a) 12 years old, (b) a sadly desperate gay man/straight woman with a thing for hunky morons, or (c) 13 years old, you really have no business watching. (SEAN NELSON)
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)
Catch That Kid
See review this issue.
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)
h City of God
As with Mathieu Kassovitz's French film La Haine (Hate, 1995), 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. This borrowing, or theft, does not, however, make Cidade de Deus an American film (unlike Kassovitz's The Crimson Rivers); Cidade de Deus is a Brazilian film. The Americanism structures the story's form rather than its content. Set in hell (a heated Rio de Janeiro ghetto) and narrated by a young newspaper photographer named Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), Cidade de Deus essentially describes the rise and fall of the legendary, psychopathic gangster Li'l Zé (Leandro Firmino da Hora), who, after murdering every obstacle in his way, mercilessly rules the ghetto's turbulent drug trade. During Rocket's '60s boyhood, the film's violence is comical, its criminals romantic and ethical. But as the slum expands and Rocket becomes a young man in the '70s, the violence intensifies. By the film's end in the '80s, the sound of bullets replaces actual dialogue. Though great to watch, Cidade de Deus 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)
h 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. Minghella steers the film into a few minor rough spots (including a somewhat clumsy beginning, and an occasionally annoying performance by Zellweger as a lodger who helps Kidman on her farm), but the picture as a whole delivers a big, heartfelt epic. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
h The Company
The Company is very much a dance movie, but not in the sentimental way that The Turning Point was. This is to say that you'll see a lot of dance, much of it lovely, threaded in among the lives and rehearsals of the movie's characters like a kind of fever dream--rising out of the everyday, a better, more beautiful, more artful version of normal interaction. It might be that the subject of this film, rather than being "about" characters, is what it means to do something very, very well, to make it look easy, and what might be given up in the process. (EMILY HALL)
The Cooler
In The Cooler, director Wayne Kramer has managed to give audiences something all too rare in films these days: 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)
The Fog of War
See review this issue.
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring is stuffy to a fault, no matter how many shots of Scarlett Johansson's pout director Peter Webber can fit in, and the final tally falls somewhere between the best of Merchant Ivory and the worst of Merchant Ivory. Which is to say this: It is a well-made but nonetheless empty and, quite often, outright dull affair. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
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. (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)
Japanese Story
See review this issue.
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)
h 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. (SEAN NELSON)
* Lost In Translation
Lost in Translation is a tiny movie, as light as helium and draped upon the thinnest of plots. It is as close to a miracle as you're likely to get this year. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
h 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. Big and loud, thrilling and expensive, it is the type of film that only major Hollywood studios can produce. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Miracle
See review this issue.
Mona Lisa Smile
There is an extraordinary scene in Mike Newell's Mona Lisa Smile, an emotionally brutal few moments in which Kirsten Dunst's perilously cracked veneer 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 helps demonstrate the director's canny awareness of the secret language spoken silently among women. (KATHLEEN WILSON)
h Monster
There are many things that work in Monster, beginning with the much-praised performance by its lead, Charlize Theron. Saddled with 20 extra pounds, buried beneath grime and makeup, Theron is outright amazing in the film, and her performance as killer Aileen Wuornos will surely rank high on lists this year. However, on the whole, the picture is so bleak and depressing that it is nearly intolerable. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* My Architect
My Architect isn't really about architecture, nor even about Louis I. Kahn himself, except insofar as the late master builder and his immortal buildings remain an enigma to his son Nathaniel, the filmmaker behind this extraordinary documentary. Nathaniel Kahn's film is about the void created by a father's absence from his children's lives, and the way that void is continually filled and depleted by the father's reputation. More specifically, My Architect questions the conceit that artistic genius needn't be beholden to petty human strictures like family. Complicating matters is the (well-documented, apparently unarguable) fact that, unlike most fathers who abandon their wives, lovers, and kids for the sake of their art, Louis I. Kahn actually was a genius. (SEAN NELSON)
Mystic River
For all the "inexorability" and "meditation" of its violence, Mystic River feels desperately contrived. (SEAN NELSON)
Paycheck
John Woo takes on the classic cinematic themes of amnesia and bags of money.
The Perfect Score
Did you know that SAT no longer stands for anything? Not scholastic, not aptitude, not assessment--not even test. It's just the SAT. This is the kind of incomprehensible behemoth that Scarlett Johansson and her band of Ivy League-wannabes must face in their quest for world domination.
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. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
h Pieces Of April
Starring Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, and Oliver Platt, Pieces of April has a look and feel that I hesitate to label "documentary-like." Gritty due to its transfer of digital to celluloid and mainly handheld, there is a certain spontaneity in the film, almost an improvised feel, that is enhanced by the sharp cast. Clarkson is particularly good, becoming the heart of the film that the rest of the group rotates around. (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. 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 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. 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)
Tokyo Godfathers
Dear the Same 25 People Who Always Get Really Bent Out of Shape Whenever The Stranger Makes a Disparaging Remark About Anime:-The good news is, this review is not designed to take cheap shots at the form you obviously cherish. Tokyo Godfathers is a very impressive example of Japanese animation. The scenery is beautifully rendered, the motion fluid, and the characterization lifelike. And though it hardly needs saying, the visual style, however familiar, is a vast improvement on the digital ink and paint favored by most American animated features.-As for the story, it's particularly recommended for those who enjoy sentimental melodrama. I'm not certain that a live action version of these same circumstances (three homeless people--a drunk, a gay transvestite, and a teenage runaway--thrown together by fate, in the form of an abandoned infant on Tokyo's snowy streets) would have been any less treacly. The fact remains, however, that the emotional resonance on which the action turns is meant to come from our identification not with people, but with drawings of people, and that's a leap I really can't make; I actually kind of resent being asked to make it. It's bad enough when filmmakers shove flesh and blood bathos at you in the form of self-pitying alcoholics, tragic queens, and gurgling babies--but do they have to be so goddamn cute?-Tokyo Godfathers' plot is said to echo the John Ford movie 3 Godfathers. I haven't seen the original, but I wasn't surprised to learn that Tokyo is a remake. As the characters wound their way toward their inevitable catharsis and salvation, I imagined that I was meant to be moved by the humanity of the animation, a form typically reserved for fantasy and action. All I could see was a drawing of a movie. (SEAN NELSON)
Torque
A shit-eating redux of that golden cinematic nugget known as The Fast & the Furious, Biker Boyz puts our urban heroes atop whining Hondas... wait, this isn't Biker Boyz? Could've fooled me.
Touching the Void
I'm not sure if Joe Simpson and Simon Yates are still active mountaineers, but it is clear that just speaking about their famous climb in this drama-documentary, detailing it in that near-formal language which distinguishes professional mountaineers from amateurs, gives them a pleasure that is satanic in its size and intensity. This is the double thing that they live for: the actual climb and, be it in a pub, or over supper, or in front of a movie camera, recounting the experience of that climb. But if you are not interested in mountaineering and happen to be in this pub, or sitting at the supper table, or in the movie theater, listening to the story, you will be bored to death. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
h 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--the world may be a cold and lonely place, but with a little inventiveness you can not only survive, but prosper. (ANDY SPLETZER)
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!
In an attempt to clean up his blemished image, Tad (a totally dreamy Hollywood star!) agrees to go on a date with a contest winner from Wisconson or Virginia or Montana or some other stereotypical small-town state. This winner just so happens to be one of the hottest girls in America, Kate Bosworth, the blond surfer chick from Blue Crush. Win a Date is cute and funny and playful. Like a puppy. And who doesn't love puppies? (MEGAN SELING)
You Got Served
You Got Served wouldn't be a bad and boring movie if it weren't for the hour and 20 minutes of crappy dialogue and unnecessary (not to mention uninteresting) drama that existed between scenes of some very badass break-dancing sequences. (MEGAN SELING)
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)
