LIMITED RUN
A 1969 adaptation of the Arlo Guthrie song "Alice's Restaurant Massacre," with a cameo by Pete Seeger. Movie Legends, Sun may 14 at 1 pm.
All About EveJoseph Mankiewicz was far from the most visually oriented of directors, but he compensated (in this film, at least) with a perfect ear for wicked conversation and a delight in having great actors ham it up delivering their verbal barbs. In this definitive portrait of backstage bitchiness and backstabbing actresses, who needs pretty shots and impressive camerawork when you've got Bette Davis at her most imperiously, wittily grotesque; deliciously deceptive Anne Baxter; and the late, great George Sanders effortlessly striking the bull's-eye with every dexterously timed remark? (BRUCE REID) Tickets $20, includes snacks and wine samples. Pink Door, Sun May 14 at 7 pm.
A movie about how little girls are EVIL! Starring a pigtailed Patricia McCormack. Central Cinema, Thurs-Sun 6:30, 9:30 pm. (Late show 21+.)
Classe Tous RisquesFor noir fans, the discovery of a long-forgotten gem like Claude Sautet's Classe Tous Risques can make an entire year. Originally released in 1960, it stars the great Lino Ventura and the even greater Jean-Paul Belmondo (in his first role after Breathless). Ventura plays Abel Devos, a career criminal attempting to flee Milan and return to Paris with both the Italian and French police hot on his trail. Abandoned by his crook friendsâwho have gone legit, and subsequently yellaâAbel is aided by a stranger sent in their place named Erik Stark (Belmondo). Their unlikely friendshipâand Stark's even more unlikely relationship with a struggling actress they pick up while on the lamâhelps turn what could've been a routine crooks vs. cops affair into a soulful meditation on regret, the burdens of family, and the tendency of a troubled past to royally muck up your future. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER) Northwest Film Forum, Weekdays 7, 9 pm, Sat-Sun 3, 5, 7, 9 pm.
Crash certainly doesn't want for hubris, but ultimately stands as a case of laudable ambition overwhelming still-developing narrative abilities. Although this would-be epic of race relations in Los Angeles sports a handful of genuinely searing moments, it's hard to shake the sense of someone constantly rearranging three-by-five cards behind the scenes for maximum impact. (ANDREW WRIGHT) Revolution Books, Fri May 12 at 7:30 pm.
Jaws"This was no boating accident." Egyptian, Fri-Sat midnight.
La Petite JerusalemThe well-worn trope of rebellion via forbidden love is made wonderful again in this 2005 film about two Orthodox Jewish sistersâone married with several children, the other a single philosophy studentâliving in a grim banlieue outside Paris. Laura (Fanny Valette) meets a Muslim boy while working the late janitorial shift at a local mosque. As he pitches her into a state of agitated distraction, she has to decide whether her celibacy is a true commandment or a post-hoc philosophical commitment she's imposed upon herself. Meanwhile, Laura's sister Mathilde becomes frustrated with her own modesty as she battles the shame of an unfaithful husband. Director Karin Albou doesn't quite match the dizzying highs of Holy Girl, Lucretia Martel's similar tale of physical awakening, and there's enough vague fumbling about in dim corridors to make the forbidden fruit seem boring after all, but Fanny Valette makes intellectual anguish come quickly alive. And she's seriously gorgeous to look at. (ANNIE WAGNER) Grand Illusion, Weekdays 7, 9 pm, Sat-Sun 3, 5, 7, 9 pm.
Murmur of the HeartA coming-of-age picture of the incest subgenre. At first, it's hard to believe Louis Malle made this movie in 1971âit has so much of the '50s in it, and I'm not just talking about the setting. Or the main character Laurent Chevalier (BenoĂźt Ferreux), a cute rascal in short pants who nicks bop records and peruses existentialist novels. It's the way the characters seem to suck in Freud along with their oxygen. You know there's going to be trouble when Laurent's sexy mom (Lea Massari) chases him through bedrooms in a state of (could it be calculated?) dishabille. But thenâand here's why it's definitely a '70s movie after all, having needed the chance not only to gnaw on but to digest the Freudâthe Oedipal subtext devours the narrative whole and runs away with the plot. Which is to say, the boy and his mom have sex. What's great about Murmur of the Heart is the way the headlong pitch toward taboo comes slicked with both the hot whine of Charlie Parker and the traditional healing waters of a provincial spa. (ANNIE WAGNER) Museum of History and Industry, Thurs May 18 at 7:30 pm.
Hal Hartley's 2000 short film about math and fighting was scored by Louis Andriessen; for this screening, Seattle Chamber Players performs the score live. Plus lots more music with no motion-picture chaser. See www.seattlechamberplayers.org for details. Tickets $12-$20. Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Sun May 14 at 7 pm.
Supposedly inspired by Thomas Merton's poem, Original Child Bomb is a pretentious reiteration of everything you already knew about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At this point, if someone wants to make a film about such a thoroughly covered subject, he or she better have something original to add to the discussionâwhich this filmmaker most decidedly does not. (ADAM HART) Keystone Church, Fri May 12 at 7 pm.
Not Teddy or FD, but a Liberian refugee named Rosevelt Henderson is the subject of this documentary about making it in the USA. Capitol Hill Library, Thurs May 18 at 6 pm.
Miraculously, this thing called The Sad Boy is not an emo band. But it may yet be an emo movie. Local filmmaker Todd Redenius shows his new short film twice. Rendezvous, Sat May 13 at 8:30 and 9:30 pm.
Sisters in LawSee review this issue. Varsity, Fri-Sun 2:10, 4:30, 7, 9:20 pm, Mon-Wed 7, 9:20 pm.
The Thief of ParisLouis Malle's 1967 film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as a burglar from the upper crust. Museum of History and Industry, Thurs May 11 at 7:30 pm.
Tough LoveThis great series is an exploration of queer desire in iconic Westerns. All films will be shown on archival 35mm prints. This week: Red River, a film in which sexy cowboys stroke and admire each other's pistols. Next week, Andy Warhol's spoof Lonesome Cowboys. All films screen at Northwest Film Forum. Red River: Thurs May 11 at 7 pm. Lonesome Cowboys: Thurs May 18 at 7 pm.
Tramp, Tramp, TrampA 1926 film by the relatively obscure silent movie clown Harry Edwards, co-starring a young Joan Crawford. With a new score performed live by Robbie Fulks and Danny Barnes. Northwest Film Forum, Sat-Sun 3, 7 pm.
Vodka LemonVodka Lemon is a quiet, irrationally charming comedy about liquor and nostalgia for the Soviet Union. Set in snowy, snowy Armenia. Central Cinema, Wed May 17 at 7, 9:20 pm. (Late show 21+.)
Underwater aliens enslave shipwrecked sailors in this tentacled B-picture from 1978. Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat 11 pm.
now playing
Adam & Steve begins in 1987, when our title characters meet in a Manhattan disco. Adam (Craig Chester) is a nebbish young Goth with a plus-sized female sidekick; Steve (Malcolm Gets) is a buff Dazzle Dancer with a plus-sized coke habit. Despite their differences, the duo share a sweet and thrilling first night togetherâuntil things go horribly, excruciatingly wrong, and Adam & Steve is set on its twisted, present-day gay romantic comedy path. Written and directed by Craig Chester, the film offers an impressively messy look at finding love in the gayest city in America. But it's also messy in a whole bunch of less meaningful ways, switching tones and styles like a too-eager-to-please drag queen, and leaving viewers with a confused jumble of goop. Still, the movie has its moments, most of them provided by Parker Posey, who nails her role as Adam's fat-damaged best friend, with a performance so sharp and nuanced it almost justifies recommending the film as a whole. (DAVID SCHMADER)
Akeelah, although she is young and black and living in a bad part of Los Angeles, is (can you believe this?) quite intelligent and sweet-natured and something of a word prodigy (although sometimes she talks "ghetto"). After she wins the school spelling bee (even though her mom is too busy to care!), Akeelah starts seeing a coach (a man whose daughter would be Akeelah's age... if she hadn't died), and advances all the way to nationals. Keke Palmer, who is 11 years old and plays Akeelah, is a charming, promising actress who is constantly made to do sappy things you pretty much only find in afterschool TV specials. Angela Bassett tries her damnedest to make Akeelah's mother resemble a real human being grappling with real problems, but the characters that writer/director Doug Atchison has dreamed up are pure foam. (CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE)
American Dreamz spoofs American Idol and the pathetic spectacle of an entire nation banding together to pick some half-talented blockhead to be the next C-list superstar. The film also spoofs real life: The president is a complete idiot who's so dumb he has to wear a bug in his ear so his staff can tell him what to say. HAHA! Truth is funny. Based on the material reality gave the writers to work with, this movie should've been fucking hilarious, right? Not so much. (MEGAN SELING)
A horror movie about nineteenth century demons... and incest! With Donald Sutherland, Rachel Hurd-Wood, and Sissy Spacek.
The BenchwarmersIf you thought Napoleon Dynamite was heeee-larious (like me), you're probably gonna love Benchwarmers' endearing geekiness. But if you're a jerk without a sense of humor, you'll quickly get bored with the innocent PG-13 rating and onslaught of hilariously lame third-grade jokes. (MEGAN SELING)
BrickBrick is a hardboiled detective narrative retrofitted to high school, where homeroom lockers fill in for smoky offices, assistant principals apply police-commissioner levels of heat, and everyone talks in a knowingly archaic, rapid-fire patter. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
An adaptation of the 1990s New Age novel about the search for an ancient Peruvian scroll, this movie was rushed to production in 2004, presumably so it could ride the Da Vinci Code buzz. Hey, it worked for the Gospel of Judas...
Oodles of nonsense, a horribly unfunny series of slapstick animal attacks, and several full minutes of Terry Bradshaw's gleaming, bare buttocks. (LINDY WEST)
Friends with Money atones for its shortcomings in the plot department by kicking unprecedented ass in the great-actress-triumvirate-of-delight department: Joan Cusack, Frances McDormand, and Catherine Keener. But it's still a movie about the emotional pain of building an addition to one's house. (LINDY WEST)
A 32-year-old fashion photographer (Patrick Wilson) and a 14-year-old girl (Ellen Page) who are virtually acquainted online decide to meet IRL (in real life). The tryst occurs in a Los Angeles coffee shop. The girl is the game; the man is the hunter. She unwisely suggests going to his place, and once at his place, she unwisely suggests drinking vodka. She is alone, she is getting drunk, she is incredibly stupid. But then things turn upside down and we see that the girl, rather than the man, is in control of the situation. The girl brutalizes the photographer in ways I can't say because it would constitute that thing Americans loathe: a spoiler. Page's performance as the girl is the centerpiece of the film. Without her energy, Hard Candy would be stone cold. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Hoot is a movie about evil pancakes, tiny endangered subterranean owls, and a shoeless teenage environmentalist vigilante named Mullet Fingers. It glides along on a laidback soundtrack by Jimmy Buffettâwho also produced, and stars as a beclogged hippie science teacher. Luke Wilson rides around in a tiny car. The whole thing is even weirder and less interesting than it sounds. (LINDY WEST)
Ice Age: The MeltdownYou know what rules!? Ice Age: The Meltdown rules! A bunch of famous people did the voices (Denis Leary, Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Jay Leno...), and the animation is infinitely better than the first installment, with vivid colors and far more detail. Plus, that little acorn-loving squirrel guy is back. He's funny. (MEGAN SELING)
Inside ManDenzel Washington plays Keith Frazier, a New York Police detective, and when a bank holdup turns into a complex hostage situation, he's called to put his silk 'n' granite conversation skills to the test. The film is a long 129 minutes, but that's fine by me. Not only does it allow Spike Lee to take lightweight detours into racial profiling, violent video games, and the exceedingly unfortunate names lovers give to each other's genitalia, but it gives you plenty of time to hypothesize about the hostage-takers' motives. The plot has spongy spots, like the amorphous Aryan evil that both the good and bad guys ultimately have to contend with, but it's never less than fun. (ANNIE WAGNER)
Lindsay Lohan's last role as a teen queen, according to the New York Times. The red-headed miss gets kissed and gets unlucky.
Charlie (Joel Edgerton), a square, inherits his father's factory, where squares make boots all day. Industrial England has been in decline for ages, so Charlie isn't too shocked when he finds out the business is failing. Still, something must be done! Charlie tries firing people, but that doesn't suit his charming facial features. Then, thanks to the prodding of a sweetie named Lauren (pixie-cute Sarah-Jane Potts), Charlie goes cool-hunting in London and stumbles across Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a damsel in distress who just happens to be a man. Not just any boots will satisfy Lola: You know, they have to be strong enough for a man, but stilettoed for a woman. And they absolutely cannot be dyed burgundy. Over the mild protestations of the factory workers (conveyed primarily through Nick Frost's boyish facial contortions), some satisfactory boots are fashioned. What a climax, eh? That's why there's an obligatory Milan fashion show at the end. (ANNIE WAGNER)
La Mujer de Mi HermanoThink of an incredibly beautiful woman. Call her ZoĂ«. Think of her classically handsome husband, a finance executiveâripped, bespectacled, fussy, laconic, a fan of Bach, a reader of the Economist. Call him Ignacio. Ignacio, like all good attractive people, has a brother. His brother is also sexy and ripped, but swarthier than Ignacio, with three days' stubble, bolder hair, more passion, and a painting career. Let's call him Gonzalo, since that's his name in La Mujer de Mi Hermano. Gonzalo seduces ZoĂ«, which any man in his right mind would do (I would sleep with ZoĂ« and I'm gay). Gonzalo is hot and ZoĂ«'s marriage to Ignacioâwell, ZoĂ« and Ignacio only have sex on Saturdays. Guess who else is (secretly) gay. Substantively, the movie is weak, but it's entrancing. Like a superficial fling, La Mujer de mi Hermano is all texture: brushed steel, white curtains, thick lips, cigarette smoke, high-thread-count sheets, swimming-pool water. (CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE)
Mission: Impossible 3Clearly, in retrospect, what the Mission: Impossible franchise needed was a director young and hungry enough to shoot the moon, yet humble enough to work comfortably within the system. In short, a TV guy. Enter Alias/Lost creator J. J. Abrams, whose television work displays a genuine affinity for the ol' cloak and dagger, as well as a winningly snarky knack for subverting the dustier conventions of same. His feature debut lives up to his small-screen predilections. It's with Tom Cruise, however, that the director pulls off his biggest coup. Pesky personal matters aside, there's always been something uncomfortable about Cruise's screen presenceâthat feeling that he's always blaringly on, giving even the quietest moments 140 percent. Abrams's solutionâsteadily jacking up the emotional and physical intensity to match the starâpays huge, pleasantly exhausting dividends. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
There is nothing to recommend this Emma Thompson vehicle except for the bit when an old biddy gets hit in the face with a chunk of wedding cake. (BRENDAN KILEY)
The New WorldQ'orianka Kilcher, a 14-year-old beauty who looks far older thanâthough exactly as naive asâher age would suggest, plays Pocahontas as a child attracted to John Smith (Colin Farrell) through a chaste but insatiable curiosity. Farrell is more opaque. It's hard to tell whether he's transfixed by this persistent girl or merely bewildered. And when he freaks out and leaves Jamestown, your sympathy for Pocahontas feels more like pity for an abandoned child than identification with an adult woman. (ANNIE WAGNER)
Unfortunately, writer-director Mary Harron and co-screenwriter Guinevere Turner limit themselves to cursory observations about the conservative mores of the '50s and perfunctory stops along the timeline of Bettie's rise to "notoriety." (HANNAH LEVIN)
Dylan's 16-year old body is growing a tumor big enough to shut down his whole system. Because he's dying, he gets to make one wish. He was going to go fishing with a football superstar, but because he's a horny 16-year-old boy, he instead decides to ask for a weekend with the nation's hottest (and most fucked-up) supermodel. One Last Thing... isn't bad; it's actually sorta funny. (MEGAN SELING)
See review.
The PromiseThe film is gorgeous, with tons of wire work, and director Chen Kaige uses CGI special effects with no hesitance. The Promise is set in the very distant past in a country that was at once Heaven and Earth. On a daily basis, humans saw things that were amazingâsoldiers fighting on water, ancient men flying through the sky like birds. From this thick mythic ether, the story takes its shape: There is a slave who can run like action hero Flash, a duke who has killed more men than he can remember, and a princess whose skin is the color of freshly fallen snow. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Sissyman Bob Munro (Robin Williams) is a big dumb jerk who can't say no to his germaphobic asshole boss, so instead of taking his selfish family on vacation to Hawaii, he rents a giant RV and drags Snootypants and his two jerky kids to Colorado where he'll secretly attend a business meeting. Catch is, Dude doesn't know how to drive the RV or work the poop-emptying machine. You can imagine the hilarity that ensures. (MEGAN SELING)
Scary Movie 4Last year was full of movies and moments that practically spoof themselves, and the writers of Scary Movie 4 take care to touch on every single one. (MEGAN SELING)
Silent HillUntil a late appeal to logic interrupts the fun, the new goth-friendly splatter flick Silent Hill delivers a freshly rancid freakout of the sort that's intelligible only to some dank level of your subconscious. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
SomersaultSixteen-year-old Heidi is just figuring out the relationship between her woman's body and her ability to get what she wants from men. She tests these newfound powers on her mom's boyfriend, unfortunately succeeds, and flees mom's wrath to an Australian ski resort. There, Heidi learns about the creepy side of being sexually attractive, and the nice side, tooâthanks to Joe, a grim-jawed, mulleted local who falls hard for her but won't admit it. The film emphasizes the child inside Heidi with an embarrassing heavy-handedness (yeah, donuts, clapping games, handholding, we get it), and her repeated accusations that Joe is "too scared" to love her are beyond trite. But when you think about it, that's exactly the kind of silly shit a teenager would say. "When you leave, you still feel her," Joe says. It's weird, but something about Somersault stuck with me too. (LINDY WEST)
Stick ItA defiant teen with a taste for extreme sports, Haley (Missy Peregrym) is, like her predecessor in Bring It On, more hardcore than the pantywaist sport she's forced to take up. The rationale in Stick It is a little hazyâsomething involving a dirt-bike crash, an easily influenced judge, and a hefty cash prize in an amateur sportâbut it does the trick. Haley has to train with a coach from hell. Then Stick It veers off the sports-movie formula. The run-up to the big meet deemphasizes sweat and competition, opting instead for a delirious Busby Berkeley-style stretching circle. And the climax isn't so much about perfect execution as it is about one ex-gymnast (the writer-director, natch) and her contradictory feelings about the alien psychology of the sport. (ANNIE WAGNER)
Thank You For SmokingAs a work of satire, Thank You for Smoking is safely and securely dated. The book it's adapted from (by conservative novelist Christopher Buckley) was published in the mid-'90s, when tobacco lawsuits were flying fast and loose and the word "probe" was rampant in headlines in the Washington Post. But what the movie loses in relevance, it gains in absurd comedy. (ANNIE WAGNER)
The Three Burials of Melquiades EstradaA masterpiece, flat out. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
United 93There are some difficulties when it comes to telling the story of United Flight 93, the fourth plane hijacked on 9/11, whose passengers somehow overcame the terrorists and brought the plane to the ground before it could hurt anyone besides themselves. There's no suspense; we already know what's going to happen. The dialogue drips with dramatic ironyâpassengers telling family members, business associates, and one another about their plans for tomorrow and the next weekâwhich is ironic, since 9/11 was supposed to have killed irony. But there are very good reasons to sit through United 93. On the emotional register, the film hits a perfectly chosen note, neither aggressive enough to seem callous nor excessively deferential, which would have felt mawkish. Whatever dramatic inventions were necessary for the scenes on the plane, the confusion on the ground is drawn straight from The 9/11 Commission Report. With so many officials glued to their radar screens, which were designed for one purpose, it isn't hard to understand why they couldn't see what was happening. The hijackers had fitted their planes with a new meaning that didn't show up in green and black. It needed a movie, and it needed a screen. (ANNIE WAGNER)
