DINOSAUR--Meridian 16, Metro

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2--Various Theaters

ROAD TRIP--Meridian 16, Oak Tree, Varsity

SMALL TIME CROOKS--Aurora Cinema Grill, Pacific Place 11

ALICE IN WONDERLAND--Grand Illusion

AMERICAN PIMP--Grand Illusion

ANOTHER GIRL, ANOTHER PLANET--Little Theatre

BUS II--Little Theatre

BUS RIDERS UNION--Little Theatre

DRUNKDANCE--911 Media Arts

EL NORTE--Egyptian

THE FILMS OF LUIS BU--UEL--Seattle Art Museum

THE FILTH & THE FURY--Varsity

INDEPENDENT EXPOSURE 5/2000--Speakeasy

THE MEDIUM--Little Theatre

SATELLITES 2000--Various Theaters

SHOOTING GALLERY FILM SERIES--Uptown

May 26 -- Seattle International Film Festival, Shanghai Noon, Bossa Nova, Passion of Mind

June 2 -- Seattle International Film Festival, Hamlet, Big Momma's House, Hoofbeats

28 Days
Sandra Bullock is an alcoholic whose behavior lands her in Serenity Glen, a touchy-feely rehab center filled with the requisite cuddly goofs and embittered oddballs. Bullock carries an ultimately phony movie with something resembling humanity. (Steve Wiecking) Grand Alderwood, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

Alice in Wonderland
An X-rated version of Lewis Carroll's classic, from the director of Flesh Gordon. Fri-Sat May 19-20 at 11. Grand Illusion

*All About My Mother
Pedro Almodovar's highly acclaimed new film, a mature look at women (with the obligatory drag queen). Crest

American Beauty
Entertaining fluff. Take your typical suburban satire (midlife crisis, bitchy wife, disaffected youth), throw in some admittedly excellent performances, and what you get is an Oscar-winning film, for better or worse. (Andy Spletzer) Admiral, Crest

*American Pimp
The Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society), using nothing but a 16mm camera and their unadulterated obsessions, document the Black American Pimp: the Blaxploitation hero/cultural caricature of our often-hysterical, sexed-up society. Winner of last year's Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Fri-Thurs May 19-25 at (Sat-Sun 1, 3), 5, 7, 9. Reviewed this issue. Grand Illusion

American Psycho
Based on the much-reviled book by Bret Easton Ellis, the movie is actually pretty good. Really. Set at the height of the Reagan '80s, Psycho deftly satirizes the deadening effect of unchecked corporate wealth and power. (Andy Spletzer) Pacific Place 11

Another Girl, Another Planet
Shot entirely on a Fisher Price Pixlvision camera, Michael Almereyda's 1992 fuzzy, intimate, DIY flick explores the apartment dramas of two East Village hipsters. Thurs-Sun May 25-28 at 5:30, 7:30, 9:30. Little Theatre

Battlefield Earth
So John Travolta is this 10-foot-tall alien who wants every living human to take the Scientology test. When the humans balk, it's goodnight planet... until a few rebels rise up against his tyranny and fight back, that is. As anyone who has seen the trailer to this howling dog can attest, it might be time for Travolta to fade back into obscurity. Factoria, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center

*Being John Malkovich
It's the best film of 1999, and it has a monkey in it. Coincidence? We don't think so. Admiral, Crest, Uptown

The Big Kahuna
Kahuna, starring Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito as a couple of crappy salesmen, is a play adaptation, which means that the filmmakers face the eternal challenge: how to make three people talking for 90 minutes into an actual movie. They fail. The problem isn't the subject matter--your basic wounded business-male confessional boilerplate--nor the performances, which are pretty good (even DeVito manages a few affecting moments). No, the problem is the inherent pomposity of American theater; the degree to which playwrights are so enamored of their own language that they simply refuse to say what the hell they're saying. In this case, it's that even industrial-lubricant salesmen can retain a shred of humanity if they allow themselves to shed their reflexive bullshit bluster. Despite about 20 excellent minutes toward the end, the movie's not worth the ride it takes to get to the point. (Sean Nelson) Guild 45th

Bus II
The second installment in Haskell Wexler's mass-transit trilogy deals with a group of anti-nukes protestors. Thurs May 18 ONLY at 5:30, 7:15, 9. Little Theatre

Bus Riders Union
There are two schools of thought when it comes to public transit. The people who ride the buses want cheap fares, plentiful routes, and 24-hour service. The people who design and build transit systems want to dazzle the city with state-of-the-art trains and shiny public art installations. The first group wants to get to work on time in the morning. The second group wants to build a "world class" city. If you are part of the first group, or if you're feeling post-WTO depression, this documentary, the third in Haskell Wexler's mass transit trilogy, is preaching to your choir. It's a feel-good story of citizen action making a difference. If you're part of the second group you probably don't go see documentaries at the Grand Illusion. Whose streets?Fri-Sun May 19-21 at 5:30, 7:30, 9:30. (John Roderick) Little Theatre

Center Stage
Teenybopper dance movies are such a delicate, easily bruised genre that it hardly seems fair to judge them using the unwieldy tools of the critic. Center Stage, Hollywood's newest celebration of dance ("dance!"), offers the usual story of underdog versus system, the strictures of ballet versus the creativity of modern dance, and love expressed via high art. It's campy, it's corny, and it's the feel-good movie of the year. (Traci Vogel) Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Redmond Town Center

Dinosaur
A heroic muddle of pre-history, computer animation, and talking monkeys, this entertaining flicker posits that dinosaurs might have survived if only they'd learned to work together. If you're the kind of person who wished Jurassic Park had dispensed with all that plot and character crap and just made with the giant reptiles, this might be the one for you. Meridian 16, Metro

Dolphins
Everyone knows that dolphins are the smartest animals on the planet; Dolphins proves they're the coolest as well. (Gillian G. Gaar) Pacific Science Center IMAX

*Drunkdance
A collection of locally produced, liquor-tainted shorts sporting titles like The Blur Witch Project, Clap Happy, and our favorite, Buena Vista Fight Club. You'll laugh, you'll stumble, and you won't regret it in the morning. Fri May 19 at 8, $5. 911 Media Arts

East is East
This decent little movie is set in the early '70s, in an English town called Salford. The great Om Puri plays a fanatical father married to a British woman (Linda Basset). They own a small chip shop and a small house, which is packed with seven rebellious kids. With the exception of one boy, all the children are headed one way (toward total assimilation of British culture), and the father the other (preservation of Pakistani values); all that's left is a big showdown in the end. A rather ordinary story, you will agree. But Puri saves the day by doing what he does best: deepening and extending his character's emotional and psychological range. (Charles Mudede) Broadway Market

*El Norte
Gregory Nava's epic about Guatemalan refugees, re-released after 17 years. Thurs May 18 at 4:15, 7, 9:45. Egyptian

Erin Brockovich
Despite having been directed by indie superstar Steven Soderbergh, Erin Brockovich is just what it is: another big-budget Hollywood film starring Julia Roberts. In fact, because this is a Hollywood film, we suddenly notice aspects of Soderbergh's filmmaking that are harder to detect when he has complete control over his material: namely, how brilliant he is working with supporting actors, most notably men. In this case, it's Aaron Eckhart and Albert Finney. Without this, all you have left is a stupid plot and the dentiglorious spectacle that is Julia Roberts. (Charles Mudede) Meridian 16, Metro

EXTREME
Don't try this at home, folks. An entire film bursting and soaring with EXTREME sports, EXTREME risks, and the ULTIMATE in EXTREME challenges. Pacific Science Center IMAX

*The FILMS OF LUIS BUÑUEL
A thoughtful retrospective of the sensitive and satirical European/Spanish filmmaker's works. The darkly elegant Belle de Jour (1966) is up next, with the icy and beautiful Catherine Deneuve as a bored housewife who embraces a secret life as a prostitute. Thurs May 25 at 7:30; call 625-8900 for details. Seattle Art Museum

*The Filth & the Fury
Julien Temple (The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle) compiled this portrait of the infamous Sex Pistols, with exclusive interviews with Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock, and of course Sid Vicious. Includes boatloads of unseen live footage, and an amazing capacity to energize even the most cynical viewer. Odds are that if you have preconceptions about the band, they'll at least be tested, especially once you've seen the images of Johnny Rotten serving up slices of cake to needy working-class kids on Christmas Day, 1977, or crying over the death of his mate, Sid. (Sean Nelson) Varsity

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty: the early years. Yabba dabba don't bother. Aurora Cinema Grill, Factoria, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Redmond Town Center

Focal Length
Another in a series of alternative spaces opening its doors to showing movies, the Zeitgeist Cafe has chosen this cinema-inundated week to introduce a new series of shorts from around the globe. One novel angle: Focal Length is FREE. Thurs May 18 at 8. Zeitgeist

Frequency
A hodgepodge about time travel; ham-radio enthusiasm; the hazards of firefighting; baseball; mother love; and a father-son tag-team tracking down a nurse-butchering psychopath. This utterly confused film is a perfect example of Hollywood's shameless tendency to pillage the graveyard for the spare parts of its own schmaltzy genres. The result is a Frankenstein monster that bumbles and stumbles across the thin emotional terrain of an Americanized (and therefore totally false) idea of nostalgia and redemption. (Rick Levin) Aurora Cinema Grill, Factoria, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro

*Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
When he was young, Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) was saved from a group of street thugs by Louie (John Tormey), a low-level Mafioso who just happened to be passing by. In thanks, Ghost Dog pledged to serve Louie for the rest of his life, as faithful to him as any ancient samurai was to his master. Director Jim Jarmusch infuses Ghost Dog with the deadpan humor of his earliest films. (Andy Spletzer) Crest

Gladiator
Director Ridley Scott tramps through the standard gladiator movie plot like a tipsy party host, embracing each and every cliché like a dear old friend. War hero General Maximus (Russell Crowe) is stripped of his position by a scheming new Caesar (Joaquin Phoenix). Escaping too late to save his family, Maximus falls into the hands of a slaver (the late Oliver Reed), and with the help of a former love and some rough-but-likable gladiator pals, seeks his revenge by finding glory within the Coliseum. Scott then uses all the technical advantages of modern filmmaking to make the details as lavish as possible. (Tom Spurgeon) Cinerama, Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Neptune, Northgate, Redmond Town Center

Held Up
The delightfully irreverent Jamie Foxx branches out from comedy into action comedy. Pacific Place 11

*High Fidelity
A romantic comedy for guys. John Cusack plays the cynically introspective Rob Gordon, the owner of a small record store who, for various reasons, has shit luck with women. He's a jerk, basically, but he's not altogether clueless about his jerkiness. He struggles and obsesses and makes lists that he thinks define his life, but he's no closer to understanding women than he was in the fifth grade--which happens to be when he got dumped for the first time. Based on the popular novel of the same name. (Kathleen Wilson) Aurora Cinema Grill, Guild 45th, Harvard Exit

Human Traffic
Q: What's more boring than a roomful of British teenagers taking drugs?

A: A movie about it. Harvard Exit

I Dreamed of Africa
Kim Basinger travels to the dark continent, presumably not in search of her roots. City Centre, Factoria, Metro, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center, Southcenter

*Independent Exposure 5/2000
Blackchair Productions' monthly showcase of short film/video/digital cinema by a bevy of undie filmmakers returns this month with its Satellites 2000 edition ("May Flowers") and an international lineup that's even more impressive than usual. Between the man hovering over a "wasteland," flying saucers over (or is it under?) Amsterdam, scratchy tone poems, and gruesome animation (you don't want to miss "Hangnail"), there's something here for all manner of microcinematic tastes. Thurs May 25 at 7:30, $4. Speakeasy

*Island of the Sharks
There are SHARKS on the IMAX screen, and they're rickety RAW! Pacific Science Center

*Keeping the Faith
Any film that begins with a drunken priest staggering through the streets of New York and tumbling into a garbage pile is automatically fine by me. Edward Norton (who also directed) is the drunky priest and Ben Stiller is a confused rabbi. They love the same girl, a rad chick they hung out with back/ in the fourth grade. The film is genuinely funny and sweetly romantic as it focuses on all aspects of this not-so-holy trinity. And surprisingly enough, co-star Jenna Elfman doesn't bug. (Kathleen Wilson) Grand Alderwood, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree

*The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
Aviva Kempner's nostalgic love letter to '30s-'40s Jewish baseball player Hank Greenberg, who overcame prejudice to rock the big leagues. A hit at the recent Seattle Jewish Film Festival. Broadway Market

Love and Basketball
Boy meets girl. Boy plays hoops with girl. Girl takes boy to hole. Pacific Place 11

*The Medium
This 1951 film of Gian-Carlo Menotti's wonderfully eerie opera about a fake spiritualist who fears she's starting to hear real ghosts turns out to be a delightful surprise. Not for the music--it should be no surprise at all that the composer turned in a typically smart, lovely score, with all the stringent harmonies and rat-tat-tat percussion you'd want in a ghost story. No, the unexpected bonus here is that Menotti, a legendary jack-of-all-trades when it comes to his stage productions, reveals himself to be a skilled movie director as well. Unlike much filmed opera, the camera work here is fluid and involving, the actors wisely kept from hysterics. Terrific music aside, The Medium works just fine as a movie as well. It may not have hurt that the editor and associate director turns out to be Alexander Hammid, maker of some fine short films in his own right, and even better known as Mr. Maya Deren. Wed May 24 at 7:30 ONLY. (Bruce Reid) Little Theatre

*Michael Jordan to the MAX
See the greatest basketball player in history as nature intended: on a 3,500-square-foot movie screen! Omnidome

Mission: Impossible 2
Tom Cruise returns as a super-secret spy guy with limitless resources and no knowledge of the word "fear." The last installment of this series showed us Emilio Estevez getting crushed by an elevator. If part two can deliver on that scale, Cruise could be looking at box-office gold. Thandie Newton co-stars as the incredibly hot love interest. Directed by John Woo. Woo! Opens Wed May 24. Neptune

*Motorcycle=Freedom?
Downtown's finest slice palace offers a classic-film festival with extra hog grease: The Great Escape, Girl on a Motorcycle, The Wild One, Hell's Angels on Wheels, and Easy Rider. All of these films are worth seeing in their own rights, but they're especially good when they're FREE! Thurs May 18 at 7, Fri-Sat May 19-20 at 8 and 10, see Movie Times for details. 2nd Ave. Pizza

Return to Me
A guy (David Duchovny) falls for a girl (Minnie Driver) who has received his dead wife's heart in a transplant. No, really. Pacific Place 11

*Road Trip
Four horny boys must traverse the nation in search of a naughty videotape erroneously sent to one of their girlfriends. Tolerance ensues. Reviewed this issue. Factoria, Meridian 16, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center, Varsity

Romeo Must Die
Romeo Must Die is pretty dumb, even for an action film, but Jet Li doesn't disappoint. (Gillian G. Gaar) Admiral

Rules of Engagement
When a movie is titled Rules of Engagement, I'm there. Too bad this one implodes like a giant star after a promising start. The performances of Samuel L. Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones, Blair Underwood, Guy Pearce, and Anne Archer are sucked into the resulting black hole. In the end, we are left with nothing--absolutely nothing. (Charles Mudede) Meridian 16

*Satellites 2000: Screens from Outer Space
For those who want sweet relief from the long lines of SIFF, Seattle's independent film community offers a soothing alternative. "Satellites 2000" will be screening films and videos at non-SIFF venues like the Grand Illusion, 911 Media Arts Center, Sit & Spin, Cinema 18, the Little Theatre, and the Speakeasy. See separate listings and Movie Times for details. Reviewed this issue.

Screwed
Danny DeVito, Norm McDonald, and Dave Chapelle star in this "deliciously ribald" comedy by the authors of Problem Child and that unforgivable Andy Kaufman atrocity from last year. Not to be confused with the Al Goldstein documentary from a few years back. Grand Alderwood, Pacific Place 11, Varsity

Seattle International Film Festival
Our annual cinematic behemoth is back, this time with more movies and probably longer lines than ever. This year's exclusives include premiere screenings of Kenneth Branagh's (musical!) Love's Labour's Lost; Sunshine, with Ralph Fiennes; and Rumor of Angels, with Vanessa Redgrave. Archival treats include a remastered print of Raging Bull, an all-day Cinerama showcase (with the 1962 classic How the West Was Won), and post-revolutionary Russian films (The Young Lady and the Hooligan, 1918; Eye of Glass, 1929). There will also be a festival within the festival: "Passport to the World" offers foreign film buffs a marathon of subtitles from 19 different exotic locales. Call SIFF's info line at 324-9997; or see the Stranger SIFF Bible for details. Egyptian, Harvard Exit, Pacific Place 11

*SHOOTING GALLERY FILM SERIES
Indie film studio the Shooting Gallery showcases movies that were well received at various international film festivals, but never got a proper theatrical release. Adrenaline Drive, Shinobu Yaguchi's adventure flick in which a nerdy car rental clerk gets in a car wreck with menacing Japanese gangsters, is in the current spotlight. Uptown

Small Time Crooks
Woody Allen directs this unamusing heist-gone-wrong-gone-right caper, the latest in a series of bad Woody Allen films. Reviewed this issue. Aurora Cinema Grill, Grand Alderwood, Meridian 16, Seven Gables

*Time Code
The screen is cut into quadrants. Four films on one screen. No editing. Story takes place in Hollywood; is about Hollywood. No script. Cast wears synchronized digital watches. Fortunately, the experiment is founded on a formidable story--the four films unfolding simultaneously onscreen are all facets of one large narrative, dealing with the quotidian emotional reality of showbiz folk. (Paula Gilovich) Broadway Market

Transgender & Intersex Film Festival
Olympia's Evergreen Queer Alliance presents "GenderQueer," a fun and educational four-day festival boasting film, theater, art, lectures, and discussions for the Northwest's transgender and transsexual community. Thurs-Sun May 18-21; call (360) 866-6000 ex. 6544 for details.

U-571
One of the most important turning points in World War II was the Allied capture of the German code machine, Enigma. U-571 is an attempt to show us modern folks what this dramatic event must have been like. The only thing not historically accurate is the damn story. A British destroyer was responsible for capturing the machine, not Matthew McConaughey! Better you should watch Das Boot. (Juan-Carlos Rodriguez) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

Up at the Villa
Sean Penn and Kristin Scott Thomas star as ill-fated lovers in the newest entry in the sex-leads-to-tragedy-leads-to-a-woman's-self-knowledge genre, based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The fine supporting cast includes Anne Bancroft, Derek Jacobi, the great Sir James Fox, Jeremy Davies, and the dappled flora of Tuscany. Metro, Uptown

*The Virgin Suicides
The most consistent element of The Virgin Suicides is a steady stream of images that echo the feminine-hygiene commercials of the 1970s. Considering the material--five teenage sisters growing up in a repressive home and headed for funerals rather than graduations--the lightness of touch is surprising. But to juxtapose suicide with buoyant innocence might be uniquely appropriate; if the film has a message, it seems to be that a mythologized purity of youth can't survive into adulthood. (Monica Drake) Broadway Market, Grand Alderwood, Metro

Where the Heart Is
Attention Wal-Mart shoppers! Natalie Portman is giving birth on aisle 3! Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center