Films of Faith Hubley, Scary Movie, Jesus' Son, Trixie, I'm the One That I Want, The Little Thief

30 Frames a Second
A new documentary on the WTO by local filmmaker Russ Thompson. Fri June 30 at the Seattle Asian Art Museum; See Stranger Suggests. Seattle Asian Art Museum

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
A glossy, big-budget live action remake of the wonderful, humble old cartoon. Put the gun down--just walk away. Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree

*Contempt
When asked about this excellent film, Godard simply said somthing to the effect of, "I just wanted to make a film about the colors red and blue." If that is the case, he must be credited with making the best film about red and blue ever: Contempt is a masterpiece, as confirmed during its re-release a few years back. Starring Michel Piccoli and Brigitte Bardot, with a great supporting role by Jack Palance and the world's greatest curmudgeonly cameo by Fritz Lang, the movie moves with confident grace from a studio on the outskirts of Paris to the incredible Casa Malaparte on the edge of the Mediterranean, tracing the fall of one man's faith in himself. (Jamie Hook) Little Theatre

Films Honoring Jacob Lawrence
A selection of films honoring the fine artist's passing. Plays Wednesday only, see Stranger Movie Times for details. Little Theatre

FREMONT FRIDAY NIGHT OUTDOOR MOVIES
Cutting-edge comedy--or your worst nightmare? "Twisted Flicks" combines horror and sci-fi B-movies with improvised dialogue, sound effects, and music by Jet City Improv. This week features the eight-legged mayhem in the Arizona desert of Tarantula (1955). Fri June 30 at 8, $5.

*Fremont Outdoor Cinema
The original outdoor cinema is back for its last year in the much-loved Fremont Parking Lot, with a lineup of favorites through September. This week, it's the "Summer School Special" featuring Rock 'n' Roll High School and Carrie, with pre-show music from Head. Sat July 1 at 7, $5; call 767-2593 for details. Fremont Outdoor Cinema

Kirikou and the Sorceress
Based on West African folk legends, Kirikou is the animated tale of a "plucky and charming" baby boy compelled to battle an evil sorceress. See Stranger Suggests. Varsity Calendar

*LINDA'S SUMMER MOVIES
Back again for a sixth season, it's the original outdoor drinking/film-watching extravaganza, presented, as always, FOR FREE!! By the time the plot falls apart, you'll be too drunk to care!! This week features 1975's Tidal Wave, touted as "The Greatest Disaster Epic Ever Unleashed." Wed July 5 at dusk; see Stranger Movie Times for details. Linda's Tavern

The Most Terrible Time in My Life
A Japanese CinemaScope thriller. Reviewed this issue. Grand Illusion

The Patriot
I'd no idea that George W. Bush was sinking his campaign funds into a major motion picture. At least that's what it felt like when I saw The Patriot, which is one jingoistic mother of a movie. The story's an American Braveheart. Mel Gibson is Benjamin Martin, who refuses to enter the brewing Revolutionary War because of his troubled past, when he did grisly things as a soldier. But after being shamed by son number one, who eagerly signs up, and being outraged when son number two is gunned down by a nasty Brit, you know the Gib will soon be unpacking his deadly tomahawk in the name of "FREEEEEDOOOMMMM!" There's lots of gore (cannonballs decapitating luckless soldiers, etc.), to the point where even Old Glory (the flag, or more correctly, the flag pole) is drafted as a weapon! I have to ask; is that worse than burning it? Opens Wed June 28. (Gillian G. Gaar) Meridian 16

The Perfect Storm
Some sweet little guys go up against some big mean waves. Reviewed this issue. Neptune, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

Shaft (1971)
Richard Roundtree stars as the titular badass in the film that started it all, from the trademark leather trenchcoat and Oscar-winning soundtrack to the disappointing sequels and inexplicable remake. Egyptian

SILENT MOVIE MONDAYS
Don't miss the return of the Seattle Landmark Association's silent film series! Orphans of the Storm (1921), D. W. Griffith's 190-minute epic set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, will be shown in the opulent Paramount auditorium with live organ accompaniment. Mon July 3 at 7, $10. Paramount Theatre

Third World Cop
Jamaica's highest grossing film of all time stars Paul Campbell as a star cop up against his former friend. Shot on location in the ghettos of Kingston with a DV camera, this film cost the surprising amount of $15 million Jamaican. That translates to less than $500,000 U.S. My god!!! With a soundtrack produced by Sly & Robbie. Varsity Calendar

*WEST SEATTLE WALK-IN CINEMA
West Seattle's own version of al fresco cinema and family fun is in full swing for the summer, with films, shorts, live music, and contests. This week: Cold War-era xenophobia at its finest in 1956's Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Fri June 30 at 7, $5; call 767-2593 for details. West Seattle Walk-In Cinema

WHERE ART MEETS NATURE
Two documentaries on artists whose work intersects with the natural world: The Dharmic Engineers documents the collaboration of four Seattle artists creating environmental art installations in city spaces; Wemawe follows the story of fetish carvers of the Zuni Pueblo of New Mexico. Fri June 30 at 8, $4. 911 Media Arts

WIDESCREEN EPICS
A week of films screened unaltered and in full CinemaScope grandeur, including the classic Dr. Zhivago and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. Reviewed this issue. Egyptian

8 1/2 Women
Peter Greenaway focuses this time on the war between the sexes, as a banker and his son assemble a harem on the order of Fellini's magic number. Unlike earlier efforts, the humor in this film actually is intentional--vulgar to be sure (even a bit of father-son incest seems played for laughs), but a change for the better from the stifling seriousness of previous Greenaway films. (Bruce Reid) Broadway Market

*Beau Travail
Adapted from Herman Melville's Billy Budd, but rewritten (by the director and Jean-Paul Fargeau) and relocated to fit in with the director's trademark concerns, Beau Travail unfolds in a French Foreign Legion post in North Africa. The tale is narrated by Billy Budd's Claggart character, here recast as the squad's sergeant, Galoup (Denis Lavant). Whether observing them working, fighting, or at play, Denis and her cinematographer Agnès Godard gaze at the men with a passionate scrutiny. You know right at the beginning this will be an uncommonly excellent film. (Bruce Reid) Egyptian

Big Momma's House
In this weak comedy, Martin Lawrence plays the good guy and handsome Terrence Howard, from The Best Man, plays the bad guy. Sexy Nia Long is the lover of a heartless bank robber. When she suddenly disappears, the FBI stakes out her Georgia grandmother's home, and Martin Lawrence assumes her role--her bed, her clothes, her big butt, her Southern drawl. True, it is a bad movie, but it is the most creative retelling of Little Red Riding Hood I have ever seen. (Charles Mudede) Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Pacific Place 11

Bossa Nova
Watching this simple tale of a small group of people becoming entangled with one another is a task of sweet, comic relaxation. Set against the shocking mountains of Rio de Janeiro, everything leads to romance in this Latin film, and even the hospital room has a sweeping view of the Brazilian coast. (Paula Gilovich) Crest

Boys and Girls
With a title that covers just about everyone, this movies is sure to appeal to the entire human race. Starring the lovely Freddie Prinze Jr. as one of the boys (too bad!). Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark. Metro, Pacific Place 11

BUTTERFLY
Spain, 1936; a boy and his schoolteacher; politics interfere. Acting as good as the best of Hollywood, costumes and sets as textured, cinematography as radiant--and a moral vision just as banal. Could we please stop patting ourselves on the back for not being fascists? Fernando Fernin Gomez, the teacher, has great tact, and the script gives him intelligent lines to read. Director Jose Luis Cuerda gets a fine performance from the little boy. You could enjoy this movie, as I did, without buying in to its simple-mindedness. (Barley Blair) Broadway Market

Chicken Run
Chicken Run is about chickens trying to escape. It is very funny and exciting; each chicken has a great sense of humor and is weird. Mel Gibson is the voice of Rocky, and Julia Sawalha (from Absolutely Fabulous) is Ginger. It all starts when Rocky the Chicken comes blasting over the fence and everybody thinks he can fly. The chickens ask him to teach them to fly but they don't make any progress. Something fishy is going on--Mrs. Tweedy (the farmer's wife) has a machine that lets the chickens go in and pies come out. They do whatever they can to resist becoming pies. (Sam Lachow & Maggie Brown) Factoria, Lewis & Clark, Metro, Oak Tree,. Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

The Cup
Laughter erupts as Tibetan monks become obsessed with World Cup soccer! Crest

*Desperate Living
Desperate Living (1977) stars Mink Stole as newly released mental patient Peggy Gravel and Jean Hill as her lethal fatbottomed maid, Grizelda. Following the accidental murder of Mr. Gravel--Grizelda sits on his face--the odd couple must escape to Mortville, a mythical shanty-town ruled by the vicious Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey). From nude-pogo-stick-jumping to the spectacle of Backwards Day, Desperate Living is, and I am not being ironic, a masterpiece. Fri-Sat June 30-July 1; see Stranger Movie Times for details. (Jamie Hook) Grand Illusion

Dinosaur
From the beginning of time, this has been the drama of the dinosaurs: They are oppressed by the mighty and terrifying Tyrannosaurus; they are always searching for water or a green paradise, and their big eggs are always eaten or crushed just moments before they hatch. (Charles Mudede) Factoria, Meridian 16, Redmond Town Center, Southcenter

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

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). But Puri saves the day by doing what he does best: deepening and extending his character's emotional and psychological range. (Charles Mudede) Uptown

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. (Charles Mudede) Crest

Everest
The first IMAX footage ever shot on top of the world. Pacific Science Center IMAX

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

Fantasia 2000
Whatever sins against classical music of cutting, re-orchestration, and reinterpretation can be leveled against Disney's Fantasia 2000, it fortunately follows its esteemed predecessor in truly loving the interaction of film and visuals. The floating humpback whales in the Pines of Rome sequence are nearly as graceful and majestic; the final animistic portrait of a volcanic eruption has a Miyazaki-like grandeur. (Bruce Reid) Cinerama, Grand Alderwood, Metro

The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas.
Another "live action" Flintstones film. I can barely feel a thing... this water is so warm and soothing... but it's getting awfully red... oh, well... Admiral

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. (Rick Levin) City Centre

Gladiator
Director Ridley Scott tramps through the standard gladiator movie plot like a tipsy party host. War hero General Maximus (Russell Crowe), falls into the hands of a slaver (the late Oliver Reed), and with the help of a former love and his rough-but-likable gladiator pals, seeks his revenge by finding glory within the Coliseum. (Tom Spurgeon) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Guild 45th, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

Gone in 60 Seconds
The film is not actually good, but it's so much better than you expect it to be that it seems good, or feels good. (Sean Nelson) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Metro, Northgate, Pacific Place 11

GROOVE
Groove is a bad movie. Fortunately, a movie like this one--a movie about a scene, an urban subculture--works better if it is bad. Most importantly, we hear real rave music. In this respect, the film is a success! (Charles Mudede) Varsity

*Hamlet
Michael Almereyda's new adaptation of Hamlet, starring Ethan Hawke of all people, is a thrilling surprise; a contemporary reading of the play that comes closer to tapping its potential as a paradigm for human conflict than any other film that's tried. The deft intrusions of contemporary life--Hamlet is an amateur film/videomaker; "to be or not to be" is spoken in a Blockbuster Video store, Hamlet surrounded by placards reading "ACTION"--play not as clever transpositions, but as perfect illustrations of the play's immortal truth and infinite mutability. (Sean Nelson) Varsity

*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. (Kathleen Wilson) Broadway Market, Seven Gables

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

Le Doulos
I'm particularly fond of the elaborate Le Doulos (The Stool Pigeon), whose plot is so involved that it's impossible to summarize. Suffice it to say, it concerns two criminals: a burglar who is fresh out of the clink (Serge Reggiani), and a hoodlum who is trying settle down in the country (Jean-Paul Belmondo). The stool pigeon in question is Jean-Paul Belmondo, but this synopsis is already misleading. Just watch the film. (Charles Mudede) Grand Illusion

Long Night's Journey Into Day
Long Night's Journey Into Day examines the elaborate architecture of civic emotion in the aftermath of apartheid by taking a clear-eyed look at the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC). The emotions displayed in the 95 minutes of interviews, confessions, and accusations that make up the film are as elemental and rich as humanity itself. (Jamie Hook) Varsity Calendar

LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST
Kenneth Branagh, the world's leading effete ponce, takes a minor Shakespeare comedy and makes it a musical by adding Cole Porter and Irving Berlin songs. The problem: Alicia Silverstone. Despite one or two moments that seemed memorable at the time but which I now can't remember, LLL is a colossal, self-satisfied abortion of a film. (Sean Nelson) Harvard Exit

Me, Myself and Irene
Dildos, dog shit, the suffering of children and animals, physical disabilities, graphic violence, and Jim Carrey's rote performance beamed to the camera via satellite while he was taking a nap all conspired to make this a film one that future generations will undoubtedly study as a sort of Rosetta stone of our cultural sicknesses. (Tamara Paris) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree

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

*Mission: Impossible 2
I loved this movie. I loved the vertiginous helicopter swoops as Tom Cruise scales an impossibly sheer cliff to receive his impossible mission. I loved the profligate back flips in the fight choreography as he takes out villain after glass-jawed villain. I loved the preposterous motorcycle chase/joust. It may not last too long after the credits roll, but pleasures like this aren't meant to. (Sean Nelson) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree

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. Admiral

*Road Trip
Road Trip takes the 15-minute road-trip sequence from Animal House and expands it to feature length. In this case, "University of Ithaca" college student Josh (Breckin Meyer) accidentally mails his long-distance girlfriend Tiffany a videotape of him having sex with another woman, forcing him and a trio of college buddies to drive 1,800 miles to recover it. (Eric Fredericksen) Uptown

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. In the end, we are left with nothing--absolutely nothing. (Charles Mudede) Admiral

Shaft
John Singleton's Shaft is unispired; it just pushes black macho beyond the limit of good taste and utility. The way Shaft brutally beats up the drug-dealing teenager with the butt of his gun, the way he calmly guns down the Latino gang members, or nearly kills the judge with his badge--it's a little too much, you will agree. (Charles Mudede) Factoria, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center

Shanghai Noon
Even the presence of Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson can't save this revisionist Western action comedy from the musty odor of the second-rate. Wilson and his co-star are to be credited for occasionally rising above the material, but there are much better ways to spend a summer afternoon. (Tom Spurgeon) Aurora Cinema Grill, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

Small Time Crooks
Woody Allen's 2000 entry is one of his unambitious, hoping-only-to-amuse movies. Too bad it's unoriginal, not very amusing, and a near waste of some of this world's greatest comic talent: Tracey Ullman, Elaine May, and Jon Lovitz. (Eric Fredericksen) City Centre, Metro

SUNSHINE
What says "sunshine" more perfectly than the history of Hungarian Jews in the 20th century? Sunshine is an epic account of one poor family's travails through three generations of Europe's now famous anti-semitic hi-jinx. Harvard Exit

Titan AE
Titan AE (After Earth) was about--well, we didn't exactly see it because our editor didn't tell us the right theater to go to for the press screening. Anyway, we think it's about the end of Earth and how humans survive in the galaxy, but we don't know what it's really about, or how many stars it gets--we're guessing about three. From the commercial, the animation looks really cool; some things even look real. (Sam & Maggie, crack 9-year-old reviewers) Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center

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. (Juan-Carlos Rodriguez) 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

Where the Heart Is
Attention Wal-Mart shoppers! Natalie Portman is giving birth in aisle 3. Clean up! Crest

Wild Boys of the road
(1936) Williams Wellman's Depression-era tale of two homeless boys in search of work throughout the Midwest. Consolidated Works