3000 Miles to Graceland, Alma, DF1LM Digital Film Festival, Five Films by Jay Rosenblatt, Monkeybone, Original Sin, PEEP! The Stranger's First Annual Film and Video Festival, Pollock, Taboo

*Antique Smut
This wonderful, three-week Olde-Thyme Porno triptych includes treasures from the private collections of two of America's foremost film preservationists, Karl Cohen and Murray Glass. The first week's collection includes one of the best old films ever made, which features an early celluloid instance of goat fucking. There's another one who deserves a MacArthur grant, sirs! Fri-Sat only. Grand Illusion

*Brief Encounters
In this Russian love triangle circa 1967, two women have fallen for the very same carefree geologist, played by a folk singer with a cult following named Vladimir Vysotsky. Director Kira Muratova casts herself as Valya, a Russian official who is trying to make sure new apartments are up to code, but whose all-too-stable life is both a lure and a turn-off for the rootless geologist. Nadya (Nina Ruslanova) is a young girl who has also fallen for him and who has traced him to Valya's apartment, where she gets a job as a maid. This is the kind of (very Russian) story that ends well without ever having the chance of ending "happily." To put it another way, it is a lovely film. (Andy Spletzer) Sat-Sun only. Grand Illusion

A Constant Forge
A three-hour documentary on the working methods of American icon John Cassavetes, A Constant Forge plays as a companion piece to a restored print of Killing of a Chinese Bookie at the Grand Illusion. Cassavetes is legendary for his method, which allowed actors to improvise on dramatic moments, and then tried to guide the resulting performances into a narrative. While this documentary is perhaps too epic and informative for the novice, it is indispensable for those who know and respect Cassavetes' work. (Jamie Hook) Thurs-Sun only. Little Theatre

Down to Earth
Chris Rock's loud, black mouth finds its way into a chubby, white body in this loose remake of Heaven Can Wait, about The Stranger's favorite social phenomenon: the Ol' Switcheroo! Opens Fri. Meridian 16, Oak Tree, Metro

Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ditching school never once approached the complicated, high-stakes drama John Hughes would have you believe, but Matthew Broderick hanging around the food court probably wouldn't have had the same impact. Regardless, here's a late-night screening of the movie responsible for both the widespread singing of "Danke Schoene" and Ben Stein's career. Fri-Sat only. Egyptian

*George Washington
What this wonderfully obtuse new film by first-timer David Gordon Green lacks in plot, it more than makes up for with the ethereal, orange luster of Tim Orr's rapturous widescreen cinematography. And if the references to Terrence Malick's Cinema of Innocent Americana slow-as-molasses narration--voiceover, rumbling tone music, and plenty of children's metaphysical musings--are at times ponderously transparent, well, there are worse people to imitate, aren't there? The untrained, unknown cast of youngsters is a revelation, and the beauty mined from the wasted dregs of North Carolina is staggering. Allow the film to penetrate your subconscious, and you will find it lingering on there for many months to come. (Jamie Hook) Opens Fri. Varsity Calendar

The Heiress
For all the eternal arguments made about how movie adaptations never live up to their source novels, you'd think more people would have acknowledged by now that the two genres are merely satisfying two different sets of expectation. Can The Heiress match the subtle psychology of Henry James's Washington Square? Of course not, and the name change alone tells you the focus will shift from social pressures to individual desires. Still, all of James's skill couldn't make a heroine so ripe for audience identification as Olivia de Havilland managed with some well-timed sobs and longing looks at the man whose love could cost her her inheritance; or convey the tyrannical, oppressive nature of her father as efficiently as one withering shout from Ralph Richardson. Sure, love the book; but love also the movie, directed with the professionalism and emotional tact you'd expect from William Wyler's follow-up to Best Years of Our Lives. (Bruce Reid) Sun only. Seattle Art Museum

I'll Make Me A World Without Fear or Shame
Radical Women presents a special dinner and screening of this documentary about racial justice during World War I and the Great Depression. The film is free at 7:30 pm; the dinner is a suggested donation of $6.50 at 6:30 pm. Thurs Feb 15 only. New Freeway Hall

*In the Mood for Love
See entire film section this issue. Wong Kar-wai! He's our guy! He'll spit his film right in your eye! Opens Fri. Harvard Exit

*Killing of a Chinese Bookie
See Stranger Suggests. John Cassavetes managed to make what he claims is a picture in the gangster genre; this is it. Opens Fri. Grand Illusion

The Man in the White Suit
Alec Guinness plays a fresh-faced chemist who invents a kind of cloth that never wears out. But if it never wears out, how will the cloth mills sell more cloth? Don't be surprised at the depth and intricacy of the script's cynicism. Director Alexander Mackendrick's subsequent projects include The Sweet Smell of Success; his scoffing has stood the test of time. Mackendrick's background in animation may have influenced the look and the sounds of Guinness's apparatus, which eventually grows into one of the best mad-genius laboratories ever. With the usual cast and crew from the 1950s Ealing Studios (The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers) all in peak form. Watching Cecil Parker, the king of comic vacillation, play against Guinness, all amiable obstinacy, is entertainment indeed. (Barley Blair) Thurs Feb 15 only. Seattle Art Museum

Recess: School's Out
Supposedly, we are living in a Golden Age of Cartoons. This new film from Disney makes it look more like the plague years. Or perhaps it's brilliant! Please tell us if that's so. Opens Fri. Meridian 16, Metro, Majestic Bay

Reel Soul
A night of independent and experimental film by black filmmakers. Fri only. 911 Media Arts

*SERGIO LEONE SHOOTOUTS
See Stranger Suggests. A week-long retrospective from the Chef Boyardee of the Western. Opens Fri. Egyptian

Sweet November
I'm sure you've all seen the lengthy television advertisements for Sweet November, and so everyone is abreast of what kind of heartstrings are pulled with the new super Hollywood acting combo, Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron. Now sometimes the soiling of a film comes with one stroke, one inconsequential scene that because it was left unedited, the whole film is denied. I argue that Sweet November should be denied by all of you on this basis: Keanu Reeves, the workaholic ad exec, is trying to perform his American duty of reinventing the hot dog. In this scene, Keanu is running on his treadmill, sweating bullets in his modern apartment and thinking, like he always is, of hot dogs. He pops off his mill jerkily and bounds toward the microwave. Keanu pops it open and then hunts and spears the microwaved hot dog with a fork. And then, sweaty Keanu puts the sweaty hot dog in his mouth. That's when it was over for me. (Paula Gilovich) Opens Fri. Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11

The T.A.M.I. Show
Concert footage from the Teenage Awards Music International, including performances by Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, James Brown, and the Rolling Stones. Wed Feb 21 only. JBL Theater at EMP

Zom-Chi
Professional dominatrix Fawn Diablo hosts this screening of filmmaker Chelsea R. Boncello's short Zom-Chi (formerly Zombie Chicks). Either bring a dish for the reception to follow, or fork over $8. Sun only. Little Theatre

Before Night Falls
In Julian Schnabel's new film, Before Night Falls, the life story of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas manages to be utterly straightforward despite the hallucinatory, incantatory style of his writing. Furthermore, it makes Arenas sound like a hack poet. And that, my friends should be a punishable crime. (Emily Hall) Broadway Market

*Best In Show
The latest from the folks who brought you Waiting for Guffman follows several dog owners on their quest for the blue ribbon at the 2000 Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. Broadway Market

*Billy Elliot
Granted, the story is unoriginal (a small town boy beats the odds and becomes a ballet dancer), but its setting (a working-class family struggling through the worst of the Thatcher years) disrupts the sleep of the tired narrative and unexpectedly, steadily, it comes to life. I almost cried during this film--yes, it's that touching. (Charles Mudede) Broadway Market

Burlesk King
Burlesk King dishes up a combination psychodrama/murder mystery/love story topped with a Rocky-esque feel-good finale that's wrapped in acres of young, firm Filipino flesh; the cinematic equivalent of dating a beautiful but stupid person. Expect nothing, enjoy what's there, and get out quick. (David Schmader) Egyptian

Cast Away
Cast Away takes lurid delight in cataloging the various losses that accrue upon once-wealthy FedEx international systems supervisor Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) after a freak Christmas Eve plane crash strands him somewhere in the South Pacific. The stupid simplicity with which Hanks is shown crafting his world so utterly subverts any but the most priapic observations that one comes away from the film feeling a trifle molested, or just bored. (Jamie Hook) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Majestic Bay, Meridian 16, Oak Tree

Chocolat
The film critic in me has control over my emotions; it can and will repress my wolflike desire to fill this page with hungry words that praise the celestial beauty of Juliette Binoche. My straightforward review will open with a detailed plot summary ("The movie is about a French village whose serenity is shattered by a mysterious woman who moves into town with her illegitimate daughter and opens a sexy chocolate store."), and then state the truth ("The movie is unremarkable!"). Because that, ladies and gentlemen, is the job of a film critic. (Charles Mudede) Aurora Cinema Grill, Guild 45th, Meridian 16, Redmond Town Center

*Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Legendary warrior Chow Yun Fat can never declare his love for fellow martial-arts expert Michelle Yeoh. Instead, he entrusts her with Green Destiny, his nearly magical sword. It's an attempt to wed emotionally reticent drama with the exhilarating freedom of Hong Kong-genre filmmaking, but director Ang Lee can't quite pull off the combination; for too long a time, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's shifting gears only jam. The film finds its rhythm and earns the accolades it has received once it leaves the stars behind and gives its heart over to the young and engaging Zhang Ziyi. (Bruce Reid) Grand Alderwood, Neptune, Uptown

Double Take
What is relevant to this film is Orlando Jones, who is supposed to be Hollywood's next big comic. Is he hot or not? The answer is no. Why? Because he is not intrinsically funny. As for the film, it's not too bad. (Charles Mudede) Pacific Place 11

The Emperor's New Groove
The Emperor's New Groove attempts to identify with black cool. But sadly, there is nothing really black about this film, which is shrouded in a mist of black themes, slang, styles. Imagine walking into a funk disco only to discover, once inside, that it's packed with knee-slapping square dancers. (Charles Mudede) Pacific Place 11

Finding Forrester
A kid from the Bronx excels at both basketball and composition, befriends a hermit writer, undergoes a crisis from which the writer must extract him, thereby helping the writer overcome his own reclusive blah blah blah. (Barley Blair) Factoria, Majestic Bay, Meridian 16, Metro, Redmond Town Center

The Gift
Set passively in a Georgia swamp--the very landscape of horror--The Gift is about a woman, Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett), who has a special and unusual gift: She's psychic. She uses this gift to help the community. Then! She starts seeing bad stuff. A murder occurs. She uses her gift to solve the murder. Nothing remains of horror director Sam Raimi's insane ambition to make films of terror and slapstick so exciting they would significantly alter the entire genre each time he passed through. (Paula Gilovich) Pacific Place 11

Hannibal
If you've intently spent the past ten years salivating over the prospect of this sequel, I hope you know that you've completely wasted twice as many years as it took Messrs. Lennon and McCartney to go from "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" to "Revolution." Hannibal is a mess; an overblown, audacious, painstakingly long, gratuitous mess. Hannibal Lecter in his second outing is an annoying little old man, the sort you'd just love to push down a flight of stairs. Worse still, he's a limey, a fish-and-chip-worshiping limey! (Alright, so he's always been a limey but he seemed so much better at downplaying his weaknesses 10 years ago). That the man has killed over 15 Americans isn't a case for the fucking FBI; it's a case for immigration! Stick the I.N.S on him and by lunch he'll be deported, disenfranchised, and the concern of only Miss Moneypenny and about fifty thousand tea ladies. Throw in a bit of an Elian Gonzalez style stand-off and maybe work the deportation of Ricky Martin into the script and you've got a movie with intent ridiculous enough to justify the content of this disappointing film. (Kudzai Mudede) Factoria, Meridian 16, Metro, Northgate, Redmond Town Center

Head Over Heels
This movie should only be seen under the following circumstances: None. Okay, maybe one: as a revenge prank. Even then, there are only a few wretched people in America on whom I would wish it. Watching it is like sitting through a 90-minute monologue by a kid whose dream is to make manager at Taco Bell. (Evan Sult) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Metro, Pacific Place 11

The House of Mirth
British director Terence Davies' The House of Mirth, starring Gillian Anderson and Dan Aykroyd, adapts Edith Wharton's 1905 novel about New York high society--the tragic story of a beautiful young woman looking to marry a rich husband and finding herself torn between her need for financial security and her desire for personal integrity. (Caveh Zahedi) Seven Gables

Miss Congeniality
Sandra Bullock plays Gracie, a tomboyish FBI agent who goes undercover--beauty pageant-style--in order to capture a terrorist preying on contestants. Pacific Place 11

*O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Set in Depression-era Mississippi, George Clooney stars as Everett Ulysses McGill, a suave and well-groomed petty criminal doing hard time on a chain gang. Shackled to Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), he convinces them to join him in escaping by promising to split a fortune in buried treasure. (Andy Spletzer) Factoria, Harvard Exit, Redmond Town Center

The Pledge
An aging, chain-smoking, and lonesome Jack Nicholson plays a retired Reno police detective who, during his last investigation, promises the parents of a brutally raped and murdered 8-year-old girl that he will, upon his eternal salvation, apprehend the culprit. (Chris Dougherty) Aurora Cinema Grill, Grand Alderwood, Metro, Pacific Place 11, Southcenter

Save the Last Dance
A hip-hoppin' drama about a rhythmically challenged white girl from the Midwest who sets out to endear herself to the young brothers and sisters of a black, inner-city Chicago high school. And how responsibly does this movie handle the potential conflagration of bad racial stereotypes it presents? I ask you all to picture matches, dynamite, and a very drunk monkey. (Kudzai Mudede) Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Oak Tree

Saving Silverman
Jason Biggs is about to marry "the wrong girl," and his two rowdy buddies (Jack Black and Steve Zahn) will stop at nothzzzzzzzzzzzz. Judging by Silverman's sizable kitsch insurance policy, the accountant who approved this one knew it would take an omnipresent Neil Diamond to ensure the assload of money this film will undoubtedly make. (Jason Pagano) Factoria, Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro

*Shadow of the Vampire
E. Elias Merhige's Shadow of the Vampire revisits the set of film director F. W. Murnau's 1922 horror classic Nosferatu to tell an imagined story of Murnau (John Malkovich) and his obscure star Max Schreck (played brilliantly by Willem Dafoe). Murnau casts an actual vampire, offering--in exchange for Schreck's willingness to "play himself"--to sacrifice his unsuspecting leading lady in the final scene of the film. The unavoidable need to please the producers has created a work that must, out of necessity, clothe its more radical ideas in the less threatening guise of allegory. Even so, it is a wholly entertaining and engaging film, full of charm and whimsy; one that walks a subtle tightrope between creepiness and hilarity. (Caveh Zahedi) Guild 45th, Meridian 16

Snatch
I remember reading that after he saw a screening of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels in London, Tom Cruise leapt to his feet and screamed, "This movie rocks!" I'm sure he'll probably scream the same thing about Snatch. So, there you go. If you liked Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, you're gonna like Snatch. (Bradley Steinbacher) Grand Alderwood, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Oak Tree

*State and Main
A Hollywood film crew descends on a small Vermont town to make a movie, bringing their sophisticated mores with them. David Mamet has said that he was thinking of Preston Sturges when he put this film together, and it's a worthy successor to the Master. (Barley Blair) Metro, Pacific Place 11

Sugar & Spice
Lincoln High's cheer squad captain meets the love of her life and, like any statistical high school love affair, gets knocked up. She and her dopey all-American fiancé get ditched by their parents and are left to fend for their stupid selves. Slowly growing broke, she and her menstrually-synched cheer squad sisters know the only way to quick cash is turning tricks or robbing banks. (Megan Seling) City Centre, Lewis & Clark

Thirteen Days
Taking its title from Robert Kennedy's book but its worldview from hagiography, Thirteen Days portrays the Cuban missile crisis as an episode in the life of St. Jack Kennedy. You may enjoy this movie, and that's okay, but I want you to hate it too. You should hate anything--any work of art, any literature, any fiction, any history--that pretends there is an obvious answer to any serious question. (Barley Blair) Aurora Cinema Grill, Factoria, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Metro, Redmond Town Center

Traffic
The big message in Traffic is perfectly laid-out by its tagline: "Nobody gets away clean." Read the poster and you've saved $8.50. Drugs lead to bad things, that is the moral, and I believe I learned it in ninth-grade health class. All the flashy directorial touches and sterling performances in the world can't cover the fact that Traffic is just another example of Hollywood tackling a complex problem with the simplest and most conservative of solutions. (Bradley Steinbacher) Grand Alderwood, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11, Varsity

Valentine
In our younger years, some people seemed to think their Debbie Gibson tour jacket made them hot shit. And as they grew up into the snotty, spoiled little hoochies they were, their lesson still hadn't been learned. And now, well, the only plausible solution Hollywood can seem to conjure up is that they must die. By iron, by electrocution, by their heads being slammed into jagged glass... it's good for laughs, if nothing more. (Megan Seling) Meridian 16, Oak Tree, Redmond Town Center

The Wedding Planner
A harmless, sweethearted example of what I call the "Sandra Bullockization" of the romantic comedy. Jennifer Lopez, playing Maria, the titular planner, manages to be successful, self-deprecating, beautiful, and devoid of love. She is rescued from death by dumpster by Matthew McConaughey, hunky blond pediatrician and Perfect Catch, but discovers that he is engaged to one of her customers. Predictable hilarity ensues. (Traci Vogel) Factoria, Majestic Bay, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place 11, Redmond Town Center

What Women Want
High-level advertising exec Nick Marshall (Mel Gibson) gets tripped up in his slick 'n' chauvinistic act when, instead of being handed the promotion he expects, a woman (Helen Hunt as Darcy McGuire) is hired in his place. Rolling his eyes, Nick heads woefully home, gets drunk, falls in the tub, and electrocutes himself. And suddenly Nick is in the best position to know what women want--he can hear their very thoughts! A flat, stale, and extremely profitable Hollywood film. (Traci Vogel) City Centre

*Yi Yi
Yi Yi opens at a wedding and closes at a funeral, and in between lies a remarkably observant summation of the ups and downs of a middle-class family in Taipei. Do not miss this opportunity to see this wonderful film that will draw you in and make you forget about time and space. (Andy Spletzer) Varsity

*You Can Count on Me
In Kenneth Lonergan's You Can Count on Me, "adult" and "sadness" and "American" become a knot of synonyms as the story focuses on the pure inability a brother and sister have with one another now that they're adults. It's as though being an adult, and a member of a grownup American family, is the path of loneliness and sadness. (Paula Gilovich) Broadway Market