Run far, far away from the “bloated, cheesy, lifeless, boring waste of two hours and $140 million” that is Gods of Egypt, and into the comforting darkness of a cinema to take in one of these critic-approved picks. For more options, check out our complete movie times listings, or our list of the best films to see in Seattle over the next three months.
NEW RELEASES
1. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
“WTF is well-cast, is what I’m saying, which is key for a film that seems unable to decide if it is a wacky fish-out-of-water comedy, or a serious tale of war, or an unlikely romance, or, IDK, an episode of This American Life? SURE. It’s uneven. But what’s utterly convincing is that somehow, this good-but-not-great movie has accurately captured that particular moment when a reporter discovers the ineffable joy of chasing a high-stakes story for the first time.” – Megan Burbank
2. Zootopia
“Zootopia may ostensibly be an animated buddy cop flick with a few winks to Chinatown, but it’s also chock full of smart, incisive observations on race and gender, as well as front-loaded with tons of laughs and heart. Disney is doing better.” – Wm. Steven Humphrey
LIMITED RUNS
3. Army of Darkness
The third installment of the Evil Dead series continues to follow Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, battling dead people in the Middle Ages.
4. The Club
This 2015 drama centers around four priests, a nun, and a clerical counselor. Directed by Pablo Larraín, it was put forth as the Chilean entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.
5. Men Go to Battle
“If you want to see a great-looking film that was shot on a very small budget, then do not miss Zachary Treitz’ Men Go to Battle, a feature that’s set during the Civil War and received a lot of attention at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. Battle was produced by Steven Schardt, a local and talented filmmaker, and Brett Jutkiewicz is responsible for its impressive images. Schardt and the director will be at this screening and able to answer all of your questions.” – Charles Mudede
6. The Sprocket Society presents Saturday Secret Matinees
Watch the entirety of the highly regarded serial Spy Smasher over the course of twelve weekly installments. Each screening will feature one episode, plus a secret feature film that follows a monthly theme. This month: fantasy and adventure movies.
7. A War
“Set in Afghanistan, the film is about unit of Danish soldiers under the command of Claus Pedersen (Pilou Asbæk). Pedersen, who has a wife and children, spends much of the first part of the film doing the best he can. He thinks things over, he cares about his soldiers, he is always alert. But then things spin out of control, and he has to face the consequences back home. But the thing is this: No one is really right in this film. Why? Because it is impossible for war to be morally clear. War is like the night when all cows are black. War rewards only the bad and the ugly. In war, everything is permitted.” – Charles Mudede
8. The Wave
Norway’s Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the Academy Awards, The Wave is a 2015 disaster film about a geologist who accidentally creates a gigantic tsunami.
CONTINUING RUNS
9. The Big Short
“The most important film in the 2016 Oscar race is The Big Short, which has five nominations, one of which is for best picture. The reason for its importance is the relevance of its subject matter—the greed, stupidity, and corruption that led to the collapse of the financial markets in 2008.” -Charles Mudede
10. Hail, Caesar!
“It doesn’t matter that Hail, Caesar! barely hangs together. It’s too much fun to watch. With Hail, Caesar!, [Joel and Ethan Coen] have forgone the brow furrowing and decided to revel in their favorite topic of all—movies. In what amounts to little more than an extended string of cameos and hilarious set pieces, Hail, Caesar! is a firm, feature-length pinch on Hollywood’s swollen, self-absorbed posterior.” – Ned Lannamann
11. How to Be Single
“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the filmmakers focus-grouped my approximate demographic of women and attached sensors to us to see what made our hearts, brains, and nether regions tingle, then checked what we hearted on Tumblr, and then crammed all that shit into one movie with a crowd-pleasing soundtrack. Is this a cheap grab at our base emotions? Yes. Is it effective? Abso-fucking-lutely.” – Elinor Jones
12. Son of Saul
“My experience of László Nemes’s debut feature, Son of Saul, was very intense and confusing. My emotions went this way and that—horror to a deep state of sadness to anger. And then I would swell with guilt about this angry feeling. And then I would become angry about this feeling of guilt. And then another scene would sink me into sadness again. Altogether, I rate Son of Saul as one of the few masterpieces of 21st-century cinema.” – Charles Mudede
13. The Witch
“The long wait for The Witch, the darling of last year’s Sundance Film Festival (which won Robert Eggers the best director award), has been worth it. If you like your horror smart, slow-burning, and suffused with allegorical dread, then you can’t do better than this dark folktale of colonialism, religion, family, and nature gone amok in 1630s New England.” – Sean Nelson
