There are many, many movies playing in Seattle this weekend, and while you could see Suicide Squad or Sausage Party, our film critics would advise you see these movies instead. Whether you want to relive childhood nostalgia with the remake of Pete’s Dragon, watch an existential thriller about the war in Afghanistan, or are in the mood for a screening of goofball fantasy Spaceballs in Cal Anderson Park, we’ve got you covered. For more options, as always, check out our complete movie times listings.
NEW RELEASES
1. Anthropoid
Spy movies come preloaded with expectations, promising many scenes of shadowy people doing shadowy things. The historical thriller Anthropoid thankfully knows the trappings of its genre well, telling a compelling, unexpectedly moving story that’s rife with secret knocks, signal mirrors, and hastily decoded messages. ANDREW WRIGHT
2. Hell or High Water
Leave it to a Scot to deliver the next great American western. It’s possible director David Mackenzie (Starred Up) had the distance and perspective to depict Hell or High Water’s depressed West Texas towns and dust-dry plains with unvarnished truth. Maybe he recognized, from across the pond, a universal struggle in the specific plight of brothers Toby and Tanner Howard (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) as they try to hang on to their father’s ranch. Perhaps he sensed the timeliness of a story that depicts white American men running out of time, money, and land. More likely, Mackenzie had Taylor Sheridan’s (Sicario) superb script to navigate a path around the obvious men-with-guns clichés that make up Hell or High Water’s western-noir milieu. Whatever the case may be, it’s resulted in a great film. NED LANNAMANN
3. Pete’s Dragon
Anyone looking to compare this Pete’s Dragon with the 1977 original would do well not to—in part because the 1977 version is garbage, and in part because this remake is an entirely different creature. Set in the shadowed forests of the Pacific Northwest, Pete’s Dragon: 2016 Edition finds feral child Pete (Oakes Fegley) hanging out in the woods with his pal Elliot, a giant green dog who can fly. At its best points, that’s all the movie is: a dirt-smeared kid and his excellent dragon running around with a wild earnestness that recalls Spike Jonze’s underrated take on Where the Wild Things Are. ERIK HENRIKSEN
LIMITED RUNS
Thursday
4. Almeida Live: Richard III
Watch footage from the live performance of Shakespeare’s terrifying Richard III at London’s Almeida Theatre, starring Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave.
SIFF Cinema Uptown and Sundance Cinemas
5. Rich and Strange
This romantic comedy with elaborate set design was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and follows a couple embarking on a cruise to Singapore.
Scarecrow Video
6. Under the Sun
This documentary follows a family in Pyongyang, North Korea, for an entire year. It was described as “propaganda deconstructed” by Variety film critic Dennis Harvey, and promises an intriguing, revealing peek into the world’s most mysterious nation.
Grand Illusion
Friday
7. The Fierce Awakens: Spaceballs
Three Dollar Bill Cinema presents this series of free outer-space-themed movies in Cal Anderson Park, where there will be a DJ starting at 7 pm, and concessions including popcorn and candy on sale, proceeds from which will benefit Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s year-round efforts to provide voices for the LGBTQ community through film. This week, watch Spaceballs: a Mel Brooks goofball fantasy cult classic, parodying the Star Wars trilogy.
Cal Anderson Park
Starting Friday
8. Blood Simple
Catch this new restoration of Joel and Ethan Coen’s directorial debut: 1984 violent noir thriller Blood Simple.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
9. Blue Velvet
This screening offers a new restoration of David Lynch’s noir thriller that begins with a single human ear in an empty field.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
10. Neither Heaven Nor Earth
The film begins by informing us that the year is 2014. Then, as now, the long war in Afghanistan, the movie’s setting, does not seem to have an end. Then, as now, we have no idea what the war is about. This meaninglessness is captured by the area the French soldiers are protecting. It is a harsh and rocky place. The people are dirt poor, the skies are cloudless, and lone animals roam here and there. Eventually, Neither Heaven Nor Earth takes a strange turn when French and Taliban soldiers start to mysteriously disappear. We exit the cinema of war realism and enter an excellent existential thriller. This film, the first feature by Clément Cogitore, was well received at Cannes with good reason. CHARLES MUDEDE
SIFF Film Center
11. Our Little Sister
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s luminous adaptation of Akima Yoshida’s manga series Umimachi Diary is a stealth masterpiece. Like his other films, Our Little Sister never draws attention to itself (or to its maker’s understated brilliance). He simply depicts four sisters going about their lives in coastal Kamakura, where plums grow freely, mackerel is plentiful, and the air glistens with humidity. The women have their flaws, like a fondness for the wrong men, but the better you get to know them, the harder it is to let them go. In that sense, his 12th narrative feature plays more like a miniseries than a movie. KATHY FENNESSY
Seven Gables
12. Private Property
This 2006 noir film, directed by Joachim Lafosse, stars Isabelle Huppert as a single mother in Belgium.
Grand Illusion
13. Road House
The legendary 1989 Patrick Swayze classic, aka Showgirls for boys.
Central Cinema
Saturday
14. All Power to the People!
This 1996 documentary by filmmaker Lee Lew-Lee combines archival footage and interviews to investigate controversies in the Civil Rights Movement and Black Panther Party.
Scarecrow Video
15. Cockfighter (Born to Kill)
This 1974 film by Monte Hellman (described as “intense, bloody, and weirdly beautiful”) offers a great performance by Warren Oates as an obsessive, cockfighting gambler.
Grand Illusion
All Weekend
16. Don’t Think Twice
Writer-director Birbiglia plays Miles, the 36-year-old founder of the Commune, an Upright Citizens Brigade–like group, who are at risk of losing their performance space, so they have to figure out whether to relocate, break up, or look for more lucrative gigs, since they all work day jobs to make ends meet (Kate Micucci from Garfunkel and Oates, is a UCB veteran). Then Jack (Key and Peele’s Keegan-Michael Key) lands a gig with Weekend Live, which strains his relationships with the other members, particularly his girlfriend, Sam (Love’s Gillian Jacobs). KATHY FENNESSY
SIFF Cinema Uptown and Sundance Cinemas
17. Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie picks up where the series left off: Edina and Patsy have not matured one iota, and when the pair suddenly find themselves bankrupt (and charged with killing model Kate Moss) they dash off to the French Riviera to evade the law, find rich husbands, and ingest more drugs and bubbly. The film achieves the same high-pitched, broad humor of the series—even though at a scant 90 minutes, Ab Fab: The Movie is straining at the seams. While you may wonder, “Why was this made?” the hilarious presence of Joanna Lumley is reason enough. Her character Patsy is a stroke of comedic genius, and the world is always in dire need of that. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
SIFF Cinema Uptown
CONTINUING RUNS
18. Captain Fantastic
In Captain Fantastic, this alternative family has to leave their little compound to attend a funeral, and in the outside world, we get to observe their smug disconnection from society alongside their admirably thoughtful, sustainable, and creative approach to life. Any audience would have a hard time not laughing out loud at the quick, complex jokes—but liberal, thoughtful Seattleites will get an extra kick when they recognize themselves in the characters. The mood shifts constantly, so that at any given moment the family’s lifestyle seems either ideal or like a mild form of child abuse. JULIA RABAN
19. Finding Dory
I never thought a movie about animated fish would make me cry so much. But then again, not all fish are Dory, the charming protagonist of Finding Dory, Pixar’s sequel to 2003’s Finding Nemo. Although the movie is intended to be a follow-up, Finding Dory holds its own 13 years after its predecessor debuted and anchored itself in the hearts of then-10-year-olds like me. As an adult, I discovered a new appreciation for the characters of my favorite Pixar film. ANA SOFIA KNAUF
20. Ghostbusters
Because I’m so enthralled by all four lead actors, and even more enthralled by watching the world of bitter, obstructionist dorks implode with rage over their casting, I was almost ecstatic to see how well the whole thing turned out. It’s not just that it works and is hilarious and has great special effects and all the candy—It’s also a perfect commentary on gender inequality in movies. Leading by example. SEAN NELSON
21. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Sure, Hunt for the Wilderpeople’s scope is small, but it gives you everything you could want from a movie: It’s smart, emotional, and even a bit action-packed once Ricky and Hec embark on an unplanned adventure in the forest. But most of all, it’s funny. So, so funny. Wilderpeople is a hugely loveable movie that’s suitable for date night or the whole family, and I know that sounds like a hacky movie poster blurb. But when a movie’s this good, it’s tough to avoid clichés, so I’ll leave you with another: Don’t miss it. NED LANNAMANN
22. Jason Bourne
Director Paul Greengrass and his co-scriptwriter Christopher Rouse (also the movie’s editor, interestingly) focus on a coterie of supporting characters, including Alicia Vikander as a smooth-skinned computer surveillance whiz, Vincent Cassel as a deadly “asset” (translation: assassin), and Tommy Lee Jones as a melted jack-o’-lantern who’s also head of the CIA. They’re all tracking Bourne, who discovered his real identity in 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum and feels bad about all the people he killed, so he’s taken on the life of a wandering bare-knuckle boxer, punching large men for cash throughout Eastern Europe. NED LANNAMANN
23. Star Trek Beyond
Despite the 21st century having surpassed many of Roddenberry’s wildest technological dreams, those of us living in 2016 find ourselves struggling with some of the same social and political issues as those who were alive in the 1960s. That can make Star Trek‘s interstellar utopia seem goofy and preposterous—like it’s merely one more fantasy world for us to gaze into as we retreat from reality. But every once in a while, the future of Star Trek can feel like something more—like a melding of entertainment and ideology, of adventure and potential. Every once in a while, Star Trek feels like an actual glimpse into a future. A future where, if we wanted, we could scrape the blood off our faces and do better. ERIK HENRIKSEN
