Results tagged “grandillusion”

When you talk great sci-fi movies of the 1960s, a few titles--Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Fantastic Voyage--spring immediately to mind. But the Grand Illusion plays host to one of the era's most overlooked gems for much of this week.

BLOCK PARTY: Yep, it's this weekend. Jesus Lizard, Sonic Youth, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's a big deal, go watch a concert in the street. Changes to the layout of the party are being hyped as solving the extended misery problem that virtually everyone who's ever been to the Block Party over the last couple years has complained about, so please some let us know if you can actually move once you're on the inside. Fri. doors 3 p.m., Sat. doors 1 p.m. // Capitol Hill Block Party // 12th Ave. & E. Pike St. // tix $23 per day, $42 for both

NOLLYWOOD!: Since the weather's perfect, contrarians will want to shoebox themselves inside the U District's tiny Grand Illusion Theatre to catch a documentary about Nigeria's burgeoning B-movie film industry. Nollywood Babylon, which Film Threat calls "Irresistible," is about to close, and you don't want to make a liar of Film Threat, do you? No, you do not. Also it's a Canadian documentary, and it's Canada Day. If that doesn't get you there, we throw our hands up.

HAPPY WASHINGTON WINE HOUR: The Sorrento is marking the Washingtonization of The Hunt Club's previously Californicated wine list with a series of “Winemaker Happy Hours!” every Wednesday in March, with dueling winemakers, their wines, and appetizers--all for just $10. Tonight's guest vintners are Lantz Cellars (Yakima Valley, focus on Bordeaux and Rhone varietals) and Baer Winery (Woodinville, blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot).

TRUNK SHOW: Downtown's Art/Not Gallery hosts Seattle's first ever non-human art show, A New Breed of Art: Creations by Woodland Park Zoo's Animals. The Puget Sound chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers curated the exhibit, which features around twenty pieces of art painted by the zoo's elephants and orangutans. The painting sessions are part of the zoo's enrichment program to keep the animals physically and mentally stimulated, while also encouraging their inner van Goghs. The exhibit runs through March 5th.

STELLA! YOU MAKE US YELL-A!: It's a good week when we get to use the phrase "comedic stylings," and the stylings of Stella--that's Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain--fall squarely in the comedic category. We're not really "comedy" people, but even we have seen Michael Ian Black live and laughed like there was no tomorrow--when in fact there was, and that became a whole thing we won't get into. The group has been called "bizarre, nonsensical, and very funny" and "dumb comedy in a suit," if that gives you some idea.

FUNNY JEWS: "The voice of the Jewish hipster movement," Good for the Jews is Rob Tannenbaum (srsly?) and David Fagin (srsly?) and they're on tour with their musical extravaganza, "Putting the Ha! in Hannukah." They're edgy--no songs about dreidels--just like Jon Stewart, who is also Jewish. Last year they sold out their Xmas Eve show at the Triple Door. They would love it if you would come down and help them accomplish that feat again. It'd be a mitzvah.

EARLY DISMISSAL: All over the Puget Sound, schools are releasing their charges early today, in celebration of Thanksgiving so teachers can drink their way through an entire happy hour. If you have kids, make a special point to pick them up on time--letting them fend for themselves is one thing in spring, but it's cold out. Also, and we speak from personal experience, they take being forgotten at school personally.

Tonight and tomorrow, it's your last chance to see one of the year's best-reviewed documentaries at the Grand Illusion. King Corn follows two friends who move from the East Coast to the Iowa heartland to raise an acre of the highly-subsidized titular crop and follow it through the "corn industrial complex." It ain't pretty, but the film helpfully points out the extent to which corn is a part of the average American (and the average American cow's) diet, whether or not you realize you're eating it. Goodbye, wholesome summer meals and hellooooo, high-fructose corn syrup and obesity! Good thing that the protagonists and director provide the awful truth with a wink and a sense of humor, a la Super Size Me.

MOVIES: The Grand Illusion is not only showing "It's a Wonderful LIfe" tonight, but it's also providing an opportunity to crash the Illusion's holiday party for the staff and friends. "Food, drink, merriment and presents," will be on hand and the 8pm screening is free.

7 & 9pm // Grand Illusion Cinema [1403 NE 50th (Corner of University Way and 50th)] // $7

The Grand Illusion is screening a film on Japanese architecture tonight called Kochuu. "Kochuu, which translates as “in the jar,” refers to the Japanese tradition of constructing small, enclosed physical spaces, which create the impression of a separate universe." Plays at 7:30 and 9pm.

Hollywood babbles on:

Direct from Hollywood:

Kirsten Anderson emailed Seattlest to remind us that Tales of the Rat Fink, the new film about hot rod legend Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, opened tonight at the Grand Illusion. From their website:

From the award-winning director of Comic Book Confidential and Grass comes Tales Of The Rat Fink, Ron Mann’s wildly inventive biopic about influential Renaissance man Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, who engineered a shift in mid-twentieth century culture with his customized cars, “monster” T-shirts and America’s alternative rodent – “Rat Fink.” Ed Roth helped fuel the “Kustom Kulture” / Hot Rod movement of the 1960s in Southern California and Hot Rodding grew from crude backyard engineering where performance was the bottom line into a refined artform where aesthetics were equally important. Mann’s largely animated documentary features the voice talents of John Goodman, Ann-Margret, Brian Wilson, Tom Wolfe, Matt Groening, Robert Williams, Stone Cold Steve Austin and the ever lovable Smothers Brothers.

One of the most puzzling developments of the past hundred years is how the Three Stooges became more popular than the vastly comically superior Marx Brothers. To see what we mean, spend an hour hitting your friends on the head while exclaiming "Why I oughta," then head over to the Grand Illusion and watch the Marx Brother's 1933 classic Duck Soup.

Cole me down on the panny sty.

This weekend, Seattlest will be representing at a high school basketball game, a chamber music concert, a church in Burien, and Alderwood Babies-R-Us, respectively. For the full 411, see below.

Over the weekend, Seattlest had the chance to make it the Grand Illusion's showings of Love Crazy (1941) and Double Wedding (1937). (These aren't from the Thin Man series, but we thought more people would twig to a post titled "Nick & Nora" than "Bill & Myrna.") You have until Thursday to see them, at 7pm and 9pm showings.

Seattlest went to see the allegedly brand new, fully-restored print of the 1959 Robert Bresson classic Pickpocket at the Northwest Film Forum Tuesday night. We havent seen the French masterpiece since the late '90s when we caught at least part of it at the Grand Illusion, but we must not have stayed for the whole thing because we don't remember falling this madly in love with distressed ultra-goddess Marika Green (move over, precious Natalie Portman!). Seattlest will defer film criticsm to the experts, but for our money, it is indeed a classic: the much-hyped, convincing naturalism by way of Bresson's stylized minimalism, and intense visceral tension in all the close-ups and intimacy with the stealing tradecraft, etc. As for the film's alleged print restoration: to our layman's eyes the picture seemed pretty clean, but the sound quality was mired by the aged hissing/static noise that kind of subsided toward the end. But what can you do? It's an old, old movie. C'est la vie.

Seattlest enjoys a good documentary, so we were excited to see that the Grand Illusion will be showing two politically-charged features later this week. They sound like doozies:

, a William Devane starring revenge flick scripted by Paul Schrader.

You've got all kinds of options for films this week rather than going to see The Amityville Horror---and please people, for the love of God, do not pay to see movies like that...it only encourages Hollywood to trot out yet another completely unnecessary horror flick remake.