Results tagged “movie”

For some reason, we had to go all the way to the NY Daily News to find out what happened to everyone in the cast of Singles, the 1992 Seattle film landmark by Cameron Crowe. We pity the intern who tracked down 38 of the characters/bands that appeared.

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.

(via PubliCola) We were just reminded that French New Waver J-L Godard's tribute to The Big Sleep and sociocultural criticism, Made in the U.S.A., is half-price ($4.50) at the Northwest Film Forum tonight (7, 9 p.m.). Hard to say no to that, especially since you won't see it anywhere but in a theater. The New York Times--you wouldn't argue with an old gray lady, would you?--says, "Godard’s ultimate statement about his love/hate for the aesthetics/politics of American movies/life is an event to be savored and celebrated." (Mondays--if you were as unaware as we were until just minutes ago--are Happy Mondays at NWFF, and you can get tickets at the box office for half-price.)

• Get ready to taste another flavor of summer, Wallyhood's farmer market report noted that raspberries--the ones worth waiting for--are finally in!
• Unfortunately there are no drive-thru liquor stores here in Washington. But that little detail failed to sink in for the driver who crashed their car into a state liquor store at 717 Meridian Ave. E.

Special to Seattlest: Tony Kay.

Seattle-born and Mercer Island-bred, Burnett’s the kind of guy you want making movies—He’s genuinely in the business for the love of it, but he still possesses enough savvy to endure amidst the industry rat race. And when you ask him about screening his horror movie The Hills Run Red at the Seattle International Film Festival, he’s pretty much over the moon.

SIFF's first full week is underway, so here's glimpse at some of the films coming up this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which of course cost more. Here's what jumps out at us from the SIFF catalogue:

Leave it to Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola to resuscitate (sorry) the sub-genre with Dead Snow, and leave it to the Seattle International Film Festival to bring it to local audiences twice in the next two weeks (once on May 23 for an Egyptian Theater midnight screening, and once at 9:30 p.m. on May 27 at Pacific Place).

NONCONFORMIST INDIE ROCK GOD: That's right, Destroyer (aka Dan Bejar aka the "unofficial" wine-swilling member of the New Pornographers) is in town tonight, ready to baptize the new Crocodile with...frankly, you never quite know with Dan. One recent album, Destroyer's Rubies, opened with an over-nine-minute track, with Bejar announcing portentously, "Cast myself towards infinity, trust me, I had my reasons." Trouble in Dreams was summed up as "shitfaced" by Pitchfork, who also called Bejar an "untouchable wizard." What a character! If you haven't had a chance to visit the new Croc yet, this show is as good a reason as any.

Revanche opens today and runs through May 13 at SIFF Cinema, over at McCaw Hall. It's in German, with subtitles, and runs two hours, but it ends up feeling like an implanted memory, as if you grew up with the people you were watching.

SIFF just opened a week-long showing of the Belgian film Ben X--it runs through March 5. It's a first film from Nic Balthazar, who wrote the novel the movie is based on. The thing about Ben X is that while its hero (played by Greg Timmermans) has Asperger's, it succeeds in stabbing in the guts pretty much anyone who suffered any high school ostracism and bullying. Asperger's just ups the insecurity stakes, because Ben can't tell easily who's a friend and who's not, what's normal and what's not. We spent most of our free time in the library freshman year, but no one tips Ben off to that safe haven.

LIKE MOVIES FOR CHOCOLATE: Tonight is movie night at Theo Chocolate on Phinney, and--you'll never guess, we'll just tell you--they're showing Like Water for Chocolate. (Rotten Tomatoes says it's 89 percent fresh!) But it sounds a little different than a night at the megaplex: "We will be serving up hot chocolate, popcorn and other special surprises. Be sure to bring your own camping chair, or cushion to sit on, and snuggle up in front of the fire." Reservations are required: call 206-632-5100 to book your spot.

DANCE DANCE DANCE: Pint-size Swedish ex-ballerina Lykke Li returns to Seattle for her largest venue yet, the Showbox at the Market. Last time we saw her, we said she has "an extra helping of cute and an idiosyncratic voice: breathy baby-girl ("Liddle bit in love wi' you," she sings, and your heart melts) mixed with Swedish soul. Her first full album is Youth Novels. Live, she's in perpetual motion, sashaying around the stage, swiveling her hips, one hand pushing the audience back, the other punishing a cymbal with a drumstick." We're not saying it's because her parents were hippies, but she's got a hell of an onstage work ethic.

SUB POP HEROES: The Murder City Devils are back, and they're probably not happy about it. But if ever the time was right for their post-punk gloom and doom, it's now. It's like when Warren Zevon was talking about having cancer and he was all, "This is the kind of thing I've been talking about." (He also said, "Enjoy every sandwich.") And just so you know, Sound on the Sound is "stoked" about this show.

We tried to see Coraline this weekend, a movie that is advertised all over the place, that is adapted from a book by Neil Gaiman, an author we read favorably, that is directed by the guy who directed The Nightmare Before Christmas (which was not Tim Burton, btw), that was loved by The Stranger's Paul Constant, who gives the impression of being hard to please in this regard, that--if the previous weren't enough--was produced by an animation studio based right here in the Pacific Northwest, and we failed to see said movie because it's currently playing on exactly one screen in all of Seattle and tickets were sold out Saturday night. One screen? Seriously...(we're not sure who to direct this towards)...Entertainment-Industrial Complex? One screen in all of Seattle? We were forced to see The Wrestler which was great and we probably wouldn't have seen it otherwise, but still...we were in a Coraline mood.

It's tiny, it's funny, it's...science fiction? The Tiny Spaceship plays this weekend in the second session (7 p.m.) of the fourth annual Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival Saturday at the Cinerama. [Ed. note: These screenings totally sold out last year, so we'd recommend you get your tix in advance.]

Every time we've seen Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player in the video store, we've glanced at it and put it back, unable to imagine how the Truffaut we know from Au Revoir Les Enfants would draw good work from a pulp crime novel.

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.

Last night we made it to Central Cinema for a sold-out showing of Roadhouse, which we're imagining is the one and only time Roadhouse has sold out anywhere. It was part of "From BAD to WORSE: Cinematic Terribleness in 6 easy pieces," hosted by David "I'm in ur Showgirls DVD, commentating" Schmader. Schmader gave us an introduction, we set into a pitcher of beer and a personal pizza, and the carnage began. Our previous experience with Roadhouse came from seeing excerpts from it on Saturday afternoon TV, and we were a little unprepared for lines like "Pain don't hurt," and "I used to fuck guys like you in prison!" From the back, Schmader chimed in via microphone and rewound key plot points (or their absence) in super slo-mo. Whoever was costuming Swayze outdid themselves. Still to come are the Dolly/Stallone-tastic Rhinestone and the Affleck/J-Lo implosion Gigli. *shudder*

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.

Local filmaker Linas Phillips got close to the homeless people he portrayed in this documentary of life on and off the streets of Seattle. His film, Great Speeches From a Dying World, ending its run tonight at the Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill, is intimate but never feels invasive. It's also 90 minutes of pure heartbreak, so if you're feeling vulnerable, be warned. The story of a kind-hearted homeless man named Tomy stands out among vignettes from a dozen local homeless people. You keep waiting for Tomy to come back on screen. Phillips has his subjects recite famous speeches from history, a curious device that is never explained. Sometimes, like when when a wheelchair-bound, crack-addicted homeless woman delivers Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I A Woman?" no explanation is needed.

THINK GLOBALLY: Global development is such a lonely two words. But it doesn't have to be. Think tank Global Washington invites you to drop in at their event Global Connections this afternoon, with guest speaker Adam Smith. It's all about helping Washington’s nonprofits, businesses, academics, and government agencies come together and increase their impact globally. The talky part is 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., and then there's an hour-long reception.

HIS NAME IS SPIEGELMAN: Maus-keteer Art Spiegelman has a new graphic memoir out, Breakdowns: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*! The book "traces the artist’s evolution from a MAD-comics obsessed boy, to a neurotic adult examining the effect of his parents’ memories of Auschwitz on his own son." He's at Town Hall for what you'd hope is a multimedia "reading," otherwise it seems like, you know, the graphic part would be lost in translation.

This reminder courtesy of Seattlest's favorite Port Orchard cartoonist Pat Moriarity:

· Today's films of note include The Children of Huang Shi (which, okay, you can skip because it's opening in Seattle soon anyway), the locally produced and likely tedious My Effortless Brilliance, and Dust, a documentary about dust. Because this is a German film, a simple thing like dust becomes a metaphor for life and death. But it all wraps up in 90 minutes, and when are you likely--be honest--to go see a film about dust again? That's right, never. Also, everyone loves Mermaid, the slightly too-long fable about life in the New Russia.

Writer/director Harmony Korine (Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy) is not for everyone. But enough people in Seattle are for him that last night's 9:15 p.m. showing of latest film Mister Lonely had the little theater at the Northwest Film Forum completely packed, and now the film's run has been extended another week (through May 29th).

We seem to be covering the benefit beat lately--Wednesday night David Schmader takes over the Triple Door to "annotate" Paul Verhoeven's "film" Showgirls. It's to raise money for the the Urban Rest Stop, a "hygiene center" downtown. We're for a free place for people to freshen up, don't get us wrong. It's just funny to have the Showgirls tie-in, in that the one and only time we watched it we had to take a long hot shower afterwards.

Just announced:

Since SIFF is kicking off its Global Lens series this weekend, we stopped in to catch South Africa's Bunny Chow, the film debut from John Barker.

Sometimes a good ski movie can console you during an off year, but we're already having a record-breaking snow season (ok, it's no 1998, but still, the quality and volume of the snow we've been getting this year is reminiscent of our days growing up in Utah for what that's worth). So maybe you don't need a powder porn flick to fuel your stoke, but we're thinking that Steep (showing in a limited run at the Varsity) will be worth a viewing regardless. (It's a limited run, and we think tomorrow night is the last night, but we can't tell from the website or their phone recording, so you might want to hustle out and see it tonight.)