Results tagged “movies”

A reader writes: "$2 movies all week at the new Thornton Place cinemas by Northgate. And yet, almost all of the offerings are overpriced. (You'd have to pay me to see Pink Panther 2, for example.)" We found a Regal Cinemas press release that says the special $2 rate is good today, tomorrow, and Wednesday only. After that, you get a free popcorn and soft drink with paid admission, May 22-31. The Crest, of course, is showing $3 movies all the time.

The official SIFF 2009 lineup won't be announced until next Thursday, but we got our sneak peek at the press launch earlier today. The good people at SIFF are hoping to celebrate the "past, present, and future of cinema" with the festival's 392 films over 25 days. Yes, that tally includes shorts as well, and here's the exact breakdown:

Saturday, May 9th, the Northwest Film Forum teams up with 826 Seattle to present a special screening of Away We Go, the latest film by Sam Mendes. The movie will be in theaters June 5th, but this sneak-peek will be at the Harvard Exit with Dave Eggers (who wrote the screenplay along with his author wife Vendela Vida) on-hand for a post-film Q&A. Away We Go is your basic coming-of-age road-trip thing, except this time around the people coming of age are a mid-30s couple (John Krasinksi and Maya Rudolph) expecting their first child. So their misadventure-laden journey is not just about finding themselves, it's also about finding the best place for their family. What is the meaning of home? And so on and so forth.

Remember when no one knew the difference between a laserdisc and a videodisc, and frankly, only videophiles cared? VHS had doused Betamax in pig's blood and stood alone as home video prom king. Scarecrow's new Only on VHS section makes it easy to get a hit of that sweet analog tape. More to the point, it features movies that have not yet been released on DVD, including gems like Let It Be and 99 and 44/100% Dead as well as rhinestones such as The Legend of Billie Jean and Swayze Dancing. Dust off your VCR and give it a workout. (We can't resist a trivia nugget: What does VHS stand for? Video Home System.) Just remember that now-vintage mantra: Be kind, rewind.

MvB is going to get his pound of opening night hors d'oeuvres after seeing the The Merchant of Venice at the Seattle Shakespeare Company tonight. Saturday, if rainy, may involve an all-day LOTR-athon at a friend's in LQA.

Cliff Mass says the inversion that's producing our film-noir quality fog will stick around through the weekend. If you want to skip the pea soupers, head to the hills. Mass reports that it was 66 degrees and clear on top of Tiger Mountain yesterday, and nearly 70 at Paradise on Rainier. By the way, weather groupies, Mass is signing his book at the UW Bookstore at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

BEST OF BASS: Did you miss the Decibel Festival? Despite urgings from Seattlest Donte, DJ Riz and others, we did in fact miss said musical electro-fest last time around. Micro Decibel Festival is our chance and yours to make good. Jesse Rose, KiloWatts outta Philly and Deru are performing tonight, and you should be there.

Tonight marks the last movie in the Route 08: Scion Independent Film Series. This time the good people at Toyota are sponsoring a free screening of Chop Shop, the second film by writer/director Ramin Bahrani, best known for his depressing, yet totally stellar debut, Man Push Cart. Thematically, Chop Shop sounds like more of the same:

We're sure you've seen the non-stop TV ads and heard all the terrible buzz on Valkyrie. The film, based on a true story about one of several assassination attempts on Hitler by German officers, was pushed back from a summer 2008 release date to the February 2009 dumping ground before getting moved to a Christmas debut. But it's not as bad as what you've heard. The script (written by Usual Suspects Oscar winner Christopher McQuarrie) is fine, Bryan Singer's direction is capable, and the cast features a bevy of talented British actors (including Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, and pretty much everyone in Black Book). In fact, there's really only one problem with the film, but it's a big 'un:

Tuesday night, 15 teams competed for first place at Seattlest trivia. In the end, it was a tight battle between the top two: Donner and Blitzen Party and Team of Rivals. Team of Rivals pulled it out with 70 points, to D&B's 67. Third place went to Sexy Shoeless God of War, 8 points back at 59. Prizes: $100, $50, and $8, respectively.

First things first: free beer.

12:46 p.m.: Huge-ass line at the Egyptian for the 1 p.m. showing of the generally well-reviewed Gus Van Sant film. More showtimes here.

She may still have far too much work to do this weekend, but Kim will emerge from her cocoon for two very important shows. Tonight, it's Sera Cahoone at a secret, undisclosed location and Kim refuses to spill the beans. Continuing the vaguely country theme, she'll end the weekend Sunday night at Chop Suey with the lovely and talented Star Anna.

Kim is off to the Fremont Abbey tonight to catch one of PDX's finest singer-songwriters, Laura Gibson, in action. She will spend the rest of the weekend napping, baking, and watching movies. Sunday night, she'll emerge from her lair for Jenny Owen Youngs at the High Dive.

HALF-NAKED BOOTY GIRLS: The 2 Live Crew outta Miami is at Nectar tonight, and you know what that means: half-naked booty girls, according to local emcee Wizdom. "I believe it," he told us with anticipation. The 2 Live Crew has been holding down the sexually explicit end of hiphop since the '80s. Warning: there might be juggalos present. Locals Mad Rad, Champagne Champagne, and Jay Barz open for this promisingly profane and colorful evening.

A free movie, free booze, and DJ Cide spinning while you socialize beforehand? Say yes to Scion's Route 08, an independent movie series showing in Seattle at the Harvard Exit. Audrey discussed the ins and outs of corporate-sponsored lifestyle marketing events in preview of the last film, Heavy Metal In Baghdad; go read that again so you're spiritually prepared for the onslaught of Scionism, and then RSVP on the Scion website by 5 p.m. tonight in order to get free admission. The movie tonight is Quinceañera, and it looks like a great pick; check out the trailer below, and we'll see you at the pre-funk reception later this evening.

YOU BETCHA: As far as Seattlest is concerned, there really is nothing worth doing tonight aside from watching the Sarah Palin show. Will she deliver endless bullshit answers full of noun phrases that seem to have nothing to do with one another? Will she address that "Putin flying over Alaska gives me foreign policy cred" absurdity? Will Joe Biden totally slaughter her, or will he make some "woops" remark that actually makes her come out looking like the more poised option? There is so much on the line, but mostly there's just so much entertainment value. We'll start you off on your drinking game plan: drink when Palin says "You Betcha!"

It's a live question. Still Life is a docudrama about the aftereffects of China’s Three Gorges hydro project: a 2,000-year-old town has been submerged, the new version isn't quite built yet, and people are feeling more than a little rootless. The drama comes from Sanming, a miner looking for his ex-wife, and Shen Hong, a nurse looking for her husband. No less a personage than Manohla Dargis called the film "a human triumph," but it closes on October 2. Not much time left!

Over three weeks, SIFF Cinema is showing a really gorgeous black-and-white CinemaScope print of Masaki Kobayashi’s 10-hour 1959 epic The Human Condition, starting with the 208-minute Part 1: "No Greater Love." That closes this Thursday night, so if you want to catch it, get thee to McCaw Hall.

Ah, the '70s. A time of economic insecurity, political cynicism, energy crisis, and overarching global anxiety. It seems like the decade never ended, but you can still take a stroll down Nostalgia Lane with the final showings of Network tonight (7, 9:15 p.m.) at the Northwest Film Forum. The NWFF has a new 35mm print of the film, which is downright immaculate, though the movie itself is less so.

By now the word has probably reached you that Robin Williams, he of Mrs. Doubtfire and The Bird Cage fame, is in Seattle to shoot footage for a film. MyBallard took some extra bloggerly initiative and shot some of their own footage of the man! (And then got politely ejected from the set.) Check out their photos and story about the encounter, including details about a dog, a French fry, and where Williams will be tomorrow. Thanks for braving the elements, MyBallard!

"@ the movies. Milk Duds. Swedish Fish. Sour Patch." by ascheele100

Right off the bat (ha!), here it is: We are so fucking excited about The Dark Knight. In fact, we haven't been this excited about a movie in we don't know how long.

FACT: The Seattle Cinerama is not Seattle's original Cinerama. That'd be the Paramount, which sacrificed 1600 seats to fit the screen and three projection booths required. They screened Cinerama films from September 1, 1956, to January 26, 1958. The Cinerama we know and love today opened January 24, 1963, as the Martin Cinerama. (The Paramount twice installed and removed CineMiracle, a rival technology that never took off.)

The end is near. Come Sunday night, this year's SIFF will come to a close. There are still plenty of great films showing, so if you haven't hit the fest yet, you've still got time to catch a flick or two before the movie fun is done. Saturday's closing night film selection is Bottle Shock, based on the true story of how the Napa Valley wine industry made a name for themselves: by beating out the French in a blinded Chardonnay tasting. The film (with Bill Pullman and Freddy Rodriguez in attendance) shows at the Cinerama, and the post-film gala takes place at the Pan Pacific Hotel. For all SIFF screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which cost more. Seattlest applies our well-honed knowledge of all things cinema to the SIFF catalogue in order to point out some notable films playing this weekend:

Here we are at Day 16 of the Festival. If by now you're long tired of SIFF, you're in luck: STIFF starts tonight. And if you're tired of our takes on this year's festival films, check out reviews by Blue Scholars' MC Geologic. In addition to everything below, this weekend also offers the last chance to hit up two great documentaries, both of which we've previously mentioned, and both of which deserve another shout-out. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a crowd-pleaser on the "real-life Spinal Tap" (today, 4:30pm @ SIFF Cinema). Meanwhile, Man on Wire, an unexpectedly moving doc about the French tightrope walker (and his friends) who conquered the WTC's Twin Towers, is the best thing we've seen at the fest so far (tomorrow, 11am @ the Egyptian).

TALK ABOUT YOUR HEALTH: Founder of Bastyr University and chief science officer for Metagenetics, Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., thinks we should be focusing on "biochemical individuality derived from genetic and environmental differences." Seems practical enough. He'll be speaking on the matter tonight and, if you're interested in the ongoing debate about how to fix our healthcare system, you should check out his talk, entitled Healthcare Reform 2008: Creating a True Health Care System.

Another weekend, another opportunity to check out the films at SIFF. If you're into the short film genre, SIFF Cinema hosts ShortsFest all weekend long, with short films packaged by theme in approximately ninety-minute blocks. For all SIFF screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which cost more. Seattlest applies our well-honed knowledge of all things cinema to the SIFF catalogue in order to point out some notable films playing this weekend:

NOT REINVENTING THE WHEEL: If you're considering quitting your corporate job--you know, the one with benefits and a customer lunch expense account--to build your own business from the ground up, you're crazy. Have you read the financial pages in the newspapers of late? Sometimes, however, it takes exactly that edge of craziness to make your dreams come true. In that case, let us direct you to the Six Hour Start-Up Conference this weekend. Your bucks buy you lunch and eight hours of practical information about how to go from your Jump To Conclusions Mat Amazing Product Idea to a Viable Business.

SIFF WILL NEVER FORGET '99: SIFF kicks off its annual festival tonight with a showing of Battle in Seattle, about the historic 1999 WTO protests. According to the listing, "Weaving multiple storylines with a star-studded ensemble cast this imaginative drama revisits fact, fiction, and many myths surrounding those tumultuous few days." There will be a red carpet gala, and the whole nine—a good opportunity to elbow-rub with stars of those moving pictures all the kids are crazy about. **UPDATE** Advance tickets are long gone, but rush tickets *may* be available at the door prior to tonight's screening. They'll assess how many seats are available and sell tix from there approximately 15 minutes before the film begins. So if anyone wants to try their luck at getting in, it's probably a good idea to get there early.