The Uptown Theater comes back to life tomorrow night as the projection switch is flipped and the silver screen is once again lit up with moving images. Last year, the future of the Uptown was uncertain as AMC bowed out of its 50 year lease on the long time Queen Anne movie house and left open the possibility of the historic theater being gutted and laid dormant for at least five years. Fortunately for the cinéaste in all of us, SIFF Cinema stepped in immediately and gave the Uptown a new lease on life. more ›

In the end it was Madoff, realizing his $50 billion Ponzi scheme was days away from imploding, who turned himself into the Feds. more ›

Tonight: Take your pick: there are fishes, there are plants, there are TV shows and movies, and Selena Gomez (maybe). more ›

Austin, Texas, has a lot of things that Seattle doesn't. Sunshine. Lone Star. 100 degree temperatures. Great (or at least ubiquitous) BBQ. Longhorns. Willie Nelson. A Republican governor with big hair. But perhaps best of all, it has the Alamo Drafthouse. more ›

Cut your time spent starting at the Redbox in half with the help of @Scarecrowvideo's insightful film recommendations. The next guy in line will thank you. more ›

If we told you that you simply must see a film about a tire, you'd believe us, right? Good. Because you simply must see this movie. It's about a tire. more ›

Last Thursday one of the most imaginative musicians that we’ve seen or heard performed at Chop Suey. He goes by the name Pogo and uses classic films as a base, mixing in his own music with the dialog and scenes to create something new. This is evident in Wishery, a remix of Disney’s Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. more ›

Seattle's ever-vigilant neighborhood blogs are keeping tabs on the filming of Grassroots, the feature film based on the memoir Zioncheck for President, authored by former Stranger scribe Phil Campbell. more ›

Fans of Significant Cinema take note! The Criterion Collection has begun streaming their films on Hulu. Up now are the first six films in the Zatoich: The Blind Swordsman series. More are coming. Sorry to our Canadian readers -- the films are available only in the United States. more ›

And don't forget the late show at Grand Illusion this weekend is 80s grossout classic Street Trash, which is about bums drinking cheap liquor that causes them to melt. It is not necessarily better than it sounds - but then again, that's not really the point of the late show, now is it? more ›

The Room has been playing at midnight showings since 2003, building a cult following via what marketers refer to as "The Old Tupperware Principle." "Oh, God, this smells awful," we say upon opening an old tupperware container. But we don’t close it. Instead, we find the person nearest and demand that they, too, share in our terrible mistake: "Come here, you have to smell this." more ›

Yes, yes, Seafair is this weekend, but if you are a parent of a gradeschooler, or a nerd, or both, then there is a much more important event. Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince is playing at the Pacific Science Center IMAX. more ›

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. more ›

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: more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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.
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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. more ›

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. more ›

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: more ›

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: more ›

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. more ›

First things first: free beer. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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!" more ›

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! more ›