Month: February 2016

Friday February 26 – Thursday March 3

~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

Only Yesterday at the SIFF Uptown

Isao Takahata’s 1991 masterpiece is finally being released in North America, having been one of the only films produced by Studio Ghibli that Disney did not bother to make available when they controlled the rights to their films, apparently because it’s simply too real. A quiet story of a woman in her late 20s who takes a vacation in the country which inspires a series of memories of her ten year old self, the film shifts fluidly between past and present, between childhood traumas and adults dreams so deftly that the film is more rightly compared to the greatest works by Japanese masters such as Mikio Naruse or Yasujiro Ozu than the products served up lately by Disney, Dreamworks or even Pixar and Hayao Miyazaki. It’s one of the three best films Ghibli ever made (along with Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service and Yoshifumi Kondō’s Whisper of the Heart. It’s playing in both the original Japanese and English-dubbed versions. Despite Daisy Ridley’s voice, there’s really no reason to see the latter: the film is a bit too mature for illiterate children, and if you’re old enough to like this movie, you’re old enough to read subtitles. It’s a film of such locational and cultural specificity that watching it in English is an act of destruction. We talked all about the movie and a lot of other Ghibli films besides a couple of years ago on this episode of the They Shot Pictures podcast.

Playing This Week:

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Fri-Thurs Our Review

Central Cinema:

Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978) Fri-Weds
Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001) Fri-Weds
Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, 1998) Thurs Only

Century Federal Way:

Channo Kamli Yaar Di (Pankaj Batra) Fri-Thurs

Grand Cinema:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Southbound (Various) Fri & Sat Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The Vanished Elephant (Javier Fuentes-León) Fri-Thurs
Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu (Akiyuki Shimbou) Sat-Mon Only
The Sprocket Society presents Saturday Secret Matinees Sat Only

Landmark Guild 45th Theatre:

A War (Tobias Lindholm) Fri-Thurs

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Neerja (Ram Madhvani) Fri-Thurs
Tere Bin Laden Dead or Alive (Abhishek Sharma) Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Fri-Thurs Our Review

Regal Meridian:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Busco Novio Para Mi Mujer (Enrique Begne) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

New Voices of World Cinema (Various) Fri Only
Hadwin’s Judgment (Sasha Snow) Fri & Sat Only
Bob and the Trees (Diego Ongaro) Fri & Sat Only
Schellen-Ursli (The Little Mountain Boy) (Xavier Koller) Sat Only
K2 and the Invisible Footmen (Iara Lee) Sat Only
Bungalow Heaven Sun Only
Drawing the Tiger (Amy Benson) Mon Only
Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984) Thurs Only

AMC Loews Oak Tree:

Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson) Fri-Thurs Our Review

AMC Pacific Place:

Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Mermaid (Stephen Chow) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Monkey King 2 (Soi Cheang) Fri-Thurs

The Paramount Theatre:

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo & Charles Brabin, 1925) Mon Only

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Walang Forever (Dan Villegas) Fri-Thurs
Ip Man 3 (Wilson Yip) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Busco Novio Para Mi Mujer (Enrique Begne) Fri-Thurs

Scarecrow Video Screening Room:

Edge of Tomorrow (Doug Liman, 2014) Fri Only
Night Movies (Arthur Penn, 1975) Sat Only
King of Kings (Cecl B. DeMille, 1927) Sun Only
Comedy Section Spotlight Sun Only
Chris Marker Group Mon Only

Landmark Seven Gables:

Son of Saul (László Nemes) Fri-Thurs
Rams (Grímur Hákonarson) Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Fri-Thurs Our Review

SIFF Film Center:

The American Friend (Wim Wenders, 1977) Weds Only

AMC Southcenter:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Sundance Cinemas:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Last Man on the Moon (Mark Craig) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

Only Yesterday (Isao Takahata) Fri-Thurs Our Podcast Subtitled and Dubbed, Check Listings
45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Stephen Tobolowsky in person: The Primary Instinct and Groundhog Day Mon Only

In Wide Release:

The Witch (Robert Eggers) Our Review
Hail, Caesar! (Joel & Ethan Coen) Our Review
13 Hours (Michael Bay) Our Review
The Revenant (Alejandro González Iñárritu) Our Review
The Force Awakens (JJ Abrams) Our Podcast
Sisters (Jason Moore) Our Review
Brooklyn (John Crowley) Our Review
Spotlight (Tom McCarthy) Our Review
Creed (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
Bridge of Spies (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Martian (Ridley Scott) Our Review

Friday February 19th – Thursday February 25th

~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

The Arabian Nights at the SIFF Film Center

One of the very best films of 2015 finally appears this week on Seattle Screens, with the debut of director Miguel Gomes’s three-part, six hour panorama of contemporary Portugal. Taking the story of Scheherazade as a starting point, Gomes weaves together a series of tales of varying degrees of realism (neo-, magical, sur-) to tell the story of austerity-era Portugal. A world of priapic businessmen, wandering bandits, ghost dogs, pyromaniac lovers, psychic roosters, outrageous court proceedings, an unbelievable amount of chaffinches and much much more, with a perfect soundtrack (“Perfida”, “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”, “Say You, Say me”) and soulful performances, it’s the masterpiece of sad absurdity our world demands.

Playing This Week:

Central Cinema:

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Robert Zemeckis, 1988) Fri-Tues
The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) Fri-Tues

Century Federal Way:

A Violent Prosecutor (Lee Il-hyung) Fri-Thurs
Channo Kamli Yaar Di (Pankaj Batra) Fri-Thurs
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films Tues Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

We Are Twisted F***ing Sister! (Andrew Horn) Fri-Thurs
The Sprocket Society presents Saturday Secret Matinees Sat Only
EXcinema Group Show Tues Only

Landmark Guild 45th Theatre:

Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Fri-Thurs Our Review

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Krishnashtami (Vasu Varma) Fri-Thurs
Neerja (Ram Madhvani) Fri-Thurs
Krishna Gaadi Veera Prema Gaadha (Hanu Raghavapudi) Fri-Thurs
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) Sun & Weds Only
Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Fri-Thurs Our Review
Busco Novio Para Mi Mujer (Enrique Begne) Fri-Thurs

Regal Meridian:

Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Fri-Thurs Our Review
Busco Novio Para Mi Mujer (Enrique Begne) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Ruined Heart (Khavn De La Cruz) Fri-Weds
In Football We Trust (Tony Vainuku) Sat Only
Seattle Asian-American Film Festival Fri-Sun Full Program
Morphine: Journey of Dreams (Mark Shuman) Weds Only

AMC Loews Oak Tree:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson) Fri-Thurs Our Review

AMC Pacific Place:

The Mermaid (Stephen Chow) Fri-Thurs
The Monkey King 2 (Soi Cheang) Fri-Thurs

The Paramount Theatre:

Lime Kiln Club Field Day (T. Hayes Hunter, Edwin Middleton, & Sam Corker Jr., 1913) Mon Only

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Walang Forever (Dan Villegas) Fri-Thurs
Ip Man 3 (Wilson Yip) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Fri-Thurs Our Review
Busco Novio Para Mi Mujer (Enrique Begne) Fri-Thurs

Scarecrow Video Screening Room:

Psychos in Love (Gorman Bechard, 1987) Fri Only
Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) Sat Only
Hallelujah (King Vidor, 1929) Sun Only
Venus Beauty Institute (Tonie Marshall, 2000) Sun Only
Pretty Poison (Noel Black, 1968) Mon Only
Saboteur (Alfred Hitchcock, 1942) Tues Only
Grindhouse Nostalgia Weds Only
Ma vie en rose (Alain Berliner, 1997) Thurs Only

Seattle Art Museum:

For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965) Thurs Only 35mm

Landmark Seven Gables:

Son of Saul (László Nemes) Fri-Thurs
Rams (Grímur Hákonarson) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Film Center:

Arabian Nights Vol. 1-3 (Miguel Gomes) Fri-Thurs

Sundance Cinemas:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Rolling Papers (Mitch Dickman) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Boy and the World (Alê Abreu, 2013) Fri-Weds Our Review
Eisenstein in Guanajuato (Peter Greenaway) Fri-Thurs
Theeb (Naji Abu Nowar) Mon Only
The Human Face of Big Data (Sandy Smolan) Weds Only

Varsity Theatre:

It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (Emily Ting) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) Weds Only

In Wide Release:

The Witch (Robert Eggers) Our Review
Hail, Caesar! (Joel & Ethan Coen) Our Review
13 Hours (Michael Bay) Our Review
The Revenant (Alejandro González Iñárritu) Our Review
The Force Awakens (JJ Abrams) Our Podcast
Sisters (Jason Moore) Our Review
Brooklyn (John Crowley) Our Review
Spotlight (Tom McCarthy) Our Review
Creed (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
Bridge of Spies (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Martian (Ridley Scott) Our Review

The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)

~ Sean Gilman ~ 1 Comment

large_the-witch

A more harrowing or dread-inducing film you’re not more likely to find this year on Seattle Screens than Robert Eggers’s colonial fantasy The Witch. Set in 1630 and with dialogue partially based on diaries from the time, Eggers tells of a Puritan family living alone in a deep dark wood, and the evil that preys upon them there. Long a metaphorical vehicle for all manner of issues (the hunting of witches being analogized most famously as anti-Communism in The Crucible, while more recently witches themselves have become celebrated as free-thinking proto-feminists) or moral lessons, Eggers strips away the subtext of his folktale in favor of an experiential trip inside the mind of Puritan true believers. It is established right from the opening scenes that there are witches and that they are of the purest evil. It remains for us to suffer along with a people whose darkest imaginings are made manifest.
Continue reading “The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)” →

Friday February 12th – Thursday February 18th

~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

The Seattle Screen Valentine Scene

As usual, local theatres around town have assembled a vast array of date movies this holiday weekend. The highlight of the bunch is Claire Denis’s debut feature Chocolat, playing at the Northwest Film Forum (do not confuse it with the Lasse Hallström film!) in a new 35mm print. Also at the NWFF is the latest from French director Philippe Garrel, In the Shadow of Women, an examination of the most essential and timeless element of all French cinema, infidelity. Another French classic plays at the SIFF Uptown, Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast, one of the more remarkable fantasy films ever made. They’ve matched it with Hal Ashby’s perennial favorite Harold & Maude. The 1980s are well-represented this holiday season with John Hughes’s Pretty in Pink at the Cinemark Theatres (forget Ducky and Blaine, we all know Molly Ringwald belonged with Annie Potts) and Cameron Crowe’s Seattle-set Say Anything, playing at the Central Cinema. Also at the Central, Tony Scott’s True Romance from a script by Quentin Tarantino, featuring the most romantic closing lines in all of 1990s Hollywood cinema.

Playing This Week:

Central Cinema:

Say Anything (Cameron Crowe, 1989) Fri-Tues
True Romance (Tony Scott, 1993) Fri-Tues

SIFF Egyptian:

Boy and the World (Alê Abreu, 2013) Fri-Weds Our Review

Century Federal Way:

Pretty in Pink (John Hughes, 1986) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Sat-Tues Our Review
A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Crichton, 1988) Sun Only
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) Weds Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The Treasure (Corneliu Porumboiu) Fri-Thurs
VHS Über Alles presents The Demon Lover (Donald G. Jackson & Jerry Younkins, 1983 Fri Only VHS
The Sprocket Society presents Saturday Secret Matinees Sat Only
The Best of VHSEX (Various) Sat Only VHS

Landmark Guild 45th Theatre:

Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Fri-Thurs Our Review

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Fitoor (Abhishek Kapoor) Fri-Thurs
Krishna Gaadi Veera Prema Gaadha (Hanu Raghavapudi) Fri-Thurs
Pretty in Pink (John Hughes, 1986) Sun & Weds Only

Northwest Film Forum:

Chocolat (Claire Denis, 1988) Fri-Sun 35mm
In the Shadow of Women (Philippe Garrel) Fri-Sun
Never Get Tired: The Bomb the Music Industry! Story (Sara Crow) Weds Only
Ruined Heart (Khavn De La Cruz) Weds-Weds
The Anthropologist (Daniel Miller) Thurs Only

AMC Loews Oak Tree:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson) Fri-Thurs Our Review

AMC Pacific Place:

Ip Man 3 (Wilson Yip) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Monkey King 2 (Soi Cheang) Fri-Thurs
From Vegas to Macau III (Andrew Lau & Wong Jing) Fri-Thurs

The Paramount Theatre:

The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925) Mon Only Our Podcast

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Everything About Her (Bb. Joyce Bernal) Fri-Thurs
Fitoor (Abhishek Kapoor) Fri-Thurs
Ip Man 3 (Wilson Yip) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Scarecrow Video Screening Room:

The Pink Angels (Larry G. Brown, 1972) Sat Only
It (Clarence G. Badger, 1927) Sun Only
Brother (Aleksey Balabanov, 1997) Sun Only
My Demon Lover (Charlie Loventhal, 1987) Mon Only
The Pursuit of Happyness (Gabriele Muccino, 2006) Tues Only
The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966) Weds Only
Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996) Thurs Only

Seattle Art Museum:

Sandra of a Thousand Delights (Luchino Visconti, 1966) Thurs Only 35mm

Landmark Seven Gables:

Son of Saul (László Nemes) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Film Center:

Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968) Fri Only
The Craft (Andrew Fleming, 1996) Fri Only
Witchfinder General (Michael Reeves, 1968) Sat Only
The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971) Sat Only

Sundance Cinemas:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words (Stig Björkman) Fri-Thurs
Southbound (Various) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 1946) Fri-Sun
Harold & Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971) Fri-Sun
Office in 3D (Johnnie To) Mon Only Our Review Our Podcast 
The Human Face of Big Data (Sandy Smolan) Weds Only

Varsity Theatre:

It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (Emily Ting) Fri-Sun, Tues-Thurs Our Review

In Wide Release:

Hail, Caesar! (Joel & Ethan Coen) Our Review
13 Hours (Michael Bay) Our Review
The Revenant (Alejandro González Iñárritu) Our Review
The Hateful 8 (Quentin Tarantino) Our Review
The Force Awakens (JJ Abrams) Our Podcast
Concussion (Peter Landesman) Our Review
Sisters (Jason Moore) Our Review
Brooklyn (John Crowley) Our Review
Spotlight (Tom McCarthy) Our Review
Creed (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
Bridge of Spies (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Martian (Ridley Scott) Our Review

Boy and the World (Alê Abreu, 2013)

~ Michael Strenski

This is a revised and expanded review based on a post from the critic’s defunct blog.

boy and the world hanging

Brazilian director Alê Abreu’s charming feature Boy and the World finally gets a regular theatrical run after playing the festival circuit for the last couple of years. The film previously played in Seattle 20 months ago as part of the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival. Over those myriad screenings the film has garnered a windfall of goodwill, including winning numerous audience awards. In a sign of the diversity in this year’s Best Animated Feature field, it is conceivable that if Pixar’s Inside Out was not in the running, Boy and the World would have a legitimate chance at the Oscar.  Continue reading “Boy and the World (Alê Abreu, 2013)” →

It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (Emily Ting, 2015)

~ Sean Gilman ~ 2 Comments

Emily Ting’s romantic comedy opens this week at the Varsity Theatre, but we saw it last fall at the Vancouver International Film Festival (The title has inexplicably misplaced its “It’s” since then, which we are choosing to ignore). Here’s what we wrote about it back then:

Sean’s Review:

Emily Ting’s It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong is a different kind of fantasy, one of ex-patriates in Hong Kong and, more distressingly, of indie filmmakers weaned on Before Sunrise. Jamie Chung plays an American from Los Angeles (her grandparents emigrated from Hong Kong) lost in the city who runs into a fellow American named Josh. He’s the Joshiest Josh in film history, working in finance but really, an aspiring novelist. Actor Bryan Greenberg looks like the child of Michael Rappaport and John Krasczinski, but with even worse hair than that implies. He shows her around, lets slip way too late in the evening that he has a girlfriend and the couple splits. . . only to reunite a year later for another walk (once again hitting places best seen in Wong Kar-wai and Johnnie To films) and faux-naturalistic conversation (and a trip to a bar to see a Hong Kong knock-off of Arcade Fire, which is exactly as appalling as that sounds). After a century of Parisian dominance, it’s clear to me that Hong Kong is the most cinematic city in the world, and it certainly doesn’t let Ting down. The film is gorgeous, the bright lights of Hong Kong providing enough inherent pleasure that one is able to overlook the constructed obviousness of the script and the bland nothingness that is Greenberg’s performance. Chung fares better, her lines are just as generic but she sells them with big eyes and a world-saving smile. Pretty as the city is, it’s a problem when during the romantic climax of your film, the most interesting thing on screen is the multi-layered play of lights on a taxi cab window. Not even a cameo from the great Richard Ng can bring it to life.

Mike’s Review:

White guy living in Hong Kong meets an American woman of Chinese descent. The two hit it off but complications ensue when it is discovered they have other attachments. As a travelogue for the gorgeous city of Hong Kong, this works well enough, with depictions of the majestic skyline and bustling streets. As a romance or a comedy or a showcase for the art of acting, it is a failure.

From Vegas to Macau III (Wong Jing, 2016)

~ Sean Gilman

Relentless director Wong Jing’s latest farce has less of a plot than either of the first two films in the series, and is even less tethered to reality, in action, story, setting or character. It’s a bunch of shiny effects thrown at aged stars of the 90s, old movie and TV references (Chow Yun-fat spends awhile thinking he’s in Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, a ping-pong match with Jacky Cheung calling back to Johnnie To’s The Eighth Happiness, a little joke about Nick Cheung’s award-winning performance in Unbeatable, a whole sequence set in a prison with leftover costumes from Prison on Fire, even the central romance is Jacky Cheung’s unrequited love for Carina Lau, ala Days of Being Wild, etc etc*).

Of course the whole thing is a riff on the God of Gamblers series, with Chow playing a dual role as the original character and this newer farcical incarnation, kind of as if his amnesia-induced split personalities in that first film had developed into two separate realities. Andy Lau unites them (as he did the original series and Steven Chow’s parody of it), reprising his role as the Knight of Gamblers, but his performance bears no relation to that original character: he’s merely a vehicle for dumb slapstick jokes (a literal pie in the face, peeing baby robots) and inside jokes about Lau’s own career. It’s a movie that breaks into a song or an extended effects-driven bit of action, or a series of dumb mostly unfunny jokes at any opportunity. But there’s something liberating about Wong’s indifference to normalcy.

*Movie loses a half a star because the two dying robots didn’t crawl past each other like at the end of The Killer.

Friday February 5th – Thursday February 11th

~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

Lunar New Year at the Pacific Place

Celebrate the Lunar New Year this week with three of the biggest Hong Kong films of the year at AMC’s flagship theatre. Donnie Yen continues his quest to transform a real-life kung fu master into a cinematic folk hero, with the help of the villainous real estate developer Mike Tyson in Ip Man 3. Soi Cheang follows up his smash hit 2014 special effects epic with The Monkey King 2, with Aaron Kwok taking the title role over from Donnie Yen in a story from Journey to the West where the godlike simian and his Buddhist monk master confront a viciously amorphous demon played by Gong Li. Finally, Chow Yun-fat is back in yet another gambling action-comedy from director Wong Jing (a genre the two pioneered 27 years ago with God of Gamblers) in From Vegas to Macau III. This one adds Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs) as co-director along with an all-star cast of Golden Age stars such as Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Carina Lau and David Chiang paired with younger celebrities like Nick Cheung, Shawn Yue, and Li Yuchun. It promises questionable taste, even more questionable plotting and plenty of weird fun.

Playing This Week:

Central Cinema:

Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) Fri-Sat, Mon-Tues Our Podcast
Humpday (Lynn Shelton, 2009) Fri-Tues

Century Federal Way:

Ip Man 3 (Wilson Yip) Fri-Thurs Our Review
To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Lazer Team (Matt Hullum) Fri Only
Oscar Nominated Documentary Short Films Tues Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Hitchcock/Truffaut (Kent Jones) Sun, Tues-Thurs
Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) Sat, Sun & Tues Only 35mm
Mississippi Mermaid (François Truffaut, 1969) Sat, Sun & Thurs Only 35mm
Lux Lives Movie Night Fri Only Video
The Sprocket Society presents Saturday Secret Matinees Sat Only
Pieces (Juan Piquer Simon, 1982) Sat & Weds Only 35mm

Landmark Guild 45th Theatre:

Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films Fri-Thurs Our Review

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Airlift (Raja Menon) Fri-Thurs
Bangalore Naatkal (Bhaskar) Fri-Thurs
Ghayal Once Again (Sunny Deol) Fri-Thurs
To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955) Sun & Weds Only

Regal Meridian:

Airlift (Raja Menon) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Iraqi Odyssey (Samir) Fri-Mon
The Automatic Hate (Justin Lerner) Fri-Sun Q & A with Producer
Live from UB (Lauren Knapp) Weds Only
I Am A Knife With Legs (Bennett Jones) Weds Only

AMC Loews Oak Tree:

Ip Man 3 (Wilson Yip) Fri-Thurs Our Review

AMC Pacific Place:

Ip Man 3 (Wilson Yip) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Monkey King 2 (Soi Cheang) Fri-Thurs
From Vegas to Macau III (Andrew Lau & Wong Jing) Fri-Thurs

The Paramount Theatre:

The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin) Mon Only

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Everything About Her (Bb. Joyce Bernal) Fri-Thurs
Ip Man 3 (Wilson Yip) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Scarecrow Video Screening Room:

Ong-Bak (Prachya Pinkaew, 2003) Fri Only
The Parallax View (Alan J. Pakula, 1974) Sat Only
The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921) Sun Only
Working Girl (Mike Nichols, 1988) Sun Only
Bonnie & Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) Mon Only
Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) Tues Only
Gun Crazy (Tamra Davis, 1992) Weds Only
Framing Pictures: A Floating Conversation about Film Thurs Only

Landmark Seven Gables:

Son of Saul (László Nemes) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Film Center:

Regression (Alejandro Amenábar) Fri-Thurs

Sundance Cinemas:

Oscar Nominated Documentary Short Films Fri-Thurs
Regression (Alejandro Amenábar) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

45 Years (Andrew Haigh) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
River of Fundament Acts 1-3 (Mathew Barney) Fri-Thurs In Three Parts

Varsity Theatre:

Misconduct (Shintaro Shimosawa) Fri-Thurs

In Wide Release:

Hail, Caesar! (Joel & Ethan Coen) Our Review
13 Hours (Michael Bay) Our Review
The Revenant (Alejandro González Iñárritu) Our Review
The Hateful 8 (Quentin Tarantino) Our Review
The Force Awakens (JJ Abrams) Our Podcast
Concussion (Peter Landesman) Our Review
Sisters (Jason Moore) Our Review
Brooklyn (John Crowley) Our Review
Spotlight (Tom McCarthy) Our Review
Creed (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
Bridge of Spies (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Martian (Ridley Scott) Our Review

Hail, Caesar! (The Coen Brothers, 2016)

~ Sean Gilman ~ 1 Comment

hail-caesar

The latest from multi-hyphenate siblings Joel & Ethan Coen is a kaleidoscopic extravaganza of half-formed thoughts and half-forgotten genres, a mishmash of Late Movie references and late night insights, a career-summarizing work that pairs the yearning search for metaphysical certainty in a violently random universe that has marked their 21st Century output with a ramblingly digressive celebration of the cinematic creativity that stands so boldly in denial of the dissolution of meaning that is the modern world. With a rollicking energy they haven’t employed since O Brother Where Art Thou, Hail, Caesar! shifts madly across the spectrum of studio-era Hollywood genres: musical numbers, screwball exchanges, singing cowboys, fedoras and shadows, drawing room dramas and celebrity gossip swirl around 28 hours in the life of Eddie Mannix, studio executive, as he navigates crises both large (the kidnapping of the star of his sword and sandal biblical epic by a ring of Communist screenwriters) and small (the unmarried pregnancy of an established star, the acting challenges and fledgling romance of a budding one), while weighing a job offer from outside the industry and trying to reconcile his devout Catholicism with the truth-stretching demands of his profession.

Continue reading “Hail, Caesar! (The Coen Brothers, 2016)” →