Featured Film:

Fail to Appear at the Northwest Film Forum

The Film Forum kicks off a month of amazing programming this week with a miniseries devoted to New Canadian cinema, some of the most exciting independent films being made anywhere in the world right now. We’ve been following the Future//Present series at the Vancouver International Film Festival since its inception, and the NWFF is playing several of its best films, starting this Wednesday with Fail to Appear, a fascinating drama about a young social worker and her client. It’s paired with the excellent short film Scaffold, which follows a pair of construction workers (or, more specifically their hands and feet) as they work on someone’s home. The series continues on Thursday with the off-beat and beguiling The Intestine, and runs through Sunday, April 8th.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Leisure Seeker (Paolo Virzì) Fri-Thurs

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004) Fri-Thurs
Vampire Hunter D (Toyoo Ashida, 1985) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004) Fri-Mon Subtitled Sat & Mon Only
Raising Arizona (The Coen Brothers, 1987) Fri-Mon

SIFF Egyptian:

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Century Federal Way:

Sajjan Singh Rangroot (Pankaj Batra) Fri-Thurs

Grand Cinema:

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev) Fri-Thurs
Oh, Lucy! (Atsuko Hirayanagi) Fri-Thurs
The Big Lebowski (The Coen Brothers, 1998) Sat Only
The Rape of Recy Taylor (Nancy Buirski) Tues Only
Love (Doze Niu, 2012) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The General (Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman, 1926) Fri-Sun, Tues & Thurs
Steamboat Bill, Jr (Buster Keaton & Charles Reiser, 1928) Fri-Sun, Tues & Thurs
Three Ages (Buster Keaton & Eddie Cline, 1923) Sat, Sun, Mon & Weds
College (Buster Keaton & James W. Horne, 1927) Sat, Sun, Mon & Weds

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Baaghi 2 (Ahmed Khan) Fri-Thurs
Rangasthalam (Sukumar) Fri-Thurs
Hichki (Siddharth Malhotra) Fri-Thurs
Raid (Raj Kumar Gupta) Fri-Thurs
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Mon Only

Regal Meridian:

Flower (Max Winkler) Fri-Thurs
Goldstone (Ivan Sen) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Leaning into the Wind (Thomas Riedelsheimer) Fri Only
Fail to Appear (Antoine Bourges) with Scaffold (Kazik Radwanski) Weds Only Our Review/Our Review
The Intestine (Lev Lewis) Thurs Only Our Review Lead Actress in Attendance

AMC Pacific Place:

Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Regal Parkway Plaza:

My Perfect You (Cathy Garcia-Molina) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Leisure Seeker (Paolo Virzì) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

Beauty and the Dogs (Khaled Walid Barsaoui & Kaouther Ben Hania) Fri-Sun

Regal Thornton Place:

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson) Fri-Thurs Our Review

SIFF Uptown:

Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Ramen Heads (Koki Shigeno) Fri-Thurs
Ernest & Celestine (Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar & Benjamin Renner, 2012) Sat Only

In Wide Release:

Annihilation (Alex Garland) Our Review
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson) Our Review Our Podcast
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro) Our Review
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review

Featured Film:

Operation Red Sea at the Pacific Place

The coolest thing on Seattle Screens this week is probably Police Beat on Tuesday at the Film Forum, a tie-in with FilmStruck’s Art House America series. But since I haven’t seen either of those before, I’m going with Operation Red Sea, the biggest hit of this past Lunar New Year. It’s one fo the best war films in recent memory, with top-notch action and slightly less Chinese jingoism than last year’s Wolf Warrior 2. I wrote about it a few weeks ago in my survey of Lunar New Year films.

Playing This Week:

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

King of Hearts (Philippe de Broca, 1966) Fri-Weds
Harold & Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971) Fri-Weds
The Road Movie (Dmitrii Kalashnikov) Thurs Only

Central Cinema:

The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming 1939) Fri-Mon
Wild at Heart (David Lynch, 1990) Fri-Mon
Waiting for Waldemar (Eric B. Spoeth) Fri Only Director Q&A

SIFF Egyptian:

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The IF Project (Kathlyn Horan) Sun Only

Century Federal Way:

Sajjan Singh Rangroot (Pankaj Batra) Fri-Thurs
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Mon Only

Grand Cinema:

Oh, Lucy! (Atsuko Hirayanagi) Fri-Thurs
A Fantastic Woman (Sebastian Lelio) Fri-Thurs
Leaning into the Wind (Thomas Riedelsheimer) Fri-Thurs
A Brief History of Time (Errol Morris, 1991) Fri & Sat Only
120 Beats per Minute (Robin Campillo) Tues Only Our Review Our Other Review
Noticias Lejanas (Ricardo Benet, 2005) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Tehran Taboo (Ali Soozandeh) Fri-Thurs
November (Rainer Sarnet) Sun, Weds & Thurs
Saturday Secret Matinee: Widescreen Thrills Sat Only 16mm
They Remain (Phillip Gelatt) Sat & Sun Only
Untitled (Just Kidding) (Jesse Malmed) Mon Only
The Spaces Between Countries: Mexico & USA Tues Only

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Rajaratha (Anup Bhandari) Fri-Thurs In Kannada or Telugu, Check Listings
Needi Naadi Oke Katha (Udugula Venu) Fri-Thurs
MLA (Upendra Madhav) Fri-Thurs
Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (Luv Ranjan) Fri-Thurs
Hichki (Siddharth Malhotra) Fri-Thurs
Raid (Raj Kumar Gupta) Fri-Thurs
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Mon Only

Regal Meridian:

Flower (Max Winkler) Fri-Thurs
Needi Naadi Oke Katha (Udugula Venu) Fri-Thurs
Goldstone (Ivan Sen) Fri-Thurs
The Leisure Seeker (Paolo Virzì) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Leaning into the Wind (Thomas Riedelsheimer) Fri-Thurs
After Louie (Vincent Gagliostro) Fri-Sun, Thurs
CFFS 2018 Indigenous Showcase Shorts Sat Only
FilmStruck Art House America: Police Beat (Robinson Devor, 2005) Tues Only Writer and Producer in Attendance
Dark Matters Weds Only

AMC Pacific Place:

Operation Red Sea (Dante Lam) Fri-Thurs  Our Review

Regal Parkway Plaza:

My Perfect You (Cathy Garcia-Molina) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Leisure Seeker (Paolo Virzì) Fri-Thurs
Flower (Max Winkler) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Sabotage (Alfred Hitchcock, 1936) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

Souvenir (Bavo Defurne) Fri-Sun

Regal Thornton Place:

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008) Sun, Mon & Weds Only

SIFF Uptown:

A Fantastic Woman (Sebastian Lelio) Fri-Tues
Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev) Fri-Tues
Oh, Lucy! (Atsuko Hirayanagi) Fri-Tues
Back to Burgundy (Cédric Klapisch) Fri-Thurs
SFFSFF Encore Program Sun Only
Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson) Starts Tues

Varsity Theatre:

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008) Weds Only

In Wide Release:

Annihilation (Alex Garland) Our Review
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
Fifty Shades Freed (James Foley) Our Review
The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson) Our Review Our Podcast
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro) Our Review
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review

Featured Film:

Metropolis at the Ark Lodge

There’s a bunch of cool new stuff on Seattle Screens this week, including The Death of Stalin and Did You Winder Who Fired the Gun?, along with older movies like the launch of SAM’s new Hitchcock series focusing on his films set in Britain, and of course, at long last, the arrival of the restoration of Edward Yang’s masterpiece A Brighter Summer Day, which of course would have been our Featured Film this week if I hadn’t already expanded our reach a few months ago to highlight its screening in Bellingham. Instead, I’m going with the Ark Lodge, which has quietly been playing some interesting repertory as part of their Dark Lodge and Ark Lodge Rewind series. This week they’re playing Fritz Lang’s monumental, iconic Metropolis, a visionary sci-fi epic before such adjectives were debased by lazy critics to describe genre films that have shadows and/or lens flares. They’re playing what they’re calling “The Complete Version” which includes 25 minutes of new footage, probably those bits unearthed in Argentina several years ago. In any version, Lang’s film, about a mad scientist who builds a robot to co-opt a proletarian revolution and the bourgeois man who must stop her and save the people and the woman he loves, is a must-see.

Playing This Week:

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

Iron Man (Jon Favreau, 2008) Fri-Mon
Step Brothers (Adam McKay, 2008) Fri-Tues

SIFF Egyptian:

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci) Fri-Weds Our Review

Century Federal Way:

Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (Paul McGuigan) Fri-Thurs
A Fantastic Woman (Sebastian Lelio) Fri-Thurs
The Party (Sally Potter) Fri-Thurs
The Last Starfighter (Nick Castle, 1984) Sat Only Free
Liquid Sky (Slava Tsukerman, 1982) Sat Only
In Between (Maysaloun Hamoud) Tues Only
Life of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979) Weds Only
Never Give Up! MINORU YASUI and the Fight for Justice (Holly Yasui & Will Doolittle) Thurs Only Free
Atlantic. (Jan-Willem van Ewijk) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Before We Vanish (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) Sat-Mon, Weds Our Review
November (Rainer Sarnet) Fri, Sun, Tues & Thurs
Pushing Dead (Tom E. Brown) Fri-Thurs Director in Attendance for the Weekend
Saturday Secret Matinee: Widescreen Thrills Sat Only 16mm

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (Luv Ranjan) Fri-Thurs
Kirrak Party (Sharan Koppisetty) Fri-Thurs
Raid (Raj Kumar Gupta) Fri-Thurs
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Sun & Weds Only

Northwest Film Forum:

Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? (Travis Wilkerson) Fri-Sun Our Review
Leaning into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy (Thomas Riedelsheimer) Fri-Thurs
A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991) Sun & Mon Only Our Review Our Podcast
12 Days (Raymond Depardon) Weds Only

AMC Pacific Place:

Operation Red Sea (Dante Lam) Fri-Thurs  Our Review

Seattle Art Museum:

The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1934) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

The Party (Sally Potter) Fri-Sun

Regal Thornton Place:

Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Sun & Weds Only

SIFF Uptown:

A Fantastic Woman (Sebastian Lelio) Fri-Thurs
Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev) Fri-Thurs
Oh, Lucy! (Atsuko Hirayanagi) Fri-Thurs
Tales from Earthsea (Gorô Miyazaki, 2006) Sun Only

Varsity Theatre:

The Forgiven (Roland Joffé) Fri-Thurs
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Weds Only

In Wide Release:

Annihilation (Alex Garland) Our Review
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
Fifty Shades Freed (James Foley) Our Review
Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson) Our Review
The Post (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson) Our Review Our Podcast
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro) Our Review
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review

Featured Film:

Before We Vanish at the Grand Illusion

We didn’t get the great Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s last feature, the moody French mystery Daguerrotype, which only came out on DVD. But the Grand Illusion has his latest, an alien invasion film about an advance team of extra-terrestrials taking human form and attempting to learn all they can about people by telepathically removing certain concepts from our brains. Genuinely weird and off-beat, it’s equal parts satire and sap, and a lot more besides.

Playing This Week:

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Terrifier (Damien Leone) Thurs Only

Central Cinema:

The Great Muppet Caper (Jim Henson, 1981) Fri-Tues
Set It Off (F. Gary Gray, 1996) Fri-Tues

SIFF Egyptian:

A Fantastic Woman (Sebastian Lelio) Fri-Mon, Weds & Thurs

Century Federal Way:

Laung Laachi (Amberdeep Singh) Fri-Thurs

Grand Cinema:

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (Paul McGuigan) Fri-Thurs
The Party (Sally Potter) Fri-Thurs
Animation Show of Shows (Various) Tues Only
The Women’s Balcony (Emil Ben-Shimon) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Before We Vanish (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) Fri-Thurs Our Review
November (Rainer Sarnet) Fri-Thurs
Blond Fury (Various) Sat Only VHS
Saturday Secret Matinee: Atomic Monsters Sat Only 16mm

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (Luv Ranjan) Fri-Thurs
Ye Mantram Vesave (Shridhar Marri) Fri-Thurs
Pari (Prosit Roy) Fri-Thurs
Aamhi Doghi (Pratima Joshi) Sun Only
Tagaru (Duniya Soori) Sat & Sun Only

Northwest Film Forum:

Western (Valeska Grisebach) Fri-Sun Our Review
Above & Beyond: Giving Up the Day Job (Paul Dugdale) Fri-Sun
Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa, 1980) Sat Only 35mm, Members Only
Vintage: Families of Value (Thomas Allen Harris, 1995) Sat Only
12 Days (Raymond Depardon) Weds & Thurs Only
Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? (Travis Wilkerson) Starts Thurs

AMC Oak Tree:

Operation Red Sea (Dante Lam) Fri-Thurs Our Review

AMC Pacific Place:

Detective Chinatown 2 (Chen Sicheng) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Operation Red Sea (Dante Lam) Fri-Thurs  Our Review

AMC Seattle:

The Party (Sally Potter) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

Big Time (Kaspar Astrup Schröder) Fri Only
Step Up to the Plate (Paul Lacoste, 2011) Weds Only

SIFF Uptown:

Animation Show of Shows (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
The Party (Sally Potter) Fri-Thurs

Varsity Theatre:

Submission (Richard Levine) Fri-Thurs

In Wide Release:

Annihilation (Alex Garland) Our Review
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
Fifty Shades Freed (James Foley) Our Review
Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson) Our Review
The Post (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson) Our Review Our Podcast
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro) Our Review
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review

Featured Film:

Legend of the Mountain at the Northwest Film Forum

One of King Hu’s very best films is playing this weekend only at the Northwest Film Forum. Less known than his major swordplay epics Come Drink With Me, Dragon Gate Inn or A Touch of Zen, Legend of the Mountain was one of two films he shot in Korea and released in 1979 (the other being the Buddhist heist film Raining in the Mountain). It’s a ghost story about an itinerant scribe who is sent to an abandoned castle to work on copying a powerful sutra, one whose ability to control the spirits of the dead makes him the unwitting target of a gang of ghosts, led by the incomparable Hsu Feng, with only Sylvia Chang and a mysterious lama to protect him. This restored version presents the Director’s Cut, with almost 90 minutes more material than the original release. I reviewed it a few weeks ago, don’t miss it.

Playing This Week:

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

2018 Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
Life of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979) Fri-Weds
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam, 1975) Fri-Weds  Sing-along

Central Cinema:

Enchanted (Kevin Lima, 2007) Fri-Mon
Frida (Julie Taymor, 2002) Fri-Mon

SIFF Egyptian:

A Fantastic Woman (Sebastian Lelio) Fri-Tues, Thurs

Century Federal Way:

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (Luv Ranjan) Fri-Thurs
Laavan Phere (Smeep Kang) Fri-Thurs
Nostalgia (Mark Pellington) Fri-Thurs

Grand Cinema:

The Young Karl Marx (Raoul Peck) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Sun
Mohawk (Ted Geoghegan) Sat Only
Human Flow (Ai Weiwei) Tues Only
The Living Fire (Ostap Kostyuk, 2015) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Pow Wow (Robinson Devor) Fri-Thurs
The Insult (Ziad Doueiri) Fri-Thurs
Saturday Secret Matinee: Atomic Monsters Sat Only 16mm

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (Luv Ranjan) Fri-Thurs
Oscar Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
The Party (Sally Potter) Fri-Thurs
Padman (R. Balki) Fri-Thurs
Pari (Prosit Roy) Fri-Thurs
Raju Kannada Medium (Naresh Kumar) Sat & Sun Only

Regal Meridian:

Nostalgia (Mark Pellington) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Legend of the Mountain (King Hu, 1979) Fri-Sun Our Review
In Between (Maysaloun Hamoud) Fri-Sun
Rebels on Pointe (Bobbi Jo Hart) Sat Only
Bill Nye: Science Guy (David Alvarado & Jason Sussberg) Fri & Sun Only
The Comedy Club (David C. Schendel) Weds Only Filmmaker in Attendance
Above & Beyond: Giving Up the Day Job (Paul Dugdale) Starts Thurs
Western (Valeska Grisebach) Starts Thurs Our Review

AMC Oak Tree:

Operation Red Sea (Dante Lam) Fri-Thurs Our Review

AMC Pacific Place:

Detective Chinatown 2 (Chen Sicheng) Fri-Thurs
Operation Red Sea (Dante Lam) Fri-Thurs  Our Review

Regal Parkway Plaza:

La boda de Valentina (Marco Polo Constandse) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

The Party (Sally Potter) Fri-Thurs
Nostalgia (Mark Pellington) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Film Center:

Big Time (Kaspar Astrup Schröder) Thurs Only Skype Q&A

Regal Thornton Place:

The Dark Crystal (Jim Henson & Frank Oz, 1982) Sat & Tues Only

SIFF Uptown:

Faces Places (Agnès Varda & JR) Fri-Thurs Our Review
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
The Party (Sally Potter) Fri-Thurs

Varsity Theatre:

Happy End (Michael Haneke) Fri-Thurs

In Wide Release:

Annihilation (Alex Garland) Our Review
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
The 15:17 to Paris (Clint Eastwood) Our Review
Fifty Shades Freed (James Foley) Our Review
Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson) Our Review
The Post (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson) Our Review Our Podcast
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro) Our Review
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review

Featured Film:

Cuban Cinema at the Grand Illusion

This week the Grand Illusion premieres the new restoration of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s 1968 Memories of Underdevelopment alongside a 35mm print of Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba. I haven’t seen Memories yet, but it sounds phenomenal (“One of the greatest films ever made. As essential as cinema gets.” says Bilge Ebiri in the Village Voice.) But I have seen I Am Cuba, and I can for sure say it is one of the greatest films ever made. An episodic story about the lead-up to and the culmination of the revolution, it’s propaganda of the highest order, with Kalatozov and his genius cinematographer Sergey Urusevsky coming up with the craziest camera stunts you can think of, but all in service of a searing portrait of the people’s suffering and the glory of their ultimate victory. I don’t think it’s been seen here in Seattle since we played it at the Metro a decade ago. Don’t miss it this time.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Golden Slumber (Noh Dongseok) Fri-Thurs
Detective Chinatown 2 (Chen Sicheng) Fri-Thurs

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) Fri-Thurs
The Lodgers (Brian O’Malley) Fri-Sun

Central Cinema:

Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) Fri-Mon
Hackers (Iain Softley, 1995) Fri-Mon

SIFF Egyptian:

A Fantastic Woman (Sebastian Lelio) Fri-Weds
Kiki’s Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989) Sat Only Our Podcast

Century Federal Way:

Golden Slumber (Noh Dongseok) Fri-Thurs
Laavan Phere (Smeep Kang) Fri-Thurs
The Dark Crystal (Jim Henson & Frank Oz, 1982) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

Concert for George (David Leland) Mon Only
2018 Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts (Various) Tues Only
The Wedding Day (Lee Byungil, 1956) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1968) Fri, Sun, Tues & Thurs
Scarecrow Video presents: Red Roses of Passion (Joe Sarno, 1966) Fri Only
I Am Cuba (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964) Sat & Weds Only 35mm
The Insult (Ziad Doueiri) Sat, Sun, Mon & Thurs
Saturday Secret Matinee: Twisted Intrigues Sat Only 16mm
Have a Nice Day (Liu Jian) Sun-Tues Our Review

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (Luv Ranjan) Fri-Thurs
Awe (Prashanth Varma) Fri-Thurs
Welcome to New York (Chakri Toleti) Fri-Thurs
Padman (R. Balki) Fri-Thurs
Aiyaary (Neeraj Pandey) Fri-Thurs
Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs
The Dark Crystal (Jim Henson & Frank Oz, 1982) Sun & Weds Only

Regal Meridian:

Padman (R. Balki) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Seattle Asian American Film Festival Fri-Sun Full Program
Rebels on Pointe (Bobbi Jo Hart) Weds & Next Sat Only
In Between (Maysaloun Hamoud) Starts Thurs
Legend of the Mountain (King Hu, 1979) Starts Thurs Our Review

AMC Oak Tree:

Operation Red Sea (Dante Lam) Fri-Thurs

AMC Pacific Place:

Detective Chinatown 2 (Chen Sicheng) Fri-Thurs
Operation Red Sea (Dante Lam) Fri-Thurs
Monster Hunt 2 (Raman Hui) Fri-Thurs

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs
La boda de Valentina (Marco Polo Constandse) Fri-Thurs
Concert for George (David Leland) Weds Only

AMC Seattle:

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (Paul McGuigan) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman, 1961) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

Shut Up and Play the Hits and Wild Combination (Will Lovelace & Dylan Southern, 2012 and Matt Wolf, 2008) Thurs Only Double Feature

AMC Southcenter:

Detective Chinatown 2 (Chen Sicheng) Fri-Thurs

Regal Thornton Place:

Mary and the Witch’s Flower (Hiromasa Yonebayashi) Sat & Mon Only Our Review
The Dark Crystal (Jim Henson & Frank Oz, 1982) Sun & Weds Only

SIFF Uptown:

Faces Place (Agnès Varda & JR) Fri-Thurs Our Review
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
Boy and the World (Alê Abreu, 2013) Sat Only Our Review
Concert for George (David Leland) Sun Only

Varsity Theatre:

Half Magic (Heather Graham) Fri-Thurs
Curvature (Diego Hallivis) Fri-Thurs

In Wide Release:

Annihilation (Alex Garland) Our Review
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler) Our Review
The 15:17 to Paris (Clint Eastwood) Our Review
Fifty Shades Freed (James Foley) Our Review
Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson) Our Review
Hostiles (Scott Cooper) Our Review
The Post (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson) Our Review Our Podcast
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro) Our Review
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review

Featured Film:

Noir City at the SIFF Egyptian

Lunar New Year kicks off this week with three highly anticipated sequels from China, all of which are playing at the Pacific Place, with a couple titles playing at other theatres around town, but I’d be remiss not to declare Noir City the film event of this week in Seattle. Impressario Eddie Muller is back with his usual eclectic blend of A and B features from that perennially popular period of post-war policiers. Eighteen features in all, most of which are playing on 35mm, ranging from well-known classics like The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, and Mildred Pierce, to relative unknowns like I Walk Alone, The Man Who Cheated Himself and Flesh and Fantasy. But you know what, I’m sure Mr. Muller wouldn’t mind if you snuck in a screening of Detective Chinatown 2 as well.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Detective Chinatown 2 (Chen Sicheng) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, 1925) Fri-Mon
The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982) Fri-Mon

SIFF Egyptian:

Noir City 2018 Fri-Thurs Full Program

Century Federal Way:

Detective Chinatown 2 (Chen Sicheng) Fri-Thurs
Laavan Phere (Smeep Kang) Fri-Thurs
The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

Paddington (Paul King, 2014) Sat Only Free Screening
Idiocracy (Mike Judge, 2006) Sat Only
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Tues Only
The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965) Weds Only Our Podcast
The Trials of Muhammad Ali (Bill Siegel 2013) Thurs Only Free Screening
Mon oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Have a Nice Day (Liu Jian) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Insult (Ziad Doueiri) Sat, Sun, & Tues-Thurs
Saturday Secret Matinee: Twisted Intrigues Sat Only 16mm
Canyon Cinema 50: Continuum Sat Only 16mm

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Awe (Prashanth Varma) Fri-Thurs
Toliprema (Venky Atluri) Fri-Thurs
Padman (R. Balki) Fri-Thurs
Aiyaary (Neeraj Pandey) Fri-Thurs
Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs
The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) Sun & Weds Only

Regal Meridian:

Padman (R. Balki) Fri-Thurs
Monster Hunt 2 (Raman Hui) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Through the Repellent Fence (Sam Wainwright Douglas) Sun Only
The Gentleman Bank Robber (Julie Perini) Sun Only Fundraiser, Discussion After
Canyon Cinema 50: Decodings Weds Only 16mm
The Departure (Lana Wilson) Weds Only Discussion After

AMC Pacific Place:

Detective Chinatown 2 (Chen Sicheng) Fri-Thurs
Monkey King 3 (Soi Cheang) Fri-Thurs
Monster Hunt 2 (Raman Hui) Fri-Thurs
Double Lover (François Ozon) Fri-Thurs

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs
Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes (Jun Lana) Fri-Thurs
Bilal: A New Breed of Hero (Ayman Jamal & Khurram Alavi) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (Paul McGuigan) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman, 1960) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Pedro Rivero & Alberto Vázquez) Fri-Sun
We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Messenger (Lynne Ramsay, 2011 and Oren Moverman, 2009) Thurs Only Double Feature

AMC Southcenter:

Detective Chinatown 2 (Chen Sicheng) Fri-Thurs
La Boda de Valentina (Marco Polo Constandse) Fri-Thurs In Spanish with No Subtitles

Regal Thornton Place:

The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) Sun & Weds Only

SIFF Uptown:

2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs

Varsity Theatre:

Looking Glass (Tim Hunter) Fri-Thurs
The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) Weds Only

In Wide Release:

The 15:17 to Paris (Clint Eastwood) Our Review
Fifty Shades Freed (James Foley) Our Review
Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson) Our Review
Hostiles (Scott Cooper) Our Review
The Post (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson) Our Review Our Podcast
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro) Our Review
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review

Featured Film:

The Seattle Screen Valentine’s Scene

Nothing really stands out as the must-see Film to Feature this week, but there are a number of romantic options for your Valentine’s Week plans. In repertory: the Ark Lodge has a pair of criminal duos with Bonnie & Clyde and Thelma & Louise, while the Central Cinema has Moonstruck (RIP John Mahoney) and Before Sunrise, and the Grand plays Harold & Maude and Say Anything… (RIP John Mahoney). If you’re tastes are more. . . unconventional, there’s 9 1/2 Weeks at the Grand Illusion and, in wide release, The Shape of Water, Phantom Thread, and Fifty Shades Freed. And if you just want to see something great, there’s Edward Yang’s newly restored classic Taipei Story playing at the Pickford in Bellingham.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Bonnie & Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) Fri-Weds
Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991) Fri-Weds

Central Cinema:

Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987) Fri, Sat, Tues & Weds
Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater, 1995) Fri, Sat, Tues & Weds

SIFF Egyptian:

Depth Perception (Christopher Murphy & Justin Taylor Smith) Fri-Thurs

Century Federal Way:

Mazinger Z: INFINITY (Junji Shimizu) Sun & Mon Only

Grand Cinema:

Harold & Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971) Sat Only
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
Say Anything… (Cameron Crowe, 1989) Weds Only
Siblings are Forever (Frode Fimland, 2013) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The Insult (Ziad Doueiri) Fri-Thurs
Saturday Secret Matinee: Very Bad Deals Sat Only 16mm
Erased Etchings (Linda Fenstermaker) Tues Only 16mm & Digital
9 1/2 Weeks (Adrian Lyne, 1986) Weds Only

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Chalo (Venky Kudumula) Fri-Thurs
Toliprema (Venky Atluri) Fri-Thurs
Padman (R. Balki) Fri-Thurs
Intelligent (V. V. Vinayak) Fri-Thurs
Gayatri (Madan) Fri-Thurs
Bhaagamathie (G. Ashok) Fri-Thurs
Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs
Mazinger Z: INFINITY (Junji Shimizu) Sun & Mon Only

Regal Meridian:

Padman (R. Balki) Fri-Thurs
Mary and the Witch’s Flower (Hiromasa Yonebayashi) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

The Cage Fighter (Jeff Unay) Fri-Thurs Director Q&A Fri & Sat
Infinity Baby (Bob Byington) Fri-Sun Editor Q&A Fri
Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2018 Sat Only
I Don’t Hate Las Vegas Anymore (Caveh Zahedi, 1994) Sat Only

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs
Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes (Jun Lana) Fri-Thurs
Bilal: A New Breed of Hero (Ayman Jamal & Khurram Alavi) Fri-Thurs

Pickford Film Center:

Taipei Story (Edward Yang, 1985) Tues Only
Nanook of the North with In the Land of the War Canoes (Robert Flaherty, 1922 and Edward Curtis, 1913) Sun Only

AMC Seattle:

2018 Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

From The Alphabet to Eraserhead (David Lynch) Fri Only

SIFF Film Center:

Big Sonia (Leah Warshawski & Todd Soliday) Fri-Thurs Q&A Fri & Sat
Elvis, Evergreens, and Umbrellas: 50 Years of Seattle on the Big Screen Sun Only
Love Street (Patrice Leconte, 2002) Weds Only

AMC Southcenter:

La Boda de Valentina (Marco Polo Constandse) Fri-Thurs In Spanish with No Subtitles

SIFF Uptown:

2018 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs
2018 Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (Various) Fri-Thurs

Varsity Theatre:

Permission (Brian Crano) Fri-Thurs
Mazinger Z: INFINITY (Junji Shimizu) Sun & Mon Only

In Wide Release:

Fifty Shades Freed (James Foley) Our Review
Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson) Our Review
Hostiles (Scott Cooper) Our Review
The Commuter (Jaume Collet-Serra) Our Review
The Post (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson) Our Review Our Podcast
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro) Our Review
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review

Featured Film:

A Brighter Summer Day at the Pickford Film Center

The SIFF Film Center’s Thursday night documentary triple feature of Los Sures, Stations fo the Elevated and Dark Days certainly looks cool, and the Canyon Cinema series being presented by the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum looks to be one of the more exciting experimental film events of the year, but it’s been awhile since we looked at our neighbor to the far north, Bellingham, and their outstanding independent theatre, the Pickford Film Center. And this weekend they’re playing Edward Yang’s monumental A Brighter Summer Day, which we talked about way back on Episode Five of The Frances Farmer Show and which I reviewed at the sadly now-defunct Movie Mezzanine (you can read the review now at The Chinese Cinema. It’s a great movie, of course, and one of the neat things about it is that its running time is longer than the time it probably takes you to drive from Seattle to Bellingham and back again. The Pickford also has Nanook of the North on Sunday, and Yang’s Taipei Story next weekend.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Weds Our Review Our Other Review
North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) Fri-Thurs
To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955) Fri-Thurs
The Violent Years (William Morgan, 1956) Thurs Only

Central Cinema:

Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) Fri, Sat & Mon
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014) Fri-Tues Our Review

Grand Cinema:

Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) Sat Only
Django (Etienne Comar) Tues Only
Santa & Andres (Carlos Lechuga) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Vazante (Daniela Thomas) Fri-Thurs
Canyon Cinema 50: Associations (Various) Sat Only 16mm
Saturday Secret Matinee: Very Bad Deals Sat Only 16mm

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Chalo (Venky Kudumula) Fri-Thurs
Humble Politician Nograj (Saad Khan) Fri-Thurs
Oru Nalla Naal Paathu Solren (Arumuga Kumar) Fri-Thurs
Touch Chesi Chudu (Vikram Sirikonda) Fri-Thurs
Bhaagamathie (G. Ashok) Fri-Thurs
Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs

Regal Meridian:

Til the End of the World (Wu Youyin) Fri-Thurs
Mary and the Witch’s Flower (Hiromasa Yonebayashi) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

The Road Movie (Dmitrii Kalashnikov) Fri & Sun Only
Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2018 Fri-Sun
Infinity Baby (Bob Byington) Starts Weds Editor in Attendance
Canyon Cinema 50: Studies in Natural Magic (Various) Thurs Only 16mm
The Cage Fighter (Jeff Unay) Starts Thurs Director Q&A Thurs-Sat

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Padmaavat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Fri-Thurs
Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes (Jun Lana) Fri-Thurs
Bilal: A New Breed of Hero (Ayman Jamal & Khurram Alavi) Fri-Thurs

Pickford Film Center:

A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991) Sat Only Our Podcast Our Review
Nanook of the North with In the Land of the War Canoes (Robert Flaherty, 1922 and Edward Curtis, 1913) Sun Only

AMC Seattle:

In the Fade (Fatih Akin) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

The Magician (Ingmar Bergman, 1958) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

A Ciambra (Jonas Carpignano) Fri-Thurs
Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore) Sat Only
Los Sures, Stations of the Elevated and Dark Days (Diego Echeverria, 1984; Manfred Kirchheimer, 1981; and Marc Singer, 2000) Thurs Only Triple Feature

In Wide Release:

Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson) Our Review
Hostiles (Scott Cooper) Our Review
The Commuter (Jaume Collet-Serra) Our Review
The Post (Steven Spielberg) Our Review
The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson) Our Review Our Podcast
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro) Our Review
Pitch Perfect 3 (Trish Sie) Our Review
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review