Arts This Weekend at the Movies
posted by on October 26 at 15:47 PM
Everything old is new again!
Blade Runner: The Final [really final] Cut opens in Seattle at the Cinerama. The Stranger offices went berserk after I accidentally hollered the replicant/non-replicant status of Deckard. In my defense, Ridley Scott revealed it first, in the New York Times.
The Darjeeling Limited is being paired with its companion short, Hotel Chevalier, in Seattle theaters starting today. Of course, you could have seen it on iTunes billions of years ago, but who’s complaining?
Northwest Film Forum organized a touring program of Shohei Imamura films—count ‘em: 18, ten of which aren’t on DVD—that opens here tonight. Charles Mudede writes about Imamura’s rebellious oeuvre (which doesn’t really get messy, he asserts, until 1963’s Insect Woman on Tuesday) in this week’s film lead. If you want the book Charles refers to, go tonight—it’s being given out free.
Also old, as in no longer with us, but new, as in died young, is Ian Curtis, the subject of the new biopic
Also old, as in played at SIFF, is the limited run of For the Bible Tells Me So (“the best gay doc since The Celluloid Closet, says David Schmader”).
And new, but no good: The entire On Screen lineup, from Sleuth (a remake of the old—ack—movie and play, botched by Kenneth Branagh and his superflat surveillance motifs) to Dan in Real Life (“Everything that you expect to happen happens, in a mild, inoffensive, and okay way,” says Lindy West) to Desert Bayou (Katrina evacuees get relocated to Utah, where they encounter racism, mistrust, and hysteria… but no Mormons?).
See Get Out for all your movie times needs. Notable stuff only in film shorts: Let’s Get Lost at Northwest Film Forum, Vincent Price Double Bill at Grand Illusion (that’s The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Theatre of Blood), Murnau’s Nosferatu and Herzog’s Nosferatu at the Metro, and—last but by no means least—UW Special Collections: Selected Shorts at Northwest Film Forum tomorrow. Enjoy!
Blade Runner: Possibly the best movie, ever. In whichever version.
Interesting.
I'll second SDA in SEA's claim.
I loved Elizabeth starring Cate Blanchett when it hit theaters nearly ten years ago; the acting, directing, writing, costumes --all flawless and beautiful. Even so, I wasn't that thrilled about seeing Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Not until the HORRIBLE reviews started pouring in, that is!
The AP reviewer actually invoked the hallowed Showgirls name, and suddenly I pictured Blanchett in full Elizabeth drag asking people if they liked her nails!!
Needless to say, that firmly moved Elizabeth: The Golden Age from the Maybe to the MUST SEE column in my book.
Though I'm really more about excited about the next film in the trilogy:
E 3: We Are Not Amused
*OR*
E 3: Rise of the Machines
Anyone seen Golden Age? Does it live up to the notorious, delicious, campy hype?
Blade Runner: but the important thing is are they showing a 35mm print, or a cooler 70mm blow-up?
Elizabeth: the previews make it pretty clear that this is a must-NOT-see, with historical accuracy along the lines of the ghastly "A Knight's Tale".
Ridley Scott rules. I'm going to see Blade Runner today. YAY!!!
@5: 35mm. Anyway, blowing up a 35mm film to a 70mm print would be mostly pointless; what makes 70mm films cool (and Cinerama is screening a bunch of them over the next 6 months) is that the cameras actually recorded more data and therefore detail at the time of filming. If you've ever seen a 16mm film blown up to 35mm--lots of indies do this to save money--you'll see a romantic lack of detail, not increased resolution. That said, this restoration includes footage that was rescanned in minute detail and then touched up, so it will look more precise than previous versions.
If the actors who played Ian Curtis and his wife don't get some kind of award recognizing their outstanding efforts in the film, the movie industry is even more elitist than I thought. They did an excellant job and the movie was great as well.
I'm in New York City right now, and I will tell you point blank that this city has NOTHING on Seattle's film culture. A few of the museums are playing a cool movie or two, but every other cinema in town is playing wide release films, 9/10 of which are big budget American movies. The Seattle movie scene kicks ass!!!
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