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Friday, November 2, 2007

This Weekend at the Movies

posted by on November 2 at 13:19 PM

First, the news:

As you’ve already heard, the Writers Guild of America is preparing to strike starting Monday. Assuming the strike leads to a satisfactory contract in a relatively short period of time, there won’t be much of an effect on the movie industry. But Stephen Colbert is off the air in 3… 2… 1… (Exhaustive coverage at the LA Times.)

The Oscar prognosticators are off! (Top sites are The Envelope from the LA Times and Gurus of Gold from Movie City News.) Of course, most of us peons haven’t seen these movies yet. Atonement, for example, is set to open in Seattle on December 7; No Country for Old Men should be out November 16.

And an item of interest mostly to my adolescent self: A new X-Files movie is going into production next month.

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May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead

In On Screen this week: the exceptional botched-heist melodrama Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (Jon Frosch: “What happens in the movie is unhappy stuff, but there’s mischief in the way each colossally bad decision leads to another, and you may find yourself smiling at how deftly Sidney Lumet and Kelly Masterson send these slippery bastards scrambling toward their fates”), American Gangster (from Ridley Scott to Russel Crowe, “everyone involved seems to be coasting,” says Andrew Wright), the unbearable Martian Child (“The title character in Martian Child is what would result if Jack Klugman’s single, tattered vocal cord impregnated Anne Heche and she gave birth to an albino bug,” according to Lindy West), Sharkwater (“Every man, woman, and child should be strapped into a chair and shown it,” says shark fan Jen Graves), and Wristcutters: A Love Story (Andrew Wright says it “hangs on to the edge of enjoyably oddball without falling into molar-decaying twee”).

Plus: Charles Mudede uncovers the capitalist agenda behind Bee Movie.

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In Film Shorts this week: A Man Vanishes: The Legacy of Shohei Imamura continues at Northwest Film Forum with Vengeance Is Mine every day and a second rotating feature. Soldiers of Conscience—recommended by Lindy West—opens at SIFF Cinema tonight.

Banished

The Seattle premiere of Banished (we couldn’t get a screener, but here’s the New York Times review) happens tonight at Rainier Valley Cultural Center with director Marco Williams (Two Towns of Jasper) in attendance. Grand Illusion has the beautiful Mongolian feature Khadak (and a late night spaghetti Western that sounds completely nuts). Varsity opts for Tibetan warrior saga Milarepa: Magician, Murderer, Saint (could there be a less enticing title?). Central Cinema is showing the low camp thriller Strait-Jacket, with Joan Crawford in the titular restraint device. And Cinerama has Ghostbusters in 70mm for two shows only (Sunday and Tuesday) in between screenings of the restored Blade Runner: The Final Cut. For all your movie times needs, see Get Out.

And we didn’t have room for a DVD column in this week’s paper, but Tuesday’s new releases include a Barbara Stanwyck collection that means you can see Jeopardy on DVD, if not at Seattle Art Museum’s sold-out film noir series next week. Plus: the Darfur doc The Devil Came on Horseback and big fat My So-Called Life and Twin Peaks box sets.

RSS icon Comments

1

I used to be such a crazy X-Files fan. I still am, for seasons 1-5 and the first movie. But you have to admit, the show took a pretty hefty plunge.

The strike will be epic. Actually it wont. One can hope...

Posted by Mr. Poe | November 2, 2007 1:27 PM
2

Thank god I've got a Platinum Lifetime membership in Cinema Seattle ...

That said, there's always the web and BBC TV online, as well as BBC America and Comcast OnDemand to see.

Posted by Will in Seattle | November 2, 2007 1:27 PM
3

I thought American Gangster was incredible, and expect to see it go on to win lots of awards.

If you ever liked Blade Runner at all, don't miss the Cinerama showing. I just saw it last night, and it was AMAZING.

Posted by Peter | November 2, 2007 1:32 PM
4

Wow, a major motion picture has a capitalist agenda? What would I do without you guys?

Posted by w7ngman | November 2, 2007 1:47 PM
5

I saw "No Country for Old Men" at a SIFF screening with Josh Brolin in attendance....it's really, really good. And Josh Brolin is freaking adorable; articulate and smart and funny. He's also really good in this movie. I can't imagine him being Bab's stepson...

Posted by michael strangeways | November 2, 2007 2:09 PM
6

My So-Called Life box set! SWEET! I've been waiting for this since I was 10.

Posted by Aislinn | November 2, 2007 2:17 PM

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