The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Slog: Film

The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Slog: Film http://slog.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/ Seattle's #1 Weekly Newspaper. Covering Seattle news, politics, music, film, and arts; plus movie times, club calendars, restaurant listings, forums, blogs, and Savage Love. en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. editor@thestranger.com (The Stranger Editor) webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sat, 25 May 2013 14:00:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Short Film Friday: The SIFF Edition http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/short-film-friday-the-siff-edition http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/short-film-friday-the-siff-edition Charles Mudede <p>This week’s short film is another music video (I will return to proper short films next week) for Hey Marseilles’s “Heart Beats.” The reason for picking the video is the local cinematographer and current <a href="http://www.strangertickets.com/events/7763589/five-nights-of-genius-at-the-frye">Genius Award nominee</a> Benjamin Kasulke, who helped make it with “Hayley Young, Sean Donavan, Mel Eslyn, Jeremy Mackie, and a zillion others.” In this year’s SIFF, Kasulke’s work can be seen in 2 local productions—Lynn Shelton’s <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/suggests/16732984/andlsquotouchy-feelyandrsquo">Touchy Feely</a> and Dayna Hansen’s <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?oid=16660427">Improvement Club</a>. "Heart Beats” captures Seattle perfectly.</p> <p><iframe width="460" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DMvho0i9njw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/short-film-friday-the-siff-edition#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16867200&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> SIFF Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/short-film-friday-the-siff-edition?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16867200&id=comments 4 Fri, 24 May 2013 16:50:52 -0700 The Stranger Pushing Rope http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/pushing-rope http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/pushing-rope Paul Constant <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/6308/1369416293-film-hangover-570.jpg" alt="The Hangover, Part III: If you squint, you can see what remains of Zach Galifianakiss self-worth and dignity." title="The Hangover, Part III: If you squint, you can see what remains of Zach Galifianakiss self-worth and dignity." width="500" height="351" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption"><em>The Hangover, Part III</em>: If you squint, you can see what remains of Zach Galifianakis's self-worth and dignity.</li></ul></div></p> <p>While it's true that <em>The Hangover, Part III</em> doesn't exactly duplicate the plot of the original <em>Hangover</em>, the way the atrocious <em>Part II</em> did, it doesn't bring anything much new to the screen, either. Doug (Justin Bartha) is kidnapped by a mob boss named Marshall (John Goodman), in order to convince the Wolfpack (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis) to chase down Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong), who has stolen millions of dollars' worth of gold bars from Marshall. It gets more implausible from there, with a series of heists and stunts and a chase scene or two, all around Tijuana and Las Vegas. I laughed out loud a couple of times—is it telling that the best jokes in the movie have to do with cocaine, I wonder?—but mostly, I just wanted it to be over.</p> <p>The problem is that it's the same humor as the other two Hangover movies, over and over again. Ken Jeong acts batshit crazy, Zach Galifianakis is inappropriate to just about everyone, and Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms get all the "can you believe this shit" lines, playing the fussy adults who have to chauffeur the hyperactive kids from one set piece to another. But they're not even given character arcs this time, unless you count bugging your eyes out and shouting "ALAN!" over and over again as a symbol of emotional growth.</p> <p>None of this would matter if there were a lot of crazy humor in <em>The Hangover, Part III</em>, but there just isn't.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/pushing-rope/Content?oid=16836667">Keep reading >></a></p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/pushing-rope?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864007&id=comments 0 Pushing Rope <em>The Hangover, Part III</em>: If you squint, you can see what remains of Zach Galifianakis's self-worth and dignity. Fri, 24 May 2013 11:20:40 -0700 The Stranger "Arrested Godfather" http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/arrested-godfather http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/arrested-godfather David Schmader <p>Mitchell Hurwitz's masterwork meets Francis Ford Coppola's masterwork, courtesy of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Slacktory?feature=watch">Slacktory</a>.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xkhp19kMl0w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/arrested-godfather#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863997&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> TV Film Teh Internets http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/arrested-godfather?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863997&id=comments 1 Fri, 24 May 2013 10:17:09 -0700 The Stranger Fast & Furious 6: Justin Lin's Automotive Ballet Careens to an Explosive Conclusion http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/fast-and-furious-6-justin-lins-automotive-ballet-careens-to-an-explosive-conclusion http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/fast-and-furious-6-justin-lins-automotive-ballet-careens-to-an-explosive-conclusion Paul Constant <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/a1b4/1369202308-gallery_12.jpg" alt="The Gangs All Here: What is this, a table? I cant drive a table!" title="The Gangs All Here: What is this, a table? I cant drive a table!" width="500" height="207" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption"><b>The Gang's All Here</b>: "What is this, a <em>table</em>? I can't drive a table!"</li></ul></div></p> <p>I don't think the financial success of the Fast & Furious franchise is entirely attributable to fast cars and cheap thrills. I think a great deal of the movie's appeal at the multiplex comes from the fact that it's the only major summer movie franchise that features a truly multicultural cast. Not only that, these movies are totally blasé about the fact that they star a multicultural cast; nobody is a token character, none of the characters spend time dwelling on their differences. These are highly unrealistic movies—about which more soon—but the cast may be the most <strong>realistic set of faces</strong> you'll see in a blockbuster all year, if you live in a major American city. Part of the appeal of a Fast & Furious movie, I think, comes from that recognition.</p> <p>Which is good, because even the most unrealistic movie needs to have some sort of a base of realism on which it can build. And <em>Fast & Furious 6</em> is one of the most unrealistic movies you'll see this summer. Director Justin Lin, now on his fourth Fast & Furious film, has taken a fairly unassuming street-racing series and made each movie crazier and crazier until finally, with what might be his final entry in the franchise, he has given birth to a whole new genre: <strong>Car-fu</strong>. Using absolutely no 3D and plenty of what appear to be practical effects (with lots of CGI tossed in for good measure), Lin has become the John Woo of the demolition derby, tossing what feels like a good-sized mall parking lot full of cars around his sets until it becomes a kind of surrealistic ballet. You've got cars crushed by debris. You've got cars skidding daintily on their bumpers, perpendicular to the ground. You've got cars lashed to each other, flying through the air. They pirouette, they dance, they dive, they leap. They fold like origami, they roar, they butt into each other like rivals during mating season.</p> <p>And the automotive violence rubs off on <em>Fast & Furious 6</em>'s human cast, too. When The Rock, as a law enforcement officer named Luke Hobbs, tosses a bad guy around a Moscow interrogation room, it's not a body doing violence to a body. It's one of Lin's automotive crashes, dolled up in human form. Hobbs sends the crook sailing through the air into ceilings and floors and walls, only to pick him up and chuck him again, until he becomes injured and so turns into some sort of a simpering, whining...<em>pedestrian</em>, begging for mercy. And Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto only has one signature move: <strong>The flying head butt</strong>. Toretto leaps at his target with his whole body, bringing his gigantic, gleaming dome down square on the poor sap with a sickening bludgeoning sound effect. It's not so much a physical assault as it is a hit & run.</p> <p>The plot—what little there is—calls back to just about every Fast & Furious movie that came before, and so it's <strong>a mess to explain</strong>.</p> <p>Hobbs, on the trail of some sort of a criminal mastermind named Shaw (Luke Evans, good enough) recruits Toretto and his friends (basically the same crew that was assembled for <em>Fast Five</em>'s big heist, including Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, and Elsa Pataky) with the promise of universal pardons for all the sins they've committed in the past movies. And he dangles the possibility of a reunion, too: Toretto's beloved girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who seemingly died back in the fourth F&F movie, is alive and working for Shaw. Yeah, it's a convoluted soap opera. But you don't have to have seen the previous movies to get the gist of what's going on, and once all the exposition is over and done with, none of it really matters, anyway.</p> <p>The action is what counts, and Lin does some excellent composition work in the car chase scenes. Cars speed, lunge, and careen into each other. Lin gives us a sense of place and he builds a natural sense of drama into these scenes. Vehicles range from normal cars to street racers to <strong>shovel-headed dune buggies</strong> to very fast tanks to SUVs to gigantic planes, and each vehicle has its own personality and capabilities. You always know who's in which car, and what they're trying to do with their car, and who's trying to stop them. That's no easy feat, and Lin pulls it off and makes it look easy as he does it. He also leavens each action scene with at least one bit of physics-defying stunt work that leaves audiences laughing with disbelief. (At one point, a car windshield is portrayed as something that can successfully and comfortably break an out-of-control fall.) To Lin's credit, the laughter seems to be with him, rather than at him, which means that those stunts work, somehow. It must be talent, because nobody is that lucky.</p> <p>But don't get me wrong. This isn't a departure from the series, or even an especially good movie. The dialogue is awful. The plot basically eye-rolls itself to death in parts, and the story is unnecessarily paunchy in the middle. While the action sequences are well-put-together, other parts of the movie are lazy and shoddily assembled. (<strong>The Rock's goatee keeps disappearing and reappearing</strong> in scenes that are no more than a few hours apart in the story's timeline.) </p> <p>But goddamnit, <strong>I liked this movie</strong>. I like that while it certainly doesn't try to be smart, it never stops trying to entertain the pants off its audience. I like that the movie ends in such a way that it serves as a satisfying conclusion to both the second trilogy of F&F movies and to the whole franchise in general. I like Vin Diesel's gravelly delivery, when it comes alongside his little twisted, self-aware smile. I like that The Rock gets called the Hulk, Captain America, and Thor by three different characters in the film, making him a one-man version of the Avengers. I like that the script hints at a concept for a <em>Fast & Furious 7 </em>that has me genuinely excited. I like that <em>Fast & Furious 6 </em>desperately wants me to leave the theater feeling like I saw a spectacle. For a guilty-pleasure popcorn movie, I think that's a pretty okay deal.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/fast-and-furious-6-justin-lins-automotive-ballet-careens-to-an-explosive-conclusion#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16840306&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/fast-and-furious-6-justin-lins-automotive-ballet-careens-to-an-explosive-conclusion?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16840306&id=comments 17 <em>Fast & Furious 6</em>: Justin Lin's Automotive Ballet Careens to an Explosive Conclusion <b>The Gang's All Here</b>: "What is this, a <em>table</em>? I can't drive a table!" Fri, 24 May 2013 07:51:21 -0700 The Stranger Star Trek Releases Deleted Scene of Benedict Cumberbatch Showering to Counter Claims of Sexism http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/star-trek-releases-deleted-scene-of-benedict-cumberbatch-showering-to-counter-claims-of-sexism http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/star-trek-releases-deleted-scene-of-benedict-cumberbatch-showering-to-counter-claims-of-sexism Cienna Madrid <p>The men behind <em>Star Trek Into Darkness</em> have thrown us ladies and boner-loving dudes a bone and released a deleted shower scene featuring a sinewy Benedict Cumberbatch in response to the completely justified criticism they've been getting over Alice Eve's gratuitous underwear scene.</p> <p>Here's a screenshot of Cumberbatch showering (you can find the <a href="http://teamcoco.com/video/conan-highlight-showering-cumberbatch">full clip over here</a>):<br /><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:323px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/5918/1369331734-screen_shot_2013-05-23_at_10.50.07_am.png" alt="Steamy" title="Steamy" width="311" height="254" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Star Trek Into Darkness</li><li class="imageCaption">Steamy</li></ul></div></p> <p>Thanks for the pecs, but sexism doesn't work that way. <strong>Nakedness doesn't simply cancel out nakedness</strong>, and we have no context for the above shot, so we don't know where it fit into the film or why. But what any reasonable viewer who's seen <em>Star Trek Into Darkness</em> does know is that Eve's underwear scene doesn't make sense, even knowing its context. It was gratuitous hot naked lady flesh, pure and simple. As Devin Faraci over at <a href="http://badassdigest.com/2013/05/23/alice-eve-strips-benedict-cumberbatch-showers-and-devin-loses-his-man-card/">BadassDigest.com</a> explains:</p> <blockquote><p>There are a couple of problems with [Eve's] scene. For one thing, <strong>there's absolutely no reason for her to be stripping</strong>. The movie doesn't even offer the flimsiest of explanations, like having her get radioactive goo on her clothes after examining the torpedos. I honestly don't know why she has to strip down in this moment during this conversation. <strong>It's almost like the actions of someone with a mental deficiency</strong>.</p></blockquote> <p>What irritates me the most is the JJ Abrams's cognitive dissonance in trying to justify his equal-opportunity topless scenes. </p> <p>To be clear, Abrams admits that Eve's strip scene didn't work as well as he wanted, but he nonetheless defends it: "To me <strong>it was a balance</strong>—there's a scene where Kirk is topless earlier," he said <a href="http://badassdigest.com/2013/05/23/alice-eve-strips-benedict-cumberbatch-showers-and-devin-loses-his-man-card/">in an interview with Conan O'Brien</a>. The difference is, Kirk is shot topless, in bed, after he's presumably finished a coital romp with a pair of <em>actual sex kittens</em>. There's justification for him to appear topless. His nakedness, in that context, is a wordless salute to his virility.</p> <p>Like all blockbusters, <em>Star Trek</em> is a movie stuffed with dudes—dudes who are funny, dudes who are friends, dudes who talk a lot and fight and who convey complex emotions. Struggling to exist amidst these dudes and all their snappy dialogue are two women—Uhura and Eve's character, Carol Marcus—neither of which are afforded the same amount of character development, dialogue, or screen time. And one of those women's biggest moments is posing in her underwear. </p> <p>That is not equality, it's just fucked up—the kind of fucked up a whole porn's worth of Cumberbatch's pecs wouldn't fix.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/star-trek-releases-deleted-scene-of-benedict-cumberbatch-showering-to-counter-claims-of-sexism#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854426&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film The Ladies http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/star-trek-releases-deleted-scene-of-benedict-cumberbatch-showering-to-counter-claims-of-sexism?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854426&id=comments 44 Star Trek Releases Deleted Scene of Benedict Cumberbatch Showering to Counter Claims of Sexism Steamy Star Trek Into Darkness Thu, 23 May 2013 11:37:29 -0700 The Stranger What Do You Think of the Don Jon Trailer? http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/22/what-do-you-think-of-the-don-jon-trailer http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/22/what-do-you-think-of-the-don-jon-trailer Paul Constant <p><em>Don Jon</em> is a new movie directed by, written, and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a porn addict who gets into a relationship with Scarlett Johansson, who disapproves of his porn consumption. It costars <strong>Tony Danza</strong> (!?!), and it's packed with New Jersey accents. </p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6615kYTpOSU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>What do you think?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/22/what-do-you-think-of-the-don-jon-trailer#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16845998&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/22/what-do-you-think-of-the-don-jon-trailer?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16845998&id=comments 15 Wed, 22 May 2013 16:03:09 -0700 The Stranger What It Feels Like to Visit Nicolas Cage's Estate Sale http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/what-it-feels-like-to-visit-nicolas-cages-estate-sale http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/what-it-feels-like-to-visit-nicolas-cages-estate-sale Paul Constant <p>Alison Agosti expected to see some weird shit when she attended Nicolas Cage's estate sale. Turns out the first weird and awful thing she saw—<strong>a dog peeing blood</strong>—turned out to be just about the only weird and awful thing she saw. But the whole report, which<a href="http://www.hitfix.com/comedy/visiting-nicolas-cages-estate-sale"> just went up at HitFix</a>, is worth reading anyway:</p> <blockquote><p>My friend and I walked in, really just prepared for anything. At the very least, a sex dungeon, a secret tea room, SWORDS (I was expecting a lot of swords), but we were greeted only by a small foyer with a lone Egyptian-themed chair and some cardboard boxes. I was already wondering If I should have stayed outside for the conclusion of the blood peeing dog saga. Forward was an expansive living room, and to our right was a small weight room. We chose to go into the weight room first. I want you to know that it <strong>smelled exactly like a recently emptied canister of Pringles</strong>. Not original either, maybe pizza? Or cheddar? None of the equipment was any newer that maybe the late-80s. An old stationary bike, weights, and a menagerie of boxing gloves (including several pairs with flames, which would be a theme throughout the house). I began to feel a sinking suspicion that while this may have been a house that Cage owned, he certainly didn’t spend much time here.</p></blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.hitfix.com/comedy/visiting-nicolas-cages-estate-sale">Go read the whole thing</a>, and then spend the rest of the afternoon daydreaming about the wonders Agosti would have found in a just world.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/what-it-feels-like-to-visit-nicolas-cages-estate-sale#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16834592&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Celeb Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/what-it-feels-like-to-visit-nicolas-cages-estate-sale?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16834592&id=comments 6 Tue, 21 May 2013 14:39:39 -0700 The Stranger Cops Bust Possible Beachfront Fight Club http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/cops-bust-possible-beachfront-fight-club http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/cops-bust-possible-beachfront-fight-club Anna Minard <p>Jonah Spangenthal-Lee over at the SPD blotter post on cops breaking up <a href="http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2013/05/20/the-first-rule-of-fight-club-is-dont-join-a-fight-club/">what appeared to be a teen fight club at Golden Gardens</a> this weekend:</p> <blockquote><p>Officers working an emphasis patrol in Golden Gardens pulled into the park's upper parking lot just after midnight and spotted a crowd of about 40 juveniles cheering on a group of two or three people fighting (<strong>although, spoiler alert, it might've been one person fighting themselves</strong>).</p></blockquote> <p>And that's why our police blotter is the best one in the country.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/cops-bust-possible-beachfront-fight-club#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16834227&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Crime Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/cops-bust-possible-beachfront-fight-club?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16834227&id=comments 5 Tue, 21 May 2013 14:29:15 -0700 The Stranger Would You Like to Be Entertained for a Shorter Period or a Longer Period? http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/would-you-like-to-be-entertained-for-a-shorter-period-or-a-longer-period http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/would-you-like-to-be-entertained-for-a-shorter-period-or-a-longer-period Jen Graves <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/7de3/1369164429-gg-00286-1280x632.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/7de3/1369164429-gg-00286-1280x632.jpg" alt="THICKER, UGLIER, BETTER Leo is becoming Brando by the minute." title="THICKER, UGLIER, BETTER Leo now." width="500" height="247" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Courtesy Warner Bros</li><li class="imageCaption">THICKER, UGLIER, BETTER Leo is becoming Brando by the minute.</li></ul></div></p> <p>After watching Baz Luhrmann's movie <a href="http://thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com/"><em>The Great Gatsby</em></a> Saturday night (<a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-spazz-age/Content?oid=16701695">Paul's review</a>), a local 12-year-old who had insisted even before the film began that it was too long decided to test whether she could read the book in a shorter time than it took her to watch the movie.</p> <p><strong>The movie lasted 142 minutes. She clocked in at 156.</strong> She declared the book better, with the added implication that she should not have been dragged to the movie. Yes, but then she wouldn't have spent her Sunday reading the book. She had to admit this was logical.</p> <p>A few years ago at On the Boards, a New York theater company performed the entire book while reading it line by line onstage in a production called <em>Gatz</em>, and that took <strong>more than six hours</strong>. And <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=322248">people loved it</a>.</p> <p>Paul's written before about folks making time-to-entertainment equations for themselves to determine how much they think things should cost: That, say, a book offers more hours of entertainment than a movie or a play, so it should cost more. I've honestly never thought about it this way, and it seems batty. But everybody's busy, time is at a premium, etc etc (I don't even have time to flesh out this concept in this sentence, for instance), so... do you think time should be money when it comes to movies and books and theater? And if you do, <strong>is longer better</strong>, or is shorter and more "efficient" better?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/would-you-like-to-be-entertained-for-a-shorter-period-or-a-longer-period#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16833521&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Books Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/would-you-like-to-be-entertained-for-a-shorter-period-or-a-longer-period?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16833521&id=comments 16 Would You Like to Be Entertained for a Shorter Period or a Longer Period? THIS GUY I haven't been excited about Leo for years but he's thickening, getting uglier, and becoming Brando. Courtesy of Warner Bros Tue, 21 May 2013 12:41:45 -0700 The Stranger Lars Von Trier's New Movie Features Fake Plumbing http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/lars-von-triers-new-movie-features-fake-plumbing http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/lars-von-triers-new-movie-features-fake-plumbing Paul Constant <p>Lars Von Trier's upcoming movie <em>Nymphomaniac </em>was supposed to feature a bunch of movie stars (including Shia LaBeouf, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Christian Slater, and Uma Thurman) having<strong> full-on pornographic sex</strong>. But now, <a href="http://worldofwonder.net/secret-of-nymphomaniacs-graphic-sex-scenes-revealed/">World of Wonder Report reveals</a> the truth about the sex in the film:</p> <blockquote><p> The film will use digital technology to <strong>combine the actors with body doubles</strong>. She said they shot the actors pretending to have sex and the body doubles actually having sex. “And in post,” she said, “we will digital-impose the two. So above the waist it will be the star and the below the waist it will be the double.”</p></blockquote> <p>That's a long way to go for a joke. What do <em>you</em> think?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/lars-von-triers-new-movie-features-fake-plumbing#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16833399&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/lars-von-triers-new-movie-features-fake-plumbing?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16833399&id=comments 14 Tue, 21 May 2013 12:19:52 -0700 The Stranger Spoiled Rotten: Star Trek Into Darkness http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/spoiled-rotten-star-trek-into-darkness http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/spoiled-rotten-star-trek-into-darkness Paul Constant <p>Have you seen <em>Star Trek Into Darkness</em> yet? Though its first weekend was considered<a href="http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3686&p=.htm"> a bit of a financial disappointment</a>, it still pulled in $86.7 million during its extended opening weekend, which means the odds are high that at least some Slog readers saw it. So what did you think? After the video below, I'm going to talk about all the spoiler-y stuff <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/star-trek-into-darkness-less-space-more-opera">I couldn't discuss in my review last week</a>. </p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/deQuFc3BP74" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p><strong>Here be spoilers:</strong></p> <p>I need to contextualize this by saying that I'm not a Trek purist. I like the Original Series, I'm not a huge Next Generation fan, and I just haven't had time for the other spin-offs. I've seen all the movies, and I liked quite a few of them. And I enjoyed the 2009 <em>Star Trek</em> reboot, even though it suffered from a few lapses in logic. It was fun, and it had a good sense of humor, and it laid a nice groundwork for what I thought would be a series of exciting new adventures. I didn't hate <em>Star Trek into Darkness</em>, but it was bad enough that I think it's caused me to <strong>reevaluate my appreciation of the first <em>Trek</em></strong>. What looked like sacrifices for the sake of story the first time around now seem like warning signs that this <em>Trek</em> simply doesn't give a fuck about logic, internal or otherwise.</p> <p>I'm not talking about Trek-nerd errors, like the fact that the Enterprise has never been capable of atmospheric flight. That bothered me for a minute, but I was willing to wave it away for the sake of the story. (So, in this new timeline, Federation vessels can fly in and out of atmosphere? All right.) But there are storytelling problems in this movie that simply don't work. They're not little things you pick apart as you leave the theater. They're problems that <strong>slap you in the face</strong> as you're watching the movie. For instance: What are the rules for transporters? Sometimes transporters work, and sometimes they don't. The first scene alone seemed to argue with itself repeatedly about what transporters can and can't do. Then Khan gets a transporting device that sends him to practically the other side of the universe, but he never uses it again, and then we're back to transporters barely ever working correctly at all. Except when they do. At this point, you're dealing with magic, not science. And why the fuck was Bones injecting a dead tribble with Khan's blood? Outside of the fact that the plot needed him to do it, there was no meaningful reason for it to happen.</p> <p>And while I enjoyed Benedict Cumberbatch's performance, I thought Khan was a stupid choice for a second film's villain. You can spend one Trek movie more or less messing around Earth's orbit, and I thought the first movie did that quite well. But you can't spend two Trek movies in a row doing that; a good Trek movie should include <em>lots of shit we haven't seen before</em>. Instead, we get internecine struggles in a Federation that doesn't seem to have any sort of an internal structure, a lot of pointless bullshit about the War on Terror, and a My Evil Enterprise Is Bigger and Darker Than Your Good Enterprise battle. Without a really great reason, a Star Trek movie simply shouldn't end with <strong>a foot chase</strong> through the streets of San Francisco. A good Star Trek movie wouldn't tease at a war with the Klingons and then immediately forget about that plot thread, with no reference made to it as soon as the plot moves along. </p> <p>And you can't set a movie in a mostly optimistic future and still treat women the way the franchise treated women in the 1950s. The female characters are simply awful in <em>STiD</em>. They react to the actions of men, they look pretty in their miniskirts and (presumably Federation-issued) Victoria's Secret underwear sets, and they need a whole lot of saving. <strong>Unacceptable!</strong> So there were barely any strong women in the Original Series? Add some. It's a reboot. Some changes are to be expected. Gene Roddenberry would approve of those changes. Stop <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/damon-lindelof-carol-marcus-2/">apologizing after the fact</a> and make some fucking changes. (It's interesting that <em>STiD </em>follows closely on the heels of <em>Iron Man 3</em>, which managed to skillfully handle several issues that<em> STiD</em> fumbles. Not only does<em> Iron Man 3 </em>pass the Bechdel Test, its take on the War on Terror, with the culture of fear surrounding the Mandarin's threat, feels like a critique of the shameful way Kirk initially responds to Khan's library bombing.)</p> <p>Look: There were some neat aspects of <em>STiD</em>. I really enjoyed the visuals in the opening scene. The acting, on the whole, was pretty great. The scene where Kirk and Khan boarded the Evil Enterprise was nice and tense. It didn't make me mad the way some truly bad movies have made me mad. But the ending of the film, with the Enterprise prepared to explore uncharted space, and with Kirk learning valuable lessons about friendship and leadership, and with Spock learning to live as both a human and a Vulcan? That's <strong>exactly where the first movie ended off</strong>. There was absolutely no trekking in this Star Trek, and that's why it was a bad movie; it was all about running in place for a couple hours.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/spoiled-rotten-star-trek-into-darkness#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16827113&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/spoiled-rotten-star-trek-into-darkness?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16827113&id=comments 70 Tue, 21 May 2013 11:22:00 -0700 The Stranger The Other Blade Runner http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/the-other-blade-runner http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/the-other-blade-runner Charles Mudede <p>For your pleasure, "deleted and alternate scenes are chronologically arranged":<br /><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="460" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OYp3NEiWnUQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/the-other-blade-runner#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16820999&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/the-other-blade-runner?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16820999&id=comments 5 Mon, 20 May 2013 08:19:41 -0700 The Stranger This Weekend at the Movies (SIFF and Beyond) http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/this-weekend-at-the-movies-siff-and-beyond http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/this-weekend-at-the-movies-siff-and-beyond David Schmader <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/1a6d/1368822282-screen_shot_2013-05-17_at_1.24.13_pm.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-17_at_1.24.13_PM.png" title="" width="500" height="58" /></div></p> <p>This weekend brings <strong>a bunch of SIFF stuff </strong>that the Stranger SIFF Review Board loved, including the Wikileaks documentary <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16660733"><em>We Steal Secrets</em></a>, Noah Baumbach's and Greta Gerwig's <em>Manhattan</em>-flavored comedy <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16644497"><em>Frances Ha</em></a>, the <strong>dead pet-fetishizing documentary</strong> <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16660721"><em>Furever</em></a>, the French family farm-fetishizing documentary <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16660682"><em>After Winter, Spring</em></a>, and the modern-day adaptation of Henry James' <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16646307"><em>What Maisie Knew</em></a>.</p> <p>And in the non-SIFF world, there's Francois Ozon's <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/in-the-house-the-french-middle-class-is-the-master-of-french-culture/Content?oid=16766500"><em>In the House</em></a>, the <strong>highly effective Filipino kidnapping thriller </strong><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/graceland-a-filipino-kidnapping-thriller-to-make-you-scream-and-squirm/Content?oid=16766475"><em>Graceland</em></a>, and the cliche-ridden mob film <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-iceman-michael-shannon-shines-in-a-leaden-mob-clichandeacute-fest/Content?oid=16766495"><em>The Iceman</em></a>, plus all them StarTrekIronManGreatGatsbyblockbusters. </p> <p>Full film info <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Film">here</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/this-weekend-at-the-movies-siff-and-beyond#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16793078&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City SIFF Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/this-weekend-at-the-movies-siff-and-beyond?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16793078&id=comments 0 This Weekend at the Movies (SIFF and Beyond) Fri, 17 May 2013 15:15:05 -0700 The Stranger Some Really Good Food-Related Films at SIFF http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/some-really-good-food-related-films-at-siff http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/some-really-good-food-related-films-at-siff Bethany Jean Clement <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/63988204" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <a href="http://vimeo.com/63988204">After Winter, Spring - a film by Judith Lit</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user3216426">Judith Lit</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.<br /></div></p> <p>SIFF has a dozen or so movies <strong>about food, or farming, or fruit, or wine, etc.</strong> this year, and of the ones that we were able to screen by press time, we REALLY liked four (good job, SIFF!). </p> <p><strong>DON'T MISS!<br /><em>After Winter, Spring </em></strong><br />Is there anything cuter than a farmer rubbing <strong>the fuzzy face of an hour-old calf</strong>, asking, "Is there anything cuter than this?" Yes: when the farmer and the calf and the question are all French, as is the case in this achingly lovely documentary about family farming in the Périgord. Shot over the course of a year, it's so pretty, it's ridiculous, and the people—from the idealistic couple starting a tiny organic operation to the 88-year-old vintner/philosopher—are marvelous. Facing tough times, they love their animals and their land with inspiring hope. Also featured: <strong>a famous foie gras farm</strong>, cast in a human and arguably humane light. (BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT)<br />Harvard Exit, Sun, May 19, 4 pm<br />SIFF Uptown, Mon, May 20, 8:30 pm<br /> <br /><strong>STAR!<br /><em>C.O.G.</em></strong><br />Inspired by reading <em>The Grapes of Wrath</em> and wanting to get his hands dirty, an overeducated white East Coast Yale grad heads out to Oregon to <strong>work in the apple orchards</strong>. Based on a David Sedaris essay from <em>Naked</em>, the story begins on the long-haul bus ride, where "Samuel" (his new identity) is accosted by a parade of weirdos. At the farm, he has trouble connecting with anyone and he is <strong>comically unprepared to exist in the real world</strong>. Will Samuel find happiness in the simple things instead of overanalyzing and sneering at everything? Or will he run back to his old life? Thanks to the film's wonderful performances and entertaining dialogue, you'll have a perfectly good (if not revelatory) time finding out. (GILLIAN ANDERSON)<br />Egyptian, Fri, May 24, 4 pm<br />Egyptian, Sun, May 26, 7 pm<br />Renton, Mon, May 27, 6 pm</p> <p><strong>DON'T MISS!<br /><em>More Than Honey </em></strong><br />Filmed in Switzerland, the United States, and China, this lively documentary covers the gamut of the bee world: part beekeeping family reminiscence, part <strong>incredible close-up of bee culture</strong> and physiology, part modern-day beekeeping in all its variety, part scientific bee study, part philosophical musing on industrial culture. The filmmaker muses, "The plants are rooted to the ground, they can't run across the field and hug each other. They can't have children on their own. What they need is <strong>a messenger of love: a bee</strong>." This film made me want to drop everything and devote my life to beekeeping. (GILLIAN ANDERSON)<br />SIFF Uptown, Thu, May 23, 8:30 pm<br />Egyptian, Tue, June 4, 4:30 pm</p> <p><strong>STAR!<br /><em>You Will Be My Son</em></strong><br />Faced with the unappetizing prospect of bringing his only child into the family business, <strong>a stubborn winemaker </strong>(Niels Aretrup) begins looking for other candidates. Director Gilles Legrand veers expertly between grand tragedy and poker-faced comedy, including a moment with a car that should have Vin Diesel hustling for the phone. Aretrup, whose expert ambivalence helps power the fellow SIFF entry <em>Our Children</em>, here relishes the chance to go full Snidely Whiplash, spitting out venom with a hilariously jaded air. He's <strong>a sonofabitch of the highest order</strong>, and perfectly okay with that. (ANDREW WRIGHT)<br />SIFF Uptown, Wed, June 5, 7 pm<br />Kirkland, Fri, June 7, 8:30 pm</p> <p>I already got my tickets to <em>More Than Honey</em>, which Gillian raves about above, and which Jim Drohman, chef/owner of <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/le-pichet/Location?oid=24316">Le Pichet</a> and <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/cafe-presse/Location?oid=249166">Cafe Presse</a>, says <strong>farmers in France are ABUZZ about</strong> (his terrible pun, not mine). I'd also like to see <em>SOMM</em>, a documentary about four people trying to pass the master sommelier exam. Three more we weren't able to watch before SIFF-guide press time: <em>Drinking Buddies</em>,<strong> a "beer-centric romantic comedy"</strong>; <em>Haute Cuisine</em>, based on the story of Danièle Delpeuch, chef to former French president François Mitterrand; and <em>Red Obsession</em>, about the how crazy some people in China are for Bordeaux (<em>red obsession</em>, get it?).</p> <p>As for the remainder of the 2013 SIFF food movies, Andrew Wright did not enjoy <em>Mussels in Love</em>, I did not enjoy <em>The Fruit Hunters</em>, and Goldy did not enjoy <em>The Last Ocean</em>.</p> <p>More on all these films may be found in <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Siff">our awesome, as-comprehensive-as-humanly-possible searchable online SIFF guide</a> (or in this week's paper). </p> <p>For tickets, <a href="http://www.siff.net/">go here</a>.</p> <p>Lunchtime!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/some-really-good-food-related-films-at-siff#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16787455&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> SIFF Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/some-really-good-food-related-films-at-siff?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16787455&id=comments 1 Fri, 17 May 2013 12:45:28 -0700 The Stranger Tonight: Smoke Signals at the Snoqualmie Casino http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/tonight-smoke-signals-at-the-snoqualmie-casino http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/tonight-smoke-signals-at-the-snoqualmie-casino David Schmader <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/1052/1368815553-smokesignals_2011_03_06_01_37_48.jpg" alt="smokesignals_2011_03_06_01_37_48.jpg" title="" width="500" height="171" /></div></p> <p>Tonight the Seattle International Film Festival invites you to get out of town, with a <strong>free, 15th-anniversary screening</strong> of <em><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?film=101705">Smoke Signals</a></em>—the first feature film written, directed, and co-produced by Native Americans, with a script by <em>Stranger</em> columnist/Stranger Genius Award winner Sherman Alexie—tonight at Snoqualmie Casino. (Bonus: cast members Elaine Miles, Evan Adams, and Michelle St. John will be in attendance!)</p> <p>Full info <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?film=101705">here</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/tonight-smoke-signals-at-the-snoqualmie-casino#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16792328&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> SIFF Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/tonight-smoke-signals-at-the-snoqualmie-casino?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16792328&id=comments 5 Tonight: <em>Smoke Signals</em> at the Snoqualmie Casino Fri, 17 May 2013 11:38:38 -0700 The Stranger "What would you consider the number one priority in the making of Atlas Shrugged Part III?" http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/what-would-you-consider-the-number-one-priority-in-the-making-of-atlas-shrugged-part-iii http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/what-would-you-consider-the-number-one-priority-in-the-making-of-atlas-shrugged-part-iii Paul Constant <p>The filmmakers of <em>Atlas Shrugged Part III</em> want to know, so they've <a href="http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/4c89dc/what-would-you-consider-the-number-one-priority-in-the-making-of-atlas-shrugged-part-iii">opened up an online survey</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/what-would-you-consider-the-number-one-priority-in-the-making-of-atlas-shrugged-part-iii#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16786336&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Books Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/what-would-you-consider-the-number-one-priority-in-the-making-of-atlas-shrugged-part-iii?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16786336&id=comments 32 Fri, 17 May 2013 08:00:57 -0700 The Stranger Much Ado About Nothing: Whedon's Shakespeare Is Horny, Cute, and Affable http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/much-ado-about-nothing-whedons-shakespeare-is-horny-cute-and-affable http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/much-ado-about-nothing-whedons-shakespeare-is-horny-cute-and-affable Paul Constant <p><small>(<em>Much Ado About Nothing</em> was the Opening Night Gala film selection at SIFF tonight. It won't be screening again during the festival, but it opens <del>nationwide</del> in New York and Los Angeles on June 7th and in Seattle on June 21st, so if you missed out tonight, you'll be able to see it soon.)</small></p> <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:287px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/11a4/1368749129-3.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/11a4/1368749129-3.jpg" alt="Clark Gregg: This is the scene where he recruits Beatrice to join a super-team with Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Lady MacBeth." title="Clark Gregg: This is the scene where he recruits Beatrice to join a super-team with Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Lady Macbeth." width="275" height="340" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Elsa Guillet-Chapuis</li><li class="imageCaption"><b>Clark Gregg</b>: This is the scene where he recruits Beatrice to join a super-team with Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Lady Macbeth.</li></ul></div></p> <p>This movie is a classic example of the they’re-sure-having-fun-up-there concept of entertainment. It was filmed in a matter of days at director/adaptor Joss Whedon’s own house, with actors who are all his friends, in cheap black and white on digital cameras. (Whedon famously conducts after-work readings of Shakespeare with the casts of his television shows and films, so he had plenty of practice.) And you know what? Everybody sure does look like they’re <strong>having fun </strong>up there, to the point where you want to forgive the film’s obvious flaws just because you feel like you’re an invited guest at an intimate dinner party.</p> <p>This horny, very funny staging of <em>Much Ado About Nothing</em> is set in an opulent modern-day estate during a wedding, when distant friends and family gather together because <strong>they have to</strong>. It’s a cozy affair, and the actors are all practically flirting with Shakespeare’s language (standouts include Clark Gregg, who wins this affable movie’s coveted Most Affable award; Nathan Fillion, who feasts on his small comic-relief role; and Amy Acker as a strong, confident Beatrice). There’s some silly physical comedy, willful deception on a large scale, and, because <em>Much Ado</em> is arguably the world’s first rom-com, every major player makes one asshole move that seems totally out of character. (Blame the writer for that last one.)</p> <p>But it’s light and fun and funny and delightful—it’s so rare that a movie claps Shakespeare on the back like an old bud, rather than putting him up on a pedestal, like he’s in a museum. Who cares if some of the acting is a little hambone? (Alexis Denisof’s Benedick wavers between charming and cartoonish.) Or that the music, by Joss and Jed Whedon, is simply <strong>terrible</strong>? Or that a few directorial tricks—a whooshing white-out transition between scenes is more jarring than useful—seem more telenovela than feature film? Everybody is—all together now—having so much fun up there that you want to forgive them their trespasses. And so you do.</p> <p><small>(This post has been updated since its original publication to reflect the correct release dates. I apologize for the error.)</small></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/much-ado-about-nothing-whedons-shakespeare-is-horny-cute-and-affable#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16787402&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> SIFF Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/much-ado-about-nothing-whedons-shakespeare-is-horny-cute-and-affable?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16787402&id=comments 16 <em>Much Ado About Nothing</em>: Whedon's Shakespeare Is Horny, Cute, and Affable <b>Clark Gregg</b>: This is the scene where he recruits Beatrice to join a super-team with Hamlet, Julius Caesar and Lady MacBeth. Elsa Guillet-Chapuis Thu, 16 May 2013 21:07:22 -0700 The Stranger Tonight in Seattle: Not One But TWO Opening-Night Galas! http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/tonight-in-seattle-not-one-but-two-opening-night-galas http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/tonight-in-seattle-not-one-but-two-opening-night-galas David Schmader <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/fd4e/1368726549-screen_shot_2013-05-16_at_10.48.36_am.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-16_at_10.48.36_AM.png" title="" width="500" height="96" /></div></p> <p>At McCaw Hall, tonight brings the opening of the <strong>39th Seattle International Film Festival</strong>, which is curated by a board of professionals and commences with Joss Whedon's brand-new <em><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16629997">Much Ado About Nothing</a></em>. </p> <p>And at Central Cinema, tonight brings the opening of the first-ever <strong>Black and Beautiful Film Festival</strong>, which is curated by Franklin High School senior <strong>Mia Roberson</strong> and commences with 1971's <em><a href="https://central-cinema.com/upcoming/?event_id=74">Shaft</a></em>. </p> <p>For full info on the Seattle International Film Festival, see <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Siff">The Stranger's SIFF Guide</a>. For an interview with Black and Beautiful curator Mia Roberson, see <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/festive/Content?oid=16766467">this week's Festive</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/tonight-in-seattle-not-one-but-two-opening-night-galas#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16784302&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City SIFF Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/tonight-in-seattle-not-one-but-two-opening-night-galas?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16784302&id=comments 5 Tonight in Seattle: Not One But TWO Opening-Night Galas! Thu, 16 May 2013 10:56:20 -0700 The Stranger Star Trek Into Darkness: Less Space, More Opera http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/star-trek-into-darkness-less-space-more-opera http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/star-trek-into-darkness-less-space-more-opera Paul Constant <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.startrekmovie.com/#image-5"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/100c/1368693330-screen_shot_2013-05-16_at_1.33.46_am.png" alt="For the last time, I do not look like an otter!" title="For the last time, I do not look like an otter!" width="500" height="333" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">"For the last time, I do <em>not</em> look like an otter!"</li></ul></div></p> <p>Though it's hard to write meaningfully about <em>Star Trek Into Darkness </em>without spoiling anything—it's packed with surprises—this review will be<strong> spoiler-free</strong>. Which means I have to keep the specifics about the plot to a minimum. (I'll do a spoiler-filled review after everyone gets a chance to see the movie this weekend.) So here goes: The crew of the Enterprise runs up against a mysterious man named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch, a delight of growling disdain) and then they find themselves drawn into a much larger conflict that could imperil the entire United Federation of Planets. As is shown in the trailers and on the poster for the movie, the Enterprise suffers a considerable amount of damage along the way.</p> <p>So let's start with the good news: With one unfortunate exception, the actors are all growing pleasantly into their roles. Some of them (Chris Pine as Kirk, Simon Pegg as Scotty) choose to riff on the performances of<em> Star Trek: The Original Series</em> actors while wisely not hewing to staid impersonations. Zachary Quinto's eerily exact Spock feels less like a perfect copy of <em>ST:TOS</em> Spock and more a kind of seance—is it insulting to say that this is the role he was born to play? And Karl Urban's DeForest Kelley schtick, all bad metaphors and outraged puffery, is hambone acting at its finest, which makes sense, because no one in their right minds would want to watch an understated interpretation of Bones. Of all the actors in rebooted roles, Zoe Saldana gets shortest shrift. Her Uhura is <strong>an embarrassment</strong>, the highest-profile female character in the movie pushed to the periphery, only earning a line when it's time for her to react to men, never truly getting a great moment of her own.</p> <p>And now for the bad news: There's <strong>very little trekking</strong> in this <em>Star Trek</em>. Outside of a pre-credits taste of interstellar adventure involving a dilemma around that classic <em>Star Trek</em> saw, the Prime Directive, way too much of this movie is set on Earth or is simply floating, semi-stationary, in outer space. The script from Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof doesn't get the point of <em>Star Trek</em>, really: It's too petty and small and uninterested in adventure. A silly little analogy to current events wraps the movie in the wrong tone, and the pacing, with a series of tense, exciting action scenes layered between some very long expository passages, is downright weird. <em>Star Trek Into Darkness</em> is a pretty thing to look at—the 3D is decent, but by no means necessary for enjoyment of the movie—but it's just so dumb and uninterested in the possibilities of the premise that it feels like a waste. And one of my favorite parts of the 2009 <em>Star Trek </em>reboot, the commitment to comedic adventure, fails to materialize here. This movie is too busy dwelling in darkness to remember that <em>Star Trek</em> should be about optimism and aspirations and fun, and that's a goddamned shame.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/star-trek-into-darkness-less-space-more-opera#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16780350&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film Nerd http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/star-trek-into-darkness-less-space-more-opera?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16780350&id=comments 20 <em>Star Trek Into Darkness</em>: Less Space, More Opera "For the last time, I do <em>not</em> look like an otter!" Thu, 16 May 2013 08:10:13 -0700 The Stranger Just Because http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/just-because http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/just-because Charles Mudede <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Yadb0bFHA1g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/just-because#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16772521&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/just-because?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16772521&id=comments 2 Wed, 15 May 2013 13:15:26 -0700 The Stranger What Do You Think of the Riddick Trailer? http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/what-do-you-think-of-the-riddick-trailer http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/what-do-you-think-of-the-riddick-trailer Paul Constant <p><em>Pitch Black </em>was a fun little pulpy creature feature. I think I tried to watch <em>The Chronicles of Riddick</em> once, but I certainly didn't get all the way through. Now, nine years later, the third movie starring Vin Diesel as Riddick is about to be released. It's titled <em>Riddick</em>. Here's a trailer:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tDxDEjDMreA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Is it me, or did that trailer feel like five times longer than it really was?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/what-do-you-think-of-the-riddick-trailer#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16771881&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film Nerd http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/what-do-you-think-of-the-riddick-trailer?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16771881&id=comments 23 Wed, 15 May 2013 12:29:27 -0700 The Stranger Starting Tomorrow: The Seattle International Film Festival http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/starting-tomorrow-the-seattle-international-film-festival http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/starting-tomorrow-the-seattle-international-film-festival David Schmader <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:231px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/dd57/1368640480-screen_shot_2013-05-15_at_10.53.52_am.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-15_at_10.53.52_AM.png" title="" width="219" height="215" /></div></p> <p>They don't call SIFF America's biggest film festival just for kicks. Besides corralling 273 films (plus multiple shorts packages) from all over the globe, the 2013 Seattle International Film Festival is<strong> three and a half weeks long</strong>, which means you have almost an entire month to dive into SIFF, get sick of it and ignore it for a while, then dive back in all over again.</p> <p>As ever, there's a ton of stuff worth seeing, from glorious art films to splashy documentaries to craptastic cult fare. The opening-night gala brings Joss Whedon's <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16629997"><em>Much Ado About Nothing</em></a>, which has been sold out since it was announced and will likely involve a hilarious mingling of speech-giving civic dignitaries and screaming Whedonistas. The centerpiece gala brings the much-buzzed-about documentary on backup singers <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16630004"><em>Twenty Feet from Stardom</em></a>. And the closing-night gala brings <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16630000"><em>The Bling Ring</em></a>, Sofia Coppola's ripped-from-the-headlines drama on Hollywood thieves. (The fact that it has a plot means it's already 10,000 times better than 2010's <em>Somewhere</em>.)</p> <p><strong>BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE</strong>. Among the non-gala film events that have <em>The Stranger</em> excited: <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16660669"><em>Fateful Findings</em></a>, a fledgling classic of brilliantly terrible cinema in the manner of <em>The Room</em>; <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16660436"><em>The Punk Singer</em></a>, Sini Anderson's revelatory documentary about Kathleen Hanna; <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?show=siff&film=16660721"><strong><em>Furever</em></strong></a>, a squirmy documentary about the pet-memorial business; and <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/MovieTimes?narrowByDate=2013-06-03&oid=11663248">An Evening with Kyle MacLachlan</a>, during which the Northwest native and beloved Hollywood star will submit himself to an onstage Q&A (complete with clip show!), then hang out and watch the classic pilot of <em>Twin Peaks</em> on the big screen.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Siff">Here is The Stranger's guide to every single film in SIFF 2013</a>, featuring eyewitness <strong>reviews of more than 130 films</strong> and a half-dozen jokes in poor taste.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/starting-tomorrow-the-seattle-international-film-festival#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16771463&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> SIFF Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/starting-tomorrow-the-seattle-international-film-festival?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16771463&id=comments 3 Starting Tomorrow: The Seattle International Film Festival Wed, 15 May 2013 11:28:43 -0700 The Stranger Prithee, I Hope It's in 3D http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/prithee-i-hope-its-in-3d http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/prithee-i-hope-its-in-3d Paul Constant <p>Hot on the heels of <em>The Great Gatsby</em>'s box office success, Hollywood has <a href="http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/theme-restaurant-medieval-times-to-become-a-movie">optioned the Medieval Times</a> chain of historical reenactments/restaurants for a movie deal. This could be the biggest display of theme-restaurant synergy to hit the silver screen since <em>Mac and Me</em>:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NdvO0tmNjGo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/prithee-i-hope-its-in-3d#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16764118&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/prithee-i-hope-its-in-3d?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16764118&id=comments 3 Tue, 14 May 2013 14:56:45 -0700 The Stranger That's How Come They Got to be Managers at a Movie Theater in Missouri http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/13/thats-how-come-they-got-to-be-managers-at-a-movie-theater-in-missouri http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/13/thats-how-come-they-got-to-be-managers-at-a-movie-theater-in-missouri Grant Brissey <p>This one has been getting run over by the Information Superhighway for a day or two now, but I could not let the tasty schadenfreude disappear into the ether. In an effort to promote <em>Iron Man 3</em>, which clearly does not need additional promotion, managers at Goodrich Capital 8 Theatres in Jefferson City, invited actors who "appeared at the theater in the Missouri state capital during the weekend opening of <em>Iron Man 3</em> dressed as officers and one as Iron Man." <a href="http://www.abc17news.com/news/movie-theater-publicity-stunt-triggers-officers-to-respond-to-active-shooter-situation/-/18421100/20089958/-/66o97fz/-/index.html">Another actor</a> was dressed in "all-dark clothes" and carrying "what appeared to be a modified M-4 and 9 mm on his side."</strong></p> <p>Officers thought they were responding to a real shooter when they received multiple 911 calls. Later the theater would issue an apology:</p> <blockquote><p>We apologize and are sympathetic to those who felt they were in harm’s way with our character promotion for Iron Man 3. This was not a publicity stunt. We have worked with the Cosplacon group on many movies to dress up and help entertain our customers. We have had many complaints about the members dressed specifically as S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives carrying fake guns. We didn’t clearly tell our customers and some people didn’t realize it was for entertainment purposes only. We apologize that police were called to come out to our theater. We have a wonderful working relationship with the Jefferson City Police Department. Going forward we will take the necessary steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Security and safety for our customers is our number one priority.</p></blockquote> <p>Good job, everybody!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/13/thats-how-come-they-got-to-be-managers-at-a-movie-theater-in-missouri#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16756870&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Guns Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/13/thats-how-come-they-got-to-be-managers-at-a-movie-theater-in-missouri?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16756870&id=comments 16 Mon, 13 May 2013 17:11:42 -0700 The Stranger The Spazz Age http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/12/the-spazz-age http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/12/the-spazz-age Paul Constant <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/28bf/1368234559-film-570.jpg" alt="Strictly Ballroom 2: The Gatsbying" title="Strictly Ballroom 2: The Gatsbying" width="500" height="351" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption"><b><em>Strictly Ballroom 2</em></b>: The Gatsbying</li></ul></div></p> <p>A gaudy digital 3-D adaptation of <em>The Great Gatsby</em> with a soundtrack by Jay-Z could easily be the punch line to a million bad jokes about the sad state of modern American culture. But then, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> was in its own way the punch line to the sad state of American culture in the 1920s, which means Baz Luhrmann's hundred-million-dollar-plus adaptation of the book makes a little more sense. And at least every goddamned red cent that Luhrmann spent is on-screen here—Gatsby's opulent parties that open the picture are as over-the-top and impossibly extravagant as you'd expect, since they're directed by the guy who brought you <em>Moulin Rouge!</em> (Luhrmann uses the 3-D to its utmost, too, adding depth and enlivening every visual detail; this is one of those rare experiences where it's <strong>worth shelling out the extra cash</strong> for the 3-D version.)</p> <p>The basics of the book are all here. Tobey Maguire stars as the creepy Nick Carraway, the passive voyeur who lives to tell the tale. "Nicky, I know you like to watch," someone tells Carraway early in <em>Gatsby</em>, and Maguire's <strong>twisted smile</strong> in response perfectly brings out the innate not-rightness of someone who's happy to set his married cousin up with his enigmatic wealthy neighbor without much moral introspection whatsoever. Carraway inserts himself into the relationship of Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan, as insanely watchable as ever) and Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio, more about him later) with aplomb. And Gatsby needs Carraway there, too, as a sounding board or maybe just as a witness. Daisy's husband, Tom (Joel Edgerton, exquisitely all raw nerves), isn't quite dumb enough to not notice that something's going on. As in the book, terrible things happen.</p> <p>The one thing that Luhrmann instinctually understands is that <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is <strong>packed with creepiness</strong>. Carraway leers on the outside, looking in. Gatsby treats Daisy like a human doll, and his enormous mansion is nothing so much as a gigantic time machine with which he plans to remake the universe in his own image. Tom toys with the lives of the poor like a petulant, horny Greek god. And the modern American God is in there, too, represented as a pair of eyes on an abandoned billboard. "God sees everything," we are told a few times by characters lost in clouds of their own boozy breath. That's because God is creepy. And then you turn around and see a theater full of people wearing cheap sunglasses staring raptly at a screen, sometimes reaching their hands out to touch the three-dimensional images that don't really exist in front of them, like Gatsby standing on a pier trying to capture a distant green light in his hand, and Luhrmann's obvious point grabs you by the nose and screams in your ear. This is America. We're all creeps.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-spazz-age/Content?oid=16701695">Keep reading >></a></p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/12/the-spazz-age?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16733834&id=comments 0 The Spazz Age <b><em>Strictly Ballroom 2</em></b>: The Gatsbying Sun, 12 May 2013 11:05:55 -0700 The Stranger What Do You Think of the Gravity Trailer? http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/what-do-you-think-of-the-gravity-trailer http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/what-do-you-think-of-the-gravity-trailer Paul Constant <p>Alfonzo Cuarón's long-awaited, much-delayed next film (a number of actors including Angelina Jolie, Robert Downey Jr, Natalie Portman, and Scarlett Johansson were attached to the project at various points in its production) after <em>Children of Men</em> finally has a trailer, and it's somehow expansive and claustrophobic and relatively quiet and very loud, all at the same time. Get a load of this:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xgGPTa7-vlE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/what-do-you-think-of-the-gravity-trailer#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16724345&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/what-do-you-think-of-the-gravity-trailer?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16724345&id=comments 36 Fri, 10 May 2013 10:21:55 -0700 The Stranger Starting Tonight: Translations: The Transgender Film Festival http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/starting-tonight-translations-the-transgender-film-festival http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/starting-tonight-translations-the-transgender-film-festival David Schmader <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/179b/1368128590-screen_shot_2013-05-09_at_12.42.00_pm.jpg" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-09_at_12.42.00_PM.jpg" title="" width="500" height="70" /></div></p> <p>Back for its eighth year, <a href="http://translations.strangertickets.com/page/home">Translations</a> is a <strong>four-day festival of transgender cinema and art</strong>, which this year ranges from the Buck Angel film <em><a href="http://translations.strangertickets.com/films/7496569/sexing-the-transman">Sexing the Transman</a></em> to the live multimedia performance piece <a href="http://translations.strangertickets.com/films/7496200/gender-failure">Gender Failure</a> (as seen in <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/suggests/16598528/andlsquogender-failureandrsquo">Stranger Suggests</a>) to way beyond, with 33 offerings total. Read reviews of three of them in this week's <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/festival/Content?oid=16704064">Festive</a>; for the full schedule, go <a href="http://translations.strangertickets.com/page/home">here</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/starting-tonight-translations-the-transgender-film-festival#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16721449&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Film LGBTQITSLFA http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/starting-tonight-translations-the-transgender-film-festival?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16721449&id=comments 0 Starting Tonight: Translations: The Transgender Film Festival Thu, 09 May 2013 12:47:26 -0700 The Stranger What Do You Think of the World's End Trailer? http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/08/what-do-you-think-of-the-worlds-end-trailer http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/08/what-do-you-think-of-the-worlds-end-trailer Paul Constant <p>The <em>Shaun of the Dead</em> and <em>Hot Fuzz</em> dream team of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright unite for a movie featuring pub crawls, strained bonds of friendship, and freaky alien-type pod people sort of things. <em>The World's End</em> is the final film in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Flavours_Cornetto_trilogy">Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy</a>, and here's the first trailer for it:</p> <p> <div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YF-4c8U-mUI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>And so?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/08/what-do-you-think-of-the-worlds-end-trailer#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16709466&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/08/what-do-you-think-of-the-worlds-end-trailer?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16709466&id=comments 10 Wed, 08 May 2013 14:55:50 -0700 The Stranger Will Money Tear the Avengers Apart? http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/08/will-money-tear-the-avengers-apart http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/08/will-money-tear-the-avengers-apart Paul Constant <p>Deadline Hollywood has<a href="http://www.deadline.com/2013/05/robert-downey-jr-avengers-marvel-negotiations-fight/"> a great piece up right now </a>about how Marvel Comics' notoriously cheap business practices are running headlong into actors who feel they're worth more than they're getting for starring in Marvel's wildly profitable movies. </p> <blockquote><p>The issue going forward is how many of the Avengers stars and starlets are still bound by early agreements and longterm options which Marvel can continue to exploit individually. To counter, I’ve learned the Avengers cast are becoming united behind Robert Downey Jr who is seen as the “leader” – like “a big brother” in the words of one rep - for all the younger actors in the ensemble. “He’s the only guy with real power in this situation. and balls of steel, too. He’s already sent a message that he’s not going to work for a place where they treat his colleagues like shit,” one source explains. Another rep tells me, “I have four words for Marvel – ‘<strong>Fuck you, call Robert</strong>.’” As Downey himself has said publicly about his $50M-plus payday, ”I’m what’s known as a strategic cost,” adding that Marvel is “so pissed” he earned that much. </p></blockquote> <p>It's funny—this almost exactly mirrors the way that Marvel has mistreated comics creators for decades now. (Read Sean Howe's excellent <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/18/heroes-and-villains"><em>Marvel Comics: The Untold Story</em></a> for more information about the history of Marvel's shameful history with artists and writers.) But unlike comics, where Marvel successfully bet that fans wouldn't care who was drawing Iron Man as long as Iron Man comics came out every month, I don't think an <em>Iron Man 4</em> starring, say, Joel Edgerton as Tony Stark will be breaking any box office records, although it might still be a profitable movie. Could you imagine an<em> Avengers 2 </em>with an almost-entirely new cast? This issue, rather than superhero fatigue, might wind up being the thing that upends the Marvel Comics movie universe.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/08/will-money-tear-the-avengers-apart#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16699130&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Books Film Nerd http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/08/will-money-tear-the-avengers-apart?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16699130&id=comments 13 Wed, 08 May 2013 07:50:25 -0700 The Stranger What Do You Think of the Ender's Game Trailer? http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/07/what-do-you-think-of-the-enders-game-trailer http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/07/what-do-you-think-of-the-enders-game-trailer Paul Constant <p>Here's the brand-new trailer for <em>Ender's Game</em>, the sci-fi movie based on Orson Scott Card's most popular novel.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vP0cUBi4hwE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>(Side note: The movie will be released on November 1st, so get ready to <strong>get really sick of this trailer</strong>, which will probably be run as a preview before every major summer movie this year.)</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/07/what-do-you-think-of-the-enders-game-trailer#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16698124&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/07/what-do-you-think-of-the-enders-game-trailer?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16698124&id=comments 35 Tue, 07 May 2013 14:57:24 -0700 The Stranger