Results tagged “siffcinema”

WILD THING: Although it is time for the playoffs, we aren't referring to Mitch Williams or Charlie Sheen's character from Major League. The Wild Things is the novel version of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are,for which Dave Eggers wrote the screenplay. The Spike Jonze movie is in theaters October 16 but Eggers will be speaking about the book today.

The end is in sight. 22 days down, and just 3 remain for SIFF this year, so it's time to take look at films showing this final festival weekend. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which of course cost more. Seattlest applies our well-honed knowledge of all things cinema to the SIFF catalogue in order to point out some notable films playing this weekend:

SIFF's final week is underway--it all wraps up Sunday--so here's a glimpse at some of the films coming up this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which of course cost more. Here's what we've highlighted from the SIFF catalogue:

2 weeks down, and just a little over 1 to go, so it's time to take another look at upcoming SIFF films. There's a few more days of movies on the Eastside (including a free screening tomorrow night of closing night film OSS117: Cairo, Nest of Spies under the stars at Juanita Beach Park), and SIFF heads to West Seattle this weekend. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which of course cost more. Seattlest applies our well-honed knowledge of all things cinema to the SIFF catalogue in order to point out some notable films playing this weekend:

Has it been a week already? SIFF is in full effect, so it's time to take another look at upcoming films. If you're looking for even more opinions on the films that are showing during the fest, check out the Northwest Film Forum's picks, or the picks of some SIFF programmers themselves. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which of course cost more.

Now that SIFF is officially kicked off, it's time to look ahead at the films coming up in the next month. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which of course cost more. The opening weekend's lineup features a lot of great films, so if you're not out of town for the holiday, this is the time to hit up some movies!

MIDDLE EASTERN EXPOSURE: All the way from Kabul, ladies and gentlemen, Tamim Ansary! He's in town to talk about his book Destiny Disrupted, which is like his World According to the...well, Islamic World. Spanning the time from Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and more, he tells a counter-narrative of cultural progress in which the rise of the West kinda, you know, sucks. The San Francisco Chronicle calls the book “an indispensable guide," while the Oregonian says it is "vivid, often wrenching."

Everyone can be forgiven for having WWII movie fatigue, but this week at SIFF there's a movie that's worth the effort: Andrzej Wajda's )

Revanche opens today and runs through May 13 at SIFF Cinema, over at McCaw Hall. It's in German, with subtitles, and runs two hours, but it ends up feeling like an implanted memory, as if you grew up with the people you were watching.

ELECTIONEERING: Do you make all your voting decisions based on the enthusiastic support of aging rock musicians? If so, tonight's your night, with the likes of Krist Novoselic, Dave Dederer, and Kim Thayil turning out at the Croc to support the electoral efforts of Dow Constantine to become the new King County Exec. Music will be provided, and there's a special VIP treatment if you can cough up $100 for a donation.

CLASSICALLY FINE TUNED: Seattle's neighborhood-loving classical music group Simple Measure will be wrapping up their fourth chamber concert series this weekend with a melodic finale titled High Strung--the Celestial Dimension. Concerts will be held across Seattle, featuring guest artists harpist Yolanda Kondonassis and flutist Bart Feller, who will perform with the group, prompting many "This one time, at band camp..." jokes, as the evening will combine the sounds of harp, flute, cello, violin, and viola.

     

This weekend is the second and final weekend of the Seattle Polish Film Festival down at SIFF, offering an impressive line-up of contemporary films that challenges the impression that all Polish cinema is Adrzej Wajda: dark, heavy-themed explorations of the war, Communism, and Polish history. (Not that there's anything wrong with Wajda, whose newest masterpiece comes to SIFF next month.)

DREAM COMES TRUE: Mariner pitcher Chris Jakubauskas makes his first major league start today--at the advanced (for baseball) age of 30. Jakubauskas, a hitter in college, was a cement worker and Nordstrom employee before finally breaking into independent league baseball in 2004 with the Lincoln, Nebraska SaltDogs. The M's signed him to their minor league system two years ago, he made the most of a longshot chance to make the major league roster this spring, and now gets an emergency start tonight due to injury. The Mariners will be going for their seventh consecutive win.

Tonight SIFF Cinema begins its run of the SXSW Film Festival Audience Award-winning film Skills Like This. After watching a preview screener, it's easy to see why the film won. It accomplishes the storytelling basics in unique fashion, telling a universally appealing story through an interesting plot and quirky characters.

POP ROCK LOVE: Oakland-based rockers The Audrye Sessions bring their yearning vocals and lush guitar licks to Neumo's tonight. Touring in support of their debut album, the band manages a nice mix of luscious post-punk inspired riffs rich in reverb and fuzz, opposite the lead singer's Tom Petty-meets-emo vox. With The Lonely H and In the Empty City.

Wunderkind director Preston Sturges, screwball comedy king, made seven films between 1939 and 1943, which is a big deal except when you consider that four of them made it on AFI's Top 100 films list. Nice work, bub!

Will The Marx Brothers' Duck Soup amuse or confuse Little Miss Seattlest? We'll find out tomorrow morning at 10:00 when we visit SIFF Cinema for the first feature in their spring Films4Families series.

LIKE CHILD SOLDIERS: Everyone knows about the genocidal atrocities committed in Rwanda and Darfur, but folks seem to have forgotten about the ongoing (twenty-plus years now) war in northern Uganda. Peter Eichstaedt, Africa editor at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, comes to Elliott Bay tonight to talk about the conflict, child soldiers, and the repeated efforts by the Ugandan people to stop the violence or at least survive it. It's all there in his new book, First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army. Spoiler alert: There will not be a happy ending.

OSCARS TRIVIA: In case you haven't had enough of the Academy Awards already, Atlas Foods is kicking off their new weekly trivia night with questions about all things Oscar. This trivia night is all ages (a rarity, it seems), but happy hour-priced drinks are available to those of legal age. Teams can have up to four people.

THE WHAT NOW?: The Master Musicians of Jajouka are the practitioners of (some claim) a 1,300-year-old musical tradition in the small Moroccan town of Jajouka. First brought to the attention of wider audiences by the Beats, who spent a large part of the Fifties in Tangiers, and later by Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, who recorded an album with them, it's a singularly rare opportunity to get to see the Master Musicians live. They take the stage tonight at Neumo's; tickets are still available.

DANCE DANCE DANCE: Pint-size Swedish ex-ballerina Lykke Li returns to Seattle for her largest venue yet, the Showbox at the Market. Last time we saw her, we said she has "an extra helping of cute and an idiosyncratic voice: breathy baby-girl ("Liddle bit in love wi' you," she sings, and your heart melts) mixed with Swedish soul. Her first full album is Youth Novels. Live, she's in perpetual motion, sashaying around the stage, swiveling her hips, one hand pushing the audience back, the other punishing a cymbal with a drumstick." We're not saying it's because her parents were hippies, but she's got a hell of an onstage work ethic.

SUB POP HEROES: The Murder City Devils are back, and they're probably not happy about it. But if ever the time was right for their post-punk gloom and doom, it's now. It's like when Warren Zevon was talking about having cancer and he was all, "This is the kind of thing I've been talking about." (He also said, "Enjoy every sandwich.") And just so you know, Sound on the Sound is "stoked" about this show.

FRIDAY: Formed back in 1983, the waning days of the Soviet Union, in the distant seaport city of Vladivostok, Mumiy Troll is one of Russia's most popular rock outfits. Moving from garage to hard rock to keyboard-heavy pop sounds, the group, founded by Ilia Lagutenko, represented Russia in the 2001 Eurovision contest. Yes, it's strange. The novelty alone should be enough to drag you out to Chop Suey tonight. With Anacortes' The Lonely Forest.

LUNCH AND POLITICAL POEMS: Nation humorist Calvin Trillin does a special midday Monday event at Elliott Bay, reading from his collection of poems about the 2008 election cycle Deciding the Next Decider: The 2008 Presidential Race in Rhyme. The event is free and open to the public, but if you want to go one step further and make a lunch of it, call up the cafe (206-682-6664) to pre-order from your choice of box lunch: roast beef sandwich, albacore tuna sandwich, or egg salad sandwich, all of which are served with chips and a cookie.

Donte is taking advantage of cheap post-holiday travel by heading down to SFist territory to see Lindstrom's only west coast date on this mini-tour, since Where You Go I Go Too was one of last year's best releases.

Of all the quintessentially American genres, hardboiled crime fiction is the one that's lasted the longest, but in a strange twist of cultural fate, that longevity owes at least as much to the French as it does to the people here at home. The attraction to noir (they even gave it the name!) is pretty obvious: These are the stories of the American urban wasteland, born of the early- to mid-twentieth century cities, teeming with immigrants in bitter competition, ruled by corrupt political machines, manipulated by a dark underworld of gangsters. While the middle class could live in a comfortable world of increasing prosperity with the option of deluding themselves with happy, moral stories that reinforced that worldview, noir represented the popular dissent. Good doesn't always win, women aren't always virtuous, things are essentially bad and not subject to change, and heroes are frequently less than heroic.

Cliff Mass says the inversion that's producing our film-noir quality fog will stick around through the weekend. If you want to skip the pea soupers, head to the hills. Mass reports that it was 66 degrees and clear on top of Tiger Mountain yesterday, and nearly 70 at Paradise on Rainier. By the way, weather groupies, Mass is signing his book at the UW Bookstore at 1 p.m. on Saturday.