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New Releases for July 27th 2010

Batman: Under the Red Hood* – Going probably as dark as an original DC animated film can go, Batman deals with the death of Robin and a vigilante who’s trying to top the Dark Knight by murdering criminals. It looks more mature than the original Batman Animated series, but keeps the same tone. ...

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Best Sellers 7/27/10

Here are Scarecrow’s best selling new DVDs for the past month.  All items are available in our store and highlighted items can be ...

DVD reviews: Film Noir edition

Two recent DVD releases have cast a dark but welcome shadow over our summertime viewing.  For a look at these new Film Noir sets, here’s local critic Sean Axmaker: The Film Noir Classic Collection: Volume 5 (Warner) The most famous artifacts that we have retroactively branded as film noir, from the iconic (The Maltese Falcon, Double ...

Best Sellers 7/20/10

Here are Scarecrow’s best selling new DVDs for the past month.  All items are available in our store and highlighted items can be purchased ...

News

• Greetings and welcome to the last theater-going round up for July.  I apologize for the lack of rounding up last week, but I was out getting hitched to a swell fellow movie fan. Now that the wedding is over, we can get back to our regularly scheduled movie watching. This week's theatrical schedule begins with movies of the outdoor presentation variety:  Friday night at Cal Anderson Park, Three Dollar Bill Cinema continues their BLONDE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN series with  THE LEGEND OF BILLIE JEAN, the classic 80s teen outlaw story starring the Slater-rific team of Helen and Christian. The show starts around 8:30pm but you'll want to arrive early to claim a patch of grass. On Saturday, Fremont Outdoor Movies is screening  Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS with live orchestral accompaniment. Seeing Metropolis with live music under the stars...definitely not a bad way to spend your evening.  Elsewhere around town and indoors, Northwest Film Forum series celebrating the Portuguese director they call "international cinema's randiest rapscallion": THE GENIUS OF INSANITY: FIVE FILMS FROM JOAO CESAR MONTEIRO. It begins Friday with RECOLLECTIONS FROM THE YELLOW HOUSE and continues on into the first week of August.  NWFF also has OF MONTREAL: FAMILY NOUVEAU, a behind the scenes look at the band's 2009 European tour. Central Cinema's going to the dogs (ha!) with BEST IN SHOW. On Friday they're also showing TOTAL BADASS: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHAD HOLT, Bob Ray's documentary on the Austin underground music scene. Our pals at Grand Illusion Cinema have BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO, which sounds like it should be about a giant bug that squashes the greater Tokyo metropolitan area but is actually a documentary about Japan's fascination with insects.  For your Late Night viewing enjoyment there's WE FOUND IT IN THE BASEMENT, a collection of celluloid oddities the GI folks dug out from their subterranean stacks.  From a Disney-produced anti-drug film to Saul Bass' WHY MAN CREATES, it should prove to be an entertaining evening.  Happy viewing to all. #
• We begin this weekend's theatrical round up not on an actual weekend day but Monday the 19th at Central Cinema for the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE VHS NIGHT. You'll want to arrive at 7pm with your favorite movie on VHS in hand, then you and your fellow VHS afficionados will vote on which you want to watch, then everyone will bask in its VHS glory, perhaps while enjoying a beer or two. They'll be trivia and other fun VHS tape related activities to participate in with prizes furnished by us truly. For the actual weekend, Central Cinema has the cheertastic BRING IT ON. There's a celebration of Finland on film over at Northwest Film Forum with the FROM THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN series, featuring Richard Lefebvre’s re-make of Aki Kaurismaki’s CALAMARI UNION (we have it for rent in Kaurismaki's director's section). There's also the KILLING KASZTNER, a documentary on the Jewish-Hungarian journalist and lawyer who in 1944 negotiated with Eichmann to save Hungarian Jews, only to be accused of collaborating with the Nazis and assassinated twelve years later. Director Gaylen Ross will be in attendance for the weekend's shows.  Our good friends at Grand Illusion Cinema (are you a member yet?) kick off Week One of BALTIMORE CONFIDENTIAL: TWO FILMS BY JOHN WATERS with PINK FLAMINGOS. In the Late Night spot there's the local indie drama WHERE THE AIR IS COOL AND DARK, the story of one man's self-destructive ways set amongst the Olympic Peninsula and to the music by members of The Walkabouts. Lastly, we're all clamoring to see what will hopefully be the first great film of the summer that doesn't make us openly weep--Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, and some seriously awesome looking special effects. Allen over at the MacGuffin Film Blog gives an early review here. The first line is "My mind has just been blown." Happy viewing to all. #
• Hello and welcome to a solar powered edition of the weekend theatrical events roundup. We begin with our neighbors at GRAND ILLUSION CINEMA. The non-profit, volunteer run theater needs your help to keep the doors open and their impressive range of films like SANTA SANGRE, ROLLING THUNDER and FROM HERE TO ETERNITY screening in glorious 35mm. We highly recommend you become a member of the GI and ensure the future of Seattle's oldest continuously running movie theater. This week at the GI there's the Hungarian avant-garde film JOHANNA and the return of VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL in the Late Night spot.  Elsewhere in our sun-drenched city, on Sunday SIFF Cinema wakes up briefly from its well earned summertime hibernation with VICTORY OVER DARKNESS, a documentary about three blind athletes training to compete in the IronMan Trialthlon.  Over at Northwest Film Forum there's WOMEN WITHOUT MEN, a profile of four women during Iran's 1953 coup. It's the directorial debut of artist Shirin Neshat and Sara Krajewski, Assistant Curator at the Henry Art Gallery, will be in attendance at Friday's 9pm show to discuss this visually stunning film and Neshat's work. Also this week there's  D-TOUR, a documentary following Rouge Wave drummer Pat Spurgeon and his search for a kidney donor while the band heads out on a "D(ialysis) Tour."  Pat will be there via Skype for Q & A over the weekend; read more about it over on NWFF's blog Hot Splice. You can cool off down at Central Cinema with SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. We're not alone in thinking it's required viewing for all humans , and seeing it projected on a big screen while enjoying a refreshing beverage is a good way to experience such a classic. If you can't see it at CC, come rent one of the many copies in our Stanley Donen director's section.  BadMovieArt returns to Central Cinema on Monday with the lost blaxploitation film PIPE DREAMS starring a presumably Pip-less Gladys Knight and set in...you'll never guess...ALASKA!  Lastly, if you're like me and just can't absorb enough summer,  head down to Fremont Outdoor Movies on Saturday night and enjoy the timeless GHOSTBUSTERS (it is embarrassing how much I still enjoy the music video). Stay cool and happy viewing to all. #
• Hello and happy Independence Day weekend! Scarecrow will be closing at 9pm on Sunday, July 4th so we can all get home before the firework festivities are in full swing. We'll be open our regular 11am-11pm hours on Monday, so stop by if you have a long weekend and are in need of some movies or VIDEO GAMES. If you're also planning on frequenting the cinema this weekend, here are some options:  Beware of the undead staggering around Fremont on Saturday with the Fremont Outdoor Cinema's  RED, WHITE & DEAD BLOCK PARTY. It's a full day of activities such as the Thriller Dance Workshop (highly recommended if you can carve out some dance space in the crowd), a Fashionably Undead Fashion Show, and the Zombie Walk, where they'll try to break the current record for most zombies marching (A note to participating zombies: Please don't smear fake blood on the windows of local businesses).  Once the sun finally goes down around 9:30pm, they'll be screening the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake. Northwest Film Forum has a new 35mm print of PUNISHMENT PARK, Peter Watkins' intense 1971 pseudo-documentary about a group of political radicals who are arrested and given the choice of jail or participating in a "game" that allows police to chase them across the desert.  As the trailer states, it's "a controversial and relentless depiction of suppression and brutality."  There's all kinds of crazy stuff going on at Central Cinema--BEST WORST MOVIE finishes up this week; on Monday there's another screening of THE ROOM (is it the Rocky Horror of our time?); the FREAKS & GEEKS TV PARTY featuring four episodes as voted on by you (Noshing & Moshing, people!);  and then on Thursday there's the Siouxie-sational 120 MINUTES SING ALONG. And what Fourth of July weekend would be complete with a little TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE? It's playing on Friday & Saturday. America! F*** YEAH! Our partners in U-District glory  Grand Illusion Cinema has Part Two of the SHADES OF A SCOUNDREL: TWO FILMS OF HUMPHREY BOGART with William Wyler's THE DESPERATE HOURS, where Bogie plays a convicted killer hiding from the law  with a suburban family headed by Fredric March.  Then in the Late Night spot, the makers of TOKYO GORE POLICE and MACHINE GIRL present VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL. With a title like that, how can you NOT see it?  If you're of the ilk that appreciates a film venue that will in the same day play both a Humphrey Bogart movie and an crazy foreign film where two mutant girls engage in bloody conflict, please consider becoming a member of the Grand Illusion Cinema.  You may also be using this weekend to catch up on your mainstream movie releases, like the latest installment of the TWILIGHT saga or the five-Kleenex minimum TOY STORY 3. You can do both down at the Columbia City Cinema. We at the Crow wish you all a happy & safe holiday weekend! #
• It's good that the sun finally decided to grace us with its warming rays just as Seattle's various outdoor movie series begin. The famous FREMONT OUTDOOR MOVIES kicks off Saturday, June 26th with a special**sparkly** TWILIGHT event! To celebrate the release of the latest installment Bella/Edward/Jacob saga, stars Nikki Reed and Elizabeth Reaser will be on hand to present a screening of NEW MOON along with a sneak peek at TWLIGHT: ECLIPSE and plenty of Twi-hard related fun.  You'll also want to save the date for the RED, WHITE AND DEAD ZOMBIE BLOCK PARTY on Saturday, July 3rd, where they'll once again go for the Zombie Walk World Record  and then watch the surprisingly awesome remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD.  Also in the weeks to come, THREE DOLLAR BILL CINEMA will present four nights of outdoor film fun with the BLONDE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN series. Stay tuned to this space & their site for details. If you prefer your movies the old fashioned inside way, there's lots around town to see. Director Prashanta Nanda will present her film THE LIVING GHOST Sunday afternoon at SIFF Cinema. This love story/environmentally conscious tale about India's Dongria Kandha tribe also played at this year's Independent South Asian Film Festival. Northwest Film Forum is holding their first ever POSTER SALE this Saturday at 11am, with posters from the last several years of programming. Clear some space on your wall for a sweet BRAND UPON THE BRAIN art. Movie-wise, NWFF is showing 9500 LIBERTY, a documentary which focuses the outbreak of anti-immigrant sentiment Manassas, Virginia in 2007 which led the county to draft Arizona-like laws and spawned social networking crusade against the legislation.  They also have the highly acclaimed indie DADDY LONGLEGS, a touching portrait of a divorced dad and the cherished time he spends with his sons. Writer/directors Joshua and Benny Safdie will be in attendance opening weekend.  BEST WORST MOVIE--aka the saga behind the making of TROLL 2--continues its run at Central Cinema along with a MICHAEL JACKSON SING-ALONG (Shumon!) on Friday & Saturday.  Our friendly neighborhood theater Grand Illusion Cinema begins SHADES OF A SCOUNDREL: TWO FILMS OF HUMPHREY BOGART (Do we like him because he's a scoundrel? Are there enough scoundrels in our lives?) with Billy Wilder's SABRINA starring the always intriguing William Holden, the impeccably dressed Audrey Hepburn, and Bogie as the grumpiest  romantic lead ever.   Alejandro Jodorowsky's SANTA SANGRE, which Roger Ebert called "a collision between Freud and Fellini,"  makes an encore visit to the Late Night spot.  Have a happy PRIDE weekend, everyone! #