Weekend theater roundup 4/23

Our in-theaters weekend roundup begins at Northwest Film Forum with a special Earth Day themed film: Elia Kazan's "mid-career masterpiece" WILD RIVER. This 1960 film stars Montgomery Clift as a Tennessee Valley Authority official who arrives in a small town on the brink of destruction from an impending flood and Lee Remick as a young resident who falls for him. On Saturday the 24th Third Eye Cinema and Three Dollar Bill Cinema present filmmaker Barbara Hammer , who will be in attendance presenting works from her four decades of work and reading passages from her book HAMMER! MAKING MOVIES OUT OF SEX AND LIFE (the book will be available at NWFF, but you could also try Cinema Books). There's also THE BUG TRAINER a documentary about the life and work of Ladislas Starewitch, the puppet animator some call "Europe's answer to to Disney." You'll also want to mark your calendars now for May 6th and Northwest Film Forum's ANNUAL GALA, a party that combines film and fundraising with a live auction, films and a keynote address by REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE screenwriter Stewart Stern. THE LANGSTON HUGHES AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL wraps up this week at Central Cinema with films on Friday and Saturday. This weekend they're also showing Billy Wilder's SOME LIKE IT HOT starring Marylin Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Tony Curtis' Cary Grant impression. Later in the week, Stranger critic Lindy West will present now Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow's POINT BREAK, the first in the Reel Grrls series AWESOME MOVIES YOU NEVER KNEW WERE DIRECTED BY WOMEN and STIFF NIGHTS serves us THE SCENESTERS. Down at SIFF Cinema there's NEXT STOP RAIN CITY: THE FILMS OF ALAN RUDOLPH, a series of double features by the acclaimed independent filmmaker including REMEMBER MY NAME and CHOOSE ME on Friday, THE MODERNS with the set-in-Seattle TROUBLE IN MIND on Saturday and AFTERGLOW with the Vonnegutastic BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS on Sunday. This overview and this interview from our friends at The SunBreak are required reading before you attend. Down at Columbia City Cinema, there's Roman Polanski's latest thriller THE GHOST WRITER starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Bronsnan and Kim Cattrall (with, if I'm hearing the trailers right, a British accent!), along with DATE NIGHT and KICK ASS. If you've heard the term "Browncoat" bandied about in prestigious nerd circles but don't know what that means, head to our neighbors Metro Cinemas on Wednesday night for Joss Whedon's SERENITY, then head down the street to our humble store and rent the entire series of FIREFLY. Speaking of Landmark Theatres, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, the documentary about and directed by graffiti phenomenon Banksy, opens at the Harvard Exit. Back in the vicinity of the Crow's Nest, Grand Illusion Cinema continues the mod madness of BIFF! BANG! POW! THE SWINGIN' FLICKS OF THE SIXTIES with A HARD DAYS' NIGHT director Richard Lester's THE KNACK...AND HOW TO GET IT, along with the continuing run of The Doors' documentary WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE and Mario Bava's 1966 not on video DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS, starring Vincent Price and the what I'm guessing was inspiration for the FemBots. Lastly, we'll see you here at the store TONIGHT (that's Friday the 23rd) at 7pm for the SEAT OF EMPIRE DVD signing with director Shaun Scott. Happy viewing to all.