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Death taking the shape of a filthy bedraggled macaw—who shows up to take life with the fanning of a wing—is a fascinating, kind of beautiful image. As Death appears to each person, one begs to be taken, another begs to live, while one woman literally spits in Death’s face...
Just a week ago, I “swam” in Puget Sound (note the liberal quotes) in mid-May for a solid ten minutes. I was quite pleased with myself for my endurance (I was paddling around with friends) and I decided to get out when I couldn’t feel my hands. The water...
I was not a fan of Mad Max: Fury Road. I remember leaving the screening with a bit of a 3D headache, partly due to the skip-a-frame herky-jerky cinematography, and partly due to the fact that it was essentially a two-hour action sequence with explosions, car crashes, bodies being...
It’s a wrap! The SIFFTY-th (sort of 50th) Seattle International Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday night. Even though the festival is relatively truncated these days, running for a week and a half (unlike the 3-1/2 week version of SIFF in the before times), it’s still an exhausting marathon!...
I noticed a recurring theme in several of the films I saw at SIFF: the preservation of art, culture, and ideas in a rapidly changing world. Whether inspiring, thought-provoking, or heartbreaking, these stories all reverberated with a deep cultural pride. Bring Them Home (6/8) The North American buffalo was...
Art can come from a source of joy, pain, or strife, as shown in these wildly different portrayals of creators… Rainier: A Beer Odyssey (6/8) Anyone who grew up or lived in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s and 80s will remember Rainier Beer’s iconic, goofy television ads. In...
It’s refreshing to see a variety of films about aging, where older actors are front and center, not relegated to supporting role. It’s a no-brainer that people with a few years under their belts have more stories to tell, as evidenced by this diverse group of films. Thelma (7/8)...
I have to admit, this movie had to slowly win me over (and it had plenty of time to do that with its 2-1/2 hour runtime). In the three previous Planet of the Apes “reboot” films, the arc was completed for Caesar, the first sentient chimp and leader of...
What to see? What to see? The pared-down Seattle International Film Festival is shorter and leaner, but still filled with so many intriguing-looking movies hard it’s hard to narrow things down. There are several that I’m really looking forward to, like Pamela Adlon’s feature directorial debut Babes (which, pardon...
Part of the fun of going to film festivals is enjoying the unique treat of watching a movie before anyone else… but fests also offer a terrific opportunity to see movies that are building buzz on the festival circuit. Moviepie’s Vickie, based in Toronto, just finished seeing over 60...
In the movie Civil War, there is more than one reference to the namesake of Kirsten Dunst’s war photographer Lee Miller. The release of a biopic about the real-life WWII photographer couldn’t be more timely. The real Lee Miller famously took a photo of herself in Hitler’s bathtub (hopefully...
Sure, the math is a little squishy, calling this year’s celebration the 50th Seattle International Film Festival. The first SIFF was in 1976, but founders Dan Ireland and Darryl Macdonald were superstitious and officially skipped using the number 13 for that year’s fest. (Artistic Director Beth Barrett called it...
