Film

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Blowing Up Cinema: The Art of Michelangelo Antonioni They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Jack Nicholson kept the slow, existential 1975 thriller The Passenger off the U.S. market for decades. Among those who aren’t so keen on the pacing of Blow-Up or L’Avventura, The Passenger won’t earn Antonioni any new fans. Nicholson expertly plays a reporter, failed in career and marriage, who makes a fresh start by assuming the identity of a dead man. We follow him from North Africa through various European cities, as do his wife and some ominous agents of an African dictatorship. He picks up a girl (Maria Schneider, best left to the ‘70s) who tells Nicholson this new identity gives him a purpose, some political meaning: “That’s what you wanted.” But such beliefs are dangerous for the formerly indifferent reporter. It’s like The Bourne Identity played at half speed-deliberate, but never dull. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $8-$12 individual, $35-$54 series Friday, March 20, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Friday, March 20, 2015

Insurgent Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort return in this highly anticipated sequel to Divergent. Opens wide $14 and up Friday, March 20, 2015

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Seattle Jewish Film Festival The film festival celebrates its 20th year. Opening night features Hanna’s Journey, a German-Israeli coproduction. Other notable films featured include, Mr. Kaplan, Summer Vacation, The Outrageous Sophie Tucker, and Write Down, I’m an Arab. Venues also include SIFF Cinema Uptown and SJCC-Mercer Island. AMC Pacific Place, 600 Pine StreetSeattle, WA 98101 See website for details. Friday, March 20, 2015

The Gunman Suffering from PTSD and on the run across Europe to clear his name, an ex-soldier is trying to reconnect with his longtime love. With Idris Elba, Sean Penn, and Javier Bardem… but who stars? Opens wide. $14 and up Friday, March 20, 2015

The Wrecking Crew A late add to the SIFF roster, this documentary about L.A. studio musicians was well-received as a progress cut during the festival some years back. Figures in the film include Glen Campbell, Sonny Bono, Herb Alpert, and The Beach Boys. SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109 $7-$12 Friday, March 20, 2015

Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien Running at two venues, this five-film selection reprises the last HHH retro in Seattle, 15 years ago, when the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum were a joint enterprise. This reunion includes the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo. The series begins with Hou’s autobiographical 1985 A Time to Live, a Time to Die, which follows protagonist Ah-hsiao (nicknamed Ah-ha) from late-’40s boyhood to the cusp of maturity. His family flees the mainland before the revolution, meaning that Ah-ha will grow up in an essentially foreign culture, uprooted from tradition. Hou treats this immigrant coming-of-age story with solemn detachment; the kids aren’t cute and the pathos isn’t overdone. His young hero experiences considerable sadness and loss, but the movie hasn’t got an ounce of sentimentality. The family’s struggles, defeats, and setbacks are usually framed in still, quiet long shots, with the important action often taking place in the background. Hou refuses to provide false drama to Ah-ha’s gradual slide into ‘60s delinquency. Instead, he simply and movingly recalls the daily rhythms of a bygone era, without nostalgia or counterfeit emotion, in each well-composed shot. (The series runs trough Saturday, March 28.) (Repeats 7 p.m. Mon. at NWFF.) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Friday, March 20, 2015, 7pm

Uranium Dive-In This recent eco-doc examines the new push toward nuclear power. (NR) Keystone Congregational Church, 5019 Keystone Pl. N., Seattle, WA 98103 Free Friday, March 20, 2015, 7pm

The King and the Mockingbird There’s a tendency for journalists to fixate on a film’s troubled production history. If it took X number of years and Y number of millions to finish, it must be . . . [fill in the blank, usually terrible]. So try to cast aside the tangled history of this charming French animated film, based on a Hans Christian Andersen tale, created (and extensively revised) by director Paul Grimault and screenwriter Jacques Prevert between 1948-79. That patchwork process and recent restoration aren’t seamless. There’s a prewar, almost Disney aspect to the innocent, fugitive lovers (a shepherdess and a chimney sweep); and the monarch in pursuit of them is a comic despot who nonetheless carries a whiff of ‘30s fascism. The silly chase scenes through a 296-floor castle (plus dungeon city) would appeal to kids who don’t get the politics, but they may not appreciate the subtitles. Grown-up viewers will discern how Grimault and Prevert’s late-’70s revisions reflected the tumult of the prior decade. Their impudent talking Mockingbird is a wise-ass revolutionary, like some Gallic Abbie Hoffman; and the king’s giant mechanical robot reflects sci-fi fears of global annihilation. The linework is both storybook and satirical. Not enough that the vainglorious king should live in the world’s tallest castle-it must be served by the most spindly, ridiculous Rube Goldberg elevator ever devised. Meanwhile, down in the dungeons of this totalitarian edifice, the lions and tigers can be dissuaded from eating prisoners-they’ll even waltz together!-if music is played. Art is the last defense against tyranny. BRIAN MILLER Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $6-$11 Friday, March 20, 2015, 8pm

Spaceballs Mel Brooks’ 1987 send-up of the Star Wars phenomenon-plus any number of other sci-fi flicks-is screened for your enjoyment. (PG) Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Friday, March 20, 2015, 9:30pm

Killer Workout We believe this is an ‘80s parody of serial-killer flicks and Jane Fonda-style workout videos. (NR) Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $2 Friday, March 20, 2015, 10pm

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Blowing Up Cinema: The Art of Michelangelo Antonioni They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Jack Nicholson kept the slow, existential 1975 thriller The Passenger off the U.S. market for decades. Among those who aren’t so keen on the pacing of Blow-Up or L’Avventura, The Passenger won’t earn Antonioni any new fans. Nicholson expertly plays a reporter, failed in career and marriage, who makes a fresh start by assuming the identity of a dead man. We follow him from North Africa through various European cities, as do his wife and some ominous agents of an African dictatorship. He picks up a girl (Maria Schneider, best left to the ‘70s) who tells Nicholson this new identity gives him a purpose, some political meaning: “That’s what you wanted.” But such beliefs are dangerous for the formerly indifferent reporter. It’s like The Bourne Identity played at half speed-deliberate, but never dull. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $8-$12 individual, $35-$54 series Saturday, March 21, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Saturday, March 21, 2015

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Seattle Jewish Film Festival The fest continues with fun documentary profiles of composer Marvin Hamlisch and comic performer Sophie Tucker. Above and Beyond relates how the Israeli Air Force was created in 1948 by a few WWII vets flying German-designed fighters and wearing secondhand Luftwaffe uniforms (!); there’s even affecting and unexpected cameo from Pee-Wee Herman, whose Hollywood stunt-pilot father was one such pilot. Lacey Schwartz’s Little White Lie explores her middle-class upbringing in liberal Woodstock, New York. There, the only child in a Jewish household, she eventually grew curious during the ‘90s as to why-apart from her father’s supposedly dark Sicilian lineage-her skin tone didn’t match her parents’. Mixed-race confusion follows. Opening on March 27 for a run at SIFF, the divorce drama GETT: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem has already earned strong reviews. (NR) Venues also include SIFF Cinema Uptown and SJCC-Mercer Island. AMC Pacific Place, 600 Pine StreetSeattle, WA 98101 $5-$18 Saturday, March 21, 2015

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick do their thing. Costumes if you must. (R)  SIFF Cinema Egyptian, 801 E. Pine St., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$12 Saturday, March 21, 2015, 12am

Saturday Secret Matinee Hosted by The Sprocket Society, this Saturday matinee series features the 1941 serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel, preceded by various vintage cartoons and shorts. Total program length is about two hours. (NR) Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Saturday, March 21, 2015, 2pm

The King and the Mockingbird A French animated film, based on a Hans Christian Anderson story, that inspired Hayao Miyazaki. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $11 Saturday, March 21, 2015, 3pm

Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien Running at two venues, this five-film selection reprises the last HHH retro in Seattle, 15 years ago, when the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum were a joint enterprise. This reunion includes the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo. The series begins with Hou’s autobiographical 1985 A Time to Live, a Time to Die, which follows protagonist Ah-hsiao (nicknamed Ah-ha) from late-’40s boyhood to the cusp of maturity. His family flees the mainland before the revolution, meaning that Ah-ha will grow up in an essentially foreign culture, uprooted from tradition. Hou treats this immigrant coming-of-age story with solemn detachment; the kids aren’t cute and the pathos isn’t overdone. His young hero experiences considerable sadness and loss, but the movie hasn’t got an ounce of sentimentality. The family’s struggles, defeats, and setbacks are usually framed in still, quiet long shots, with the important action often taking place in the background. Hou refuses to provide false drama to Ah-ha’s gradual slide into ‘60s delinquency. Instead, he simply and movingly recalls the daily rhythms of a bygone era, without nostalgia or counterfeit emotion, in each well-composed shot. (The series runs trough Saturday, March 28.) (Repeats 7 p.m. Mon. at NWFF.) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Saturday, March 21, 2015, 7pm

Spaceballs Mel Brooks’ 1987 send-up of the Star Wars phenomenon-plus any number of other sci-fi flicks-is screened for your enjoyment. (PG) Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Saturday, March 21, 2015, 9:30pm

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Blowing Up Cinema: The Art of Michelangelo Antonioni They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Jack Nicholson kept the slow, existential 1975 thriller The Passenger off the U.S. market for decades. Among those who aren’t so keen on the pacing of Blow-Up or L’Avventura, The Passenger won’t earn Antonioni any new fans. Nicholson expertly plays a reporter, failed in career and marriage, who makes a fresh start by assuming the identity of a dead man. We follow him from North Africa through various European cities, as do his wife and some ominous agents of an African dictatorship. He picks up a girl (Maria Schneider, best left to the ‘70s) who tells Nicholson this new identity gives him a purpose, some political meaning: “That’s what you wanted.” But such beliefs are dangerous for the formerly indifferent reporter. It’s like The Bourne Identity played at half speed-deliberate, but never dull. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $8-$12 individual, $35-$54 series Sunday, March 22, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Sunday, March 22, 2015

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Seattle Jewish Film Festival The fest continues with fun documentary profiles of composer Marvin Hamlisch and comic performer Sophie Tucker. Above and Beyond relates how the Israeli Air Force was created in 1948 by a few WWII vets flying German-designed fighters and wearing secondhand Luftwaffe uniforms (!); there’s even affecting and unexpected cameo from Pee-Wee Herman, whose Hollywood stunt-pilot father was one such pilot. Lacey Schwartz’s Little White Lie explores her middle-class upbringing in liberal Woodstock, New York. There, the only child in a Jewish household, she eventually grew curious during the ‘90s as to why-apart from her father’s supposedly dark Sicilian lineage-her skin tone didn’t match her parents’. Mixed-race confusion follows. Opening on March 27 for a run at SIFF, the divorce drama GETT: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem has already earned strong reviews. (NR) Venues also include SIFF Cinema Uptown and SJCC-Mercer Island. AMC Pacific Place, 600 Pine StreetSeattle, WA 98101 $5-$18 Sunday, March 22, 2015

The King and the Mockingbird A French animated film, based on a Hans Christian Anderson story, that inspired Hayao Miyazaki. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $11 Sunday, March 22, 2015, 3pm

Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien Running at two venues, this five-film selection reprises the last HHH retro in Seattle, 15 years ago, when the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum were a joint enterprise. This reunion includes the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo. The series begins with Hou’s autobiographical 1985 A Time to Live, a Time to Die, which follows protagonist Ah-hsiao (nicknamed Ah-ha) from late-’40s boyhood to the cusp of maturity. His family flees the mainland before the revolution, meaning that Ah-ha will grow up in an essentially foreign culture, uprooted from tradition. Hou treats this immigrant coming-of-age story with solemn detachment; the kids aren’t cute and the pathos isn’t overdone. His young hero experiences considerable sadness and loss, but the movie hasn’t got an ounce of sentimentality. The family’s struggles, defeats, and setbacks are usually framed in still, quiet long shots, with the important action often taking place in the background. Hou refuses to provide false drama to Ah-ha’s gradual slide into ‘60s delinquency. Instead, he simply and movingly recalls the daily rhythms of a bygone era, without nostalgia or counterfeit emotion, in each well-composed shot. (The series runs trough Saturday, March 28.) (Repeats 7 p.m. Mon. at NWFF.) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Sunday, March 22, 2015, 7pm

Spaceballs Mel Brooks’ 1987 send-up of the Star Wars phenomenon-plus any number of other sci-fi flicks-is screened for your enjoyment. (PG) Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Sunday, March 22, 2015, 9:30pm

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Blowing Up Cinema: The Art of Michelangelo Antonioni They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Jack Nicholson kept the slow, existential 1975 thriller The Passenger off the U.S. market for decades. Among those who aren’t so keen on the pacing of Blow-Up or L’Avventura, The Passenger won’t earn Antonioni any new fans. Nicholson expertly plays a reporter, failed in career and marriage, who makes a fresh start by assuming the identity of a dead man. We follow him from North Africa through various European cities, as do his wife and some ominous agents of an African dictatorship. He picks up a girl (Maria Schneider, best left to the ‘70s) who tells Nicholson this new identity gives him a purpose, some political meaning: “That’s what you wanted.” But such beliefs are dangerous for the formerly indifferent reporter. It’s like The Bourne Identity played at half speed-deliberate, but never dull. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $8-$12 individual, $35-$54 series Monday, March 23, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Monday, March 23, 2015

Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien Running at two venues, this five-film selection reprises the last HHH retro in Seattle, 15 years ago, when the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum were a joint enterprise. This reunion includes the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo. The series begins with Hou’s autobiographical 1985 A Time to Live, a Time to Die, which follows protagonist Ah-hsiao (nicknamed Ah-ha) from late-’40s boyhood to the cusp of maturity. His family flees the mainland before the revolution, meaning that Ah-ha will grow up in an essentially foreign culture, uprooted from tradition. Hou treats this immigrant coming-of-age story with solemn detachment; the kids aren’t cute and the pathos isn’t overdone. His young hero experiences considerable sadness and loss, but the movie hasn’t got an ounce of sentimentality. The family’s struggles, defeats, and setbacks are usually framed in still, quiet long shots, with the important action often taking place in the background. Hou refuses to provide false drama to Ah-ha’s gradual slide into ‘60s delinquency. Instead, he simply and movingly recalls the daily rhythms of a bygone era, without nostalgia or counterfeit emotion, in each well-composed shot. (The series runs trough Saturday, March 28.) (Repeats 7 p.m. Mon. at NWFF.) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Monday, March 23, 2015, 7pm

Still Alice Adapted from the 2007 bestseller by Lisa Genova, Still Alice is like experiencing only the second half of Flowers for Algernon: high-functioning start as Columbia professor, wife, and mother of three grown children; then after Alzheimer’s diagnosis at age 50, the brutal, inexorable mental degradation and loss of self. An academic, Alice (Julianne Moore) plays word games and self-tests her memory. She types constant reminders into her iPhone, which soon becomes her adjunct memory and, eventually, her intellectual superior-even the auto-correct feature seems poignant. And finally she records a video on her laptop addressed to her future self, conveying detailed instructions, that will later allow Moore to play both sides of a scene with herself: crisp professionalism versus foggy incomprehension. Directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (Quinceanera) mostly avoid the sap, despite the score’s twinkly piano pathos. (PG-13) B.R.M. SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St. (Seattle Center), Seattle, WA 98109 $7-$12 Monday, March 23, 2015, 7pm

Spaceballs Mel Brooks’ 1987 send-up of the Star Wars phenomenon-plus any number of other sci-fi flicks-is screened for your enjoyment. (PG) Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Monday, March 23, 2015, 9:30pm

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Blowing Up Cinema: The Art of Michelangelo Antonioni They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Jack Nicholson kept the slow, existential 1975 thriller The Passenger off the U.S. market for decades. Among those who aren’t so keen on the pacing of Blow-Up or L’Avventura, The Passenger won’t earn Antonioni any new fans. Nicholson expertly plays a reporter, failed in career and marriage, who makes a fresh start by assuming the identity of a dead man. We follow him from North Africa through various European cities, as do his wife and some ominous agents of an African dictatorship. He picks up a girl (Maria Schneider, best left to the ‘70s) who tells Nicholson this new identity gives him a purpose, some political meaning: “That’s what you wanted.” But such beliefs are dangerous for the formerly indifferent reporter. It’s like The Bourne Identity played at half speed-deliberate, but never dull. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $8-$12 individual, $35-$54 series Tuesday, March 24, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien Running at two venues, this five-film selection reprises the last HHH retro in Seattle, 15 years ago, when the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum were a joint enterprise. This reunion includes the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo. The series begins with Hou’s autobiographical 1985 A Time to Live, a Time to Die, which follows protagonist Ah-hsiao (nicknamed Ah-ha) from late-’40s boyhood to the cusp of maturity. His family flees the mainland before the revolution, meaning that Ah-ha will grow up in an essentially foreign culture, uprooted from tradition. Hou treats this immigrant coming-of-age story with solemn detachment; the kids aren’t cute and the pathos isn’t overdone. His young hero experiences considerable sadness and loss, but the movie hasn’t got an ounce of sentimentality. The family’s struggles, defeats, and setbacks are usually framed in still, quiet long shots, with the important action often taking place in the background. Hou refuses to provide false drama to Ah-ha’s gradual slide into ‘60s delinquency. Instead, he simply and movingly recalls the daily rhythms of a bygone era, without nostalgia or counterfeit emotion, in each well-composed shot. (The series runs trough Saturday, March 28.) (Repeats 7 p.m. Mon. at NWFF.) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Tuesday, March 24, 2015, 7pm

Spaceballs Mel Brooks’ 1987 send-up of the Star Wars phenomenon-plus any number of other sci-fi flicks-is screened for your enjoyment. (PG) Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Tuesday, March 24, 2015, 9:30pm

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien Running at two venues, this five-film selection reprises the last HHH retro in Seattle, 15 years ago, when the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum were a joint enterprise. This reunion includes the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo. The series begins with Hou’s autobiographical 1985 A Time to Live, a Time to Die, which follows protagonist Ah-hsiao (nicknamed Ah-ha) from late-’40s boyhood to the cusp of maturity. His family flees the mainland before the revolution, meaning that Ah-ha will grow up in an essentially foreign culture, uprooted from tradition. Hou treats this immigrant coming-of-age story with solemn detachment; the kids aren’t cute and the pathos isn’t overdone. His young hero experiences considerable sadness and loss, but the movie hasn’t got an ounce of sentimentality. The family’s struggles, defeats, and setbacks are usually framed in still, quiet long shots, with the important action often taking place in the background. Hou refuses to provide false drama to Ah-ha’s gradual slide into ‘60s delinquency. Instead, he simply and movingly recalls the daily rhythms of a bygone era, without nostalgia or counterfeit emotion, in each well-composed shot. (The series runs trough Saturday, March 28.) (Repeats 7 p.m. Mon. at NWFF.) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Wednesday, March 25, 2015, 7pm

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Growing Up Baumbach On Wednesday the 18th we have Noah Baumbach’s 1995 fairly witty campus comedy Kicking and Screaming, which made good use of Eric Stoltz, Chris Eigeman, and Josh Hamilton. Following on the 25th is 2013’s Frances Ha, about which our Robert Horton wrote, “Co-written by and starring Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha is Noah Baumbach’s unabashed 2013 tribute to her distinctive (don’t you dare say “quirky”) charms. The outline of a typical indie picture is in place, as we follow 27-year-old Frances and her New York apartment-hopping over the course of a few months. Frances dreams of being a dancer, as though nobody’d told her that if you haven’t made it as a dancer by 27, your dream should probably be in the past tense. (Actually, somebody probably told her. But her go-with-the-flow optimism is undaunted by such realities.) The appeal of Frances Ha comes from Gerwig’s pluck and the film’s sprightly sense of play. Many scenes last only a few seconds, and consist of the kind of overheard conversational snippets that capture the found poetry of random eavesdropping.” (R) SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St. (Seattle Center), Seattle, WA 98109 $5 Wednesday, March 25, 2015, 7pm

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Thursday, March 26, 2015

Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien Running at two venues, this five-film selection reprises the last HHH retro in Seattle, 15 years ago, when the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum were a joint enterprise. This reunion includes the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo. The series begins with Hou’s autobiographical 1985 A Time to Live, a Time to Die, which follows protagonist Ah-hsiao (nicknamed Ah-ha) from late-’40s boyhood to the cusp of maturity. His family flees the mainland before the revolution, meaning that Ah-ha will grow up in an essentially foreign culture, uprooted from tradition. Hou treats this immigrant coming-of-age story with solemn detachment; the kids aren’t cute and the pathos isn’t overdone. His young hero experiences considerable sadness and loss, but the movie hasn’t got an ounce of sentimentality. The family’s struggles, defeats, and setbacks are usually framed in still, quiet long shots, with the important action often taking place in the background. Hou refuses to provide false drama to Ah-ha’s gradual slide into ‘60s delinquency. Instead, he simply and movingly recalls the daily rhythms of a bygone era, without nostalgia or counterfeit emotion, in each well-composed shot. (The series runs trough Saturday, March 28.) (Repeats 7 p.m. Mon. at NWFF.) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Thursday, March 26, 2015, 7pm

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Noir de France We think of film noir as a distinctly American genre, but after World War II the shadows of the noir sensibility fell across almost every national cinema, each in their own image. Jacques Becker’s Casque d’Or (1952) opens with a scene that evokes the gentle beauty of the Impressionists-a lazy repast at a riverside cafe, lovers rowing and lolling in the sun-but ends up in the dark alleys and slum taverns of the Parisian underworld. It’s a fitting opening-night pick for this retrospective, a transition from the lyrical dramas of the ‘30s to the postwar disillusionment of Becker’s elegiac follow-up Touchez Pas au Grisbi (April 2), a modern gangster melodrama about the collision of the romantic criminal code (embodied by a dapper Jean Gabin) with the new generation of mercenary thugs. The nine-film series spotlights two great French noir directors, with three films by Becker and four by Jean-Pierre Melville, whose meticulously plotted and elegantly directed picture evolve from a romantic vision of the underworld code (Bob le Flambeur, April 9) into an unforgiving cinema fantasy of loyalty, professionalism, and sacrifice (Le Cercle Rouge, May 7). The series runs Thursdays through May 21. SEAN AXMAKER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual. Thursday, March 26, 2015, 7:30pm

A Little Chaos Alan Rickman directs himself and Kate Winslet in this period drama, set in the gardens of Versailles, overseen by King Louis XIV (Rickman). We’re sold. Theaters TBD $12 and up Friday, March 27, 2015

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Emerald City Comicon If you didn’t get a ticket in time for this enormous, totally-sold-out gathering, don’t worry. Simply standing outside the convention center is an entire show unto itself, thanks to our city’s incredibly dedicated cosplayers. If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like to see the entire Avengers squad and a random assortment of Final Fantasy characters walk to The Cheesecake Factory together, this weekend is your chance. (They might even let you join them for fried macaroni-and-cheese balls.) But if you did manage to score tickets, you’ve got a lot to be excited about. This year’s celebrity guests are stacked: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO from Star Wars), Finn Jones (Game of Thrones), Charisma Carpenter (Buffy), Hayley Atwell (Captain America), and Gina Torres (Firefly) will all be hanging out to realize your nerdiest wet dreams. Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, will be selling Seattle-themed Hellboy shirts, and Dark Horse will offer Seattle-specific cover variants for its Lady Killer series, featuring fish monsters floating around Pike Place Market and characters posing in front of the Space Needle. COLLECT THEM ALL AND STUFF THEM INTO AS MANY FREE TOTE BAGS AS YOU CAN FIND! KELTON SEARS Washington State Convention Center, 800 Convention Pl., Seattle, WA 98101 $35 Friday, March 27 – Sunday, March 29, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Friday, March 27, 2015

Get Hard Will Ferrell gets nailed for fraud and calls on Kevin Hart to prep him for life in jail. Opens wide $12 and up Friday, March 27, 2015

Home Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin, and Jennifer Lopez lend their voices to this animated children’s film. Opens wide $12 and up Friday, March 27, 2015

Serena Everyone’s favorite onscreen couple, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, are together again in this Depression-era film, long delayed after its filming by director Susanne Bier (Open Hearts). Guild 45th, landmarktheatres.com Guild 45th, 2115 N. 45th St., Seattle, WA, 98103 $10 and up Friday, March 27, 2015

Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien Running at two venues, this five-film selection reprises the last HHH retro in Seattle, 15 years ago, when the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum were a joint enterprise. This reunion includes the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo. The series begins with Hou’s autobiographical 1985 A Time to Live, a Time to Die, which follows protagonist Ah-hsiao (nicknamed Ah-ha) from late-’40s boyhood to the cusp of maturity. His family flees the mainland before the revolution, meaning that Ah-ha will grow up in an essentially foreign culture, uprooted from tradition. Hou treats this immigrant coming-of-age story with solemn detachment; the kids aren’t cute and the pathos isn’t overdone. His young hero experiences considerable sadness and loss, but the movie hasn’t got an ounce of sentimentality. The family’s struggles, defeats, and setbacks are usually framed in still, quiet long shots, with the important action often taking place in the background. Hou refuses to provide false drama to Ah-ha’s gradual slide into ‘60s delinquency. Instead, he simply and movingly recalls the daily rhythms of a bygone era, without nostalgia or counterfeit emotion, in each well-composed shot. (The series runs trough Saturday, March 28.) (Repeats 7 p.m. Mon. at NWFF.) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Friday, March 27, 2015, 7pm

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Saturday, March 28, 2015

Saturday Secret Matinee Hosted by The Sprocket Society, this Saturday matinee series features the 1941 serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel, preceded by various vintage cartoons and shorts. Total program length is about two hours. (NR) Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Saturday, March 28, 2015, 2pm

Films for One to Eight Projectors Experimental cinema from Roger Beebe. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $11 Saturday, March 28, 2015, 5pm

Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien Running at two venues, this five-film selection reprises the last HHH retro in Seattle, 15 years ago, when the Grand Illusion and Northwest Film Forum were a joint enterprise. This reunion includes the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo. The series begins with Hou’s autobiographical 1985 A Time to Live, a Time to Die, which follows protagonist Ah-hsiao (nicknamed Ah-ha) from late-’40s boyhood to the cusp of maturity. His family flees the mainland before the revolution, meaning that Ah-ha will grow up in an essentially foreign culture, uprooted from tradition. Hou treats this immigrant coming-of-age story with solemn detachment; the kids aren’t cute and the pathos isn’t overdone. His young hero experiences considerable sadness and loss, but the movie hasn’t got an ounce of sentimentality. The family’s struggles, defeats, and setbacks are usually framed in still, quiet long shots, with the important action often taking place in the background. Hou refuses to provide false drama to Ah-ha’s gradual slide into ‘60s delinquency. Instead, he simply and movingly recalls the daily rhythms of a bygone era, without nostalgia or counterfeit emotion, in each well-composed shot. (The series runs trough Saturday, March 28.) (Repeats 7 p.m. Mon. at NWFF.) BRIAN MILLER Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Saturday, March 28, 2015, 7pm

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Sunday, March 29, 2015

Sabbatical A professor comes back to his hometown after his mom has a stroke. Director Brandon Colvin will be in attendance. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $11 Sunday, March 29, 2015, 6pm

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Monday, March 30, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Tuesday, March 31, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Wednesday, April 1, 2015

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Growing Up Baumbach On Wednesday the 18th we have Noah Baumbach’s 1995 fairly witty campus comedy Kicking and Screaming, which made good use of Eric Stoltz, Chris Eigeman, and Josh Hamilton. Following on the 25th is 2013’s Frances Ha, about which our Robert Horton wrote, “Co-written by and starring Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha is Noah Baumbach’s unabashed 2013 tribute to her distinctive (don’t you dare say “quirky”) charms. The outline of a typical indie picture is in place, as we follow 27-year-old Frances and her New York apartment-hopping over the course of a few months. Frances dreams of being a dancer, as though nobody’d told her that if you haven’t made it as a dancer by 27, your dream should probably be in the past tense. (Actually, somebody probably told her. But her go-with-the-flow optimism is undaunted by such realities.) The appeal of Frances Ha comes from Gerwig’s pluck and the film’s sprightly sense of play. Many scenes last only a few seconds, and consist of the kind of overheard conversational snippets that capture the found poetry of random eavesdropping.” (R) SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St. (Seattle Center), Seattle, WA 98109 $5 Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 7pm

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Thursday, April 2, 2015

NORWESCON A science fiction and fantasy convention with guests of honor George R. R. Martin, Julie Dillon, and Amy Mainzer. Doubletree Sea Tac Airport, 18740 International BlvdSeattle, WA 98188 $70 Thursday, April 2, 2015, 8am

Desert Dancer In Iran’s politically conservative climate, Afshin Ghaffarian risks it all to start a dance company in his home country. Venue TBA, See website for details. Friday, April 3, 2015

Furious 7 Paul Walker appears in his final role, having died midway through filming. Vin Diesel sheds gasoline tears. Various locations, See website for details. Friday, April 3, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Friday, April 3, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Saturday, April 4, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Sunday, April 5, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Monday, April 6, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Tuesday, April 7, 2015

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Shot-for-salivating-shot, this boasts the highest “wow” quotient of anything in the formidably ecstatic Marilyn Monroe oeuvre. The 1953 movie, directed by Howard Hawks, opens with an edible MM and full-figured gal pal Jane Russell bursting onto the screen in skin-tight, feather-hatted, red-sequined regalia like a couple of carnivorous cake toppings. It eventually ogles its way through not only the now legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Friend” routine but an audacious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” number, where Russell offers to take on the entire U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. Yet they ignore her in favor of choreographed calisthenics in nude-colored shorts-again, wow. (G) STEVE WIECKING

7 p.m. Fri. & Sun.-Tues. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Wednesday, April 8, 2015