Local & Repertory
As You Like It
The Mouse That Roared (1959) continues this British film retrospective. Peter Sellers plays three roles in the gentle Cold War satire, in which his tiny nation somehow defeats the mighty U.S. About time for a remake, anyone? (NR)
Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., 654-3100, seattleartmuseum.org, $63-$68 series, $8 individual, Thu., May 15, 7:30 p.m.
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Fantastic Mr. Fox/Bottle Rocket
SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 34.
John Hubley Centennial The pioneering American animator’s birth is celebrated with several cartoon shorts (mostly appropriate for kids), including the whimsical Moonbird. (NR)
Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 829-7863, nwfilmforum.org, $6-$11, Sat., May 17, 3 & 7 p.m.; Sun., May 18, 3 p.m.
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Metropolis Fritz Lang’s silent-era classic is accompanied with a new live musical score by Grid. (NR)
Northwest Film Forum, $6-$11, Fri., May 16, 7 p.m.
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Monterey Pop
SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 35.
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Silent Magic: Trick Films and Special Effects, 1895-1912 Georges Melies, Edwin S. Porter, Segundo de Chomon, and other film pioneers are represented in this package of shorts. (NR)
Northwest Film Forum, $6-$11, Tue., May 20, 8 p.m.
Stage Fright This new slasher flick, set backstage on Broadway, is apparently modeled on the final-girl thrillers of the ’80s. (R)
Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org, Fri., May 16, 10 p.m.; Sat., May 17, 10 p.m.; Fri., May 23, 9 p.m.; Sat., May 24, 9 p.m.
Ongoing
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 If Tobey Maguire was all open-faced wonder about his accidental arachnid skill set, Andrew Garfield’s more of a brooder—Peter Parker hiding in his room despite the entreaties of Aunt May (Sally Field). He’s given a welcome few goofy grace notes with girlfriend Gwen (Emma Stone), but most of the time we’re watching his masked CG avatar swing seamlessly through Manhattan canyons, not the actual thespian. Everything slowly builds after a zingy first hour to a two-part finale that’s more coded than directed. Where are the actors? No one cares. The plot and dialogue are elementary—subtitles not required anywhere on the planet. Also worth the 3-D IMAX ticket price is the roster of supporting talent: Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Chris Cooper, Colm Feore, Denis Leary, and Paul Giamatti. Given the money invested in Spidey’s aerial ballets with the camera (totally untethered, as in Gravity), it’s nice to see the budget padded with so many pros. (PG-13) BRIAN MILLER Ark Lodge, Bainbridge, Cinebarre, Kirkland Parkplace, Lincoln Square, Majestic Bay, Pacific Place, Southcenter, Sundance, Thornton Place, others
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Blue Ruin While fugitive humor emerges in regular intervals in the bloody, micro-budget revenge picture Blue Ruin, this is something different. The jokes are funny, for one thing, but they also serve a purpose. Dwight (the heroic Macon Blair) lives in a disintegrating blue car by the seashore. He receives disturbing news: The man convicted of killing Dwight’s parents is being released from prison. This sets in motion Dwight’s revenge, a plan so haphazard and freely improvised that at times it approximates the end-over-end momentum of a Road Runner cartoon. The movie is the sophomore effort of director-writer Jeremy Saulnier, a clever chap who clearly wants to grab some attention with this ingenious effort. And yet, except for the explosions of violence, the movie isn’t flashy; Saulnier trusts his material enough to let the early reels unfold slowly, with very little dialogue, as he sets up his dominoes. (R) ROBERT HORTON Sundance
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Fed Up Narrated by Katie Couric, Stephanie Soechtig’s advocacy doc is slickly made, studded with food gurus (Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, etc.), and sympathetic to the sad young teens we see struggling with obesity. Yet heredity is only part of our four-decade obesity epidemic, which the filmmakers convincingly trace back to a collision between industry and regulators. On the one hand, the FDA is supposed to keep our food healthy. On the other, the USDA’s goal is basically to sell as much food as possible—including corn; and from that, high fructose corn syrup. Which side do you suppose is winning? “It’s fair to say the U.S. government is subsidizing the obesity epidemic,” says Pollan, who then pauses a beat. “Indirectly.” Fed Up convincingly argues how the processed food industry has so successfully engineered its products since the ’70s to be addictive yet never sating. Viewers will not be surprised when parallels to Big Tobacco are explicitly drawn. (PG) B.R.M. Varsity
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Finding Vivian Maier The biggest discovery of 20th-century photography was made in 2007 by Chicago flea-market maven/historian John Maloof. Vivian Maier was a nanny who died soon thereafter, indigent and mentally ill, a hoarder. Maloof bought trunks of her negatives with no idea what they contained. The revelation of those images, in a series of art shows and books, immediately placed her in the front rank of street photographers. But who the hell was she? Now Maloof and Charlie Siskel have directed a kind of documentary detective story about the enigmatic spinster (1926–2009). It’s an irresistible quest, as Maloof interviews the now-grown kids Maier cared for, plus a few fleeting friends and acquaintances, who had no idea of her gifts. Would she have wanted her images seen by the public? Maloof conclusively answers that question. Would she have wanted his movie to be made? All her grown charges say the same: No. (NR) B.R.M. Varsity
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The Grand Budapest Hotel By the time of its 1968 framing story, the Grand Budapest Hotel has been robbed of its gingerbread design by a Soviet (or some similarly aesthetically challenged) occupier—the first of many comments on the importance of style in Wes Anderson’s latest film. A writer (Jude Law) gets the hotel’s story from its mysterious owner, Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham, a lovely presence). Zero takes us back between world wars, when he (played now by Tony Revolori) began as a bellhop at the elegant establishment located in the mythical European country of Zubrowka. Dominating this place is the worldly Monsieur Gustave, the fussy hotel manager (Ralph Fiennes, in absolutely glorious form). The death of one of M. Gustave’s elderly ladyfriends (Tilda Swinton) leads to a wildly convoluted tale of a missing painting, resentful heirs, a prison break, and murder. Also on hand are Anderson veterans Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, and Owen Wilson—all are in service to a project so steeped in Anderson’s velvet-trimmed bric-a-brac we might not notice how rare a movie like this is: a comedy that doesn’t depend on a star turn or a high concept, but is a throwback to the sophisticated (but slapstick-friendly) work of Ernst Lubitsch and other such classical directors. (R) R.H. Guild 45th, Bainbridge
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Jodorowsky’s Dune I don’t believe for one second this documentary’s central claim: Chilean-born Alejandro Jodorowsky’s planned ’70s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune is the Rosetta Stone of all subsequent sci-fi, from Star Wars to Alien to The Matrix. But the irrepressible director, now 85, is the first guy you’d want to invite to a dinner party, no matter how outrageous and unsustainable his tales. Director Frank Pavich tries to recap the chapters of Jodorowsky’s varied career: avant-garde theater in Mexico during the ’60s; midnight-movie success in the ’70s with his head-trips El Topo and The Holy Mountain (both excerpted); and finally Jodorowsky’s ill-fated, French-financed 1975 attempt at Dune. Pavich’s account is perhaps too insidery and film-geek-detailed, paying homage to this near-forgotten director, but it’s impossible to fault his generosity after such a long draught. Are any of Jodorowsky’s polished anecdotes about Mick Jagger, Orson Welles, Pink Floyd, and Salvador Dali true? Does it really matter? Not when the telling is so cheerfully entertaining. (PG-13) B.R.M. Sundance
Neighbors This fun but formulaic comedy pits Seth Rogen, as a married homeowner and new father, against Zac Efron, playing the rival patriarch of a rowdy frat house next door. We’ve got to get Delta Psi put on probation, so our baby can sleep at night! The conflict writes itself, and you really do feel these likeable two stars could play more against type. Efron, once the Disney idol, is certainly capable of undermining his image. When Rogen and wife (Rose Byrne) trick him into a fight with a loyal frat bro (Dave Franco), pushing and shoving give way to the dreaded mutual testicle grab. Efron stares at his foe and declares, with berserk conviction, “I’ll hold onto your balls forever!” Rogen again inhabits the familiar role of the shambling, genial dude who doesn’t want to be an adult. When he and the wife get into a fight, they debate who ought to be the “Kevin James”—i.e. the irresponsible partner—in their marriage. But, really, the term they ought to be using is “Seth Rogen.” And that’s the problem with this movie’s ambition: It simply lets Rogen be Rogen. (R) B.R.M. Bainbridge, Big Picture, Cinebarre, iPic Theaters, Pacific Place, Sundance, others
