Film •  Blowing Up Cinema: The Art of Michelangelo Antonioni They don’t

March 24, 2015 12:33 am

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 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

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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 9, 2015

ByDesign More films about architecture and fonts, with associated panels and seminars. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details. Friday, April 10 – Tuesday, April 14, 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 10, 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 11, 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 12, 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 13, 2015