Film • The Babadook How did this children’s book get into the

Film

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The Babadook How did this children’s book get into the house? Nobody seems to know. This one-it shares its title with the movie we are watching-is called The Babadook, almost an anagram for “bad book,” and that’s the effect it has on Amelia (Essie Davis) and her 6-year-old son Sam (Noah Wiseman). They’re especially vulnerable to its dark magic. Among other issues, the death of Sam’s father some years earlier is very much in the background of the scary little tale that unfolds. The Babadook himself is dark-suited and creepy-fingered, and he wears a cape and a Victorian hat, like a creature from an earlier era of horror-suggesting that what’s scary never really goes out of style. After a great deal of slow-burning buildup, the Babadook becomes real, and mother and son must wage battle (but then they have been all along). This is the debut feature of writer/director Jennifer Kent, who skillfully keeps us locked into the moment-by-moment thrills of a monster movie, but also insists that this Babadook is clearly a stand-in for the other problems that inflict the lonely household: grief, guilt, depression, an unwillingness to live life. The Babadook may be a monster, but he’s the monster Amelia and Sam needed. (Through Thurs.) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 523-3935. $5-$9. See grandillusioncinema.org for showtimes. Robert Horton Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 $5-$9 Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Babadook How did this children’s book get into the house? Nobody seems to know. This one-it shares its title with the movie we are watching-is called The Babadook, almost an anagram for “bad book,” and that’s the effect it has on Amelia (Essie Davis) and her 6-year-old son Sam (Noah Wiseman). They’re especially vulnerable to its dark magic. Among other issues, the death of Sam’s father some years earlier is very much in the background of the scary little tale that unfolds. The Babadook himself is dark-suited and creepy-fingered, and he wears a cape and a Victorian hat, like a creature from an earlier era of horror-suggesting that what’s scary never really goes out of style. After a great deal of slow-burning buildup, the Babadook becomes real, and mother and son must wage battle (but then they have been all along). This is the debut feature of writer/director Jennifer Kent, who skillfully keeps us locked into the moment-by-moment thrills of a monster movie, but also insists that this Babadook is clearly a stand-in for the other problems that inflict the lonely household: grief, guilt, depression, an unwillingness to live life. The Babadook may be a monster, but he’s the monster Amelia and Sam needed. (Through Thurs.) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 523-3935. $5-$9. See grandillusion cinema.org for showtimes. ROBERT HORTON $5-$9 Wednesday, February 11, 2015

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The Babadook How did this children’s book get into the house? Nobody seems to know. This one-it shares its title with the movie we are watching-is called The Babadook, almost an anagram for “bad book,” and that’s the effect it has on Amelia (Essie Davis) and her 6-year-old son Sam (Noah Wiseman). They’re especially vulnerable to its dark magic. Among other issues, the death of Sam’s father some years earlier is very much in the background of the scary little tale that unfolds. The Babadook himself is dark-suited and creepy-fingered, and he wears a cape and a Victorian hat, like a creature from an earlier era of horror-suggesting that what’s scary never really goes out of style. After a great deal of slow-burning buildup, the Babadook becomes real, and mother and son must wage battle (but then they have been all along). This is the debut feature of writer/director Jennifer Kent, who skillfully keeps us locked into the moment-by-moment thrills of a monster movie, but also insists that this Babadook is clearly a stand-in for the other problems that inflict the lonely household: grief, guilt, depression, an unwillingness to live life. The Babadook may be a monster, but he’s the monster Amelia and Sam needed. (Through Thurs.) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 523-3935. $5-$9. See grandillusion cinema.org for showtimes. ROBERT HORTON $5-$9 Thursday, February 12, 2015

From Script to Screen Warren Etheredge moderates this panel on film production in Seattle. Seattle Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104 Free Thursday, February 12, 2015, 7 – 8pm

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Cinema Italian Style 2014 was a quiet past year for new Italian movies; the well-reviewed Human Capital, which arrives here in February, didn’t even make the Oscar short list. So maybe it’s time for a repertory glance back at past peninsular glories with this nine-film series, running most Thursdays through March 19. In addition to proven classics like Luchino Visconti’s 1963 The Leopard, it includes new additions to the canon-notably last year’s Oscar winner, The Great Beauty. Beginning the retrospective tonight is Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with its timeless themes of adultery and murder. That noir tale was filmed here in 1946 and ‘81, and there’s even a French take from 1939, but Visconti’s version-his first feature-wasn’t seen for decades in the U.S. because he didn’t clear the copyright. (Whether he had Cain’s verbal permission is another matter.) Only in 1977 did it get a stateside release, when critics noted a far more class-conscious treatment than the 1946 Lana Turner-John Garfield version: neorealism layered atop the noir. And another fun fact: This 35 mm print belongs to Martin Scorsese, that champion of film preservation and Italian cinema. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual Thursday, February 12, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30pm

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Eight Days of Oscar The Academy Awards, as you doubtlessly know, will be bestowed on Sunday, February 22. So far as Best Picture is concerned, some of the hallowed eight nominees have been out of theaters for a while. So Paul Allen is doing us a favor-beyond that recent Super Bowl fervor-by reprising all the contenders at the city’s finest single-screen cinema (to which he recently added even more upgrades, plus that nifty new mural by Don Clark). True, you could see Selma, The Imitation Game, American Sniper, and The Theory of Everything someplace else. But the seats are nicer at the Cinerama, the screen and sound are better, and you can now enjoy the show with beer and wine. More critically, I would argue, this mini-fest offers you the opportunity to watch (or rewatch) the nominees in short succession, so as to better assess their odds and win your office Oscar pool. Whiplash, which I loved, has been out of theaters for a while; and its star turn for J.K. Simmons-as the bullying band leader of a jazz conservatory group-is sure to win him a statuette. But what of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, released in the spring and the top pick of our Robert Horton on his 10-best list for last year? It got nine nominations, so has to win for something, right? (I’m guessing script and production design.) Then there are Birdman (my top film of 2014) and Boyhood (#2), which are neck-and-neck for Best Picture among the prognosticators. All these films are worth a second-or first-viewing, and all deserve a setting like this. Don’t wait for Netflix, your threadbare couch, and microwave popcorn. (Through Feb. 21.) Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., 448-6880. $15. See cinerama.com for showtimes. BRIAN MILLER Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 $15 Friday, February 13, 2015

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Tonight, the road comedy It Happened One Night (1934) was just the tonic we wanted during the Great Depression. Clark Gable, as a wisecracking journalist, perfectly embodied the ideal American response to hard times: flippant, jaunty, indefatigable, never discouraged, always game for a new adventure or a new dame-the latter of course being escaped heiress Claudette Colbert, whom he rescues from snootiness and dull fortune. Capra loved to celebrate the common man, without airs or pretensions; yet that same noble everyman was also fundamentally a Hollywood construct. We bought the fantasy for a time, then grew tired of it as Capra kept pushing the same product. (Following are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can’t Take It With You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.) SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., 324-9996, siff.net. $7-$12. 7 p.m. BRIAN MILLER SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109 $7-$12 Tuesday, February 17, 2015

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Eight Days of Oscar The Academy Awards, as you doubtlessly know, will be bestowed on Sunday, February 22. So far as Best Picture is concerned, some of the hallowed eight nominees have been out of theaters for a while. So Paul Allen is doing us a favor-beyond that recent Super Bowl fervor-by reprising all the contenders at the city’s finest single-screen cinema (to which he recently added even more upgrades, plus that nifty new mural by Don Clark). True, you could see Selma, The Imitation Game, American Sniper, and The Theory of Everything someplace else. But the seats are nicer at the Cinerama, the screen and sound are better, and you can now enjoy the show with beer and wine. More critically, I would argue, this mini-fest offers you the opportunity to watch (or rewatch) the nominees in short succession, so as to better assess their odds and win your office Oscar pool. Whiplash, which I loved, has been out of theaters for a while; and its star turn for J.K. Simmons-as the bullying band leader of a jazz conservatory group-is sure to win him a statuette. But what of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, released in the spring and the top pick of our Robert Horton on his 10-best list for last year? It got nine nominations, so has to win for something, right? (I’m guessing script and production design.) Then there are Birdman (my top film of 2014) and Boyhood (#2), which are neck-and-neck for Best Picture among the prognosticators. All these films are worth a second-or first??viewing, and all deserve a setting like this. Don’t wait for Netflix, your threadbare couch, and microwave popcorn. (Through Feb. 21.) Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., 448-6880. $15. See cinerama.com for showtimes. BRIAN MILLER Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 $15 Friday, February 20, 2015

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Frank Capra Restored We film critics have ambivalent feelings about Capra (1897-1991), one of the most successful writer/directors of the 1930s and ‘40s. He won all the awards, he sold millions of tickets, but then he suddenly became obsolete in the postwar period-totally square. Baby boomers in particular were dismissive of his conservative values and coerced sentimentalism (“Capracorn” is the enduring shorthand slight). He was an auteur before the Cahiers du Cinema crowd coined the term, but American critics shuddered to grant him such status. Apart from that holiday perennial It’s a Wonderful Life (which has played for 44 consecutive years at the Grand Illusion), his canon has fallen out of favor. So here’s a chance, with five 4K digital restorations running Tuesdays through February 24, to appreciate the craftsmanship in his very populist oeuvre. Tonight, the road comedy It Happened One Night (1934) was just the tonic we wanted during the Great Depression. Clark Gable, as a wisecracking journalist, perfectly embodied the ideal American response to hard times: flippant, jaunty, indefatigable, never discouraged, always game for a new adventure or a new dame-the latter of course being escaped heiress Claudette Colbert, whom he rescues from snootiness and dull fortune. Capra loved to celebrate the common man, without airs or pretensions; yet that same noble everyman was also fundamentally a Hollywood construct. We bought the fantasy for a time, then grew tired of it as Capra kept pushing the same product. (Following are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can’t Take It With You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.) SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., 324-9996, siff.net. $7-$12. 7 p.m. BRIAN MILLER SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109 $7-$12 Tuesday, February 24, 2015

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