May 13, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 9:21 am
Last night was late spring at its best. Biking through the just-warm-enough air from Madison Park up and over Capitol Hill, I hit my favorite dinner destination: Sushi Maki, on Bellevue Ave. read more →
April 9, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 12:16 pm
We apologize for leaving tomorrow’s immigration reform rally out of today’s PubliCalender. It’s at Occidental Park tomorrow at noon. Details here. And David Goldstein at HorsesAss hypes it here. Mayor Mike McGinn and U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott are scheduled to speak and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell will address the rally via video. It’s [...] read more →
March 13, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 1:17 pm
Every once in a while, you come across a film that has everything: Compelling character study, gripping drama, incisive social critique. French director Jacques Audiard’s Oscar-nominated (now Oscar-robbed, some have argued) A Prophet is that kind of film. Set in a contemporary French prison, A Prophet follows Malik El-Djebena (newcomer Tahar Rahim) through a six-year sentence [...] read more →
By Alexandra Bush at 10:03 am
Going into the Oscars, almost nobody (including me) has ever seen the short films. And, after the awards ceremony, most people quickly forget them. Landmark Varsity is giving us a chance to remedy that this weekend, showing both the live-action and the animated 2010 Oscar-nominated shorts. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uRJlbZO8OI[/youtube] read more →
March 12, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 10:01 am
This week, I Totally Agree with A.O. Scott’s perceptive review of The Exploding Girl. When I first saw this film at SIFF last year, I was disappointed, even though it’s the kind of movie I generally like: restrained, contemplative, open-ended, with dreamy cinematography. For reasons I couldn’t pinpoint, though, I left bored and annoyed. read more →
March 8, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 3:07 pm
It was a big weekend for women directors who tackle subjects normally reserved for their male counterparts. The big story, of course, is about Kathryn Bigelow, who last night became the first woman ever to take home the Best Directing Oscar for the independent war drama The Hurt Locker. Bigelow, who rose to prominence with [...] read more →
March 6, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 1:46 pm
The Northwest Film Forum’s 10th annual ByDesign festival opened last night, and will run all week. Curated by designer and associate programmer Peter Lucas, the ByDesign fest takes a week every year to celebrate the intersection of design and film. Tonight, the brilliant Tania Kupczak will moderate a discussion between local animators and motion designers [...] read more →
By Alexandra Bush at 1:30 pm
This week, I Totally Agree with the hilarious frivolity of Slate’s Oscar coverage. Usually by this point, I can’t wait for the Oscars to be over, so I can hear about something else, but reading Dana Stevens’ and Troy Patterson’s emails to each other about, among other things, an axed Sacha Baron Cohen sketch that [...] read more →
March 4, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 12:48 pm
“[My brother] Marc would have given anything to be the man I’d have given anything not to be,” says Kimberly Reed, director and narrator of the autobiographical documentary Prodigal Sons. “We were both haunted by the same ghost.” Two years after telling her family about her male-to-female transition, Reed has returned to her hometown of [...] read more →
February 27, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 5:22 pm
Recommended viewing for the weekend: The Seattle premiere of the Red Riding trilogy over at Northwest Film Forum. Released as a television miniseries in England, this three-part adaptation of novels about the Yorkshire Ripper—a serial killer who ravaged northern England for ten years in the ’70s and ’80s—has been well-received for its performances and its [...] read more →
February 25, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 5:14 pm
There aren’t very many movies about adolescence that get it right. Fish Tank does. It’s about desperation, powerlessness, frustration, naivete, heartbreak, painful awkwardness, and sexual and emotional vulnerability. Living in the British projects with a careless and abusive mother, Mia (Katie Jarvis) is an enraged teen who takes a liking to her mother’s new boyfriend [...] read more →
February 22, 2010
By Alexandra Bush at 4:05 pm
I’ve recently become aware of a neat resource for independent film geeks: IndieFlix. IndiFlix, based in Madison Park, is a distribution company for independent films that utilizes online streaming, DVD sales, and free community screenings to increase audiences and business for little guy movies. Movies must have screened as an official selection at a film [...] read more →
