Fourth Row Center

Transformers : Ok, this movie had the potential to tank big time. However, seeing it on a DLP screen was awesome. But, for big time action, it delivered. The only thing that bothered me was how hot they made an 11th grade girl. Didn't really think about the age until later and then went "ewww." Personally, I think they could have toned the Maxim down and just made the love interest because I think this could be a deal breaker for some pre-teens who want to see this. Ratatouille: It had to happen: this dish was missing something. It was not the same class of story that Pixar is known for. Near the end, I thought it was going to finally kick in, but, it never did. The kids loved it. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix : Perhaps my third favorite in the series. This movie starts off dark and pretty much stays there. I started remembering more of the book as the film progressed, so there were not many surprises. Was it great? No, but, then again, none of the Potter film...

Earlier I have confessed my penchant for "apocalyptic" style movies. These movies deal with the not too distant future, or even present day, that has somehow been changed (war, flood, famine, zombie) and the survivors must work out how they will adapt. Another favorite vehicle would have to be time travel. "Deja Vu" stars Denzel Washington and was directed by Tony Scott. Washington plays Doug Carlin, an ATF official investigating the bombing of a New Orleans ferry that kills over five hundred passengers. He is recruited by the FBI to participate in an experimental use of technology that allows investigators to peer back in time four days. Carlin uses the technology to investigate the death of Claire Kuchever, who Carlin believes was murdered by the bomber of the ferry. One of the time travel themes explored is that the past can not really be changed. It is as if "God has decided" and no matter how the characters try to affect the past, the will end up chan...

The past few weeks has been a good one at the Seattle International Film Festival, with some fantastic indie flicks like Cashback , a mediocre Japanese ghost story called Retribution , a chilling and cautionary tale about a nuclear power plant accident called The Cloud , a Spanish language film from director Antonio Banderas, a world premiere documentary from the producers of March of the Penguins called Arctic Tale , and a few classics enjoyed on the big screen. From Germany, The Cloud is an arresting film about a town impacted by a meltdown at a nearby nuclear power plant. Unlike The China Syndrome , which dealt with a near-meltdown from inside the plant, The Cloud focuses on a teenage girl separated from her family who is irradiated in the disaster. Finding she has lost everything, she is rescued from her dismal existence in a hospital ward by a distant aunt and a fellow student with whom she has fallen in love. The film is brutally honest in its treatment of the tragedy, and com...

One of the most compelling performances I have seen thus far at the Seattle Film Festival is given by the multi-talented Christopher Plummer in The Man in the Chair . The movie concerns a high school student who befriends bitter, retired filmmaker Flash Madden (Christopher Plummer) and enlists his aid in making a student film for a scholarship competition. Flash and a long-retired screenwriter, played by M. Emmet Walsh, must exorcise their own demons before becoming fully involved with the student project, a movie about neglect in nursing homes. A story about youth, age, purpose and usefulness, Chair boldly compares neglected residents of nursing home with dogs waiting to be euthanized at the animal control shelter. The message here is a bit heavy-handed at times, but within the dramatic framework of the story it manages to work. Plummer carries the film with his complex, moving performance, one director Michael Schroeder already predicts will generate Oscar buzz when Chair goes into...

One of the most anticipated films we viewed at the Seattle Film Festival has been Paris Je t'aime , a delightful stack of greeting cards from the city of lights. Eighteen directors contributed to the film, including the Coen brothers, screenwriter turned director Richard LaGravenese , Tom Tykwer ( Run, Lola, Run ) , Alexander Payne ( About Schmidt, Election ), Gurinder Chadha ( Bend it Like Beckham ), Alfonso Cuarón ( Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkanban ), Walter Salles ( Dark Water ) and horror master Wes Craven. The vignette concept works here better than in similar efforts that I've seen, mainly due to the common theme that threads its way through the shorts. There is a unity and cohesiveness present among these stories about love which makes watching this film a true joy. The cast, which includes Nick Nolte , Natalie Portman , Gerard Depardieu , Barbet Schroeder, Juliette Binoche , Miranda Richardson, Maggie Gyllenhaal , Bob Hoskins , Elijah Wood, Ben Gazzara...

I was trying to pull together five sumer films that, if originally released today, would help make one great summer. 1. Star Wars: Exploding onto America in a year when gasoline was high, disillusionment with the government was even higher and an our part in an unpopular war had just concluded. This was the film that redefined cinematic science fiction and gave America her very own mythology. 2. Aliens: James Cameron took the premise of one Alien wiping out a crew of unarmed miners and turned it into a hive of aliens wiping out two squads of heavily armed marines. Underneath this was a subtext of a mother daughter relationship with a final show down with the biggest mother of all. 3. Jaws: Memorable characters (Quint, Brody and Hooper) and memorable lines ("Smile you son of a BOOM") combined with a sinking boat and a twenty five foot great white shark equaled a movie that kept me out of the ocean for years. 4. Terminator 2: This might be the role that Arnold will be remembere...

I think what Charles meant to write down in his notes under "5" but forgot to do because he was not taking notes and was too preoccupied dreaming of a Star Wars re-release in order to do so, was Raiders of the Lost Ark . 5. Leave it to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to reinvent the adventure genre. Raiders had it all -- an unlikely hero, a gutsy girlfriend , exotic locales, a grand quest, high adventure, sinister villains , close escapes, mystery and intrigue, Nazis , great fight sequences, fabulous set pieces and a sense of humor. Oh -- and did I mention it had Harrison Ford at the top of his game? And most importantly, it was something many of us had never seen before, or something a good many more had not seen in very long time. Raiders rounds out the top five perfect summer movies.

In the movie year, nothing spells more promise of hope than the Summer season. It also delivers the most disappointments when the hype extends a viewers expectations far beyond what the movie is capable of delivering. So far, the summer of 2007 has not been spectacular. Not bad, just not memorable. The signature scene in Spiderman 2 was the subway train fight. Collapsing unconscious in the subway car, and mask completely gone, the citizens of New York see Spiderman for who he really is. Not the menace the papers were making him out to be, but just a guy trying to help. Spiderman 3 never built on this. Visually, it looked great, but it was missing some of the heart that made the first two films the best in Comic Book Cinema. Pirates of the Caribbean was an unexpected surprise a few summers ago. Really, a movie based on a ride? It actually gave some street credit for the Haunted Mansion movie (for the record, I still have not seen that film). The second movie never appealed to me. O...

Death at a Funeral , a British comedy from director Frank Oz, puts the 'fun' back into funeral. In this classically structured farce, a family gathering at a country house for the funeral of its patriarch experiences a series of mix-ups and misunderstandings which culminate into a disastrous send-off for the old man. Oz, who was born in England, is no stranger to comedy, having directed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Little Shop of Horrors, What About Bob? and Housesitter , among others. In Funeral , he expertly executes the pacing and timing of this farce in the tradition of the great Ealing comedies, and the results are hilarious. Oz presented his film to an audience at the Seattle Film Festival this week. He said was pleased that our audience managed to "lose control" of ourselves during the film's climax, even though we managed to laugh through several lines of dialogue. "You missed several key lines because you were laughing," Oz said, "but you were ...

Today we attended four films at the Seattle International Film Festival, starting with a mediocre film at the Secret Cinema before moving on to the Neptune Theater for the rest of the day. In Rescue Dawn, the true story of Dieter Dangler, director Werner Hertzog weaves a tense, nail-biting story of a US Navy airman shot down in Laos during the Vietnam conflict. Dangler is captured and imprisoned and quickly sets about planning an escape. Deplorable conditions in the camp are made worse by famine, and when the camp guards begin running out of food and plot to kill their prisoners, Dangler acts. Christian Bale is riveting as Dangler in a performance marked by the actor's dramatic weight loss in the third act. (Bale also shed 60 pounds for 2004's The Machinist .) We spent the evening enjoying two films from France: the anticipated comedy My Best Friend from director Patrice Laconte and the thriller Them , which was at times so creepy that people were literally jumping out of the...

On my first day at the Seattle International Film Festival I jumped right in with a dark comedy from the Netherlands called Waiter . Described as being Charlie Kaufman-esque, with overtones of The Purple Rose of Cairo thrown in for good measure, this black comedy follows the tedious life of Edgar, a beleaguered waiter who is put upon by his abusive customers, his ailing wife, his unpredictable girlfriend, his unreliable co-worker, and his grossly inconsiderate neighbors (who happen to be with the mob), and generally by life itself. Edgar's existence is miserable, and apparently more self-aware than we realize, he storms into the home of the film's screenwriter demanding a change of luck and better lines. The writer complies, but to a point. The writer's girlfriend has other ideas, and tinkers with the film's screenplay resulting in not only chaos but a near revolt from other characters in the film-within-a-film. Waiter was dark without becoming bleak, and at times upro...

The Seattle International Film Festival is screening more than 400 films this year in seven venues across Seattle, requiring the avid festival-goer to navigate from Capital Hill to Downtown to the University District to Seattle Center to the East Side. There are plenty of movies to see, and a good deal of time is spent moving from place to place or standing in line. After many years attending the film festival I have developed something of a Film Festival Survivor Kit. A sampling of the items I will always have with me: The Festival Guide. This indispensable volume provides not only information about the festival and its venues, but details on each film showcased. And during the occasional waiting period it's nice to have something to read. Kleenex and lozenges. I have a cold. Mints. Sunglasses, my Sundance pocket umbrella. Standing in line for good seats outside the Egyptian or Neptune Theaters (one needs to arrive early to ensure one is comfortably settled in at fourth row center...

I like survival stories in a world changed by a cataclysmic event. It is what has always drawn me to movies such as Romero's Dead Films. Dawn of the Dead is not the best acted film in the world, it is not even the best written film. But the thought of living in a ruined world populated by the Dead fascinates me. 28 Weeks Later , the sequel to 28 Days Later, starts off running. Literally. The Zombies of 28 are a different breed than Romero's. They are the result of an infection known as the Rage Virus. Once bitten(the virus is transmitted by saliva or blood), a person becomes infected in a matter of seconds. Also, unlike Romero, they do not shamble along. They run. And they run fast. But apparently, if you cut off (or consume) the food supply, they eventually starve to death and die. And that is what has happened. The virus was contained to England, and the US has set up a green zone where repatriation can begin for Britons lucky enough to be out of the country when the virus...

Its title taken from The Who song of the same name, Reign Over Me is movie about the fallout from 9/11, its impact on a man who lost his family and then himself. Adam Sandler heads the cast in this absorbing drama from which the trailers manage to show nearly all of the film’s laughs. Though there is some comic relief here and there, this film is primarily about one man’s struggle with deep personal pain. Sandler is winning as this oddly broken man who searches for solace in the company of his former college roommate, a hen-pecked dentist played by Don Cheadle. The critical response to Sandler's dramatic roles have been mixed, but I frankly prefer his roles in Spanglish and Punch-Drunk Love to his straight comic vehicles. Cheadle and Sandler maintain an onscreen rapport which manages to rise above the film's flaws. Liv Tyler, Robert Klein, and Jada Pinkett Smith round out the cast. *** 1/2 (out of 5 stars)

I have been looking forward to 300. Not because I have read the graphic novel, but because I did not see "Sin City" on the big screen. I regretted that when I watched the DVD. What I liked about SC was that it transferred a comic book to the big screen the way in which "Dick Tracy" tried to do and, utltimately, failed. I did not think that SC was a very good film, but it had style. Watching the trailer for 300 reminded me of SC. Of course, both films are from genre writer/artist Frank Miller. Even though the entire film looked CG-ish, that was the point. It had a style that was not realistic, but was very comic-booky. A complaint one friend had was that the Spartans did wear armor, where in the movie they are all bare chested. For me, I thought the actors looked fantastic. Even the various Persians looked incredible. Believe me, I am sure that was not the only historical inaccuracy. This movie was fun. Over blown, over dramatic, over stylized, and taking itself way ...

NOMINATIONS BY CATEGORY - 79TH AWARDS The following are our picks for the 79th Annual Academy Awards: Best motion picture of the year Chuck: LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA James: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE Performance by an actor in a leading role Chuck: Will Smith - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS James: Peter O’Toole - VENUS (Forest Whitacker is the man to beat) Performance by an actor in a supporting role Chuck & James: Alan Arkin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE Performance by an actress in a leading role Chuck & James: Helen Mirren - THE QUEEN Performance by an actress in a supporting role Chuck: Rinko Kikuchi – BABEL James: Adriana Barraza - BABEL Best animated feature film of the year Chuck & James: CARS Achievement in art direction Chuck: PAN'S LABYRINTH James: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST Achievement in cinematography Chuck & James: PAN'S LABYRINTH Achievement in costume design Chuck & James: THE QUEEN Achievement in directing Chuck: LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA James: THE ...

Two of last year’s most critically acclaimed films are structured around written accounts of the events portrayed in the films, providing voiceover narration which adds perspective to the motivations of the characters on the screen. Excellent performances mark Notes on a Scandal , a film rich in story and character about two school teachers caught up in scandal. Judi Dench delivers a chilling performance as a lonely battleaxe who blackmails her young colleague (Cate Blanchett) whom she discovers is having an affair with a student. Though Dench’s Barbara is scheming and vindictive, she is also at times sympathetic, a complex character portrayed with biting authenticity. The voiceover narration from Barbara’s diary (the "notes") allow the audience to probe the depths of Barbara’s psyche in a way sheer visuals and dialogue could not. Dench will surely give Helen Mirren ( The Queen ) a run for her money when the Oscars are handed out next week. In Letters from Iwo Jima (a compan...

Venus is less a May-December romance than it is a love story: tender, often funny, sometimes shocking, and heart-wrenchingly melancholy without being overly sentimental. Peter O'Toole plays an aging actor who falls for the twenty-something great-niece of a friend, and the result is a film punctuated with an Oscar-worthy performance from one of our greatest living actors. Venus marks O'Toole's eighth Academy Award nomination. Nominated performances past, in films as diverse and memorable as Lawrence of Arabia , Becket , The Lion in Winter and My Favorite Year (one of my favorite films) have yet to see him honored as Best Actor by the Academy. Venus proves that at 74, O'Toole is at the top of his craft. One should hope that this is his year.

It's that time of year when each new movie that opened late last year are heralded with many accolades as this years Academy Award nominations take shape. I had been tracking this movie for some time and immediately made plans to redeem my "Customer Loyalty" voucher. The film takes place in Spain, 1944. Ophelia, the heroine of the story, travels with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather. The stepfather is a decidedly cruel Captain in charge of Franco's forces to root out Communist resistance that still prevails in the mountainside. The stepfather could care less about Ophelia, and has more concern for his yet unborn son being carried by her mother. Ophelia is a dreamer, using fairy tales to escape the death of her real father, the sudden move to the country side, her stepfather and life. She comes face to face with a Faun who reveals to her that, in actuality, Ophelia is the daughter of a great king. Upon proving that she is not mortal, she may pass thr...

It’s a very rare thing for me to go to a movie I know nothing about, but that’s what I did last Saturday night based simply on the title and the lobby poster. Pan’s Labyrinth turned out to be one of those rare impulses that paid off. I really liked Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro’s 2001 Spanish-language film The Devil’s Backbone , and his latest subtitled effort is just as enthralling as Backbone , but far darker and more imaginative. Set in the 1940’s around the time of the Spanish Civil War, a young girl is removed with her expectant mother to her cruel stepfather’s military outpost where her life descends into a maelstrom of intrigue, despair and tragedy, both within the context of her new life with the embattled Captain and into her (imagined?) decent through a labyrinth and into an underworld waiting for the return of its lost princess. There Ophelia encounters the faun Pan, who tells her that she is the long-awaited princess. Pan gives her a book of blank pages into which w...