{Green Lantern opens in Seattle on Friday, June 17 and is playing at the Metro, AMC Pacific Place, the Cinerama and Oak Tree Cinemas}

Even though I have a comic-nerdian background, I’m only slightly familiar with this particular superhero's lore, and thus probably not qualified to judge whether Green Lantern does it justice or totally ruins it—that said, I found it to be pretty damn entertaining.

The whole thing reminded me of vintage Superman (as in Richard Donner’s 1978 version), with a lot of exposition at the beginning explaining the origin of the Green Lantern Corps, and a ton of space exploration with prettily colored stars and crystalline spaceships. With uh, much more advanced special effects and some pretty damn fantastic alien makeup.

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{Saigon Electric screens again at SIFF on May 30, 3pm at Pacific Place and on June 1, 6:30pm at the Everett Performing Arts Center}

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Asian Crossroads Celebration last night (Saturday 5/28), where I got to see Saigon Electric (Saigon Yo!) - which is honestly the most fun I've had watching a film in forever. This fast-paced drama is filled with tons of amazingly-shot breakdancing scenes (backed by a pretty sweet hip-hop soundtrack), and really does an excellent job of melding that excitement with a script that works.

The hip-hoppin' action is built around two story arcs: Mai -  a shy country girl whose just moved to Saigon in hopes of scoring a sought-after spot at a popular dance school with her ribbon dancing skills, and Kim - a tough street teen who hangs with her dance gang "Saigon Fresh", as they train to beat hoodlums "North Killaz" at the big Samsung-sponsored breakdancing showdown for a spot in an international competition, and band together to teach troubled kids at the local youth center. After becoming close friends, both girls find romance, and have to navitage the complications of new love amongst  other coming-of-age trials .

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During my first few times through the SIFF program catalog I'd missed the fact that I'd actually seen this Paper Birds. It played in Palm Springs and I dearly wish at this point I'd captured my thoughts on the film at the time so as to better relate them now. I do remember I didn't really love it and my core issue, though perhaps not the nuanced details, around the why.

The film is set in post-civil war Spain and follows a troupe of performers who are harassed to varying degrees by agents of the Franco government.  It's a hard, hard life and these people try to make the best of it through their virtual family of performers. Dark as it is, that part of the film would have a lot to recommend it.  Including also the impressive visual look and art direction of the film. But something about the intense melodrama kept me from truly being pulled into the film's world. Part of that, perhaps a large part of that is the overwhelming music that seemed ever-present informing me how to feel.  From the introduction in Palm Springs I recall mention that the music was composed by the director.  That's certainly an impressive accomplishment, but I think in this case less would be more. The melodrama continues right through to the penultimate scene which I may have chortled a bit at (that is - I'm fairly sure - not the reaction being sought). Plenty of people I met really dug this film, and I want to be clear that I didn't hate it either. So your mileage may vary.

{Paper Birds screens at SIFF on May 26th, 8:30pm at the Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center, and on May 28th, 6:30pm and May 29th, 12:30pm at Pacific Place}

Read more about Imaginary Rich's SIFF-goings and recs over on his blog of cinematic goodness: A Random Walk Through Film.

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{Bridesmaids opened in Seattle on Friday May 13th, and is playing at The Big Picture, Pacific Place, the Metro, and Oak Tree Cinemas}

Hi, my name is Rich and I'm a big fan of romantic comedies. But even if you don't have this particular personal problem quirk, I think most people will find something to laugh seriously at in Bridesmaids. If you're male and in a dating situation it also has the benefit of appearing to be a chick flick while (I'm pretty confident) appealing to a broad population.

Guys - don't worry, this isn't like Sex in the City 2, where you went to be nice and spent the next two and a half hours deciding if the downside of clawing your eyes out outweighs the benefits of not having to see what was going on for the rest of the picture. That said, Bridesmaids isn't is a film to bring your young daughters (or sons) to...unless you want to expand their vocabulary a bit, and not in the workplace acceptable way.

Even the most casual film viewer from the last hundred years will recognize the story and the milestones along the way. Annie (Kristen Wiig), a woman without a lot of luck in love or business, struggles with emotional baggage while serving as her best friend Lillian's (Maya Rudolph) Maid of Honor.

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{Paul opened in Seattle Friday, March 18 and is screening at the Metro, AMC Pacific Place, and Oak Tree Cinemas}

To paraphrase a popular T-shirt,  there are 11 types of people in the world:

- Those who are confident in the belief that they who would NEVER enjoy a road movie about two guys picking up a wisecracking, foulmouthed, pop culture-obsessed ET hitchhiker (personally I think such people are weird - but I'm sure they exist).
- Those who are now sort of curious, but are unable to view the idea of attending Comicon in a non-ironic light, and
- Readers who both get the joke that started this list, have attending Comicon on their bucket list, and have now probably stopped reading to check their local theater listings for when they can catch a screening of Paul.

To those in the first group - all I can say is: how far has this alleged self awareness really gotten you? In this case, it's going to keep you from seeing one of Seth Rogen's best performances since Freaks and Geeks. Those in the second segment - I feel pretty confident saying you're going to get good comedy value for the money. As an added bonus, you'll finally be able to point to folks from SNL in a movie that doesn't at all suck.  

But for those in the last group? Bottom line is: you sort of have to go. This is the movie you hoped Fanboys was gonna be.

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{The Tempest opened in Seattle Friday, 12/17, and is playing at AMC Pacific Place}

I’m kind of a Shakespeare nerd, and a huge Julie Taymor fangirl, so I of course expected to love The Tempest, but sadly that just wasn’t the case.  The biggest change Taymor made was to change the main character from a man to a woman, which obviously totally works—because, duh. Helen Mirren is AMAZING.

Anyway, Prospera (previously Prospero) is a powerful witch who gets kicked out of her castle after her husband, The Duke, dies, and her snake of a brother spreads the word that she’s working with the black magics. Instead of being executed, Prospera and her young daughter set off in a boat with tons of supplies and ended up living on an island. Twelve years later, she notices a boat containing all her mortal enemies is close and decides to shipwreck it to enact her revenge.

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{Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 opens in Seattle 11/19 and is playing at the Metro, the Neptune, the Majestic Bay, Pacific Place, IMAX® at the Pacific Science Center, and the newly re-opened Cinerama}

As anyone who pays even slight attention to these things knows, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is just a set-up for the LAST HARRY POTTER MOVIE EVER (queue shrieking teenage girls), so it’s one long 146 minute tease with a huge cliffhanger at the end, and you won’t find out what happens until next year….unless you read the books, that is.  Since I’m assuming almost everyone in the audience HAD read them, I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone there that 3 people die within the first 20 minutes, although the hysterically sobbing girls next to me seem to suggest otherwise.

Anyhoo, HP & the DH showed some promise initially, starting out with a bang in the form of the Potter kids organizing the removal of Harry to a safe house in the country, juxtaposed against a long table of gothy villains led by creepy no-nose Lord Voldemort. All the “volunteers” change into Harry doppelgangers (which leads to some obligatory laughs), while the bad guys discuss some mumbo-jumbo about how Voldemort’s wand won’t work against Harry’s so he needs a new one (HELLO FORESHADOWING)—and oh yeah, they murder someone too and feed them to a snake.

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{Life As We Know It opened in Seattle Friday, 10/8 and is playing at The Metro, Thornton Place and AMC Pacific Place}

Yet another effort to turn out a money-making romantic comedy (psst – hey guys? There will never be another When Harry Met Sally), Life As We Know It should be re-titled “Life As We Know It if Everyone Looked Perfect and Had Amazing Houses and Jobs”.

*ahem*

So get this, Katherine Heigl (as Holly) and Josh Duhamel (as Messer) play polar opposites who hate each other but get stuck raising their best friends’ baby together after a car accident and then GUESS WHAT HAPPENS. Actually, you don’t need to guess, as that part is all in the preview.

After brief deliberation, they determine that keeping little Sophie and raising her together is the best option, since all of the friends’ family members are completely incompetent (guy w/oxygen tank, couple with 9 kids, a touring stripper!).  And then, my friends, hilarity ensues –but you’ve also seen all of that in the preview.

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{The Town opened in Seattle on Friday, September 17th at the Guild 45th, Oak Tree Cinemas and AMC Pacific Place}

Ben Affleck’s second feature, The Town, proves to me once again that he’s a better director than actor. This is only unfortunate because he also plays the main character and he’s in almost every scene—but even I can put up with his blank, open-mouthed stare for a movie with enough action to keep me interested, which The Town totally is.

Opening with a few statistics about Charlestown, Boston and the excessive criminal population therein, the film thrusts us directly into a bank heist with 4 men wearing Slipknot masks. When an alarm is pulled, one of the men promptly beats the dude he suspects to a pulp, and grabs bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) as a hostage.

After the job, we meet the men: tortured, wanting-to-change Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), short-fuse-guy “Jem” Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), muscle and getaway driver Albert Magloan (Slaine) and safe-cracker/alarm expert Desmond Elden (Owen Burke).

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{Going the Distance opened Friday, September 3 in Seattle and is playing at The Metro, Thornton Place and AMC Pacific Place cinemas}

Nanette Bernstein’s (American Teen & The Kid Stays in the Picture) first non-documentary feature, Going the Distance, could have easily been a disaster (as most romantic comedies are), but there’s something about the realness of the two main characters that makes it all work.

Would-be journalist Erin (Drew Barrymore) and hip record label employee Garrett (Justin Long) meet at a bar in New York, and agree after a fun night together that they’ll continue to date, despite Erin’s caveat that she’s leaving in six weeks to finish school back in San Francisco, and Garret’s “just-got-out-of-a-relationship-last-night” jitters.

Of course, those six weeks are ultimately fabulous and they fall in love (DUH), deciding to embark on a long-distance relationship to see what happens. The question is, will the miles between them make them grow apart? Or closer together?

Pretty standard stuff – but this movie makes some surprisingly real choices, instead of going for an easy over-the-top resolution.

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