Weekend movie time! There are a few Indies screening at The Grand Illusion and SIFF this weekend that I wanted to share with our imaginaries.

First up, Antiviral: screening at Grand Illusion Cinema , 4/19-4/25.

Antiviral is about an evolution in the way people view celebrity. Placed in a future bathed in clean white, the film centers on Syd, a salesman at a popular clinic where the commodity is live infections taken from celebs. A celeb gets infected or sick with something—herpes, the flu, etc.—and sells their virus to the clinic for a price, who in turn sells it back to super fans who want to be as close to that famous person as possible.

Gross, right? Imagine someone paying to get injected with Kim Kardashian's ... whatever.

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HOLD UP. Miss Janeane Garofalo is coming to The Neptune Thursday night and I didn't know until NOW? I am failing as a super-fan. 

I fell for Janeane in the 90s during her heyday -- loving her clever sarcasm to death right along with her blunt bangs, long dark hair, and quirky vintage style (best dance ever in Realty Bites. EVER). When Barbara Walters interviewed her, she said that Garofalo steals every movie scene she's in, and she's not lying. I own a copy of The Truth About Cats and Dogs, and I still maintain to this day that she was, is, and will always be hotter than Uma Thurman. But enough about my JG lust -- let's talk stand-up. 

This girl is funny. And I say that as someone who generally doesn't dig on stand-up. But I have a good feeling about this, you guys. Garofalo's got serious chops, and digging around on YouTube tells me she's just as awesome as ever. So I'll be blowing drinks out of my nose near the front of the stage this week. Come join me! 

{STG Presents Janeane Garofalo at The Neptune | Thursday, April 11 | Doors @ 7, Show @ 8 | All Ages, Bar w/I.D. | $22.50 adv, $25 day of} 

In Director Hang Sang-soo's In Another Country, three different women played by the same actress (the lovely Isabelle Huppert) visit the same seaside resort in Korea, encountering a trio of men who can't help but fall for her (duh. It's ISABELLE HUPPERT) -- including a lovestruck lifeguard who fumbles through every seduction. 

The stunning Huppert acts the hell out of each part: a filmmaker, an adulterer, and a divorced woman in despair, and each repetitive situation seems so awkwardly real that you can't help but laugh ... over and over again. 

It's charming in a way that makes me curse recent American-made rom-coms, and a satisfying way to spend and hour and a half. Dig up $8 and head over to The Grand Illusion to see it before 2/7. 

{In Another Country | 7pm & 9pm at The Grand Illusion cinema | through Thursday, Feb. 7 | $8/$5 for members/$6 for students} 

{Hyde Park on Hudson opened in Seattle on Friday, December 14, and is screening at the Landmark Egyptian Theater as well as the Bellevue Lincoln Square Cinemas}

Hyde Park on Hudson is a fascinating film, but not in a particularly positive way. It's fascinating as a demonstration of how any numerical 1-5 star type rating approach would miss how good the best parts are, and how "meh" the rest of the picture is.

Hyde Park follows a relationship between FDR (Bill Murray) and a somewhat distant cousin Daisy (Laura Linney). Over a critical weekend in the British/U.S. relationship on the eve of World War II, the Roosevelts entertain the King and Queen of England in their home.

The picture is a grab-bag of messages. History lessons, thinly veiled commentary on the nature of media presence in the modern era, dark romance, and aspects of period costume drama crash together. Producing a work that's mostly pretty dull, but decorated with an occasional flash of genius.

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{The Comedy opens in Seattle on Friday, December 7, and is screening at the SIFF Film Center}

Director Rick Alverson is in a band called Spokane, and works with their creative and successful independent label Jagjagwuar, to make films two films before the just-released The Comedy, The Builder (2010) and New Jerusalem (2011). He's also done videos for Will Oldham, which is a good point of reference for his latest work. Both of his first two films dealt with illness and spirituality, and change and morality, in stark and scenic ways, similar to an LP by Bonnie Prince Billy. In the midst of both, a raging, sad, troubled heart beats -- even if the dark humor and sense of space surrounding it seem contemplative. 

The Comedy continues Alverson's gorgeous yet provocative style, but with the addition of comedians Tim Heidecker (in the starring role) and his partner Eric Wareheim (yes, it's that Tim and Eric), and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and Neil Hamburger (well, his real life persona Gregg Turkington), a whole other thing is happening. I will admit to being a Tim and Eric Awesome Show fan, and I am very sorry about that.

Yes, I know their aesthetic is obviously deplorable, but as a huge fan of Albert Brooks, I like my comedy to make me squirm, deeply. (And yes, they're a lot more disturbing and disgusting than Brooks, but that sense of absurd-existential malaise belongs in the same family, buy it or not.) When I play their DVDs, my wife says, "You didn't pay money for that, did you?" (Yes, yes, I did. Sorry, sweetheart.) Tim and Eric create a world without any sense of kinesthetic pleasure; it is grossly yet thoughtfully unpleasant. Mindfully upsetting and emotionally disturbing. I dig it, but in small doses, like really messed up electronic psychedelia or something (they're the Adult Swim equivalent of "Frankie Teardrops" by Suicide, maybe? Thirteen minutes of psyche-smacking "pleasure.")

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Flatstock at the Armory
11am-8pm, all three days

I say this EVERY year, but you absolutely have to take some time out of your music-watchin’ day to browse the aisles at Flatstock and see tons of amazing poster art. Seriously. Go. I’m not kidding.

Record Store
Visual Arts Exhibits at the Seattle Center Pavilion
11am-8pm, all three days

Ok, it’s not really a “store” in that you can’t buy the vinyl contained within, but! But but but. They put together a HUGE collection of records that you can browse through and choose to play—either for everyone inside, or just for yourself—and generally just marvel over how awesome records still are. Step inside this exhibit for sweet listening party bliss.

Read It and Weep (A Celebration of Nicolas Cage)
The Vera Project
Saturday 1:15pm-2:15pm

Three podcast guys dissect and review some of the worst of the worst Nic Cage movies, including Wicker Man, Ghost Rider and … CITY OF ANGELS. Dude. This is going to be hilarious!

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{Safety Not Guaranteed opened in Seattle on Friday, June 8, and is playing at Sundance Seattle Cinemas -- aka: the old Metro -- and the Regal Meridian 16}

While SIFF isn't completely over yet, one of my favorite films of both SIFF and SXSW is opening locally. Meaning you can see something great without standing in line. Though you seriously should still catch a few more SIFF films while you can.

The film's setup is as basic as it is brilliant - a cryptic classified ad attracts the attention of a reporter at Seattle Magazine:

"Wanted: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED."

Whether it's out of genuine interest or desire for a weekend out of town to try and hook up with an old flame, he pitches an investigation into the classified listing. Before you know it Jeff (Jake M. Johnson) along with interns Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni) are down by the Washington shore staking out a post office box to identify the time traveler in question. It doesn't take long for them to identify Kenneth (Mark Duplass) as he's picking up mail.

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Tonight, Wednesday 11/17, my friends over at The Beta Society are putting on a show that could potentionally rival the ever-popular Salon of Shame called E-mails from My Parents.

Rather than read your own embarassing journals, why not share the most embarassing e-mails, voice mails, or even videos from your parents? I mean, they've embarassed you enough, right? Why not turn the tables?

Head over to Central Cinema from 7-8:30pm tonight and experience dramatic re-enactments of parental tomfoolery, live readings of e-mail, and actual videos from the 'rents. I can't think of a better thing to do on a rainy, cold night - can you? Tix are $7 at the door, and the usual CC food & drink menu will be available.

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Some comedians talk about taking mushrooms and having cosmic experiences (we miss you, Bill Hicks), and some artists make music that sounds great if you're either on psilocybin or simply amped on free flowing imagination. Comic and musician Reggie Watts is like a giant fungi who giggles in several dimensions as we chew on him, soaking in visions like Philip K. Dick making Houston Screw mix-tapes while playing chess with God.

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One of the things that binds us all as card-carrying Seattle swanksters is that we all want to be best friends with Janeane Garofalo. You *know* that we'd all get along famously, making our way through the hipster jungle texting escape plans to meet up at the nearest Tea Express to split pot of earl gray and review the evening's near hits and misses. We'd sarcastically laugh under our breath up until the tearistas kicked us out and we'd quote the Old 97s on our way out the door. Or something low key and outrageously fun like that.

Next Saturday our almost-BFF will be in Seattle to film her next live DVD release over the course of two shows (7p and 9.30p) on Saturday, May 8 at the Moore Theatre. That's how much she loves us! She wants *us/Seattle* to be a part of her next DVD!

Three Imaginary Girls would like to help bring us all together by offering you a couple seats to one of her May 8 shows. To enter to win a pair of tickets email us at tig @ threeimaginarygirls.com with a subject line letting us know which timeslot you'd like to go like so: "BFF@7p" or "BFF@930p" (you can enter to win tickets to both time slots). The deadline to enter is 9a May 4, 2010.

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