The Stranger

"Secretary of War" Pete Hegseth Issues Order to Activate Oregon National Guard in Portland

Wm. Steven Humphrey — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 09:00:00 -0700

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a memo Sunday instructing "200 members of the Oregon National Guard to be called into federal service effective immediately for a period of 60 days." by Wm. Steven Humphrey

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in our sister publication, Portland Mercury. We will be posting dispatches from Portland as they become available.

Following threats made by President Trump on Saturday to send additional troops to “war ravaged Portland,” in order to presumably protect the ICE facility from what he called “Antifa and other domestic terrorists,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a memo Sunday, September 28, instructing “200 members of the Oregon National Guard to be called into federal service effective immediately for a period of 60 days.”

Earlier Sunday, some media sources reported that the president was wavering on the idea of sending in additional troops, but this most recent order appears to contradict these reports. As soon as the order was released, the state of Oregon immediately launched an appeal of the decision on behalf of the city of Portland that will be heard by United States District Judge Michael H. Simon. Similar legal actions are working their way through the courts in California, but are currently unresolved. Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield said he hopes to file an emergency restraining order within 24 hours to block the arrival of these troops.

Oregon's new lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of infringing on “Oregon’s sovereign power to manage its own law enforcement activity and National Guard,” and is slamming the action as “patently unlawful.” Notably, the lawsuit also indicates Governor Tina Kotek was warned yesterday, following Trump's order on social media, that if she did not voluntarily deploy the Guard into Portland within the 12 hours, the troops could be directly mobilized by the federal government.

“I am no longer in charge of the members (of the Oregon National Guard) that he will be calling up,” Governor Kotek said at a virtual press conference Sunday, while asking citizens to still show respect to these troops “who are our neighbors and our friends.” The troops are expected to be following orders from the commander of the U.S. Northern Command.

Within the past few months, the president has ordered more than 2,300 National Guard members to police Washington, DC, and deployed 4,000 troops to Los Angeles. There are many reports noting that the end result was ineffectual, leading many troops with nothing to do other than busy work for local police, picking up garbage, and performing landscaping duties.

The acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, Timothy L. Rieger, issued a memo Sunday as well to Oregon National Guard's adjutant general, Brigadier General Alan R. Gronewold, requesting the 200 troops into Portland, noting that “time is of the essence and failure to mobilize sufficient forces quickly to address the situation may risk lives and property damage.” This urgency conflicts with multiple on-the-ground reports that show only around 30 demonstrators on average have been demonstrating regularly at the ICE facility on SW Macadam, and have been doing so peacefully. In fact, video obtained by the Oregonian shows, and has been confirmed by Portland Police, that federal agents were the primary instigators of some of the violence.

This story is developing and will be updated.

What to Expect After Trump Threatens to Send Additional Troops to “War Ravaged” Portland

Wm. Steven Humphrey — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 09:04:00 -0700

In an early Saturday morning post on Truth Social, President Trump wrote that he will be sending troops to “protect war ravaged Portland” as well as the city’s ICE facility from those he called “Antifa and other domestic terrorists.” More troubling still, the president also authorized his agents to use “full force, if necessary.” by Wm. Steven Humphrey

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in our sister publication, Portland Mercury. We will be posting dispatches from Portland as they become available.

This announcement came on the heels of Friday night’s press conference held by Mayor Keith Wilson and several state leaders, saying that the Trump administration had deployed additional federal agents to Portland’s ICE facility. The mayor labeled the administration’s move as “just a big show,” and along with others in attendance, encouraged Portlanders to “not take the bait,” or physically engage with ICE officers.

At this point, it’s unclear what type of troops the president plans on sending to the city—whether it’s more federal agents or the National Guard—or even how many would be deployed. Trump’s post came with the implied threat of sending troops to other cities with ICE facilities as well.

Deploying the National Guard to assist ICE agents—as the president did in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and plans to do in Memphis—would most likely face legal challenges, and happen under the objection of Democratic Governor Tina Kotek, who said Saturday that Oregon leaders were “provided no information on the reason or purpose of any military mission.”

“There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm,” Kotek said in a statement issued by her office Saturday morning. “I ask Oregonians to stay calm and enjoy a beautiful fall day. We will have further comment when we have more information."

For weeks President Trump has been issuing objectively false statements about Portland and the small, almost entirely peaceful protests that have been ongoing at the ICE facility in Southwest Portland. Besides falsely calling the city “war ravaged,” the president has also made other wildly inaccurate claims, including how “many people have died over the years in Portland” due to the protests, and labeling demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights as “professional agitators and anarchists.”

In reality, while there have been nightly protests at Portland’s ICE facility, the size of the crowd has rarely exceeded a couple dozen people, who regularly taunt the federal agents, but remain—on the whole—peaceful. This is in direct contrast to the federal officers who have reportedly made more than a dozen attacks on protesters, who gather on the sidewalk outside the ICE facility, chanting and squeezing squeaky toys as a symbol of the ease with which federal agents are provoked. Last week, the Oregonian reported and shared video footage of ICE agents shoving and hitting demonstrators, as well as using chemical spray against them, even as they were following the orders of officials, and not standing on federally controlled property. Agents were also reportedly firing less-lethal ammunition rounds specifically at the groins of protesters, repeatedly hitting at least one person in the face and body with their shield, and shoving those trying to help injured demonstrators to the ground, as well as those whose backs were turned away from officers.

A Portland Police officer recently testified in court that some of the clashes at the facility were “instigated” by ICE agents, who were “not following best practice.”

Depending on which troops the president decides to send into Portland, lawsuits are almost certain to follow. Earlier this month, District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled that Trump violated the Posse Comitatus Act by deploying 4,000 National Guard members and placing them in law enforcement roles. The ruling has been appealed by the Trump administration, and the case has been put on pause to allow Trump’s legal team to explain their actions to the court in greater detail.

As he did in Los Angeles, President Trump could also invoke the Insurrection Act to justify sending a large number of troops into Portland, but the rarely implemented action is only intended to be used against “an armed rebellion against the US federal government” and will certainly be challenged in court, as well as by military officials concerned about pitting US troops against American citizens.

Though currently focused on Portland, the president is also expected to send troops into Memphis, Tennessee—another blue city—though he will reportedly only be deploying 150 troops; far fewer than the number sent to Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

Attorney General Pam Bondi joined the president in publishing falsehoods on social media, writing on X Friday night that the federal government would fight back against the “continued onslaught of violence,” while seeking “the most serious available charges against all participants in these criminal mobs.”

Bondi ended the post with the words, “the rule of law will prevail.”

Slog PM: The Govs Got COVID, New Dominant Omicron Variant Dropped, Updates on the Latest School Massacre

Rich Smith — Wed, 25 May 2022 18:57:52 -0700

by Rich Smith Get well soon, king. Lester Black
Governor Jay Inslee and Lt. Gov. Denny Heck test positive for COVID-19: I wanted to make a joke about those govern together getting COVID together, but The Seattle Times reports that the state's #1 and #2 leaders had not been cavorting together "in recent days." Otherwise, they're both doing fine (within reason) for now, they're both getting that Paxlovid, and they both encourage everyone to get vaccinated and boosted. It's saving their lives right now.

I wonder if they got the new omicron subvariant? We're calling it BA. 2.12.1, and it's spreading so fast it "made up about 58% of all new U.S. cases" by the end of last week, according to the New York Times. Though it's faster than the others, as of right now there's no evidence that it's more deadly. I wonder how many SARS infections our bodies can withstand over a short period of time without major longterm damage? One a year? Two a year? Six a year?

Despite the uptick in COVID cases, the Department of Health does not anticipate implementing a statewide mask mandate. However, Washington State Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah said the department "still recommends wearing a mask in indoor spaces, confined spaces and shared areas with poor ventilation," KIRO reports. And so does this person.

Amazon tosses big money at its CEO, dismisses worker demands: Andy Jassy, noted wingman, will get more than $200 million to run the e-commerce giant. Meanwhile, the board denied "15 proposals asking the company to report on worker safety, climate goals, pay rates, use of its face recognition technology and its stance on workers’ right to unionize," according to the Seattle Times. Classic.

An update on the latest elementary school massacre: Here's what we know so far about the victims.

As for the killer, shortly after his 18th birthday (and thanks to Texas Republicans) the shooter legally purchased two semiautomatic rifles and 375 rounds of ammunition. The 18-year-old gunman then killed his grandmother and made statements online before the massacre about his future intentions.

He was reportedly inside the school for roughly an hour before cops shot and killed him. During a press conference in which Texas Gov. Greg Abbot and fellow Republicans tried to dodge their responsibility for the massacre, candidate Beto O'Rourke interrupted the announcement to say to the governor, “The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing.”

Oh look, a potential wannabe copycat:

A student at a Richardson, Texas, high school was arrested Wednesday for carrying weapons in a weapon-free school zone, the day after 19 children were murdered at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. https://t.co/4fhdUamttk
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 25, 2022

California Senate passes an interesting law: Now this is the kind of litigious shit I can get behind:

Shortly after the nation’s latest mass shooting, which killed 19 children at an elementary school in Texas, the California Senate passed a bill to allow private citizens to file suit against makers or sellers of untraceable "ghost guns." https://t.co/ykkxzq6Q6q
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) May 25, 2022

It's the second anniversary of George Floyd's murder: Demonstrators across the country will be marking the occasion, including a vigil at Cal Anderson Park.

In "Tarnished Celebrity" news: Former reality TV star Josh Duggar—the creepy dad in 19 Kids and Counting—has been (surprise!) found guilty and sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for receiving child pornography.

Let's bookend the morning and evening news roundups with ol' Gambino:

Slog PM: Landlords Ready to Serve Evictions, Bosco Ready to Never Serve Coffee Again, and How Did Bob Saget Hurt His Head?

Chase Burns — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 18:20:26 -0800

by Chase Burns This afternoon, Seattle caught local performer Bosco serving coffee at Fuel Coffee for her "last barista shift ever (hopefully)." Tonight, Seattle can catch her on VH1 at 8 PM serving for RuPaul's Drag Race. Matt Baume
Let's catch up on the afternoon. First:

Landlords can start kicking people to the curb soon: This morning, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced a plan to lift Seattle's residential and commercial eviction moratoria in two weeks. The orders prevented landlords from evicting tenants for any reason other than health and safety risks.

But tenants won't be completely left in the dust on Feb 28: Thanks to an ordinance passed by the Seattle City Council, for six months following the expiration of the moratoria tenants can cite COVID-related financial hardships as a defense against eviction in court — if they can get to court in the first place. As Hannah reported last month, sometimes tenants struggle to navigate remote hearings, and the state's pre-court mediation process advantages landlords.

In his announcement, Harrell also touted a directive to the city's Office of Housing "to urgently distribute over $25 million in identified funding to support renters and small landlords." That $25 million is not new money, and the directive has no physical form (the Mayor's spokesperson couldn't send us a copy of it), nor does it direct the agency to do anything it's not already doing.

The Mayor's spokesperson said the $25 million comes from "existing unspent emergency rental assistance funding," which includes a mix of federal and general fund sources. Most of that money is already tied up in contracts with the community organizations tasked to distribute it, but about $6 million of it is sitting in the Office of Housing. According to an agency spokesperson, some of that $6 million came from assumed administrative costs they didn't end up needing, and the rest of it came from "unspent funds from contracts with community-based organizations." They now plan to funnel that money to The United Way of King County (UWKC), which seems to do a good job of distributing rental assistance. The agency expects UWKC to push out the money "by the end of March," which is a month after the moratorium lifts. Meanwhile, the "directive" simply "emphasizes the urgency with which rental assistance is needed at this moment."

The FDA is tapping the brakes on authorizing the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages five and under as they wait for further scientific data... as opposed to getting all their science from a Joe Rogan podcast.

Meanwhile the CDC has released a study that shows the effectiveness of boosters could wane after four months—but is still very effective in keeping one out of the hospital. But by all means, Rogan lovers... keep mixing horse urine in your Kool-Aid or whatever it is you ding-dongs are partial to these days.

You don't have much time left to bid adieu to Cafe Presse. It closes for good this weekend.

Tonight, you can watch Bosco on TV: And today, you might've caught her serving coffee at Fuel Coffee and signing people's bean bags (lol).

The line wrapped around the block with people waiting to say hey to Bosco before she skips out of town on tour this weekend. Matt Baume

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A post shared by Fuel Coffee & Books (@fuelcoffeeseattle)

Bosco isn't the only Seattle queen competing: This city's got dueling drag competitions (again). Queer Bar starts a 10-week, 10-queen competition this Sunday (the winner gets $10,000!), and R Place The Comeback starts its drag competition this Thursday (the winner gets $5,000!). And Bosco, of course, could win $100,000 if she makes it to the top spot on RuPaul's Drag Race.

All that money should pay for at least a few wigs.

ICYMI: Wordle is literally a life-saver.

Can’t talk shit on people sharing their score anymore pic.twitter.com/qIsN47FcuG
— mvp (@ManVsParty) February 12, 2022

Plenty of room to swing a cat: Museum of Museum's new group exhibition, Cat Tower, is open and it delivers both of the words in its name. Guests are invited to browse 12 of the strangest cat towers they've ever seen—some are modern, a few are a little disco, one is made of pillows—and vote on their favorite. Then the cats come in and truly decide which one is the cat's meow.
A view from the exhibit. CB
Margo Vansynghel at Crosscut has a post up today about this furry architecture exhibit, with photos of its cats and towers. Chase went last weekend and voted for the monolithic cardboard tower called MEOWolith, designed by Seattle-based studio SHED, because when he stuck his head inside it, all its internal spheres made him curious like a cat.
A maze. CB
Mudede says this is the best thing on the internet today.

“Where’s the sala?” pic.twitter.com/rZFS3I2XdW
— Angela (@TheKitchenista) February 11, 2022

He also had a lot to say about inflation.

An Ontario court has ruled that anti-vax hee-haws must stop blocking the Canadian border by 7 PM tonight, giving the ignorant ding-dongs a chance to disband peacefully.

RIP to a real queen: Mama Veneno is dead.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Javier Ambrossi (@soyambrossi)

What happened to Bob Saget? The late comedian's autopsy report showed he "died after what appeared to be a significant blow to the head." The report suggests he had a significant fall, injuring the back of his head, and said "that the injuries appeared more reminiscent of ones suffered by people who fall from a considerable height or get thrown from their seat in a car crash." The death is still ruled as accidental.

Bless the U.S. Forest Service because they're committing "nearly $3 billion more to the nation's forest restoration efforts and fire reduction, especially on federal forest lands in the heart of Washington’s fire country and in 10 other Western states," reports Hannah Weinberger for Crosscut.

Just in time for Valentine's: President Biden is scheduled to meet with Vladimir Putin on Saturday, while also warning that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time—perhaps even during the Olympics. (Which is a bad idea... nobody's watching the Olympics anyway.*)

*Except for Nathan Chen. We're watching Nathan.

Your weekend homework: Watch KIMI, then guess how much her fictional apartment costs. There's no right answer. It's a movie.

Slog PM: Sawant Comes Through; 911 Breaks; and Awww, Sweet, Gays!

Chase Burns — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0800

by Chase Burns 9 years ago today, the gays married. Kelly O

Did you get a freaky-ass 911 alert on your phone? Same. No, it's not Armageddon, just the 911 lines are down. No biggie...

9-1-1 service is experiencing intermittent outages for mobile and landline users in King County.

Text-to-9-1-1 service is functioning normally.

If you cannot reach 9-1-1, call the 10-digit number for local police or fire agencies. See a complete list: https://t.co/WUwDXK77tg
— King County, WA (@KingCountyWA) December 10, 2021

The cops say they fixed the problem and restored service. Cue the conspiracy theories that it broke because Sawant recallers all called 911 right as they saw this news...

A photo finish: As conventional wisdom expected, the ballots in Councilmember Kshama Sawant's recall election continue to skew progressive. On Wednesday Sawant claimed just over 62% of the 7,000 vote drop, which tightened election night's initial 5% gap between recall and retain to just 0.62%, a margin of 246 votes. Today, King County Elections counted nearly all the remaining votes, 1,355 to be specific, and the trend continued. In the latest drop, 68.48% voted to retain Sawant. That means 50.29% of D3 voters want to keep Sawant and 49.71% want to give her the boot. Great. What a big waste of time and money. When can we get back to holiday dabbing and turning our office into an abortion pill factory?

time to bring back this gem pic.twitter.com/KgzNNIB534 https://t.co/0hLkvpdT82
— Kamau (@Kamaumaumau) December 10, 2021

So far, neither side has declared a victory: On election night, the Seattle Times reported that Recall Sawant campaign manager and chair Henry Bridger II was not worried about a Sawant comeback as the county added the last of the ballots. The Times wrote, “he believed the initial results are the sentiment of the district.” That sentiment has changed.

Sawant’s campaign continues on its hunt for a small but potentially pivotal pot of votes the campaign can win, or rather, prove they already won. As of this Thursday, KCE reported over 700 challenged ballots—591 of those ballots are “curable.”

I (meaning Hannah, there are four of us writing this today—because teamwork!!!) write more about it here.

I (meaning Chase) would like to point you in the direction of Matt and Rich and Colleen and Sarah and Jas: They wrote Slog stuff today, too. Pick a topic: Do you want to read about our favorite gripe or faking it til you're feeling it or Seattle's 50 hottest portals?

Understandably, this bit of news got lost in the afternoon shuffle:

shhh not now
— jseattle (@jseattle) December 9, 2021

Tell a 16- or 17-year-old in your life they can get a booster shot, too. Today, the FDA granted emergency authorization for the older teens to get a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine once it's six months after the teen's second shot. Soon after, the CDC formally recommend the boosters. Get boosted!

Sundance is coming! Sundance is coming! The beloved film festival, which will run from January 20-30, just dropped its lineup for the 2022 edition of the fest. And lucky for us, Northwest Film Forum is serving as a satellite location for Sundance for the second year in a row and will host several in-person screenings of films from the fest. If you're still wary of theaters, you can nab a ticket to the virtual version of the festival. Read more Sundance fest highlights here. Me (Jas) and me (Chase) will cover the fest again this year for Slog.

Today in "Officer Whoopsy!": "Oregon Department of Corrections SWAT team tear-gassed own coworkers during training."

FBI arrests Lincoln City, Oregon, man for involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol https://t.co/O2fVEzKYQF
— OPB (@OPB) December 9, 2021

So long, Mia's Off Broadway: The fifteen-year-old tiny Capitol Hill joint just off Seattle Central is permanently closed, reports Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. "Korn Dog" will replace them—the "K" is for "Korea," not the band Korn. It'll serve Korean-style corn dogs. Across the street, the newly opened Pelicana serves Korean-style fried chicken.

This guy: An appeals court has ruled that Trump's White House records can be released to the congressional panel investigating the January 6 domestic terrorist attack on the nation's capitol. Naturally, he will make a last ditch effort to hide his shit by appealing to... who else? The Trump Supreme Court.

“I think they understood that Trump’s principal strategy with this suit is to delay, and they were not going to facilitate that tactic,” law professor Jonathan David Shaub told The Daily Beast. https://t.co/MF44bj1Tn0
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) December 10, 2021

Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Lattes with a side of workers' rights: After a squeaker of a 19-18 vote, Starbucks workers at a location in Buffalo, New York have become the first employees of the worldwide chain to successfully unionize. One other Starbucks decided against it, and the vote of another is under review.

Somewhere out there, snow:

❄️👷‍♀️Snow has landed in the #OlympicPeninsula!
Crews plowed US 101 this morning between #PortAngeles and #Forks. This photo is at milepost 217 near Lake Crescent. Remember to not crowd the plows, slow down and give them room to work.

Winter travel tips: https://t.co/p1nBacNDEl pic.twitter.com/VT2UHYXEOh
— WSDOT Tacoma (@wsdot_tacoma) December 9, 2021

Jussie jury: A jury has found former Empire actor Jussie Smollett guilty of staging a "making a false report to Chicago police that he was the victim of a hate crime in January 2019," reports CNN. He's charged on five out of six felony counts of disorderly conduct. Smollett—who is Black and gay—staged a racist and homophobic attack near his Chicago apartment in an apparent bid for media attention. The actor is still facing a civil suit from the city of Chicago to recoup the cost of investigating the attack. Legal experts say he will most likely be put on probation and sentenced to community service.

The Metropolitan Museum in New York will remove the Sackler name from various places in the museum, following the outcry over the links the family has to the opioid crisis, reports the New York Times. The Sackler name will be nixed from seven exhibition spaces in total, including the wing home to the Temple of Dendur. However, in a move they have not explained, the Met will keep "Sackler" on two galleries which the Times believes is due to their association with Arthur Sackler, "who died in 1987 before OxyContin's creation." Can't ever expect a museum to develop too much of a backbone!

Something sweet to close the day:

9 years ago today Seattle City Hall was transformed into a beautiful wedding chapel and with the help of a lot of volunteers and @mayormcginn @TheStranger @fakedansavage 142 couples were married. It was beautiful and an absolute honor to participate. https://t.co/lp0E9jq1ts pic.twitter.com/N7w3uJDU1Y
— Julie McCoy (@mcjulie87) December 9, 2021

It was a beautiful day. Here are some more great pics https://t.co/ZeFZXaHrmG
— Mike McGinn (@mayormcginn) December 9, 2021

I (Chase) came out at 14 while going to high school in rural Idaho: I accidentally came out on Day of Silence, and I remember the day inspired our Spanish teacher to be the opposite of silent. She went on a long rant about how gay people were hellish, then our principal tried to shut down Day of Silence activities. 14-year-old me couldn't have imagined gay marriage ever being legal. We've come so far so quickly, so take some time to remember these tender photos from Kelly O:

Kelly O
Kelly O

Kelly O
Kelly O

More here.

Slog PM: It's Basically a Little Hurricane Out There, Hot and Cold Dick's, and Biden Signs the Damn Bill

Chase Burns — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 17:55:42 -0800

by Chase Burns

WEATHER REPORT: It's DRAMATIC out there!

It looks like a semi truck has tipped onto the railing of the Deception Pass bridge. It’s gusting 56 mph over here! pic.twitter.com/PPS5HyDPJ5
— Emily Gilbert (@m_l_e_gilbert) November 15, 2021

The latest: Nearly 60 mph winds along the coast and 90 mph winds in the mountains. Ferries and trains canceled. Around 150,000 people without power across the state. A nearly record high temperature. A state of emergency in the town of Hamilton due to flooding, with more flooding around Sedro-Woolley. The border town of Sumas looked like this:

My heart aches for Sumas. #wawx @NWSSeattle @ScottSeattleWx @MorganKIRO7 pic.twitter.com/PVZUTiiTbm
— Randy Small - Whatcom County Weather (@RandySmall) November 15, 2021

As CNN put it: "The Pacific Northwest has gotten more rain in the last two weeks than they normally see for the entire month of November, which is also stacking up to be one of the top five wettest Novembers on record for Seattle." What's on the table with this current system? "Extreme rainfall, river flooding, damaging winds and even landslides." We didn't know atmospheric rivers had categories like hurricanes but apparently this is a Cat 5 atmospheric river. Not good!

Very windy conditions - now is a great time to charge devices, double check flashlight batteries, and give your emergency kit a look. You can also sign up for alerts from your local emergency managers - visit https://t.co/d9bPpQZHMh for more information. https://t.co/lDvrrrE5cI
— WA Emergency Management (@waEMD) November 15, 2021

Weird day!

With sun to our south and the convergence zone to our north, the contrast is quite a sight to behold. #wawx pic.twitter.com/a3JMUDus8p
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 15, 2021

It took freaking forever but Biden has signed the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that former President Trump repeatedly tried and failed to accomplish. This infrastructure bill may not solve all ills, but it's still the biggest such step in a generation and a much-needed "win" for Biden.

PARTY BUS!

We’re on our way to the @WhiteHouse to join @potus as he signs the infrastructure bill into law! pic.twitter.com/gw2GGgbjHc
— Congressman Bill Foster (@RepBillFoster) November 15, 2021

Meeeeeeaaaaanwhile, the head of the Congressional Budget Office had some not-so-great news regarding the Build Back Better Act, the $1.85 trillion social safety net/climate change legislation, saying that the Biden administration's idea of ramped up enforcement of tax evaders by the IRS still won't be enough to foot the bill. Seattle Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal told KUOW last week that she expects the House to pass the Build Back Better Act this week—they better hurry up before Congress shuffles off for a Thanksgiving break.

Incredible to see Seattle’s own Heather Kurtenbach at today’s signing ceremony for our infrastructure bill! It was great to hear her share how this bill will bring good-paying, union jobs to Washington!https://t.co/2Ogo1NvXXp
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) November 16, 2021

After signing, Biden shuffled off to a Zoom date with China's leader Xi Jinping. The two leaders are expected to address the origin of COVID, human rights abuses, and Taiwan during their three-or-so-hour virtual summit. “For the first time in 20 years we will be investing more in infrastructure than China," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said today during a media briefing.

Pandemic-era pessimism: A new Washington Post-ABC poll finds that "majorities" of Americans support Biden's infrastructure package and Build Back Better bill, but Biden's overall approval rating has fallen to a new low, 41%. The poll also gave a warning to Democrats: "The Post-ABC poll finds that, if [2022] elections were held today, 46 percent of adults overall would back the Republican candidate for Congress and 43 percent would support the Democratic candidate."

Business Insider published a Buzzfeed-style piece dragging Dick's over the weekend, and Seattleites threw a fit. (TBH: We shouldn't pearl-clutch over the "Dick's is disappointing" take—it's not exactly a gastronomical marvel; it's a burger-eating experience that requires a certain context: you should be drunk/wet/hangry and desperate for a gut-bomb. With the right context, those little grease-bags serve.)

This doofus in the Business Insider said the burgers & fries at Dicks were disappointing but also says she waited a half an hour to eat them. About to lose my fuckin mind here pic.twitter.com/k8ZKw3nKJ7
— Justin🦩Boldaji بلداجي (@justinboldaji) November 13, 2021

Yes & you eat them sitting on the street curb
— Justin🦩Boldaji بلداجي (@justinboldaji) November 13, 2021

And also…local journalism matters ✌️
— Angela Cabotaje (@AngelaCabotaje) November 15, 2021

Case about-to-be closed: The defense in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder case made its closing arguments today, and tried to depict the killer as just "a 17-year-old kid out there trying to help this community." OH, FFS! Before closing arguments, the very politically suspicious judge in the case dismissed a weapons charge against Rittenhouse.

“You cannot hide behind self-defense if you provoked the incident.”

– Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger, delivering closing arguments in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial pic.twitter.com/riNkBDUR4I
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) November 15, 2021

Walking turnip Stephen K. Bannon surrendered to authorities after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol.

Lying doorknob Alex Jones will be held liable for defaming the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre with his "false flag" lies, according to a judge.

Resident Marxist Charles Mudede ruminated on today's political battles in American courts over here.

And over the next few weeks, you might spot crews assembling the fuselage of a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet across from the Denny Substation downtown: It comes in 39 pieces, reports Heidi Groover for the Seattle Times, and it will be the centerpiece of the 1200 Stewart Project, which will include retail space and multiple luxury residential high-rises. Vancouver-based Westbank designed the project, and an architect who worked on it says it "hopefully ties the past [the Boeing Jumbo Jet] to the future [South Lake Union's tech companies]." Obviously, Mudede will have a few words about this on Slog later this week.

Boeing 747 to park in Seattle high-rise https://t.co/GtpVK1img1 via @seattletimes
— Rami Grunbaum (@rgrunbaum) November 13, 2021

Quit lighting queer bars on fire: In late February, 2020, during the final breaths of the BeFoRe TiMeZ, prosecutors say a 24-year-old named Kalvinn Jay Garcia set a recycling dumpster on fire in the alley behind Queer/Bar on Capitol Hill. The fire leaped up "the side of the building toward the second floor, where at least 50 people were attending an event while several customers were inside the club on the first floor." Renee Raketty, reporting for Capitol Hill Seattle blog, highlights this detail:

During questioning at the East Precinct, police say Garcia told [Detective Scott] Kawahara that he blamed “fucking queers and fucking fairies” for being kicked out of the place he was staying and becoming homeless. He also allegedly stated he did not like them and described them as “disgusting” and stated he doesn’t believe their lifestyle should be flaunted in his face. He added that he got angry and, instead of taking his rage out on a “bunch of queers,” he started the fire. “I’m going to take these fucking queers,” he said, according to police.

Prosecutors charged Garcia in King County Superior Court on hate crime and arson charges, but he returned to a federal grand jury with just the arson charge early this year. Raketty has more here.

Hard not to be reminded of the recent White Center arson while reading Raketty's story.

Blech:

women just are not allowed to live it is so wild https://t.co/AbMoQ1vZVD
— hannah krieg (taylor’s version) (@hannahkrieg) November 15, 2021

Let's close out tonight with Los Esplifs, Slog's new favorite band.

Slog PM: Chicken Isn't Tuna, It's SCOOP Season, and The World's Oldest Drag Queen™ Just Keeps Getting Older!

Chase Burns — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 17:55:54 -0800

by Chase Burns

You wet? It's fucking wet.

The firehose is upon us. pic.twitter.com/eJPtYXXIDk
— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) November 12, 2021

Today in "Ummmm... ew?" news: "Subway tuna lawsuit claims chicken, pork DNA were found in samples."

Biden continues to combat the inflation narrative: For the last week or so Biden has been a broken record: the best way to decrease inflation is to pass the social spending bill so that bills for low- and middle-income people decrease. The New York Times called up a bunch of economists who have diametrically opposing views, and in their worst case scenario core services immediately get cheaper for low income families (child care, prescription drugs), which would put more money in their pocket that they’re more inclined to spend, and then inflation for some goods will rise before decreasing over the next couple years. Scary.

Wall Street is “yawning” over Biden’s proposed corporate tax: After Trump bathed corporations in money with his 2017 tax cut, Wall Street analysts tell Politico that the President’s “piddling” $124 billion tax hike is essentially meaningless. They expect big businesses to buy back their stocks to benefit wealthy shareholders at “levels unseen” in the last couple years.

Boosters for everyone 18 and older in Colorado, says Gov. Polis. COVID-19 infections are surging in the state, so the governor bucked federal guidelines and issued an order for all adults 18 and older to receive the extra jabs. The FDA probably won't be too far behind Polis.

A word from Larry David. Or rather, a lack-of-a-few-words:

Larry the 🐐 for never dick riding https://t.co/fLpPzZMhz9 pic.twitter.com/jyw5nIuOaK
— Julio (@Juleeoohh) November 11, 2021

Privilege update: An appeals court has temporarily allowed Trump to block the Biden administration from giving Congress the former president's documents that would show what sort of shenanigans he was up to on the day of January 6 when domestic terrorists attacked the Capitol. However, the court said it's fast-tracking the case for November 30 when they'll issue a final decision. And then?

We're not optimistic about this one: The defense has rested in the case of Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse—who shot and killed two people and wounded another during a 2020 Wisconsin protest. The decision now goes to an overwhelmingly white jury.

This is exactly what happens when you cut arts funding in schools. You can see it for yourself. Kids can't act no more. https://t.co/5vSDrFvO3N
— Charles Mudede (@mudede) November 11, 2021

Also, this:

The judge presiding over the homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse confused observers after making a strange and off-color joke inside the courtroom https://t.co/0mLu1DaR0D
— CNN (@CNN) November 11, 2021

There will temporarily be no Dick's on Capitol Hill: Capitol Hill Seattle blog has the scoop: "Our Broadway location will close starting Monday, December 13th, for remodel. This location has not been remodeled since it was first built in 1954. Although the outside will look the same, inside we are getting new plumbing, electrical, built-in coolers, equipment, etc. We hope to reopen sometime in spring of 2022."

Speaking of old-ass buildings: The Neptune turns 100 years old next week, and Seattle Times has a feature up about how the place went from "the finest suburban motion picture theater in this part of the country" in 1921 to the music venue it is today.

In Case You Missed It—which, if you did, good, this news is stupid—Justin Bieber will perform in the "metaverse" during a November 18 concert. No, not Facebook's metaverse, just the regular old metaverse. But the performance is genuinely confusing: The fine print says that "Justin Bieber - An Interactive Virtual Experience is not made for VR platforms or supported in VR web browsers." So it's, just, what? A 45-minute livestream? Probably pre-recorded? The interactive part is that you can turn on your webcam and maybe you'll appear in a box next to him like a Zoom call? Anyways, Hollywood Reporter says "the virtual concert follows similar events on Epic Games’ Fortnite, which hosted massively popular in-game concerts with Travis Scott and Ariana Grande last year and earlier this year, respectively."

Scott probably wishes he stayed in the metaverse: Another death has been reported from the deadly crowd surge at Scott's Astroworld festival, this time a college student, bringing the death toll to nine.

The show ended on Friday night 30 minutes earlier than scheduled, but nearly 40 minutes after a “mass casualty event” had been declared by city officials. https://t.co/UTeL4zjB48
— New York Times Music (@nytimesmusic) November 11, 2021

The State Department wants you to get out of Haiti: Officials cited the “current security situation and infrastructure challenges” in the country, which has been hit with a couple devastating natural disasters and a totally politically destabilizing presidential assassination in the last few months, Al Jazeera reports. Specific issues include “widespread fuel shortages” that may limit “access to banks, money transfers, urgent medical care, internet and telecommunications, and public and private transportation options.”

Shit’s getting real in Belarus: The European Union claims that Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko responded to EU sanctions by telling “thousands” of Iraqi, Syrian, and Yemeni refugees to cross into Poland, which triggered a winter refugee crisis, according to the BBC. The EU is now threatening even more sanctions, as refugees freeze outside awaiting entry.

Happy Birthday, Darcelle: Next Tuesday is a big day for the Portland drag legend Darcelle (Walter Cole), who not only celebrates his 91st birthday, but also will see his club Darcelle XV put on the National Register of Historic Places. To think, this chick was really born during the Hoover administration.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME TEENSY-TINY TRUTH BOMBS? The Stranger has organized an international line-up of documentary shorts for its inaugural SCOOP Film Festival, premiering tomorrow. It has heavy Seattle representation, featuring mini-docs about Capitol Hill's Lady Krishna and the C-ID's Bush Garden. It's funny, it's provocative, it's strange. Watch the trailer below and grab a ticket here—this baby's entirely online, available to watch on-demand through the end of the month.

Here's a very good playlist: You could listen to it on repeat, or you could just head on over to Ballard and hear it all in person.

Also, Shamir has a new song out: This GIF is how we feel when the beat drops.

Slog PM: González Concedes, Eyman Is Broke, and Alaska Goes to Miami

Chase Burns — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 17:35:54 -0700

by Chase Burns Eyman says the state "drained" him "dry." Kinky. Heidi Groover
Bruce is our next mayor: We've got around 65,000 votes left to count in Seattle, but the results are clear. Seattle will have its second Black mayor and its first Asian American mayor when Bruce Harrell replaces Jenny Durkan at City Hall. Progressives made up points during today's ballot drop, but not enough to prevent González from conceding. It's concession speech time.

1/ With today’s ballot drop, it’s clear that Bruce Harrell will be the next Mayor of Seattle. Earlier, I called him to congratulate him on a hard-fought race and wished him much luck in his efforts to make progress on the challenges Seattle faces.
— M. Lorena González (@MLorenaGonzalez) November 4, 2021

The port looks fun though.

Initiative- and rolling chair-enthusiast Tim Eyman could lose his home: Eyman, referred to as "Washington’s premier conservative activist for the last two decades" by the Seattle Times and "a sneaky-snake scammer" by The Stranger, owes the state of Washington around $5.4 million, reports the Times. That total includes millions in state attorney fees and millions in a fine for violating Washington campaign finance laws. A court ordered Eyman to pay $10,000 a month. He missed his September and October payments:

At one point in September, after [Attorney General Bob] Ferguson’s office sent several emails and messages to Eyman’s lawyer inquiring about that month’s payment, Eyman’s lawyer responded with a photo, court filings say.

It was a picture of a check and a stamped envelope, addressed to the state.

“But with no postmark,” Ferguson wrote in court documents. “The check has never been received."

Now the state would like to sell Eyman's home. The Times has the story.

Bad things happening to Tim Eyman is my kink. https://t.co/SEKtq4wV2a
— Chase Cross ☂️ (@chaseacross) November 4, 2021

Real news from Brazil: "Man eaten by piranhas after jumping into lake to escape bees"

Real news from Washinton: "Spokane County Sheriff launches billboard in cities across US with 'Washington' misspelled"

And over in the other Washington: Nancy wants a vote tonight on the massive social safety net and climate bill and a vote tomorrow on the infrastructure bill, but that probably isn't happening. Manchin is on TV squirming over price tags as the rest of us frogs slowly boil to death. A former Trump administration Justice Department official will testify about the Capitol Insurrection on Friday, and Liz Cheney says the committee investigating that insurrection has interviewed over 150 people. Also, it's 46 degrees in DC. A freeze is coming.

Privilege problems: A federal judge doesn't appear to buy Trump's reasoning for keeping his presidential records regarding his involvement with the insurrection out of the hands of Congress. The judge asked the former president's lawyers tough questions they didn't seem prepared to answer.

Today in "Life comes at ya fast": "She said she wasn’t going to jail for Jan. 6, citing ‘blonde hair white skin.’ A judge sentenced her to 60 days behind bars." A whole 60 days.

Jenna Ryan just got sentenced to jail https://t.co/pF6KTLCgxB
— Chad Loder (they/them) (@chadloder) November 4, 2021

Garfield High School evacuated its students this afternoon: A Seattle Public Schools spokesperson told Capitol Hill Seattle Blog that a threat initiated the evacuation. SPD later clarified that it was a bomb threat. Students were released for the day.

Jeff loses: Earlier this year, NASA awarded a $2.9 billion contract to Elon Musk's SpaceX to develop a lunar landing system for astronauts. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin sued NASA over the choice. Today a federal judge threw out its lawsuit. And that's today's billionaire space race update.

Not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court’s judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract. pic.twitter.com/BeXc4A8YaW
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 4, 2021

A woman's dead body was found at the Seattle arboretum today. Police are investigating.

A man's dead body "was dissected before paying viewers at an 'Oddities and Curiosities Expo' in Oregon," reports AP. The man, a 98-year-old World War II and Korean War veteran, died of COVID and wanted his body donated for science. KING 5 is all over this freaky shit.

Adding this to the reading list: ‘I Could Never Abandon Them’: Neopets Users Play On. I wonder how my NeoPets are doing.

A devoted corps of users has kept this sparkly but outdated digital world, where magical pets have been reared since 1999, afloat. Recently, droves of pandemic-era nostalgia seekers have joined them. "My pets are expressions of myself," one said. https://t.co/PI81T4Vpvu
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 4, 2021

Speaking of games: It's about to be a big weekend for Animal Crossing fans. A major (and final) free update just dropped, and the Switch hit will also get a major DLC tomorrow. It's meaty. Considering this weather, I'm ready to get back to the island.

It’s raining, it’s pouring, Seattle’s soggy reputation is soaring.
— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) November 4, 2021

Taking the Lone Star to court: The Justice Department is suing Texas over its shitty, anti-American anti-voting laws that criminalize 24-hour voting and drive-through ballot drops while allowing whack-job conservatives to observe (and most likely interfere) with ballot counting.

You can have her: The Seattle Times highlighted last night that former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best is reportedly on the shortlist for the next NYPD police chief. The New York Post dropped the list, but the Times' report included this detail:

Asked in June if he would consider bringing Best back, [Bruce] Harrell said: “I won’t exclude that at all.”

Best, in her interview Wednesday, said she has “a huge amount of respect” for Harrell, but added: “I’m not considering being the chief in Seattle again.”

It'll fall on Bruce Harrell to pick Seattle's next police chief.

One of Harrell's first jobs will be the same one that has greeted all recent Seattle mayors: Hiring a new police chief.
— David Kroman (@KromanDavid) November 3, 2021

Bienvenidos a Miami: Alaska announced it's creating a nonstop flight from Seattle to Miami, starting June 16. Get ready to bounce in the club where the heat is on.

Slog PM: You Wanna Know What's Really Spooky? Young People Aren't Voting! Also: Great News, Teens! Soon You Can Also Get Bullied in the Metaverse!

Chase Burns — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 18:00:40 -0700

by Chase Burns The ages of who's voted in King County, as of this afternoon. The right column is the 65+ crowd. The left column is people 18-24. King County
Get your damn ballots in if you want to avoid heart problems on Tuesday evening. Home-owner precincts are currently outvoting the shit out of renter precincts, according to King County's election dashboard.
Here's how it breaks down by precinct. Yes, we know, the screenshot looks like crap. Check out the dashboard here. King County
Let's zoom in.

At least the people with waterfront property have voted.
TONIGHT: We've got another debate between mayoral candidates Lorena González and Bruce Harrell. This one's supposed to be about public health and safety, although the last one was supposed to be about business and the economy and ended up being about crime, Lorena González not defunding the police by 50%, more crime, and how much money you can take from Republicans before you yourself turn into a Republican. Tune in below at 7 PM:

Listen to Pramila, Joe: According to President Biden, Democrats have agreed on what he calls a "historic" deal to bolster the country's decayed social safety net, HOWEVER, many are displeased with the sections that have been cut (such as paid family leave, thanks to shitty obstructionists Manchin and Sinema), and the progressive wing (led by Seattle's Rep. Pramila Jayapal) is threatening to torpedo the infrastructure bill until they see the Build Back Better plan in writing.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal said President Biden's visit did not shift her members, who insist that they will not vote for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill until Biden's spending framework becomes a bill. https://t.co/JDnMStg1tU
— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) October 28, 2021

Facebook who? If you head to 1 Hacker Way, you won't find a sign for Facebook. Someone's replaced it with an infinity symbol. That's the new logo for "Meta," which is what Facebook is calling Facebook now. Here's the Associated Press:

Facebook Inc. is now called Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short, to reflect what CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday is its commitment to developing the new surround-yourself technology known as the “ metaverse.” But the social network itself will still be called Facebook.

[...]

Facebook the app is not changing its name. Nor are Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. The company’s corporate structure also won’t change. But on Dec. 1, its stock will start trading under a new ticker symbol, MVRS.

And here's Zuckerberg announcing the change: I can't look into his eyes for too long. It feels like staring at Medusa.

I miss MySpace.

This is why we need to tax billionaires. They have clearly run out of ideas. https://t.co/BGDyPnigXa
— Charles Mudede (@mudede) October 28, 2021

As Rocketman Bezos surely knows, unfortunately, what goes up, must come down: Amazon's third-quarter earnings missed "nearly every metric," reports Barron's, and CEO Andy Jassey told shareholders to buckle-up for a bumpy fourth quarter: "We expect to incur several billion dollars of additional costs in our Consumer business as we manage through labor supply shortages, increased wage costs, global supply chain issues, and increased freight and shipping costs—all while doing whatever it takes to minimize the impact on customers and selling partners this holiday season." Break out your tiny violins.

Washington state just launched a new digital tool to show you're vaxxed: It's called WA Verify, and the state hopes it'll be better than the glitchy MyIR and MyIR Mobile tools.

Despite that Portland Police has done little to correct their history of systemic racism and violent behavior toward peaceful demonstrators, Portland's mayor will propose pumping $400,000 into rehiring officers that left the force in a huff.

The salad chain "Sweetgreen" is moving into the empty spot on 11th & Pine: Not the empty spot where The Stranger's old office is, but the empty spot across the street. Sweetgreen has also reportedly lied about being profitable for years. It sounds like they'll make a great neighbor to WeWork, which is down the block.

The most unsurprising headline you'll read today: "Oil giants deny spreading disinformation on climate change." The good news? Congressional Democrats ate their asses (and not in a nice way!! in a mean way!!) in a meeting today when the execs tried to spread that shit.

This stunt from Rep. Katie Porter is what the kids call a serve:

This is why you don't tell Katie Porter - of all people - that she has a "fundamental misunderstanding of how the process works."pic.twitter.com/EPerpGpyK7
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) October 28, 2021

Remember the seniors who picketed their apartment complex following a $100 rent increase for what allegedly amounted to shitty living conditions? Councilmember Kshama Sawant, never one to miss an opportunity to dunk on landlords, served a letter to SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) and COAST Property Management Wednesday morning. The tenants of Rainier Court in South Seattle, many of whom are people of color, demand a stop to rent increases and alleged discrimination, as well as more timely responses to maintenance concerns. They also want management to allow them to install affordable internet hookups in their units. Sawant told the complex's owners and managers that she expects “you to meet all their demands in full without any delay.” It’s typed in bold, so you know she means business.

Here's a press conference with bad sound quality:

A criminal sexual misconduct charge of forcible touching has been filed against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned after multiple sexual harassment complaints.

Did you make it through the atmospheric river today? We're picking up over an inch of rain! I went on a walk this afternoon and didn't get too wet, thanks to a special tech device called an
umbrella. Bumbershoot if you're nasty.
The Stranger's Hannah Krieg contributed to these blurbs.

Slog PM: The Seattle Times Backs Sarah Perry, Bed-Bug Submarine Hits Object but Who Knows Why, and Where Is That Record Shop Opening?

Chase Burns — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 17:45:39 -0700

by Chase Burns "Ahoy, mateys!" said the bed bugs. Courtesy the motherfucking Navy
Sensing they were walking into a public relations nightmare, Senate Republicans have made an abrupt about-face, and have agreed with Dems to extend the debt ceiling (i.e. the government's ability to borrow money) into December—a move that may have possibly avoided a global economic emergency. (Sorry, we're not giving the GOP credit for doing what was merely "the decent thing.")

Well! The Seattle Times Editorial Board and the Stranger Election Control Board agree. Vote Sarah Perry for King County Council.

Thank you to the @seattletimes Ed Board for rescinding their endorsement of Councilmember Lambert.

I want to thank our party leaders @Tinapo and @ShastiConrad, my Council colleagues, electeds friends, and the community for your support. Back to work now.https://t.co/gn0iPQpigY
— Girmay Zahilay (@GirmayZahilay) October 7, 2021

FYI: The Stranger Election Control Board's general election endorsements come out next Wednesday, the same day ballots get mailed out.

Yesterday in Slog PM, Charles overviewed the racist mailer from Councilmember Kathy Lambert that targeted her colleague Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Lambert seems to have stuck to her indignation. She told KING 5 it was "preposterous" that her actions were racist, saying, "I do a lot of work in Africa so if I had something against him because of his color I wouldn't be doing the work I do in Africa.” She's had plenty of time to learn from her mistakes.

Holy shit she keeps saying it https://t.co/5IQoYXhzBU https://t.co/w4FjOwdYPT
— Rich Smith (@richsssmith) October 7, 2021

Gay City has a new home: They hope to move into the Pine Bellevue office building at 400 E Pine by the end of the year, reports Capitol Hill Seattle blog.

Gay City finds new home on Capitol Hill https://t.co/ZH9jKjkimv pic.twitter.com/YUeFkHL8HJ
— jseattle (@jseattle) October 7, 2021

Sub flub: A Bremerton-based submarine called the USS Connecticut, described as "one of the U.S. Navy's most advanced and secretive submarines," hit an "object" while submerged in the South China Sea on October 2, the Navy announced today. 11 sailors were injured, although none of the injuries are life-threatening. Here's the Navy:

The submarine remains in a safe and stable condition. USS Connecticut’s nuclear propulsion plant and spaces were not affected and remain fully operational. The extent of damage to the remainder of the submarine is being assessed. The U.S. Navy has not requested assistance. The incident will be investigated.

Maybe we can blame... bed bugs? The USS Connecticut has a history of nasty bed bugs. This is from March of this year:

It got so bad that some crew members took to sleeping in chairs or on the floor of the crew’s mess to escape the elusive bloodsuckers during their deployment, said one petty officer.

“People were getting eaten alive in their racks,” said the petty officer, who alleges that the infestation spread to several enlisted berthing spaces and at least one officer state room.

[...]

“If someone’s sleep deprived because they’re in the rack getting eaten alive by bedbugs, he could fall asleep at (the controls) and run us into an underwater mountain,” the petty officer said.

Just saying.

A new Senate Judiciary Committee report details the extraordinary lengths Trump went to in his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, pushing GOP leaders across the country to declare massive voter fraud, and using intimidation tactics against the Justice Department to the point where there were almost mass resignations. Please, no Trump 2024.

Meanwhile Trump and his lawyers are advising his former aides—including Mark Meadows, Kash Patel, Dan Scavino, and Stephen Bannon—to ignore subpoenas to appear before Congress and answer questions about the former president's involvement with the January 6 domestic terrorist attack on the capitol. (Good! We'd love to see all these guys in jail.)

Pfizer pharmaceutical is asking the FDA for emergency approval of their COVID vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11, and an FDA advisory committee has agreed to consider it at a meeting later this month.

Good luck trying to go to the San Juans: Crew shortages are leading to lots of cancellations.

Today in "things we don't talk about enough": "Artist puts coffin on Trump's Hollywood star to highlight preventable COVID-19 deaths."

People are eating up the news that William Shatner is headed to space, thanks to Jeff Bezos's Kent-headquartered Blue Origin: "Bezos reaches for a star," reads one New York Times headline out today, featuring snazzy lines, like: "The billionaire space race is happening, whether we choose to pay attention or not. Of course, the billionaires would prefer that we did."

We're no Musk fanboys, but we've been thinking about this exchange all week:

From @karaswisher's interview with @elonmusk at #CodeCon, Musk shares how he feels about Jeff Bezos recently disputing SpaceX's NASA contract – and the Blue Origin rocket pic.twitter.com/H9E4gYjr5l
— Vox Media (@voxmedia) September 29, 2021

What do you call the neighborhood around the Seattle Center: Lower Queen Anne? Uptown? West Seattle Center? The question came up today because we mentioned there's a new record shop opening up in Queen Anne, and someone on Reddit complained we should've said Uptown.

The City calls it Uptown: Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis proposed a resolution earlier this year to officially call that area Uptown. It passed 8-0 (Strauss didn't vote), and Google followed suit by updating its map. But culturally... the name doesn't seem to stick.

calling lower queen anne “uptown” pic.twitter.com/iI0LtaQHh3
— callie 🍋 (@calliecraighead) April 13, 2021

Nathalie Graham texted Councilmember Lewis about his resolution back in April: Here's what he said.

What do you say to people who think the change is dumb?

Lewis: "Uptown is in the process of forging its own unique identity separate from Queen Anne. They asked me to put forward a resolution affirming the Uptown name for the neighborhood. People are free to call it what they want, but it’s clear Uptowners want that to be the official name."

We're sticking with Lower Queen Anne: But we're open-minded about Uptown. That said, we don't have skin in this game; most of us live on Capitol Hill 🙃

I'm Uptown-positive. https://t.co/9TFrPM4nRM pic.twitter.com/BMCfnQ9Kyb
— Queen Anne Greenways (@QAGreenways) October 7, 2021

The neighborhoods go: Seattle Center, LQA, UQA, Nickerson and that’s all I will accept. While uptown makes sense, things that make sense aren’t allowed in Seattle
— matthew, igivearod shepherd (@msea1) October 7, 2021

I love that uptown is down the hill !
— Share The Cities Action Fund (@STCActionFund) October 7, 2021

I'm Queen Anne/Uptown versatile but I hope we can all agree Seattle Center is its own, non-neighborhood entity, like an embassy or something. Seattle Center is in no neighborhood.
— Ryan Packer (@typewriteralley) October 7, 2021

Wait, wait, one last thing: Is Shaq in Uptown?

Well OK, @SHAQ riding a scooter down a Seattle street wearing a @SeattleKraken jersey. He did make it back up the hill BTW. @NBAonTNT #KOMONews pic.twitter.com/7p0QWX56Ry
— Doug Pigsley (@DougPigsleyKOMO) October 7, 2021

Slog PM: Time to Mask Up Outside Again, Landlords and Tenants Agree on This One Thing, and Joe Manchin Thinks We Have Too Much Stuff Going on To Pass Biden's Budget

Rich Smith — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 18:47:50 -0700

by Rich Smith We're gonna keep doing this until everyone gets vaccinated. MLADENBALINOVAC / GETTYIMAGES.COM
More teens in Washington need to get the jab: Only 41% of the state's 12 to 15-year-olds are fully vaccinated, and about 48% of those 16 to 17 years old are vaccinated. We gotta increase those numbers. According to KING 5, the state Department of Health urges parents to "vaccinate all eligible family members and continue to use best practices for COVID-19 safety like limiting travel, keeping playdates small and outdoors, wearing masks indoors when with people outside of the household and getting tested when symptoms appear." Though cases appear maybe to be plateauing now, this statewide return to in-person school could threaten progress.

King County will require masks at large outdoor gatherings: Starting September 7 you will need to wear a mask at events with 500 people or more regardless of vax status, and public health officials recommend you don masks outdoors when maintaining six feet of distance from others is impossible, KIRO reports.

Hear it from the Duch himself:

For Washington State Republicans, basic COVID safety mandates present the same affront this country's democratic principles and ideals as America's invasion of Vietnam. Luckily, people like Auburn Sen. Phil Fortunato—pictured below—can only water down tons of legislation and prevent Democrats from considering priority legislation around guns and stuff.

2022 @WashingtonSRC majority, confirmed #waleg pic.twitter.com/axCGol8AQO
— Marcus Whitman’s Ghost (@GhostWhitman) September 2, 2021

Nothing but respect for this headline over at the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog: "Dick’s slapped with citations after worker health, safety, and COVID complaints." The owners and managers of the burger joint that people like will need to pay $35,000 in fines for citations at two locations, including the one on Capitol Hill, if they don't get right with the law.

Landlords and tenant advocates agree on one thing: The county needs to quit being a bunch of scaredy cats and must start pushing out rental assistance en masse now, or else they're gonna find themselves in court, the Seattle Times reports. The county blames its slowness on a database they need to build to make sure they don't accidentally pay off someone's rent who doesn't deserve it *EYEROLL* and also the U.S. Treasury for means-testing the hell out of the rent money, but the Treasury Dept. clarified the rules last week, so things might go more smoothly now.

That abortion ban in Texas is going to fuck shit up for everybody: Here is a list of abortion funds you should shell out some cash to, along with some initial thoughts on the way the ban will complicate abortion access in Washington.

Wanna spy on Amazonians while doing your art? The company that drives up the cost of living in Seattle while fighting every single attempt to pay its fair share in taxes is looking for seven artists to fill its 2022 "Artist in Resident" program. You get $15,000 and 10 weeks of studio space on the company's campuses in Seattle or Bellevue. Apply here by Oct 18.

The Beacon reopens next week: The cinema in Columbia City made it through the pandemic and came out the other end with a new lobby. The theater will start showing filmz next Friday. Check out the "tighter" schedule here. All public shows will require proof of vaccination and masks.

What was left of Hurricane Ida was more than enough to flood cities and kill at least 43 people on the East Coast. Many of the deceased in New York City drowned in their basement apartments, the New York Times reports.

President Biden didn't mince words when blasting the Supreme Court for refusing to block the new Texas abortion ban that outlaws an estimated 80 to 90 percent of women in the state seeking the medical procedure. He vowed an all-out federal government push "to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions as protected by Roe,” according to the Associated Press.

Male reporter: Why does Pres Biden support abortion when his Catholic faith does not?@PressSec: President Biden believes that it's a woman's right, it's a woman's body, and it's her choice. I know you've never faced those choices, nor have you ever been pregnant.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) September 2, 2021

I wish women didn’t have to share their most personal stories and relive their trauma in an effort to help others understand the necessity of reproductive choice
— Maggie Downs (@downsanddirty) September 1, 2021

Obstructionist Sen. Joe Manchin is obstructin' again, warning top Democrats to hit "pause" on the president's $3.5 trillion spending package, because... [checks notes]... "we have so much on our plates right now"?

A Georgia ex-prosecutor has been indicted for allegedly protecting the white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery, suppressing video evidence so they wouldn't be charged with murdering him, the Associated Press reports.

Slog PM: Biden Vows Revenge for Kabul Attack, Blast Off Like Bezos for $69, and Get to Know the Black Film Archive

Chase Burns — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 17:45:41 -0700

by Chase Burns Available for $69.99. Estes model
The tweet that broke today's internet: Or, at least, ruined our breakfasts.

Our team eradicated the first #AsianGiantHornet nest of the year yesterday. Read about it in our press release or tune into our press conference at 11 a.m. live streaming on YouTube. https://t.co/hY2MZJVqVd #SoundOn pic.twitter.com/U2CMgN5y2C
— Washington State Department of Agriculture (@WSDAgov) August 26, 2021

More than 60 Afghans were killed along with thirteen US servicemembers today and scores more were injured in a terrorist bombing at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, where thousands are still desperately trying to escape the country. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack. President Biden gave a national address saying that the murderers will be held responsible ("we will hunt you down and make you pay" is the quote) and vowed to complete the evacuation of American citizens and others from Afghanistan. Here's a transcript.

President Biden said the U.S. will target the assets, leadership and facilities of ISIS-K, the terror group that has claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul that killed 12 U.S. service members and left dozens of Afghans dead and injured. https://t.co/sQcJzScPxX
— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) August 26, 2021

In a statement, Secretary of State Blinken called the bombings “a devastating reminder of the dangerous conditions in which our servicemembers and diplomats are operating as we conclude the United States’ 20-year military mission in Afghanistan.”

This is what the #USMarines were facing in their day-to-day work at the exact spot where the attacks took place (filmed a few days ago). No one had been searched - it wasn’t possible. Tough conditions and incredibly vulnerable - open to attack. #KabulAiport #afghanistan pic.twitter.com/NvZpAuGQ4n
— Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) August 26, 2021

And so ends the deadliest day for US military in Afghanistan since 2011: Not since a Taliban compound in the Tangi Valley shot down 38 people in 2011 has the US military lost so many servicemembers in a single day. And yet, the 60 Afghans who died today are a fraction of the 71,000 Afghan and Pakistani civilians estimated to have died because of the war. Brown University estimates around 241,000 people have been killed in the Afghanistan and Pakistan war zone since 2001.

More graves: One model predicts the US will see nearly 100,000 more deaths from COVID-19 between now and December 1, with other models predicting similar numbers. “We cannot stop delta in its tracks, but we can change our behavior overnight," said the director of the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. But can we really?

Back at it, baby! It's not quite an encore performance of last year's soul-sucking rally, but the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is already racking up high numbers: "More than 100 coronavirus infections have been linked to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, an annual event that drew hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts to South Dakota as the virus’s ferocious delta variant spread misery nationwide," reports the Washington Post. Last year, virus trackers connected around 649 cases to the rally and at least one death.

This morning, Matt showcased an innovative candy corn dildo: This evening, we'll showcase this mini dildo-shaped rocket—available for $69! Nice.

Toot toot! Loving the lime.

Sound Transit’s CEO Peter Rogoff is previewing some upcoming changes with new line names rolling out this fall.

Background: https://t.co/DUk6ble0gB pic.twitter.com/TXRlU4MPia
— The Urbanist (@UrbanistOrg) August 26, 2021

Good library news: On January 2, 2020, the Seattle Public Library announced no more late fines, thanks to voters who passed the 2019 Library Levy. The library's new 2020 Impact Report found that by eliminating overdue fines, the library could restore 51,000 accounts. Fuck library fines! Free the accounts!

"I think there’s an absolute risk of a mass exodus from the city," said Shaun Van Eyk, a union representative with one of the city's largest unions, PROTEC17, to Crosscut's David Kroman. Why? Employees who won't obey the city's vaccine mandate. It comes after Gov. Jay Inslee announced state employees and health care workers need to get vaccinated no later than October 18. King County and Seattle quickly implemented similar mandates. A couple of union leaders as well as demon spawn Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, think the city's mandate will cause the city to bleed employees, especially vaccine-resistant cops. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also to the surprise of NO ONE: Cops down in Portland have been very resistant to changes put forth by the Department of Justice. However in the latest settlement hearing, the city says they are eager to remedy the cops' non-compliant behavior—though community activists are rightly skeptical. Portland Mercury's Isabella Garcia has a piece that breaks it down.

Staying in Oregon for a second: Now, in most cases, Oregon state is refusing to pay out unemployment benefits for those who get fired for not getting vaxxed up.

Tonight's clickhole: We recommend you fall down the Black Film Archive, a "living register of Black films" made from 1915 to 1979 that are all currently streaming. Its founder, Maya S. Cade, announced the archive today, writing: "The website will be updated monthly with the latest Black films from 1915 to 1979 streaming and continue evolving beyond its launchpad. I sincerely have big, never-ending plans for what this archive can become. To learn more about the site click here for FAQs."

some news: today, i’m excited to launch https://t.co/lznpLOLd0J. this ever-expanding black film archive provides history and context to over 200 black films made from 1915 to 1979 currently streaming.

every description on the site is lovingly written & researched by me. pic.twitter.com/cKMNvqHO09
— maya cade (@mayascade) August 26, 2021

Slog PM: It's Seattle Audit Day; You Are Not a Horse, You Are Not a Cow; and Hey Kids, Jane Fonda Is Calling!

Chase Burns — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 18:00:00 -0700

by Chase Burns "Gimme a sec, gotta call these kids in Idaho." Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
The Seattle Storm visited the White House today, where Biden said lots of nice things about them: The President called these hometown heroes and four-time WNBA champions a "force for change," saying that "they change lives" because they encourage people to get vaccinated, stand up for racial justice and voting rights, mentor the kids, fight to protect trans youth, and and and and

Breanna Stewart on the Storm’s White House visit: “It was a special day for us.” pic.twitter.com/Wh9k7MymEH
— Percy Allen (@percyallen) August 23, 2021

The Seattle Community Police Commission canceled their upcoming mayoral debate because mayoral candidate and former council president Bruce Harrell declined their invitation to participate. We'll have to find another forum to discuss this proposal from Bruce: "I would like every sworn police officer in Seattle to watch the 8 minutes and 46 seconds of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis and voluntarily sign an open letter stating: The Inhumane Treatment of Fellow Human Beings Will Not Be Tolerated In Seattle."

We know it feels like pumpkin season this week: But put your knitted sweaters back in the closet; summer isn't over yet. September can be full of surprises, remember?

Average Seattle high temp...

August 1st thru 15th...83.6° ( 5.0° above normal )
August 16th thru 22nd...72.1° ( 5.3° below normal )

Cooler weather continuing this week with a chance of showers Thursday & Friday. Temperatures warming back to above normal over the weekend. #wawx pic.twitter.com/zXv2VibrqR
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) August 23, 2021

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the three victims in last week's Tukwila apartment fire: Roberto Sellem, 41; Alixzandra Chalcraft, 22; and 3-year-old Elliott Chalcraft died from smoke inhalation. The cause of the blaze hasn't been determined.

Army arms get the jabby jab: Now that the FDA gave Comirnaty, the Pfizer vaccine, full approval, the US military announced it's requiring all service members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The timeline for vaccination requirements is coming "in the coming days," said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby this afternoon. The US Department of Defense, which has claimed it's the nation's largest employer*, reports 1,077,981 service members are currently fully vaccinated. (*Walmart is close.)

29 SPD employees have tested positive for coronavirus since August 4, according to new data released by the department. Maybe the employees are experiencing breakthrough cases; maybe the employees are unvaccinated... it's hard to say...

Meanwhile: "Mississippi health officials are pleading with residents not to take a medicine meant for cows and horses as an alternative to getting the COVID-19 vaccine."

You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4
— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 21, 2021

The children are our future, and Jane Fonda is paying for a group of Boise High School students to take a climate change class at Boise State University. BHS student Shiva Rajbhandari wrote a letter to Fonda, asking if the celebrity could help financially support one student to take the course. Surprisingly, Fonda gave him a call and said she'd sponsor the whole group—with one stipulation:

“It was the craziest thing,” [Rajbhandari] told the Idaho Statesman. “Jane Fonda called me on my cellphone. She was like, ‘I want to pay.'”

She had one condition, though: The students needed to do more than learn about climate change. They needed to take action. She asked that they deliver a Greenpeace petition to Rep. Mike Simpson’s office calling for the federal government to eliminate fossil-fuel subsidies.

“So I was like, ‘Well, let’s do that,’ ” Rajbhandari said. “We are pros at organizing. Let’s make that happen.”

It took nearly 24 hours for the Portland mayor's office to respond about yesterday's right-wing crime spree in downtown Portland, and his statement... ummm... is not so good.

Netflix's live-action remake of the anime classic Cowboy Bebop will debut on November 19: IGN has the first images from the series here. The images are meh, but the original composer Yoko Kanno is making new music for this series, which gives us some hope.

Oh fuck they gave Cowboy Bebop bisexual lighting https://t.co/BW8z9Y607E
— bible prophecy updates (@noisepromoter) August 23, 2021

Proud Boys leader Henry Tarrio has been sentenced to more than five months in prison for burning a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a Black church during a pro-Trump rally in December.

Following the TERRIBLE decision to hire Mike Richards as Jeopardy host and his humiliating fall from grace, part-timer Mayim Bialik will be filling in until a permanent host can be chosen (AHEM, Levar Burton).

We know where we'll be Labor Day weekend...

Scarecrow's having a parking lot sale! Saturday, September 4 from 12 noon — 6pm. There'll be great deals on tons of books, posters, DVDs, Blu-rays, VHS tapes, and laserdiscs — CHEAP! Don't miss out. pic.twitter.com/uKQKcwiuo8
— ScarecrowVideo (@ScarecrowVideo) August 23, 2021

Also, this:

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A post shared by Day In • Day Out (@dayindayoutfest)

The City of Seattle's $3 million contract they awarded to launch the Black Brilliance Research Project was awarded legally, announced Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy's office this afternoon, but (and it's a big but) "the city exercised only the bare minimum of accountability and transparency" during the process. The state auditor examined the contract as a part of the city's annual accountability audit.

The Black Brilliance Research Project, originally spearheaded by King County Equity Now but contracted through the Freedom Project because of a 501(c)(3) complication, resulted in an almost 1,300-page report*: The report looked at how Seattle can set up a participatory budgeting process to vote on spending priorities, as well as questions like, "What creates true community safety? What creates true community health? What do you need to thrive?" (*While the report is almost 1,300 pages, "the vast majority of the report, more than 1,100 pages, consists of older publications or subcontractors’ reports, reprinted as appendices," notes the Seattle Times.)

That pretentious hurricane is headed back to the sea: Where it belongs. No deaths have been attributed to Hurricane Henri, reports NPR, but the big boy left federally-declared disasters in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut. Meanwhile, in Tennessee, the number of missing people is fluctuating after their historic flooding.

Rudy Giuliani's associate Igor Fruman will likely plead guilty in Manhattan federal court tomorrow for allegedly funneling foreign money "to US campaign coffers," reports CNN. Fruman originally pleaded not guilty. The gist of it:

It's not clear whether Fruman's guilty plea will include a cooperation agreement. An attorney for Fruman didn't immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

Any assistance by Fruman to prosecutors could threaten Giuliani, who has been the subject of a separate ongoing criminal investigation by Manhattan federal prosecutors for more than two years.

Giuliani has denied wrongdoing. An attorney for Giuliani didn't immediately respond to CNN's request for comment on Monday.

Let's end with a little Yellow Magic Orchestra: If you like YMO, heads-up: the 2019 documentary No Smoking, a retrospective on YMO's Haruomi Hosono, is currently streaming online as a part of JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film 2021.

Slog PM: Another T-Mobile Hack, Finger-Pointing Over Afghanistan's Collapse, and Sudden Doom!!

Chase Burns — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 18:00:36 -0700

by Chase Burns Biden backs backing out of Afghanistan: "I made a commitment to the American people when I ran for president that I would bring America’s military involvement in Afghanistan to an end. While it’s been hard and messy and, yes, far from perfect, I’ve honored that commitment," he said today. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Image
Biden said we're still getting the fuck out of Afghanistan: "After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces," the president said during a speech this afternoon that addressed the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan. As Biden spoke about his belief that the United States doesn't invade nations to conduct nation-building (someone page W. about that claim), many people were killed during chaos* at the Kabul International Airport. (*People "plunged to their deaths" after holding onto a US military jet, reports AP.)

Biden blamed the Afghanistan government for the Taliban's sudden takeover, specifically now-ex Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, and Republicans blamed Biden for the takeover, glossing over Trump's deal with the Taliban.

Here's his speech:

"I cannot and I will not ask our troops to fight on endlessly in another — in another country’s civil war, taking casualties, suffering life-shattering injuries, leaving families broken by grief and loss," Biden emphasized in his speech today, conveniently forgetting all that Yemen stuff.

Meanwhile, the publisher of the Washington Post is begging the Biden administration to help with the evacuation of 204 journalists and their families from Kabul.

In other news...

We'll have more on this tomorrow, but here's the new "less lethal" weapons ban legislation from the Seattle City Council: It passed 7-0 (Councilmembers Morales and Sawant were absent) and *~*once it clears a formal review, as outlined in Seattle's consent decree*~* the legislation intends to include a complete ban on blast balls and other devices ("including acoustic weapons, directed energy weapons, water cannons, ultrasonic canons," according to a press release from Councilmember Lisa Herbold's office).

Beyond that, there are many watered-down restrictions on tear gas, pepper spray, and other "crowd control" weapons. (Overheard over our office Slack: "It's a far cry from a ban." "Watered-down to all hell." "If I had to distill the whole thing into a sentence, it looks like they passed a bill that says cops can’t use tear gas on the Womxn’s March.")

Hackers keep hacking the very hackable Bellevue-based company T-Mobile: They hacked in 2020. And they hacked in 2019. And they hacked in 2018. And so it goes. Over the weekend, Vice's Motherboard reported that someone was on an online forum trying to sell T-Mobile customers' personal information that they got from a previous hacking spree. Today, T-Mobile confirmed that data breach, writing in a press release that they're coordinating with law enforcement, taking "the protection of our customers very seriously," and "conducting an extensive analysis alongside digital forensic experts to understand the validity of these claims."

Tech Crunch estimated that this is the fifth time hackers have successfully hacked T-Mobile "in recent years."

The death toll in Haiti has passed 1,400 people, with more than 6,000 people injured, following a massive earthquake over the weekend.

Space complaints: Back in April, NASA awarded a $2.9 billion contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a spacecraft that will take humans to the moon again. NASA chose not to accept the proposal from Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin aerospace company, headquartered in Kent. Blue Origin tried to throw an extra two billion around to woo NASA, but that didn't work. So, today, Blue Origin announced it just filed a complaint against the US government. It's unclear what's precisely in that complaint, but the company said the complaint "challenges NASA’s unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals," reports Geekwire. Wah wah wah.

Cheer up, Bezos: You still got that other contract.

Seattle: Is Glossy(er).

Seattle: Is Dying

Seattle: Also Opening a Glossier Showroom in CHOP https://t.co/I3FdSj64vW
— Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) August 16, 2021

Next to Seattle's new Glossier flagship store is the ghost of Everyday Music, a ghost that will soon be (almost) reborn in Queen Anne.

And speaking of ghosts and gloom: Mudede wrote a blog about our gloomy summer.

Mudede isn't the only local columnist getting emo over the failed promise of a hot vax summer: "Whether you call it 'languishing,' 'malaise' or just plain rage, the mental-health effects of being back here again after weathering so much already are what one psychiatrist called the 'sudden doom effect,'" writes Naomi Ishisaka for the Seattle Times. "We thought we had turned a corner but, in large part due to the choices of others, delta has just given us one new corner after another, with no end in sight."

Start gathering your happy lamps! We'll need them during our next pandemic winter!

More shows get postponed: I worry this is the beginning of a familiar trend.

Due to current conditions, Ben's Showbox dates with @davidbazan are moving to October. The show scheduled for Fri 8/20 will now be Sat 10/9, and the show on Sat 8/21 is moving to Sun 10/10. Sorry for the hassle and thanks for understanding... excited to see you soon. pic.twitter.com/uRz7RQALLk
— Death Cab for Cutie (@dcfc) August 16, 2021

Did you go to the Watershed Music Festival that happened at the Gorge from July 30 to August 1? How's your head? Is it warm?

Reminder: At the end of July, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot issued an executive order banning mask and vaccine mandates. Here's today's headline: "Texas requests five mortuary trailers in anticipation of Covid deaths."

Criterion announced their November titles today: After they drop new releases of La strada and Mulholland Dr. earlier in November, Criterion will drop the complete films of the Once Upon a Time in China collection on November 16. The six-disc set will be a treat for Jet Li fans, especially considering the Once Upon a Time in China collection has been mostly unstreamable, and the old releases of the movies are just so-so. (UPDATE: As this Slogger noted, Criterion's November releases also include a 4K UHD release of Citizen Kane, as well as Menace II Society, which drop after Once Upon a Time in China.)

I think about this operatic opening sequence all the time: The landscape looks like Seattle last week.

Headline: "Johnny Depp says Hollywood is boycotting him." Johnny Depp... who?

Slog PM: Mandatory Masking, The Return of the Jet Man, and SPD Is Still Fighting Over Who Was Responsible for Gassing Capitol Hill

Chase Burns — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 17:50:27 -0700

by Chase Burns June 1, 2020, right before the "pink umbrella incident." Rich Smith
Accountability is expensive: Two months ago, Seattle Police Department's Interim Chief Adrian Diaz demoted Assistant Chief Steve Hirjak to just Captain Steve Hirjak after determining he was responsible for SPD's disproportionally aggressive response to Capitol Hill protesters on June 1, 2020. (Maybe you remember that pink umbrella incident?) Now, Captain Hirjak has filed a $5.48 million discrimination and retaliation claim against the city, saying Diaz used him as a scapegoat, reports the Seattle Times.

Hirjak and his lawyer argue that SPD's Lt. John Brooks was actually responsible for the department's tear gas and blast ball use that day. Their claim is supported by the Office of Police Accountability's findings, as Publicola highlights in this post today. Hirjak, the department's first Asian American assistant chief, accused Diaz of discriminating against him based on race. Brooks is white, and Hirjak's lawyer submitted a letter alleging a history of preferential treatment toward white officers at the department, uploaded by the Times.

While we wait for comment from Seattle police spokespeople, let's take a moment and remember how we got here...

Teenage Dick is coming to the Seattle Repertory Theatre: It's a play. Calm down.

Another player enters the Capitol Hill grocery wars: It's feast or famine in Seattle, with some areas like South Seattle, which "may in fact be a food desert," and other areas like Capitol Hill, which has Amazon (Amazon Go, Whole Foods) fighting Hanahreum (H Mart) fighting Kroger (QFC) fighting Albertsons (Safeway) fighting Mr. Theo Albrecht (Trader Joe's) for neighborhood grocery supremacy. Now Capitol Hill will have another player, although this one is much more homespun. Local entrepreneur Jayne Truesdell will open The Naked Grocer on the block next to Rudy's and Fogon, reports Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. I'm sure the neighborhood is happy to have a smaller grocery option, but we need to spread out the veggies, Seattle.

Also, what James said:

This is neat, quirky, and fun, but pike/pine is oversaturated with grocers while much of the south end and west seattle are food deserts.

Grocery access shouldn’t be determined by your zip code; the time for a public option — a municipal grocer — is now. https://t.co/QJYwjZet4N
— James Taylor (@MinusPeach) July 29, 2021

Big Boy Biden issued tough new rules for federal employees who are vaccine-hesitant: Today he ordered every gov employee (all four million) to get vaccinated or subject themselves to mandated masking, weekly testing, and social distancing.

WATCH: A large group of GOP members of Congress are walking maskless to the Senate side of the Capitol to protest the House's mask mandate. pic.twitter.com/pXNL1NQPeK
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) July 29, 2021

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson reconsiders his commitment to doing nothing: And decides to do basically nothing.

New cases of COVID-19 are spiking in Arkansas. In response to the rising numbers, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that things have now reached a state of emergency—but there will be no serious measures taken to try and mitigate that emergency https://t.co/DfrjNuJCnr
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 29, 2021

Gov. Hutchinson of Arkansas has rightly declared a state of emergency over the shockingly high number COVID cases racing through his state... BUT! He is not asking for a single mandate or protective measure to slow the spread. Sounds like a plan!

Welp: Thanks to a ruling by the Supreme Court, the Biden administration says it will be forced to let the nationwide moratorium on evictions expire at the end of the month (that's SATURDAY)—but is asking Congress to step in and pass their own extension.

Another example of Catholic malfeasance: "Theodore McCarrick, once a high-ranking American cardinal, charged with sexually assaulting teen."

In other legal news, a former cop who was indicted for participating in the Jan 6 domestic terror attack on the Capitol will remain in jail after it was discovered he'd gone on a "shopping spree," purchasing nearly three dozen high-powered assault weapons.

FYI: "The jet man is back."

Air traffic controllers warned pilots to be on the lookout after a "man in a jetpack" was spotted near Los Angeles International Airport.

"Use caution, the jet man is back," an air traffic controller said in an audio transmission obtained by CNN. https://t.co/HlJ4SeyngF
— CNN (@CNN) July 29, 2021

ScarJo vs. Streaming: Claiming a "breach of contract" that she said deprived her of potential earnings, Scarlett Johansson has decided to sue the Walt Disney Co. for allowing a streaming release of Black Widow, instead of opening it exclusively in theaters.

This is officially your two-day warning to prep your bowels: This Saturday, for just $15.50, you could wreck yourself with an indulgent three-course meal: first, an onigiri with a Thai iced tea; second, a teriyaki shrimp skewer with a pint of local beer; finally, finish it off with four mini cream puffs. Or you could go a more druggy route and spend $9 and get two weed gummies, two CBD joints, a pizza slice, and a chocolate chip cookie. I can go on. This cheap and delicious madness is brought to you by the Chinatown-International District's popular Food Walk Series, which returns this Saturday to finish up the neighborhood's #WelcomeBackWeek festivities. Businesses across the CID are offering food at prices ranging from two to eight dollars. Mix and match to have a feast for under twenty bucks.

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A post shared by Seattle's Chinatown-ID (@iheartid)

While you're hopping around the CID, I recommend checking out Gift Shop, where my favorite onigiri pop-up, Sankaku, just announced a residency. Pass through and pick up some triangle treats—I recommend the salty ume or salmon onigiris. I also recommend, uh, everything.

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A post shared by 𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚊𝚔𝚞 𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚒 𝚌𝚊𝚏𝚎 & 𝚋𝚊𝚛 (@sankakuseattle)

Looking for more things to do on Friday or Saturday? Maybe check out Ahamefule J. Oluo and Sheridan Riley's new band, Insect Revenge, at Retail Therapy? Or a Princess Bride outdoor screening at the Seattle Center?

Vax? Vax.

Mask? Mask.

Bop? Bop.

Slog PM: The Mariners Are Back with Pods, Death to Racist Statues, and Everybody Hates Matt Gaetz

Chase Burns — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 17:30:42 -0700

by Chase Burns The Virginia Supreme Court okays the removal of racist Confederate statues, like this one depicting Robert E. Lee. EZE AMOS / GETTY NEWS

In day four of the Derek Chauvin murder trial, George Floyd's girlfriend revealed more about the man and their history together, while a former Minneapolis police officer testified that Chauvin should have stopped pinning Floyd with his knee after he was no longer resisting.

Derek Smith said that paramedics performed numerous measures inside the ambulance to try to save Floyd, including shocking him, but he remained “in a quote-unquote dead state." He then slammed the officers for not starting chest compressions at the scene https://t.co/ZqItEwN9yU
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 1, 2021

Derek Chauvin's supervisory sergeant just testified he believes Chauvin used excessive force on George Floyd.
— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) April 1, 2021

The Virginia state Supreme Court has overruled a lower court's decision, clearing the way for the removal of two racist Confederate statues—one of which was the meeting place for the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.

What's this? It appears that Busy Bee Biden is taking a longer, closer look at his ability to cancel student loan debt via executive order, so FINGERS CROSSED: Also, if Republicans continue to insist upon being unhelpful, America-hating pricks, Biden will probably try to pass his $2 trillion infrastructure package without them.

As Jasmyne highlighted in Slog AM, Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure plan has set off a "feeding frenzy" in Washington D.C.: This big proposed load of cash (the largest infrastructure package in at least five decades!!) has kicked off a "lobbying bonanza," says Politico. And over here in Washington state, leaders would like to see funds for improved railroad grade crossings, a bolstered Sound Transit, modernized roads and bridges, and—gasp—even high-speed rail, reports Mike Baker at the Seattle Times. Please, Joe, give us a shinkansen.

A few updates from our Capitol Hill: America's Only Capitol Hill™. First: The Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park will reopen in a limited capacity on May 28. Tickets for timed entry will go on sale at the end of April, and the inaugural exhibitions from last spring will remain on display. Also: We're getting fruit cocktails and elote on Broadway!!!!!!!!!

NEW: The Seattle Asian Art Museum reopens on May 28 in a limited capacity. Tickets will be available starting April 29.
OLD: @jasmynekeimig wrote this excellent cover story on the last SAAM reopening. It got wrecked by COVID, but let's pretend it's fresh: https://t.co/zGmUdnEsbf
— Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) April 1, 2021

Broadway’s busiest 80 square feet now home to Antojitos Jalisco and its Capitol Hill fruit cocktail plans https://t.co/c5SPCXuIJh
— jseattle (@jseattle) April 1, 2021

Nathalie overviewed the Washington State Supreme Court's unanimous decision to allow the Recall Kshama Sawant campaign to move forward today riiiiight here. What's next for the effort to recall the controversial council member?

Now, the recall petitioners have 180 days to collect the required number of signatures. They'll need to gather around 10,000 signatures from District 3 residents, or 25% of the nearly 43,000 votes cast in Sawant's November 2019 race. If the recall petitioners get all their signatures, then the recall will be sent to the ballot of the next election, which will likely be the November general election at this rate. Only District 3 residents will be able to vote on whether or not to recall Sawant.

But at a Cal Anderson Park press conference this afternoon, the Recall Sawant campaign manager, Henry Bridger, said the campaign would prefer it if the effort did not appear on the November general election ballot, reports CHS Blog. The campaign is unlikely to get enough signatures in time to make it onto the primary ballot in August, and a special election cannot be held between the primary and general election.

Go ahead and skip down a few paragraphs if your brain hurts, but when digging into this in January, Nathalie highlighted that:

King County Elections spokesperson Hannah Kurowski said when the election is held "depends entirely on when we get the petition" [with enough qualifying signatures]. After that happens, King County Elections certifies the signatures and has 45 to 90 days to hold the election.

Anyways, feel free to math out when the theoretical recall vote would happen in the comments, but remember: The point is that the campaign ultimately has 180 days to collect the signatures, then we move on to the next step.

We asked King County Elections if a recalled council member could run for election after being recalled: A spokesperson told us that they "do not see anything in either RCW nor the State Constitution that would prohibit a recalled official from running for office in the future."

Meanwhile:

Join us, along with progressive leaders and activists at 11am this Saturday, April 3 for a socially-distanced rally @ Cal Anderson or join the livestream remotely to build the Kshama Solidarity Campaign and defend against this attack on all working people! https://t.co/6ZG2zVpuXh
— Kshama Solidarity Campaign (@Kshama_SC) April 1, 2021

This will be a long summer of Sawant-related canvassing in D3.

Okay, moving on.

More good data from the Pfizer vaccine test trials: According to the research, not only will this particular vaccine protect people from the South Africa variant, but it will also continue to provide high levels of protection six months after the second dose. We'll know more about how long vaccines provide protections as studies continue to publish results from trials.

Washington state has a new poet laureate: Bellingham writer Rena Priest was named the new Washington state poet laureate today, making her the sixth person to receive the award and the first Native person to be selected, reports Margo Vansynghel for Crosscut. Among many projects Priest is considering, she says she wants to build mini-anthologies of locally written poetry for tribes and tribal schools around the state. The passing of the laurel from current poet laureate Claudia Castro Luna to Priest will happen virtually on April 14. More here:

A member of the Lummi Nation, Bellingham writer Rena Priest has been named the new Washington state poet laureate, making her the first Native person to be selected. https://t.co/dEQf6vzMe3
— Crosscut (@Crosscut) April 1, 2021

We recommend this poem from our new laureate: Real to Reel.

🎵Downtown🎵: The developers behind the Washington State Convention Center expansion say they no longer need the City of Seattle, King County, and the state to help them patch a $300 million financing hole to keep construction going on that beast of a building, reports CHS blog. They made a private deal instead and still plan on a 2022 opening. We'll keep re-upping this op-ed as long as this topic returns: Don't bail out the new Washington State Convention Center. The biggest public construction project in Seattle history should have built homes, schools, and parks.

Apparently Democrats aren't the only people who hate Rep. Matt Gaetz' stinking guts: Republicans in Washington despise him as well, and are all too happy to watch him twist in the breeze amidst human sex trafficking allegations. Heh, heh, hehhhhhhhhh.

Matt Gaetz allegedly showed off to other lawmakers photos and videos of nude women he said he had slept with, including while on the House floor. Sources said Gaetz displayed the images of women on his phone and talked about having sex with them. https://t.co/7rx6l8HkOv
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 1, 2021

For those who care about such things, it's baseball's opening day! Aaaaaand the Mets-Nationals game has already been postponed after players found out they'd been exposed to COVID-19. (Saaaad trommmboooone.)

Tonight is the Seattle Mariners opening night: They're letting in "only" 9,000 fans into the stadium. Everyone will need to be in their own socially distanced pod, and pods can include anywhere from one to six people. The sections will reportedly be laid out so groups are distanced by six feet. To the Mariners' credit, at least they're considering the loners by allowing pods of one.

Happy Opening Day @Mariners #SeaUsRise pic.twitter.com/f0EPZcBCEV
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) April 1, 2021

Here's another friendly reminder: You will be pleased to know that SPLIFF—the short flick film festival about cannabis and all things "stoned"—is kicking off April 16-24 and you can get your tickets NOW. (So hurry up before you forget... because you know you will.) You clearly want to get a ticket to this specific screening.

SPLIFF Film Festival 2021 Trailer from Index Media on Vimeo.

Slog PM: Equality Passes the House, We're Staying in Phase 2, What Gender Is a Potato?

Chase Burns — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 17:30:40 -0800

by Chase Burns ... Ma'am? Hasbro
Here's your daily roundup of all the latest local and national news. Before we get to today's big discussion on potatoes and gender, let's check in with some news that matters...

GOOD NEWS for our* fellow LGBTs: The House of Representatives has successfully passed the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination against sexual orientation or gender identity in such areas as housing, jobs, education, public accommodations, and more! Now it goes to the Senate, where it will need at least 60 votes to avoid a filibuster—Democrats could also just nuke the filibuster off the face of the earth.

9 Republican votes for the Equality Act in 2019 and 3 Republican votes for the Equality Act in 2020 is a pretty good summary of how things are going in the Republican Party.
— John Hagner (@JHagner) February 25, 2021

*Rich is straight.

The Washington State Supreme Court ruled RCW 69.50.4013 unconstitutional: That law made it a felony to possess drugs even when you didn't know they were in your possession, often called "simple possession." "As a result of the court’s decision, Washington joins 49 other states and the federal government in recognizing that the unknowing possession of drugs is not a crime," summarizes Mike Carter for the Seattle Times. "Attaching the harsh penalties of felony conviction, lengthy imprisonment, stigma, and the many collateral consequences that accompany every felony drug conviction to entirely innocent and passive conduct exceeds the legislature’s powers," wrote Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud, who was joined by Justices Mary Yu, Raquel Montoya-Lewis, G. Helen Whitener and Chief Justice Steven Gonzalez in building a five-member majority. Expect lots of hand-wringing on the right over this.

On to some COVID updates...

Due to dropping COVID-19 case numbers, Inslee "paused" the possibility of moving backward in phases: Before today, failure to meet three of four metrics in the state's regional reopening plan would have resulted in a region automatically returning to Phase 1 restrictions. But now, Inslee said, "they," which we assume to mean the Department of Health, have "told us we don't need this hair trigger circuit breaker any longer."

Regions could move forward in "the next several weeks," Inslee said. The state will decide what future phases will look like and which regions might move into them after "listening" to local politicians and health officials. The Governor said regions might move forward "earlier than that if we get some clarity on the variants, if we get further clarity on the ability of the vaccines to knock out the variants."

Vaccine supply to Washington is increasing: Officials at the Department of Health today said the Centers for Disease Control told them the feds will send along nearly 61,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine toward the end of next week if all the federal and regional authorities approve. In the meantime, however, vaccine is still in short supply. This week providers asked for more than 430,000 doses, and the feds will only send 260,000. By mid-March, the DOH expects we'll start getting a little over 300,000 doses.

The private sector has been kinda helping out with some tech stuff: Dan Laster, a longtime lawyer for a medical device company and WA DOH's private sector liaison, said private sector partners organized under the state's Vaccine Command and Coordination System (VACCS) did some "under the hood work" involving some technical aspects of the state's vaccine allocation systems. He also said they added a better map to the state website showing where you can get the vaccine. They’re also talking to the volunteers who set up a site to help people find and schedule vaccines.

Safely reopening schools depends on two things, according to state health chief Dr. Umair Shah's analysis of the latest report on the subject from the Institute for Disease Modeling. 1) Low community transmission rates, because those rates are proportional to school-based transmission rates. 2) Religiously following safety protocols, including wearing well-fitting masks, keeping distance, washing hands, and testing often. So there you have it. The people screaming for schools to reopen shoot themselves (and everyone else) in the foot when they also refuse to wear masks, demand indoor dining, and do other stuff that contributes to community spread as new variants begin to take hold.

Speaking of health care: Senate Bill 5399, which would codify into state law a promise to design and implement "a publicly financed and privately and publicly delivered health care system" by 2026, will soon see a vote on the Senate floor. If the Governor ends up signing the bill, it would be a big step toward establishing a state-based single-payer system in Washington. Advocates for the legislation note that Washington implemented its Cover All Kids Program, which guaranteed health care coverage to all children in the state, only after passing a law promising to do so.

Pivoting away from health care for a moment...

Someone stole Lady Gaga's dogs and shot her dog walker: This is a real story. The singer "is offering half-a-million dollars to anyone who has her two dogs, no questions asked. Anyone who has the dogs can use this email, KojiandGustav@gmail.com to retrieve the reward." The dog walker shot is in stable condition, according to LAPD.

Twitter announces paid features, essentially becoming Substack and OnlyFans and Facebook Groups: The significant upcoming features will allow users to charge their followers to access additional content and create and join groups based on specific interests. Details on the so-called "Super Follow" subscriptions are scarce. Twitter will presumably take a cut.

Hours after a former U.S. Olympics gymnastics coach was charged with two dozen crimes, including sexual assault and human trafficking, he was found dead at a Michigan rest stop after apparently committing suicide.

Seattle's Henry Art Gallery prepares to reopen: The gallery, which will admit the public for free through June 2021, opens on March 6 and announced its 2021 exhibition line-up today. The programming includes work from New York-based choreographer and performer Will Rawls and American-Syrian artist Diana Al-Hadid. We're excited to check out Plural Possibilities & the Female Body. FYI: "Safety protocols include timed entry, reduced capacity, as well as mask and social distancing requirements."

Let the 65-and-Older-Seattleites in your life know:

Residents who are 65 and older, live in ZIP codes most impacted by COVID-19, and have NOT yet received their first dose of the vaccine are eligible to sign up for the standby list. You also must be able to meet the @SeattleFire team quickly. https://t.co/ZTBNOskHWy
— SEA Mayor's Office (@OfficeofMayor) February 25, 2021

Is Mr. Potato Head nonbinary or what? Earlier today, AP published a report announcing Hasbro was de-gendering Mr. Potato Head, a move that created predictable drama from predictable people. Over at Fast Company, a Hasbro executive explained that "Mr." and "Mrs." are "limiting" when it comes to gender and family structure. But then this afternoon, Hasbro stepped in to clarify: Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads are sticking around; the brand is just switching to the neutral "Potato Head." (AP's original story now leads to a 404.)

Hold that Tot – your main spud, MR. POTATO HEAD isn’t going anywhere! While it was announced today that the POTATO HEAD brand name & logo are dropping the ‘MR.’ I yam proud to confirm that MR. & MRS. POTATO HEAD aren’t going anywhere and will remain MR. & MRS. POTATO HEAD pic.twitter.com/6I84KrxOLQ
— Hasbro (@Hasbro) February 25, 2021

https://t.co/ksAoZKv9v7 pic.twitter.com/WlThgnjrgd
— Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) February 26, 2021

The right may not have won the LGBT battle in the House today: But we hope they can find solace in the fact that their beloved potatoes still have two genders, just like God intended?

After setting off a social media firestorm in announcing that it removed the gender from its Mr. Potato Head brand, Hasbro has clarified that the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head characters will still exist. The branding on the box will say “Potato Head.” https://t.co/yUAO4bVYG0 https://t.co/aw8ruySWLx
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 25, 2021

At the risk of wrongfully conflating sex with gender, it's worth noting that in life potatoes exist on a spectrum: Regular potatoes reproduce sexually via pollinations, but they can also reproduce asexually by just being planted in the ground. Yams produce male and female flowers, while sweet potatoes produce hermaphroditic flowers. This is all to say that Hasbro imposed the gender binary on these toy potatoes in the first place, and so Mr. Potato “going gender-neutral" simply represents a return to form from the perspective of the plants themselves.

Let's end the night with Seattle's Robert Eagle Staff Middle School Marching Band: They've got a new virtual band performance out on their YouTube. Singer Kevin Ross (who is not a middle-schooler, if you couldn't tell by the beard) joins the band to sing the Black National Anthem for Black History Month. You might recognize some of these kids from their virtual performance of Lizzo's "Juice" last May. (Side note: You need to see these band bubbles if you haven't yet. Zoom band > bubble band.)

Slog PM: Parler Is Back Online, Get Your Obamacare, and What's the State of Seattle?

Chase Burns — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 16:45:00 -0800

by Chase Burns The country is re-opening enrollment for health care offered through the federal marketplace. I guess it's better than nothing. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesHere's your daily evening round-up of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!)

We had our State of the State, and now it's time for our State of the City, Seattle. At 5:05 PM tonight, Mayor Jenny Durkan will deliver her fourth (and final) State of the City address. It will broadcast live on the Seattle Channel. According to a press release from the mayor's office, Durkan will touch on the city's vaccination efforts, housing crisis, and, as Inslee did for the State of the State, drool over Amazon's Climate Pledge Arena.

A 90-year-old Seattle woman walked six miles roundtrip through the ice and snow to get her first COVID-19 vaccination shot on Sunday: "Had it been shorter, I would have been happier. But I made it," she told Seattle Times' Nicole Brodeur.

Unfortunately for the world, the social media platform for domestic terrorists, Parler, is back online and in business: The platform "limped back to life" on Monday after finding a new host in SkySilk, a company based outside LA. The website is operating at a slow pace and is not accepting new users at this time.

Following Trump's expected acquittal by Republicans on Saturday, Dems are still pushing for justice: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is establishing an "independent, Sept. 11-style commission" to find out who was behind the January 6 domestic terrorist attack on the nation's Capitol. (Wonder how many more "get out of jail free" cards Trump is holding? Because he'll need all of 'em.)

Trump's impeachment lawyer steals coasters from the Senate chamber pic.twitter.com/JAbXjKBxBf
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) February 15, 2021

Meanwhile, Utah Republicans are planning to strike back against their own Sen. Mitt Romney for having the AUDACITY to vote in favor of convicting Trump: They accused him of being "an agent of the Establishment Deep State," apparently forgetting that the GOP has been the establishment for years.

Tax grifter Tim Eyman says he's not letting Attorney General Bob Ferguson get him down: Thurston County Superior Court recently slammed Eyman with a $2.6 million fine for campaign-finance violations ("the largest in state history for an individual’s campaign-finance violations," notes the Seattle Times), and now Eyman "can have no financial decision-making authority for any political committee," among many more cannots. But Eyman suggests he's unbothered: He says it's "full steam ahead," reports the Times. Ferguson says that if Eyman "fails to follow the requirements of the injunction he will see us in court again."

The wintery blast that whipped through the PNW is also hammering the rest of the country: It has to do with a polar vortex, which brings an "arctic invasion" throughout the entire continental United States. It's below freezing in New Orleans—which, on the bright side, should help keep away the Mardi Gras crowds.

Confused about the #PolarVortex? Usually a strong jet stream confines Arctic air to the north, stabilized by a big difference in temperature between low and high latitudes. The smaller the difference in temperature, the more the wind belts meander (Via @RemoteLongitude & @NOAA) pic.twitter.com/GEpzwjw1dS
— UN Climate Change (@UNFCCC) February 15, 2021

..and whilst much of the USA is gripped by bitter cold, other parts of the globe are unusually warm, confirming the overall #globalheating trend (via @WMO). pic.twitter.com/APsFmfoAW1
— UN Climate Change (@UNFCCC) February 15, 2021

The brutal assault and death of an 84-year-old San Francisco man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, has sparked large rallies against anti-Asian American violence: Hundreds showed up at San Francisco's Civic Center on Sunday to call out escalating violence against Asian Americans. "We're here to say, we are not targets," said Lai Wa Wu from the Chinese Progressive Association. "We've also lived under a president who continued to blame COVID on Asians time and time again."

Seattle Film Critics Society says Nomadland is the best picture of 2020: It picked up a bunch of awards from the society, including Best Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Director (Chloé Zhao). Other leaders include Minari (winning three awards) and Sound of Metal (Best Actor for Riz Ahmed). I want Riz to win a bunch of Best Actor awards this season, but I think it's likely he'll lose to Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

That is a wrap!
Thank you for following along and congratulations to all of the winners!
#SFCSawards2020 #SFCS

For a list of all of the nominees and winners, head over to -> https://t.co/jjaWp0OJNa pic.twitter.com/1vRxFZWcVd
— Seattle Film Critics (@seattlecritics) February 15, 2021

GOP donors gave millions to a scheme that would purportedly investigate "voter fraud" in the 2020 election: Now they're asking for their money back because SURPRISE! The former president and his fellow grifters fleeced them! (Saaaad trommmmbooooone.)

"In the eight Washington counties with the largest share of potential Latino voters, people with Spanish-sounding names... are nearly four times more likely than others to have their ballot rejected for a signature mismatch, according to an InvestigateWest analysis of four recent elections."

That InvestigateWest analysis showed at least three recent examples where the signature rejections made up more than the final margin between two candidates: The examples include the Wapato mayoral election of 2017, a recent Yakima county race, and that race where Sen. Mark Mullet won reelection. There are plenty of important lessons in the piece, especially on implicit bias and language barriers, and also: We've got a cursive problem!

A warning as rainy weather returns to our region: Beware the avalanches.

A little snow-blowin' on westbound US 2 Stevens Pass as traffic waits out the avalanche control closure. pic.twitter.com/4lkWTKCy6S
— Washington State DOT (@wsdot) February 15, 2021

Members of the Los Angeles police circulated a valentine featuring a picture of George Floyd with the words "You take my breath away": Tell us more about how you think the police can be "reformed."

According to officials, the father of rapper Nicki Minaj was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Indoor dining, meet Great Wheel dining: The Seattle Great Wheel is offering a four-course dinner and wine from The Fisherman's Restaurant starting at $152.50 plus taxes. (Seattle Refined has pics here.) The "four courses" are pre-fixed and include a shrimp cocktail, caesar salad, grilled salmon, a side of vegetables and rice, and then a lil' chocolate. Something about eating shrimp cocktail on a Ferris wheel during the plague feels off to me.

Today through May 15, the country is opening a special health care enrollment period: It's a result of an executive order signed by Biden back in January, which mandated a special COVID-19-related enrollment period on the federal health insurance marketplace. The Biden admin has promised $50 million on outreach and education to help people know about the period. In a statement today, Biden reiterated that "health care is a right, not a privilege." We'd like to reiterate that single-payer health care can be here in Washington state by 2026, if we want it.

Health care is a right — and I will do everything in my power to ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable care. Starting today, we’re opening a special enrollment period for health insurance. Head to https://t.co/gRX1fGFEzj to get covered.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 15, 2021

ICYMI: Writers continue to call for the resignation of Hugo House executive director Tree Swenson. The growing group claims the partially publically-funded organization has failed communities of color and "fallen short of being a welcoming and supportive place for writers of all races, economic backgrounds and for those who write in languages other than English."

An open letter, published in July, detailed a history of "recurring themes" related to Hugo House and writers of color, including claims of a lack of diversity in leadership, tokenism, and that the classes are inaccessible to communities of color. A failure to properly address the concerns has led to rumblings of a teacher's strike. Hugo House is expected to have an announcement in response to the demands this Tuesday. ("Board President Dick Gemperle said on Friday that there would be a board meeting on Tuesday and 'things will resolve at that time,'" reported Moira Macdonald for the Seattle Times over the weekend.)

KOMO took a break from filming their meat-and-potatoes Seattle Is Dying pornography to capture some good old-fashioned weather smut: I love it when Mother Nature smacks a car's ass and shows it who's boss.

Will someone think of the outdoor dining tents?!?! These people are obsessed with tents.

we will rebuild https://t.co/jq1z2PRfig
— jseattle (@jseattle) February 13, 2021

Slog PM: FEMA Funeral Reimbursements, Michelle Obama Pulls Out the Puppets, Trump's Lawyers Suck

Chase Burns — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 18:00:06 -0800

by Chase Burns "Is it obvious that I don't know what the fuck I'm doing?" GETTY NEWS
Here's your daily evening round-up of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!)

It's time for our abusive ex-president's second impeachment trial: As everyone will remind you, it's unlikely that enough senators will vote to convict Trump since it requires a two-thirds majority and Republicans are scared of their freaky darkweb base. Still, we might as well enjoy the spectacle while we can. The impeachment managers dropped a video detailing the Capitol Insurrection this morning. Watch it in full:

The main business today was affirming that the trial was constitutional: The Senate voted 56-44 in favor of the trial's constitutionality, with Republican senators Romney, Collins, Murkowski, Cassidy, Sasse, and Toomey voting along with Democrats. (That's six Republicans if you're counting.) McConnell sided with Trump's defense. It seems, again, unlikely that Republican senators will vote to convict Trump in a trial they believe is unconstitutional, but hey, maybe I'm too pessimistic.

CASSIDY on Trump’s arguments:

“They talked about many things but they didn’t talk about the issue at hand”
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 9, 2021

Trump's lawyers—one of whom actually sued the former prez last year—were given the floor today, and... well, what can you say, other than you get what you paid for: They rambled incoherently for a while, blamed the Democrats for the insurrection, and claimed the impeachment trial will likely cause a civil war and is "disenfranchising" Trump voters... ummmm, like Trump did to people of color during the election? OH MY GOD WHO HIRED THESE LOSERS?

TRUMP: Get me the finest legal mind for my impeachment trial

THE LAWYER WHO SHOWED UP: pic.twitter.com/e98JaZExB9
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) February 9, 2021

Even Ted Cruz thought Trump's lawyers shit the bed: Or, as Cruz told the Washington Post, "I don’t think the lawyers did the most effective job."

While Trump's lawyers weren't effective, impeachment manager Jamie Raskin was: But was he effective enough to move Republicans to vote to convict?

One of the last detention centers for undocumented youth in the country is breaking up with ICE: The Cowlitz County Youth Services Center in Longview, WA is terminating its contract with ICE, reports Esmy Jimenez for KUOW. The county has contracted ICE to detain immigrant kids, usually between the ages of 16 and 18, for nearly 20 years.

I know we’re all looking at the impeachment happenings today but this is pretty huge news — it’s the last immigrant youth jail of its kind in the country https://t.co/1fI9kUlheV
— Esmy Jimenez (@esmyjimenez) February 9, 2021

Michelle Obama is back at Netflix: Obama is the executive producer and a star of Waffles + Mochi, a show about two puppets named Waffles and Mochi who want to become chefs. She will play a supermarket owner who helps teach the puppets about healthy eating, which was one of her main projects as First Lady. The show will drop March 16.

I’m also excited to work with @PHAnews to help kids build healthy habits and help families in need cook with fresh ingredients together at home. I hope you'll join us by watching on March 16! #WafflesAndMochi 💕
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) February 9, 2021

Meet my only IRL coworker: It's sad our relationship is so transactional.

My son pic.twitter.com/6NNhtFNcss
— Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) February 9, 2021

In an effort to improve the distribution of the COVID vaccine to those who have been historically ignored, the Biden administration is shipping doses directly to community health centers in underserved areas with an eye on racial equity—a small, but necessary first step.

RIP to the cofounder of the Supremes, Mary Wilson: She has died at the age of 76.

#GorillaGlueGirl update: Tessica Brown, the young woman who used gorilla glue in her hair and now has a permanent glue helmet, is still seeking a cure. TMZ says Brown is going to a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon for help. The surgeon, Dr. Michael Obeng, says he can fix her rock-hard hair in a few days with the right treatment and will do the work for free.

This woman put gorilla glue in her hair and now it’s stuck in this one style 😭 pic.twitter.com/521Yv95eYc
— Raven Darkhölme (@LeBlossommm) February 4, 2021

#FreeBritney update: People are doing a close-reading of her recent Instagram post, but what's new.

In "SPAAAAAACE" news: Congrats to the United Arab Emirates' science program whose spacecraft "Hope" has successfully entered orbit around Mars where it will study the planet's atmosphere.

Russell Wilson is allegedly trying to find "a classy way" to move on from the Seahawks: That's according to his former teammate, Brandon Marshall, who said in an interview that Wilson is frustrated with the team's offensive line and philosophy. And that's the most you're gonna get on sports from Slog today.

ICYMI: Another monolith appeared in Turkey. We're with Eve Peyser at the Intelligencer: "If you’re looking to anonymously erect a sculpture, and you want it to have an aura of mystery, you should know that there are other shapes—a cone, a cube, even a cylinder—that are less played out."

A three-meter-tall ‘mysterious monolith’ found in Turkey’s Gobeklitepe pic.twitter.com/vgudGQTSwt
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 6, 2021

FEMA will start reimbursing low-income families for COVID-related funeral expenses: Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made the announcement this morning, saying FEMA will reimburse approved families up to $7,000. Many details are still unclear, but these funds were part of the December COVID-19 relief bill—the one that sent out the $600 checks. We're still waiting on those other checks... (WH Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden is "maintaining his firmness on the $1,400 checks" during the White House presser today.)

And finally, maybe Trump should hire this ZOOM CAT LAWYER to defend him? He literally can't do any worse.

A lawyer using Zoom had to let a judge know that he wasn’t a cat after inadvertently activating a face filter pic.twitter.com/vChc14mjM1
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) February 9, 2021

Slog PM: A Bombshell Baby Food Report, GOP Supports Lizard People, and Will Biden Cancel Student Debt?

Chase Burns — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 16:50:23 -0800

by Chase Burns Can relate. LUCIAN3D / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
House impeachment managers have called on Trump to testify IN PERSON and under oath at his upcoming Senate trial (opening arguments start at the beginning of next week)—though he immediately refused. This makes us sad/happy, because on one hand, we really wanted to see him ruthlessly grilled. On the other, we'd prefer to never hear his weird, lying voice ever again.

Meanwhile Democrats forced a vote on whether or not to remove the committee assignments from QAnon crackpot and lizard people-and-space-laser believer Marjorie Taylor Greene, which in turn revealed which Republicans also support Greene, space lasers, and lizard people. (Just for the record, we fucking hate lizard people.) The vote? "In a move without precedent in the modern Congress, the House voted 230 to 199—over near-unanimous Republican opposition—to remove Ms. Greene from the Education and Budget Committees," writes the New York Times. Here's a list of the Republicans who voted with Dems to strip MTG of her committee assignments:

Adam Kinzinger (IL), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Nicole Malliotakis (NY), John Katko (NY), Fred Upton (MI), Carlos Gimenez (FL), Chris Jacobs (NY), Young Kim (CA), Maria Salazar (FL), Chris Smith (NJ), and Mario Diaz Balart (FL).

In case you're interested in what space-laser lady had to say...

Cancel your fucking Super Bowl plans: And then read these coronavirus updates from Rich.

Cheers to Nastasia Xavier: The 33-year-old mother of two from Pilot Station, Alaska, has been at the UW Medical Center hospitalized for COVID-19 for almost 50 days. She was airlifted to Seattle for more intensive care after coronavirus complications, and today she is expected to be discharged. Elise Takahama has a feature on Xavier over at the Seattle Times. Safe travels back to Alaska!

President Joe Biden (ah, still nice to say that) approved federal aid for Eastern Washington towns burned by fires last summer: Trump would not approve the funds for Jay Inslee's state—remember when he called Inslee a snake?—but Biden's letting the relief fundssssss flow. "No one should play politics with disaster relief," said Sen. Cantwell today. It's time to rebuild Malden and Pine City.

Last month @PattyMurray and I urged the Biden administration to approve @GovInslee's requests for federal disaster declarations for Malden after the Trump administration refused to act.

Today, @POTUS granted disaster relief. Now it is time to help these communities rebuild. https://t.co/b6Dmt4Sjt4
— Sen. Maria Cantwell (@SenatorCantwell) February 4, 2021

In very promising Busy Bee Biden news: The White House is reviewing whether it can take unilateral action to CANCEL FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN DEBT, which would go a very long way in putting our economy back on track. In other news, if you are against this because you had to repay student loans, get away from us, you're a monster.

Economists agree that canceling student loan debt would help boost our struggling economy and lead to greater home-buying rates and housing stability, higher college completion rates, and greater small business formation. This is a no-brainer for our economy.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 4, 2021

Wisconsin prosecutors are asking for an arrest warrant and bond increase for accused teenage Kenosha protest murderer Kyle Rittenhouse (unbelievably released from jail pending trial), who refused to notify authorities of his change in address, and was seen partying with Proud Boys in a bar wearing a shirt that read "Free as Fuck." Let's make him wear a different T-shirt... We're thinking of something with horizontal stripes.

It's a good year for drugs: Oregon just decriminalized the possession of small amounts of cocaine, heroin, and other drugs, and today Washington state lawmakers announced similar plans, reports Melissa Santos at Crosscut. If passed, a new bill introduced by Representatives Lauren Davis and Kirsten Harris-Talley would decriminalize the possession of certain amounts of all drugs. "Arrest and incarceration do not treat the root causes of substance use disorder," reads the bill. "Treating substance abuse disorder like a crime through arrests and incarceration further disrupts and destabilizes the lives of these individuals." The bill is just a bill, yes, only a bill, yaddayaddayadda you know how this works.

We're no experts on the war in Yemen, but Annelle Sheline is and she has a good piece on Biden ending US support for the war right here.

Voting tech company Smartmatic has slapped FOX News (and co-conspirator/pants-tugger Rudy Ghouliani) with a $2.7 billion lawsuit for their intentional election "disinformation campaign": They say it put their company in danger.

This is bad, baby! Some baby food brands contain, ugh, arsenic and other heavy metals, and the government isn't doing nearly enough to stop it. The TL;DR from the Baby Food Report is that ARSENIC, LEAD, CADMIUM, and MERCURY were found in every brand tested.

Housekeeping: Let the bells ring and the confetti fall! The HUMP! 2021 Film Festival is NOW STREAMING ONLINE, featuring an array of hot 'n' horny amateur dirty flicks submitted by hot people like YOU. Get your tickets pronto!

I howled at this headline: Trump, facing expulsion, resigns from Screen Actors Guild

Oh, god. The letter he wrote. We have to publish it in full:

Ms. Carteris:
I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares!

While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on movies such as Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; and television shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, The Apprentice – to name just a few!

I’ve also greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics), and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others.

Which brings me to your blatant attempt at free media attention to distract from your dismal record as a union. Your organization has done little for its members, and nothing for me – besides collecting dues and promoting dangerous un-American policies and ideas – as evident by your massive unemployment rates and lawsuits from celebrated actors, who even recorded a video asking, “Why isn’t the union fighting for me?”

These, however, are policy failures. Your disciplinary failures are even more egregious.

I no longer wish to be associated with your union.

As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA. You have done nothing for me.

Regards,
President Donald J. Trump

Here's a PDF if you want to remember what his signature looks like.

And finally, this cat may indeed be an idiot... but it's also a good metaphor for our state of mind after nearly a year of being in lockdown.

so my cats an idiot pic.twitter.com/GiBx4ua67j
— sarah 🌙 (@lunarcrossing_) February 2, 2021

•••••

Slog PM: More King County Restaurants Invite You to Go Maskless Indoors, Lauren Halsey Wins Big Art Prize, Dustin Diamond Is Dead

Chase Burns — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 17:20:58 -0800

by Chase Burns Seattle Art Museum (SAM) announced this AM that artist Lauren Halsey (work pictured above) is the winner of the 2021 Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Prize, earning a $10,000 award and a solo exhibition at SAM opening this winter. LAUREN HALSEY'S "LAND OF THE SUNSHINE WHEREVER WE GO" (2020) | COURTESY OF DAVID KORDANSKY GALLERY, LOS ANGELES; PHOTO BY ALLEN CHEN
Here's your daily evening round-up of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!)

It's officially Phase 2 in King County: Nevermind that we just passed the pandemic's deadliest month in the United States, restaurants are now allowed to open indoor service to 25% capacity through 11 PM. Indoor fitness centers can also open to 25% capacity, among other bad ideas.

Rapid at-home coronavirus tests are on their way: They're just probably coming to you near the end of 2021. Or maybe you'll get lucky and be one of the few who have access in the next couple months: "Under the new contract, Ellume is expecting to ship 100,000 tests to the United States per month from February to July."

Maskless zombies invaded a Target and Craft Warehouse in Kennewick: The group of freaks, described as "maskless protesters" by KOMO, subjected staff members to a heightened COVID risk by entering the craft store without masks on Sunday. The staff told the group that curbside pick-up was an option, but they entered the store anyways, "saying they should be able to exercise their right not to wear a mask amid the pandemic." The store asked them to leave. They wouldn't. The police were called and stated no one was arrested or injured, although it will really take a few weeks to determine that.

This was me a handful of Wednesdays ago:

"A woman conducted her aerobics class in Myanmar without realizing a coup was taking place. Behind her, a military convoy arrives at parliament." https://t.co/vNt5rJY0fi
— Vincent Bevins (@Vinncent) February 1, 2021

Biden is threatening to sanction the country of Myanmar after members of their military staged a coup and arrested its civilian leadership, because... (*checks notes*)... they didn't like the outcome of their election. Huh, that sounds familiar.

A group of ten moderate (read: conniving) Republicans met with Busy Bee Biden today to pitch a significantly reduced, half-ass COVID relief package: It would take the place of Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus bill—you know, the one that smart economists say is necessary to get the nation back on track. But yes, by all means, moderate Republicans! Continue to waste our fucking time when there's no time to waste.

I am fascinated by how this question is never asked in the reverse. 10 Senate Republicans made a counteroffer that’s less than a third of the size of Biden’s plan and have made no commitment to supporting a final bill. Are *they* serious about bipartisanship? https://t.co/IX0EBZnh89
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) February 1, 2021

Senator Susan Collins at the WH standing alongside other GOP senators says the senators had a “productive” two hour meeting with President Biden. She said it was a “good exchange of views” and they agreed to follow up on how they can continue to work together. pic.twitter.com/8tBzmGeFap
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) February 2, 2021

Because Republicans are doing absolutely NOTHING, Democrats are moving quickly to strip QAnon crackpot/GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her two committee seats following her endorsement of murdering Nancy Pelosi, questioning the truth of the 9/11 attacks, various theories about lizard people and pedophiles, and... ohhhh, lots more absolutely insane stuff. Sorry, but her ignorance runs deep!

Actor Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) has revealed in an Instagram post that she was "horrifically" abused by her former partner: That partner was musician Marilyn Manson, who is alleged to have started "grooming" her as a teenager.

Seattle City Council unanimously voted to approve a ban on natural gas space and water heating from new commercial and large multi-family residential buildings this afternoon: The citywide ban will apply to qualifying new buildings starting June 1 of this year.

Today Seattle took a first step towards a built environment free of fossil fuels, prohibiting the use of gas for space & water heating in new office & apartment buildings. @350_Seattle @ShiftZeroWA https://t.co/qROdWbGqbO
— Caleb Heeringa (@CalebHeeringa) February 2, 2021

Dustin Diamond—best known for his iconic role as Screech in TV's Saved By the Bell—has died of lung cancer: He was 44.

Nintendo made a lot of money from April through December of last year: The company made 376.6 billion yen ($3.6 billion), compared to 196 billion yen the previous year. They have Animal Crossing to thank for that. And the pandemic, I guess.

The Southern Poverty Law Center released its annual report on hate groups in the US: The number of hate groups has technically declined, the report says, but "decline in groups should not be interpreted as a reduction in bigoted beliefs and actions motivated by hate." Groups have splintered into different online factions, making them harder to track. Let's just ask Facebook how many white supremacist groups they're hosting; that'll probably give us a good idea of the problem's scale.

The job market will take until at least 2024 to return to pre-pandemic levels: That's according to a new report published by the Congressional Budget Office today. The report predicts the US unemployment rate will hit 4.2% in 2024-25. It was 3.5% in February 2020.

Speaking of the unemployed: "The personal unemployment claims data of at least 1.4 million Washingtonians may have been stolen in a hack of software used by the state auditor’s office, Auditor Pat McCarthy said Monday." Yikes. The state auditor's site has set up a FAQ page on the breach here.

Lauren Halsey is the 2021 Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Prize recipient: The Seattle Art Museum presents the award bi-annually to early-career Black artists, with past winners including artists Brenna Youngblood and Aaron Fowler. The winners receive a $10,000 prize and solo exhibition at SAM. Halsey is based in LA, and her work includes installations, sculpture, architecture, and site-specific projects. Afrofuturism, funk, and LA often inspire her iconography, says SAM. Check some of it out:
Untitled, Lauren Halsey, 2020, hand-carved gypsum on wood Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles; photo by Lee Thompson
Slo But We Sho (Dedicated to the Black Owned Beauty Supply Association) II, Lauren Halsey, 2020, synthetic hair on wood Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles; photo by Elon Schoenholz

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Slog PM: Sundance Kicks Off, Indoor Dining Strikes Back, Cicely Tyson Is Dead

Chase Burns — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 17:20:12 -0800

by Chase Burns Get in loser, we're watching One for the Road tonight. Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Here's your daily evening round-up of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!)

(Digital!) Sundance 2021 kicked off tonight and runs through next Wednesday (Feb. 3): It's a big and unique year for the festival because its hybrid presentation model makes it a truly global event for the first time. In Seattle, the fest is partnering with Northwest Film Forum to put on multiple panels and workshops. While many tickets are hard to come by—each film still has limited seating, despite being online—all of the talks and panels are available for $0. We'll have reviews of the films up throughout the rest of the week. Tonight we're watching CODA, One for the Road, Summer of Soul, and Censor.

Today President Biden signed an executive order and memorandum related to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and "protecting women's health": The executive order—Executive Order on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act—helped establish a new special enrollment period for health care coverage. The memorandum—Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad—reverses restrictions on abortion access domestically and abroad imposed by the Trump administration.

Today, the Department announced a Special Enrollment Period for individuals and families to enroll in health coverage through the Federally Facilitated Marketplace from February 15, 2021 through May 15, 2021, due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. https://t.co/TuryOkKJcC pic.twitter.com/6MMT6WxTo0
— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) January 28, 2021

Here's part of Biden's opening remarks on the executive order and memorandum:

Today, I’m about to sign two executive orders that are — basically, the best way to describe them, to undo the damage Trump has done. There’s nothing new that we’re doing here, other than restoring the Affordable Care Act and restoring the Medicaid to the way it was before Trump became President, which by fiat he changed — made more inaccessible, more expensive, and more difficult for people to qualify for either of those two items: the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid.

[...]

The first one I’m going to be signing here is to strengthen Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. And of all times that we need to reinstate access to, affordability of, and the extent of access to Medicaid is now, in the middle of this COVID crisis. And the second order I’m singing relates to protecting women’s health at home and abroad, and it reinstates the changes that were made to Title 10 and other things, making it harder for women to have access to affordable healthcare as it relates to their reproductive rights.

Now don't panic or anything, but... Scientists are getting pretty worried that our game of catch-up with vaccine distribution and our dwindling stockpile is putting the US in serious danger of being overwhelmed by the oncoming COVID variants—some of which work fine against the new viruses, while others (like the South Africa variant that's arrived in South Carolina) not so much.

Novavax vaccine protects against coronavirus in variant hot spots but proved less effective against strain in South Africa https://t.co/5g2JMbLTUn
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 28, 2021

"Wear your mask is becoming wear your masks," writes WaPo: I regret to inform you that you really should wear two masks. Some European countries are now mandating medical-grade masks in public. These new COVID variants are the real deal, but that said: "You’ve always needed better masks. We needed better masks from the start."

My doc bro ⁦@jeffreyswisher⁩ advised this to me weeks ago: Time to double or upgrade masks as coronavirus variants emerge, experts say https://t.co/wRXoQYoNiw
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) January 28, 2021

But over here in Washington state, Inslee is loosening regulations so more restaurants can open for indoor dining: I'm too frustrated by this news to pass it on, so I'll let Rich do it over here.

On the heels of Biden's new climate change executive orders, there's this shocking (at least to me) headline: "GM to stop making gas-powered passenger cars and SUVs by 2035." Will global warming kill me by then? Maybe, but check back in!

Yesterday it was Cloris, now Cicely? Emmy- and Tony-winning actress Cicely Tyson died this afternoon. She was 96.

REST IN POWER TO THE GOAT CICELY TYSON. 💔🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/X2Xhq9CMRM
— 𝕮𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖙 𝕶𝖎𝖒 💥 (@TheCourtKim) January 29, 2021

Since the Domestic Terrorist Cheerleading Squad™ (AKA Republican senators) are refusing to consider convicting the former president for inciting the Capitol riot, certain Senate members are considering other strategies, such as censuring Trump and making sure he can't run again. Other options might include making him spend ten years as a jizz-mopper at Mr. Peeps, or burying him beneath a pile of Goya beans.

The lawyer for an Arizona man who took part in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol while sporting face paint and a furry hat with horns is offering to have his client, Jacob Chansley, testify at former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. https://t.co/eMde3dBPUt
— AP West Region (@APWestRegion) January 28, 2021

In a related story... THE DOMESTIC TERRORIST IS IN THE HOUSE! Creepy Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (who's also a crackpot QAnon believer who believes wildfires are caused by "lasers from space") is facing increasing pressure from all quarters (especially Nancy Pelosi) over past social media posts in which she expressed enthusiasm for executing Democrats, berated a Parkland school shooting survivor, and suggested hanging Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Meanwhile, how did House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy respond? By assigning her a spot on the congressional education committee, of course!

This is cursed:

NEW: Trump met with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and the former president reportedly wants to help the GOP win back a House majority: http://ow.ly/WKfA50Dldlg
Posted by Newsmax on Thursday, January 28, 2021

Crybaby rich people are pitching a fit after Redditors and others artificially inflated stocks of struggling companies (like GameStop and AMC), thereby financially wiping out a few hedge fund assholes: But cheer up, rich folk! At least we didn't eat you like we've been promising! (Though the day is still young, and we're feeling peckish.)

Here is a FANTASTIC explanation of what's going on with Reddit, Gamestock, the stock market, and the hedge funders who are losing their shirts thanks to a clever public plan to #EatTheRich. #HoldTheLine

(Tell me in the comments if you know the author, so I can credit.) pic.twitter.com/ilXidgA6Zp
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) January 28, 2021

Lovely to have all these new followers .. can we just check that you know that you’re following The World Wide Robin Hood Society in Nottingham and not the Robin Hood App .. if so .. a big welcome from Sherwood 🙌
— Robin Hood (@robinhood) January 28, 2021

After Republican Senator (and probable Zodiac Killer) Ted Cruz tweeted he agreed with Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about investigating the current Wall Street scandal, she had this to say in response: "I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there's common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out." AOC then added, "Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren't trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign." No word yet on who's sweeping up the late Ted Cruz' ashes.

Troubling headline of the day: "Subway’s tuna is not tuna, but a ‘mixture of various concoctions,’ a lawsuit alleges." Follow-up question: Why is anyone eating Subway tuna?

Where are the kids at? Tell the kids to sign up!

Children's Film Festival Seattle is seeking a diverse youth jury pool (ages 8-18) representative of the inclusive, multicultural priorities of CFFS, and its mission to inspire empathy, understanding, and a nuanced view of the world. APPLY HERE: https://t.co/sMc0kzvJcC pic.twitter.com/eCanEf06kE
— Northwest Film Forum (@nwfilmforum) January 29, 2021

Slog PM: Portland's Mayor Pepper-Sprayed Critic, IMPEACHMENT, $10,000 Starbucks Art

Chase Burns — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 18:30:48 -0800

by Chase Burns The House delivers article of impeachment for second time (so they should know their way by now). POOL / GETTY IMAGES
Here's your daily evening round-up of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!)

Last night, following a dinner with soon-to-be co-worker and former Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler pepper-sprayed a member of the public who he says confronted him and was shooting video. Portland Mercury's Alex Zielinski has more!

Mayor Wheeler pepper sprayed a man who confronted him outside a restaurant yesterday.

Wait, what? https://t.co/m181YSeIZn
— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) January 26, 2021

The inspector general for the Justice Department is launching an investigation into top DOJ officials to ascertain whether they made any attempts to overturn the election for their dark lord and master Donald Trump (and it appears they almost certainly did).

Meanwhile, as the article of impeachment makes its slooooow walk from the House to the Senate, it was announced that their longest-serving Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy, will preside over the trial instead of Chief Justice Roberts (who would've been in charge had Trump still been in office).

There it is — House impeachment managers deliver article of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate, formally triggering a trial. pic.twitter.com/S2pxwq6nT7
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) January 26, 2021

135: That's how many unarmed Black people cops have "fatally shot" since 2015, according to a new analysis from NPR. The public radio station reports that at least 75% of the officers in those cases were white. "Several" of the cops reviewed had a history of violating "department policies," "several" had committed crimes on the job, and "more than two dozen officers have racked up citizen complaints or use-of-force incidents."

Alleged "original Starbucks" window-smasher will face a felony charge: King County Prosecutors filed a second-degree burglary charge against a man who allegedly told cops he smashed a couple windows at the old Starbucks in Pike Place market and then "unlawfully entered" the place during an AbolishICE protest last Wednesday, according to a press release. Charging documents show that Starbucks estimated "the total damage done to the business" at $61,800. The company's accounting breaks down thusly:

-Window clean up and boarding $2,000
-Art replacement $10,000
-Glass replacement $13,000
-Temporary mural on plywood $5,000
-Casework $1,000
-Lost revenue $25,000 (could be more depending on how many days of closure)
-Labor for store meeting $5,800

Health officials in Minnesota announced the first case of the highly transmissible COVID variant from Brazil has arrived in their state (and, by extension, the US): It is one of three variants that has been of concern to global scientists.

The Dutch are rioting over new COVID-19 restrictions: Cops "fired warning shots and tear gas" and turned "water canons" on crowds before arresting 250 people at anti-lockdown protests across the Netherlands, the BBC reports. The riots came after the Dutch government imposed a 4 p.m. curfew over the weekend to slow the spread of the deadly virus, which has infected almost one million people and killed over 13,500 in the country since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Washington State Department of Health announced 947 new coronavirus and 34 new deaths today: That said, some of the data is incomplete. Seattle Times breaks it down:

The agency noted that total case counts were incomplete “due to an interruption in DOH’s data processes,” and that negative test results data from Nov. 21-30, 2020, and January 5 through Monday were incomplete.

“Thus, negative test results and percent positivity and case counts should be interpreted with caution,” the agency said.

Related: Because of the new variant of COVID that is believed to be circulating in the area, Public Health — Seattle & King County's Dr. Jeff Duchin recently said "we need to expect the coronavirus equivalent of a Mount St. Helens-like eruption at some time in the next few months." Ugh.

Now let's get into some Seattle City Hall updates...

Hazard pay for grocery store workers is here: Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda's bill to give grocery store workers up to $4 per hour in hazard pay passed 8-0 today, with Councilmember Debora Juarez absent. The emergency legislation will apply to grocery companies with more than 500 employees worldwide, as well as companies that boast stores larger than 10,000 square feet. Berkeley and Long Beach recently passed similar policies, and Los Angeles is considering passing their version of the policy this week.

Someone mailed Councilmember Tammy Morales's husband pornographic images with her face on them: Morales finished up her weekly report in the Seattle City Council's Monday briefing by acknowledging the hate mail and death threats Councilmember Kshama Sawant said she has been receiving for over a month from a Seattle Fire Department email address. This hate, Morales said, is not an isolated event.

The council, and especially the women on the council, have been on the receiving end of a "dangerous escalation of expression that goes way beyond free speech," Morales said. Erica Barnett at PubliCola has documented the harassment women on the council have received over the years.

800 tiny homes by the end of 2021 will sure take a village: Councilmember Andrew Lewis announced a new proposal on Monday to scale up tiny house villages in Seattle. The proposal is appropriately called, "It Takes a Village." COVID-19 forced more unhoused people onto the streets and into city parks as homeless shelters de-congregated. "There’s this sense of urgency," Lewis said. So, he's trying to act quickly. With some private money, he might be able to pull it off.

As the weather gets colder it is unacceptable how many Seattleites are living outside. Working with service providers, outreach workers, community and business leaders I have plan to leverage private $$ and public resources to change this. Learn more here https://t.co/cBIHJep8wH pic.twitter.com/xJqchIv164
— Councilmember Andrew J. Lewis (@CMAndrewJLewis) January 25, 2021

Read more on Lewis's proposal from Nathalie Graham RIGHT HERE.

Busy Bee Biden has had another very busy day kicking ass and taking names that includes (but is not limited to) the following: Pushing to get Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill! (A full-throated "fuck you" to Trump.) Overturning the military's transgender ban! (Again... eff YOU, Trump!) Signed a "Buy American" executive order! (A much better plan than fucking Trump's.) Replaces Trump's shady doc with a new White House physician! (No shade here... fuck you, Trump!) Replaced Trump's ZERO White House pets with two very good boys, Champ & Major! (Awww... super cute. Also Trump can go fuck himself.)

Champ and Major have joined us in the White House! 💕🐾 pic.twitter.com/R035YnavVo
— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) January 25, 2021

Dems have another good shot at beefing up the Senate in 2022, as Republican Ohio Senator Rob Portman has announced he will not be seeking re-election, due to a "lack of bipartisanship." (That's one crybaby down, and 49 crybabies to go!)

In case you forgot over the weekend: Trump still exists. Click the image to expand and learn about ***shudder*** The Office of Donald J. Trump.

Inbox: pic.twitter.com/udRYzE9ajK
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) January 26, 2021

Slog PM: Inslee Gets Jabbed; Microsoft Revives the Dead; Pass Some Hazard Pay, Please!

Chase Burns — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 16:55:50 -0800

by Chase Burns Do us next. KING 5 Screenshot
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and his wife Trudi were vaccinated today: The state lowered the vaccine threshold to 65 on Monday, allowing Jay to get his first shot. The vaccine rollout continues to be messy, but this is nice:

AMAZING NEWS! We finished giving the first round of #CovidVaccine to all residents in nursing homes across WA today! Still working on the rest of long-term care, but this is a major milestone. Shout-out to the many pharmacies helping us protect the most vulnerable Washingtonians.
— WA Dept. of Health (@WADeptHealth) January 22, 2021

Parler looks to Russia: Of course they do. Parler, the embattled right-wing-beloved tech platform with a kink for conspiracy theories, started working with DDoS-Guard, a Russian company, a few days ago. The publicly available information shows Parler's data going through a DDoS-Guard server in Belize, a tactic that cybersecurity experts think is a way to protect Parler's web host's true identity and location. "Most people would be afraid of being fronted by Russians, but Parler actually signed up for it," a security engineer told Bloomberg. "It’s a little crazy."

Biden laid the groundwork so the minimum wage for federal workers can raise to $15 an hour: Glad that the feds have finally caught up to Seattle (almost). The requirement for federal contractors to raise their wages won't happen immediately (within the first 100 days, says the White House), but the order also restores collective bargaining and other worker protections revoked by Trump. This is your friendly reminder that $15 an hour still doesn't cut it.

.@JanetYellen on $15 min wage, in written responses to senators' questions:

"I believe the workers who have risked their health to provide necessary services to American households should be paid a wage that allows them to afford basic necessities like food and rent."
— Ylan Q. Mui (@ylanmui) January 22, 2021

Bitch better have my (stimulus) money: Nearly eight million Americans have still not received either their $1200 or $600 stimulus checks from last year. A new executive order from Biden asks the Treasury Department to hurry the hell up, calling on them to examine their delivery structure to make sure everyone gets their money on time. It also expands food stamps, increasing the amount of money families get for food each month.

Catch up on all the executive orders Biden signed this week: Right here. Biden's expected to sign about this many orders next week, too.

Seattle Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda proposes an ordinance that would give grocery workers in Seattle an extra $4 in hazard pay: The ordinance wouldn't apply to convenience stores or food marts, just to grocery businesses that employ 500 or more employees worldwide. If it passes, the ordinance would stay in effect until grocery workers are properly vaccinated.

Vote:
Councilmember Herbold - YES
Councilmember Gonzalez - YES
Councilmember Lewis - YES
Councilmember Strauss - YES
Councilmember Mosqueda - YES
5 in favor, none opposed! The bill establishing hazard pay for Seattle grocery workers will go to the full city council. #HazardPayNOW
— ufcw 21 (@UFCW21) January 23, 2021

The Council is expected to pass the ordinance on Monday.

Speaking of big ideas, Biden's new immigration plan includes providing a lot more protections for children crossing the border, along with letting them apply for refugee or asylum status, and more humane treatment of migrants. But SURPRISE! Racist Republicans hate that idea, and it may be tough to get (or rather, find) 10 non-racist GOP Senators to hop on board with the plan.

Tyler Miller, the guy who runs the Facebook group "Liberty, At All Hazards," sues Gov. Inslee and his Department of Enterprise Services for the fences around the state's Capitol: Here's a section of the press release, lol:

The lawsuit seeks the removal of the chain-linked fence currently preventing the general public from approaching the Legislative Building at the Capitol Campus, as well as ordering that public access to the viewing galleries of both legislative chambers be restored. The lawsuit further asks for injunctive relief against any future actions that would result in the public again being cut off from accessing the building.

The lawsuit claims that the state's virtual sessions are "not adequate" and that physical access to the Capitol building must be granted. He notes in the lawsuit that virtual access to the legislative chambers does not allow "nuanced 'behind the scenes' action and observation." As Rich noted in Slog AM this AM: "This weekend the ~750 members of the Washington National Guard called up to stand outside in the rain and protect the legislative buildings from the rage of heavily armed insurrectionists will start heading home, though large numbers of Washington State Patrol officers will continue roaming around the campus in their deeply strange and unsettling hats."

"The temporary chain link fencing is a regrettably necessary and admittedly unattractive security measure being used for...
Posted by KOMO News on Friday, January 22, 2021

This is quite the leading sentence: "Microsoft has been granted a patent that would allow the company to make a chatbot using the personal information of deceased people."

The Capitol domestic terrorist known as QAnon Shaman (the asshole wearing the horns and the furry man-kini) is now claiming he was "duped" by Trump: This caused him to "make decisions he should not have made." I assume he's not talking about his outfit.

Pot comes to Arizona: Recreational cannabis sales are open in the Grand Canyon State just a few weeks after voters approved legalization. This is likely only the beginning of cannabis legalization this year—states need that $$$.

Let's stay on the pot beat for a second: In London, read the mysterious tale of an illegal "Cannabis Factory" in the city's deserted financial district. And in California, a new deal offers cannabis companies additional and better options for banking. More of this, please.

We're back at it: Wooo-wooo, here comes the IMPEACHMENT TRAIN. ICYMI: Nancy Pelosi says the articles of impeachment against our wildly corrupt former president will be delivered to the Senate on MONDAY, but don't pop the champagne just yet—the actual trial will be delayed until February 8 to allow Trump time to mount his indefensible defense. However, sneaky Dems are already talking about the possibility of invoking the 14th Amendment to make sure Trump never holds public office again. Also, there's this guy:

Donald Trump may not be the only one facing impeachment. A petition has been filed against Trump supporting Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron. https://t.co/U3cAwCG7Ul
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) January 23, 2021

Denmark has studied the new variant virus that has overtaken the UK, and discovered it is not responding to the normal ways of slowing a pandemic (such as a lockdown): Cases are increasing 70 percent per week. Meanwhile the US, who has not been studying it as hard, has no fucking idea how fast it's spreading. Have a fun weekend!

Slog PM: Bellevue School District Takes Teachers Union to Court (and Fails), Who Attended Yesterday's Inauguration?

Chase Burns — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 18:00:12 -0800

by Chase Burns Mimi from RENT was there. You can find out who was at the inauguration in this sorta fun interactive from the New York Times. NYTimes
Here's your daily evening round-up of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!)

Amazon has partnered with Virginia Mason to run a pop-up vaccination site at the Amazon Meeting Center in South Lake Union from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Sunday: Bless its heart.

President Biden (aaaaah), after sadly noting that the nation's COVID death toll will probably top 500,000 next month, announced his “full-scale wartime effort” plan to get the country's pandemic under control: The plan includes invoking the Defense Production Act, as well as asking for more workplace protections, requirements for masks on planes, trains, and buses, and quarantines for international travelers coming into the United States. It's a plan! LIKE, AN ACTUAL PLAN!!

Equity is at the core of our COVID-19 response. That's why today, I signed an executive order to establish the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, protect those most at risk, and address racial and other disparities.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 21, 2021

Biden's been busy signing executive orders: We'll have our own overview of the first two days of executive orders up tomorrow morning on the blawg.

FAUCI UNLEASHED: Now that he's finally out from underneath the anti-science thumb of Trump, Dr. Anthony Fauci is a new man, and casting some shade on his former corrupt boss. Is that a new hairstyle? It's fresh.

Fauci moods: Biden briefings vs. Trump briefings pic.twitter.com/rNS6sIu9ZF
— The Recount (@therecount) January 21, 2021

Let's get spanking: The tix to HUMP 2021! are on sale and we've got a hot new trailer to boot. We're hosting a few viewing parties this go-around—including a nude one if you're into that kind of thing.

The Bellevue School District heads to court to force staff back into buildings: The district took educators and their union to the King County Superior Court today, arguing that many teachers' refusal to return to in-person teaching is an illegal strike. The district says it will use non-union staff to fill its buildings. Teachers voted Tuesday night not to return more staff to buildings until they can get vaccinated. KUOW's Ann Dornfield has more on the labor fight here. Seattle Times' Dahlia Bazzaz also has more on the court hearing here. UPDATE: The court has denied the district's request for an order to make teachers return to in-person teaching. Labor wins—for today. When do the scabs show up?

We love a wife guy: Move over John Cassavetes, there's a new sheriff in wife-guy town!

I am honored to be the first male spouse of an American President or Vice President. But I'll always remember generations of women have served in this role before me—often without much accolade or acknowledgment. It’s their legacy of progress I will build on as Second Gentleman.
— Douglas Emhoff (@SecondGentleman) January 21, 2021

McConnell proposes giving Trump two weeks to prepare his impeachment defense: Sources close to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell say he will ask Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to give Trump until early-February to prepare his case, reports Politico. Nancy Pelosi has not sent the article of impeachment to the Senate but said early Thursday that she would submit it "soon." If she presents the article tomorrow, Politico suggests the move would potentially "tee up" a trial to start within a day. Trump's already got a lawyer. It's not Rudy Giuliani, sadly.

I'm fully ready to pretend Trump never existed, but I think that's irresponsible, so I guess we have to ask: What's Trump up to? Besides, presumably, preparing for an impeachment trial and all that other legal trouble, Trump's kicking off a retirement in Florida. He's not alone. Here's the Times:

Several of Mr. Trump’s children and associates are also decamping to South Florida. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, have reportedly acquired a property on the exclusive island of Indian Creek, north of Miami, and rented an apartment in nearby Surfside. Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, have been spotted house-hunting in Jupiter, where The Palm Beach Post reported that some neighbors were already objecting to the couple’s possible presence.

The town has also been abuzz about which (presumably) private school will enroll Barron Trump, and whether it will be near Mar-a-Lago or further south in Boca Raton or Fort Lauderdale, a move that would require the 14-year-old to while away many hours in South Florida’s notoriously dense traffic.

It's like Where's Waldo, but with Lindsey Graham: This new interactive from the New York Times breaks down who was at Biden's socially distant inauguration. Let's see... we've got Jennifer Lopez, Patty Murray, Dan Quayle...

Pete Booty Judge got a friendly reception in Congress today during his confirmation hearing for secretary of transportation: NPR described it as "downright warm." People are "quite certain" he'll get confirmed.

There's a new Ballard pool: MyBallard takes a dip with a lil' peek.

Well, this is chilling: The brother of Michael Flynn—QAnon champion and corrupt Trump cohort—was on the call when the Army refused to send help to the Capitol Police when they and lawmakers were under siege from domestic terrorists on January 6... even though officials sternly and repeatedly denied he was on the call! You know... it's almost like they're covering something up!

Parler is fucked: The wild social app loved by right-wingers, which I only recently learned how to spell correctly, will not live in Amazon's cloud any time soon. Today, a judge sided with Amazon and ruled that "the Court rejects any suggestion that the public interest favors requiring [Amazon Web Services] to host the incendiary speech that the record shows some of Parler’s users have engaged in." The outlook is grim for the Parler. Our boy Eli Sanders published a good post on his Substack detailing how all of this relates to Section 230. In retrospect, Parler CEO John Matze probably shouldn't have given this disastrous interview to Kara Swisher.

Speaking of QAnon chuds, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Greene (and believer in pedophile lizard people) said she's filed articles of impeachment against President Biden, only one day after being sworn into office. HAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAAA! On behalf of all Lizard People, her scheme shall fail!

In a newly uncovered 2018 FB post, Marjorie Taylor Greene endorsed the conspiracy theories that 9/11 was an inside job and that the Sandy Hook shooting was staged. She also (again) endorsed the conspiracy theory that the Parkland shooting was staged. https://t.co/cxgyPELg7w
— Eric Hananoki (@ehananoki) January 21, 2021

While he may be pursuing an arms deal with the Russians, Biden hasn't forgotten about their election meddling, Solarwind hacking, and alleged bounties on US troops, and is launching an investigation into their bullshit. In a related story, Vladimir Putin is in the market for a new puppet and is scouring LinkedIn.

We're doing Sundance this year: In case you missed it, Sundance Film Fest is going virtual this year, and it's coming to Seattle by way of Northwest Film Forum. The fest kicks off next week, and we'll have coverage of it every day on this here blog, Slog. Here are a few of the films we're looking forward to, but we'll highlight some others at the start of next week. Let Boots Riley explain to you how this whole thing is going down. I love Mr. Boots:

Slog PM: Excuse Me, But What Kind of Loser Gets Impeached TWICE?

Chase Burns — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:15:00 -0800

by Chase Burns Nancy Pelosi, handing Trump his ass for a second time. Stefani Reynolds / Getty Images
Here's your daily evening roundup of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!)

The House has impeached Donald Trump for an embarrassing and historic second time for the traitorous crime of "incitement of insurrection" in which he encouraged his simpleton followers to storm the nation's Capitol, which led to the deaths of five, including one police officer. Even better, along with 222 Democrats, 10 Republicans (not heroes, just buttholes who happened to do a single, decent thing) voted in favor of impeachment, which may not sound like a lot—but it's a clear signal that the GOP's lockstep with Trump is definitely stumbling. We'll drop the full impeachment resolution's text at the bottom of this post.

BREAKING: Donald Trump becomes the first cast member of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. pic.twitter.com/dgHGkhgUhm
— Consequence of Sound (@consequence) January 13, 2021

Every House member from Washington state voted to impeach Trump except: Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who continues to be the worst. Her Washington GOP colleagues, Reps. Newhouse and Herrera Beutler, were among the 10 GOP House members who voted for impeachment.

Meanwhile, the "obstruction general" and current Senate Majority Turtle Mitch McConnell is pooh-poohing any notion that the Senate could vote to convict Trump before he leaves office, because... well, it's not like they're trying to ram through a Supreme Court justice or something!

Citing very real safety concerns, around 15,000 National Guard members are being sent to Washington, DC to guard the inauguration festivities—and many of them will be armed. Meanwhile the Secret Service says they are even "throwing the kitchen sink at this event" making the inauguration one of the most protected affairs in modern history.

Breaking News: U.S. intelligence officials warned that armed militia groups and racist extremists are targeting President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week. https://t.co/RKDsWsaAyn
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 13, 2021

In all, police have recovered a dozen guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from seven separate people who were arrested before and after the Capitol riot. https://t.co/seNrJ77CBF
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) January 13, 2021

Teachers and school staff in New York state could begin receiving vaccines as soon as Monday: In California, educators could receive vaccines as early as Friday. Over here in Washington, half of our educators will currently have to wait until "nearly the end of the school year to get their first dose of vaccine," reports the Seattle Times. Recent federal changes could alter Washington state's vaccine distribution schedule, but teachers and their union are rightly pissed and asking for the state to make quick changes. In some counties, schools have already been in session for months. Seattle Public Schools will start opening up schools for in-person instruction in March. "It just feels unjust and immoral that we are putting teachers knowingly into these environments," a UW critical care pulmonologist commented to the Times.

"The downsides of returning to the buildings outweigh the positive outcomes, especially with only three to four months of school remaining in the year with [Seattle Public School District's] plan of starting on March 1": That's the message from the Staff of Dearborn Park International School in Seattle, which published a letter in the South Seattle Emerald today. Here's a snippet, bolding mine:

Educators put students’ learning and well-being at the forefront of our work. It is highly inappropriate to ignore the layers of trauma that all families and staff have experienced this year. This change will disrupt student learning and routines they have already developed with their current teachers. Completely uprooting the routines, schedules, and hard work that have been created for online learning this year and demanding that educators rework everything with four months left will cause huge levels of stress and anxiety. Working under high levels of stress and anxiety will affect classroom educators’ capacity to engage students in high-quality education. Educators’ own mental health directs classroom interactions. Not knowing whether we are doing enough to keep our community safe is not in the best interest of young children, staff, or families. To return to in-person learning would negatively impact Dearborn Park’s dual language learning model, effectively ending it.

Read the entire letter here.

A gold medal-winning Olympic swimmer, Klete Keller, was arrested today for participating in the domestic terrorist siege of the Capitol last week. See? Olympians can be chuds, too! (I suppose I already knew that.)

Governor Inslee made a historic third inaugural address today: He mentioned the Seattle Kraken, among other very important things.

A "Stop the Steal" right-wing organizer of the Capitol tragedy claims that he had some help putting it together: From Trump-supporting GOP Representatives Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, and Paul Gosar. Can't remember exactly where I've heard this phrase before, but "LOCK. THEM. UP!"

Official confirms it was a Republican Congressman giving a Capitol tour to insurrectionists ahead of attack https://t.co/zfaN6RlFkU
— Daniel Uhlfelder (@DWUhlfelderLaw) January 13, 2021

Gyms and fitness centers reopened this week in Washington state: They've been closed for eight weeks and are reopening under new restrictions, like appointment-only workouts and letting one customer per room or per 500 square feet for larger facilities. I know fitness is necessary, but how is it that gyms are open but museums are not? If a person can make an appointment to huff and puff in a room, why can't they make an appointment to walk around a big hollow museum? Our priorities are so strange.

Happy headline of the day: "Parler CEO says social media app, favored by Trump supporters, may not return." A suggested addition to this headline: "And don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."

Actor Jessica Campbell, best known for her roles in Freaks and Geeks and Election, has died at the age of 38: Here's a clip of her famous "Who cares??" speech from Election.

Okay, let's end the evening with a little light reading: Here's the text of the House impeachment resolution charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection."

RESOLUTION

Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Resolved, That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following article of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:

Article of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.

ARTICLE I: INCITEMENT OF INSURRECTION

The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment” and that the President “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”. Further, section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits any person who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the United States from “hold(ing) any office … under the United States”. In his conduct while President of the United States—and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States, in that:

On January 6, 2021, pursuant to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Senate met at the United States Capitol for a Joint Session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College. In the months preceding the Joint Session, President Trump repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the Presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud and should not be accepted by the American people or certified by State or Federal officials. Shortly before the Joint Session commenced, President Trump, addressed a crowd at the Ellipse in Washington, DC. There, he reiterated false claims that “we won this election, and we won it by a landslide”. He also willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the Capitol, such as: “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Thus incited by President Trump, members of the crowd he had addressed, in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts.

President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021, followed his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 Presidential election. Those prior efforts included a phone call on January 2, 2021, during which President Trump urged the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to overturn the Georgia Presidential election results and threatened Secretary Raffensperger if he failed to do so.

In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

Wherefore, Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. Donald John Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.

Slog PM: Homeland Security Demon Resigns, We Ate the Chocolate Puppy, Pence and Trump Finally Chit-Chat

Chase Burns — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 17:30:00 -0800

by Chase Burns Acting Homeland Security Chief Chad "Chode" Wolf has resigned. SAMUEL CORUM / GETTY IMAGES
Here's your daily evening roundup of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!)

Today, after traitorous Republicans in Congress refused to agree to ask Veep Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, charging him with “inciting violence against the government of the United States.” Sounds about right—but here's what's tricky: The impeachment, if passed, likely won't get to the Senate until after Trump leaves office, but he will have a better chance of getting convicted under a Democratic-controlled Senate... that will be very busy trying to push through Biden's agenda, which includes COVID relief. Buckle up for a busy late winter!

Mike Pence and Donald Trump finally spoke to each other: After half a week of silence. "A senior administration official told CNN they met in the Oval Office, had what was described as a good conversation and discussed the week ahead while 'reflecting on the last four years of the administration's work and accomplishments.'" A nice little chill chat? Sure. This is Donald Trump's final full week in office. I'll drink to that. Actually, I won't because I'm doing a Dry January but you get the idea.

The FBI warns of nationwide "armed protests" at Capitols all over the country: They released a bulletin this morning, saying, "Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the U.S. Capitol from 17 January through 20 January." Here's what Washington state's Capitol looked like in Olympia today:

Guy who said his name was Philip is now brandishing a sheathed gladius hispaniensis. Earlier he said he wanted to get arrested. pic.twitter.com/5tp58uiiNK
— Rich Smith (@richsssmith) January 11, 2021

Washington House Democrats introduced a bill that would ban the use of chokeholds and lateral neck restraints in Washington state policing: Rep. Jesse Johnson (D-Federal Way), one of the legislators sponsoring the bill, told Crosscut's Melissa Santos that 2020 served as a reminder that lawmakers "really need to look at equity, and racial equity specifically." In addition to chokeholds and neck restraints, the current bill includes bans on using an “unleashed” dog to arrest someone, tear gas (but not OC gas), buying “military equipment,” covering badge numbers, and some other changes.

Here are some more Parler updates, in addition to the drama Matt detailed earlier today:

To recap, Parler:

- Sued Amazon, but filed a day late
- Never served Amazon with the suit
- Left its API exposed to be fully scraped
- Collected users’ Social Security Numbers, geolocation, phone manufacturer and carrier etc

w/ @nicoleperlroth https://t.co/p8OLmI5YsB
— Karen Weise (@KYWeise) January 11, 2021

The company is preparing to transfer to Sammamish-based Epik, which hosts Gab.

An Idaho internet company is blocking Twitter and Facebook, which could violate a Washington law: The company wrongly claims the platforms are censoring free speech. "It has come to our attention that Twitter and Facebook are engaged in censorship of our customers and information," read an email to Your T1 WIFI's customers, which spread across state lines between Washington and Idaho. That's a problem for the company. "Your T1 WIFI's actions...could violate Washington state's Net Neutrality law," notes KREM2, which broke the news. Idaho is gonna Idaho.

The Trump administration put Cuba back on the "sponsor of terrorism" blacklist: Trump's admin, itself a sponsor of terrorism, placed new sanctions on Cuba days before Biden will take over the White House. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had this to say:

Cuba’s continued support for terrorism in the Western Hemisphere must be stopped. Today the United States is returning Cuba to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list to hold the Castro regime accountable for its malign behavior.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 11, 2021

Removing Cuba from the blacklist was one of Obama's main foreign policy achievements. Trump has targeted that achievement since taking office.

What did Cuba do this time, attack Congress and kill police officers? https://t.co/5dZNS6Wwo3
— David Frum (@davidfrum) January 11, 2021

U.S. House Democrat tested positive for coronavirus after sheltering in place during the Capitol Insurrection: Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman from New Jersey put the blame on her fellow lawmakers. They did not wear masks: "She believes she was exposed during protective isolation in the U.S. Capitol building as a result of insurrectionist riots. As reported by multiple news outlets, a number of members within the space ignored instructions to wear masks." Rep. Coleman is 75 and a cancer survivor, notes the Washington Post. It's unclear how many lawmakers were affected by this outbreak.

Acting homeland security secretary Chad "Chode" Wolf—the same douche-sicle who sent Federal agents to attack and kidnap Portland protesters—is skittering away stepping down from his post: Probably because he doesn't want to be involved in any attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment on the prez. This has been today's "PROFILE IN COURAGE."

And the fallout from last week's attempted coup on the nation's Capitol building continues! On Sunday, former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told the Washington Post that he had requested support from the D.C. National Guard SIX TIMES before and during Wednesday's riot, and that each request was denied—because the higher-ups allegedly thought it would "look bad." Maybe they don't realize that headlines, like the following, also make them "look bad": "Video shows mob dragging a police officer down stairs. One rioter beat the officer with an American flag pole."

Watch this video analysis of how Capitol attackers dragged police officers into the crowd, beating one with a stick that carried an American flag while the crowd chanted "U-S-A!"

(Contrary to social media, the officer who died was not in this group)https://t.co/RwY4Mcs8gI
— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) January 11, 2021

Two women have accused Seattle rapper Raz Simone of abuse and coercion: The news comes from KUOW. You should read the story, but here's a snippet:

Two women stepped forward to tell their stories, using their full names.

Amanda Branch and Angelica Campbell told KUOW that Simone abused them. Branch said he coerced her into stripping out of state, and turning over her money; Campbell said he pushed her into prostitution.

Simone denied these claims in a three-hour interview with KUOW. He called this a conspiracy to oppress and cancel a Black man.

“[I] do not do that,” he said adamantly. “I'm very against that.”

Campbell’s account is supported by a protection order petition; Branch’s is supported by her mother’s account, hospital records, and a statement from a roommate who said she witnessed the abuse.

Many national media outlets erroneously suggested Simone was the "de facto leader" of CHOP during coverage last summer.

I don't think this will make a difference, but: Hundreds of historians have called for Trump's removal.

Speaking of impeachment: Wednesday is probably the day the U.S. House will impeach that motherfucker—again. The Senate impeachment trial is a whole other story.

Some food news: The chocolate bulldog mousse at Timeless Tea is delicious, yet I feel so bad eating it.

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Slog PM: Washington State Breaks Another COVID-19 Record; Seattle Professor Says the Elderly Deserve Sex Robots, Too

Chase Burns — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 18:30:00 -0800

by Chase Burns

We need your help. The economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis is threatening our ability to keep producing the stories you've come to love. If you’re able, please consider making a monthly contribution to The Stranger.Coming soon to The Villages? Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesWashington state will have a new secretary of health: Meet Dr. Umair A. Shah. Dr. Shah will replace Secretary of Health John Wiesman at the end of Gov. Inslee’s second term on January 10, 2021. The move isn't abrupt—Wiesman accepted a faculty position at the University of North Carolina before the pandemic started. Shah is currently the executive director and local health authority for Harris County Public Health in Texas. He'll start working on December 21, and Wiesman will assist the transition until his exit in January.

Trump just fired Chris Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency: The firing is assumed to be retaliation after Krebs "systematically disputed Mr. Trump’s baseless declarations in recent days that the presidency was stolen from him through fraudulent ballots and mysterious software glitches that changed millions of votes," writes the New York Times. Here's Trump's announcement, along with his bullshit.

...votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2020

Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomrorow. #Protect2020
— Chris Krebs (@C_C_Krebs) November 18, 2020

I'm sure the GOP is watching that firing like 👀: Oh yeah? You wanna call this election "the most secure in American history"? Watch what happens!

At a certain point, elected Republicans have to take their party back from this loser. Right? ...Right?

Presidential LOSER Donald Trump continues his LOSING streak in the courts, with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shooting down his false claim that ballot counting observers weren't allowed to get close enough to the action. If you want to read and laugh your guts out about how hapless Trump's legal team is, check out this article!

NEW: Giuliani wants to be paid $20,000 a day for his representation of Trump to overturn the election results, raising concerns among Trump allies that Giuliani is encouraging Trump on spurious legal fights so he can make money off of them. w/@maggieNYT https://t.co/1DdOy3V5et
— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) November 17, 2020

OMG. Judge just now asks Giuliani and other Trump lawyers "you are asking me to throw out" many thousands of votes, "can you tell me how this result can even possibly be justified?" After a long pause, Giuliani...does not answer the question. Just repeats his fraud allegations
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) November 17, 2020

Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr., and his family, are now Sounders co-owners: Griffey retired from the MLB in 2010 as a 13-time All-Star. His family is now officially Sounders Family.

A club true to its city. 🏡

We welcome Ken Griffey Jr. and his wife, Melissa, to the Sounders Family!

📝 https://t.co/ErZyLgF6f3 pic.twitter.com/861Oy9SM3x
— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) November 17, 2020

Washington state reported 2,589 new COVID-19 cases today and 23 new deaths. 777 of those cases were in King County. Today's batch of new coronavirus cases is a record. Our earlier record was set last Sunday, with 2,519 cases reported. "The state has set new records on four of the last five days," notes the Seattle Times. This is terrible.

Meanwhile: Pac-12 football games set to continue despite West Coast travel advisories.

Our surge in coronavirus cases comes as other states across the country are experiencing the same concerning trend—and enacting their own new restrictions: Iowa's governor finally passed a mask mandate (after initially poking fun at masks), and the city of Philadelphia has banned virtually all indoor gatherings through the end of 2020.

Just another reason to say "Thank GOD for Dolly Parton": "Dolly Parton helped fund Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine research."

What Dolly Parton has given the world:
• "Jolene"
• "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
• $1 million to fund research for a coronavirus vaccinehttps://t.co/EW6fIwfMJ3
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 17, 2020

Governors across the nation are pleading with the federal government to step up with more leadership and especially money to help Americans make it through the winter: Money: Could happen if Mitch McConnell gets out of the way (doubt that... see below). Leadership: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA... right.

Instead of helping Americans through this crisis, Senate Majority Turtle Mitch McConnell is focused on shoving as many Trump appointees into place before Biden arrives in January: However one of these controversial appointees—Judy Shelton, who's been nominated to lead the Federal Reserve even though she DESPISES the Federal Reserve—was stalled today when Republicans didn't have enough votes because of members who are in COVID quarantine.

Breaking: Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley tested positive for COVID. https://t.co/NeoIHi6wUR
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 17, 2020

SEXBOT UPDATE: A newly published paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics suggests sex robots could be great for the elderly. "Designing and marketing sex robots for older, disabled people would represent a sea change from current practice," wrote the Seattle professor behind the study, Nancy Jecker. "The reason to do it is to support human dignity and to take seriously the claims of those whose sexuality is diminished by disability or isolation. Society needs to make reasonable efforts to help them." Here's Nancy:

Um, this house on Vashon Island has a David Bowie pool.

Today in "It was worse than you thought" news: "About 90,000 sex abuse claims filed in Boy Scouts bankruptcy."

TOMORROW NIGHT on Wednesday, November 18, it's the latest I, ANONYMOUS SHOW featuring the wildest anonymous confessions and rants, with hilarious comedy from Amy Miller, Adam Pasi, and Carla Rossi! GET THOSE TICKETS NOW!

Here is every American in a nutshell:

This has absolutely finished me off I love her pic.twitter.com/6DaI0gxDEe
— wap rem x (@jackremmington) November 15, 2020

Two Georgia counties found some uncounted votes: Fayette County, just south of Atlanta, and Floyd County, in north Georgia, found around 2,755 votes and 2,500 votes, respectively. The votes were loaded onto a memory card but ultimately unscanned. "Both counties will have to recertify their results," reports AP, "and the margin between Trump and Biden will be about 13,000 votes when those previously uncounted votes are accounted for." Georgia counties are in the middle of a hand recount. They have until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday to complete the count. Then, the results of the hand count will be certified. If the final, certified total has a margin between the candidates within 0.5%, the losing campaign can request a recount.

Here's something to get excited about: Check out for a few minutes and watch this unbridled smooth-brained sluttery. Slag Wars is the search for the next great cock destroyer, and it's what's going to get me through the rest of this year.

Looking Back at the 100th Day of Protests in Portland

Alex Zielinski — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 11:00:14 -0700

by Alex Zielinski A protester catches on fire after a Molotov Cocktail is thrown on the 100th day of protests in Portland. Nathan Howard / Getty NewsThis was originally published by The Stranger's sister publication The Portland Mercury on Sunday, September 6. Follow the Mercury for daily coverage of Portland's ongoing protests.

One hundred days, one hundred nights. That’s how long protesters have taken their frustrations and demands for justice to the streets of Portland, calling for an end to violent and racially biased policing. The 100th day of demonstrations drew smaller crowds than the movement’s initial marches in early June, but featured familiar scenes: Impassioned speeches by Black Portlanders, traffic-halting marches led by unifying chants, and a militant response by local law enforcement.

The day began with a number of family-friendly events held across Portland. At Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, volunteers doled out free pizza, snacks, artwork, and kids clothing while hundreds of attendees listened to live music and various speakers from a stage set up in the school’s baseball field. Lents Park drew a similar scene: Organizers handed out free food—and houseplants—between speeches and hip-hop performances.

By nightfall, several hundred protesters had regrouped in Southeast Portland’s Ventura Park, where organizers planned a march to Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) East Precinct, located at SE 106 and SE Stark. The group had barely left the park when they were confronted by a line of PPB officers and Oregon State Police troopers, blocking the group from marching west on SE Stark. After a PPB loudspeaker ordered the group to disperse, the street lit up with commercial-grade fireworks and several small fiery explosions—purportedly lit by molotov cocktails tossed from the crowd. The explosion caught at least one person’s clothing on fire, and nearby medics rushed to extinguished it. A number of officers also attempted to help put out the fire. Other law enforcement officers shot canisters of smoke and tear gas into the crowd, rushed at the protesters, and arrested many in the process. This scene repeated itself several times as the night went on—with the layers of tear gas drawing people out of their homes to hand out water to protesters and yell at police for spreading a toxic cloud of gas across their neighborhood. Videos captured by reporters on the scene showed aggressive arrests, where officers tackled people onto concrete and repeatedly punched protesters as they were held down by other police.

The night ended in more than 50 arrests, according to the PPB. Two of those arrested were carrying knives. In an early morning press release, PPB said that several officers were injured by thrown rocks and fireworks. Because protesters were dressed in body armor and helmets (like the police officers who met them), PPB said “it was clear that the intent of the crowd was not peaceful protest.”

Here’s a look at the 100th day of Portland protests, in images:

••••
Artist Idris Jah’Son displays his work at the Black Lives Matter rally at Dr. King Elementary School. Cata Gaitán
A Black Lives Matter car caravan was one of many events celebrating the 100th consecutive day of protests in Portland. Garrison Davis
Speaker Ragina Rage addresses the crowd at Lents Park. Annie Schutz
Among the attendants at Saturday afternoon's Black Lives Matter rally at Lents Park, a dapper bearded dragon named "Sleddy." Jake Johnson
On the walking paths at Lents Park, protesters stencil the names of Black people killed by police. Annie Schutz
A crowd 1,000 strong march toward the East Precinct. Tojo Andrianarivo
Police in full riot gear are ready and waiting to meet protesters. Elaine Kinchin
Fireworks explode as police attempt to stop protesters from marching on Stark Street near 113th Avenue. Tojo Andrianarivo
After incendiary devices are thrown, police fire tear gas into the park and surrounding neighborhood. Elaine Kinchin
Oregon State Troopers, called in by Gov. Brown to assist police, arresting protesters. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland
Seven arrestees are seated and handcuffed on a curb. (After this photo was taken, officers pushed all press out of the area.) Cata Gaitán
Police munitions light a neighbor's Prius on fire. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland
A member of the press photographs the action. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland
[Editor's Note: The Mercury would like to thank the many freelance reporters and photographers who risk their safety on a nightly basis to provide much-needed information and context for these continuing protests. We appreciate you!]

The 23 Best Virtual Things To Do in Seattle This Weekend: March 20-22

Bobby Roberts — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 18:01:00 -0700

Podcasts, TV Shows, Livestreams, and More Ways to Keep Yourself Entertained by Bobby Roberts

Hey, remember last year, when it snowed in March? What a crazy time! Well, there was that... and the social distancing measures enacted statewide in the face of a global pandemic putting the entire planet on pause. That was pretty wild, too. But doing your part to stay safe, and supporting your loved ones and your community however you can, doesn't mean you can't also keep yourself somewhat sane and entertained while stuck inside on self-quarantine, and there's a lot of cool things to do from the comfort of your couch this weekend. Maybe not literally "snow-on-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-March" cool, but still... hit the links below and plan accordingly.

Jump to: Friday | Saturday | Sunday

Friday, March 20

Staying in with Emily and Kumail
Some of you know of Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani from their endearing comedy The Big Sick (which you should probably stream on Amazon Prime sometime this weekend, too), and some of you maybe know of Kumail from Silicon Valley, or his jaw-dropping physical transformation for the probably-postponed Eternals movie from Marvel. But if you're a podcast listener, or a podcaster, or both, because that's basically how podcasting works—Emily and Kumail are The Indoor Kids, hosts of one of the best video game podcasts ever. And those Indoor Kids have returned to save the self-quarantined day, with a new podcast charting how they're keeping themselves busy, and the best part? The proceeds from this podcast benefit charities helping those affected by COVID-19. Whatever it is you have to neglect on your subscribe list to make room for this one? Do it. Or Kumail will come to your house, force-feed you pure whey, and make you do 800 pushups.
(Now Streaming, Apple Podcasts)

The Weeknd
Turns out one of the few entertainment releases COVID couldn't disrupt? The release of Abel Tesfaye's latest LP, After Hours which promptly dropped, as promised, at midnight, Friday. Did Abel seriously branch out and expand his sound beyond his tried and true "Spooky-soulful-ice-cold-vibes" kinda thing? ....nnnnnot really. But that's just fine, because that whole thing about unbroken things not needing fixing? Definitely applies. Plus it's not like he just re-did Starboy or anything. If anything, a lot of After Hours feels like it's streaming off a LaserDisc player plugged into the internet. (That's a good thing. Promise!)
(Now Streaming, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music)

Movie Night!
While this weekend begins Hollywood's grand experiment with finally taking movies straight out of the theater and into your living room, there are other options for maintaining your regular Movie Night festivities with friends even though you're all confined to your respective homes. Netflix Party is a Chrome extension that syncs up the movie you settle on for the night across all your browsers, and lets you chat while it's playing—not that you should, but at least if you're going to talk through Movie Night this app will let others mute you, so that's cool. But what if you don't wanna watch a movie on Netflix, or use Chrome? Metastream lets you use Firefox too, and increases the number of platforms from Netflix to include Hulu, Crunchyroll, YouTube and more. Both platforms only work if everyone has an accompanying account with the streamers of choice. Not that you and your crew of friends would ever indulge in an activity like password sharing or anything...
(Now Streaming, Your Browser, Extensions are free to download and install)

Stop Making Sense
People are going to be watching a lot of concerts, and a lot of movies. Why not watch this concert movie, which is the best concert movie ever made? From the setlist arrangement, The Heads' hyperkinetic performances, to the way the show just keeps building and building and building even when you think it's slowing down but it isn't, all captured indelibly via Jonathan Demme's expert direction, Jordan Cronenweth's cinematography, and the band's crystal-clean sound. Plus: BIG SUIT!
(Now Streaming; Vudu, Tubi, PlutoTV; free w/ ads, all ages)

Preacher Lawson
Born in Portland, the insanely funny Preacher Lawson is best known for being a finalist in season 12 of America’s Got Talent, but he also took home the top prizes for the 2015 Funniest Comedian in Florida AND the Seattle International Comedy Competition. So… yeah! A pretty good resume. But it’s really no surprise: Preacher absolutely slays onstage with his over-the-top energy and hilarious observations on his life, family, and veganism. (Did I mention he’s vegan? He’s vegan! And built like a brick house. Just thought you’d like to know.) He was supposed to start a three-night run at Helium tonight, but you can stream his special, Get to Know Me on BET+
(Now Streaming, BET+, $9.99 per month, 7-day free trial here) WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY

Candace
Portland trio Candace describe themselves as witchgaze, and I think that's a pretty apt description of their lush, dreamy sound. If you've ever been a fan of the Cocteau Twins or felt yourself melting into a song like sugar into coffee, you're gonna dig it. They were scheduled to headline a show in Portland tonight, but instead, why not have 'em headline your headphones right now. COURTNEY FERGUSON

Mandy
In 2018, Film Editor Erik Henriksen's review of Mandy stated: "This is a movie that’s kind of sad, kind of lyrical, and kind of rock ’n’ roll; its first half is an earnest, artsy character study, and its second is a greasy, sordid revenge flick. It also features one of Nicolas Cage’s most bugfuck crazy performances, so: Mandy isn’t for everyone. But for those it is for? It’s a hell of a thing." If you are the kind of person that feels like trying this out, you're probably also the kind of person who enjoys a good horror movie every now and again. Shudder is a streaming network dedicated solely to horror films, and in response to COVID-19, they're offering a 30-day free trial under the promo code SHUTIN.
(Now Streaming, Shudder, $5.99 per month, 30-day free trial here)

OPB Music Festival
Not being able to head out and catch a show is heartbreaking in a city that's normally filled with great music every night, but Oregon Public Broadcasting is doing what it can to help scratch that itch from the safety of your living room while also supporting a ton of amazing artists, by raiding its archives and curating a collection of videos they're calling the OPB Virtual Music Festival. Performers include Joseph, Haley Heynderickx, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Laura Gibson, Ages and Ages, Y La Bamba, and a whole lot more. As Jerad Walker of OPBMusic puts it: "Use your imagination. Skip around. Soak up the sights. And hopefully, relax."
(Now Streaming, opb.org, free, all ages)

I Am Not Okay With This
One of the biggest knocks against original Netflix programming is that it doesn't know how not to bloat. The platform is full of shows that could be great, and should be great, but just find themselves dragging ass around the middle of the season, a phenomena that came to more or less define Marvel's Netflix universe. But then came I Am Not Okay With This, a comic-book adaptation from the people responsible for The End of the Fucking World, about a girl who discovers she has telekinetic powers and she fucking hates it. The comparisons to Carrie are obvious, but not altogether accurate—but even if they were, the show is sharp, the show is fun, the show is poignant, and most importantly, the show is 100% bloat-free. It's a Netflix miracle!
(Now Streaming, Netflix, $8.99 per month, free trial here)

Saturday, March 21

Deon Cole
Best known for his role as Charlie on Black-ish and Grown-ish, Deon Cole actually shines brightest as himself, while doing his own stand-up material. A great example is his recent Netflix special, Cole Hearted, which caused me to bust a gut way harder than I expected. Cole typically has an even-tempered, matter-of-fact delivery as he tackles subjects like sex, “managing your Blackness,” the struggle of taking photos with gangsters who don’t smile in photos, and the many people who marry on a level they should have passed in life. Cole’s comedy has tons of gems, and he’s a fucking riot. He should have been in town this weekend, but instead, just pull up the aforementioned Netflix special, and let Deon's gems shine.
(Now Streaming, Netflix, $7.99 per month, 30-day free trial here) JENNI MOORE

XRAY.fm
Tonight was the night the 2020 XRAY Awards were set to pop off, and it was probably going to be a damn good party, too—the crew there has done an amazing job building a community radio station from the ground up, and while their sixth-anniversary celebration is postponed, you can reward them and yourself by getting familiar with their slate of on-air personalities, their top-notch local podcasts, and the finely curated music shows they run all day.
(Now Streaming/Broadcasting, free, all ages)

Blazers vs Sixers
The NBA was the first major sports league to recognize the Coronavirus threat and shut down accordingly. Here in Rip City, that means some serious b-ball withdrawals are going on. But the NBA is trying to make it right by unlocking their premium NBA League Pass, allowing new viewers to try it out for free until late April. This is cool because not only can you check out some of the original programming and documentaries on the platform, but they also have an extensive archive of classic games that you can enjoy, in full. If you want to relive the glory days of Blazermania, here you go.
(Now Streaming, NBA League Pass, free trial here)

Hang Out in Ben Gibbard's House
Seattle's floppy-haired maestro of all things sad-bastard has been inviting the world into his domicile and performing intimate concerts for whoever wants to watch via his Facebook or his YouTube channel, and if you're wondering if he played that Death Cab song, or did that Postal Service jam? Yes, he did. He also talks with viewers through the chat, and most importantly, donates proceeds from these concerts to charities doing their part to combat COVID's most negative effects. Hang out with one of the Northwest's best songwriters for an hour or four, and help some people in need while you do it, too.
(Now Streaming, Ben Gibbard's House, YouTube/Facebook, free)

Can't Stop the Karaoke
Vice columnist Alex Zaragoza test ran a Karaoke Night through Google Hangouts, and reported her results last Thursday. Not only is it do-able, it's highly recommended that if you're looking to get your diva on, it must be done.
(Now Streaming, Your Living Room, Or Your Bathroom, Whichever Has the Better Acoustics, free, all ages)

A Night at the Opera
Maybe you don't want to be the one singing! That's cool too. Why not check out some of the best pipes on the planet, for free, at the Metropolitan Opera? Normally this sort of thing is pretty exclusive, because you have to be at the Lincoln Center in New York, and it kind of costs a lot to be there. But in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Met Opera is streaming performances nightly, for free on their website. Tonight's performance is Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, about a woman caught in the middle of a 17th Century Scottish family feud.
(Now Streaming, Metropolitan Opera, free, all ages)

Jackass 3
Speaking of opera, The Mercury review of Jackass 3 called it "a grandiose symphony of stupidity... strung together with a cartoon logic that Chuck Jones himself would applaud." I bring this up because just about forever ago (read: two weeks prior) there was a minor kerfluffle on social media when a New York Times article about the "dirtbag left" included a quote suggesting people didn't really like the Chapo Trap House podcast in the same way people didn't really like Jackass—they just pretended to like it to avoid being bullied. The shaky comparison between the two phenomena was immediately ignored on the way to asking this question: "Who the hell pretended to like Jackass?" The answer? Nobody. There was no pretending. Either someone getting hit in the face with a giant hand makes you laugh until you're immobilized with joy, or it doesn't. It probably does. And if it does, this weekend is probably a great opportunity to revisit the most... lovable (?) of the three Jackass films, containing all-timers like "Poo Cocktail Supreme," "The Field Goal," and "Pin the Tail on the Donkey."
(Now Streaming, Hulu, $5.99 per month, free trial here)

Onward
Especially when compared to Pixar's best, there's definitely stuff to nitpick in the studio's latest, Onward. Fair? Maybe, but then again, even Pixar movies can have a hard time living up to Pixar movies. But to focus on Onward's benign, minor missteps—none of which detract from the story's surprisingly emotional arc—is to miss the bigger picture. Funny and wholly original, it's a fantasy adventure that digs into something nearly all of us know but rarely talk about: How the memory of an absent family member can hang over the lives of the living.
(Now Available; Amazon, iTunes, MoviesAnywhere; $19.99) ERIK HENRIKSEN

Sunday, March 22

Bikini Kill
When Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox, and Tobi Vail reunited for Bikini Kill shows in New York and Los Angeles in early 2019, fans in the Pacific Northwest knew it would only be a matter of time before the pioneering punk and riot grrrl band out of Olympia made their way back to their old Northwest stomping grounds. Obviously, COVID made sure that didn't happen this weekend, BUT: This is a very good excuse to go deep diving into the origins of Bikini Kill with The Punk Singer, director Sini Anderson's award-winning documentary, which former Portland Mercury Arts Editor Alison Hallett called "An affectionately reverent homage to an important figure—not the last word on the movement Hanna spearheaded, but a valuable tribute in its own right."
(Now Streaming; iTunes, Amazon Prime, Google Play; $3.99)

Alton Brown Teaches You to Cook
If you've been thinking about taking this quarantine time to become a culinary master (albeit only of your own kitchen, but still...) then Alton Brown can most definitely help you. Not only has his classic Good Eats returned in remixed form to Hulu recently, but he and his significant other Elizabeth took to YouTube for a live tutorial from his actual kitchen (not a studio recreation). It's not often you get the opportunity to peek in on the Browns (please, when you click the video, ignore the tragically-misplaced apostrophe in the title) as they create a dish right in front of your eyes. Make the most of this opportunity, and make yourself a delicious meal while you're at it.
(Now Streaming, Alton Brown's Kitchen, YouTube, free)

Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang is one of the most important, satisfying, and necessary reads in the last 30 years. Not just if you're a fan of sci-fi, but also if you're a fan of things like "feeling emotions" and "having empathy" and "enjoying pure imagination." So if you like those things, and if you've got a library card, then you've got access to Overdrive, and if you've got access to Overdrive, you can should listen to Todd McLaren read Chiang's acclaimed short story collection Stories of Your Life and Others—including the short that's the basis for Denis Villeneuve's Arrival, a movie that legit convinced our Film Editor there was still hope in this world for us and our children.
(Now available, Overdrive.com via the MultCo Library, free w/ library card... or you can use an Audible free trial too, just sign up with literally any podcast's name you can think of, they're all sponsored by 'em.)

Go on Safari
Getting out of the house is not a thing we're supposed to be doing unless absolutely necessary, but there's a lot of outdoorsy folks that might be reading and wishing there was some way to slake their wanderlust. That's where Twitch.tv comes in! Normally Twitch is where sub-cable-access-level "talents" earn millions for playing other people's video games as loudly as possible, but it's also home to WildEarth, a channel that livestreams walks through a game reserve in South Africa. The stream isn't consistently on at all times, but that's okay because you can check out their video clips for on-demand wildlife just chilling out.
(Now Streaming, Twitch.tv, free, all ages)

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures
While the most recent seasons of Doctor Who haven't been the most well-received (especially in comparison to the white-hot fever surrounding the show on its 50th anniversary) this isn't anywhere near as dark a time for Who fans as the '80s and '90s were. The show was effectively dead for about 20 years, with only a brief blip of a Fox TV-movie in 1996 to show for it. But Doctor Who lived on as a series of radio dramas produced by Big Finish productions, and Big Finish's biggest triumph is probably their Eighth Doctor Adventures, which took the star of that TV Movie, Paul McGann, and paired him with Sheridan Smith's companion, Lucie Miller, a woman that's all the best parts of Rose Tyler, Donna Noble, and Jo Grant. There ended up being four+ seasons of the Eighth's adventures, and the first is available for free on Spotify. There's a reason people who have tried out the audio dramas almost immediately decide McGann's Doctor is top tier, despite only appearing twice in live-action. This first season is a huge reason why.
(Now Streaming, Spotify, free, all ages)

Bob's Burgers
If you're looking for something to just binge and binge without any negative side-effects, there's probably nothing recent that so consistently blends the funny and the feel-good for as long as Bob's Burgers has done it. It's just a wholesome-ass show. Granted, you have to expand your definition of "wholesome" to include things like "erotic friend fiction," and the usage of "-ass" as a suffix, but that's really not so hard once you settle into the vibe creator Loren Bouchard establishes almost immediately. Don't let this show stay under your radar. Do let every single one of its highly-catchy songs earworm their way into your head forever, though.
(Now Streaming, Hulu, $5.99 per month, free trial here)

29 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: March 13–15, 2020

Jas Keimig — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 10:59:00 -0700

Extra Ordinary, The Hunt, The Secret of Kells, and Other Critics' Picks by Jas Keimig

It's been a shocking week for Seattle's cultural spaces. Movie theaters are reacting in different ways. The Grand Illusion will be closing starting March 16; Central Cinema and other theaters are staying open, but halving their seating capacity so audience members can stay distant from one another. If you choose to go out (and remember, stay home if you don't feel well), check out the delightful supernatural comedy Extra Ordinary, the 1930s antiwar masterpiece Grand Illusion, or celebrate an early Saint Patrick's Day with The Secret of Kells. See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Many events in Seattle have been canceled already, so it's a good idea to double-check movie theater websites for cancelations or postponements before leaving the house.
1917
Legendary screenwriter William Goldman once said of the film industry, “Nobody knows anything,” and this is still mostly true, with one exception: If cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the movie, that movie is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. Even if 1917 were solely the most impressive work of Deakins’ remarkable career—which it is—I’d be recommending it. But the World War I movie is also one hell of a stunning storytelling experience from director Sam Mendes, co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and editor Lee Smith. “But wait,” you say, “isn’t the whole point of this movie that there aren’t any cuts? Why did they need an editor at all?” 1917’s hook (or less generously, its gimmick) is that it’s meant to unfold in a single, unbroken take. It’s one of the rare instances of a film’s marketing actually benefiting the finished film, because of the way this knowledge is both paid off... and then subverted. BOBBY ROBERTS
Various locations

Bad Boys for Life
Michael Bay's absence behind the camera (although he briefly appears in a cameo that I reflexively booed) is immediately apparent. The action—still glistening, swooping, and forever circling, as directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah do some damn good Bay-raoke in their debut—is slower and mostly coherent. But even more remarkable: For the first time that I can remember, this is a Bad Boys movie primarily fueled by emotion as opposed to disdainfully rejecting it. And get this: That emotion? HUMILITY! I know. What the fuck, right? But fucks are abundant in Bad Boys for Life, and given often, flying just as freely as the one-liners, bullets, and grenades going off frequently and everywhere. BOBBY ROBERTS
Regal Meridian 16

Brute Force
The great director Jules Dassin made this tough prison drama starring Burt Lancaster as a weary inmate and Hume Cronyn as a sadistic prison guard. The AV Club has called this noirish film "one of the greatest prison films of all time."
The Beacon
Sunday only

Chicken Run
Some plucky chickens take their fates into their own hands when they discover they're destined to become pot pie. It's a production by Nick Park and Peter Lord (Wallace and Gromit), so you know it's going to be the funniest and most charming stop-motion around.
The Beacon
Saturday only

Emma.
From the moment Mr. Woodhouse (Bill Nighy) bounded down the steps of his staircase in full scowl, I wanted to see Emma. again. I went in pretty hyped up because Anya Taylor-Joy was making full use of her signature penetrating stare to play the character closer to the book—little did I expect that she would be matched frown for frown by Nighy, playing her father, whose background sighing and perpetual phobia of drafts lit up every scene with an endearing ridiculousness. SUZETTE SMITH
Various locations

Extra Ordinary
A new and eminently worthy entry into the annals of Fantastic Supernatural Comedies, Extra Ordinary follows Rose (Maeve Higgins), a sweet, awkward driving instructor in rural Ireland with a not-so-secret talent (the ability to exorcise ghosts from the everyday objects—and animals—they inhabit). Of course, the townsfolk are always bugging her about their nuisance hauntings, even though she quit the biz for a good many years ago after accidentally getting her dad killed mid-exorcism. Everything about this movie is subtly right: the vague retro atmosphere, the quasi-horror soundtrack, the unexpected plot, the hilariously gross comedy, and, most importantly, the excellent casting, which includes a perfect Will Forte as creepy, washed-up one-hit wonder Christian Winter. LEILANI POLK
Grand Illusion

Five Shaolin Masters
It's another terrific wuxia thrill ride by the great Chang Cheh, in which five students train in different martial arts styles to fight against the Manchu government.
The Beacon Saturday only

Ford v Ferrari
F v F is about how corporations can’t help but crush the passion and innovation they so desperately need. In this case, the crushees are race car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driving phenom Ken Miles (Christian Bale), both of whom are forced to cajole, finagle, and manipulate the suits at Ford in an attempt to win the famed Le Mans road race. Director James Mangold (Logan) smartly avoids the emotionally manipulative tricks found in other sports biographies, and Damon and Bale are, unsurprisingly, excellent and affecting. The problem? It’s impossible to ignore the two elephants in this room: The fetishization of white male toxicity and car culture, topics which society is trying to deal with and solve… not celebrate. This makes Ford v Ferrari a very good movie that, a decade ago, would’ve been considered great. Now it feels like a brand-new film that’s already an antique. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Crest

The Gentlemen
There’s an odd (and fun) sense of formality to The Gentlemen, director Guy Ritchie’s newest crime flick that trades the downtrodden, violent British grit of his former films (like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch) for a classier vibe that’s still violently gritty. Matthew McConaughey is, as usual, McConaughey (that’s a good thing), Colin Farrell is a case study in unflappable hilarity, Hugh Grant is England’s greatest treasure, and The Gentlemen is a fun, twisty-turny joyride through Britain’s well-heeled drug trade. Its moments of shocking, often comical violence should pair nicely with a snifter of good cognac. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Regal Meridian 16 & Crest

Grand Illusion
Grand Illusion was made in 1937, two years before Europe plunged the whole world into a state of madness. And why do you feel a sense of urgency after seeing this movie? Because it is about something: It’s an anti-war film; it’s a film about how human truths (our universality, our capacity for love, our dependency on one another) have been distorted by those in power. This is the grand illusion—war and exploitation is not our natural state. Now this is something you can think about! CHARLES MUDEDE
The Beacon
Saturday-Sunday

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey
Birds of Prey is Harley Quinn/Margot Robbie’s show, and just like in the not-so-great Suicide Squad, it’s a show she clearly steals—and a show with a distinctly feminist take on the glut of male-oriented superhero cinema. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Regal Meridian 16

The Hunt
While other movies are seeing their releases postponed thanks to coronavirus, the controversial horror-comedy The Hunt—which was already postponed from its September release date—is still opening tonight. Whether or not you venture out to a theater to see it, it's worth seeing: Pulpy and bloody, it's a B-movie with smarts. In a riff on the 1924 short story "The Most Dangerous Game," rich, urban "elites" round up a dozen rural "deplorables," set them loose on the grounds of a woodsy, sprawling estate, and hunt them down for sport. But a clever twist or two later, The Hunt, written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof—the latter coming off his success with HBO's extraordinary Watchmen—ends up offering a bit more than dark humor and skull-crunching violence. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Wide release

Hyper Combat Unit Dangaioh
The Beacon will screen three episodes of this anime serial about four teenagers who use their robot pilot training to fight evil. The theaters calls it "one of the best mecha animes of the golden '80s."
The Beacon
Sunday only

In the Mouth of Madness
The third installment in John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy is a Lovecraftian psychological horror exploration of the line between truth and fiction—in this film, a powerful book destroys the minds of its readers and unleashes real monsters. Sam Neill's insane laughter alone is worth the price of admission.
Central Cinema

The Invisible Man
Film students and theorists are going to be studying the career of writer/director Leigh Whannell for decades, trying to suss out how this young Australian has mined piles of gold from high-concept but low-budget popcorn fare. Whannell's been responsible for bringing two hugely successful horror franchises into the world—the sagas of Saw and Insidious—and, in 2018, turned the fairly ridiculous B-movie plot of Upgrade into a hit thanks to his stylized direction and pulpy action sequences. Whannell is about to have another hit on his hands with Blumhouse Productions’ The Invisible Man, starring an excellent Elisabeth Moss. Made on a slender budget that was likely eaten up by CGI effects, this riff on H.G. Wells’ sci-fi classic is a slow, steady squeeze from a vise that doesn’t release its grip until its final shot. ROBERT HAM
Various locations

Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations

Knives Out
Knives Out [is] Rian Johnson's phenomenally enjoyable riff on a murder-mystery whodunit. The less you know going in, the better, but even those familiar with mysteries will likely be caught flat-footed. Things begin in the baroque mansion of famed mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), who is very, very dead. Through flashbacks, monologues, and the genteel but razor-sharp questioning of investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), we meet the rest of the Thrombeys—played by Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Katherine Langford, and more, with everyone clearly having a goddamn blast—and we hear about a billion motives and a billion alibis. Somebody killed Harlan, and while Benoit Blanc is on the case, Knives Out quickly spirals into unexpected territory. In a time when filmgoing is dominated by familiar franchises, seeing an original movie executed with as much care, glee, and skill as Knives Out feels like an experience that's entirely too rare. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Regal Meridian 16 & AMC Seattle 10

Little Women
I say this with my whole heart: Greta Gerwig's Little Women is wonderful. Full of wonder, inspiring wonder, embodying wonder. Which is hard to do as the eighth adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's beloved 1868 novel of the same name. Gerwig's adaptation—which she both wrote and directed—feels neither redundant nor stale. Rather, it's a fresh, modern-feeling take on a well-trodden story, stuffed with excellent performances, witty dialogue, and gorgeous costumes. The film jumps between Jo's "present" life in a post-Civil War America and her childhood, living at home with her three other sisters and mother, awaiting the family patriarch to return home from the war as they struggle to make ends meet. The direction and sense of characters are particularly strong in this adaptation. It fleshes each sister out so that she feels real and worthy of empathy, not purely serving as a star vehicle for Ronan in the same way the Winona Ryder version arguably did. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Crest

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (Dubbed and Subtitled)
The latest installment of the anime franchise, in which Deku and his fellow heroes take on an evil villain on an island, should please fans.
Regal Meridian 16

Onward
Especially when compared to Pixar's best, there's definitely stuff to nitpick in the studio's latest, Onward. Fair? Maybe, but then again, even Pixar movies can have a hard time living up to Pixar movies. But to focus on Onward's benign, minor missteps—none of which detract from the story's surprisingly emotional arc—is to miss the bigger picture. Funny and wholly original, it's a fantasy adventure that digs into something nearly all of us know but rarely talk about: How the memory of an absent family member can hang over the lives of the living. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Wide release

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
In this odd, beguiling romance, urbane James Mason plays a sea captain cursed to wander the ocean forever until a woman sacrifices herself for love, and the elegant Ava Gardner plays a magnificent femme fatale.
The Beacon
New restoration

Parasite
Parasite is director Bong Joon-ho at his very best. It's a departure from the sci-fi bent of his recent movies, though it's no less concerned with the state of society today. Set in Seoul, South Korea, the families and class issues at play reflect our global era, in which the disparity between the haves and have-nots seems to be widening. Parasite follows the Kim family, who secretly scam their way into the lives of the wealthy Park family. Slowly and methodically, the Kims begin to drive out the other domestic workers at the Park residence, each time referring another family member (who they pretend not to know) for the vacant position. And so the poorer family starts to settle comfortably into the grift—until a sudden realization turns their lives upside down. The resulting film offers an at turns hilarious and deeply unsettling look at class and survival, its essence echoed in the environments the characters inhabit. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations

Portrait of a Lady on Fire
From Céline Sciamma (Girlhood), Portrait of a Lady on Fire is set in 18th century France, where young artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint a portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) for potential suitors to fall in love with. One thing: Héloïse does not want her portrait done, as she does not want to get married. So Marianne poses as her maid to get close to the lady, completing the painting in secret. But of course this closeness and secretiveness make them all hot for each other. Portrait was the first woman-directed film to take home the Queer Palm award at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations

The Secret of Kells
Kells begins in the Irish Abbey of Kells—an abbey that, thanks to Abbot Cellach, is walled in, blocked off from the verdant forest outside. The wall was built to keep out pillaging Vikings; afraid for his safety, the Abbot forbids his nephew, Brendan, to venture beyond the gates. Instead, young Brendan's left to assist with creating illuminated manuscripts. But when the revered Brother Aidan arrives at Kells, he brings with him the most beautiful illuminated manuscript of all: the legendary Book of Kells. Aidan needs Brendan's help to finish the manuscript, which requires Brendan to leave the abbey. With graceful, emotional animation, brilliant character designs, and a watercolor-dappled visual style that lands somewhere between Saul Bass and Genndy Tartakovsky, every frame of Kells is amazing to look at—but it's the film's humor, heart, and melancholy that makes it really work. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Central Cinema

Vitalina Varela
Five years after Horse Money, which Charles Mudede called "a film you will remember more for its images and episodes than its story," the nonprofessional actor Vitalina Varela reprises her role as a character who shares her name, a widow who travels to Lisbon to try to piece together her estranged husband's last days. Richard Brody of the New Yorker writes, "From the start, Costa endows the tale with a pictorial majesty, rooted in a hands-on transformation of film-noir, Expressionist-rooted cinematography. His images (realized by the director of photography Leonardo Simões) feature piercing bursts of light and sepulchral shadows, striated and fragmentary illumination that blends with largely static frames to fuse space and mood, action and emotion."
Northwest Film Forum

The Way Back
Ben Affleck plays an alcoholic coach who returns to the town where he was a teen basketball star in this redemption drama by Gavin O'Connor.
Wide release

Wendy
Benh Zeitlin’s new film Wendy—which reimagines the popular J. M. Barrie play/children’s story Peter Pan in New Orleans instead of London—feels like a two-hour M83 music video. And not everyone will love that. But I did! As with Beasts of Southern Wild, Zeitlin works here with nonprofessional actors. And while casting Mack as Peter employs the trope of the magical Black character, Mack is also, hands down, the best Peter Pan in cinema up to this point. Where previous cinematic Peter Pans have interpreted the character as jockish and bullying, Mack's Peter feels like someone from outside our society who is barely interested in us. That feels far more accurate to author J.M. Barrie's vision. SUZETTE

ALSO PLAYING
Our critics don't recommend these movies, but you might like to know about them anyway.

Call of the Wild
Sleepaway Camp
Sonic the Hedgehog

39 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: March 5–8, 2020

Charles Mudede — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 15:57:00 -0800

Wild at Heart, Onward, The Traitor, and Other Critics' Picks by Charles Mudede

If you go out this weekend, you'll find plenty of great movies are waiting, including new releases like the touching Pixar pic Onward or the Cosa Nostra drama The Traitor, as well as classics like Wild at Heart and (if you feel brave) Come and See. See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

PSA: As you're making plans to go out in Seattle, remember that it's important to always wash your hands and stay home if you're sick. In light of the coronavirus, King County Public Health is recommending that people at higher risk of severe illness should stay home and away from large groups of people as much as possible. Several events in Seattle have been canceled already, so it's a good idea to double-check movie theater websites for cancelations or postponements before leaving the house.

63 Up
With 63 Up, director Michael Apted brings his long-running documentary series—charting the lives of 14 Britons, starting at age seven and checking in every seven years—back to the issues of class in England, something that was only alluded to in the original TV program. As he’s followed his subjects through this series, we’ve been able to see their prospects rise and fall, often due to the opportunities afforded them by their financial station. But the main issue hovering over the film is life’s finiteness. No matter how rich or poor you are or what color your skin is, you’re going to die. That’s our future. ROBERT HAM
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

1917
Legendary screenwriter William Goldman once said of the film industry, “Nobody knows anything,” and this is still mostly true, with one exception: If cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the movie, that movie is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. Even if 1917 were solely the most impressive work of Deakins’ remarkable career—which it is—I’d be recommending it. But the World War I movie is also one hell of a stunning storytelling experience from director Sam Mendes, co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and editor Lee Smith. “But wait,” you say, “isn’t the whole point of this movie that there aren’t any cuts? Why did they need an editor at all?” 1917’s hook (or less generously, its gimmick) is that it’s meant to unfold in a single, unbroken take. It’s one of the rare instances of a film’s marketing actually benefiting the finished film, because of the way this knowledge is both paid off... and then subverted. BOBBY ROBERTS
Various locations

Aparajito
The second chapter in Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy, which has long been considered one of the monuments of global cinema, Aparajito continues the saga of the poor Bengali family we met in Pather Panchali. Young Apu turns out to be a talented scholar, but opportunity means leaving his lonely mother behind.
The Beacon
Saturday only

Brewster McCloud
An especially odd movie from Robert Altman (which is saying something), Brewster McCloud portrays the tribulations of a teenager living in a nuclear fallout shelter in the Houston Astrodome, where he romances a lovely girl (played by Shelley Duvall), tries to build a flying machine, and tries to avoid murderers on the loose.
The Beacon
Saturday–Sunday

Children's Film Festival Seattle
CCFS’s slate of international films features visual storytelling centered on narratives about childhood—the way that children view the world, deal with adult issues, and work as agents of change in their communities. Curated by Northwest Film Forum, the 2020 fest encompasses 175 animated, feature-length, and short films from 47 countries. For obvious reasons (read: short attention spans), the biggest chunk of offerings are shorts packaged in thematic and age-appropriate blocks. And there is just so much to see during the fest's run. Much of what you'll find on tap at the annual fest, now in its 15th year, can be experienced and enjoyed by adults—and they don't need to feel odd or out of place if they are unaccompanied by minors. LEILANI POLK
Northwest Film Forum
All events March 6-8 except festival workshops have been postponed to a later date, TBA.

Chinatown Rising
In the 1960s, Harry Chuck documented counterculture activism in his Chinatown, San Francisco neighborhood, as Asian Americans took up the banner of civil rights. Years later, Harry Chuck and Josh Chuck have released some of this footage in a documentary about those rebellious years, featuring interviews with some of the activists of the time.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Saturday only

Come and See
There are sentimental-shit war films as-seen-through-little-eyes (Empire of the Sun, Hope and Glory, Au Revoir les Enfants), and there are bolder ones (Forbidden Games and The Tin Drum). Nothing tops Elem Klimov's shocking, poetic masterpiece. A Soviet Belorussian child shows us the German invasion of 1943. Go ahead and cry, baby. GREGORY TOZIAN
Grand Illusion
Friday–Sunday
New restoration

Dinosaurs of Antarctica
Paleoecologists study the lives of the massive bird-like creatures that traipsed around Antarctic forests and swamps hundreds of millions of years ago—and they try to understand how the southern continent transformed from a warm and bio-diverse Mesozoic to the modern-day frozen landscape we know today.
Pacific Science Center

Flamenco Syndrome
Indian American filmmaker Bijoyini Chatterjee (who'll skype in for Q&A after this screening) travels to Spain to make this documentary about catching the flamenco bug. She interviews Roma and Spanish people to try to understand just what makes this music and dance style so addictive.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

The Hidden People of the Shadowy Rocks
In this surreal Icelandic film by the avant-garde couple Róska and Manrico Povolettino, a young farmer who takes up the fight against Danish imperialism is wooed by a sexy elf girl. Lee Lynch, who's in charge of this 1982 oddity, will be in attendance.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

Keepers of the Dream: Seattle Women Black Panthers
This mini-fest of five short documentaries, produced by Patricia Boiko and Tajuan LaBee, serves as an introduction to the courageous actions of women Black Panther activists, from Frances Dixon to Phyllis Noble Mobley. Local musical star SassyBlack provides the scores.
Northwest Film Forum
Friday only
Postponed to a later date, TBA.

Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko
In this anime, a girl composes a song for the boy she adores, but it somehow opens a portal to a magical land full of talking animals, cyborgs, monster turtles, and more.
The Beacon
Sunday only

Olympic Dreams
I'm obsessed with the Olympic Village, the makeshift town-within-a-town where athletes live while competing in the Olympics. Rebuilt for each Olympics, the sprawling village is like a college campus for the world's most fit people. It contains condos, arcades, lounges, and—most importantly—condoms. Lots of condoms, because there's a lot of sex happening at the Olympics. Olympic Dreams, a new film starring and written by Big Mouth's Nick Kroll and Olympic runner Alexi Pappas, got unprecedented access to shoot inside PyeongChang's Olympic Village. While the film is not exactly about wild orgies—it's a run-of-the-mill rom-com—the vibe remains horny. Kroll is fine in his semi-dramatic turn as a romantically forlorn volunteer dentist, but Pappas is remarkable. She elicits a surprisingly tender performance. But the reason to see the film is its setting. There are few locations as strange and utopian as the Olympics, a place with architecture designed to project our highest aspirations. CHASE BURNS
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band
History is written by the victors—and as a corollary, winners usually become the focus of music documentaries. When it comes to the tragic tale of the Band, guitarist and main songwriter Robbie Robertson definitely has emerged triumphant. Three of the five members of this influential rock group are dead, and the other survivor, keyboardist Garth Hudson, shuns the spotlight. With Once Were Brothers, Daniel Roher presents a conventional contextualizing rock doc with marquee-name talking heads—Van Morrison, George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen, et al.—and efficiently reveals Robertson's early family life (his mother was indigenous, his father Jewish) and musical evolution. Robertson is an articulate, passionate memoirist; the film is based on his 2016 autobiography, Testimony. With equanimity, he registers the Band's soaring highs and devastating lows, while his French ex-wife Dominique adds crucial observations about the inter-band dynamics and substance abuse that dogged the members. Tracing a story of relentless, upward mobility through the music industry, the doc emphasizes Robertson's inner strength and boundless ambition, which helped him to avoid the booze- and drug-related pitfalls that afflicted his mates. DAVE SEGAL
Regal Meridian 16 & AMC Seattle 10

Ordinary Love
An older couple's seemingly comfortable marriage is derailed by a breast cancer diagnosis, and their playful arguing turns to the rehashing of long-buried resentments, in this drama starring Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville.
Meridian 16

Pather Panchali
The Indian master Satyajit Ray's debut film is an unbelievably beautiful glimpse of a child's life, as little Apu is sheltered and overshadowed by extraordinary women and girls like his rambunctious older sister Durga and his busy mother Sarbajaya. Pather Panchali is featured on numerous "best-of" lists.
The Beacon
Thursday only

Premature
Rashaad Ernesto Green was named "Someone to Watch" at the Independent Spirit Awards for this heartfelt coming-of-age tale set in Harlem, about a 17-year-old aspiring poet (Green's co-screenwriter Zora Howard) who falls for a handsome stranger (Joshua Boone). Her newfound love seems to open up new possibilities, but learns that men sometimes disappoint.
SIFF Film Center
Friday–Sunday

Same God
In 2015, an African American political science professor, Dr. Larycia Hawkins, who worked at a Christian college took a selfie wearing a hijab and expressed support for Muslims facing discrimination. The administration suspended her and moved to cancel her tenure. An alumna of the school, Linda Midgett, made this film to document Hawkins's struggle and explore issues of race, evangelism, and conservatism.
Grand Illusion
Sunday only

Shaolin Temple
Another martial arts gem by wuxia filmmaking great Chang Cheh, in which besieged Shaolin monks hole up in their temple as they resist the Manchu regime. Finally, the monks decide to take on new pupils to continue their legacy.
The Beacon
Saturday only

Slumber Party Massacre
One of the few (only?) '80s slasher films directed by a woman, Amy Holden Jones, Slumber Party Massacre has just as much blood and T&A as you might expect from a horndog male director's schlocky sensibilities, but with slyly feminist undertones (courtesy in part of screenwriter Rita Mae Brown). Recommended for fans of the genre.
The Beacon
Friday only
Part of Haunted Light

The Thing from Another World
Does it surprise you that the director of Casablanca also produced the movie on which John Carpenter's The Thing was based? Needless to say, the special effects are a little less over-the-top, but it's still a skillfully scripted, intriguing reflection of Cold War fears.
Scarecrow Video
Saturday only
Part of The Art in Horror

The Traitor
Accomplished director Marco Bellocchio (Dormant Beauty) dramatizes the turning of Tommaso Buscetta against the Cosa Nostra. Buscetta has fled to Brazil, leaving total chaos within the Mafia back in Palermo. When he's extradited back to Italy, he makes a decision with momentous consequences. The Traitor stars the terrific actors Pierfrancesco Favino (Marco Polo) and Luigi Lo Cascio (The Best of Youth).
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Friday–Sunday

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
A masterpiece from the very end of the Czechoslovak New Wave of avant-garde cinema, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders follows a teenage girl as she flees from vampiric churchmen who hellbent on stealing her magical earrings. This 1970 mind-trip has amassed a cult following for good reasons: amazing surreal visuals, a dreamy score by Luboš Fišer, and an effective evocation of childhood terrors. JOULE ZELMAN
The Beacon
Friday–Sunday

The Way Back
Ben Affleck plays an alcoholic coach who returns to the town where he was a teen basketball star in this redemption drama by Gavin O'Connor.
Wide release
Friday–Sunday

Weathering With You
Audiences seem to love director Makoto Shinkai (Your Name) and his approach of pairing an original plot with standard anime emotional blocking: boy meets girl, girl has weather powers, boy and girl reach for each another’s arms in climactic moments, a character runs until they are exhausted and then they keep running, and also someone must die. Even when Shinkai introduces some interesting ideas about an impending climate apocalypse (oh, like us!), it all feels familiar: The world isn’t saved, but the world doesn’t end. The world continues, changed. SUZETTE SMITH
Varsity Theatre

Wild at Heart
The film features a horned-up, wild Lula (Laura Dern) constantly having melodramatic sex with the horned-up, wild Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage). I have a hard time focusing during Lynch's films, but so many of Wild at Heart's extreme scenes stick with me: The opening, which revs up from a polite Southern gathering to a brutal head-bashing in seconds; the scene where Ripley hijacks a microphone to sing while girls excitedly scream in the background, but they're pitched up to sound like eagles; the scene where Lulu pulls over her car because she can't handle the negativity of news radio, so she makes Ripley put on some hardcore music and then they rage in a pasture. The whole film is, as they say, hotter than Georgia asphalt. CHASE BURNS
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

The Wizard of Oz
At the end of this American cultural institution (we can no longer call it just a movie), which is made from the stuff of nightmares, Dorothy—the institution’s hero, and a girl from the middle of America, Kansas—throws water on the old Wicked Witch. This witch, who has a green face, begins to melt. As the witch disintegrates into a steaming puddle, she says to Dorothy and God and the universe: “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! You cursed brat! Look what you’ve done!! I’m melting, melting. Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world.” As much as I hate the witch, these words break my heart every time. There is no normal parent who has not been in a situation when they wanted to say exactly that to their stupid child. CHARLES MUDEDE
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

The Woman Who Loves Giraffes
In 1956, just after graduating college, Anne Innis Dagg went alone to South Africa to study giraffes. She was a pioneer in the research of a single animal in the wild, bringing back amazing film footage and observational notes. After returning from Africa, she earned a PhD, published numerous articles, wrote a foundational textbook on giraffes, and got into teaching. She wanted to do more giraffe research but found her way frustratingly blocked by sexist attitudes. So she worked to expose gender bias in academia and the failure to support women’s research. There’s been an effort lately to shine a light on women whose work may not have been adequately recognized before, and this doc shows the important scientific contributions and fascinating life of a giraffe-loving feminist pioneer. GILLIAN ANDERSON
Ark Lodge Cinemas
Thursday only

ALSO PLAYING
Our critics don't recommend these movies, but you might like to know about them anyway.

Call of the Wild
The Lodge
Run This Town
Sonic the Hedgehog
Wendy

44 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: February 27–March 1, 2020

Robert Ham — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 15:31:00 -0800

Emma, The Invisible Man, the Children's Film Festival, and Other Critics' Picks by Robert Ham

This weekend, Seattle is hosting two great festivals: the Children's Film Festival Seattle, which you should check out even if you're a childless adult, and the brief but richly well-programmed Nordic Lights Film Festival 2020. Other weekend moviegoing options include the harrowing new Elizabeth Moss thriller The Invisible Man, the utterly charming Jane Austen adaptation Emma., and the 1996 cyberpunk treasure Ghost in the Shell. See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

The Animal People
Casey Suchan's documentary tells the story of the Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty campaign, a group of radical animal rights activists who target multinational corporations. This screening will feature a Q&A with SHAC defendants Jake Conroy and Josh Harper, with all proceeds benefiting the Northwest Animal Rights Network.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

Boyfriends and Girlfriends
Three Parisian women suffer shyness and indecision in their pursuit of eligible men.
Seattle Art Museum
Thursday only
Part of French Pleasures: The Films of Eric Rohmer

Céline and Julie Go Boating
Jacques Rivette's fifth feature—sixth if you count both versions of his super-rare marathon Out 1—follows Julie (Dominique Labourier), a librarian with a passion for the occult, as she spies and pounces on the best friend of her dreams. Céline (Juliet Berto), the main draw in a magic act in a seedy Montmartre cabaret, acknowledges Julie's not-so-furtive attentions by sneaking into the children's section of the library and wantonly defacing a pile of books. Then, after a traumatic encounter at a mysterious mansion in the Paris suburbs, a bloodied Céline shows up at her newfound friend's apartment, ready to drive off her suitors, torture her fish with the stem of a dried daisy, and eventually lure her into a stilted wonderland. ANNIE WAGNER
The Beacon
Thursday only

'The Church' with Mortiferum
Chaos ensues in Michele Soavi's film The Church when the staff and visitors of a haunted cathedral—the sight of a bloody medieval massacre—fall victim to an unsealed crypt crawling with unholy monsters. This screening will be preceded by a live set from Mortiferum, who promise to "spew forth anguished slabs of death-doom filth of the most wretched order."
The Beacon
Saturday only
(sold out)

Corpus Christi
When a spiritually inclined young man fresh out of juvie isn't allowed into the seminary, he takes matters into his own hands: He impersonates a priest and ministers to a church in a rural town. He's good at his job, but his past threatens his new vocation. This Polish film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Its star, Bartosz Bielenia ("a bundle of intensity with a buzz cut," according to the New Yorker's Anthony Lane), has drawn much attention for his sheer, alarming energy.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

Day of the Dead
Zombies rule the Earth, and only a tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers is left, hiding in an underground bunker. One brave woman tries to hold humanity together, but she's up against the hubris and brutality of the living. George A. Romero continues his gore-dripping investigations of societal breakdown.
The Beacon
Friday only
Part of Haunted Light

Desperately Seeking Susan
It’s an entertaining comedy of errors that follows a bored New Jersey housewife (Rosanna Arquette) who gets caught up in the life of an exciting stranger (Madonna) she discovers via the personals, and—amid a series of events that involves a case of mistaken identity, amnesia, and a pair of stolen Egyptian earrings—experiences a finding-herself moment. But the film is so good because it serves as a nostalgic snapshot of a Madonna that many of us have forgotten existed: youthful, fresh, on the come-up (the film dropped less than five months after Like a Virgin), and confident without that overinflated sense of self-importance that came with her superstardom. It also marks the debut of “Into the Groove,” arguably one of the sexiest dance songs of the era. LEILANI POLK
The Beacon
Thursday only

Fast Color
Fast Color is not really a superhero film, though the family of black women at its center quietly wield supernatural powers that have been handed down through generations and have compelled them to live in hiding in a remote Midwestern town. The film is set in the near future, where rain has pretty much stopped, water is scarce, and “seeing the colors,” as family matriarch Bo (Lorraine Toussaint) calls it, is more dangerous than ever. Bo is the bridge between Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw as the daughter who’s returned home) and Lila (Saniyya Sidney as the daughter Ruth abandoned years before). Fast Color is poignant, engrossing sci-fi with understated special effects, just enough action to draw you in, and a story that unfolds like a gently blooming flower. Simply brilliant. LEILANI POLK
Scarecrow Video
Friday only

Ghost in the Shell
Forget about the whitewashed, live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell starring Scarlett Johansson. Some things are better left alone, left as they were originally intended, left animated—and 1995’s now-classic anime sci-fi flick based on Masamune Shirow’s manga of the same name is one of those things. Everything about it is hypnotic and poetic, from the animations that transpose graceful, fluid character drawings against gritty, graphic cityscapes of a futuristic Hong Kong, to the exotic evocative soundtrack, to the story’s existential themes of consciousness and identity, to what reproduction means in a post-human body. All of this is encased within a story about a cyborg hunting a being known as “The Puppet Master,” who’s been hacking into and altering the computerized minds of cyborg-human hybrids. This version is in Japanese with English subtitles, which—if you are distracted by the inexpressive tonal quality of Mimi Woods in the dubbed version—is a very good thing. LEILANI POLK
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Goldie
A determined young woman in the Bronx pursues her dreams of becoming a star and tries to keep her two little sisters out of the hands of social services in this bright and beautiful film by Dutch director Sam De Jong, starring the model Slick Woods in her first role.
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

The Harder They Come
Featuring the best movie soundtrack of all time, this story of a wannabe singer turned outlaw folk hero stars charismatic reggae legend Jimmy Cliff. ROBERT HAM
The Beacon
Saturday–Sunday

I Walked with a Zombie
This is one of the haunting horror films produced by Val Lewton and directed by Jacques Tourneur (Cat People and Night of the Demon are others) that have endured and influenced generations of subsequent artsy horror filmmakers. In this peculiar adaptation of Jane Eyre, a white nurse travels to the Caribbean to tend a wealthy white landowner's wife. She encounters black magic, voodoo, and illicit love.
Scarecrow Video
Saturday only
Part of The Art in Horror

The Last Starfighter
In this 1984 sci-fi movie with newfangled computer-generated effects, a video game whiz (Lance Guest) ascends to the heavens to fight aliens.
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Megazone 23
In this 1985 anime, a young man discovers that the city he lives in—ostensibly Tokyo—is actually a gigantic ship run by an AI. Now the military will stop at nothing to keep the secret from getting out.
The Beacon
Sunday only

Nordic Lights Film Festival 2020
This annual film festival, supported by SIFF, celebrates the richness of Nordic culture, featuring films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and even the Faroe Islands. This year, the festival will open with the Icelandic film The County, in which a single dairy farmer named Inga tries to break the stranglehold of a corrupt local cooperative.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Friday-Sunday

The Photograph
Stella Meghie's romance stars Issa Rae as a woman investigating her deceased mother's life and LaKeith Stanfield as the hot journalist she falls for.
Various locations

Saló, or the 120 Days of Sodom
Loosely based on The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, this unstreamable horror art film is infamously banned in multiple countries. The reason? "Relentless sadism." As the Beacon's content warning reads: the film features torture, sexual violence and rape, coprophagia, and fascist violence. (If you're not sure what coprophagia is... why not look it up!) And yet, lovers of the film—of which there are many, including John Waters—argue that the film is beautiful! A masterpiece! A Criterion classic! I'm sympathetic to this point of view, but I think it takes a special kind of freak to program Friday and Saturday night showings of this shit show. CHASE BURNS
The Beacon
Friday-Saturday

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
I found The Rise of Skywalker, the last film in the Skywalker saga, boring. And it was not even a long movie, and I'm a fan of the director's (J.J. Abrams) work (particularly Mission: Impossible III—the best in that franchise), and many of the visual effects are impressive—particularly the haunting business of bringing the late Carrie Fisher back to life. But all together, the film is burdened by too much sentimental family stuff (you are my granddaughter, you are my son, you killed my parents, and so on), and its end did not know how to end for a very long time. CHARLES MUDEDE
Regal Meridian 16 & Regal Thornton Place

Uncut Gems
As Howard Ratner, a professional jeweler and asshole in Manhattan’s Diamond District, a great Adam Sandler rarely leaves the screen in Uncut Gems, and the plot is basically Howard and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. That isn’t a shock, considering the film comes from brothers/writers/directors Josh and Benny Safdie, who party-crashed the arthouse scene with 2017’s Good Time (in which Robert Pattinson was the one playing an asshole having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day). Uncut Gems is larger in scope, but like Good Time, it has a moral vacuum at its center—it takes place in the no-man’s-land where society’s walls crumble, and where those who look out only for themselves can best navigate the rubble. The Safdies aren’t interested in morality tales but amorality tales, and their stories’ no-holds-barred recklessness, at first freeing, steadily grows exhausting. Thankfully, the Safdies also know how to shoot, cut, and score like nobody else. There’s a twitchy, addictive energy to Uncut Gems, and the Safdies’ choppy, rapid-fire cuts coalesce into a surreal, exhilarating landscape of prismatic hues, blaring fluorescents, and sharp LEDs, all while the analog synth score by Daniel Lopatin (AKA Oneohtrix Point Never) adds to the lurid beauty. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Regal Meridian 16

Zodiac (Director's Cut)
Zodiac stands as director David Fincher's most impressive monolith to date, a sprawling, three-decade-spanning infodump that, for all its virtuosity, occasionally feels like being locked in the file cabinet of a conspiracy junkie. James Vanderbilt's script follows the obsessive, dogged attempts of editorial cartoonist Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) and police inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) to uncover the identity of Northern California's notorious (and media-savvy) Zodiac killer. Rather surprisingly, the actual murders are dealt with in a few early scenes, leaving the lion's share of the 150-minute running time to exploring seemingly every slim theory ever generated on the subject. Thank the cosmos for the presence of Robert Downey Jr., whose supporting turn as San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery consistently finds ways to jump out of the film's predetermined groove. ANDREW WRIGHT
The Beacon
Sunday only

ALSO PLAYING
Our critics don't recommend these movies, but you might like to know about them anyway.

Brahms: The Boy II
Call of the Wild
Downhill
Fantasy Island
The Lodge
The Rhythm Section
Sonic the Hedgehog

43 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: February 20–23, 2020

Leilani Polk — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 14:35:15 -0800

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Attack the Block, the Seattle Asian American Film Festival, and Other Critics' Picks by Leilani Polk

It's a terrific week for international films, with the releases of the scorching queer French romance Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the dark Polish religious drama Corpus Christi, and the gorgeous, heartbreaking Chilean documentary The Cordillera of Dreams. But don't miss more locally grown fare at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival, or, if you just want to turn off your brain, fill your eyes with kitty antics at the CatVideoFest. See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

And Then We Danced
Director Levan Akin (who is Georgian but grew up in Sweden) was inspired to make this film after witnessing a violent clash between LGBT demonstrators and far-right protesters in Tbilisi, the capital, in 2013. Akin, who is gay, felt ashamed of his country and resolved to make a queer coming-of-age film that takes place there. And Then We Danced is situated in the world of Georgian dance. Merab comes from a lineage of (failed) traditional dancers, training for years with his partner Mary (Ana Javakishvili) in hopes of graduating to the main ensemble. The men in traditional Georgian dance are supposed to project a type of stiff masculinity in their movements, and the surly dance coach criticizes Merab for his softness. Tension in the troupe escalates when Irakli, hot and charming, joins the group just as a spot for a man in the main ensemble opens up, pitting Merab and Irakli against each other. It's a tenderly told story that doesn't skimp on explicit sex scenes, centering physical desire as much as emotional connection. JASMYNE KEIMIG
SIFF Cinema Uptown

The Assistant
Kitty Green's The Assistant works quietly in its condemnation of abusive men in power. There's no passionate monologue about how a system enables a predator like Harvey Weinstein to comfortably exploit women, nor any cathartic scenes of abusers getting their comeuppance. Rather, the film focuses on the minutiae of office operations and existence, centering the person least in power—a female assistant—as a means of exploring exactly how abusers are enabled by everyone around them. While The Assistant is pretty self-contained, it’s perhaps one of the first films in this #MeToo-era to grapple with the people (men and women alike) and corporate structures that allow for abusers to flourish. They didn't arrive into their respective scenes that way, rather, a misogynistic culture that mandated we "look the other way" helped to normalize their behavior. Green did well to focus on the small actions of an assistant like Jane—the devil is in the details, after all. JASMYNE KEIMIG
AMC Pacific Place

Attack the Block
Edgar Wright's 2016 thrill ride, starring John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker, follows kids in the London projects fighting an alien invasion.
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Beanpole
Two women in Leningrad try to rebuild their lives after the wreckage of World War II in this film from 27-year-old Russian director and co-writer Kantemir Balagov. "This is a story of people for whom the horror of war has not ended, for whom peace is the horror of war by other means," writes The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

Bird
Clint Eastwood—who is now making dumb Trumpy films for low-information white America—loves the rich and complicated African music of black America like nothing else. And so it is not surprising that his 1988 biopic about the tragic jazz genius Charlie Parker, Bird, is, in every shot and scene and sequence, filled with this love. Yes, Parker fucked up much of his life with heavy drugs; yes, he was mentally unstable; yes, he died way too young (at the age of 34). But Eastwood's film, which stars a young and excellent Forest Whitaker (he deserved an Oscar for this performance), emphasizes the saxophonist's otherworldly brilliance. CHARLES MUDEDE
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

Black Panther
The most revolutionary thing about Black Panther is its city. The capital of Wakanda has skyscrapers, a monorail, sidewalks of grass, green buildings, farmers markets, and no cars. The whole idea of private transportation is foreign to this fictional society. If this black African capital has anything to share with the world, it's its city planning. CHARLES MUDEDE
Pacific Science Center
Saturday–Sunday

Bring It On
The story revolves around Torrance (Kirsten Dunst), a cheerleader who's just been announced as team captain of the nation's number one competitive cheerleading squad. Torrance is ready to take her co-ed team to their seventh national championship when she discovers a very disturbing fact: the former captain stole their routines from an all-black squad out of Compton. Overwhelmed by honky guilt, and with only a few weeks until the championships, Torrance must figure out a new routine, battle with mutinous members of the squad, and win the love of Cliff, a new student who couldn't be more different from herself. While Bring It On is happy to laugh at the intensity with which these cheerleaders pursue their championship, it also takes great pains to humanize its characters, and delve into the tricky topic of creative assimilation. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee is a very versatile director, and there isn't a genre of film his eye can't capture. This isn't a hyperbolic statement—a quick look at his filmography shows comedies, romances, action films, historical epics, and slice-of-life dramas, and often those films are considered some of the best examples of those genres. Despite Lee's ability to basically do whatever he wants with a camera, he's at his best when sharing stories hinging on quiet, reserved, painful longing. It's a thread that runs through a lot of his work, and that thread was never as resonant as in Brokeback Mountain, the 2005 Oscar-winning adaptation of Annie Proulx's complicated, taciturn cowboy romance, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger—who (Joker be damned) turns in the best performance of his too-short career. BOBBY ROBERTS
The Beacon
Sunday only
Presented by Seattle Times Book Club

CatVideoFest
Spend some time appreciating the glories of the feline realm on the big screen instead of on YouTube at this annual celebration of the divine conjunction of cats and internet. Watch them purr, romp, pounce, and cuddle—and, if you choose to donate with your ticket admission, feel good knowing your dollar is benefitting Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). On Saturday, celebrity feline Klaus the Cat will make a special guest appearance.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Saturday–Sunday

The Color Purple
Charles Mudede calls Steven Spielberg's multiple-Oscar-winning adaptation of the famed Alice Walker novel a "beautifully brutal and soulful movie." Whoopi Goldberg stars as Celie, a bullied Southern black woman married to an abusive sharecropper (Danny Glover). Racism and spousal abuse make Celie's life hell, but her friendships with other black women help her emerge from purgatory.
Various locations
Sunday only

The Cordillera of Dreams
Patricio Guzmán is a master of documentaries; in films like The Battle of Chile and Nostalgia for the Light, he grapples with the legacy of fascism and resistance in his native country, combining these very human struggles with the shocking beauty of Chilean landscapes (like, in this latest Cannes-laureled film, the Andes).
SIFF Film Center
Friday–Sunday

Earth
Austrian director Nikolaus Geyrhalter (Homo Sapiens) offers a visually compelling meditation on heavy industry's devastation of the natural landscape as mining and construction companies literally move mountains to make money.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable
Meiko Kaji reprises her role as an avatar of vengeance against the cruelty of men in the third Female Prisoner movie. Escaped con Nami, aka Scorpion, finds herself pitted against a sadistic yakuza boss as well as the police when she falls in with a sex worker and her lover/brother. Fans of the series will not be surprised that, along with the cool style and satisfying female rage, there's a lot of bloody violence and graphic depictions of sexual assault.
The Beacon
Thursday only

Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle
Two young women, one citified and one a country mouse, meet on holiday and decide to room together, where their friendship falls apart. Another plot-light but sweetly ironic comedy by Eric Rohmer.
Seattle Art Museum
Thursday only
Part of French Pleasures: The Films of Eric Rohmer

The Great Communist Bank Robbery
The Romanians film retrospective brings you this documentary about a fascinating and disturbing show trial in Romania, 1959, when a group of suspected bank robbers were pressured to reenact their alleged crime for a television film. Believing that they would receive leniency in return for their cooperation, the suspected criminals complied. Things didn't turn out so well for them.
Northwest Film Forum
Thursday only

Gretel and Hansel
Osgood Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins (of Psycho fame) and director of the well-reviewed artsy-horrors The Blackcoat’s Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, takes the classic woodsy fairy tale to folk-grotesque extremes.
AMC Pacific Place & Regal Meridian 16
Thursday only

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey
Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), no more the Joker's abused handmaiden, teams up with some superheroes to protect a little girl.
Various locations

Journey into a Burning Brain
Enjoy free pizza and watch three surprise films with scores from the albums of Tangerine Dream.
The Beacon
Saturday only

Noir City
Charles Mudede has written, "If you love film noir, then you must love the Noir City festival, which will feature a number of known and less known movies in this genre that has lots of spiderlike women, lots of long knives, lots of rooms with dark curtains, lots of faces of the fallen, and lots of existential twists and turns." The 2020 edition, which focused on international noir, will wrap up Thursday with two German-language films, Robert Siodmak's The Devil Strikes at Night and Helmut Käutner's Black Gravel.
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
Thursday only

*Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
We spend the bulk of our time with three people: Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), an earnest, anxious, B-list actor whose career is right about to curdle; Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), Rick's toughed-up, chilled-out former stuntman and current BFF; and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), a bubbly, captivating actress who's just starting to enjoy her first taste of success in show business. Two of these people—the ones who're beginning to realize the world is no longer all that interested in what they have to offer—are fictional. The third is not, and how much you know about the real-life events that occurred in and around Los Angeles in 1969 will profoundly color your experience watching the film. How Tarantino plays with history in Once Upon a Time is one of the more intense and surprising elements of the film—and, thankfully, it's also one of the best. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Crest
Thursday only

The Photograph
Stella Meghie's romance stars Issa Rae as a woman investigating her deceased mother's life and LaKeith Stanfield as the hot journalist she falls for.
Various locations

Seattle Asian American Film Festival
Films by and about Asian Americans are showcased at this annual festival, which always includes diverse features and short films about the rich and varied experiences of these populations, particularly in Seattle and the Northwest. The festival opens with a free screening of the interracial marriage drama Normal, directed by Mragendra Singh, followed by the short film package What Haunts You (also free!). Another highlight: Danish Renzu's drama The Illegal on Saturday.
Northwest Film Forum
Friday–Sunday

Shock Waves
The Beacon cinema calls this "the high point of the aquatic Nazi zombie sub-sub-genre." A Nazi (played by icy Peter Cushing) commands a troupe of zombie soldiers who live underwater for some reason. Only recommended for those films snobs who can appreciate the finer points of the genre. (Just kidding: recommended if you want to watch a pretty terrible-but-entertaining-looking movie with the film fanatics who frequent this theater.)
The Beacon
Part of Haunted Light
Friday only

Vampyr
"Prestige horror" isn't new; great directors have worked in the genre since the existence of the motion picture. Esteemed local critic Robert Horton will head this screening series of horror masterpieces, like this weekend's utterly bizarre Danish silent film Vampyr. If you're a vampire enthusiast and you haven't seen this one, you need to make the trip.
Scarecrow Video
Saturday only
Part of The Art in Horror

We Believe in Dinosaurs
If you've never heard of young-earth creationists, We Believe in Dinosaurs offers a sound introduction as it documents their building of an enormous, $120 million "life-size" Noah's Ark in rural Kentucky to prove that the Bible is scientifically and historically accurate. These are folks who reject evolution, think that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by god 6,000 years ago, and look at the story of Noah as factual and the flood as the reason we have all these dino fossils all over the world. Shot over four years, from blueprints to opening day of Ark Encounter, to the aftermath a year later, We Believe in Dinosaurs tells a story of the relationship between science and religion, and religion and politics, and also reveals a disturbingly widespread form of willful ignorance in the U.S. LEILANI POLK
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

ALSO PLAYING
Our critics don't recommend these movies, but you might like to know about them anyway.

Birth
Call of the Wild
Downhill
Fantasy Island
The Lodge
The Rhythm Section

Sonic the Hedgehog

44 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: February 13–16, 2020

Elaina Friedman — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 16:10:00 -0800

Sleepless in Seattle, Noir City, and Other Movie Critics' Picks by Elaina Friedman

It's a good weekend for a movie date with your friends and lovers. Whether you want to eschew Valentine's Day traditions with Noir City films like The Black Vampire and Branded to Kill or you'd like a dose of nostalgia from the Miyazaki classic Princess Mononoke, your options are plentiful. See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Movies play Thursday–Sunday unless otherwise mentioned.* = Won a 2020 Oscar

*1917
Legendary screenwriter William Goldman once said of the film industry, “Nobody knows anything,” and this is still mostly true, with one exception: If cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the movie, that movie is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. Even if 1917 were solely the most impressive work of Deakins’ remarkable career—which it is—I’d be recommending it. But the World War I movie is also one hell of a stunning storytelling experience from director Sam Mendes, co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and editor Lee Smith. “But wait,” you say, “isn’t the whole point of this movie that there aren’t any cuts? Why did they need an editor at all?” 1917’s hook (or less generously, its gimmick) is that it’s meant to unfold in a single, unbroken take. It’s one of the rare instances of a film’s marketing actually benefiting the finished film, because of the way this knowledge is both paid off... and then subverted. BOBBY ROBERTS
Various locations
Received Oscars for: Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects

After Midnight
In this love story/monster movie mashup, a man begins to unravel after getting dumped by his girlfriend.
SIFF Film Center
Friday-Sunday

And Then We Danced
Director Levan Akin (who is Georgian but grew up in Sweden) was inspired to make this film after witnessing a violent clash between LGBT demonstrators and far-right protesters in Tbilisi, the capital, in 2013. Akin, who is gay, felt ashamed of his country and resolved to make a queer coming-of-age film that takes place there. And Then We Danced is situated in the world of Georgian dance. Merab comes from a lineage of (failed) traditional dancers, training for years with his partner Mary (Ana Javakishvili) in hopes of graduating to the main ensemble. The men in traditional Georgian dance are supposed to project a type of stiff masculinity in their movements, and the surly dance coach criticizes Merab for his softness. Tension in the troupe escalates when Irakli, hot and charming, joins the group just as a spot for a man in the main ensemble opens up, pitting Merab and Irakli against each other. It's a tenderly told story that doesn't skimp on explicit sex scenes, centering physical desire as much as emotional connection. JASMYNE KEIMIG
SIFF Cinema Uptown

The Assistant
A young aspiring film producer lands a job as an assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul, and it's not long before she decides to take a stand against the normalized abusive behaviors in her workplace.
AMC Pacific Place

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), no more the Joker's abused handmaiden, teams up with some superheroes to protect a little girl.
Various locations

Citizen K
Oscar-winning documentarist Alex Gibney turns his considerable filmmaking prowess to a portrait of the former oligarch and current political exile Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who, after his imprisonment and seizure of assets, was forced by Putin to leave Russia.
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

Color Out of Space
I didn’t go into Color Out of Space thinking it would be great, or even very good. Starring Nicolas Cage and based on a story by HP Lovecraft about a weird alien presence/virus/organism/wtf that comes crashing in from space via meteorite, I figured it’d be entertaining at the very least. And that it was, but it was also tremendously, spectacularly bad, with some classic bad-acting Cage on tap. You’re not here for the plot. You’re here for campy-as-fuck sci-fi horror and Nicolas Cage, of which Color Out of Space has both in spades. It has the potential to be the next great (terrible) cult classic, and will definitely find a sympathetic audience in both die-hard Cage fans and D-level horror film enthusiasts. Also, the colors are pretty. LEILANI POLK
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

Cunningham
Merce Cunningham (who, as you Northwest dance aficionados may already know, attended Cornish College in the '30s) had a seven-decade career in dance and choreography, founding the world-famous Merce Cunningham Dance Company. This documentary juxtaposes archival footage, interviews, and new dance footage.
SIFF Cinema Uptown & Crest

Duvidha
This underknown gem by the filmmaker Mani Kaul, who was heavily influenced by European arthouse directors like Andrei Tarkovsky and Robert Bresson as well as his Bengali mentor Ritwik Ghatak, is about a young bride in Rajasthan. Neglected by her husband, the bride is seduced by a ghost who impersonates the man.
The Beacon
Saturday only

Eros + Massacre
Prolific Japanese filmmaker Kiju Yoshida directs this challenging work that intersects the stories of early 20th-century anarchist and free love advocate Sakae Osugi and a pair of student activists.
Northwest Film Forum
Saturday-Sunday

*Ford v Ferrari
F v F is about how corporations can’t help but crush the passion and innovation they so desperately need. In this case, the crushees are race car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driving phenom Ken Miles (Christian Bale), both of whom are forced to cajole, finagle, and manipulate the suits at Ford in an attempt to win the famed Le Mans road race. Director James Mangold (Logan) smartly avoids the emotionally manipulative tricks found in other sports biographies, and Damon and Bale are, unsurprisingly, excellent and affecting. The problem? It’s impossible to ignore the two elephants in this room: The fetishization of white male toxicity and car culture, topics which society is trying to deal with and solve… not celebrate. This makes Ford v Ferrari a very good movie that, a decade ago, would’ve been considered great. Now it feels like a brand-new film that’s already an antique. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Regal Meridian 16
Received Oscars for: Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing

Frankenstein
This iconic horror film follows the obsessed scientist Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) as he attempts to create life by assembling a creature from body parts of the deceased. Aided by his loyal misshapen assistant, Fritz (Dwight Frye), Frankenstein succeeds in animating his monster (Boris Karloff), but, confused and traumatized, it escapes into the countryside and begins to wreak havoc. Frankenstein searches for the elusive being, and eventually must confront his tormented creation.
Scarecrow Video
Saturday only
Part of The Art in Horror

The Green Ray
Another wonderful and offbeat romantic comedy by Eric Rohmer, The Green Ray (sometimes known as Summer) is about a depressed Parisian secretary who goes on various vacations where she fails to make friends or enjoy herself—until she meets a man in the train station on her way back to her home city.
Seattle Art Museum
Thursday only
Part of French Pleasures: The Films of Eric Rohmer

Harriet
Aside from the assistance that the formerly enslaved Harriet Tubman got from the Underground Railroad, it’s hard to imagine exactly how she pulled off all her heroics. With Harriet, audiences are given a live-action reimagining of Harriet Tubman’s journey to self-liberation: changing her name, hiding in bales of hay, being chased by dogs, and getting cornered by armed men on a bridge before jumping into the river. Harriet shows how Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) got help from a secret network of safe houses and trusted free Blacks (Leslie Odom Jr. and Janelle Monáe) who stuck their necks out to help her cause. Throughout the film, the only music you’ll hear, gladly, are negro spirituals—songs that enslaved Blacks used to express their sorrow and joy, and to secretly communicate. Harriet doesn’t subject the sensitive viewer to excessive gore or violence (though there is one particularly unsettling scene), because for once, this is a story in the “slave movie” genre about tremendous triumph, leadership, and Tubman’s unwavering faith, both in God and herself. JENNI MOORE
Crest
Thursday only

Heroic Purgatory
It's a Kiju Yoshida extravaganza at the Northwest Film Forum this weekend. This film, produced under Japan’s legendary Art Theater Guild, uses a dream-like approach to explore the political landscape of early-1970s Japan.
Northwest Film Forum
Saturday–Sunday

Honeyland
Hatidze is living in a way that has all but disappeared. She subsists in the Macedonian mountains in much the same world as her ancestors hundreds of years ago: hut made of stones, no electricity, no running water, living off the land. She lives with her very old mother, surviving by harvesting honey and selling it in the town market. Much of documentary follows Hatidze as she takes care of her mother, does her beekeeping, and moves around the land. She exists in harmony with her environment, taking only what she needs. When a nomadic Turkish family with seven wild kids and a RV arrive and set up nearby with their herd of cows, they change the atmosphere drastically. The father is under heavy pressure to support the family, and he has little regard for the environment or engaging in sustainable practices. The doc is an interesting glimpse into a quiet, old way of life. Macedonia is a beautiful and ancient land with lots of rocks and few trees. The pace of the doc, however, is slow and there is little story, and the film can sag a bit while the people just hang out and go about their daily business. GILLIAN ANDERSON
Ark Lodge Cinemas & Grand Illusion
Thursday only

Invisible Life
Two sisters in Rio de Janeiro are unaware of one another's presence in the same city, kept apart by a long-ago lie, in Brazilian cineaste Karim Aïnouz's exquisitely filmed, midcentury-set drama.
AMC Seattle 10
Friday-Sunday

Joe Versus the Volcano
When a young (and, frankly, dishy) Tom Hanks is diagnosed with a terminal illness (a "brain cloud"), a mysterious millionaire offers him the chance to perish in a much tighter way: in the eye of a volcano. It's a romantic comedy, so Meg Ryan (also dishy) naturally co-stars.
Central Cinema
Friday-Sunday

*Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations
Received Oscars for: Best Adapted Screenplay (Taika Waititi)

Jupiter Ascending
The liveliest sequence in Jupiter Ascending comes near the middle of the film. We’ve already met Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), a Chicago cleaning lady who everyone is convinced is some kind of intergalactic royalty. She’s being protected by Caine Wise (Channing Tatum), a man-wolf hybrid who used to have wings but who now gets around on a pair of boots that allow him to rollerblade through the air. They’ve arrived on an alien planet, and Jupiter—who informs us in a voice-over at the beginning of the film that she is an undocumented Russian immigrant—has to become documented as space royalty. So she and Caine wait in line to receive her official papers. The bored bureaucrat at the end of the line sends her somewhere else because she doesn’t have the proper tax forms. It goes on like this for a while, with Jupiter and Caine being ferried from one line to another by a chipper android that slowly becomes disillusioned with the paperwork process. (Terry Gilliam makes a cameo as an office clerk, in case you didn’t already recognize the Brazil references.) Yes, in a movie packed with spaceship chases, intergalactic battles, a royal space wedding, and an exploding alien city, the part of Jupiter Ascending that feels the most fun and organic is a five-minute scene about the familiar aggravation of dealing with bureaucracy. PAUL CONSTANT
The Beacon
Saturday-Sunday

Just Mercy
In this dramatization of a true, infuriating story, Michael B. Jordan plays the lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who, with the help of activist Eva Ansley (Brie Larson), fights racism and systemic legal injustice to save the life of an innocent condemned man, Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx).
Regal Meridian 16 & AMC Pacific Place

*Little Women
I say this with my whole heart: Greta Gerwig's Little Women is wonderful. Full of wonder, inspiring wonder, embodying wonder. Which is hard to do as the eighth adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's beloved 1868 novel of the same name. Gerwig's adaptation—which she both wrote and directed—feels neither redundant nor stale. Rather, it's a fresh, modern-feeling take on a well-trodden story, stuffed with excellent performances, witty dialogue, and gorgeous costumes. The film jumps between Jo's "present" life in a post-Civil War America and her childhood, living at home with her three other sisters and mother, awaiting the family patriarch to return home from the war as they struggle to make ends meet. The direction and sense of characters are particularly strong in this adaptation. It fleshes each sister out so that she feels real and worthy of empathy, not purely serving as a star vehicle for Ronan in the same way the Winona Ryder version arguably did. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations
Received Oscars for: Best Costume Design (Jacqueline Durran)

National Theatre Live: Fleabag
This stage show by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, about a mad and sexually hungry young woman trying to make sense of life, inspired the Emmy-nominated TV show of the same name. See it broadcast live from London.
SIFF Film Center
Friday-Sunday

National Theatre Live: Present Laughter
Matthew Warchus directs Andrew Scott (BBC’s Sherlock, Fleabag) in Noël Coward’s comedy about a star actor whose life spirals out of control as he gets ready to leave on an overseas tour. See it broadcast live from London.
SIFF Film Center
Saturday-Sunday

Noir City
Charles Mudede has written, "If you love film noir, then you must love the Noir City festival, which will feature a number of known and less known movies in this genre that has lots of spiderlike women, lots of long knives, lots of rooms with dark curtains, lots of faces of the fallen, and lots of existential twists and turns." All of these will be delivered at the 2020 edition, which will focus on dark crime cinema from outside the US: The Beast Must Die and The Black Vampire (an adaptation of Fritz Lang's M) from Argentina, Panic from France, A Colt Is My Passport and Branded to Kill from Japan, and many more.
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
Friday–Sunday

*Oscar Nominated Shorts 2020: Animated Program and Live Action Program
Sure, the Oscars’ depressing obsession with Joker (11 nominations! lol) has done even more damage to the crumbling reputation of an obsolete institution that barely even pretends to be anything other than an artistically meaningless, months-long bullshit marketing campaign. But once you look past a certain movie about how hard it is to be a white clown in America, there is some stuff getting recognized that’s actually good—and you’ve got a decent chance of catching some of it in the programs that collect this year’s nominated live-action, animated, and documentary shorts. If you’re only catching one of the programs, the animated one’s generally the way to go. ERIK HENRIKSEN
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Oscar winners: Hair Love (animated) and The Neighbor's Window (live)

*Parasite
Parasite is director Bong Joon-ho at his very best. It's a departure from the sci-fi bent of his recent movies, though it's no less concerned with the state of society today. Set in Seoul, South Korea, the families and class issues at play reflect our global era, in which the disparity between the haves and have-nots seems to be widening. Parasite follows the Kim family, who secretly scam their way into the lives of the wealthy Park family. Slowly and methodically, the Kims begin to drive out the other domestic workers at the Park residence, each time referring another family member (who they pretend not to know) for the vacant position. And so the poorer family starts to settle comfortably into the grift—until a sudden realization turns their lives upside down. The resulting film offers an at turns hilarious and deeply unsettling look at class and survival, its essence echoed in the environments the characters inhabit. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations
Shown in black-and-white at SIFF
Received Oscars for: Best Picture, Best Director (Bong Joon-ho), Best International Feature, Best Original Screenplay

The Photograph
Stella Meghie's romance stars Issa Rae as a woman investigating her deceased mother's life and LaKeith Stanfield as the hot journalist she falls for.
Various locations

Princess Mononoke
A prince becomes involved in the struggle between a forest princess and the encroachment of mechanization.
Museum of Pop Culture
Sunday only

Pr0n 4 Freakz
Saira Barbaric and Alistair Fyrn, founders of the porn production company ScumTrust, will kick off their second annual series of genderqueer/trans erotic films on Valentine's Day, making the Forum an inviting and inclusive hangout for LGBTQ+ smut enthusiasts. The aim of ScumTrust—apart from making their audiences feel hot and bothered through depictions of the "gritty parts of sex, life and pleasure"—is to celebrate all bodies and destigmatize sex work and sensual performance. Before the screening, shop a witchy market and socialize, and stay on after the show for a Q&A with the creators.
Northwest Film Forum
Friday only

Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones
Danny Garcia’s documentary Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones surfaced around the 50th anniversary of Jones’s premature and controversial passing. It spends nearly half of its 96-minute running time diving deeply into the sordid details of this hugely talented musician’s demise. Jones’s story is familiar to hardcore Stones fans, but Garcia does a great job finding and questioning surviving members of the man’s inner circle and people in the Stones’ orbit during Jones’s seven years in the band. Jones was the most experimentally inclined Stone with regard to narcotics and music. The trouble was, he couldn’t compete with Jagger and Richards in the songwriting department (not many could), so he became increasingly marginalized when the Stones would enter the studio. The real meat of Rolling Stone is the forensic examination of Jones’s death, which occurred less than a month after his departure from the Rolling Stones due to his increasing unreliability. However, some observers viewed Jones’s exit as Jagger and Richards executing a power move without concern for their mate’s substance-abuse problems. DAVE SEGAL
Ark Lodge Cinemas
Thursday only

Sleepless in Seattle
Tom Hanks is a widowed architect who moves to a cool-looking houseboat in Seattle with his little son. Meg Ryan is a plucky Chicago journalist who prefers Tom's sexy voice to that of her boring (but ultimately very understanding) boyfriend, Howard. It's a classic and you love it.
Central Cinema
Friday-Sunday

Song to the Siren: The Beacon Guide to 4AD
In the wake of the December 2019 death of Vaughan Oliver, head of the English indie label 4AD's in-house design company 23 Envelope, Seattle indie movie theater the Beacon is hosting "Song to the Siren: The Beacon Guide to 4AD." Oliver was crucial in creating 4AD's mystique, his imagery on its record covers an ideal analogue to the music's often gothic, enigmatic, and emotionally fraught qualities. The Beacon plans to celebrate 4AD's audio/visual splendor with a profound plunge into the label's fascinating history via music videos, television appearances, rare live footage and interviews, segments from the 1985 film 23 Envelope Documentary, and more.
The Beacon
Sunday only

Sonic the Hedgehog
Let us first thank the laundry list of producers and studios behind Sonic the Hedgehog for acceding to the demands of the moviegoing public, replacing their nightmarish vision of the title character (WHY DID IT HAVE HUMAN TEETH?!?!) with a CGI creature that is far less nauseating to stare at for 90 minutes. Then let us regret that the last spurts of their budget were used up on that digital redux, leaving nothing to rescue the rest of the film from its oppressive mediocrity and copious fart jokes. As fun as it is to see Jim Carrey once again making use of his rubbery screen presence as Sonic’s nemesis Dr. Robotnik, no one else—especially our most milquetoast-y of movie thespians, James Marsden—dared to tap into a similar vein of campy insanity. ROBERT HAM
Various locations

ALSO PLAYING
Our critics don't recommend these movies, but you might like to know about them anyway.

Downhill
Fantasy Island
The Rhythm Section

44 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: February 6–9, 2020

Jas Keimig — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 15:00:09 -0800

Honeyland, Birds of Prey, Ugetsu, and Other Critics' Picks by Jas Keimig

This weekend, Hollywood will once again throw itself a fancy party, and you're invited... to watch the nominees that are still in theaters! There's even a new Oscar hopeful release: Honeyland, a rare double nominee for Best Documentary and Best International Picture. (You should also check out our list of Academy Awards watch parties and other festivities.) Other options: the sprightly Margot-Robbie-as-Harley-Quinn vehicle Birds of Prey, the terrifying children's classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and one of the greatest films of all time, the sensual ghost story Ugetsu. See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Movies play Thursday–Sunday unless otherwise mentioned.* = Nominated for a 2020 Oscar

*1917
Legendary screenwriter William Goldman once said of the film industry, “Nobody knows anything,” and this is still mostly true, with one exception: If cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the movie, that movie is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. Even if 1917 were solely the most impressive work of Deakins’ remarkable career—which it is—I’d be recommending it. But the World War I movie is also one hell of a stunning storytelling experience from director Sam Mendes, co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and editor Lee Smith. “But wait,” you say, “isn’t the whole point of this movie that there aren’t any cuts? Why did they need an editor at all?” 1917’s hook (or less generously, its gimmick) is that it’s meant to unfold in a single, unbroken take. It’s one of the rare instances of a film’s marketing actually benefiting the finished film, because of the way this knowledge is both paid off... and then subverted. BOBBY ROBERTS
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Sam Mendes), Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Makeup & Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects

2019 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour
This annual film tour of abbreviated features includes the best of the best out of Sundance, all gathered together in one place for your viewing convenience. The seven 2019 films in the 96-minute theatrical program include the awkward yet sweet romance of Sometimes I Think About Dying, whose painfully introverted protagonist goes from wondering how corpse flies might feel walking around on her dead skin ("like a billion tiny massages?") to thinking about the thread count of her colleague's sheets; Muteum, a charming animated short from Estonia about a visit to the museum that takes a funny turn; and Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing winner Fast Horse, a doc about our country's first extreme sport, Indian Relay, where jockeys ride horses bareback and jump from one horse to another amid racing. Also screening: Suicide By Sunlight, Brotherhood, The MINORS, and Crude Oil.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

*2020 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Animated Program and Live Action Program
Sure, the Oscars’ depressing obsession with Joker (11 nominations! lol) has done even more damage to the crumbling reputation of an obsolete institution that barely even pretends to be anything other than an artistically meaningless, months-long bullshit marketing campaign. But once you look past a certain movie about how hard it is to be a white clown in America, there is some stuff getting recognized that’s actually good—and you’ve got a decent chance of catching some of it in the programs that collect this year’s nominated live-action, animated, and documentary shorts. If you’re only catching one of the programs, the animated one’s generally the way to go. ERIK HENRIKSEN
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

Atlantics
The sea is ever present in French writer-director Mati Diop's first feature film, Atlantics. The ghost-haunted love story follows Ada (Mama Sane) after losing her beloved Souleiman (Ibrahima Traoré), who disappeared one night on a raft aimed for Spain along with other boys in town. It takes place on the outskirts of Senegalese's capital, Dakar, which is the westernmost city on the continent and dug into a peninsula. The Atlantic is the thread that binds Ada to Souleiman. It becomes a chorus that narrates from the wings: it is the sea that can be seen from Dakar's luxury houses that Souleiman helped build, but never saw payment from; the sea that Ada constantly, worryingly, looks into as if Souleiman's face, body, and soul would rise up and present itself to her, unharmed. The sea gives this ghost story a logic. JASMYNE KEIMIG
The Beacon
Thursday only

Candyman
Slashers aren't particularly known for things like nuance, or thoughtfulness, or tendencies towards social progressivism and empathy—so seeing all those elements foregrounded in Bernard Rose's adaptation of horror master Clive Barker's short story is startling,and that's before you get to the macabre artistry lent to the numerous (and fucked-up) kills, perfectly underscored by the stark compositions of Philip Glass. BOBBY ROBERTS
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

*The Cave
The director of the devastating Last Men in Aleppo delivers a look into the lives of Syrian women doctors from 2016-2018. Despite danger and sexism, these women work to treat patients in an underground hospital under the city of Ghouta, near Damascus. This documentary won the Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival.
Grand Illusion
Thursday & Saturday-Sunday
Nominated for: Best Documentary

Chloe in the Afternoon
A man in a happy marriage is sorely tempted when a friend's former mistress sets out to seduce him in Eric Rohmer's classic serious comedy.
Seattle Art Museum
Thursday only

Crippled Avenger
The Beacon calls this Chang Cheh action fest "outrageous, fantastic, and maniacally entertaining." Four heroes are terribly mutilated by a kung-fu master and his evil son. Seeking justice, they accept the tutelage of a much nicer kung-fu master in order to develop new strengths.
The Beacon
Saturday only

Fantastic Fungi
At its worst, Fantastic Fungi gets too woo-woo wacky for its own good (when the film’s discussion turns to magic mushrooms, the visuals turn into what is, as far as I can tell, just a psychedelic screensaver from Windows 95), but at its best, the doc pairs fantastic time-lapse imagery with a good dose of actual, mind-blowing science. Affable, passionate mushroom researcher Paul Stamets is joined by talking heads Michael Pollan, Andrew Weil, and narrator Brie Larson to examine everything from massive fungal networks that carry signals between disparate, distant plants to the psychological benefits of psilocybin. It’s an uneven trip, but a good one. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Varsity Theatre & SIFF Cinema Uptown

Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion
You probably already know in your heart whether or not you'd like to see the first film in this artsy women-in-prison exploitation trilogy, made in Japan in the 1970s. It's a hugely influential and stylish revenge tale, but it also carries major trigger warnings for sexual violence.
The Beacon
Thursday only

*Ford v Ferrari
F v F is about how corporations can’t help but crush the passion and innovation they so desperately need. In this case, the crushees are race car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driving phenom Ken Miles (Christian Bale), both of whom are forced to cajole, finagle, and manipulate the suits at Ford in an attempt to win the famed Le Mans road race. Director James Mangold (Logan) smartly avoids the emotionally manipulative tricks found in other sports biographies, and Damon and Bale are, unsurprisingly, excellent and affecting. The problem? It’s impossible to ignore the two elephants in this room: The fetishization of white male toxicity and car culture, topics which society is trying to deal with and solve… not celebrate. This makes Ford v Ferrari a very good movie that, a decade ago, would’ve been considered great. Now it feels like a brand-new film that’s already an antique. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Regal Meridian 16
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing
Thursday only

*Harriet
Aside from the assistance that the formerly enslaved Harriet Tubman got from the Underground Railroad, it’s hard to imagine exactly how she pulled off all her heroics. With Harriet, audiences are given a live-action reimagining of Harriet Tubman’s journey to self-liberation: changing her name, hiding in bales of hay, being chased by dogs, and getting cornered by armed men on a bridge before jumping into the river. Harriet shows how Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) got help from a secret network of safe houses and trusted free Blacks (Leslie Odom Jr. and Janelle Monáe) who stuck their necks out to help her cause. Throughout the film, the only music you’ll hear, gladly, are negro spirituals—songs that enslaved Blacks used to express their sorrow and joy, and to secretly communicate. Harriet doesn’t subject the sensitive viewer to excessive gore or violence (though there is one particularly unsettling scene), because for once, this is a story in the “slave movie” genre about tremendous triumph, leadership, and Tubman’s unwavering faith, both in God and herself. JENNI MOORE
Crest
Nominated for: Best Actress (Cynthia Erivo), Best Original Song ("Stand Up")

*Honeyland
Hatidze is living in a way that has all but disappeared. She subsists in the Macedonian mountains in much the same world as her ancestors hundreds of years ago: hut made of stones, no electricity, no running water, living off the land. She lives with her very old mother, surviving by harvesting honey and selling it in the town market. Much of documentary follows Hatidze as she takes care of her mother, does her beekeeping, and moves around the land. She exists in harmony with her environment, taking only what she needs. When a nomadic Turkish family with seven wild kids and a RV arrive and set up nearby with their herd of cows, they change the atmosphere drastically. The father is under heavy pressure to support the family, and he has little regard for the environment or engaging in sustainable practices. The doc is an interesting glimpse into a quiet, old way of life. Macedonia is a beautiful and ancient land with lots of rocks and few trees. The pace of the doc, however, is slow and there is little story, and the film can sag a bit while the people just hang out and go about their daily business. GILLIAN ANDERSON
Ark Lodge Cinemas & Grand Illusion
Friday–Sunday
Nominated for: Best International Picture, Best Documentary

*Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Production Design, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Scarlett Johansson), Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design

Keepers of the Dream: Seattle Women Black Panthers
This mini-fest of five short documentaries, produced by Patricia Boiko and Tajuan LaBee, serves as an introduction to the courageous actions of women Black Panther activists, from Frances Dixon to Phyllis Noble Mobley. Local musical star SassyBlack provides the scores. Stay on for a Q&A with the filmmakers, plus activists Vanetta Molson-Turner, Youlanda Givens, and Winona Hollins Hauge, facilitated by assistant director Malika Lee.
Northwest Film Forum
Friday only

Keiko Takemiya Boys Love Double Feature
Get your fill of gay anime with The Poem of Wind and Trees (1981) and The Door into Summer (1987) in this double-feature screening of adaptations of Keiko Takemiya's manga.
The Beacon
Sunday only

*Knives Out
Knives Out [is] Rian Johnson's phenomenally enjoyable riff on a murder-mystery whodunit. The less you know going in, the better, but even those familiar with mysteries will likely be caught flat-footed. Things begin in the baroque mansion of famed mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), who is very, very dead. Through flashbacks, monologues, and the genteel but razor-sharp questioning of investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), we meet the rest of the Thrombeys—played by Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Katherine Langford, and more, with everyone clearly having a goddamn blast—and we hear about a billion motives and a billion alibis. Somebody killed Harlan, and while Benoit Blanc is on the case, Knives Out quickly spirals into unexpected territory. In a time when filmgoing is dominated by familiar franchises, seeing an original movie executed with as much care, glee, and skill as Knives Out feels like an experience that's entirely too rare. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations
Nominated For: Best Original Screenplay

*Les Misérables
Suburban poverty and police violence provide a throughline from the 19th-century setting of Victor Hugo's novel to the Muslim populace of present-day Paris in Ladj Ly's critically acclaimed, Cannes Jury Prize-winning adaptation. In a suburb of Paris, Brigadier Stéphane Ruiz takes part in an arrest that turns deadly, and the neighborhood responds with fury to the act of police brutality.
AMC Seattle 10 & Varsity Theatre
Nominated for: Best International Picture
Thursday only

*Little Women
I say this with my whole heart: Greta Gerwig's Little Women is wonderful. Full of wonder, inspiring wonder, embodying wonder. Which is hard to do as the eighth adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's beloved 1868 novel of the same name. Gerwig's adaptation—which she both wrote and directed—feels neither redundant nor stale. Rather, it's a fresh, modern-feeling take on a well-trodden story, stuffed with excellent performances, witty dialogue, and gorgeous costumes. The film jumps between Jo's "present" life in a post-Civil War America and her childhood, living at home with her three other sisters and mother, awaiting the family patriarch to return home from the war as they struggle to make ends meet. The direction and sense of characters are particularly strong in this adaptation. It fleshes each sister out so that she feels real and worthy of empathy, not purely serving as a star vehicle for Ronan in the same way the Winona Ryder version arguably did. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan), Best Supporting Actress (Florence Pugh), Best Costumes, Best Original Score, Best Adapted Screenplay

Mickey and the Bear
On its surface, Annabelle Attanasio's Mickey and the Bear appears to be your standard, gloomy, coming-of-age tale, its focus Mickey, a wise-beyond-her-years teenager-on-the-brink-of adulthood from a poor family in a small Montana town. Amid working (her taxidermy job reflects her impulse to fix things) and hanging with her loser boyfriend, she takes care of her war vet dad Hank. He's the Bear, wounded both physically (the cause of his opioid addiction) and mentally (he has some righteous PTSD). James Badge Dale plays the role like a violin, but the strength of Mickey and the Bear lies in the performance of relative newcomer Camila Morrone, who, as Mickey, carries the weight of the film in her soulful eyes and enigmatic smile. When Mickey is finally pushed to action, it's a relief, suffusing Mickey and the Bear with a feeling of hope amid the darkness and transforming a good film into a great one. LEILANI POLK
Northwest Film Forum
Thursday only

Moving History: Poetry in Motion
Moving History is the Moving Image Preservation of the Puget Sound's quarterly ciné-collage of rare and archival footage of Seattle and environs. This edition celebrates Black History Month with, among other footage, interviews with artist Jacob Lawrence and civil rights activist Dr. Samuel B. McKinney and video of Seattle Civic Poet Jourdan Imani Keith and Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

Nosferatu
"Prestige horror" isn't new; great directors have worked in the genre since the existence of the motion picture. Esteemed local critic Robert Horton will head this screening series of horror masterpieces, starting with F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922). Discover or revisit these classics and discuss them with your fellow movie nerds.
Scarecrow Video
Saturday only
Part of The Art in Horror

*Parasite
Parasite is director Bong Joon-ho at his very best. It's a departure from the sci-fi bent of his recent movies, though it's no less concerned with the state of society today. Set in Seoul, South Korea, the families and class issues at play reflect our global era, in which the disparity between the haves and have-nots seems to be widening. Parasite follows the Kim family, who secretly scam their way into the lives of the wealthy Park family. Slowly and methodically, the Kims begin to drive out the other domestic workers at the Park residence, each time referring another family member (who they pretend not to know) for the vacant position. And so the poorer family starts to settle comfortably into the grift—until a sudden realization turns their lives upside down. The resulting film offers an at turns hilarious and deeply unsettling look at class and survival, its essence echoed in the environments the characters inhabit. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations
Shown in black-and-white at SIFF
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Bong Joon-ho), Best Film Editing, Best International Feature, Best Production Design, Best Original Screenplay

Portrait of Jennie
Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten star in this expressionistic supernatural romance about a frustrated painter who encounters a beautiful ghost, who first appears as a young girl, then seems to grow older. Music Box Films calls this "easily the strangest film ever recalled fondly by your TCM-loving aunt."
The Beacon
Saturday only

Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins
Join Meaningful Movies for their 17th anniversary with a screening of Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins. Here's what The Stranger's Nathalie Graham has to say about the film: "Did you know one of George W. Bush’s most ardent critics was a journalist from his own state? Molly Ivins was the loudest liberal voice covering the Texas legislature. She eventually followed the Bush clan from the state house to the White House. But that was hardly the height of her career. Ivins had long made a name for herself as a journalist. Her sometimes abrasive style was unique and boisterous. In Raise Hell, Ivins’s story clips along breezily, punctuated by her dry wit. It’s an easy watch, but it’ll leave you wondering: What would the late Ivins have thought of the White House’s current tenant?"
Keystone Church
Friday only

Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
Matt Wolf's offbeat documentary chronicles the strange habit of Marion Stokes, a wealthy former civil rights activist who recorded 70,000 hours of news on VHS over a period of 30 years. Vivian Hua, the executive director of the Forum, calls this film "amazing."
Northwest Film Forum
Thursday only

*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
I found The Rise of Skywalker, the last film in the Skywalker saga, boring. And it was not even a long movie, and I'm a fan of the director's (J.J. Abrams) work (particularly Mission: Impossible III—the best in that franchise), and many of the visual effects are impressive—particularly the haunting business of bringing the late Carrie Fisher back to life. But all together, the film is burdened by too much sentimental family stuff (you are my granddaughter, you are my son, you killed my parents, and so on), and its end did not know how to end for a very long time. CHARLES MUDEDE
Regal Meridian 16 & Regal Thornton Place
Nominated for: Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing

Tombs of the Blind Dead
The Beacon kicks off its month of apocalyptic zombie movies with this Portuguese gorefest about undead Knights Templar unleashed upon some unsuspecting college kids. It doesn't look, well, good exactly, but it should be lots of fun for lovers of '70s schlock. Here's the Beacon's spin: "Made in the last days of the Francoist dictatorship, Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead series necessarily evokes the fear of fascism's resurgence, even as it died. Enough time has passed since that we realize the collapse of fascist regimes in the 20th century was not in any way final. They return. Ossorio's blind, skeletal templars are both some of horror's most haunting screen monsters and a striking metaphor for a fascist-religious power alliance that is depressingly familiar."
The Beacon
Part of Haunted Light
Friday only

Ugetsu
Part sensual ghost story and part cautionary tale about profiteering from war, Ugetsu is a stunning film. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi in 1953, the film concerns two families in a small village during the rampant civil wars of the 16th century. One couple is tragicomic: The pathetic and groveling husband wants to be a famous samurai, and his wife, who spends most of her time dragging him home. The other family is grimly flawed. Masayuki Mori plays a man who doesn't want to escape his trade so much as achieve transcendence through it, and he throws pots at a breakneck speed, hoping to sell his wares at war-inflated prices in the city. His wife (played by the great Mizoguchi muse Kinuyo Tanaka, who would become the first Japanese woman to direct a film in that same year) gently warns him to resist his greed. Neither husband pays heed, and soon the men are recklessly pursuing fame, wealth, and sex while their vulnerable wives wait behind. ANNIE WAGNER
The Beacon
Friday–Sunday

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
This 1971 classic, directed by Mel Stuart and adapted from the novel by Roald Dahl, has all of the creepy, whimsical, musical elements you love and is 100% Johnny Depp-free.
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Withnail and I
The British filmmaker Bruce Robinson wrote and directed one of the greatest comedies ever made about pretentious artsy types and the pain of letting the good times pass you by. In Withnail and I, two unsuccessful (and usually drunk) young actors named Withnail and Marwood decide to slum it in the country with Withnail's depressed, lecherous gay uncle. Don't miss your chance to see Richard E. Grant (as Withnail) in all his glory: "We've gone on holiday by mistake. We're in this cottage here. Are you the farmer?"
The Beacon
Saturday only

Zombi Child
French director Bertrand Bonello (Nocturama, House of Tolerance) returns with another hyperatmospheric film that intertwines two storylines. In one, a man is enslaved and zombified in colonial Haiti. In another, a white girl at a prestigious boarding school becomes entranced by her Haitian-descended classmate and seeks to appropriate voodoo for her own purposes.
SIFF Film Center
Friday–Sunday

ALSO PLAYING

Our critics don't recommend these films, but you might want to know about them anyway.

Coda

Dolittle

Jumanji: The Next Level

Rhythm Section

The Turning

The 46 Best Music Shows in Seattle This Week: February 3-9, 2020

Elaina Friedman — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 09:40:00 -0800

The Stranger's music critics' picks for the week. by Elaina Friedman This week, our music critics have picked everything from Dark Star Orchestra to Gregory Porter to the Westerlies Fest. Follow the links below for ticket links and music clips for all of their picks, and find even more shows on our complete music calendar. Plus, check out our arts & culture critics' picks for the 61 best things to do this week. Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday MONDAY ROCK/POP

Ben Ottewell & Ian Ball of Gomez
Ben Ottewell, the lead guitarist for Mercury Prize-winning crowd-pleasing rock band Gomez, will come to Seattle on an acoustic tour in support of his new solo album, Shapes & Shadows. He'll be joined by fellow Gomez guitarist Ian Ball.

TUESDAY CLASSICAL

Orlando Consort: The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Orlando Consort will perform a selection of 15th-century choral music to accompany a screening of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc.

ROCK/POP

Begonia, Guests
Straight outta Manitoba, Canada, Alexa Dirks (AKA Begonia) has made quite an impression here in the states after releasing 2019’s Fear, a collection of R&B-inspired songs that also touch on gospel, jazz, and indie rock—not surprising since it was produced by members of Royal Canoe. Blessed with powerful vocals, Dirks excels on songs like “Beats,” which soars with introspective, clever, and self-aware lyrics; as well as “The Other Side,” a gospel-infused howler that touches on the yearning vagaries of relationships without ever dipping into desperation. Dirks exposes her life and loves through music—and this heartfelt openness is something that’ll keep making Begonia a name to watch out for. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY

Chastity Belt, Loose Tooth
After nearly a decade, the all-women four piece is firing on all cylinders, making the kind of music they want to make and delivering a unique indie-rock sound that's earned them plenty of accolades and fans.

Lloyd Cole
Scottish singer/songwriter/guitarist Lloyd Cole shot out of the gate strongly with Rattlesnakes, his classic 1984 debut LP with the Commotions, and followed it a year later with another tantalizing collection of literate, ornate, and jangly rock songs, Easy Pieces. Throughout the decades, Cole has shown a real knack for smooth compositions that pack a deceptively potent emotional punch, abetted by a voice that suavely blends the sonorities of Edwyn Collins and Chris Isaak. This show will encompass Cole’s work from Rattlesnakes to his 2019 album, Guesswork, which glazes his high-IQ rock with a tasteful electronic sheen. Let’s hope the concert includes stuff from his exploratory synth LP, 1D Electronics 2012-2014, which was influenced by German geniuses Cluster. DAVE SEGAL

Sinead O'Connor
Sinead O'Connor needs no introduction, but in case you have a serious case of name and face evasion, she's a legendary Irish songstress who could slay a dragon with a single tear. She'll stop in Seattle on this much-anticipated North American tour.

SuperM: We Are The Future Live
Korean pop supergroup SuperM's We Are the Future Live world tour will be their tour since their formation in 2019. Their seven members include Taemin from Shinee, Baekhyun and Kai from Exo, Taeyong, Ten, and Lucas and Mark from NCT.

TUESDAY-THURSDAY BLUES/COUNTRY/FOLK

Reverend Horton Heat, The Buttertones, The Dusty 45’s, Bloodshot Bill
Polish your buckles and join real Texas legends the Reverend Horton Heat as they head up a country-rock show with the Buttertones, the Dusty 45’s, and Bloodshot Bill.

WEDNESDAY BLUES/COUNTRY/FOLK

Loudon Wainwright III
There's a whole generation of folks (myself included) for whom Loudon Wainwright III is more familiar as an actor (having appeared in M*A*S*H, three Judd Apatow productions, and G-Force—2009's Jerry Bruckheimer production about guinea pig secret agents). Wainwright the actor, while delightful, is nowhere near as interesting as Wainwright the musician, who's been recording and performing sardonic folk commentaries since his beatific 1970s self-titled debut. His long and storied career is still going strong, even if his new material is no longer about growing old (like his early stuff was) so much as it just plain sounds old (now he sings about things like "Cash for Clunkers"). Still, it would be worth it to hear some of Wainwright's older gems. JASON BAXTER

HIP-HOP/RAP

Young Dolph & Key Glock
Special in that he is probably one of the few people with a similar first name to that German dictator born in the last half century, Adolph Thornton Jr., aka Young Dolph, is major, bringing his syrup-drenched rhymes and Southern swagger to our rainy, gray corner of the country. Having been the target of not one but two shootings in 2017, and dropping several chart-topping albums, the Memphis rapper has experienced both the bitter and the sweet sides of life—and this comes out in his music. Dolph’s songs are catchy, and there’s really nothing like seeing an artist on the come-up. JASMYNE KEIMIG

METAL/PUNK

Queensryche
Back in 2012, Queensryche publicly feuded over the use of their name with former vocalist Geoff Tate. After securing the copyright to the well-established name, the remaining members made a risky move, hiring former Crimson Glory singer Todd La Torre. Many feared this change, as Tate's voice was synonymous with Queensryche's prog-rock sound. What fans received was a love letter to the vintage Queensryche years, shying away from their softer, more ballad-driven material and embracing their original soaring, power-metal-esque anthems with 2013's self-titled album and 2015's Condition Hüman. There's no end in sight for this old-school Northwest rock institution. KEVIN DIERS

ROCK/POP

The Blank Tapes, Head Band, Smoker Dad
Los Angeles and Joshua Tree multi-instrumentalist Matt Adams has churned out more than a dozen albums as the Blank Tapes, exploring the psychedelic rock spectrum, and slathering his music in broad strokes of ’60s inspiration that sound like the sonic equivalent of paisley, or a surfboard. Adams takes a turn into desert, stoner, and hard rock territories in 2019’s Look Into the Light, and doses it with some feminine vocal energy via guest Veronica Bianqui. Standouts include the fuzzy/druggy “Took Too Much,” the spooky-warped psych-surf soul-pop of “Pure Evil,” Bianqui’s cooing vocal harmonies adding an extra element of eeriness to counter Adams’ lazy Tom Petty-evoking drawl, and the back-to-back tripped-out instrumental-heavy odes that are “Death” and “Don’t You Feel,” the latter of which feels like a CSNY bootleg (with extra Y). Good shit. LEILANI POLK

Genghis Barbie
Promising a "visceral and unadulterated musical adventure," Freedom Barbie, Alpine Barbie, Velvet Barbie, and Attila the Horn of NYC's Genghis Barbie will perform pop arrangements from the '70s to the present using brass instruments on their 2 Legit World Domination Tour.

THURSDAY BLUES/COUNTRY/FOLK

Dark Star Orchestra
Dark Star Orchestra keep the indomitable legacy of the Grateful Dead twinkling with their spot-on tribute concerts. They plunder the mother lode of the jam-band progenitors' vast output for Deadheads who miss the real deal or for those unfortunates who never had the chance to witness them live. DSO's MO is to replicate momentous Dead set lists from the group's deep archives, and then nail every facet of the music. Clearly, DSO have their inspiration's wonderfully tight/loose chops, fluid sense of time and space, and that all-important stamina to keep on truckin' through the transitive nightfall of diamonds. DAVE SEGAL

ROCK/POP

Dweezil Zappa
The foremost torch-bearer of experimental-rock musician/guitar iconoclast Frank Zappa, son Dweezil will resurrect poppa's second solo LP, Hot Rats, on this tour, along with highlights from the vast FZ catalog. Hot Rats recently received the deluxe box-set treatment for its 50th anniversary, and hardcore fans will delight in hearing that record's soaring jazz-rock convolutions (and the filthy blues-funk of “Willie the Pimp”) reanimated by the devoted Dweezil and his “rocking teenage combo.” Not sure who's going to be tasked with trying to replicate Captain Beefheart's lascivious growl for “Willie the Pimp,” but they have their work cut out for them. DAVE SEGAL

Goth Babe, Guests
LA slacker rocker/dream-popper Goth Babe (aka goth babe Griffin Washburn) will be welcomed with an opening set from the Reptaliens.

Left At London, VALENTINE, move.by.u
Seattle pop crafter Left At London has received internet acclaim for her smart satire videos and clever wordplay. She'll be joined by guest artists VALENTINE and move.by.u.

THURSDAY-FRIDAY ELECTRONIC

Ekali
Canadian instrumentalist and producer Ekali will return to Seattle once again with fresh and futuristic electronic tracks.

THURSDAY & SATURDAY CLASSICAL

Dvořák Symphony No. 8
Antonín Dvořák's Eighth Symphony, which plays with Czech pastoral themes, will be brought to life by world-renowned violinist Gidon Kremer, alongside pieces by Mieczysław Weinberg and Dmitri Shostakovich.

THURSDAY-SUNDAY JAZZ

Westerlies Fest 2020
Brooklyn-by-way-of-Seattle jazz, roots, and chamber-influenced brass quartet the Westerlies (trumpeters Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands, and trombone players Andy Clausen and Willem de Koch) have never forgotten their Emerald City roots. They’ll return this first full weekend in February to host their second eponymous music fest, which, according to press materials, was created “to give back to the musical ecosystem that raised them by engaging local students, highlighting local talent, and facilitating explosive collaborations between artists from Seattle and beyond.” Basically, workshops at area schools by day, and concerts that find the Westerlies performing with a different guest artist by night: singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Celisse at the Royal Room on Thursday; Seattle-based pianist, composer, and singer Robin Holcomb at the Chapel Performance Space on Friday; and NYC poet duo Phil Kaye and Sarah Kay alongside local spoken word artist Troy Osaki at Town Hall Seattle on Saturday. Sunday closes with the Westerlies Fest JAM-boree of workshops, activities, a listening session, and an open rehearsal followed by a late afternoon Westerlies concert, all at Nickerson Studios. LEILANI POLK

FRIDAY BLUES/COUNTRY/FOLK

Ward Davis, Josh Morningstar
Nashville singer-songwriter Ward Davis will bring his signature Americana and alt-country sound to Seattle after an opening set from Josh Morningstar.

CLASSICAL

Dvořák Untuxed
The Symphony's Untuxed series is great. They only play one piece, and the expectation is you just show up in jeans, or whatever you wear when you're just walking around picking up stuff at the grocery store. The iconic grandeur of Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony—a piece you'll recognize from any number of movies and TV shows (from The Joy Luck Club to Ren & Stimpy)—is a perfect fit for this casual concert. RICH SMITH

ELECTRONIC

STA Presents: Anjunabeats World Wide 09 Tour
Anjunabeats DJs will bring you a night of trance-based house and techno music.

EXPERIMENTAL/NOISE

Freakout Records Presents: Sessa, Guests
Most clued-in North Americans know about the brief but influential Tropicália movement that merged innovative music with rabble-rousing, leftist political views that sometimes drew the ire of Brazil's military government. Artists such as Jorge Ben, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, Gal Costa, and Gilberto Gil proved that this genre could not only translate to other people worldwide, but excite the hell out of them decades after its halcyon era passed. Sessa, a bushy-haired singer/songwriter/guitarist from São Paulo, is in the tradition of those greats, and he's poised to be the next biggest thing from Brazil since Seu Jorge. Sessa's 2019 debut album, Grandeza, doesn't sound much like his recent activities in former Monotonix guitarist Yonatan Gat's band or the groovy garage rock of Garotas Suecas. (By the way, you should check out both of those units.) Instead, Grandeza—which means "Greatness"—abounds with placidly strummed nylon-string guitar, gently rolling hand percussion, shakers, and tangy backing vocals by a five-woman choir. DAVE SEGAL

HIP-HOP/RAP

J Dilla Birthday Party and Tribute with Vitamin D and The Carlos Overall Quartet
Tenor saxophonist Carlos Overall and his quartet will share a bill with local DJ and rapper Vitamin D at a birthday party for beloved Detroit hip-hop artist J Dilla.

Phora
If you can relate to young, emo-leaning hip-hop artists who are most certainly influenced by Drake, then you’ll likely enjoy the introspective, emotionally available rap of Phora, an MC from Anaheim, California, signed to Warner Bros. While I’m all set in that regard, the 25-year-old does have something going for him. I’m a sucker for a soulful chipmunk effect, which is utilized beautifully on his 2017 song “To the Moon,” with its well-placed sample of Alex Isley's “Into Orbit.” Another one that might ring true for understandably jaded millennials is “Fake Smiles,” which has racked up more than 36 million streams on Spotify. JENNI MOORE

ROCK/POP

International Clash Day: Clash Cover Night
Get ready for a bunch of obscure references and English puns with KEXP's Clash Cover Night. Naked Giants, Tres Leches, Duke Evers, and others will perform tracks from across the Clash discography.

Medejin, Power Strip, 2Libras, Black Ends
This will be a night of ethereal delights. Headliner Medejin revels in the swirling, reverby, guitar-driven melodies of dream pop. The project of Jenn Taranto (who plays keys and guitar and sings), the Seattle-based band creates hazy sonic landscapes for Taranto to sing against. Their most recent single—and one of their strongest songs—“World’s Fair” features a woozy guitar and Taranto’s echo-y vocals, which are bolstered by the sharpness of the drums. They will be joined by darkwave trio 2Libras, the bedroom-y Power Strip, and “gunk pop” band Black Ends. JASMYNE KEIMIG

Temples
Until last year’s fantastic Hot Motion, I hadn’t really listened to Temples since their 2014 debut, Sun Structures, an album of ’60s-soaked psych rock that I dug, though it didn’t knock my socks off (it felt a bit too derivative). Fast forward five years to the British quartet’s third and latest, the aforementioned Hot Motion, one of my favorites of 2019. Their sound has slipped naturally and easily into neo-psychedelia, an evolution that makes perfect sense, and finds them playing around with melody and sonic textures in vaguely vintage rock that is both catchy and trippy as hell. It’s hard not to compare them to their Aussie contemporaries in Tame Impala, especially in tracks like the fine, drug-fueled “You’re Either on Something,” or the urgent, doomy “Atomise,” but Temples definitely has their own distinctive appeal. LEILANI POLK

World Inferno Friendship Society, Bridge City Sinners, Vic Ruggerio, Window Smashing Job Creators
Genre knows no bounds at this show with headliners World Inferno Friendship Society, a lounge-y punk cabaret out of NYC, and supported by Portland folk-punks Bridge City Sinners, rocksteady artist Vic Ruggerio, and Olympia jazz-punks Window Smashing Job Creators.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY ROCK/POP

Western State Hurricanes, Nevada Bachelors
The Western State Hurricanes had a short-lived indie-rock career in Seattle in the '90s. Now they're back and ready to take Ballard by storm, which they'll do with support from fellow PNW rock vets Nevada Bachelors.

SATURDAY BLUES/COUNTRY/FOLK

KPH & The Canary Collective, Mutual Benefit, Namii
Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm and her "people-power folk group" want to raise awareness and care for people with chronic illnesses struggling to afford healthcare and get access to safe drinking water, food, air, and housing. They'll play songs from their debut album with support from Mutual Benefit and Namii, with proceeds benefiting the Earth Pearl Collective.

ELECTRONIC

Minnesota
The only DJ/producer big enough to name himself after the land of a thousand lakes, Minnesota will take over the stage.

EXPERIMENTAL/NOISE

'The Tuba Thieves' Performance
This experimental trumpet and ASL performance directed Alison O'Daniel echoes themes of the artist's The Tuba Thieves video installation featured in the Henry's In Plain Sight exhibition. The performers will move about the space to render the best acoustics, and guests are invited to plop themselves down wherever they like.

HIP-HOP/RAP

Da Qween, Moon Palace, FRED
Currently occupying the throne of local queer rap is Da Qween, the hard femme with harder bars and a hunger to establish themselves as not only the queen of Seattle, but the queen of everything. They'll be joined by psychedelic quintet Moon Palace and FRED.

JAZZ

Gregory Porter
Gregory Porter's voice is a baritone that makes you feel right at home; as for his style of phrasing, it feels very familiar (Lou Rawls, Johnny Hartman, Nat King Cole), but it is also like nothing you have heard before. And this is why the greatness of Porter is not easy to describe. If you listen to him one way, he seems to be rooted deeply in the tradition of jazz song, but if you listen to him another way, you hear a big, warm, blue voice that moves about the music like some liberated balloon rising and falling in the wind. Porter is not conventional, yet he is, and for some reason he easily manages to be both without settling on one or the other. CHARLES MUDEDE

ROCK/POP

American Authors, Magic Giant, Public
Massive alt rock group American Authors will continue their hot streak with a tour stop supported by Magic Giant and Public.

An Evening with Pink Talking Fish
Pink Talking Fish are a self-styled “hybrid tribute fusion act” that perform set lists that stitch together the music of three mega bands from different but overlapping eras: Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish. Why am I writing about a bona fide cover band, you ask? Because the way they present these covers is extraordinary and lots of fun. The songs of each artist are distinctive and recognizable—and yet each one flows seamlessly into the next no matter who it’s by, like jumping from Pink Floyd’s “Run Like Hell” into Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” into Phish’s “Run Like an Antelope,” and then segueing back into “Run Like Hell” to close it all out. It all feels very organic, even though it’s quite the opposite. RIYL: Any of the aforementioned bands. LEILANI POLK

Mattiel, Calvin Love
At turns slacker, garage-y, with a dash of alt-country, Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Mattiel’s sound is unique. Initially signed to Burger Records, her most recent album Satis Factory is her first with ATO (home to Alabama Shakes and Old 97’s among many others). This move broadened her sound, outside the lo-fi, DIY sensibility of her self-titled debut and into a space that’s a bit more polished and assured, but still lovingly craggy. “Je Ne Me Connais Pas” channels the White Stripes while the heaviness of the guitars in “Keep the Change” is buoyed by a xylophone. Mattiel will be joined by the groovy Calvin Love, who has a strange, lounge lizard sort of charm that you definitely do not want to miss. JASMYNE KEIMIG

Seattle Women's Chorus: Revolution 2020
This rousing concert celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Though it recognizes how far women have come, Revolution 2020 also underlines just how much work is left to be done to ensure free and fair voting rights for all. Come support those rights and listen to stirring renditions of "The Times They Are A-Changin," "R.O.C.K. in the USA," "Revolution," and more.

SOUL/R&B

Grace Love with Michaud Savage
Grace Love's music is "mostly stripped down to just her soulful, rich vocal, often accompanied only by acoustic guitar or a minimal electro backing track," wrote Stranger staffer Mike Nipper. She'll be accompanied tonight by guitarist Michaud Savage.

SUNDAY ROCK/POP

Caspian
Heavy instrumental rock band Caspian will come through town with tracks from On Circles, their first album in five years that "may not have some grand concept driving it, but it’s just a great collection of songs, and there’s a nice amount of diversity too," according to a review from Brooklyn Vegan.

KEXP Presents: Caspar Adultpants, King of Hawaii
Ex-member of the Presidents of the United States of America Chris Ballew, who these days can be found playing music for children under the moniker Caspar Babypants, will change his game tonight with a show for adults that means to help you "get back in touch with the little kid version of your grownup self." He'll be joined by local instrumental surf band King of Hawaii.

Mustard Plug, The Toasters, Mister Blank, The Replicators
Take note, note takers: an original ska revival group, the Toasters, who formed in ’81 and are now considered one of the groups that influenced contemporary—well, third wave ska and onward, are playing tonight!!! So, Rudies, sort them porkpies, press them turn-ups, and get your braces braced ‘cause this throw down is guaranteed to get “Intensified”!!! And that ain’t all the Studio fun we're gettin', as Mustard Plug will be playing some “party music for punk rockers,” along with pop punk ’n’ ska from two of Seattle’s good timing bands, Mister Blank and the Replicators. Let’s skank, y’all! MIKE NIPPER

Snuff Redux
Seattle lo-fi garage-rock four-piece Snuff Redux are the kind of band that sings about Lou Reed. On the song “French Press,” off their most recent outing, Denim American, lead singer Skyler Ford recounts sitting on a bench with the aforementioned coffee brewing device on the day Lou Reed died, wishing that he was Paris again, thinking about love, etc. JASMYNE KEIMIG

Violent Femmes
Few rock bands have emerged on the scene with more raw vitality than did Milwaukee's Violent Femmes with their self-titled 1983 album. The platinum-selling Violent Femmes abounds with instantly catchy, immediately engrossing songs about young-person angst, all stripped down to their most crucial essentials. Front man Gordon Gano channeled Lou Reed and Jonathan Richman vocal tics and lyrical tropes with very relatable results. Tough act to follow, but 1984's Christianity-haunted Hallowed Ground proved the Femmes could go darker yet. I stopped following them after 1986's The Blind Leading the Naked, but one listen to 2019's Hotel Last Resort reveals that Gano and bassist Brian Ritchie's flair for spare, infectious folk rock hasn't diminished much over the last 37 years. DAVE SEGAL

42 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: January 30–February 2, 2020

Joule Zelman — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 14:28:00 -0800

Atlantics, The Romanians, Cunningham, and Other Critics' Picks by Joule Zelman

This weekend, Seattle's movie theaters are full of Oscar nominees (including the Animated and Live Action Shorts programs), new releases like the haunting should-have-been-nominated love story Atlantics, and unkillable classics like John Carpenter's The Thing and the Bill Murray-starring Groundhog Day. Plus, check out hidden Eastern European treasures at The Romanians: 30 Years of Cinema Revolution. See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Movies play Thursday–Sunday unless otherwise mentioned.

* = Nominated for a 2020 Oscar

*1917
Legendary screenwriter William Goldman once said of the film industry, “Nobody knows anything,” and this is still mostly true, with one exception: If cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the movie, that movie is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. Even if 1917 were solely the most impressive work of Deakins’ remarkable career—which it is—I’d be recommending it. But the World War I movie is also one hell of a stunning storytelling experience from director Sam Mendes, co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and editor Lee Smith. “But wait,” you say, “isn’t the whole point of this movie that there aren’t any cuts? Why did they need an editor at all?” 1917’s hook (or less generously, its gimmick) is that it’s meant to unfold in a single, unbroken take. It’s one of the rare instances of a film’s marketing actually benefiting the finished film, because of the way this knowledge is both paid off... and then subverted. BOBBY ROBERTS
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Sam Mendes), Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Makeup & Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects

2020 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Animated Program and Live Action Program
Sure, the Oscars’ depressing obsession with Joker (11 nominations! lol) has done even more damage to the crumbling reputation of an obsolete institution that barely even pretends to be anything other than an artistically meaningless, months-long bullshit marketing campaign. But once you look past a certain movie about how hard it is to be a white clown in America, there is some stuff getting recognized that’s actually good—and you’ve got a decent chance of catching some of it in the programs that collect this year’s nominated live-action, animated, and documentary shorts. If you’re only catching one of the programs, the animated one’s generally the way to go. ERIK HENRIKSEN
SIFF Cinema Uptown

Afghan Cycles
"The greatest form of protest is on display in Afghan Cycles: women daring to ride their bicycles even though it's forbidden," wrote The Stranger's Nathalie Graham on Sarah Menzies' SIFF-featured documentary. "It's a feminist anthem for the ages propelled by two wheels and the drive for freedom." This screening will feature an introduction by the director, plus a post-film group discussion.
New Holly Gathering Hall
Thursday only

After Hours
The funniest entry in the MSCU (Martin Scorsese Cinematic Universe) follows an office drone on a long night in New York’s underground, populated by punks, artists, and Cheech and Chong.
The Beacon
Sunday only

And the Winner Is...
Cinerama screens the "absolute best in filmmaking this awards season," including this weekend's selections: the lauded Parasite, the Academy-snubbed Uncut Gems, and Little Women.
Cinerama
Friday–Sunday

Claire's Knee
A young man enjoying his last summer as a bachelor, goaded by an old friend, begins a flirtation with a teenage girl...only to fall in love with the girl's sister. Another wry, light, moralizing satire from Eric Rohmer.
Seattle Art Museum
Thursday only

Clemency
A psychologically tortured death row warden played by Alfre Woodard finds herself growing close to the man she's supposed to help kill in this Sundance Grand Jury Prize–winning drama by Chionye Chukwu.
Regal Meridian

Cleo from 5 to 7
Agnès Varda's 1961 film tells the story of two hours in the life of a pop star, Cléo, as she waits to hear the results of an ominous medical test. It's a classic piece from the Left Bank of the French New Wave.
SIFF Film Center
Saturday only

Coeur Fidèle
Jean Epstein's expressionistic Marseille love story from 1924 was an excuse for the avant-garde filmmaker to explore innovative cinematic techniques, striving to create something as far as possible from other art forms. Film history enthusiasts shouldn't miss this screening.
The Beacon
Saturday–Sunday

The Deadly Spawn
The Beacon presents this ultra-low-budget 1980s flick about a teenage horror-movie enthusiast who's the world's only hope against an onslaught of alien flesh-eaters. The theater assures us: "It’s funny. It’s cozy. It’s creepy. It’s got that Something Is Happening vital energy."
The Beacon
Part of Haunted Light
Friday only

*Ford v Ferrari
F v F is about how corporations can’t help but crush the passion and innovation they so desperately need. In this case, the crushees are race car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driving phenom Ken Miles (Christian Bale), both of whom are forced to cajole, finagle, and manipulate the suits at Ford in an attempt to win the famed Le Mans road race. Director James Mangold (Logan) smartly avoids the emotionally manipulative tricks found in other sports biographies, and Damon and Bale are, unsurprisingly, excellent and affecting. The problem? It’s impossible to ignore the two elephants in this room: The fetishization of white male toxicity and car culture, topics which society is trying to deal with and solve… not celebrate. This makes Ford v Ferrari a very good movie that, a decade ago, would’ve been considered great. Now it feels like a brand-new film that’s already an antique. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Regal Meridian 16
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing
Thursday only

Grave Plot Film Festival
Resurrect Halloween in February with a panoply of gory, nasty, scary, funny short films.
Ark Lodge Cinemas
Saturday only

Groundhog Day
Bill Murray stars in this surprisingly light-hearted yet existential classic about time and death and consequences with Punxsutawney Phil. Bill Murray bears repeating.
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Holy Flame of the Martial World
It's another cartoony, no-holds-barred, no doubt amazingly entertaining wuxia fantasy from the famous Shaw Brothers, replete with "wire-fu, murderous laughter, snakes used as weaponry, flying swords, somersaults, and candy-colored, flesh-peeling energy bolts" (according to cinema host Jazmyne Moreno).
The Beacon
Saturday only

*Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Production Design, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Scarlett Johansson), Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design

*Little Women
I say this with my whole heart: Greta Gerwig's Little Women is wonderful. Full of wonder, inspiring wonder, embodying wonder. Which is hard to do as the eighth adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's beloved 1868 novel of the same name. Gerwig's adaptation—which she both wrote and directed—feels neither redundant nor stale. Rather, it's a fresh, modern-feeling take on a well-trodden story, stuffed with excellent performances, witty dialogue, and gorgeous costumes. The film jumps between Jo's "present" life in a post-Civil War America and her childhood, living at home with her three other sisters and mother, awaiting the family patriarch to return home from the war as they struggle to make ends meet. The direction and sense of characters are particularly strong in this adaptation. It fleshes each sister out so that she feels real and worthy of empathy, not purely serving as a star vehicle for Ronan in the same way the Winona Ryder version arguably did. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan), Best Supporting Actress (Florence Pugh), Best Costumes, Best Original Score, Best Adapted Screenplay

NT Live: 'Fleabag'
This stage show by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, about a mad and sexually hungry young woman trying to make sense of life, inspired the Emmy-nominated TV show of the same name. See it broadcast live from London.
SIFF Film Center
Sunday only

*Parasite
Parasite is director Bong Joon-ho at his very best. It's a departure from the sci-fi bent of his recent movies, though it's no less concerned with the state of society today. Set in Seoul, South Korea, the families and class issues at play reflect our global era, in which the disparity between the haves and have-nots seems to be widening. Parasite follows the Kim family, who secretly scam their way into the lives of the wealthy Park family. Slowly and methodically, the Kims begin to drive out the other domestic workers at the Park residence, each time referring another family member (who they pretend not to know) for the vacant position. And so the poorer family starts to settle comfortably into the grift—until a sudden realization turns their lives upside down. The resulting film offers an at turns hilarious and deeply unsettling look at class and survival, its essence echoed in the environments the characters inhabit. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Bong Joon-ho), Best Film Editing, Best International Feature, Best Production Design, Best Original Screenplay

The Romanians
The Romanian New Wave began in the 2000s, and the country's film industry has been generating intellectual, thorny, blackly funny, inventive films ever since. This retrospective by the American Romanian Cultural Society (ARCS) presents some of the very best of these (as well as some older movies from the 1990s), including Snails' Senator, California Dreamin' (Endless), Stuff and Dough (one of the first of the wave, and highly recommended), and Niki and Flo, all at SIFF, plus The Train of Life at Northwest Film Forum.
SIFF Film Center & Northwest Film Forum
Thursday–Saturday

The Singing Shoes
Bulgarian singer Lеa Ivanova (whose communist country sent her to a labor camp for promoting "retrogressive" behavior in her music) and composer Edi Kazasyan are at the center of the 2016 docudrama The Singing Shoes, screened here for free.
Solo
Saturday only

The Thing
A very grumpy Kurt Russell, a very manly Keith David, and a bunch of other dudes (and dogs) on a remote Arctic station try to withstand a shapeshifting alien that can imitate other life forms in John Carpenter's eternally rewatchable landmark of horror. The real star of the show is special effects master Rob Bottin's revolting creature, still one of the grossest monsters ever committed to film. JOULE ZELMAN
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

VHYes
A collage-comedy shot entirely on VHS, Jack Henry Robbins's exercise in retro hilarity is about a teenager who accidentally tapes over his parents' wedding tape. The result: an invasion of TV madness into the boy's reality.
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

The Wonderland
Keiichi Hara, the director of Colorful and Miss Hokusai, has come out with a charming adventure about a young girl who's whisked away to a magical world that a mysterious alchemist tells her she must save—despite the fact that she just wants to go home.
Grand Illusion
Friday–Sunday

Also Playing:

Botero

Dolittle

Jumanji: The Next Level

Rhythm Section

The Turning

45 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: January 23–26, 2020

Joule Zelman — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 15:20:00 -0800

Color Out of Space, The Cave, Fantastic Planet, and Other Critics' Picks by Joule Zelman

There's a great diversity of excellent films, both new and old, on Seattle screens this weekend. Whether your tastes tend to searing documentaries (The Cave), botanical horror (Little Joe), or magnificent, classic crime dramas (Dog Day Afternoon), you can find plenty of options here. See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Movies play Thursday–Sunday unless otherwise mentioned.

* = Nominated for a 2020 Oscar

*1917
Legendary screenwriter William Goldman once said of the film industry, “Nobody knows anything,” and this is still mostly true, with one exception: If cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the movie, that movie is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. Even if 1917 were solely the most impressive work of Deakins’ remarkable career—which it is—I’d be recommending it. But the World War I movie is also one hell of a stunning storytelling experience from director Sam Mendes, co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and editor Lee Smith. “But wait,” you say, “isn’t the whole point of this movie that there aren’t any cuts? Why did they need an editor at all?” 1917’s hook (or less generously, its gimmick) is that it’s meant to unfold in a single, unbroken take. It’s one of the rare instances of a film’s marketing actually benefiting the finished film, because of the way this knowledge is both paid off... and then subverted. BOBBY ROBERTS
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Sam Mendes), Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Makeup & Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects

2019 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour
This annual film tour of abbreviated features includes the best of the best out of Sundance, all gathered together in one place for your viewing convenience. The seven 2019 films in the 96-minute theatrical program include the awkward yet sweet romance of Sometimes I Think About Dying, whose painfully introverted protagonist goes from wondering how corpse flies might feel walking around on her dead skin ("like a billion tiny massages?") to thinking about the thread count of her colleague's sheets; Muteum, a charming animated short from Estonia about a visit to the museum that takes a funny turn; and Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing winner Fast Horse, a doc about our country's first extreme sport, Indian Relay, where jockeys ride horses bareback and jump from one horse to another amid racing. Also screening: Suicide By Sunlight, Brotherhood,* The MINORS, and Crude Oil. LEILANI POLK
Northwest Film Forum
Saturday–Sunday

Always in Season
Not that long ago, white Americans in the South lynched black American men on the regular. These crimes not only went unpunished, but were actually popular events. White people—again, not too long ago—really enjoyed seeing innocent black American men swing with snapped necks from the branches of trees. The important documentary Always In Season explains why the blacks of our supposedly less barbaric times can’t just get over this history of blood and racial terrorism. It is still very much a part of our culture today. CHARLES MUDEDE
Northwest Film Forum
Friday-Sunday

And the Winner Is...
Cinerama screens the "absolute best in filmmaking this awards season," including this weekend's Academy-snubbed Hustlers and Best Picture nominees Ford v Ferrari and The Irishman.
Cinerama
Friday–Sunday

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
It’s unusual to witness real cinematic magic these days, but the Fred Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood absolutely has it. Director Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) wisely avoids the visual slickness one might expect from a Tom Hanks-centric melodrama, instead employing a lived-in style and scene transitions that consist of miniature cities harkening back to the opening of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Hanks is totally committed to Rogers’ appearance and manner, but A Beautiful Day is more about Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) a fictional journalist profiling Rogers. (Vogel’s work is based on a 1998 Esquire profile by Tom Junod; as is the case with the film, Junrod’s piece sketches a beautiful yet enigmatic image of Rogers.) Where Heller’s film becomes transcendent is in its cinematic pressure points: The striking slowness of the narrative (it’s meant to emulate the pace of Rogers’ show, and you get used to it), the mirroring of Rogers and Vogel in their interview styles and drawn-out reaction shots, and a profound moment of silence that grips your heart like, “Did that really just happen? Why was that so intense?” SUZETTE SMITH
Varsity Theatre
Thursday only
Nominated for: Best Actor (Tom Hanks)

The Cave
The director of the devastating Last Men in Aleppo delivers a look into the lives of Syrian women doctors from 2016-2018. Despite danger and sexism, these women work to treat patients in an underground hospital under the city of Ghouta, near Damascus. This documentary won the Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival.
Grand Illusion
Friday-Sunday

A Chinese Ghost Story
The Beacon calls this frenetic wuxia/horror/romance a "singular genre-leaping oddity" full of bizarre monsters and featuring a lovely ghost and a smartass monk. A timid tax collector spends a night in an abandoned temple and finds himself in strange company. Don't miss this film if you want to see the cream of 1980s Hong Kong fantasy action.
The Beacon
Saturday only

Chinese Portrait
Wang Xiaoshuai's portrait of his family traces his ancestors' migrations across China over the last century. In fixed long shots, we encounter rural ethnic minorities, Han Chinese urban workers, and others from far-flung regions in the diverse and populous country.
The Beacon
Friday-Sunday

Dog Day Afternoon
People tend to knock older films down a peg or two because they didn't "age well," as if it really matters that you can tell when they made it. Rare is the film so strong you easily look past the awkward cultural artifacts encased in its celluloid. Even rarer is Sidney Lumet's day-in-the-life crime classic from 1975, Dog Day Afternoon, a film that somehow only becomes more up-to-date and relevant with every decade tacked onto its age. But even if it was just a dated bit of film history, it would still contain maybe Al Pacino's single best performance, and any opportunity to see John Cazale put in work is an opportunity you should seize. BOBBY ROBERTS
The Beacon
Saturday only
Part of How to Rob a Bank (and Why)

Fantastic Planet
I was really stoned watching the animated French film Fantastic Planet, for good reason—it’s trippy as fuck and can only be truly appreciated after a bong hit or two. In the distant future, humans are stolen from Earth and taken to the plant Ygam where they are kept as pets to a race of technologically advanced giant blue humanoids called Draags. The film follows a group of rebellious humans attempting to escape from Ygam to the Fantastic Planet where they are safe from the tyranny of these giant blue freaks. The Draags are a little disturbing to look at—their freaky, unblinking red eyes seem like they're beaming right into your soul. And the other creatures that inhabit this world are equally peculiar, coming straight out of the deep recesses of a surrealist subconscious. The score, composed by Alain Goraguer, blends elements of psychedelia, harpsichord, jazz, and wah-wah guitar that adds significantly to the far-out space-age-dystopia mood of the film. JASMYNE KEIMIG
The Beacon
Saturday only

*Ford v Ferrari
F v F is about how corporations can’t help but crush the passion and innovation they so desperately need. In this case, the crushees are race car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driving phenom Ken Miles (Christian Bale), both of whom are forced to cajole, finagle, and manipulate the suits at Ford in an attempt to win the famed Le Mans road race. Director James Mangold (Logan) smartly avoids the emotionally manipulative tricks found in other sports biographies, and Damon and Bale are, unsurprisingly, excellent and affecting. The problem? It’s impossible to ignore the two elephants in this room: The fetishization of white male toxicity and car culture, topics which society is trying to deal with and solve… not celebrate. This makes Ford v Ferrari a very good movie that, a decade ago, would’ve been considered great. Now it feels like a brand-new film that’s already an antique. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Regal Meridian 16
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing

*Frozen II
It starts out with Young Elsa and Young Anna, and, I don’t know, this is just my opinion, but I didn’t think that part was very necessary, necessarily? I thought the story was good. I thought the parts were well thought out and they had some depth to them, if you know what I mean? Like some parts were really sad, and some parts could be interpreted in a lot of different ways. Also, you know how in the first Frozen, there’s like this main song that you know is the main song? In this one, there’s like three or four different songs that could be that main song. There were songs that like Elsa and Anna and Kristoff sang that could qualify for that position. I thought they were fine. SIMON HAM, AGE 12
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Original Song ("Into the Unknown")

The Gentlemen
Guy Ritchie’s latest wisecracking shoot-em-up, about a British crime lord trying to make a deal with a rich Oklahoman pot kingpin, boasts a huge cast of likelies and unlikelies: Hugh Grant (!), Henry Golding, Colin Firth, Charlie Hunnam, Matthew McConaughey, and so on.
Various locations

Georgetown Super 8 Film Festival 2019 Encore
See films about the Duwamish Valley made on Super 8 film by denizens of Seattle.
Northwest Film Forum
Thursday only

The Good Liar
The Good Liar is likely the most bonkers film I will see this year. What begins as a cautionary tale about the dangers of grandma’s online dating unfolds into a baffling series of reveals, all of which support the twist that we already gleaned from the trailer: Roy (Ian McKellen) is trying to double cross Betty (Helen Mirren) and take her money... but she's not that easy to trick! How all that happens, though? I could never have predicted it. What a septuagenarian mine cart ride! SUZETTE SMITH
Crest

*Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Production Design, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Scarlett Johansson), Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design

Kind Hearts and Coronets
One of the best (and most vicious) comedies to come out of London's famed Ealing Studios, Kind Hearts and Coronets stars Dennis Price as a down-and-out scion of a snobbish aristocratic family who sets out to gain the ancestral inheritance... by murdering all of his unloved relatives. All of whom are played by the magnificent Alec Guinness! It's mean, it's hilarious, and it features the adorable, deep-voiced Joan Greenwood, who should be much better remembered today. JOULE ZELMAN
The Beacon
Thursday only

*Les Misérables
Suburban poverty and police violence provide a throughline from the 19th-century setting of Victor Hugo's novel to the Muslim populace of present-day Paris in Ladj Ly's critically acclaimed, Cannes Jury Prize-winning adaptation. In a suburb of Paris, Brigadier Stéphane Ruiz takes part in an arrest that turns deadly, and the neighborhood responds with fury to the act of police brutality.
Regal Meridian 16 & AMC Seattle 10
Nominated for: Best International Picture

Like a Boss
Like a Boss is barely long enough to qualify as a feature film, clocking at an hour and 23 minutes—which makes total sense, considering there's not much meat on this story, aside from a couple of central themes: the evergreen dilemma of choosing between a career and motherhood, learning how to spot frenemies, and evolving for the sake of a valued friendship. Thankfully, the hilarious cast—which includes Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, and Salma Hayek—makes this mediocre movie watchable. JENNI MOORE
Meridian 16 & AMC Pacific Place
Thursday only

Little Joe
Little Joe is a science-fiction film that is not set in the future. Its scientists are developing a flower that makes humans feel happier. The more a human cares for this plant, the happier the plant makes its caretaker by way of a scent that connects the flower to the mammalian nose. The scientist leading the project is Alice Woodard (Emily Beecham). She knows what she is doing. She has great confidence in herself and in her command of the science of plant breeding. She has a son, Joe, in his tweens, and a broken marriage. Joe wants his mother to date a man at her lab who has the hots for her. The director behind Little Joe is the underappreciated but brilliant Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner. Hausner never rushes a scene but wrings as much as she can out of it—the performance itself, as well as the blocking of the performance, and the space of the performance. She wants you to be aware of the development of the story, but without losing a sense of its ambiance. CHARLES MUDEDE
SIFF Film Center
Friday-Sunday

The Little Mermaid
Some of the most underappreciated European movies came out of Czechoslovakia in the 1970s, an era in which governmental repression had clamped down on artistic political dissent, so filmmakers turned to rich, surreal fantasy. Karel Kachyna, one of the greats of the Czechoslovak New Wave, directed this version of the Hans Christian Andersen tragedy; other masters of the dissident filmmaker movement, composer Zdeněk Liška and cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera, lent their art to this dramatic take on the story of love and sacrifice. JOULE ZELMAN
The Beacon
Sunday only

*Little Women
I say this with my whole heart: Greta Gerwig's Little Women is wonderful. Full of wonder, inspiring wonder, embodying wonder. Which is hard to do as the eighth adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's beloved 1868 novel of the same name. Gerwig's adaptation—which she both wrote and directed—feels neither redundant nor stale. Rather, it's a fresh, modern-feeling take on a well-trodden story, stuffed with excellent performances, witty dialogue, and gorgeous costumes. The film jumps between Jo's "present" life in a post-Civil War America and her childhood, living at home with her three other sisters and mother, awaiting the family patriarch to return home from the war as they struggle to make ends meet. The direction and sense of characters are particularly strong in this adaptation. It fleshes each sister out so that she feels real and worthy of empathy, not purely serving as a star vehicle for Ronan in the same way the Winona Ryder version arguably did. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan), Best Supporting Actress (Florence Pugh), Best Costumes, Best Original Score, Best Adapted Screenplay

Mad Max: Fury Road
If there has ever been a more astonishing display of a filmmaker’s prowess with kinetic action sequences than this late-career Gesamtkunstwerk by George Miller, I haven’t seen it. And neither have you, because there isn’t one. The Mad Max reboot is a staggering, stunning, sweeping, astonishing, literally breathtaking exercise in the defiance of physics. It moves so fast, and for such sustained periods, that “visionary” isn’t really the word. (“Glimpsarian”?) Regardless, you’ve never seen anything remotely like it. See it on the biggest screen you can find, in 3-D if possible. It’s noticeably dumb in certain ways, but its visual intelligence and wit vastly outweigh its concessions to the genre. SEAN NELSON
Museum of Pop Culture
Sunday only
Presented as a "Campout Cinema" event: Bring your own blankets and pillows and hear environmental talks

The Muppet Movie
The Muppets made their feature film debut in James Frawley's beloved, meta-inclined 1979 film, in which Kermit the Frog and friends (and hitchhikers) journey to Hollywood but are sidetracked by the nefarious restaurateur Doc Hopper. Hop on the Electric Mayhem and reaffirm the Rainbow Connection with everyone's favorite floppy puppets.
Central Cinema

Murder on a Sunday Morning
This 2001 Oscar-winning documentary by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, co-presented by the Washington Innocence Project, presents an all-too-familiar story: A 15-year-old black boy is accused of murder, and a combination of racism, incompetence, and misconduct put him in jail for a crime he didn't commit.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

My Night at Maud's
A surprisingly rakish Catholic engineer conversationally spars with a free-spirited woman in one of Eric Rohmer's most celebrated (and most verbal) films.
Seattle Art Museum
Thursday only
Part of French Pleasures: The Films of Eric Rohmer

*Parasite
Parasite is director Bong Joon-ho at his very best. It's a departure from the sci-fi bent of his recent movies, though it's no less concerned with the state of society today. Set in Seoul, South Korea, the families and class issues at play reflect our global era, in which the disparity between the haves and have-nots seems to be widening. Parasite follows the Kim family, who secretly scam their way into the lives of the wealthy Park family. Slowly and methodically, the Kims begin to drive out the other domestic workers at the Park residence, each time referring another family member (who they pretend not to know) for the vacant position. And so the poorer family starts to settle comfortably into the grift—until a sudden realization turns their lives upside down. The resulting film offers an at turns hilarious and deeply unsettling look at class and survival, its essence echoed in the environments the characters inhabit. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Bong Joon-ho), Best Film Editing, Best International Feature, Best Production Design, Best Original Screenplay

Patlabor 2: The Movie
The Patlabor franchise is sick. A popular addition to the mecha genre, the Patlabor world includes large, human-like robots, named "Labors," who essentially work in Amazon warehouses. The Labors produce labor more effectively than humans, but everyone is apparently surprised when Labors begin to randomly destroy buildings and commit crimes. Who's responsible for the chaos? The robots? The programmers? The politicians? The conversation is a little too timely. Andrew Yang's Freedom Dividend would probably be popular in the political world of Patlabor. CHASE BURNS
The Beacon
Sunday only

Queen of Hearts
This dark tale, Denmark's submission to the Oscars, does nothing to dispel the image of Denmark's national cinema as ultra-bleak and morally challenging. An apparently upright married lawyer, Anne, becomes attracted to her husband's difficult teenage son from a previous relationship. As one compromise follows another, Anne draws her stepson into an increasingly dangerous situation that threatens the whole family. Robert Abele of the LA Times writes: "The tricky brilliance of Queen of Hearts is in how [director May] el-Toukhy uses a well-worn narrative—the unsuspecting, hidden passion with the appearance of erotic freedom—to unveil what in reality is a poisonous tale of abuse."
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

Redoubt
Artist Matthew Barney’s experimental film, shot in the snow on Idaho’s gorgeous Sawtooth Mountains, tells the mythologically resonant tale of hunters “pursuing each other and prey.”
Northwest Film Forum
Thursday-Saturday

The Remains of the Day
If you wish to see the very summit of the Merchant-Ivory years, then you must see The Remains of the Day, which takes its name and story from a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. Indeed, it can be argued within all seriousness that the movie is better than the novel. Set just before and just after World War Two, The Remains of the Day is about a British butler (Anthony Hopkins) who misses his one chance at actual happiness (Emma Thompson). It’s a sad story. CHARLES MUDEDE
The Beacon
Sunday only

*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
I found The Rise of Skywalker, the last film in the Skywalker saga, boring. And it was not even a long movie, and I'm a fan of the director's (J.J. Abrams) work (particularly Mission: Impossible III—the best in that franchise), and many of the visual effects are impressive—particularly the haunting business of bringing the late Carrie Fisher back to life. But all together, the film is burdened by too much sentimental family stuff (you are my granddaughter, you are my son, you killed my parents, and so on), and its end did not know how to end for a very long time. CHARLES MUDEDE
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing

The Swan
Young director Ása Hjörleifsdóttir’s adaptation of Guðbergur Bergsson's classic novel is a coming-of-age story about Sól, an angry little girl sent to live with her aunt in the country after getting caught shoplifting. This slow yet beautiful film is part of the Forum's new series, Women in Icelandic Cinema, which will continue next month.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

White Snake
In this 3D-animated wuxia love story based in Chinese mythology, a snake catcher falls in love with a young woman, and the couple discovers a supernatural plot. This film is screened as part of Saturday Morning Cartoons, with coffee and doughnuts provided for viewers.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Saturday only

Also Playing:

Dolittle

Jumanji: The Next Level

36 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: January 9–12, 2020

Charles Mudede — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 13:17:00 -0800

Just Mercy, My Twentieth Century, The Hottest August, and Other Critics' Picks by Charles Mudede

Traditionally, January is not an auspicious month for film releases—but as you can see in this list, Seattle is still swimming in cinematic brilliance. Watch Michael B. Jordan in the based-on-a-true-story Just Mercy, see Audrey Hepburn's Oscar-winning turn in Roman Holiday, or witness the brilliance of the poaching documentary When Lambs Become Lions. See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings. In the South Sound? Check out our guide to movies playing in Tacoma this weekend.

Movies play Thursday–Sunday unless otherwise mentioned.

American Psycho
Based on the much-reviled book by Bret Easton Ellis, the movie is actually pretty good. Really. Set at the height of the Reagan '80s, American Psycho deftly satirizes the deadening effect of unchecked corporate wealth and power. ANDY SPLETZER
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Bombshell
When Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, and Margot Robbie all link up, what have you got? Well, a sizeable chunk of the Fox Newsroom, as it turns out. In this movie adapted from real-life events, Bombshell follows three women who accused late Fox founder and CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment, and the fallout when their accusations are made public. Kidman portrays former Fox host Gretchen Carlson, Robbie plays a fictionalized producer, and Theron seemingly fully transforms into Megyn Kelly. Announced in the months following Ailes’s death, the film will explore the toxic environment brewing over at the president’s favorite news channel. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Various locations

Cats
Some people will never be able to enjoy a sung-through musical. Know going in that there is very little dialogue. Think of it as an opera that purrs. Many will also find humanoid cats with "digital fur technology" to be too freaky or sexy. I think this opinion is very suburban, even a tad snowflake-y, but also completely within reason. Andrew Lloyd Webber himself said Cats was a “suicidally stupid musical.” No one is under any illusion that this is Dunkirk. So, before you go and see Cats, which you should and will, I want you to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself: "What do I want from Cats?" Because I bet you will get exactly what you want. Or, perhaps, deserve. There continues to be a lot of pearl-clutching from critics and trailer-viewers around these kitties' bodies, and their lack of genitalia and buttholes, but I think these animated fur-bodies are respectfully similar to the stage musical's fur-bodies—except for one distinct, erect difference: their tails. Jason Derulo did not need to worry about his penis being erased in Cats' post-production, because his tail leaves little to the imagination. CHASE BURNS
Meridian 16 & AMC Pacific Place

Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven, which stars a young Richard Gere, is by far Terrence Malick’s best film. It’s also his second feature, was shot in the mid-1970s, and released in 1978. The film’s story is not worth mentioning, but its cinematography (Néstor Almendros Cuyás and Haskell Wexler) is just out of this world. After completing his masterpiece, which followed his first and second-best work, Badlands by five years, Malick did not make another film for two decades. His point of return was The Thin Red Line (1998), which is unwatchable. Malick has since made eight more films, none of which are any good. CHARLES MUDEDE
SIFF Film Center

Duet for Cannibals
The great Susan Sontag, best known for her philosophical essays and fiction, also directed four films, the first of which was this Swedish-made dark comedy about partner-swapping intellectuals. When a German revolutionary instructs his young male student/secretary to keep his wife "company," it kicks off a round of dangerous romantic/sexual competition. It's screened here in a 2K restoration.
Northwest Film Forum
Saturday–Sunday

Ford v Ferrari
If you’re a lover of car-racing movies, you should probably check out Ford v Ferrari—because this film is likely to be one of the last of its kind. A biopic about the late ’60s rivalry between failing racecar company Ferrari and the “wants to be sexy soooo bad” Ford Motor Company, F v F is about how corporations can’t help but crush the passion and innovation they so desperately need. In this case, the crushees are race car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driving phenom Ken Miles (Christian Bale), both of whom are forced to cajole, finagle, and manipulate the suits at Ford in an attempt to win the famed Le Mans road race. It’s impossible to ignore the two elephants in this room: The fetishization of white male toxicity and car culture, topics which society is trying to deal with and solve… not celebrate. This makes Ford v Ferrari a very good movie that, a decade ago, would’ve been considered great. Now it feels like a brand-new film that’s already an antique. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Meridian 16

Frozen II
It starts out with Young Elsa and Young Anna, and, I don’t know, this is just my opinion, but I didn’t think that part was very necessary, necessarily? I thought the story was good. I thought the parts were well thought out and they had some depth to them, if you know what I mean? Like some parts were really sad, and some parts could be interpreted in a lot of different ways. Also, you know how in the first Frozen, there’s like this main song that you know is the main song? In this one, there’s like three or four different songs that could be that main song. There were songs that like Elsa and Anna and Kristoff sang that could qualify for that position. I thought they were fine. SIMON HAM, AGE 12
Various locations

Fuselage Dance Film Festival: Winter Program
This program boasts short films of dancers in natural and interior settings around the world, from Seattle to South Korea to Ireland. They explore loneliness, isolation, memory, attachment, and other poignant emotions.
Northwest Film Forum
Friday only

Gunbuster
This was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion. A young girl enters the Okinawa Girls Space Pilot High School, hoping for revenge against the alien forces that killed her father.
The Beacon
Sunday only

Hecklevision: Tammy and the T-Rex
Denise Richards and Paul Walker star in this 1994 comedy, in which cheerleader Tammy (Richards) discovers that the brain of her boyfriend (Walker) has been transplanted into the body of a robotic tyrannosaur. You should see this movie because it's ridiculous and terrible and you need your brain flash-evaporated once in awhile. (Also, it's in "Hecklevision," which allows you to text snarky comments to the screen.) JOULE ZELMAN
Central Cinema
Thursday only

A Hidden Life
The first half of Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life stacks up with some of the best work the legendary filmmaker has ever done—right up there with Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, and Tree of Life. The second half, though, feels a lot more like... uh, what's the term for Malick's more recent movies, like Knight of Cups, and that one about music, and that one with Ben Affleck? Nü-Malick? Let's go with nü-Malick. Nü-Malick movies aren't bad—even at their worst, they're generally better than many arthouse efforts, and there's never a shortage of the director's striking soundscapes and achingly beautiful visuals—but compared to Malick's best stuff, they rarely compare. (To be fair: Not many movies can.) Which is what makes A Hidden Life so frustrating: For a good chunk, it is that good, and then for another chunk, it's not. And it'd be a lot easier to justify the second half's nü-ness if A Hidden Life wasn't three hours long. ERIK HENRIKSEN
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

The Hottest August
It's August 2017 in New York City, and it feels like the end of the world. In this strikingly shot documentary, Brett Story explores the apocalyptic fears of the current zeitgeist, touching on everything from white nationalism to climate change-induced natural catastrophes. Sinister, beautiful, tense.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

Ip Man 4
In the finale to the Ip Man saga, the Wing Chun genius and his son fly to San Francisco to settle a feud and mentor the young Bruce Lee. There, he discovers that homegrown American classic: brutal xenophobia. Watch those thrilling fight scenes as Ip Man battles disgruntled kung fu masters and bigoted policemen.
AMC Pacific Place & Regal Thornton Place

Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does. ERIK HENRIKSEN
AMC Pacific Place

Literary Nerd Hour: Z-Sides Screening and Quiz Show
Obsessed with local literature? Turn to this televised program run by Jekeva Phillips, a wildly talented and active figure in Seattle's theater and literature scenes. Watch a screening of the bibliophilic Z-Sides, featuring readings and conversations with PNW writers, and then compete in a quiz game (with prizes!).
Northwest Film Forum
Thursday only

Little Women
I loved Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird so much that I went into Little Women with trepidation. Making a follow-up to a movie everyone loved is tricky! And every hater on my block asked why we needed another Little Women movie when the 1995 version is “perfectly fine” and “has Winona Ryder in it.” The answer: You don’t know how good you can have it! You don’t know how good Little Women can be, you poor fools! Gerwig’s Little Women is Romance-era-oil-painting gorgeous, but it’s also realistic, thanks to the performances of the film’s star-studded cast of March sisters: Saoirse Ronan as Jo, Emma Watson as Meg, Florence Pugh as Amy, and Eliza Scanlen as Beth. Directing her actors to talk over each other, Gerwig turns family scenes into rampaging rivers of voices, while also making sure nothing is lost in the chaos. We see the Marches as we see many families: A force bursting into a room. Laura Dern—for the first time in cinematic history—gives the girls’ mother a full personality. And when the girls’ father turned out to be universally beloved Bob Odenkirk (!) my friend straight-up punched me in the arm because she was already crying and couldn’t talk. SUZETTE SMITH
Various locations

Midnight Family
Both responding to a social need and out to make a buck, extralegal ambulance companies are essential in Mexico City, which only has 45 official ambulances. The Ochoa family strives to serve patients and stay afloat in the face of a corrupt police force.
Northwest Film Forum & AMC Pacific Place
Thursday only

My Twentieth Century
This sensual, feminist Hungarian fable by the surrealist filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi follows two separated identical twins, Dóra and Lili, who wind up on wildly different paths: One becomes an honest anarchist, the other a glamorous jewel thief.
The Beacon
Friday–Sunday

One Sings, the Other Doesn't
When you think of Serious French Cinema, as embodied by Major French Filmmaker Agnès Varda (Faces Places, The Gleaners and I), you might not think of a joyful hippie musical about abortion, marriage, and sisterhood. Yet this 1977 Belgian-Venezuelan-French co-production is exactly that.
SIFF Film Center
Saturday only
Part of The Restless Curiosity of Agnès Varda

Pauline at the Beach
This, for me, is the core pleasure of French director Eric Rohmer's cinema: the movement of (usually two) actors during a long (and usually heady) discussion. For example: As a man says something philosophical about love to a woman, he walks to a huge nearby rock and puts a hand on it; as the woman responds by saying something about how his ideas about love are self-serving, she steps away from the man and looks at some trees in the distance. The flow of words is sequenced with the motion of bodies. Rohmer also manages to keep these movements as realistic as possible. They never overflow from the zone between natural and artificial, walking and dancing. The art of this great French director, who died in 2010, is the ballet of a conversation. SAM and Alliance Francaise de Seattle are celebrating his centennial during a nine-film series. CHARLES MUDEDE
Seattle Art Museum
Thursday only
Part of French Pleasures: The Films of Eric Rohmer

Roman Holiday
A sprightly young Audrey Hepburn and a charming (if slightly wooden) scooter-riding Gregory Peck make an odd pairing in this classic rom-com from '53. Hepburn won a Best Actress Oscar for this performance, which was also her first starring role.
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Set It Off
In Set It Off, four black women are squeezed into crime. One loses a job and her only way out of the ghetto; another loses her child to the state because she cannot afford childcare while she works for low wages; another is battling to keep her brother off the streets and on the path to college; another wants to buy the freedom to express her love for a woman (the last is convincingly played by Queen Latifah). These are not bad people. Their transformation from law-abiding citizens to villains is not simple, but accumulative. The numerous steps leading to their crime spree are clear and understandable. Indeed, the best and most touching scene in the movie happens right after they rob a bank for the first time and are splitting the loot. One of them (Tisean—the woman who has lost her child to social services) is told by another (Frankie—the woman who recently lost her good job over bullshit) that she doesn't deserve a cut because she got cold feet before the heist and split. But pressure from the other two women makes Frankie submit and agree to give Tisean her undeserved cut. At the end of the day, she is one of them. If that scene does not make you feel all warm inside, you are a monster. CHARLES MUDEDE
The Beacon
Saturday–Sunday

Spies in Disguise
I thought Spies in Disguise was very excellent. The plot device of someone turning into a pigeon through genetic manipulation was unique, to say the least. I think it may have been a little too complicated for some younger kids who may have been the target audience. I think some of it may have gone completely over their heads. Although that might not be true in any way. I’m almost definitely sure there’s going to be a second one of these. SIMON HAM, AGE 12
AMC Pacific Place & Thornton Place

Tangerine
Feydeau in the neighborhood, this film has all the elements of classic farce, the prisoner just out of jail, the best friend, the faithless husband, the cheating boyfriend, the mother-in-law from hell - but played at an entirely different pace, and with characters who radiate truth and immediacy. BARLEY BLAIR
Scarecrow Video
Friday only

Tremors (Temblores)
Not to be confused with the 1990 film about giant tunneling worms. Jayro Bustamante, Guatemalan director of the critically acclaimed Ixcanul, returns with the story of Pablo, a beloved member of a rich Evangelical family who turns their lives upside down when he leaves his wife for another man. But the homophobic family is not about to give up their father/son/husband so easily—even if their efforts to keep him in their religious community ruin his life. Carlos Aguilar of TheWrap.com writes that "the film isn’t kindly asking for tolerance but bluntly exposing the torment inflicted in the name of a prejudiced God."
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

Varda by Agnes
The important French director Agnès Varda, whose career spanned the 1950s to the 2010s, made one last film before her death in 2019 in which she traced the course of her life and career.
SIFF Film Center
Part of The Restless Curiosity of Agnès Varda

When Lambs Become Lions
Many of the reviews of the brilliant documentary When Lambs Become Lions—about elephant poaching in modern-day Kenya—will claim that the director, John Kasbe, does not take sides on the issue. The director hunts elephants with the poachers, and he patrols the park with the armed game rangers. The poachers don’t give a fuck about the elephants. They are poor, and they need the money. The rangers also need money, as they have not been paid in ages by the government. And it is here that the director takes a clear side, his film clearly denounces the extreme poverty that both the poachers and the rangers face. If the poachers stop killing elephants, then the rangers will lose their jobs. Therefore, we have the poachers exploiting the elephants, and the rangers exploiting the poachers. The problem then is not the poaching; it is, of course, capitalism. CHARLES MUDEDE
Grand Illusion

Also Playing:

The Grudge

Jumanji: The Next Level

Like a Boss

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Underwater

43 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: January 2–5, 2020

Charles Mudede — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 13:52:00 -0800

Golden Globes Nominees, Babylon, Tremors, and Other Critics' Picks by Charles Mudede

This weekend, it's a perfect time to look back on the best films of the year, including Golden Globe nominees (which we've noted below) like Parasite and Knives Out, acclaimed documentaries like The Biggest Little Farm, and recently restored masterpieces like Babylon. Plus, don't miss new releases like Tremors (Temblores). See all of our film critics’ picks for this weekend below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Movies play Thursday–Sunday unless otherwise mentioned.

Advocate
This documentary is a personal portrait of Lea Tsemel, a Jewish Israeli lawyer who has spent her career defending Palestinians in court. For her dogged human rights advocacy, she has been cast as a villain by right-wing Jewish Israeli factions.
AMC Pacific Place

American Factory
This feature-length documentary is the first work to emerge from Netflix’s partnership with the Obamas. The former president and his wife have a company, Higher Ground Productions, that finds and/or produces content for the California-based media distributor. American Factory is just amazing. It concerns a Chinese corporation, Fuyao Glass, that opened in Moraine, Ohio, a factory that makes glass for vehicles. The plant was abandoned by General Motors during the crash of 2008. In the Obama-produced doc, we not only see the comic and tragic clashes of two very different labor and management cultures, but a process that is actively shaping the world today. This is the American factory of tomorrow: lower wages, less benefits, higher production, no unions. Nevertheless, many of the American employees are just happy to have a job. As wages in China go up, wages in the US are going down. CHARLES MUDEDE
AMC Pacific Place
Friday only

The Apollo
For 85 years, Harlem’s Apollo Theater has essentially been a mecca for black American culture. So it makes perfect sense for a filmmaker of the stature of Roger Ross Williams (God Loves Uganda) to shoot a documentary about the 1,500-capacity palace, which has showcased the zenith of black musicians, comedians, and writers. From James Brown’s immortal 1963 Live at the Apollo LP to performances by Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Richard Pryor, and Ta-Nehisi Coates, this venue has been an incubator and crucible for integral black expression in myriad forms. It’s past time to revel in the Apollo’s fascinating story. DAVE SEGAL
AMC Pacific Place
Sunday only

Apollo 11
Todd Miller's superbly edited new documentary on the Apollo 11 mission, which put Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon (and sent Michael Collins around its dark side), adds no narration or talking heads, other than contemporaneous sources. Although you know how things turned out, you're plunged into the suspense of the moment, when even the slightest miscalculation could have doomed the astronauts to a lonely or fiery death. Listen to that amazing sound design! JOULE ZELMAN
AMC Pacific Place
Saturday only

Aquarela
Movies are expensive, and going to theaters can be a pain, and “It’s a documentary... about water!” isn't the most rousing tagline—but Aquarela is worth every bit of effort to see on the biggest screen and with the loudest sound. Ranging from Russia to Miami to Venezuela, director Viktor Kossakovsky’s gorgeous, jarring film captures stunning sights and sounds: Massive, cracking icebergs lurch like breaching leviathans. Intricate blades of glacial ice slice the sky. Wind and rain whip through a devastated ghost-city, a hurricane screaming as Aquarela's camera cruises calmly through abandoned streets. Sailors are thrown by storms; flailing men plummet through ice; waves that seem the size of planets loom and loom and loom before exploding into chaos. The music, courtesy of Apocalyptica’s Eicca Toppinin, is thick with shuddering guitar riffs, underscoring Kossakovsky’s eye-widening, stomach-churning reminder of how, in comparison to a natural force like this one, the accomplishments and failures of humankind are laughably small and pathetically meaningless. Unspoken in Aquarela, but lurking behind each image, is another reminder: That, as we hurtle toward a changed climate, the water around us remains as beautiful and lethal as ever—and just as indifferent to our frail attempts to constrain it. ERIK HENRIKSEN
AMC Pacific Place
Saturday only

Babylon
Set in Brixton (which is to London what Harlem is to New York City), starring Rasta singer Brinsley Forde (the frontman of reggae band Aswad), and cowritten by Martin Stallman (who also wrote 1979 UK cult favorite Quadrophenia), Babylon is a feature-length outing about black life, black music, and black struggles in early 1980s Britain. The economy is in the toilet, Margaret Thatcher has begun her assault on labor, and city after city is becoming what the Specials classically described as "a ghost town." The film is simply amazing. Every minute is rich with cultural information of a period and milieu that's rarely seen on film. Babylon also has a dub score that's dark, crackly, and deep. Those echoes, those old Brixton buildings, the dreads, the factory smoke, the street markets, the old ladies, the thick accents—all of this and more is just utterly wonderful. CHARLES MUDEDE
Northwest Film Forum
Friday–Sunday

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
It’s unusual to witness real cinematic magic these days, but the Fred Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood absolutely has it. Director Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) wisely avoids the visual slickness one might expect from a Tom Hanks-centric melodrama, instead employing a lived-in style and scene transitions that consist of miniature cities harkening back to the opening of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Hanks is totally committed to Rogers’ appearance and manner, but A Beautiful Day is more about Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) a fictional journalist profiling Rogers. (Vogel’s work is based on a 1998 Esquire profile by Tom Junod; as is the case with the film, Junrod’s piece sketches a beautiful yet enigmatic image of Rogers.) Where Heller’s film becomes transcendent is in its cinematic pressure points: The striking slowness of the narrative (it’s meant to emulate the pace of Rogers’ show, and you get used to it), the mirroring of Rogers and Vogel in their interview styles and drawn-out reaction shots, and a profound moment of silence that grips your heart like, “Did that really just happen? Why was that so intense?” SUZETTE SMITH
Varsity Theatre & Thornton Place
Nominated for: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Tom Hanks)

The Biggest Little Farm
Skeptics might wonder whether a 90-minute documentary on farming is better used as insomnia remedy than a night out at the movies, but John Chester's gorgeous film has been snatching up audience choice and best film awards all over the place. He and his wife, Molly, spent eight years striving to create a farm in California that was perfectly in accord with nature—despite drought, poor soil, and wildfires. Ultimately, they have to accept that they're not in control of nature and life. Come for the lovely footage of wildlife and farm animals, stay for the inspiration to fight for sustainability.
AMC Pacific Place
Sunday only

Cléo from 5 to 7
Agnès Varda's 1961 film tells the story of two hours in the life of a pop star, Cléo, as she waits to hear the results of an ominous medical test. It's a classic piece from the Left Bank of the French New Wave.
SIFF Film Center
Saturday only
Part of The Restless Curiosity of Agnès Varda

The Edge of Democracy
Petra Costa's sobering documentary tracks the Brazilian regimes of Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff as they dissolve in a divided country, creating a void that fascism fills.
AMC Pacific Place
Sunday only

For Sama
This heartbreaking film by documentarists Waad Al-Khateab and Edward Watts chronicles young mother Al-Khateab's experiences in Aleppo during five years of the Syrian Civil War. For Sama was awarded the Prix L’Œil d’Or for Best Documentary at Cannes, among other prestigious prizes.
AMC Pacific Place
Friday only

Good Time
This high-octane and gritty Josh and Benny Safdie brothers-directed movie will make you a believer in Robert Pattinson again. In Good Time, the British actor plays Connie, a New Yorker who takes his brother with special needs, Nick (played by Benny Safdie), out of care and convinces him to assist in a bank robbery. When the plan goes left and Nick ends up in jail, Connie finds himself increasingly desperate to get the funds in order to get his brother out of prison. This nervy, thrilling film will have you at the edge of your seat with its high-stakes plotting and Pattinson’s fantastic and believable performance. JASMYNE KEIMIG
The Beacon
Friday–Saturday

The Great Hack
Find out how Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have been using big data to sway elections and stoke political and social conflict.
AMC Pacific Place
Saturday only

The Hunger
Nothing beats the dark magic of seeing Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie and pre-Bernie-bonkers Susan Sarandon on a movie screen, nothing beats watching this erotic trio in the company of strangers. And then there is the beat of Bauhaus's gothic dub "Bela Lugosi's Dead." Are you feeling me? This is the 1980s in a state that's close to perfection. CHARLES MUDEDE
Central Cinema

It's a Wonderful Life
Shortly after It's a Wonderful Life's 1946 release, James Agee, one of the few American film critics of that era still worth reading, noted the film's grueling aspect. "Often," he wrote, "in its pile-driving emotional exuberance, it outrages, insults, or at least accosts without introduction, the cooler and more responsible parts of the mind." These aesthetic cautions are followed, however, by a telling addendum: "It is nevertheless recommended," Agee allowed, "and will be reviewed at length as soon as the paralyzing joys of the season permit." Paralyzing joys are the very heart of George Bailey's dilemma; they are, to borrow words from George's father, "deep in the race." The sacrifices George makes for being "the richest man in town" resonate bitterly even as they lead to the finale's effusive payoff. Those sacrifices are what make It's a Wonderful Life, in all its "Capraesque" glory, endure. SEAN NELSON
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does. ERIK HENRIKSEN
AMC Pacific Place
Nominated for: Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy; Best Performance by an Actor - Comedy or Musical (Roman Griffin Davis), Best Screenplay (Steven Zaillian)

Judy
A biopic about the last months of famed entertainer and Wizard of Oz star Judy Garland, Judy features an uncanny, spot-on performance from Reneé Zellwegger that’s unfortunately paired with a script that veers from affecting to eye-rollingly ham-fisted. Bouncing back and forth from Judy’s famed London Palladium gigs six months before her death and her childhood that was crushed under the abusive thumb of Louis B. Mayer while filming The Wizard of Oz, Zellwegger gives an honest, raw performance that lays bare Garland’s crippling depression and addiction. However her valiant attempts at subtlety are betrayed by a shallow script that relies too heavily on emotional manipulation. That aside, Zellwegger’s gloriously accurate hair and makeup is almost reason enough to see this film, and when she belts out “The Trolley Song,” you'll long for the days when consummate pros like Garland pushed past their personal demons to bring audiences to their feet. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Crest
Thursday only
Best Performance by an Actress — Drama (Renée Zellweger)

Labyrinth
It’s the film that introduced the public to the yet-to-be-fully-dismissed theory that David Bowie is, in fact, a Jim Henson creation.
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Maiden
With all the depressing sexist crap going on in the world, you deserve an inspiring pick-me-up, and what better than a documentary on Tracy Edwards, the former charter boat cook who led the first all-female crew on the Whitbread Round the World voyage in 1989? By nearly all accounts, Maiden is a thrilling tribute to ambition and comradeship, a great contribution to the sports doc genre.
AMC Pacific Place
Friday only

One Child Nation
Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang's documentary takes a first-person look—namely, Wang's—at China's now-discontinued policy of requiring that parents only have one child. Revisiting China, Wang tracks down others who, like herself and her parents, remember what it was like to live under the decree. One Child Nation doesn't shy away from brutal realities: Xianwen Liu, a former "family planning propaganda official," clangs cymbals as he remembers the opera he wrote extolling the virtues of the one-child policy; Huaru Yuan, a now-84-year-old midwife who helped deliver Wang, estimates that in two decades of traveling to various villages, she particiapted in "between 50,000 to 60,000 sterilizations and abortions." "I counted all of this out of guilt because I aborted and killed babies," she tells Wang. "Many I induced alive and killed. My hands trembled doing it. But I had no choice: It was the government's policy."
AMC Pacific Place
Saturday only

Queen & Slim
Queen & Slim may be the best—and is almost certainly the Blackest—film of 2019, and is perhaps most poignant for its gorgeous, complex, and multifaceted portrayal of the Black experience, where sparks of joy and love exist alongside pain, struggle, and oppression. One of the reasons director Melina Matsoukas and screenwriter Lena Waithe's made the film with Universal Pictures was their guarantee that Matsoukas and Waithe would have say over the final cut—a choice Waithe says was to ensure the film wasn’t influenced whatsoever by the white gaze. They only did one test screening, with an all-Black audience; the result is a new American romance/drama written in the Black American language, told via a fully Black lens, and including a diverse array of characters who show that Black people are not a monolith. While there are definitely triggering parts (I cried twice), I also laughed a lot and, like many of the film’s characters, I genuinely enjoyed rooting for the criminalized, on-the-run protagonists. For 48 hours after seeing this movie, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. JENNI MOORE
Meridian 16

Richard Jewell
Clint Eastwood directs this based-on-a-true-story movie about an amateur security officer who, despite his heroic actions saving lives at the Olympics, is accused of terrorism. It's being called "a decent portrait of an injustice" (Gary M. Kramer, Salon.com) and "the most Clint Eastwood-y Clint Eastwood movie imaginable" (Bill Goodykoontz, the Arizona Republic), but has been marred by its false portrayal of a real-life journalist, Kathy Scruggs, as a devious and sexually manipulative woman, notably showing her offering to trade sex for a news tip. Scruggs is dead and can't defend herself. Not cool. JOULE ZELMAN
Various locations
Nominated for: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Kathy Bates)

Tremors (Temblores)
Not to be confused with the 1990 film about giant tunneling worms. Jayro Bustamante, Guatemalan director of the critically acclaimed Ixcanul, returns with the story of Pablo, a beloved member of a rich Evangelical family who turns their lives upside down when he leaves his wife for another man. But the homophobic family is not about to give up their father/son/husband so easily—even if their efforts to keep him in their religious community ruin life his. Carlos Aguilar of TheWrap.Com writes that "the film isn’t kindly asking for tolerance but bluntly exposing the torment inflicted in the name of a prejudiced God."
Grand Illusion
Friday–Sunday

Vagabond
In Agnès Varda's bleak story starring the brilliant Sandrine Bonnaire (who won a French Oscar for her performance), a ferociously independent woman wanders through French wine country in winter, slowing approaching a lonely death.
SIFF Film Center
Sunday only
Part of The Restless Curiosity of Agnès Varda

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
Cinephiles will be interested in this documentary about the much-debated film critic Pauline Kael, who is both inspiring (she had to fight to be heard in a male-dominated trade) and irritating (she could be deeply contrarian). It features interviews with the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Quentin Tarantino, Camille Paglia, Molly Haskell, David O. Russell, Alec Baldwin, and Paul Schrader.
SIFF Film Center
Friday–Sunday

Also Playing:

Downtown Abbey

The Grudge

Jumanji: The Next Level

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Motherless Brooklyn

43 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle Over the Holidays: Dec 19–31, 2019

Brendan Kiley — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 13:48:00 -0800

Little Women, Uncut Gems, Cats (?!), and Other Movies Worth Watching by Brendan Kiley

Whether you're looking for something to watch with family or a place to hide out from the season's festivities (and early darkness) for a few hours, the holidays are a great time to take in a movie (or three). Our digital editor, Chase Burns, loved the furry freaks in Cats. He was, it seems, one of the very few critics with any affection for those horny humanimals (Portland Mercury critic Suzette Smith: "Cats is a horrorshow of computer-narrowed cat chins that can’t support singing, human-sized mouths"). Perhaps you'll feel the same way as Chase? Regardless, you should not miss Greta Gerwig's lovely Little Women and the Safdie brothers' harrowing Uncut Gems. (On the other hand, film critic Charles Mudede brands The Rise of Skywalker as "boring.") It's also a great time to see one-offs like Ingmar Bergman's glorious Fanny & Alexander or Norman Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof, or to catch up on Golden Globe nominees like Knives Out. See all of our film critics’ picks for the next week and a half below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

PLAYING CONTINUOUSLY

Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does. ERIK HENRIKSEN
AMC Pacific Place

Only Cloud Knows
If you're feeling like a sticky-sweet, emotional, and perhaps rather manipulative romance about a widower looking back on his relationship, Xiaogang Feng's drama is for you.
Regal Meridian & AMC Seattle 10

THURS DEC 19

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Beasts of the Southern Wild—an emotionally and visually gorgeous film that’s full of newcomers, from its director, Benh Zeitlin, to its tiny star, Quvenzhané Wallis—is set in the Bathtub, a modern-day Southern swamp community populated with eccentrics who drink together, play music together, paddle boats made from household appliances and spare lumber, and throw boisterous parties, and where 6-year-old Hushpuppy (Wallis) lives with her father. When the inevitable big storm comes, the residents have to fight nature and forced community-shattering evacuations by the government. The film smartly and delicately blends reality with fantasy, tracking Hushpuppy’s childlike way of seeing and coping with her world as it breaks apart. BRENDAN KILEY
Northwest African American Museum

Marriage Story
In 2005, Noah Baumbach wrote and directed The Squid and the Whale, a movie that dug deep into what it feels like to be a kid in a family that's pulled itself past its breaking point. Almost 15 years later, Baumbach's written and directed Marriage Story, a movie that digs deep into what it feels like to be a husband and a wife in a family that's pulling itself past its breaking point. As was the case in Squid and the Whale, the specifics are aggressively upper class: Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) is a big-deal actress, Charlie (Adam Driver) is an acclaimed theater director, and along with their young son Henry (Azhy Robertson), they spend much of Marriage Story at either a bougie apartment in Manhattan or a bougie house in West Hollywood. But once again, Baumbach—within the film's opening seconds, even—drills down to unearth the singular combination of grief, fury, melancholy, and pain that can only come from divorce. Marriage Story is brutal and sharp, but it's also funny and sweet, and captures something that's impossible to put into words: The feeling of life as it changes, and the feeling of stories as they come to an end. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Crest

A Smoky Mountain Christmas
We can't really beat the Beacon Cinema's description and we're not going to try: "This movie is about how easy it is to adopt 27 children. It stars Dolly Parton as a country rock star who is sick of all the Hollywood headaches. Lee Majors plays a forest demon who will stop at nothing to win the hearts of those around him. There's a real witch with huge 80s hair who spills everybody’s glass of milk, and wants to kill Dolly Parton. And John Ritter is the best judge in the world."
The Beacon

DEC 19–23

Elf
In which Will Ferrell plays a grown man who has spent his entire life laboring under the delusion that he's one of Santa's elves. The side effects of this include a deeply ingrained sense of whimsy and a proclivity for concentrated sugars. Zooey Deschanel sings.
Scarecrow Video (Dec 19 only) & Central Cinema

FRI DEC 20

Krampus
Krampus operates like a feature-length Twilight Zone episode: Take some lightly sketched stock characters (Adam Scott as drinky dad, Toni Collette as uptight mom, David Koechner as Randy Quaid), thrust them into slowly escalating supernatural peril, and watch the dramatic gears grind out a morbidly satisfying conclusion. While it lacks the zany spark that animates Gremlins or the deconstructionist bent of something like Cabin in the Woods, Krampus is a solid exercise in form and function. Also, the creature designs are super creepy (and mostly teeth). If you see one movie this winter about a goat-hoofed anti-Santa, make it Krampus. BEN COLEMAN
Scarecrow Video

OPENING DEC 20

DEC 20–21 & 24

Carol
Carol is set in the 1950s, which was not a great time for gay people getting to live the lives they actually deserved. That makes it all the more remarkable that the film doesn't punish its characters by dooming them to misery or early death, like most of the nonhetero narratives Hollywood offers up. If creativity thrives within limits, Carol makes a pretty good case that love can, too—although it certainly shouldn't have to. ALISON HALLETT
The Beacon

DEC 20 & 24

A Very Beacon Christmas
The Beacon will present an evening of Christmas-themed animated films, from stop-motion to hand-drawn to puppets.
The Beacon

SAT DEC 21

The Beacon Holiday Party + Mystery Movie
Celebrate the Beacon's five months of existence (with 203 movies screened!) at this free party featuring a special surprise movie.
The Beacon

DEC 21 & 23

The Dybbuk
The last film in the Beacon's The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema series, The Dybbuk is a 1937 supernatural drama based on the early 20th-century play of the same name. A young woman is possessed by the soul of a kabbalah student with whom she fell in love before his death. Filmed in Warsaw and Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, The Dybbuk draws on German Expressionist influences to create some truly spooky imagery.
The Beacon

Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
For fans of Russian folklore and wintry witchcraft, this fantasy by the director of Viy — Spirit of Evil stars a flying witch, a moon-stealing devil, and a lovelorn blacksmith. Also vodka. And snow.
The Beacon

SUN DEC 22

Everybody's Everything
This Terrence Malick-produced documentary focuses on Gustav Ahr, aka Lil Peep, a rising star just breaking into the mainstream when he died from an overdose at age 21.
Northwest Film Forum

Fanny & Alexander
In Ingmar Bergman’s breathtaking turn-of-last-century tale, the eponymous siblings grow up in a loving and unorthodox household until their father, an easygoing man, dies young. Their mother remarries, making the mistake of choosing a martinet clergyman who clashes with the free-spirited children. This beautiful film, universally hailed as a masterpiece, captures the essence of childhood and its hunger for love, play, and autonomy in the face of authoritarianism. Also important to know: The version the Beacon's showing is five hours long. JOULE ZELMAN
The Beacon

Tokyo Godfathers
Three homeless friends—an alcoholic, a trans woman, and a teenager—find a lost baby in the trash and set out to find the child's parents in Satoshi Kon's weird and touching film about chosen family at the margins of the city.
The Beacon

THROUGH DEC 22

Celebration
We weren't supposed to see this documentary about Yves Saint Laurent. Director Olivier Meyrou's doc on the famed French fashion designer was filmed in the early 2000s, over the course of two and a half years, while Saint Laurent worked on his final collection. His longtime business partner (and former romantic partner) Pierre Bergé invited Meyrou to produce the doc, but when it premiered, Bergé was apparently shocked by what he saw. What Bergé didn't know was that the documentary would end up being less about Saint Laurent and more about him. Bergé appears as the central figure—the man behind the curtain, assisting and controlling Saint Laurent's hand. He tightly monitors every aspect of Saint Laurent's life, from his meetings with models to his birthday dinners. While Saint Laurent watches his garments move down the runway, the documentary's camera watches Bergé watch Saint Laurent. The New York Times reported that Bergé particularly did not like "the parent-child way the two interacted" in the film. It is not a flattering portrait. CHASE BURNS
Northwest Film Forum

DEC 22 & 24

Ghost Stories for Christmas
Much beloved among ghost story enthusiasts, the BBC's seasonal literary adaptations aimed to add a pleasurable chill to evenings around the telly. The Beacon is screening two favorites from the series: a screen version of M.R. James's terrifying Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad (the TV movie's a little less frightening than the story, but still plenty atmospheric) and one of Charles Dickens's thoroughly eerie, fatalistic The Signalman.
The Beacon

MON DEC 23

Black Christmas (1974)
The 1974 Christmas-themed flick starring Margot Kidder and Olivia Hussey, more or less regarded as the grandmother of the slasher film—and a surprisingly feminist one at that. Directed by the guy who made A Christmas Story. If you like the currently-playing remake—or even if you don't—check out the original.
The Beacon

THROUGH DEC 23

WED DEC 25

Fiddler on the Roof
Join SIFF’s holiday tradition of belting along with Tevye and family in Norman Jewison’s 1971 adaptation of the beloved musical. It’s a bittersweet story of a poor shtetl milkman as his daughters come of age and fall in love—and anti-Semitic feeling rises. Your ticket will include Chinese takeout from Leah’s Gourmet Kosher Food and pre-film klezmer music by Orkestyr Farfeleh.
SIFF Cinema Uptown

THROUGH DEC 25

The Two Popes
Popes Benedict (Anthony Hopkins) and Francis (Jonathan Pryce) argue over doctrine and politics in 2013 in this film by acclaimed director Fernando Meireilles (City of God).
Crest

DEC 27–28

Punch-Drunk Love
Director Paul Thomas Anderson, who is brilliant with visuals but a middling writer, teams up with Adam Sandler to create a decidedly wacked love story centered around anger, phone sex, pudding, and a harmonium. The result is a near-empty sonnet called Punch-Drunk Love, which, though vastly entertaining for the bulk of its lean 90-minute running time, immediately vaporizes upon exit of the theater. Co-starring Emily Watson and the always brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman, Punch-Drunk Love tells the confused story of Barry Egan (Sandler), a small-time business owner (his specialty: decorative toilet plungers) who is meek on the outside, but filled with gathering venom within. Enter Lena (Watson), who for some reason finds herself immediately attracted to Egan. Their blooming love is the pin upon which Punch-Drunk Love rotates, but, like everything Paul Thomas Anderson creates, there is oh so much more. Hence: phone-sex blackmail, frequent-flier miles via the purchase of pudding, and the aforementioned harmonium—a strange, beautiful piano/accordion-like hybrid that mysteriously appears in front of Sandler following a bizarre car wreck. BRADLEY STEINBACHER
The Beacon

DEC 27–31

My Neighbor Totoro
Hayao Miyazaki's famed Japanese animation film studio, Studio Ghibli, has been pointedly unstreamable in the US for forever. If fans wanted to watch beloved favorites like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, they had to either buy them or go see one of Ghibli's regular theatrical showings. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the entire Ghibli catalog will be available on the new streaming platform HBO Max in May. So, relish this chance to see My Neighbor Totoro in theaters. Opportunities like this may be rare in the future. CHASE BURNS
Central Cinema

SAT DEC 28

Female Trouble
I don’t know about you, but the saccharine nature of Christmas makes me want to lock obnoxious children up in an attic, rob a few stores, and fuck some drugged-out hippies. As luck would have it, John Waters’s Female Trouble is the Christmas movie that delivers all of these desires—along with murder, Divine jumping on a trampoline, and more murder. It’s a teen girl’s fantasy as envisioned by an acid-riddled homosexual in the 1970s. It’s also the best Christmas movie ever made—and if you don’t agree, you can go eat shit and die. CHASE BURNS
Scarecrow Video

TUES DEC 31

Moulin Rouge!
SIFF will continue its tradition of ringing in the New Year with Baz Luhrmann’s ode to 19th-century Paris and 20th-century pop. You'll get a "bling ring," a drink, and the satisfaction of belting along with Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, and company.
SIFF Cinema Uptown

Also Playing:

The Addams Family

Anna and the Apocalypse

Downtown Abbey

Jumanji: The Next Level

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Motherless Brooklyn

39 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: Dec 12–15, 2019

Suzette Smith — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 12:53:00 -0800

It's a Wonderful Life, Celebration, The Beacon's War on Christmas, and Other Critics' Picks by Suzette Smith

Seattle's movie theaters are definitely feeling the holiday spirit, with events like the Holiday Film Series 2019 at Cinerama and the Beacon's eccentric War on Christmas lineup—plus the Grand Illusion's 49th consecutive engagement of the emotionally wringing It's a Wonderful Life. For non-holiday options, check out the Yves Saint-Laurent/Pierre Bergé documentary Celebration or Bong Joon-ho's Mother. See all of our film critics’ picks below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings. In the South Sound? Check out our guide to the best movies playing in Tacoma this weekend.

Note: Movies play Thursday–Sunday unless otherwise noted

American Matchmaker
This month, watch Yiddish-language films shot in the USA and Eastern Europe that showcase the vibrancy of the Jewish cinematic community. Edgar G. Ulmer (Detour)'s American Matchmaker stars Leo Fuchs, the "Yiddish Fred Astaire," as a dapper bachelor who can't quite seem to get married. Maybe, as the Beacon suggests, we have a case here of the celluloid closet.
The Beacon
Saturday only

Daniel Isn't Real
A college student facing a family crisis brings back his sinister childhood imaginary friend in this super-stylized horror thriller that, critics say, gets progressively more assured and interesting as it goes along.
Varsity Theater
Friday–Sunday

Dark Waters
As infuriating and horrifying as the subject matter of Dark Waters is—it’s based on “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare,” a 2016 New York Times Magazine story about how Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo), a corporate lawyer with a history of representing chemical companies, switched sides to reveal DuPont’s decades of catastrophic malfeasance—it is, in many ways, another paint-by-numbers, based-on-a-true-story legal thriller with the genre-mandated tropes: A delicate but driven score that sounds like the same delicate-but-driven score in every other fight-the-power thriller; a righteous speech (in Dark Waters, Tim Robbins gets the big one, and he takes full-throated advantage); and plenty of invectives like “The system is rigged!” and “They’re a titan of industry! They can do whatever they want!” None of that stuff’s bad—it’s pretty much what any lefty who’s excited to see Dark Waters, including me, is happily signing up for—but there’s a catch that elevates this movie to something better than usual. Portland arthouse director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Carol) oversees things here, capturing Dark Waters’ sickening story in chilly blues and jaundiced yellows while knowing exactly how to get the most from his cast. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Meridian 16 & Thornton Place

GLAS Presents: Animation Next
See animated stories from "subterranean nightmares to sun-soaked coming of age stories" at this traveling showcase from the GLAS Animation Festival in Berkeley.
Northwest Film Forum
Thursday only

Harriet
Aside from the assistance that the formerly enslaved Harriet Tubman got from the Underground Railroad, it’s hard to imagine exactly how she pulled off all her heroics. With Harriet, audiences are given a live-action reimagining of Harriet Tubman’s journey to self-liberation: changing her name, hiding in bales of hay, being chased by dogs, and getting cornered by armed men on a bridge before jumping into the river. Harriet shows how Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) got help from a secret network of safe houses and trusted free Blacks (Leslie Odom Jr. and Janelle Monáe) who stuck their necks out to help her cause. Throughout the film, the only music you’ll hear, gladly, are negro spirituals—songs that enslaved Blacks used to express their sorrow and joy, and to secretly communicate. (Tubman, who was nicknamed Moses, would sing “Go Down Moses” as a signal to enslaved Blacks that she was in the area, and would help anyone who wished to escape.) Harriet doesn’t subject the sensitive viewer to excessive gore or violence (though there is one particularly unsettling scene), because for once, this is a story in the “slave movie” genre about tremendous triumph, leadership, and Tubman’s unwavering faith, both in God and herself. JENNI MOORE
AMC Pacific Place
Thursday only

Holiday Film Series 2019
Enjoy naughty and nice holiday-themed movies on the big screen, like this weekend's Gremlins, Scrooged, White Christmas, and more.
Cinerama
Saturday–Sunday

Honey Boy
Oh, how easily this could’ve gone sideways. There’s nothing more cringingly embarrassing than a privileged white artist depicting their tragic life on film, forcing their audience to wallow alongside them in their self-serving importance. But in Honey Boy—a mostly autobiographical depiction of Transformers star Shia LaBeouf’s scary upbringing as a child actor—there’s so much more. In a dazzling, heartbreaking performance, LaBeouf portrays his real-life father, a recovering addict, Vietnam vet, and frustrated performer who’s in the witheringly humiliating position of being employed by his successful 12-year-old son, Otis (a fantastic Noah Jupe). Running parallel are harrowing scenes featuring an adult Otis (Lucas Hedges), who’s working out some well-earned and very deep shit in rehab while trying to stave off an emotional implosion. Dreamy imagery from director Alma Har’el and cinematographer Natasha Braier brilliantly captures this slow-motion train wreck of a tale that, weirdly enough, supplies a modicum of hope while depicting the toxicity that fathers inflict on their sons—and what results from the poison they inherit. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
AMC Pacific Place
Thursday only

The Irishman
A reality-inspired crime epic that spans decades, The Irishman’s heart is Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), who “paints houses” for big-shot gangsters; his paint, it should be noted, only comes in blood red. Sheeran’s main employer/benefactor/BFF is the intense, sharp-eyed Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), though once Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) enters the picture, Frank’s torn between the sometimes clashing demands of two hard-willed, charismatic men. De Niro’s great (and, thankfully, the distracting, de-aging CGI fades into the background after a while), but this is Pesci and Pacino’s movie: With mania and fury, Pacino rips every scene apart, while Pesci takes a different approach, subtly and slowly building an aging crime boss who’s both heart-achingly soulful and blood-chillingly brutal. Seeing Scorsese masterfully track all this harkens back to Goodfellas and Casino, but the jarring, moving The Irishman is, remarkably, better than both. While the intense focus on Frank & Pals comes at the expense of other characters, like every single woman, the end result is still stunning: A saga that’s horrifying and funny and melancholy, sometimes in different scenes, sometimes all at once. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Crest
Thursday only

Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does, to unforgettable effect. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations

Joker
The first half hour unfolds like a dog-whistle symphony for insecure guys who think they have it bad. Fleck berates his black social worker (Sharon Washington) for not listening to him when she’s obviously doing her best. He fixates on a black single mother (Zazie Beetz) after the briefest sign of camaraderie. Yet there are a series of trap doors throughout Joker that unexpectedly drop its audience into new perspectives. Early on, an obvious foreshadow shifts Fleck onto a new path, and as that plotline plays out, Joker offers some surprisingly rewarding reflections on the relationship between the villain and Batman. (Oh yeah! This is a Batman movie, remember?) Both men, Joker suggests, might be equally deranged, making sweeping moves against the world without regard for those who become collateral damage for their respective manias. SUZETTE SMITH
Meridian 16

'The Last Action Hero' with Andy Iwancio and Derek Sheen
Two terrific local comedians will host this screening of a massive Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring flop.
The Beacon
Thursday only

Light from Light
Jim Gaffigan plays a widower who asks a woman with paranormal abilities (Marin Ireland) to discover whether the ghost of his wife is lingering in the house. This isn't your usual haunting movie—rather than a scarefest, it's reportedly a thoughtful and poignant examination of grief, love, and trauma.
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

Make Way for Tomorrow
Director Leo McCarey was fired from his Hollywood studio for making this uncompromising Depression-era drama about an old couple, played by Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi, who are forced to move in with their selfish children.
The Beacon
Friday only
Part of the War on Christmas

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence!
Nagisa Oshima's David Bowie-starring war drama portrays the homoerotic love-hate relationship between a New Zealander POW and the Japanese director of the camp, played by composer and actor Ryuichi Sakamoto. Truly a brutal, unusual, hypnotic choice for a holiday movie screening.
The Beacon
Saturday only
Part of The War on Christmas

Mir Kumen On
This Polish-made, Yiddish-language documentary is bound to provoke complicated feelings in the modern viewer. Set in a socialist, Jewish-run sanatorium for poor children suffering from tuberculosis, it reveals a world that was utterly destroyed in the Holocaust just a few years later—and a future that could have been had not genocide wiped out Poland's Jewish communities.
The Beacon
Part of The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema
Thursday only

Mother
If you were to categorize Mother, you could do worse than "murder mystery." When Do-joon (Won Bin) is accused of murdering a schoolgirl, his mother (a terrific Kim Hye-ja) takes it upon herself to clear his name at any cost. This is a standard, boilerplate premise, but Bong dodges conventional noir trappings whenever he can, for better or worse. The mystery in Mother is almost beside the point: Answers come languidly as Kim's detective work brings her into circles of lawyers, policemen, and a teenage girl who modifies cell phones with spinning plastic poop antennas. The resulting film is a collection of arresting moments, one that's slow in pace and scattershot in structure. Whether you consider Mother a mess or a masterpiece, by the last reel, one thing is (still) clear: Bong is an extraordinarily unique filmmaker to spend two hours with. DAVE BOW
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus
There’s no better holiday date for nerds than this Mystery Science Theater 3000 screening of Santa Claus, an astonishing Christmastime disaster that came out of Mexico in 1959. The plot, loosely: Santa Claus lives in an ice castle. Mrs. Claus is nonexistent but sometimes Merlin appears to help the man out… if you know what I mean. Also, the Devil sends a demon to fight Santa. Yes, a demon. Happy holidays! CHASE BURNS
SIFF Film Center
Friday–Sunday

Mr. Arkadin
Orson Welles cast himself as the title's mysterious financial tycoon who hires a sleazy opportunist to investigate his (Arkadin's) own past—but why? When people start dying, the adventurer suspects that Arkadin knows more than he's letting on. This film exhibits in numerous versions and is usually regarded as an interesting oddity.
The Beacon
Saturday–Sunday
Part of The War on Christmas

Nocturnal Emissions: 'The Masque of the Red Death'
Dark-minded burlesque maven Isabella L. Price and Clinton McClung of Cinebago Events will return with their cheeky, sexy, macabre series Nocturnal Emissions, which prefaces an unusual horror classic with "phantasmagoric" burlesque performances and other fun. The final film will be the campy Vincent Price vehicle The Masque of the Red Death in December, preceded by burlesque by Price and Val Challah and comedy by Emmett Montgomery.
Northwest Film Forum
Thursday only

Pain and Glory
Pedro Almodóvar has long warmed his filmography with flickers of details from his personal life, but Pain & Glory brings us closer to the flame. In it, we look in on Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas), a filmmaker in self-imposed exile due to a creative decline and a variety of physical ailments. Banderas stifles his melodramatic tendencies to subtly and powerfully reveal Mallo’s agonies and evolution. ROBERT HAM
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

Pink Flamingos
Even if you’ve never seen John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, you’ve probably heard of it. It’s the 1972 film where the late, great Divine gleefully chokes down dog shit on camera. It’s still one of the most transgressive scenes ever put to film. It’s just one of a bunch of great bits in a weird, colorful gem.
Scarecrow Video
Saturday only

Queen & Slim
Queen & Slim may be the best—and is almost certainly the Blackest—film of 2019. One of the most striking things about the movie is that it’s intentionally absent of the white gaze. The directorial debut of Melina Matsoukas, it’s also the first film-length screenplay written by Lena Waithe, who knocked bestselling author James Frey’s original story idea out of the park after also making the jump from acting and writing on TV. Queen and Slim (Jodie Turner-Smith and Daniel Kaluuya) are ordinary law-abiding citizens who, after an okay Tinder date, get pulled over by a racist cop who decides to create a life-or-death altercation over a missed turn signal. After the unreasonably angry cop escalates the situation, unnecessarily searches the car, and shoots Queen in the leg, Slim ends up grabbing the cop's gun and killing the officer in self-defense. The two decide they have no choice but to evade law enforcement to survive. At the film’s heart are powerful, too-true themes about Black people’s constant search for freedom, even in modern society. In Queen and Slim’s case, their entire trip together is a relentless quest for freedom, and they have a really good run until the bitter—and iconic—end. JENNI MOORE
Various locations

Tammy and the T-rex
Denise Richards and Paul Walker star in this 1994 comedy, in which cheerleader Tammy (Richards) discovers that the brain of her boyfriend (Walker) has been transplanted into the body of a robotic tyrannosaur. You should see this movie because it's ridiculous and terrible and you need your brain flash-evaporated once in awhile. JOULE ZELMAN
Grand Illusion
Friday only

The Two Popes
Popes Benedict (Anthony Hopkins) and Francis (Jonathan Pryce) argue over doctrine and politics in 2013 in this film by acclaimed director Fernando Meireilles (City of God).
Crest
Friday–Sunday

Waves
The third feature-length film from writer-director Trey Edward Shults, Waves furthers Shults's obsession with the forces that keep families together and those that tear them apart. It follows a suburban black American family in Florida, at the center of which is Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a successful student athlete who's balancing schoolwork, partying, training, and hanging with his girlfriend, Alexis (Alexa Demie). He's under immense pressure—especially from his father, Ronald (Sterling K. Brown), whose dogged protectiveness of his family goes too far for their own well-being. The first half of Waves follows Tyler and the consequences of pushing past his physical limits; a shoulder injury threatens to sideline his wrestling dreams and deteriorate his relationship with Alexis. The second half shifts the focus to his sister, Emily (played by Taylor Russell with dazzling effect), who is left to deal with the fallout of her brother's explosive behavior, both in her family and in the greater community. The film's use of careening cinematography—its spinning, dizzying opening sequence; the greenness of the greens; the low, urgent movement of the camera—seems to almost-just tip the story over into disarray before righting itself and soldiering on. JASMYNE KEIMIG
SIFF Cinema Egyptian & Ark Lodge Cinemas
Thursday only

The White Reindeer
This gorgeous Scandinavian horror film, shot in Finnish Lapland in 1952, is probably your only chance all year to watch a movie about a sexually repressed vampire reindeer shapeshifter.
The Beacon
Saturday–Sunday
Part of the War on Christmas

Also Playing:

Our critics don't recommend these films, but you might like to know about them anyway.

21 Bridges

Black Christmas

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan

Dial Code Santa Claus

Jumanji: The Next Level

Love Actually

Midway

Playmobil

Silent Night, Deadly Night

The Whistleblower

The Worst Friday the 13th Movie

42 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: Dec 5–8, 2019

Joule Zelman — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 14:33:00 -0800

Die Hard, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Paranoid Data, and Other Critics' Picks by Joule Zelman

You have many new and classic options for moviegoing this weekend, like the beloved Muppet Christmas Carol, the cyberpunk series Paranoid Data: Pre-Millennium Tension in Film, or the brutal, wintry epic Market Lazarová. And don't neglect to celebrate the season with explosions and one-liners in Die Hard! See all of our film critics’ picks below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Note: Movies play Thursday–Sunday unless otherwise noted

The Aeronauts
Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) re-team for a tale of a 19th-century meteorologist and a daring pilot who set out to break the French altitude record in a hot-air balloon.
Varsity Theatre
Friday–Sunday

And With Him Came the West
Michael Plante examines the mythmaking of Wyatt Earp, who exploited the nascent film business to build his own legend—and a fantastical view of the American West—by consulting for early Hollywood Westerns. Plante will be present at this screening for Q&A.
Northwest Film Forum
Friday only

Comet in Moominland
In this Japanese adaptation of Tove Jansson's melancholy, magical world, the Moomin family welcomes a doomsaying prophet named Muskrat, only to learn that their planet is threatened by a giant comet. It sounds kind of like Lars von Trier's Melancholia, but infinitely cuter.
The Beacon
Sunday only

Die Hard
A year after Fox Plaza, a 35-story tower in Century City, Los Angeles, was completed (1987), it starred in a film that brought it and Bruce Willis fame, Die Hard. Fox Plaza plays Nakatomi Plaza, a building owned by a Japanese corporation, and Bruce Willis plays John McClane, a white NYC cop whose estranged white wife not only lives in LA but appears to have gone to the other side, the Japanese side. While McClane visits his wife at Nakatomi Plaza, things go crazy and we enter the world inside of the building: its elevator shafts, air ducts, and structural spaces. Here, postmodern architecture meets Reagan-era Hollywood cinema and makes lots of movie magic. CHARLES MUDEDE
The Beacon & Central Cinema

Doctor Sleep
Rather than trying to be a slavish follow-up to Stanley Kubrick’s inimitable The Shining, Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep is a looser, goofier trip that just so happens to wander some of the same territory that Stephen King first explored four decades ago. Decades after The Shining, Doctor Sleep finds Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) all grown up, still appreciating a good, cozy sweater, and drinking away the ghosts—both figurative and literal—that’ve haunted him since childhood. But when 15-year-old Abra (Kyliegh Curran) reaches out—revealing that she shares Danny’s paranormal abilities—the two stumble onto a rambling road that eventually leads to the ruined, long-abandoned Overlook. Sure, Flanagan’s no Kubrick, but he does pull off the too-rare trick of capturing the sprawling, earnest, weird vibe of a decent King novel, where the grotesque usually walks hand-in-hand with silliness. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Meridian 16
Thursday only

Force of Nature Natalia
Star ballerina Natalia Osipova shook up the ballet world when she and her partner, Ivan Vasiliev, left the Bolshoi for the Mikhailovsky—a lesser-regarded company—in search of more “artistic freedom.” In Force of Nature Natalia, director Gerald Fox tells the story of her subsequent accession to the upper heavens of both the classical and contemporary worlds. Over at the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw says the film focuses on the sheer intensity of the work Osipova (now a principal at the Royal Ballet in London) puts into her incredible performances, rather than on her romantic life, which, he says, was “not irrelevant to discussing Osipova’s development as an artist.” Bradshaw calls her a “sylph of steel” who leaves visible bruises on the bodies of her partners. If you’re in search of a film to kick your lazy ass into gear, look no further. RICH SMITH
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

Ford v Ferrari
If you’re a lover of car-racing movies, you should probably check out Ford v Ferrari—because this film is likely to be one of the last of its kind. A biopic about the late ’60s rivalry between failing racecar company Ferrari and the “wants to be sexy soooo bad” Ford Motor Company, F v F is about how corporations can’t help but crush the passion and innovation they so desperately need. In this case, the crushees are race car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driving phenom Ken Miles (Christian Bale), both of whom are forced to cajole, finagle, and manipulate the suits at Ford in an attempt to win the famed Le Mans road race. Director James Mangold (Logan) smartly avoids the emotionally manipulative tricks found in other sports biographies, and Damon and Bale are, unsurprisingly, excellent and affecting. The problem? It’s impossible to ignore the two elephants in this room: The fetishization of white male toxicity and car culture, topics which society is trying to deal with and solve… not celebrate. This makes Ford v Ferrari a very good movie that, a decade ago, would’ve been considered great. Now it feels like a brand-new film that’s already an antique. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Various locations

Gremlins
Gremlins still holds up, 34 years after its original release. The very retro-ness of this comedy-horror-holiday flick adds to its charm. The mix of humor and scares still stands up, the mogwai is still too cute for its own good, the gremlins birthed from it still disgustingly funny and frightening, and the implausible story still draws you in. A man brings home the ultimate Christmas gift for his teenage son, an exotic pet he found in Chinatown that comes with very specific (and vital) care instructions that must be followed (don’t get him wet, don’t feed him after midnight, don’t expose him to light). Of course, it wouldn’t be a movie if he cared for the furry little creature properly. LEILANI POLK
Regal Meridian 16
Friday-Sunday

Harriet
Aside from the assistance that the formerly enslaved Harriet Tubman got from the Underground Railroad, it’s hard to imagine exactly how she pulled off all her heroics. With Harriet, audiences are given a live-action reimagining of Harriet Tubman’s journey to self-liberation: changing her name, hiding in bales of hay, being chased by dogs, and getting cornered by armed men on a bridge before jumping into the river. Harriet shows how Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) got help from a secret network of safe houses and trusted free Blacks (Leslie Odom Jr. and Janelle Monáe) who stuck their necks out to help her cause. Throughout the film, the only music you’ll hear, gladly, are negro spirituals—songs that enslaved Blacks used to express their sorrow and joy, and to secretly communicate. (Tubman, who was nicknamed Moses, would sing “Go Down Moses” as a signal to enslaved Blacks that she was in the area, and would help anyone who wished to escape.) Harriet doesn’t subject the sensitive viewer to excessive gore or violence (though there is one particularly unsettling scene), because for once, this is a story in the “slave movie” genre about tremendous triumph, leadership, and Tubman’s unwavering faith, both in God and herself. JENNI MOORE
AMC Pacific Place

Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does, to unforgettable effect. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations

The Kingmaker
Lauren Greenfield's concerning documentary shows how Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the insanely corrupt Marcos regime, is staging a political comeback with the help of fake news and rewritten history (and no doubt the power of ill-gotten billions).
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse, the second film from Robert Eggers, the director of the excellent, wildly disconcerting period horror The Witch, is... funnier than expected? Sure, it’s also fucked-up and intense and distressing, but there are significantly more fart jokes than one might expect. Robert Pattinson, with a voice like The Simpsons’ Mayor Quimby, and Willem Dafoe, with a voice like The Simpsons’ crusty old sea captain, play two lost souls manning a decrepit lighthouse on a miserable, unnamed island. Like The Witch, this is a story and a setting that feels old, and Eggers captures it in joyless black and white, antiquated dialogue, and a squarish, 1.19:1 aspect ratio. Pattinson and Dafoe squabble and fight and scream, and something is lurking on the rocky cliffs, and something else is lurking at the top of the tower, and man, this one seagull really hates Pattinson. Things get weird, and sad, and unexpectedly touching; Dafoe and Pattinson are both great, and if you’re going to descend into Eggers’s particular brand of fraught, bleak madness, one could hardly ask for better company. As we head into another dour, dark Northwest winter, Eggers’s whipping gales and damp despair are here to remind you that hey, things could always be worse. ERIK HENRIKSEN
AMC Seattle 10 & Regal Meridian 16

Maria Tallchief: America's First Prima Ballerina
Learn the story of Maria Tallchief—a Native woman from Oklahoma whose talent and partnership with George Balanchine led to the creation of the New York City Ballet—from a screening of Seattle-based filmmaker Sandy Sunrising's documentary. The director and her husband will be in attendance.
Town Hall
Friday only

Market Lazarová
Brutal, gorgeous, chilly, earthy—this medieval epic by František Vláčil, one of the greatest directors of the Czechoslovak New Wave of the 1960s, deserves a spot among the major historical dramas. In pagan Bohemia, an innocent, sheltered young woman is abducted by a rough tribe, where she's forced to marry the wild young Mikoláš. But the love that, against the odds, begins to unite the couple may not survive the tumult of internecine battles between their clans. JOULE ZELMAN
The Beacon
Friday–Sunday

Marriage Story
Noah Baumbach (Mistress America et al.) creates a portrait of a marriage falling apart and the family trying to endure in this drama featuring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Alan Alda, and Laura Dern.
Crest

Mulholland Drive
Movie endings leave you feeling either satisfied or unsatisfied. David Lynch's endings, particularly the one for Mulholland Drive, have an altogether different power: They send the viewer hurtling into a tizzy of desperate calculus, trying to figure out what the hell has been happening for the last two-and-a-half hours. Lynch films are largely resolution-free, and spill over with possible meanings, merging identities, and dream-reality crossovers so elaborate that it takes several viewings to decide whether the tricks add up. There's always a sense that the film could be a big practical joke on the cult of seriousness; Lynch, after all, is one funny bastard. Not only is Mulholland Drive no exception to this principle, it's his freaky ne plus ultra. SEAN NELSON
Seattle Art Museum
Thursday only

The Muppet Christmas Carol
The Muppets make everything better, and this includes Charles Dickens’s timeworn holiday tale about miserly, uncharitable Ebenezer Scrooge (an early rich dickhead of literature) and the visitations from the ghosts of Christmases past, present, and yet-to-come (plus a few others) that compel him to change his callous ways. The 1992 Brian Henson production features Michael Caine as Scrooge, Kermit the Frog as his loyal employee Bob Cratchit, and all the other Muppet characters you’ve come to know and love in various other roles. (Statler and Waldorf are hilarious as the ghosts of Scrooge’s late business partners Jacob and Robert Marley, and Gonzo as Dickens narrating the thing is also priceless, especially with Rizzo the Rat as his sidekick.) For some of us, watching The Muppet Christmas Carol is a Christmas tradition. LEILANI POLK
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

New Life
Discover film from Bulgaria and its diaspora in this series, the Bulgarian Movie Circle. Нов живот/New Life is an affecting documentary about a group of Bulgarians who seized their chance to claim asylum in Canada just as Communism was collapsing across Eastern Europe. Bewildered by culture shock, these Bulgarians—many of them artists, musicians, and filmmakers—strove to adjust to the wide-open spaces of Newfoundland or the rich mix of cultures in Montréal. It's an interesting perspective on immigration and starting over, with some important insights on today's migratory movements. (One man, noting that the media seize on the fact that the majority of Syrian immigrants are young or middle-aged men, remarks that Bulgarian immigration was the same—men frequently leave the country first, in hopes of helping their families follow.)
Solo
Friday only

Night of the Hunter
This expressionistic fairy tale, from the '50s but decades ahead of its time, was the only film the great actor Charles Laughton ever got to direct. Robert Mitchum famously embodies a roving preacher with a murderous hatred of women and a lust for money that puts him on the track of two child runaways.
The Beacon
Sunday only

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
Once Upon a Time doesn't have the self-conscious, This Is a Quentin Tarantino Film™ feel of the filmmaker's past few movies. It feels neither reliant nor focused on those obsessions and quirks. We spend the bulk of our time with three people: Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), an earnest, anxious, B-list actor whose career is right about to curdle; Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), Rick's toughed-up, chilled-out former stuntman and current BFF; and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), a bubbly, captivating actress who's just starting to enjoy her first taste of success in show business. How Tarantino plays with history in Once Upon a Time is one of the more intense and surprising elements of the film—and, thankfully, it's also one of the best. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Crest
Thursday only

Paranoid Data: Pre-Millennium Tension in Film
The forum presents two days of pre-millennial anxiety about information technology, propaganda, corporatism, totalitarianism, and other societal forces that have indeed led the world off a cliff. Spend your weekend watching WarGames, Johnny Mnemonic, Scanners, and Strange Days, and don't miss Videograms from a Revolution, the one documentary in the bunch, about the televised overthrow of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Northwest Film Forum
Saturday–Sunday

'The Princess Bride' Quote-along
Everyone who can factually claim to be an American has seen The Princess Bride 150 times. So why go see it on the big screen? Here's why: It's delightful and hilarious, and the goopy framing device gets out of the way fast, and there's that amazing scene where our heroine stands atop a hill, exclaims, "Oh, my love!" and hurls herself into a full-body roll. LINDY WEST
SIFF Film Center
Friday–Sunday

Promare
For fans of post-apocalyptic anime, Promare from Studio Trigger will deliver the maximalist visuals and frenetic action you desire (even if the story, about firefighters battling mutants, is a little thin).
AMC Pacific Place
Sunday only

The Snow Queen
This absolutely wild Finnish adaptation of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale looks kind of like a wintry Labyrinth on even more acid. The snow queen ("looking like a Butoh performer from Mars," as the Beacon describes her) abducts a boy named Kai to help steal an emerald. Kai's sister Kerttu sets out after the gelid royal to save her brother.
The Beacon

Tevya
This month, the Beacon showcases Yiddish-language films shot in the USA and Eastern Europe that reveal the vibrancy of the Jewish cinematic community of last century. This weekend, see the fascinating Tevya, billed at the time as the "greatest Yiddish picture ever made" and based on the Sholem Aleichem story that inspired the musical. Shot on Long Island in 1939, Tevya tells the story of a Jewish Ukrainian farmer whose daughter rebels when she falls in love with a gentile peasant.
The Beacon
Saturday only
Part of The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema

They Shall Not Grow Old
Peter Jackson has led a team of restorationists and lip-readers (!) to snatch back moments of World War I in living detail. Archival films from the era were colorized and repaired, and experts were called in to decrypt what the people in the shots were saying. The results, bolstered by interviews and reminiscences, are history as you've never seen it.
Various locations
Saturday only

Also Playing:

Our critics don't recommend these films, but you might like to know about them anyway.

39 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: Nov 27–Dec 1, 2019

Jenni Moore — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 15:11:00 -0800

Knives Out, Queen & Slim, Marriage Story, and Other Critics' Picks by Jenni Moore

Need a break from family festivities? Luckily for you, most of Seattle's movie theaters are open over the holiday weekend. Speaking of domestic strife, Rian Johnson's splendidly cast Knives Out might offer some catharsis for pent-up stress via murder and mystery. Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story, meanwhile, takes a more heartfelt and realistic approach to family friction. For something completely different, Melina Matsoukas's debut lovers-on-the-run drama, Queen & Slim, follows a Black couple as they seek refuge and freedom from judicial injustice. See all of our film critics’ picks below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Note: Movies play Wednesday–Sunday unless otherwise noted

Another Day of Life
All the macho foreign-correspondent bullshit swirling around the documentary’s central figure, the renowned Polish writer and reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski, makes the first 15 minutes of this otherwise incredible film difficult to watch. But once all that nonsense settles down, the power of the story and the innovative way it’s told grabs hold and doesn’t let go. As Portugal shuffles off from its colonial grip on Angola, a civil war fills the power vacuum. Kapuscinski is one of the few journalists covering the war. As he travels through the war-torn country to the front line of the conflict, he meets communist fighters who change the way he thinks about the country and the whole idea of objectivity in journalism. The great innovation here is the use of animation. Rather than employing shitty historical reenactments to immerse you in the scene, the directors chose to animate the whole story. At times, the animation artfully and seamlessly gives way to real-world interviews with the film’s subjects, many of whom are still alive, which is something I’ve never quite seen before. Highly recommended. RICH SMITH
Grand Illusion
Wednesday only

The Best You've Ever Seen: Beyond The Black Rainbow
This mash-up event brings together one band and one DJ to collaboratively reimagine a score for whatever movie they've chosen to screen that night. This time, DJ Lite Privilege and Purr Gato will create a mix for Panos Cosmatos's 2010 sci-fi Beyond the Black Rainbow, about a heavily sedated woman who tries to escape a commune where she's being held against her will (yikes). The film is visually remixed by blazinspace with liquid light art from the Liquid Light Wizard.
Parliament Tavern
Saturday only

Blast of Silence
This tough crime film from the early days of indie filmmaking is a downbeat noir about a hitman stalking his prey in New York around Christmas time.
The Beacon
Saturday–Sunday

The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
Two strangers—both Indigenous women—form an impulsive connection on the streets of Vancouver and try to weather abuse, birth control crises, and systemic prejudice in Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn's ambitious realist drama, which unfolds in real time on the screen.
Ark Lodge Cinemas & Northwest Film Forum
Wednesday only

Burn!
Marlon Brando stars in this dark historical drama as an English agent fomenting rebellion on a Portuguese-controlled Caribbean island. He learns that once slaves and oppressed people take revolution into their own hands, they don't necessarily align with British imperialist goals. This action-filled movie comes from director Gillo Pontecorvo and screenwriter Franco Solinas, the team behind the famed The Battle of Algiers.
The Beacon
Wednesday only
Part of To Win a Revolution: The Screenplays of Franco Solinas

Casablanca
Yes, Casablanca is a bonafide classic. The name conjures up notions of prestige and film nobility. It’s the worst possible thing that could have happened to Casablanca. The movie is a classic because it’s not a stuffy, high-minded piece of cinema with a capital “C.” It’s low-budget, tossed-off studio leftovers, and that’s why its genius is so remarkable. Don’t think of it as attending movie church. Leave your reverence in the lobby. Casablanca sure as hell doesn’t have any time for that shit. Instead, think of it as the half-improvised, made-up-as-they-went, seat-of-the-pants production that took studio spare parts and made some potent movie magic. BOBBY ROBERTS
Central Cinema
Friday-Sunday

Ford v Ferrari
If you’re a lover of car-racing movies, you should probably check out Ford v Ferrari—because this film is likely to be one of the last of its kind. A biopic about the late ’60s rivalry between failing racecar company Ferrari and the “wants to be sexy soooo bad” Ford Motor Company, F v F is about how corporations can’t help but crush the passion and innovation they so desperately need. In this case, the crushees are race car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driving phenom Ken Miles (Christian Bale), both of whom are forced to cajole, finagle, and manipulate the suits at Ford in an attempt to win the famed Le Mans road race. Director James Mangold (Logan) smartly avoids the emotionally manipulative tricks found in other sports biographies, and Damon and Bale are, unsurprisingly, excellent and affecting. The problem? It’s impossible to ignore the two elephants in this room: The fetishization of white male toxicity and car culture, topics which society is trying to deal with and solve… not celebrate. This makes Ford v Ferrari a very good movie that, a decade ago, would’ve been considered great. Now it feels like a brand-new film that’s already an antique. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Various locations

In My Room
A decidedly offbeat post-apocalypse tale, Ulrich Köhler's In My Room follows a shallow German cameraman as he wanders a world in which it seems everyone but him has mysteriously vanished. Totally free but totally alone, the man tries to forge a new existence, only to realize that he's not the sole survivor after all. In My Room screened in the Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes.
Northwest Film Forum
Friday-Sunday

Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does, to unforgettable effect. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations

Lost Angelas
An aspiring screenwriter attempts to find his missing fiancée, a best-actress nominee named Angela Rose, by going through his memories of encounters with a sinister film director. William Wayne's non-linear neo-noir may be too far-out for some, but fun for lovers of twists and stories-within-stories.
Grand Illusion
Wednesday only

Moomins on the Riviera
Join the Saturday Morning Cartoons club to watch this Finno-French adaptation of the books of eccentric Tove Jansson, following the Snorkmaiden, Little My, and the Moomins as they land on the Riviera, where jealousy and infatuation threaten their bond.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Saturday only

'The Muppet Movie' Sing-along
The Muppets made their feature film debut in James Frawley's beloved, meta-inclined 1979 film, in which Kermit the Frog and friends (and hitchhikers) journey to Hollywood but are sidetracked by the nefarious restaurateur Doc Hopper. Hop on the Electric Mayhem and reaffirm the Rainbow Connection with everyone's favorite floppy puppets.
SIFF Film Center
Friday-Sunday

Overture to Glory
The first in the Beacon's December series on Yiddish-language cinema, the Vilnius-set Overture to Glory stars the real-life cantor Moyshe Oysher as a synagogue cantor who abandons his religious post in order to become an opera singer. Go for a moving glimpse of a vanished world.
The Beacon
Saturday only
Part of The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema

Sailor Moon's Hearts in Ice
Usagi and friends interrupt their Christmas vacation to defend Earth from the Snow Queen Kaguya and her evil, icy plans.
The Beacon
Sunday

Roma
Watch Alfonso Cuarón's Academy Award-winning drama about a maid living with a wealthy family in Mexico City. After the screening, celebrate the passage of the Seattle Domestic Workers Ordinance, which ensures new protections for workers, with Hand in Hand and Casa Latina.
University Heights
Sunday only

Sátántangó
If you want some serious cinephile cred, you can't do better than this seven-and-a-half-hour epic by the Hungarian master Béla Tarr, known for making long, grimy, long, dark, strangely poetic, long movies like Werckmeister Harmonies and The Turin Horse. Sátántango (1994), restored in 4K, is based on László Krasznahorkai's brutal experimental novel about a collective farm collapsing under the weight of its members' greed, betrayal, and hopelessness. The Forum has mercy on those of us with shorter attention span—your ticket is valid for any screening day, so you can come and go, and you get free popcorn refills.
Northwest Film Forum
Friday–Sunday

Sundance Indigenous Shorts
Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program and Art House Convergence present six films by Indigenous and Native moviemakers from the Arctic Circle, Ho-Chunk land in midwestern America, Mi’gmaq territory in Canada, and elsewhere. Some subjects include the heritage of traditional crafts, the art of throat singing, and the Indian Pipe plant.
Northwest Film Forum
Wednesday only

Terminator: Dark Fate
If nothing else, Dark Fate has one thing going for it: Sarah Connor. Linda Hamilton is back, which means there's a Terminator movie worth watching again. Well, it's worth watching, I guess, if you, like me, have devoted entirely too much of your ever-shrinking life span to thinking about terminators. For everyone else, Dark Fate's appeal—which largely hinges on seeing Hamilton, Arnold, and various bloodthirsty murderbots back in action—might be limited. Deadpool director Tim Miller does a lot of things right: His action sequences are messy but intense; he knows to let Hamilton, with her wry eyebrows and smoke-scratched voice, steal scenes whenever she feels like it; and he somehow pulls off the insane-sounding task of making a Terminator movie that's legitimately, consistently funny. But at the end of the day, Dark Fate is another sequel that tries, with mixed success, to reboot a rusty series, and several of the attempts it makes to feel current land with a wet thud. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Meridian 16

This Is What History Looks Like: Archival Footage from the 1999 WTO Protests
The archivists of Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound collaborated with director Jill Freidberg to create this found-footage collage about the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, aka the Battle of Seattle. Discover this iconic strike against globalization through archival imagery and sound.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
I fell in love with Catherine Deneuve in the mid-'90s, when I caught a restored print of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. To call Jacques Demy's 1964 mini-opera a transformative experience would not be hyperbole. The movie, and the girl at its center, seemed to exist out of time: magical, romantic, alluring. JAMES S. RICH
The Beacon
Friday-Saturday

Also Playing:

Our critics don't recommend these films, but you might like to know about them anyway.

21 Bridges

Charlie's Angels

Last Christmas

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

Midway

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

The Room

Wallflower

When Harry Met Sally

43 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: Nov 21–24, 2019

Suzette Smith — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:31:00 -0800

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Knives Out, Dragnet Girl, and Other Critics' Picks by Suzette Smith

This weekend, cry over the genuinely lovely A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, take a cinematic voyage with the Seattle Turkish Film Festival, revisit the Wachowski sisters' steamy thriller Bound, or take the kids to see Frozen II, just to name a few highly diverse options. See all of our film critics’ picks below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Note: Movies play Thursday–Sunday unless otherwise noted

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
It’s unusual to witness real cinematic magic these days, but the Fred Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood absolutely has it. Director Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) wisely avoids the visual slickness one might expect from a Tom Hanks-centric melodrama, instead employing a lived-in style and scene transitions that consist of miniature cities harkening back to the opening of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Hanks is totally committed to Rogers’ appearance and manner, but A Beautiful Day is more about Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) a fictional journalist profiling Rogers. (Vogel’s work is based on a 1998 Esquire profile by Tom Junod; as is the case with the film, Junrod’s piece sketches a beautiful yet enigmatic image of Rogers.) Where Heller’s film becomes transcendent is in its cinematic pressure points: The striking slowness of the narrative (it’s meant to emulate the pace of Rogers’ show, and you get used to it), the mirroring of Rogers and Vogel in their interview styles and drawn-out reaction shots, and a profound moment of silence that grips your heart like, “Did that really just happen? Why was that so intense?” SUZETTE SMITH
Various locations

Bound
For reasons that I cannot explain in this blurb, the 1990s experienced a wave of superb noir films. There was One False Move by Carl Franklin, The Last Seduction by John Dahl, and, of course, Bound by the Wachowskis (who later made the Matrix series). Bound stars Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon. Tilly plays the classic noir black widow, but in this film there is a twist: The deadly and beautiful spider, who is married to a mobster, attracts a woman (Gershon). After steamy sex, the two plan a crime. But is the spider (cigarette smoke, red lips, black lingerie) luring her lover into a trap? How will all of this end? This is how you do noir. CHARLES MUDEDE
The Beacon
Part of 'Sex Work Is Work'
Friday–Saturday

Burn!
Marlon Brando stars in this dark historical drama as an English agent fomenting rebellion on a Portuguese-controlled Caribbean island. He learns that once slaves and oppressed people take revolution into their own hands, they don't necessarily align with British imperialist goals. This action-filled movie comes from director Gillo Pontecorvo and screenwriter Franco Solinas, the team behind the famed The Battle of Algiers.
The Beacon
Sunday only
Part of To Win a Revolution: The Screenplays of Franco Solinas

Depeche Mode: Spirits in the Forest
Anton Corbijn's film captures Depeche Mode's 2017/2018 Global Spirit Tour, which was attended by some three million fans.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

'Dragnet Girl' with Live Score by Coupler
The masterful Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu is better known for simple, tragicomic domestic dramas than for gangster flicks, but this 1933 jewel, about a hood and his dangerous romance with the sweet sister of a newly made man, bears the influence of Hollywood crime cinema. The musical group Coupler—at whose core is Ryan Norris, Rodrigo Avendano, and Rollum Haas—will provide a live score.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Thursday only

Encounters in the Anthropocene
Georg Koszulinski's sci-fi-tinged short films explore the impending sixth mass extinction and the devastation of the Anthropocene.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

End of the Century
If you missed your chance to see this expressive Argentinian gay romance at the Seattle Queer Film Festival, you've got a second chance this weekend. Ocho and Javi have a fling after an initial missed connection, but things get complicated when Javi tells Ocho that they've met—and rolled in the hay—many years before.
SIFF Film Center
Friday–Sunday

The Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift
For car-lovers, The Fast and the Furious franchise has always provided two necessities: sweet cars and sweet pieces of ass. The Vin-less sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious, faltered from an underwhelming script and over-the-top visuals. But this time around, the franchise has been rebuilt from the ground up—and not only is The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift faster, it's got "furious" to spare. Lucas Black is an American hillbilly who can't keep his foot off the pedal, so he's sent to stay with his pop in Tokyo. Though banned from climbing behind the wheel, he falls in with a group of Yakuza-connected street racers who specialize in "drifting"—managing hairpin turns with the perfect application of gas and brake. And while the first two F&Fs were fuel-injected crime sprees, Tokyo Drift is a revved-up, fish-out-of-water story that has more in common with Rebel Without a Cause than The French Connection. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Ford v Ferrari
If you’re a lover of car-racing movies, you should probably check out Ford v Ferrari—because this film is likely to be one of the last of its kind. A biopic about the late ’60s rivalry between failing racecar company Ferrari and the “wants to be sexy soooo bad” Ford Motor Company, F v F is about how corporations can’t help but crush the passion and innovation they so desperately need. In this case, the crushees are race car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driving phenom Ken Miles (Christian Bale), both of whom are forced to cajole, finagle, and manipulate the suits at Ford in an attempt to win the famed Le Mans road race. Director James Mangold (Logan) smartly avoids the emotionally manipulative tricks found in other sports biographies, and Damon and Bale are, unsurprisingly, excellent and affecting. The problem? It’s impossible to ignore the two elephants in this room: The fetishization of white male toxicity and car culture, topics which society is trying to deal with and solve… not celebrate. This makes Ford v Ferrari a very good movie that, a decade ago, would’ve been considered great. Now it feels like a brand-new film that’s already an antique. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Various locations

The Good Liar
The Good Liar is likely the most bonkers film I will see this year. What begins as a cautionary tale about the dangers of grandma’s online dating unfolds into a baffling series of reveals, all of which support the twist that we already gleaned from the trailer: Roy (Ian McKellen) is trying to double cross Betty (Helen Mirren) and take her money... but she's not that easy to trick! How all that happens, though? I could never have predicted it. What a septuagenarian mine cart ride!SUZETTE SMITH
Various locations

Harriet
With Harriet, audiences are given a live-action reimagining of Harriet Tubman’s journey to self-liberation: changing her name, hiding in bales of hay, being chased by dogs, and getting cornered by armed men on a bridge before jumping into the river. Harriet shows how Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) got help from a secret network of safe houses and trusted free Blacks (Leslie Odom Jr. and Janelle Monáe) who stuck their necks out to help her cause. Throughout the film, the only music you’ll hear, gladly, are negro spirituals—songs that enslaved Blacks used to express their sorrow and joy, and to secretly communicate. (Tubman, who was nicknamed Moses, would sing “Go Down Moses” as a signal to enslaved Blacks that she was in the area, and would help anyone who wished to escape.) Harriet doesn’t subject the sensitive viewer to excessive gore or violence (though there is one particularly unsettling scene), because for once, this is a story in the “slave movie” genre about tremendous triumph, leadership, and Tubman’s unwavering faith, both in God and herself. JENNI MOORE
Various locations

Honey Boy
Shia LaBeouf wrote and stars in this drama based on his own experiences as a child star with a difficult father (he plays the character based on his own messed-up dad, while Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges play the son).
AMC Pacific Place

Dan Savage's HUMP! Film Festival
In the beginning... there was porn. And some of it was pretty awesome! But a lot of it, you know, wasn't. Mainstream porn can be problematic in all sorts of ways—most notably that 90 percent of dirty movies are made for white dudes by white dudes. And why is there primarily only one body type (skinny and hairless)? And are any of the actors having fun? I mean, for real? These are the kinds of porn problems that inspired beloved sex columnist Dan Savage to create the HUMP! Film Festival—an annual celebration of amateur dirty movies that are for the people, by the people! HUMP! invites folks to submit five-minute mini porn flicks written, directed, shot, and—in a lot of cases—performed by these sex-positive amateur auteurs. The filmmakers are encouraged to express themselves sexually in whatever way they see fit—so instead of seeing the same, staid heteronormative clips you'll find on the internet, HUMP! is a virtual rainbow of diverse (AND HOT) sexuality! WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
On the Boards

Jojo Rabbit
The latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camp—their campfire activities include burning books—Adolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbit—based on a book by Christine Leunens—is just as clever and hilarious as Waititi’s other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. There’s more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does, to unforgettable effect. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various locations

Knives Out
The director of The Last Jedi and Looper has assembled an amazing cast for a good old-fashioned ensemble whodunit. Watch Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas, et al. go at each other with barbed wit and sharp implements. The film officially opens next week, but you can sneak in early at a few select theaters.
Various locations
Friday–Saturday

Lola Montès
Max Ophuls made this fluidly, gorgeously filmed tale of a real-life courtesan and performer (Lola Montez was her stage name; her birth name was Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld) who, as King Ludwig of Bavaria's mistress, helped bring about liberal reforms.
The Beacon
Saturday–Sunday
Part of 'Sex Work Is Work'

Paprika
A dream researcher and her girlish alter ego, Paprika, try to stop a terrorist who can cause people’s dreams to invade reality. Satoshi Kon’s boisterous foray into the world of the unconscious practically explodes off the screen with magnificent madness. And here, you can see it on 35mm! JOULE ZELMAN
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

Patlabor the Movie
The Patlabor franchise is sick. A popular addition to the mecha genre, the Patlabor world includes large, human-like robots, named "Labors," who essentially work in Amazon warehouses. The Labors produce labor more effectively than humans, but everyone is apparently surprised when Labors begin to randomly destroy buildings and commit crimes. Who's responsible for the chaos? The robots? The programmers? The politicians? The conversation is a little too timely. Andrew Yang's Freedom Dividend would probably be popular in the political world of Patlabor. Patlabor: The Movie is a standout for the franchise, notably directed by Palme d'Or-nominated Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii. Released in 1989 but set in 1999, the anime focuses on the tension between naughty Labors and the specialized Patrol Labors (get it, "Patlabor," it's a portmanteau) assigned to keep the Labors in check. For a crime-fighting mecha anime, I find the film surprising, philosophical, and funny. Somehow, it doesn't seem like science fiction. CHASE BURNS
The Beacon

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Two men are stuck together during a protracted bout of holiday travel. One is well-off, irritable, and stuffy. The other is garrulous, simple, and annoying. The first man eventually learns to accept the second man, and in accepting him, acquires an emotional understanding of key Thanksgiving concepts.
Central Cinema
Friday–Sunday

Point Blank
In this classic tough-guy film, a criminal played by Lee Marvin is shot and left for dead. But he's just so damn tough, he pulls himself together and embarks on a path of brutal revenge.
Seattle Art Museum
Thursday only
Part of the 42nd Film Noir Series

'Remembering Our Mothers' Preview
See a sneak preview of this documentary about the murders of three women, Susanna Blackwell, Phoebe Dizon, and Veronica Laureta, and how local Asian Pacific Islander women in the community fought back against violence.
Northwest Film Forum
Sunday only

Rififi
Jules Dassin’s flawless diamond of a French caper film from 1955 is justifiably famous for the jewel heist that unfolds in breathless silence for 33 astonishing minutes—former Stranger film editor Jamie Hook called it a “sacrament of the cinema.” But the whole that surrounds this sequence is equally sacramental, equally nourishing. SEAN NELSON
The Beacon
Thursday only

Santa Sangre
A boy watches his mother's arms get cut off, gets institutionalized, and then returns to help her. Help her kill people. And he grew up in a circus. Alejandro Jodorowsky's waking dream must be seen to be believed.
The Beacon
Thursday only

Scandalous
The strangest revelation in Scandalous—a new documentary directed by Mark Landsman that concerns the history of the National Enquirer from its birth to its recent attempt to blackmail the richest man on earth, Jeff Bezos—is not the tabloid's long obsession with UFO stories and other oddities. No, it's this: In the 1980s, Donald Trump, a huge fan of the National Enquirer, would call its reporters and rat on himself. He'd pretend it wasn't him, but the reporters knew it was Donald Trump on the other end of the line, dishing out dirt about himself and the celebrities who entered his circle of the rich and famous. The National Enquirer, which started in the early 1950s in New York City with a loan from the mafia, has had four distinct phases. One: Its gore moment. Two: Its grocery store check-out moment. Three: Its moment of respectability. And four: Its sharp turn to the right, which happened after 9/11. What has been in the DNA of the rag from its inception, however, is raw gangsterism. CHARLES MUDEDE
Grand Illusion
Thursday only

Seattle Turkish Film Festival
The Turkish American Cultural Association of Washington will present the sixth annual edition of their community-driven, volunteer-led festival featuring a rich panorama of new Turkish films. See crowd-pleasers like the opening film, Bold Pilot (Thursday), the entertaining-sounding documentary about the Turkish film industry in the '60s and '70s, Remake, Remix, Rip-Off (Saturday), or the critically acclaimed Nuri Bilge Ceylan film The Wild Pear Tree (Sunday).
Pacific Science Center & SIFF Cinema Uptown

Unlikely
This investigative documentary by Jaye Fenderson, former admissions officer of Columbia University, confronts the inequality, debt, and drop-out rates of higher education in the United States.
Northwest Film Forum
Thursday–Saturday

Uptight
The great director Jules Dassin returned to his homeland, the US, after spending years in exile directing some of the greatest European crime movies ever. He then made Uptight, an unjustly neglected adaptation of John Ford's The Informer about a group of Black Power activists who suspect a mole is in their midst. Seize your chance to see this rare gem.
The Beacon
Saturday only

Zombieland 2: Double Tap
The problem with comedy sequels is that it's hard to tell the same joke years later, but funnier. Despite the ravages of time and changing tastes, filmmakers must suplex the lightning back into that bottle. But despite lurching into theaters a full decade after the original, Zombieland: Double Tap avoids those pitfalls while delivering a suitably zany Zombieland experience with the easy charm of an off-brand Mike Judge picaresque. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone all return to banter and blast zombies, and their wry camaraderie speaks a seemingly genuine desire to play in this viscera-splattered sandbox again (rather than, as with many long-delayed sequels, simply the desire for a new beach house). Added to the mix are a spate of goofy newcomers, including a delightfully unapologetic flibbertigibbet (Zoey Deutch) and a pair of dirtbag doppelgangers (Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch). It's more a live-action cartoon than a serious entry in the zombie canon, but as a low-key genre comedy, it totally works. BEN COLEMAN
Meridian 16

Also Playing:

Our critics don't recommend these films, but you might like to know about them anyway.

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Midway

Playing with Fire

59 Major Events to Know About in the Seattle Area This Weekend: Nov 22-24, 2019

Elaina Friedman — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 15:13:00 -0800

A weekend guide to the best local events. by Elaina Friedman All week long, we've been posting lists of Seattle events to keep you busy (including the best arts & culture events, quirky things to do, and the best music shows to see), but we realize there's a lot to sort through. So, if you only have time to read one list, make it this one: We've plucked the biggest events you need to know about in every genre, from the Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Festival to Enchant Christmas to Sleater-Kinney. See them all below, and find even more things to do this weekend on our complete EverOut Things To Do calendar. Jump to: Holiday Markets & Shopping | Other Festive Holiday Events | Major Concerts | Film | Comedy & Performance Events | | Readings & Talks | Other Noteworthy Happenings HOLIDAY MARKETS & SHOPPING

Danish Sisterhood Holiday Bazaar & Nordic Sweater Exchange
Trade your winter sweaters for ones you want more, then shop for Danish and Scandinavian goods in your cozy new garment.
Saturday, Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma)

Gobble Up Seattle 2019
Just in time for Thanksgiving (and the subsequent holidays), Urban Craft Uprising will host this specialty food show for the third year in a row, promising over 100 local vendors slinging everything from cooking equipment to homemade jam.
Saturday, Magnuson Park Hangar 30 (Downtown)

Magnolia Harvest Market
The Magnolia Farmers Market will stay open for an extra day to help you check things off your holiday gift list and your Thanksgiving shopping list. Find local meats, cheeses, vegetables, preserves, and more.
Saturday, Magnolia Farmers Market

Native Art Market
Buy authentic Native gifts—clothing, drums, art prints, and more—from a group of diverse local artists in beautiful Discovery Park.
Friday-Sunday, Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center (Magnolia)

Native Plant Sale
Get lost in a sea of locally-sourced native plants for sale, and get expert advice on selection, planting, and care.
Saturday-Sunday, Seward Park Audubon Center (Rainier Valley)

PCNW Rummage Sale
Calling all light-chasers: Pick up some books, darkroom and digital equipment, and more from the photographic center and independent vendors.
Saturday, Photographic Center Northwest (Capitol Hill)

OTHER FESTIVE HOLIDAY EVENTS

Enchant Christmas
Following a successful first year, Enchant Christmas will transform T-Mobile Park into a winter wonderland complete with an impressive light maze, light sculptures, a market curated by Urban Craft Uprising, and more. This year's theme is "Mischievous," so expect to see sly little elves roaming about.
Friday-Sunday, T-Mobile Park (Sodo)

Fantasy Lights
Spanaway Park will be illuminated with dazzling light displays and scattered with food trucks for your strolling pleasure.
Saturday-Sunday, Spanaway Park

Fire + Ice Festival
Winter is a time for snow people and warm fires to complement each other from a distance, and the holidays wouldn't be complete without them. For its third annual Fire and Ice festival, the Museum of Glass hosts a variety of holiday-themed performances and demonstrations.
Saturday-Sunday, Museum of Glass (Tacoma)

Holiday Express Train & Poinsettias Display
The Volunteer Park Conservatory will partake in the holiday season with their annual holiday express train and display of bright-red Poinsettias.
Friday-Sunday, Volunteer Park Conservatory (Capitol Hill)

Julefest
See how Nordic countries ring in the Yuletide by tasting Scandinavian treats, seeing performances from local Nordic groups, and shopping for house-made wares.
Saturday-Sunday, Nordic Museum (Ballard)

Kirkland (Ugly Sweater) Holiday Wine Walk
Explore downtown Kirkland's galleries and boutiques while you sip wine samples from tons of Washington wineries. Wear a holiday sweater.
Friday, the Heathman Hotel (Kirkland)

Miracle on 2nd
In 2014, Greg Boehm of New York bar Boilermaker temporarily transformed the space for his bar Mace into a kitschy Christmas wonderland replete with gewgaws and tchotchkes galore. Now the pop-up has expanded to over 100 locations all over the world and will be returning to Belltown’s Rob Roy this year. The specialty cocktails are no ordinary cups of cheer: Beverages are housed in tacky-tastic vessels (a drinking mug resembling Santa’s mug, for example), bedecked with fanciful garnishes like peppers and dried pineapple, and christened with irreverent, pop-culture-referencing names like the “Bad Santa,” the “Yippie Ki Yay Mother F**r,” and the “You’ll Shoot Your Rye Out.” JULIANNE BELL
Sunday, Rob Roy (Belltown)

The Polar Express
The magical train first imagined by children's book author Chris Van Allsburg will come to life in Elbe, bringing 90 minutes of festive entertainment, hot cocoa, and cookies to kids and families as the vessel journeys to the North Pole. True to the original story, each kid will come away with a silver bell with which to remember the magic of Christmas. No word yet on whether or not Tom Hanks will serve as the conductor.
Friday-Sunday, Mt. Rainier Railroad and Logging Museum (Elbe)

Seattle Festival of Trees
The historic Fairmont Olympic hotel celebrates the winter season each year with a fancy dinner (Sat), caroling, an impressive display of decorated trees in their lobby, and a teddy bear suite.
Saturday-Sunday, Fairmont Olympic Hotel (Downtown)

Seattle Cranksgiving 2019
Hop on your bike and go on a scavenger hunt for canned food to donate to the Rainier Valley Food Bank at this pre-Thanksgiving tradition. Afterward, head to Swift Industries for an afterparty flowing with Rainier Beer.
Saturday, Pioneer Square

Sheraton Grand Seattle Gingerbread Village
For the 27th year in a row, diabetes research center JDRF Northwest has invited local architecture firms to use their skills for a holiday tradition: crafting an elaborate gingerbread village that uses 1,850 pounds of gingerbread, 150,000 pieces of candy, 350 pounds of fondant, and 15 gallons of egg whites, according to press materials. This year's theme is #ElfLife, featuring pixies, gnomes, and pucks from across genres.
Saturday-Sunday, Seattle Sheraton Hotel (Downtown)

Swanson's Reindeer Festival
Shop a variety of seasonal plants, bulbs, arrangements, and Christmas trees, as well as other gifts like books, jewelry, and home decor, at the decked-out nursery. Plus, visit with Santa and his real-life reindeer, check out model trains, and enjoy live music throughout the season.
Friday-Sunday, Swansons Nursery (Crown Hill)

Turkey Toss
How do the zoo's carnivores react to a raw, store-prepared turkey lunch? See for yourself at this annual Thanksgiving enrichment.
Saturday, Woodland Park Zoo (Phinney)

MAJOR CONCERTS

A$AP Ferg, Murda Beatz, MadeinTYO
An affiliate of the sprawling Harlem-based A$AP Mob, Darold Durard Brown Ferguson Jr. (aka A$AP Ferg) is perhaps one of the best known solo rappers of the collective (save for Rocky, of course). And for good reason. Bursting into the mainstream with his infectious ode to the Jamaican dancehall musician in “Shabba,” Ferg has consistently put out an impressive roster of trap tracks to drink and turn up to. His 2019 release Floor Seats only furthers the rapper’s slick and boastful raps over frenetic, heavy, and club-forward sounds. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Sunday, Showbox Sodo

Audien
EDM party starter Audien will take a break from the neon festival circuit for a night downtown in support of his Escapism tour.
Saturday, the Showbox (Downtown)

Big Wild, EVAN GIIA, Ark Patrol
Jackson Stell, the twentysomething who makes large-font-on-the-festival-poster EDM as Big Wild, is a member of the Odesza-founded Foreign Family Collective. It's no surprise, then, that Stell's music shares many typical headliners' hallmarks: "organic"-sounding timbres via softsynths; features for anonymous, mononymic vocalists; beats that induce head-bobbing more than dancing. Fans of Cashmere Cat, Pretty Lights, and Zedd will be equally sated. ANDREW GOSPE
Friday-Saturday, Showbox Sodo

The Black Keys, Modest Mouse, Shannon & the Clams
Back in 2002, when I lived in Cleveland, I’d catch the Black Keys in small venues like the Beachland Tavern. Nothing about the scrappy Akron, Ohio, blues-rock duo screamed out “potential rock megastars”—not even their decent cover of the Beatles’ “She Said, She Said.” To be honest, nothing still screams out “rock megastars,” but there’s no denying these rust-belt muthas worked hard to reach their rarefied heights. They may seem ultra-meat-and-potatoes-y to me, but Dan Auerbach can sing with barrel-chested, Paul Rodgers–esque soul and grind out catchy guitar riffs all damn night, and drummer Patrick Carney’s perfectly functional and unflashy. DAVE SEGAL
Saturday, Tacoma Dome

Blitzen Trapper
Blitzen Trapper's 2010 album, Destroyer of the Void, sounds like one of the best albums of the year—that year being 1971. But seriously... Destroyer of the Void is a fine collection of tuneful country and art rock that seems like it will grow on you over time (not that it doesn't transmit fairly immediate pleasures, but one senses that its proliferation of subtle details will become richer the more you play it). Blitzen Trapper have leveraged their sumptuous vocal arrangements and brazen song dynamics into elaborate tapestries of sound, like some unlikely Crosby Stills & Nash/Queen collaboration. (Note: "Evening Star" is, unfortunately, not a Fripp/Eno cover.) DAVE SEGAL
Friday, Crocodile (Belltown)

Jesse Cook
“World music” is a nebulous and arguably heinous genre designation that’s too broad to truly carry any meaning whatsoever. That being said, the work of Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook would perhaps be best filed under this label. Most known for his proficiency and excellence playing the flamenco guitar, Cook has also expanded his knowledge into genres and musical traditions from cultures all over the world. After studying with musicians in seven countries on three continents, Cook’s 2017 album Beyond Borders is a blend of jazz, flamenco, R&B, and electronica that attempts to create a fluid sound between the disparate genres. Borders are just in our head! JASMYNE KEIMIG
Friday, Moore Theatre (Belltown)

Los Ángeles Azules
Iztapalapa-bred Cumbia band Los Ángeles Azules (who, as you might guess from their name, now reside in LA), will come to town on their Esto Si Es Cumbia Tour.
Friday, Paramount Theatre (Downtown)

The Maine Presents The Mirror
With over a decade's experience making emo music in the desert, the Maine (who are, confusingly, from Arizona) will churn out some fresh material on this tour stop, which promises to take on an "immersive audio and visual experience unlike anything the Maine has done before." "
Friday, the Showbox (Downtown)

Orfeo ed Euridice
Recall the romantic tragedy of Orfeo and Euridice with this operatic performance of their tale of woe, as countertenor Philippe Jaroussky takes us through Orfeo's journey into the underworld to bring his lady back to life.
Friday, Benaroya Hall (Downtown)

Sleater-Kinney
Twenty-five years into their career, Sleater-Kinney have built a devoted fan base who would run through burning forests in gasoline suits in order to see them perform. Thanks to their strong, catchy, feminist music, Sleater-Kinney have become a Pacific Northwest rock institution. On albums such as 2005’s The Woods and 2015’s No Cities to Love, S-K blow out their songs to stadium-sized dimensions, but without sacrificing passion. However, drummer Janet Weiss left the band a month before they released this year’s St. Vincent–produced The Center Won’t Hold. Thankfully, S-K haven’t mellowed lyrically, addressing the toxic fallout following the 2016 presidential election. Musically, the new album bears surprising electronic elements, but still rocks with an anthemic panache. DAVE SEGAL
Saturday, Paramount Theatre (Downtown)

Taj Mahal Quintet
Taj Mahal has a voice that makes me feel instantly warm, comforted, and content. Sometimes it’s low, gritty, easy, set against breezy, ambling grooves with vague island vibes (“Satisfied N’ Tickled Too”), other times it’s husky and booming over bright rootsy melodies (“Queen Bee”) or low-down, harmonica-piped R&B (“Leaving Trunk”), and often, it’s plain smoky and soulful and rambling (“Corinna”). Taj has been singing, finger-picking, and instrument-slinging (guitar, dobro, steel, kora, etc.) for more than five decades, heavily infusing his loose brand of blues with elements of rock, R&B, jazz, Americana, and world music (as for that last, go listen to Mumtaz Mahal and Kulanjan for some truly transcendent beauty). He’s also just a cool dude with an impressive collection of wide-brimmed hats, and he is a pleasure to see live. You'll have many chances on this Seattle run: He’s playing 13 shows over eight days with his quintet, which includes bassist Bill Rich, Bobby Ingano (guitar, Hawaiian lap steel), and drummer Kester Smith, plus special guest Roger Glenn on vibes. LEILANI POLK
Friday-Sunday, Jazz Alley (Downtown)

Trans-Siberian Orchestra 2019 Presented By Hallmark Channel
Yes, I know, they're cheesy in the extreme and not even actually from Siberia, but Trans-Siberian Orchestra's jolly blend of electric-guitar shredding and Christmas music is like the flu: It comes around every year and it's extremely catchy. That being said, if I'm going to be afflicted with pinch-harmonic-inflected cheer, then I'm at least going to focus on the upside. Which is, TSO formed from the remains of the excellent and under-appreciated power-metal outfit Savatage, whose interpretation of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" probably sparked the whole classical-music-meets-metal fad. Now if only they still had Alex Skolnick from Testament in the band. JOSEPH SCHAFER
Sunday, Tacoma Dome

FILM

'21 Bridges' Opening
Chasing a couple of cop-killers, an NYPD detective played by Chadwick Boseman of Black Panther discovers a vast conspiracy. Meanwhile, the authorities are closing all 21 bridges to Manhattan.
Friday-Sunday, Various locations

'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood' Opening
It’s unusual to witness real cinematic magic these days, but the Fred Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood absolutely has it. Director Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) wisely avoids the visual slickness one might expect from a Tom Hanks-centric melodrama, instead employing a lived-in style and scene transitions that consist of miniature cities harkening back to the opening of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Hanks is totally committed to Rogers’ appearance and manner, but A Beautiful Day is more about Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) a fictional journalist profiling Rogers. (Vogel’s work is based on a 1998 Esquire profile by Tom Junod; as is the case with the film, Junrod’s piece sketches a beautiful yet enigmatic image of Rogers.) Where Heller’s film becomes transcendent is in its cinematic pressure points: The striking slowness of the narrative (it’s meant to emulate the pace of Rogers’ show, and you get used to it), the mirroring of Rogers and Vogel in their interview styles and drawn-out reaction shots, and a profound moment of silence that grips your heart like, “Did that really just happen? Why was that so intense?” SUZETTE SMITH
Friday-Sunday, Various locations

Dan Savage's HUMP! Film Festival
In the beginning... there was porn. And some of it was pretty awesome! But a lot of it, you know, wasn't. Mainstream porn can be problematic in all sorts of ways—most notably that 90 percent of dirty movies are made for white dudes by white dudes. And why is there primarily only one body type (skinny and hairless)? And are any of the actors having fun? I mean, for real? These are the kinds of porn problems that inspired beloved sex columnist Dan Savage to create the HUMP! Film Festival—an annual celebration of amateur dirty movies that are for the people, by the people! HUMP! invites folks to submit five-minute mini porn flicks written, directed, shot, and—in a lot of cases—performed by these sex-positive amateur auteurs. The filmmakers are encouraged to express themselves sexually in whatever way they see fit—so instead of seeing the same, staid heteronormative clips you'll find on the internet, HUMP! is a virtual rainbow of diverse (AND HOT) sexuality! WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Friday-Sunday, On the Boards (Queen Anne)

'Frozen II' Opening
It starts out with Young Elsa and Young Anna, and, I don’t know, this is just my opinion, but I didn’t think that part was very necessary, necessarily? I thought the story was good. I thought the parts were well thought out and they had some depth to them, if you know what I mean? Like some parts were really sad, and some parts could be interpreted in a lot of different ways. Also, you know how in the first Frozen, there’s like this main song that you know is the main song? In this one, there’s like three or four different songs that could be that main song. There were songs that like Elsa and Anna and Kristoff sang that could qualify for that position. I thought they were fine. SIMON HAM, AGE 12
Friday-Sunday, Various locations

'Honey Boy' Opening
Shia LaBeouf wrote and stars in this drama based on his own experiences as a child star with a difficult father (he plays the character based on his own messed-up dad, while Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges play the son).
Friday-Sunday, AMC Pacific Place 11 (Downtown)

Seattle Turkish Film Festival
The Turkish American Cultural Association of Washington will present the sixth annual edition of their community-driven, volunteer-led festival featuring a rich panorama of new Turkish films.
Friday-Sunday, Various locations

Warren Miller's 'Timeless'
No one captured the magic of winter slopes better than the late, great ski and snowboarding filmmaker Warren Miller. Celebrate his legacy by watching pro athletes glide down mountains in this new film by Warren Miller Entertainment.
Friday-Sunday, McCaw Hall (Seattle Center)

COMEDY & PERFORMANCE

12 Minutes Max
12 Minutes Max is back! The rules are simple: Curators pick a slew of different sorts of performance artists—dancers, actors, musicians, multimedia impresarios—and give them 12 minutes and a stage to show a work-in-progress. That's good for the artist, because feedback before a premiere is hard to come by. That's good for the audience, because they get to see previews of shows everyone will be talking about in two years. For this iteration, multidisciplinary artists Fox Whitney (fresh off a well-received performance at On the Boards) and barry johnson (whose paintings I love) have selected eight performers. Among the offerings: "hybridized texts that vibrate with nontraditional witchy energy" from Wryly McCutchen, a piece about "Hmong motherhood in America" from Minna Lee, and a story from Amy Augustine about a couple who fell off a ferry. That performance involves "live music, two mini trampolines, a large swath of blue silk, and buckets of water." RICH SMITH
Sunday, Base: Experimental Arts + Space (Georgetown)

Beautiful
The dancers of Can Can and powerhouse singer Renee Holiday (formerly Shaprece, who "ranks among the Northwest’s most radiant, soulful vocalists and producers of torch-song-centric electronic music," per Dave Segal) collaborate on this sensuous coming-of-age story, featuring a leading performance by Holiday and new choreography.
Friday-Sunday, Can Can (Downtown)

Dice: Pride & Prejudice
Eight actors have memorized the entire script of an original adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. At this performance, presented by immersive/experimental theater company Dacha, an audience member will roll the dice and decide who will play which character. When Dacha gave Shakespeare's Twelfth Night the same treatment in 2017, former Arts Calendar Editor Julia Raban wrote: "Based on the premise, you might expect a harried and unfinished production, but this show does not follow the rules of logic. There's beautiful blocking and choreography, constant and clever improvisation."
Friday-Sunday, Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan (Crown Hill)

Felipe Esparza: The Bad Hambre Tour
The Last Comic Standing winner from 2010, Esparza (Translate This, They’re Not Gonna Laugh at You, The Eric Andre Show, the podcast What's Up Fool?) will bring some laughs.
Saturday, Neptune Theatre (University District)

Jeff Foxworthy
The Portland Mercury's Wm. Steven Humphrey sums up Foxworthy as "the creator of the 'You know you're a redneck...' line of not-very-funny jokes, the host of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, and the early-'90s equivalent to Larry the Cable Guy."
Friday, Snoqualmie Casino

Kitten N’ Lou Present: Cream
A confession: I've watched Kitten N' Lou's wedding video at least 20 times. They're just so gosh darn intoxicating and lovely. (It's on their website. I didn't, like, steal it or anything.) The burlesque duo exudes a chemistry unrivaled by any other stage pair I've seen, and, luckily for Seattle, this "world's showbusiest couple" are mainstays of the Emerald City. Their show Cream brings Love Connie and the Atomic Bombshells along for a Spanksgiving feast of drag and burlesque. Go and prepare to fall in love. CHASE BURNS
Friday-Saturday, Triple Door (Downtown)

Shout, Sister, Shout!
Rejoice in the music and power of the "Godmother of Rock 'n' Roll," Rosetta Tharpe, the amazing singer and guitarist who transformed American music.
Friday-Sunday, Seattle Repertory Theatre (Seattle Center)

READINGS & TALKS

Ben Lerner: The Topeka School
Ben Lerner again walks the outer edges of prose form and perspective in his third novel, The Topeka School, a book "about family and art and memory and meaning, how it's made and unmade." The obsession humming under the well-wrought, perfectly paced, at times riveting scenes about family and art and memory, etc. is the troubling rise in power of the man-child, the Large Adult Son, and his penchant for violence and tyranny. Adam is a precocious, Ivy-bound, master debater who excels at extemporaneous speaking. His parents, Jane and Jonathan, are clinical psychologists at the "Foundation," a revolutionary school/clinic/psychiatric training facility that focuses on adolescent mental health. Despite rampant sexism in the field of psychoanalysis, Jane's work in the discipline and her general-audience feminist books about family dynamics have earned her fame. The other main character is Darren, a proto-MAGA hat. Lerner tells the story from the perspectives of all of those characters while also acknowledging through certain literary flourishes that each of those perspectives is really just him. RICH SMITH
Saturday, Elliott Bay Book Company (Capitol Hill)

Heather Havrilesky: Embracing the Imperfections of the Everyday
Heather Havrilesky, the self-improvement expert behind the acclaimed Ask Polly advice column, will share insight from her new book about embracing our imperfections.
Friday, Town Hall (First Hill)

Holiday Bookfest
Two dozen Pacific Northwest authors (Kathleen Alcala, Erica Bauermeister, JL Brown, Lynn Brunelle, and Deb Caletti, just to name a few) will chat with readers, read excerpts, and sign copies of their books.
Saturday, Phinney Neighborhood Association

Hugo Literary Series: Taking Liberties
Local writers and musicians Juan Felipe Herrera, Richard Chiem, Amber Flame, and others will explore the concept of "taking liberties."
Friday, Hugo House (Capitol Hill)

Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford: Writing the Other
Local sci-fi icon Nisi Shawl (best-known for the brilliant Everfair) will talk about diverse representation in fiction alongside fellow speculative fiction writer K. Tempest Bradford.
Saturday, University Book Store (University District)

Novel Nights
Raise money for Seattle's most beloved writing center, Hugo House, at this book club series featuring special guests. The books you'll discuss this weekend are Emma (Fri), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, (Sat) and Beloved (Sat).
Friday-Saturday, Hugo House (Capitol Hill)

Peter Sagal
Peter Sagal is the host of the nerdy NPR game show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! and the author of the funny memoir The Incomplete Book of Running.
Sunday, Neptune Theatre (University District)

TedxSeattle
This independently organized TED event promises fast-paced and engaging presentations with illustrious speakers like photographer and filmmaker Chris Jordan, Mercy For Animals President Leah Garcés, Nigerian American blogger Karen Okonkwo, and other guests.
Saturday, McCaw Hall (Seattle Center)

ART OPENINGS

Alchemy 5: Transformation in Contemporary Enamels
This juried exhibition, traveling from the University of Oregon, pays tribute to the "alchemical" process of firing powdered glass to produce vitreous enamel, a coating that can turn glass, metal, stone, or ceramic into a shining object of deep, sheeny colors. See some of the best enamel-coated objects in the world.
Saturday-Sunday, Museum of Glass (Tacoma)

Danny Lyon: Dissenter in His Own Country
American photographer Danny Lyon has long been part of the Civil Rights movement and its successors, beginning in his student days in the 1960s. This exhibition gathers prints from three bodies of work from 1963 to 1980, offering honest and dramatic images of subjects from "bikeriders on a race track" to "children in the streets of Colombia."
Saturday-Sunday, Seattle Art Museum (Downtown)

In Plain Sight
This group show is stacked. Featuring some of the best and most interesting artists currently working nationally and internationally, In Plain Sight “addresses narratives, communities, and histories that are typically hidden or invisible in our public space (both conceptually and literally defined).” The work in this exhibition isn’t confined to one particular gallery but is spread throughout the entire museum. Particularly of note is Iraqi painter Hayv Kahraman and her work surrounding memory, gender, and diaspora; Kiwi visual artist Fiona Connor, who deals in the overlooked infrastructure we are surrounded by; and the vibrant mixed-media pieces from Jamaican artist Ebony G. Patterson. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Friday-Sunday, Henry Art Gallery (University District)
Check out Opening Party details here.

OTHER NOTEWORTHY HAPPENINGS

Alaska Way Viaduct Demolition Event
Pick up your very own fragment of the Alaskan Way Viaduct to cherish forever before demolition is officially kaput.
Friday-Sunday, Friends of Waterfront (Downtown)

Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Festival
Go unapologetically New Seattle at the Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Festival. No LaCroix, no thrift store shopping, no posting about protests you aren’t actually going to attend. Just a party held on the 76th floor of the Columbia Center to celebrate the release of exquisite (limited) Beaujolais Nouveau wines from France. While enjoying a stunning view of both Puget Sound and Lake Washington from Seattle’s tallest building, you’ll get a chance to mingle with representatives from Fortune 500 companies, trendsetters, and members of the Seattle Francophile community. Guests who go for the full VIP package will be served special hors d’oeuvres not meant for commoners. DAVID LEWIS
Friday, Columbia Tower Club (Downtown)

Seattle Onesie Bar Crawl
Slip your arms and legs into a singular garment for this wild annual bar crawl.
Saturday, Various locations (Downtown)

Apropos of Nothing, Here Is the Presidential Line of Succession

Wm. Steven Humphrey — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:00:43 -0800

by Wm. Steven Humphrey Apropos of nothing, here's a picture of Gordon Sondland testifying before the impeachment inquiry today. Win McNamee/Getty Images
AHEM! Just in case anyone is wondering... because it's always good to have an informed electorate... and apropos of absolutely nothing... here is...

THE US PRESIDENTIAL LINE OF SUCCESSION
If the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the following person will take his place—that is, if that person also doesn't die, resign, or get removed from office.

(1) Vice President Mike Pence (who again, apropos of nothing, was accused of being "looped in" to President Trump's extortion plot against Ukraine).

And (2) Speaker of the House of Representatives NANCY PELOSI (who helped set the impeachment inquiry in motion that could possibly take down President Trump, as well as anyone who was "looped in" to his criminal plot).

(3) Plus a bunch of other people.

Apropos of nothing, have a nice day.

The 51 Best Things To Do in Seattle This Week: November 18-24, 2019

Elaina Friedman — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 09:59:00 -0800

The Stranger's arts & culture critics recommend the best local events. by Elaina Friedman Our music critics have already chosen the 43 best music shows this week, but now it's our arts and culture critics' turn to recommend the best events in their areas of expertise. Here are their picks in every genre—from a rare appearance from an evening with Gloria Steinem to the Seattle Turkish Film Festival, and from the Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Festival to the opening weekend of Enchant Christmas. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar. Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday MONDAY COMEDY

Hari Kondabolu's New Material Nights
It's not always a guaranteed pleasure to watch comedians working out new material, but Hari Kondabolu is not just any comedian. You could make the case that his asides, self-edits, and ad-libs are as funny as the individual finished bits. Though the finished work is, all in all, a whole other level of funny. These shows give small audiences an intimate look at the process of a comic whose trajectory is thrilling to behold. Plus, when you see the final, polished gems months from now, in video clips from TV appearances shared on your Facebook feed, you'll be in a great position to make the comments all about how YOU saw it first. Everybody wins! SEAN NELSON

READINGS & TALKS

Alpa Shah: Nightmarch
If you haven't been following the news in India for the last decade or so, you might not know that the government has been at war with a Maoist insurgency called the Naxalites, who live and operate among the Adivasi in the mid-eastern area of the country. The government considers the Naxalites terrorists, while the Naxalites consider the extremely right-wing government an oppressive regime. The government is also thirsty for coal and other natural resources sitting just below the land of the Adivasi, India's indigenous people, who are caught in the middle of this whole thing. In Nightmarch, renowned anthropologist and author Alpa Shah writes about the "hopes, aspirations, and contradictions" of the Naxalites after spending nearly two years embedded with the platoon of the Indian Maoists, tracking the motivations behind the government's increasingly aggressive approach to the situation. RICH SMITH

MONDAY-TUESDAY VISUAL ART

Myra Lara: Everyday Cry-sis
Urban living is a lot—especially in a city like Seattle where the disparities between the rich and poor are at untenable levels. We pride ourselves on being liberal, green, and socially conscious, and yet we don’t tax big business, we don’t have enough public transit, and we let rents go through the roof. It’s exhausting! Artist Myra Lara will be exploring “the realities of life, political priorities, and social justice” in our fair, emerald, technocratic city in her latest cartoon series, Everyday Cry-sis. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Tuesday

MONDAY-FRIDAY VISUAL ART

Alison Stigora: certain/uncertain
Seattle artist Alison Stigora creates gigantic sculptures that are constructed of coastal driftwood or galvanized steel, often filling up the gallery space and overpowering the viewer with their presence. Her work is aware of itself in a way that doesn’t seek to shrink it or make it easy to comprehend, but rather forces viewers to interact with it. Inspired by the Pacific Northwest’s natural landscape, the size and material of Stigora’s work call on our basic need for shelter while also leading us to think about our body in relation to space. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Friday

TUESDAY FOOD & DRINK

Joy of Cooking: John Becker and Megan Scott In Conversation with Marcie Sillman
The classic cooking tome Joy of Cooking has been in print since 1931 for good reason. Now, author Irma Rombauer's great-grandson John Becker and his wife Megan Scott have updated it with new international, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free recipes, make-ahead suggestions, and other tips, plus additions like instructions for curing bacon and fermenting vegetables. Becker and Scott will join KUOW Arts and Culture reporter Marcie Sillman to discuss the new version.

TUESDAY-FRIDAY VISUAL ART

MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora
In partnership with the Frye, the Photographic Center Northwest, and independent curators Berette Macaulay, Delphine Fawundu, and Laylah Barrayn—under the auspices of the MFON Collective, Barrayn and Fawundu's journal and movement named after the Nigerian American photographer Mmekutmfon "Mfon" Essien—the venue highlights photography by black women around the world.
Closing Friday

TUESDAY-SATURDAY VISUAL ART

Eva Isaksen: Urd/New Collages
Former Stranger critics Jen Graves and Nathaniel Deines called Isaksen "one of those rare, non-schlocky collage artists." Here, she uses materials reminiscent of her Norwegian childhood, like cut-ups of the "vintage Norwegian women's magazine URD."
Closing Saturday

TUESDAY-SUNDAY PERFORMANCE

WEDNESDAY PERFORMANCE

Bianca Del Rio: It's Jester Joke
Bianca Del Rio, whom Stranger contributor Matt Baume called "the most vicious RuPaul's Drag Race winner of all time," will wield her mean and hilarious sense of humor across the world on her latest tour. Catch her deluge of foul-mouthed devilry in Seattle.

READINGS & TALKS

Clifford Thompson: What It Is
Like many, Clifford Thompson had his beliefs about America (land of the free, home of the brave, etc.) put into question after Donald Trump took office in 2016. Through interviews with writers, his new book draws conclusions about the state of the nation. The Whiting Award-winning author and essayist will be joined in conversation by local writer Charles Johnson (Night Hawks).

The Every Other
At this new reading and music night run by local novelist Doug Nufer, hear poetry by Thomas Walton and Jeff Encke and solo saxophone by Scott Granlund.

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY FOOD & DRINK

Author Talk: The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook by Naomi Tomky
Despite having lived in two coastal cities where seafood was fresh and bountiful, I never really learned how to cook it. The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook is made for folks like me, though experienced seafood makers will likely find much to bookmark for later feasting. It's written by Naomi Tomky, a well-regarded industry-experienced Seattle-based food writer whose thoughtful analysis on the local culinary scene and beyond has appeared everywhere from the New York Times to Food & Wine magazine to this very publication, and she brings an easygoing conversational tone to her cookbook debut. Tomky's own seafood knowledge is bolstered by generously donated recipes from an impressive range of seafood-savvy pro chefs, restaurateurs, local cookbook authors, amateur cooks, and others who reflect the region's diversity—from big names like Tom Douglas, Mutsuko Soma, Eric Rivera, and Shiro Kashiba, to Archipelago's Aaron Verzosa, Hillel Echo-Hawk of Birch Basket catering (who prepares meals using precolonial ingredients), pastry chef Taghreed Ibrahim, and Bonnie Morales of Kachka in Portland. LEILANI POLK

PERFORMANCE

Dollhouse
The burlesque talents of women of color will be front and center at this Simone Pin Company show, featuring the Dollhouse Coven (TAQUEET$!, Lindy Lou, Scarlett Folds, Shay Simone, Annya Pin), Mama (Adra Boo), and their creepy-sexy secrets.

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY FILM

PERFORMANCE

Head Over Heels
Tunes by the Go-Go's [sic] pepper this musical loosely based on a 16th-century narrative poem by Sir Philip Sidney. A royal family learns of a fateful prophecy that may disrupt "the Beat" that supplies the rhythm to their kingdom. Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q, Bring It On: The Musical, the screenplay for Can You Ever Forgive Me?) wrote the book and lyrics.

THURSDAY FOOD & DRINK

Author Talk: All About Dinner by Molly Stevens
Following All About Roasting, cookbook author Molly Stevens will return to Seattle with a new book of the same ilk, All About Dinner, which features recipes for simple pasta dishes, hearty stews, and savory and sweet snacks with easy-to-find ingredients. Stevens will be joined tonight by KNKX radio commentator Nancy Leson.

Chef Adeena Sussman: 'Sababa'
The co-author of Chrissy Teigen's Cravings and Hungry for More will share her debut solo cookbook, Sababa (which roughly translates to "everything is awesome" in Hebrew), which features insights and recipes from her Tel Aviv kitchen.

Crazy Cocktails & Charcuterie
Have you ever thought, “This cocktail is good, but it would be way better served in a tiny bathtub with a rubber ducky floating in it?” You probably haven’t, but Cure Cocktail’s Joe Wargo certainly has, and that’s why he was voted one of Seattle’s favorite bartenders in The Stranger’s 2019 Happy Hour Guide. If the “Bathtub Party” (top-shelf vodka or gin, house-made cucumber jalapeño syrup, elderflower liqueur, fresh lemon juice, and lemon foam for bubbles) brings up too many traumatizing memories of watching A Nightmare on Elm Street, there is also Joe’s “What’s Up, Doc?” made with brown sugar bourbon, fresh lemon juice, fresh carrot juice, pineapple juice, and ginger beer; a garnish of mint wrapped in orange peel gives it the full carrot effect. No matter what cocktail you get, however, at this ongoing Thursday night event, it will be served with a world-class board of meats and cheeses, and Wargo will have some fresh mixology concoctions on the menu, too. DAVID LEWIS

The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook by Naomi Tomky
Despite having lived in two coastal cities where seafood was fresh and bountiful, I never really learned how to cook it. The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook is made for folks like me, though experienced seafood makers will likely find much to bookmark for later feasting. It's written by Naomi Tomky, a well-regarded industry-experienced Seattle-based food writer whose thoughtful analysis on the local culinary scene and beyond has appeared everywhere from the New York Times to Food & Wine magazine to this very publication, and she brings an easygoing conversational tone to her cookbook debut. Tomky's own seafood knowledge is bolstered by generously donated recipes from an impressive range of seafood-savvy pro chefs, restaurateurs, local cookbook authors, amateur cooks, and others who reflect the region's diversity—from big names like Tom Douglas, Mutsuko Soma, Eric Rivera, and Shiro Kashiba, to Archipelago's Aaron Verzosa, Hillel Echo-Hawk of Birch Basket catering (who prepares meals using precolonial ingredients), pastry chef Taghreed Ibrahim, and Bonnie Morales of Kachka in Portland. LEILANI POLK

READINGS & TALKS

The Big Thaw: A Photographic Night with Arctic and Climate Scientists
Dr. Robert Holmes from Woods Hole Research Center and photographer Chris Linder, contributors to The Big Thaw: Ancient Carbon, Modern Science and A Race to Save the World, will link up to talk conservation and permafrost. After their presentation, they'll be joined in a panel discussion by Tulalip conservation scientist Phil North and 350.org chair KC Golden.

Claire Rudy Foster and Richard Chiem
Queer, non-binary trans writer Claire Rudy Foster, the author of I’ve Never Done This Before, will read alongside celebrated Seattle writer Richard Chiem, whom Rich Smith has called "one of my favorite writers AND readers in Seattle."

Gloria Steinem: The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off!
Where do you start with Gloria Steinem? She’s the founder of Ms. magazine, the author of half a dozen books, an award-winning activist, and, of course, the most famous feminist of her time. Not all of Steinem’s positions have proved to be enduring: She perpetuated the widely debunked “recovered memories” phenomenon in the 1990s, which, for some reason, she has never disavowed, and she has an almost puritanical view of pornography. But still, Steinem has done remarkable things, and she’s one of the most influential women of her generation. She’ll be talking about her life in feminism when she comes to Seattle. KATIE HERZOG

Landscapes//Futures
This interdisciplinary reading with poets Natalie Martinez and Paul Hlava Ceballos and prose writers Calvin Gimpelevich and Jessica Mooney will explore how we imagine our environments and futures, set alongside Claire Brandt's paintings.

Mary Ruefle
Mary Ruefle has a new book of poetry out from Wave Books. It's called Dunce. I am happy to report that Ruefle continues to be obsessed with using her signature conversational style to write abstract-associative poetry about death, loneliness, and poetry itself. Though I'm not as in love with Dunce as I was with My Private Property, it is still early on in my relationship with the book. Regardless, it's my understanding that Ruefle rarely leaves her home in Vermont, and so it's a rare joy to get to see her in person. RICH SMITH

THURSDAY-SATURDAY VISUAL ART

Ceci N'est Pas une Pipe d'un Homme
The Center on Contemporary Art presents glass art by femme-identified artists. It's a celebration both of queers and women in the arts and of the legalization of weed, both things of which Seattle should be proud.

SPACEFILLER: Fantasy Parameter Spaces
Walking into SPACEFILLER's new show is like stepping into another universe. The artists behind the project—Alexander Nagy and Alexander Miller—went to great pains to block all outside light from coming inside the gallery, papering over the floor-to-ceiling windows, plunging the white cube into blackness. The duo's moniker SPACEFILLER is a reference to both their role as artists (one who fills space) and the mathematical model Conway's Game of Life (a "spacefiller" is a pattern that wants to spread out indefinitely). "We're very into wonder and awe," Nagy told me. He said their vision for this exhibition, Fantasy Parameter Spaces, was "when you step through that door, you are stepping into this computational universe we're exploring and letting people explore." Visitors have the opportunity to do things like grow and quash life with the press of a button, use a glowing LED cube controller to explore different graphic and sonic environments, and play with a 3-D simulation of slime mold. And before you ask—yes, this is deliriously fun to go to if you're stoned. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Saturday

THURSDAY-SUNDAY FILM

PERFORMANCE

Frost/Nixon
Forty-five million people watched the first episode of a five-part interview David Frost conducted with former president Richard Nixon in 1977, three years after Nixon left office in disgrace. It is still the most widely viewed political interview in world history. Peter Morgan's play Frost/Nixon reminds us of the era when politics first became something that happens on TV. Sadly, you watch it knowing that Trump will never offer us the consolations Nixon did. Nixon admitted wrongdoing and apologized. We'll get none of that from Trump, no matter what. Frost/Nixon under Trump thus serves as a way to measure how far down the dark pit our democracy has descended. RICH SMITH

FRIDAY FOOD & DRINK

Author Talk: Fried Rice by Danielle Centoni
I have never found fried rice quite as good as the joint in the food court where I worked as a teenager, handing out samples of General Tso’s chicken and selling platefuls of greasy Americanized Chinese food while the family who worked there made their own separate meals in the back. But they always ate the fried rice. It’s a cross-cultural comfort food, and Portland-based James Beard Award–winning food writer and editor Danielle Centoni has compiled a whole cookbook of recipes of different types of it (Fried Rice: 50 Ways to Stir Up the World's Favorite Grain). She draws inspiration from around the globe and ventures beyond the obvious Chinese and Indonesian flavors into some that are expected (Thai fried coconut rice with pork satay and spinach) and not so expected (vagharelo bhaat—Gujarati fried rice—with chicken and cilantro yogurt from India), though recipes for mainstays are included, too. On this date, Centoni will appear for a talk, signing, and tasting of a fried rice recipe from the book. LEILANI POLK

READINGS & TALKS

Hugo Literary Series: Taking Liberties
Local writers and musicians Juan Felipe Herrera, Richard Chiem, Amber Flame, and others will explore the concept of "taking liberties."

FRIDAY-SATURDAY PERFORMANCE

Church of the Auntie Christ
Local drag weirdo Miss Texas 1988 stars as a mixed-up Christian woman who winds up in a "church" of "queers, choir leaders, and peculiar sunday-school students." Please do not take any staid relatives here by mistake (only on purpose).

Showing Out: Contemporary Black Choreographers (Part 1)
Powerhouse local queer performer Dani Tirrell has curated an evening of performances by black choreographers.

READINGS & TALKS

Novel Nights
Raise money for Seattle's most beloved writing center, Hugo House, at this book club series featuring special guests. The books you'll discuss this week are Emma (Fri), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, (Sat) and Beloved (Sat).

FRIDAY-SUNDAY PERFORMANCE

WINTER HOLIDAYS

SATURDAY COMEDY

Tragic School Bus
Taking off on the educational children's series, this cleverly conceived show follows a group of poor adults trapped in public school limbo and their increasingly insane teacher as they go on "magical" field trips to learn about topics of your choice. Directed by Jessica Dunstan and Jet City Artistic Director Mandy Price, this one should earn an A.

FOOD & DRINK

Oyster Feed & Oyster Stout Brew Day
Future Primitive Brewing is calling on you, the people, to help them slurp down bivalves from Taylor Shellfish Farms to yield enough shells for their Oyster Stout. There will be plenty of non-oyster beers to drink.

READINGS & TALKS

Ben Lerner: The Topeka School
Rich Smith has written: "Lerner started off his literary career writing nerdy books of poetry that were so good you could feel your brain and heart growing as your read them. Then he turned his attention to reinventing the American novel. Both Leaving Atocha Station and 10:04 were phenomenal. His sentences abound with intelligence and humor. Before he won a Guggenheim and a MacArthur 'Genius' grant for his literary work, he was a master debater from Topeka, Kansas." Lerner's newest novel is set in Topeka and follows a high school senior struggling to fit between a liberal household and a deeply right-wing environment.

Donald Byrd: A Life In Dance
Tony-nominated, Bessie-winning choreographer Donald Byrd will talk about what inspires him creatively with Sylvia Waters of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Peter Boal of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. In conjunction with the current exhibition The America That Is To Be.

VISUAL ART

Leonard Suryajaya: Is It Time Yet
Queer immigrant artist Leonard Suryajaya and a group of Cornish students "enact gestures of resistance before the camera" in this response to American turmoil post-2016 and to Suryajaya's own experience emigrating from Indonesia.
Closing Sunday

SATURDAY-SUNDAY VISUAL ART

SUNDAY FOOD & DRINK

3rd Annual Teen Feed Spaghetti Dinner
Many believe that dishes like spaghetti, which can be easily made at home, are a silly thing to order at a restaurant. But this classic feast of house-made spaghetti and meatballs, Caesar salad, fresh garlic bread, and seasonal sorbet is no doubt an exception. All proceeds from the evening benefit Teen Feed.

Miracle on 2nd
In 2014, Greg Boehm of New York bar Boilermaker temporarily transformed the space for his bar Mace into a kitschy Christmas wonderland replete with gewgaws and tchotchkes galore. Now the pop-up has expanded to bars in 50 cities worldwide and will be taking up residence in Belltown’s Rob Roy. The specialty cocktails are no ordinary cups of cheer: Beverages are housed in tacky-tastic vessels (a drinking mug resembling Santa’s mug, for example), bedecked with fanciful garnishes like peppers and dried pineapple, and christened with irreverent, pop-culture-referencing names like the “Bad Santa,” the “Yippie Ki Yay Mother F**r,” and the “You’ll Shoot Your Rye Out.” JULIANNE BELL

PERFORMANCE

READINGS & TALKS

Peter Sagal
Peter Sagal is the host of the nerdy NPR game show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! and the author of the funny memoir The Incomplete Book of Running.

VISUAL ART

Julia Wald: Teatotaler / Jordan Christianson: Tea Dance
Illustrator Julia Wald uses India ink to explore the cultural significance and history of tea-drinking. Local artist Jordan Christianson shows trasferware patterns using both traditional and contemporary decals that hark back to a time when being queer was considered a crime.
Closing Sunday

It’s Okay to Love Elizabeth Banks but Hate Charlie’s Angels

Wm. Steven Humphrey — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 14:20:30 -0800

by Wm. Steven Humphrey NADJA KLIER
I love Elizabeth Banks, and I intend to continuing loving Elizabeth Banks. I do not love the newest reboot of Charlie’s Angels, which Elizabeth Banks wrote and directed. And I won’t lie… I feel bad about that.

It’s especially frustrating when you know what a talented actor and director like Banks can do, and what you know she wants to do… but it just doesn’t get there.

Such is the case with Charlie’s Angels, which, one would think, would take on some kind of new, genre-flopping twist with Banks at the wheel, but is somehow less funny and relevant than McG’s two movies that starred Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu, and let’s not even get into the not-so-fondly-remembered 1970s TV series.

Banks’s version isn’t a complete disaster, and in fact has some fun turns by Patrick Stewart and newcomer Naomi Scott (Pink Power Ranger!!), and the last third significantly loosens up and becomes the fun, action-packed adventure you are hoping it will be.

But the first two-thirds? Eeeeeeeesh! It’s a leisurely slog through molasses, with characters you really don’t give two craps about. That said, I know Elizabeth Banks has the goods, and I will happily stand in line to see what she does next. (As long as it’s not a fourth attempt to reboot a series that was problematic in the first place.)

Find theaters and showtimes for Charlie's Angels here. See all of our movie times here.