When I first learned that a movie for the Judy Blume classic novel of adolescent angst Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, I couldn’t help but feel cynical. It’s hard not to be considering how many great books I cherish have been turned into forgettable adaptations over the past few years. It brings me great joy to report back that the new film adaptation of Margaret is…quite good.
Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy is the adventure you wished for
Disney’s original animated feature of the same story, released in 1953, is one of their seminal films with countless spinoffs, retellings and re-imaginings. Let’s be real, Hook, Sony’s Picture’s version of the story from a slightly more Captain Hook-centric view is a classic in its own right. So I asked myself, what more could they do? What’s so special and interesting about this version that hasn’t already been done to death a la The Incredible Hulk (oh come on, you were thinking it too)?
SIFF 2023: Quick Picks, Tips, and Tricks for the 49th Annual Seattle International Film Festival
Starting today, tickets and passes are now available to the public for the 49th Seattle International Film Festival. Running in person from …
Judy Blume Forever is a loving tribute to one of the world’s most beloved authors
Judy Blume is such a wonderful subject for a documentary it’s almost a surprise that we’re just getting a doc about her life now. A career-spanning film about Ms. Blume’s life is long overdue. Besides being an almost-universally beloved author who has more people that confess to her (mostly adolescents) than the Pope, she just radiates warmth.
In Showing Up, art isn’t easy, but it’s not the hardest part.
In their fourth collaboration, director Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams reunite to bring a sensitively-rendered portrait of a working artist to the screen. Cinema is typically more interested in depictions of budding geniuses, dramatically troubled, foolishly unrecognized who go on to break history with blockbuster shows, but that’s never been Reichardt’s territory. Instead, working from a script written with frequent collaborator Jon Raymond, she centers the narrative in present-day Portland in the week leading up to a working ceramicist’s show at a neighborhood gallery show. What the film eschews in terms of fireworks are easily lifted by the rich textures that it observes.
The Broken Lizard team tries to tell the story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I don’t think they read the book
In this telling from the Broken Lizard team (Super Troopers, Club Dread), the time is 1186 France and Quasimodo (Steve Lemme) makes torture devices. He’s a loveable, harmless, area man who builds torture devices for a living. There’s a rivalry between the power-hungry King Guy (Jay Chandrasekhar) and the power-hungry Pope Cornelius (Paul Soter). From what I can tell, France has never had a King Guy and Pope Cornelius reigned from 251 to 253 AD.
You May Die Laughing During the Bonebat Comedy of Horrors Film Festival
The Bonebat Comedy of Horrors Film Festival is a local April tradition that may not be quite as inevitable as death or taxes, but it’s getting there. And it’s a helluva lot more fun.
I saw Renfield so you don’t have to
To its credit, Renfield doesn’t take itself seriously for even a moment. That’s usually fine but the jokes and gags here fell flat almost 100% of the time. I wish there was a sense of cleverness to the humor, but there just isn’t. The acting (save for Cage) is unconvincing and the action scenes are campy (in a bad way).
Sam Now is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius
Even though I am fast-developing a reputation as the easiest-to-cry member of the Seattle film press, I don’t think there’s anything I could’ve done to emotionally prepare for how powerful and quietly intense this movie is.
Rodeo is an exciting film from a first time director and a first-time star
In the first few moments of the thrilling new movie Rodeo, we learn that its protagonist Julia is a lone wolf and antihero. She doesn’t make friends easily, she blows off work, has alienated her family, and she steals whatever she wants or needs. Her one passion is motorcycles.