Most Commented Stories in Film & TV

snapshot from a NYT infographic by By Matthew Bloch, Amanda Cox, Jo Craven McGinty, and Kevin Quealy showing nationwide and local Netflix habits.

In a brilliant display of number-crunching and infographics, the New York Times looked at data from Netflix to see how the most popular rentals nationwide fared in a dozen metropolitan areas. Clicking through the city-specific heatmaps of rental popularity provides a fascinating (and time-sucking) glimpse at neighborhood by neighborhood preferences in what people insert into their DVD players.

Shown here is the map for Milk, which ranked 13th nationally, first in Capitol Hill and along the Ship Canal, with queue popularity falling off noticeably along with distance from the city center. In general, looking through the list, the Puget Sound region seems to have pretty decent taste in rentals, for instance, Obsessed didn't crack the top 50 in any ZIP code, Tyler Perry doesn't have many fans in the Northwest, and only Eastlake was renting the latest Underworld.

Browse through the 100 frequently-rented titles, and let us know if you see any other revelatory demographic patterns in movie preferences.

We're in the Christmas homestretch, with New Year's on the way, which means that there's extra time to watch movies, either in the warm/suffocating bosom of your family or as far as possible in the opposite direction.

Luckily Hollywood, like a deranged mother, has given us everything we could possible want in a holiday theme, whether it's impossibly heart-warming or wonderfully black-hearted. Here are our top picks. If we've missed yours, please let us know in the comments. And keep in mind that our sponsor Scarecrow Video would be a great place to get any of the following:

Seth: The Apartment: They just don't make movies like this anymore. Billy Wilder's masterpiece about a schlubby office worker (Jack Lemmon) who meets the girl of his dreams (Shirley MacLaine) defies categorization. Where does Blockbuster put a comedy that contains a suicide attempt? Set during Christmas--if not exactly a "Christmas movie"--this is one of the best things you'll ever see, film-wise.

Tony: Gotta throw in the Strangeoid Quotient and give my nod(s) to Black Christmas, a sly and creepy 1974 chiller in which a shadowy killer picks off a group of sorority girls in their creepy old house: Margot Kidder makes a great nasty Queen Bitch Kitty, its ending twist predates the slasher spate of the late '70s/early '80s, and it's directed by (Six Degrees alert!) Bob Clark, director of A Christmas Story. Of course my all-time favorite is Santa Claus, a 1959 Mexican flick in which Santa operates from a City in the Clouds, scores wacky dust from Merlin the Magician, and runs afoul of Satan. It's a kid's movie!

Jeremy: It's cliche, but A Christmas Story. Come on! [SPOILER!] He actually shoots his eye out!

Josh: Arnaud Desplechin's Un conte de Noël is probably not the first DVD to grab for heartwarming times around the family DVD player, but it's depiction of a sprawling dysfunctional French family might just make your own relatives seem reassuringly quaint in comparison. Catherine Deneuve is the caustic matriarch with a recent cancer diagnosis, Mathieu Amalric is son who was only conceived to save a dying brother, Anne Consigny is the eldest sister who banished her brother in a questionable family business-saving legal maneuver. The film would be worthwhile for the guardedly tender insults that comprise almost all of Deneuve's conversations with Amalric, but there's also another brother, a friendly neighbor, plenty of long-suppressed romantic intrigue, a teen who hallucinates wolves, and adorable kids who put on an incomprehensible play. After spending five cinematic days with this bunch, you'll feel like a part of their extended clan. Whether you want to return to them or stay at the vacation house for the rest of the holiday may vary.

Don: Die Hard. Nothing brings home the concept of holidays being about family like defending them from terrorists using your wits and a clever, profane catch phrase. Also: things blow up and America wins.

Jack: Elf. [Which not coincidentally is playing right now at Central Cinema, through December 23!] No one could have played that role like Will Ferrell. Also, Zooey Deschanel is my girlfriend. My favorite scene is the one where Miles Finch (Peter Dinklage) attacks Buddy for calling him an elf over and over again: "He's an angry elf!"

Donte: Love Actually. Hugh Grant at his stammeringly charming best, surrounded by an ensemble cast (Bill Nighy, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth) portraying the many facets of love in holiday season London. "Chick flick" or no, this movie can calm anyone's inner Scrooge--the attractive cast doesn't hurt either. (Josh: For the record, there are those whose inner Scrooges are inflamed by Love Actually. Clint: Donte's right: Love Actually is wonderful.)

James: One of the funniest screwball comedies ever made ends with a Christmas miracle, which makes it as much a Christmas movie as its contemporary (and reigning Christmas movie king) It's a Wonderful Life (showing at the Grand Illusion through December 31st). What's the Miracle of Morgan's Creek? That would be telling, but small-town girl Trudy Kockenlocker needs one. Trudy winds up married to and pregnant by a soldier--possibly named "Ratzkiwatzki"--who ships out before she sobers up. Norval Jones, who's been infatuated with her for years, sacrifices every last shred of dignity to help her out, but the two of them end up buried under a madcap mudslide of bad decisions. Preston Sturges is a master of slapstick satire, and in Miracle he's working at top form (almost--The Lady Eve ain't a Christmas flick, but it's equally unmissable). George Bailey makes you weepy; the Kockenlockers clan make you weep with laughter.

Clint: Planes, Trains and Automobiles. (Thanksgiving counts, right?) Steve Martin + John Candy + R rating = Unforgettably awesome. The mismatched, accidentally-aligned duo attempts to get home for Thanksgiving and, yes, hilarity ensues. A great (refreshingly non-teen angst) movie to remember Candy ("I like me. My wife likes me.") and Hughes by. And there's Martin dropping 18 F-bombs in less than a minute. "I want a fucking car. Right. Fucking. Now." They don't make mature/silly comedies like this anymore.

RvO: The Ref is a bitter, caustic, profane and frequently hilarious holiday treat. Denis Leary is a thief on the run who kidnaps the hyper-bickering Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis and hides out in their lush suburban home on Christmas Eve. If you thought your family gatherings were dysfunctional, think again. Leary, who punches out Santa at one point, has never been better and Spacey is brilliant in a similar, but much better, role than his Oscar-winning turn in American Beauty. Or turn back the clock for Stalag 17, set in German POW camp during WWII. On Christmas Eve, officers in one of the barracks find out that they have a Nazi spy among their ranks who is tipping the guards to escape attempts. William Holden gives a brilliant performance as the cynical, hard-bitten Sgt. Sefton who is accused of being the spy. Magnificently directed by Billy Wilder, this tense, thrilling and award-winning film about deliverance at Christmas is a stunning tour-de-force.

MvB: Double feature! Scrooged with Holiday Inn. Bill Murray is an updated Scrooge, a gloriously cynical TV exec, and is joined by an outstanding cast including Bobcat Goldthwait, Carol Kane, Robert Mitchum, and Jamie Farr. He's so bitterly funny, you're sad to see Murray cheer up near the end. Holiday Inn is the ur-Christmas movie, starring Bing "White Christmas" Crosby and Fred Astaire. You should probably be wearing a sweater, vest, or sweater vest, and be sipping egg nog or a butterscotch schnapps/hot chocolate combo....

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No, that is not Jar-Jar Binks.

[ED: Audrey and Seth took in one of the first showings of Avatar last night. (Don't worry, the "six inches and a Bible rule" was followed). Audrey's review is below, with Seth's comments in italics.]

Shall we talk about the em-effing Avatar? (Yes, let's.) As you may recall from yesterday, I was feeling negative and schadenfreudey about the film until the 11th hour, when positive reviews convinced me it might actually be awesome.  Having seen it last night (with me! and first-night weirdos!), I can say Avatar is indeed fairly awesome—but it's not the Best Thing Ever.  And liking a film for what it is, when it took $350M to make, just ain't enough.  At that pricetag, every man, woman, and child in the theater deserves a religious experience. (Wait, I still pay $10, right? So who gives a shit how much it cost James Cameron to make?)

Ok, but first off, I have to laud the technical achievements and the level of time and work that went into creating the photorealistic future found in this film.  James Cameron has done some movie-making that is beautiful and transcendent and the best damn CGI you've ever seen. (Eh, don't care.)  It is enjoyable to merely gaze upon the flora and fauna of Cameron's world.  Every inch of the screen is chockful of beauty and rich colors and strangeness and luscious detail. (This is moved and seconded.)

And of course, there are big-time action sequences in which you can actually tell what's going on—because it is very important to know who is fighting whom on the banshee pterodactyl dragon things.  Avatar is all about the WOW factor, and in that regard, it is often fucking stunning. (I wouldn't say "stunning," that implies you'd be staring in disbelief. I found myself drawn into the world Cameron created, my eyes darting all over the screen to try to take everything in.)  It's a groundbreaking blend of digital and live-action, and you walk away thinking that you've never seen anything like that in a movie before. (Except the forest fight scenes, which gave me Endor flashbacks.)...

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Beginning last night, and continuing tonight and Sunday, SIFF is holding a mini sci-fi film festival with five classics shown in sterling Blu-Ray on SIFF Cinema's excellent projection system. Tickets for the remaining three movies are $10.00. On Sunday, your ticket stub for the first screening gets you into the second screening at no additional charge.

Thursday's opening brought a double feature of the venerable Planet of the Apes from 1968 and Terry Gilliam's melancholy and weird 12 Monkeys. Tonight, beginning at 7:30 is Stanley Kubrick's mind-blowing 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sunday's double feature begins at 3:30 p.m. with Nicolas Roeg's Man Who Fell to Earth, followed at Logan's Run at 6:00. 

It's hard to argue with SIFF's Blu-Ray choices on purely aesthetic grounds, because the majority of these films are standards in the category of sci-fi films. And, oddly enough, that's my objection to the first three films in the lineup. ...

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This weekend's episode of Iron Chef America featured only the second husband-wife cooking team in all of Iron Chef history: Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi, the masterminds behind Wallingford Korean-French-American-whatever else eatery Joule. Along with being an award-winner in its own right, Joule just happens to be (friend of The SunBreak) Gastrolust Jay's favorite restaurant in town--and that's saying something. So we were more than a little intrigued to hear the local duo would be competing in venerable Kitchen Stadium.  Yang and Chirchi chose to take on the newest Iron Chef, Jose Garces. Secret ingredient: Hawaiian moi, the fish of kings.  Let's get ready to cook some fish!

So first everybody got busy scraping off fish scales. Scrape scrape scrape. Fish bones and heads were thrown into pots to make stock. There were different butchering techniques on display, with Yang doing more filets and Garces doing more fish fingers and strips, though Yang also made use of her fish skin, first stretched and then fried. So many ingredients at play:  daikon, carrots, and fennel in the rapid pressure cooker; onions, pear, apple, and jujubes, salted shrimp, and anchovy sauce made into puree; not to mention the soft-boiled quail eggs, banana leaves, salted corn nuts, nori, panko-fried sweet potatoes, and bechamel sauce. Moi was smoked, salt-cooked, stuffed, ceviched, tempura-ed, seared, and tartared.  Something for everyone!...

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Not much came out on DVD last week (no, The Final Destination in 3D does not count), so the studios made up for it this week with a plethora of new releases (not to mention Kathy Griffin's latest).  Let's take a look a few of them, care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video. (Also be sure to check out the Scarecrow staff's picks for the top 100 films of the '00s.)

Blue collar psychological sci-fi film Moon was criminally underseen last year.  The synopsis, in brief: Average Joe Sam Rockwell is working for an energy company on the moon, with his only companion being a HAL-like figure voiced by Kevin Spacey--until the day that he meets someone who looks exactly like him.  In a just world, Moon would be a smash hit, with Sam Rockwell (and Sam Rockwell) getting a nomination for Best Actor next month.  As it is, we'll just have to wait for the next creepy space nugget from director Duncan Jones.

Now that we're well in the midst of Awards Season (the Golden Globes are on this Sunday, mind you), you also need to see the thinking man's Iraq bomb squad action flick The Hurt Locker before Kathryn Bigelow collects her Best Director Oscar.  Because that's what's going to happen.  Write it down.

If you like Patton Oswalt (you do), and if you like The Wrestler scribe Robert Siegel (ditto), then you should watch his directorial debut starring Oswalt, the dark sports comedy Big Fan (you will).  While you're at it, also rent political satire (and SIFF opening night film) In the Loop, because I'm sure you missed some of the whipsmart rapid fire dialogue, due to all the laughter....

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With the holidays almost here and a Senate healthcare bill in the bag, everybody's precious Rachel Maddow devoted a large segment of her show last night to some very important newz:  dueling viral lip dub sensations made by two rival Seattle high schools, Shorecrest and Shorewood.

Over at the Big Blog, Monica Guzman has been doggedly covering this beat for a while now.  So if Shorecrest responds to Shorewood's backwards gauntlet with a new video, you can bet Monica will be the first to know.

While, understandably, human refugees are the most visible sufferers from natural catastrophe, Mine (showing at SIFF Cinema from January 22-27) presents a less familiar, but also wrenching look at what happened to people's pets after Hurricane Katrina.

Thousands of animals left behind by people fleeing the storm were found (or kidnapped, depending on whom you talk to) by animal rescuers, who placed many in adoptive homes around the country when it became clear New Orleans had been grievously damaged. But as soon as many pet owners got back on their feet--many were not allowed to return home--they wanted their pets back. 

Manohla Dargis writes in the New York Times: "Go ahead and get a tissue to wipe your tears. I did. Mine isn't fully successful--it's a bit ragged and, at 81 minutes, far too short for the scope of its ambitions--but it's smart, sincere, and affecting."

The film also catches us up, once again, in class and race. Dargis mentions one troubling scene: "When a white lawyer chides a black woman for abandoning her dog--the woman says she had her hands full rescuing her children and wheelchair-bound mother--it's hard not to flash back to those commentators who wondered why the poor inhabitants of New Orleans didn't just leave in their nonexistent cars."

Pet rescue, of course, is ongoing in Haiti right now.

The Seattle edition of MTV's $5 Cover, directed by Lynn Shelton and filmed around town this summer, is about ready to hit the web. Audrey and Josh chat about it for your enjoyment.

$5 Cover Seattle, the organizational chart

Audrey: Do you have anything to say about the $5 Cover trailer?
Josh: Not yet. I've had that Vimeo tab sitting open, sadly neglected, forever. It seems that just like my intentions to crash one of the filmings this summer, my interest did not overcome my laziness and attention deficit. For instance, I am not entirely clear on whether this is an on-television series or an internet-only series (like Josh Schwartz's mildly watchable buzz band showcase Rockville, CA).
Audrey: It's a web series, I believe. I don't even know that much about it!

Josh: Unlike my time machine, which is out for repairs and prevents me from seeing one of these episodes being filmed at a character-filled local rock venue, my internet machine still works, so I can remedy my ignorance. Hang on and I'll take a look at the trailer.
Audrey: ...
Josh: While I'm dialing that up, a procedural question: This trailer has been up for months, why is everyone suddenly talking about it?
Audrey: The vid has been on Vimeo for a bit, but the Mayor's Office of Film and Music recently wrote about it, which is why it's been everywhere lately.
Josh: Now that I've watched it, a few observations:...

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Oh, Avatar.  Ever since news of James Cameron's decades-in-the-making, technology-expanding, this-is-the-future-of-cinema-revolutionizing, nearly-three-hour epic sci-fi extravaganza was announced, I have wanted it to fail.  When the underwhelming first images and trailers came out, it looked to be as bad as my greatest expectations, and I was rubbing my hands together in glee. I was fully prepared to see it (because I HAVE to see it) and hate it.  But then something happened. 

The reviews started to trickle out...and they were good.  Better than good, in fact, like, borderline rapturous.  The write-up that really gave me pause was Choire Sicha's non-review over at The Awl, where he discusses how he wasn't expecting much out of the movie, only to have it end up as his top film pick of the year.  And he's a cranky fag.  So, ummmm, what if I like this movie after all?  UH OH.  Be prepared for a paradigm shift.  Like all the other nerds, I'll be seeing it tonight, and I'll have a review up here tomorrow.  Bring it on, Cameron!

This video of drug dealing was shot around First Avenue and Cherry Street in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square neighborhood, just a few days ago. The great part is that I think that's the theme to Australia hit soap opera Neighbours that's been added as the soundtrack.

Sez The Daily (via Facebook, of course): 

UW won the Youth in Revolt Contest!  Michael Cera will be at the Landmark Neptune this Thursday for a FREE SCREENING.  Starts at 7PM, first come first served.  21+ after party to follow at MOE BAR.

Youth in Revolt is, of course, the movie based on the book of the same name about geeky teenager Nick Twisp and his bad-boy alter ego.  I recall it being a good read, y'know, when I was sixteen. 

Unfortunately, Thursday's screening is for UW students only, and it will most assuredly be a full house, so if you aren't a UW student willing to wait in line starting at 5 p.m., you can catch the film in theaters January.  Instead, hit up the after-party at Moe Bar (starting 9ish, I guess) if you want the chance to bat your eyelashes at sweetie pie Michael Cera from across the room (hand raise) and/or ask him one million questions about the still-in-the-works Arrested Development movie (double hand raise).

While I'm no weather forecaster, I'm pleased to provide evidence that there is in fact no Seattle Freeze. Ladies and gentlemen of the self-selected internet jury, I present to you as Exhibit A Couch Fest 2009.

How could a city that hosts a film festival that invites strangers to get together in random people's houses be mistakenly considered antisocial?

Couch Fest proposes that once a year we should go to a stranger's house and watch short films with other strangers in the awkward comfort of a strange home. Nine houses participated in hosting this year's film festival, which showed 77 submitted short films. Each house hosted a different selection of films from one of the following categories: Comedy, Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Horror, Mixed or Inappropriately Awesome.

The hosts started their DVD on the hour, showing 8 or 9 films in about 40 minutes with a short intermission. Audience members voted on their favorites and then walked, rode, or drove to the next house of their choosing. Prizes were awarded at the end of the night to the winners.

Each house did their best to make things as welcoming as possible. Couches and chairs were arranged in various fashions and covered in multicolored blankets. One of the comedy houses made chili. The Inappropriately Awesome house converted their garage to a DIY theater. The hosts were friendly and accommodating, even after watching the same films for the sixth or seventh time.

You'd expect us Seattleites to fold our arms and scowl at the sometimes spectacularly less than theater-like screens. You'd expect us to shush the person who talks first during the intermission. However, there was no trace of this "Seattle Freeze" that I read about on the internet. In fact, even your intrepid reporter here, a Seattle native, talked to several strangers he'll likely never see again. (After seeing one friendly couple several times at different venues, my date asked how I knew them. My confused reply was that I had just met them at the festival.)...

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Somebody needs to tell director Andrew Bujalski that not everything needs to be a movie. True, that's kinda the point of the mumblecore movement, which focuses on "real life" and at least semi-non-scripted scripts. After Mutual Appreciation and Funny Ha-Ha, his latest feature-length film Beeswax is yes, a more mature effort, as it covers late-twentysomethings' business dealings, as well as the requisite friendship, family, and romance. In the end, nothing much happens. Just like real life, I suppose, but most filmgoers use movies as an escape, not to deal with the same ol' boring minutiae of the day to day.

That's not to say the film isn't worth seeing. Bujalski of course captures naturalistic, organic performances from non-actor actors (and real-life twin sisters) Tilly Hatcher and Maggie Hatcher. And the chemistry (and awkwardness) between characters is palpable. I just want a little more by way of forward movement the next time around.

• Beeswax plays at the Northwest Film Forum twice daily (7 p.m., 9 p.m.) through Thursday, November 5. $9 non-members, $6 members.  Happy Monday tickets available at the door tonight for $4.50 non-members, $3 members.

This Friday, Oct. 2, the 12th annual Local Sightings Film Festival of recent work from the Pacific Northwest opens at Northwest Film Forum, and runs through Oct. 7. As usual, part of the festival plans to be boozy, with an opening night party Friday at 9 p.m. ($5 members, $7 non-members), and a bar space opening in one of the theatres for post-show chats. Tickets to film showings are standard price: $6 members, $9 non-members, and can be purchased online. The full schedule with links is here.

The festival sports an unusually strong line-up of feature films this year, including Michael Harring's The Mountain, the River, and the Road (playing Friday at 7 p.m.). The story follows a young man who sets out on an abortive road-trip with an old friend after his parents not-so-politely ask him to get out of the house. It's a classic road movie/coming-of-age story that follows the kid's experiences in tiny Kernville after his friend strands him there.

The late-night fare, offering up all the gore and sex you could want,... (more)

You loved him years ago on Almost Live!, you love him every week as the snarky host of The Soup, and now you can love him on his new TV show (not to mention his part in The Informant!, the latest Soderbergh film). Please to enjoy the pilot episode of Community, starring Joel McHale (as himself).

Last week, I was too caught up in the Sundance bubble to pay attention to what was coming out on DVD (answer: nothing), so let's just focus on this week's releases, care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video. (And check out their take on Tuesday's Oscar noms for all your Academy Award-preparation needs.)

Woody Harrelson may have just received an Oscar nomination for The Messenger--as far as I'm concerned, he should've gotten one for No Country for Old Men--but his work in Zombieland is strong, too. Sure, it's a light-hearted action-horror-comedy, but Harrelson is so, so right as a hick who loves killing zombies. The flick as a whole is downright fun, and there's even a celebrity cameo in the latter half that delightfully has not yet been ruined for everyone by spoiler-happy critics (looking at you, Anthony Lane). 

Speaking of the New Yorker, the mag makes a cameo of its own in Cold Souls, a metariffic existential comedy by director Sophie Barthes, starring America's Schlubheart™ Paul Giamatti as Paul Giamatti. Burdened by the emotional toll doing Ibsen has had on his psyche, Giamatti has his soul removed and put into storage for the duration of Uncle Vanya's run. Of course, things aren't as simple as that, especially when a Russian soul smuggling ring gets into the mix....

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The incredibly charming Julius Shulman is the subject of Visual Acoustics (through February 4 at the Northwest Film Forum). The documentary is narrated by Dustin Hoffman, and takes you on a tour of the great modernist landscape of Los Angeles, with the photographer who chronicled the architectural movement's rise.

It's a surprisingly poignant film, in that it also introduces you to Shulman near the very end of his life (he died in 2009 at the age of 98), as his photographic archives are being transported to the Getty. Sprinkled with L.A. celebrities (both people and homes), the film takes you inside masterpieces both monumental and--in contrast--miniature. If you are a photographer, an architect, or just want to pretend you were there, this is the film for you.

The documentary New Brow, showing for one more night at the NWFF (7pm, 9pm), is an enjoyable if somewhat amateurish fan letter to the Juxtapoz scene. Shot on cheap-looking digital video with tinny sound quality (or maybe it was NWFF's system?), this series of effusive artist testimonials about why they like their own work features copious footage of their distinctive and weird paintings, short and funny cameos by the movement's primary stars--particularly Robert Williams, hilarious and ornery as always--and brief appearances by local luminaries Kirsten Anderson of Roq La Rue, Larry Reid of Fantagraphics, and Seattle's best porcelain weapons manufacturer Charlie Krafft....

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Saturday night, I was at the Fantagraphics store in Georgetown for their annual holiday/birthday party. Perusing the wares, I came across one of the publisher's new books, Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box.  Assembled by Jacques Boyreau, it's a fetishized art object/coffee table-style compendium of great VHS jackets, ranging from the campy to the sleazy to the so-bad-it's-good. (See: Brain of Blood and check out others in the pdf excerpt here.) Highly recommended as a gift idea for the B-movie lover on your holiday shopping list. With that in mind, let's take a look at the new DVD releases this week (care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video), and wonder which of these will be featured in a similar book a couple decades down the road. 

Surely, there's a good chance for G-Force, the CGI'd guinea pig spy movie, care of Jerry Bruckheimer and whatever devil he made a deal with to get all of Hollywood's monies. I will not post the trailer here, as it is not safe for viewing, especially for the children. However, I will post the trailer for another movie out this week on DVD, Inglourious Basterds. Tarantino's take on WWII was naturally violently fun, even though it's, like, half an hour too long and features Eli Roth.

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Producer/director and Oregon State University professor Andrea Marks is at the University of Washington tonight, December 3, to talk about the history of Polish posters and screen her documentary Freedom on the Fence.

From WWII through the fall of Communism, Polish posters commented on everything, everywhere, despite the regime's attempts at control and censorship. Eventually, if something was important to the social, political and cultural life of Poland, you said it with a poster.

It's a free event, thanks to the UW Polish Studies Endowment Committee and the Polish Home Foundation, and after the film you're invited to browse an exhibition of Polish posters, "The Polish Poster: A Visual Metaphor," curated by Ewa and Krzysztof Poraj-Kuczewski. (If you can't make the screening, the exhibit shows at the UW Allen Library North until January 15, 2010.)

 

• Freedom on the Fence screens Thursday, December 3, 2009, at 7 p.m. at Kane Hall, Room 110.

SEE! Some of the Strangest, Most Astonishing Films EVER MADE!!

HEAR! Witty Repartee and Patter so Snappy you'll want a stand-up bass to Accompany it!!

FEEL! Your Heart Race as a cavalcade of Terror, adventure, and Shocking sensuality assaults your senses!!

TASTE! A Bonanza of Fresh and Tasty Beverages as the whole Mad Saga plays out before your Astounded eyes!!

Sorry, just getting into the spirit of Bizarro Movie Night.

Starting this Saturday, the Aster Coffee Lounge in Ballard will serve as a screening room for some of the most demented, rip-roaring movies ever committed to posterity, hosted by the SunBreak's resident B-Movie Evangelist/Correspondent, Tony Kay.

This week's presentation is still TBD (Tony says the final selection will likely include muscles, an exotic eastern flavor, or both, but he promises one thing for sure: It'll be gear, Daddy-O.) We're planning on presenting Bizarro Movie Nights at the Aster regularly in the coming months, and all partisan bias aside, it should be a blast.

Tony will spin lively riffs on everything from 50's sci-fi classics to biker flicks to Japanese horror to swinging '60s spy thrillers to Italian Gothic chillers to brain-damaged kiddie matinée fodder and beyond. The movies showcased just might blow the top of your head off (Aster management assumes no responsibility for spontaneous cranial combustion).

The Aster sports a lovely projection-screen TV set-up, and they serve up light fare and snacks, coffees, teas (they brew up a fine Chai), and even beer and wine. The event runs from 8 to 10:30 p.m., so there's even plenty of time to party the rest of the night away after a hearty helping of Bizarre Cinema!...

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House (Hausu) is a Japanese art house horror flick finally getting an American bow 32 years after its Japanese release.  Under domestic distribution by Janus Films, it's the story of a group of seven high school girls (each with their own personality-defining nickname like Prof, Kung Fu, and Sweet) who decide to spend the summer together at Gorgeous' aunt's house in the country.  And of course, it's a haunted house, complete with a freaky cat, dancing skeleton, a possessed piano, and your basic demonic pillows and duvet covers. 

I expected House to be campy, but it was also a lot of wackadoodle fun.  Director Nobuhiko Obayahshi based the script of his debut feature on his eleven-year-old daughter's surreal stories, and it shows in the best possible way--from the girl's character tics to the truly psychedelic animation and editing.  It comes as no surprise that there's some inventive deaths and good use of spurting blood.  Because nothing says Thanksgiving like Asian gore.

 

• House is showing at Central Cinema November 27-December 1 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., December 2 at 9:30 p.m.  Tickets are $6.  7 p.m. screenings all ages, 9:30 p.m. 21+. 

When last we saw the chefs in Vegas--as last week, Bravo tried to stretch out this boring season as much as possible by throwing in a random Top Chef reunion trainwreck dinner special--Douchebag Mike was being told to pack his Ed Hardy knives. So now here we are with only six chefs remaining. The episode kicks off with a quickfire at the Venetian. That's a different kitchen! The phone rings and it is Padma calling from bed. Room service breakfast in bed challenge, bitches, with Nigella Lawson to boot.

Because of the size of the kitchen, the chefs have to stagger their cooking in pairs. Robin and Bacon Shirt are first. Eli's making a beef reuben with a fried egg and thousand island hollandaise. Breakfast much? Robin is rushing and almost doesn't get her food on the plate. But she's the first to serve the robe-clad judges, and she's got a goat cheese blintz with carmelized pineapple and blueberries. Next up are Michael and Kevin, and the kitchen is messy. Brother Michael cleans, and Beardo Kevin makes steak and eggs. Michael ends up with a Cuban-inspired breakfast with eggs, rice, and banana. Now Jennifer and Bryan are cooking. Jen's making cream chipped beef on toast, while Bryan has a soft-boiled egg with vanilla fondue, crab, asparagus, and corn polenta. As Tim Gunn would say, "That's a whole lotta look." Nigella doesn't like the vanilla. Bottom two are Bryan and Robin, and top two are Kevin and Eli. The winner is Eli. Old Bacon Shirt gets his second quickfire win. I am sooooo hungry for breakfast right now....

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