Recent Stories with tag movies

Coinstar (CSTR), the parent company of Redbox, had its stock "plunge" 24 percent today, after a preliminary announcement that its Q4 earnings didn't meet expectations. Looking ahead, "Coinstar also has revised its initial outlook for full year 2011 and now expects revenue between $1.70 billion and $1.85 billion, adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations between $325 million and $355 million."

That drop is probably an overly dramatic response, considering "[r]evenue from Redbox rose 38 percent in the fourth quarter, and same-store sales (an important metric for retailers) were up 12.5 percent," as CNNMoney reported. They just didn't meet very rosy expectations: "Coinstar's biggest problem is they suck at guidance, not that their business is bad," analyst Michael Pachter told CNNMoney. Redbox currently has about 28 percent of the rental market, and I wouldn't expect that to dip much, if at all, near-term in response to streaming video access, due to the costs associated with and limitations to broadband access.

As it happens, Coinstar is a Bellevue company, and CEO Paul Davis was at the Met Grill yesterday afternoon, giving a presentation for the Met Grill's "Guess the Dow" stockbroker participants. (More on that in a later post.) Davis spoke a bit about the pressure they'd gotten from major studios not to stock new movies in Redbox's automated DVD rental kiosks the day they go on sale. Eventually, Redbox agreed to a 28-day delay, which effectively removed the 28-day advantage they had over Netflix up to that point. 

As is common practice, Coinstar waited for the market to close to announce the downbeat earnings, so Davis didn't let on at his noon presentation that anything was amiss. (Other than the dog-not-barking sound of not leaking good news just before it's announced publicly.) Particularly disappointing for Redbox, since they traded rental delay for access to Blu-ray titles, was that demand for Blu-ray was not widespread, even at a $1.50 per day rate. (Redbox's standard DVD rate is $1 per day.) ... (more)

Conan, what is best in life?

Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women!

With dialogue like that, you know you're not dealing with All About Eve. But then again, that 1950 classic's conspicuously bereft of head-lopping, stabbing, pillaging, and giant snakes; so there's some trade-off involved.

The Grand Illusion Cinema rings in October with some serious sword-and-sandal action beginning tonight. Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer--both showcasing the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the title role--play October 1 through 7, and red-blooded fans of action cinema owe it to themselves to take a peek.

Conan the Barbarian's the keeper here, a fantasy epic whose blend of sturm und drang weight and good old-fashioned blood-and-boobs-laden action plays pretty damned well today. It follows the odyssey of the title character (Ah-nuld), a muscular warrior who leads a life of thievery while pursuing vengeance against the (literal) monster of a ruler who slaughtered Conan's family, Thulsa Doom (creepily played by James Earl Jones).... (more)

If your knowledge on Tibet's struggle against the jackboot of Chinese subjugation consists of celebrity lip service and the odd "Free Tibet" bumper sticker, The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom, Ritu Sarlin and Tenzing Sonam's new documentary on the subject, should serve as an excellent primer. And like any good non-fiction film it throws some welcome curve balls of illumination at viewers.

The film (playing at SIFF Cinema April 16-22) presents a living snapshot of 2008, one of the most tumultuous years of the struggle since China's takeover of Tibet in 1959. Over the course of its 79-minute running time, The Sun Behind the Clouds chronicles the explosion of protests in Tibet that year, the Beijing Olympics, the Dalai Lama's attempts to attain Tibetan autonomy via compromise and diplomacy with the Chinese government, and an angry young generation of Tibetans hungry for a more direct and confrontational approach to attaining their country's freedom.

It's a complex swirl of events, at whose center lives an important--maybe even unresolvable--debate within Tibet itself. For nearly three decades The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual, religious, and political leader, has pursued The Middle Way, a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. His basic intent: Ceding Tibet's independence in exchange for his country's genuine autonomy. But this methodology, built on his Buddhist philosophy of non-violence and compromise, doesn't sit well with the increasingly restless younger face of Tibet. Journalists, radicals, and monks who've spent their entire lives beneath the yoke of Chinese leadership are mad as hell, and they don't want to take it anymore.... (more)

A few days after interviewing director Dan Ireland (see Part One here), I attend the SIFF Twelve-Hour Marathon on March 21. The director's in attendance to introduce the screening of his beloved debut, The Whole Wide World. I introduce myself, and sure enough, in person he's as gregarious, focused, and cheerful as he was on the phone. He thanks me profusely for the interview, and enthuses about introducing the night's final film, Trouble in Mind.

Then he buzzes into the auditorium to usher in this screening of his baby. Ireland's hearty and infectious laugh resonates through the auditorium as he speaks passionately about the rigors of making The Whole Wide World, and about his pride in the director's cut he's brought.

The movie screens to a sizable and engrossed audience. It holds up incredibly well as an unforced evocation of its period setting, as an incredibly astute mirror to the creative process, and as an affecting love story.

At one point I turn away from its ambling beauty to glance to my left. The director's sitting in the center of the theater watching his work, and the expression on his face reflects not so much the scrutinizing perfectionist or the gloating egotist so much as the enchanted movie fan. It's taken him years to be able to watch The Whole Wide World with the non-critical eye of an audience member, and he--like the rest of the crowd--is allowing himself to be captivated.

That expression revisits his face again during the screening of Trouble in Mind, and it's not too much of a stretch envisioning this grown man as a kid in Vancouver, drinking in the magic of cinema on the proceeds scraped from the inside of his mom's purse.

In Part Two of his interview with the SunBreak, Ireland speaks in detail about the rest of his body of work, about the pleasures and pains of being a truly independent moviemaker, and about the role his mother played in forming his passion for cinema.

I wanted to ask you about the development of The Velocity of Gary...was that another situation where D'Onofrio had a lot of input?... (more)

In an age when even the most idiosyncratic film directors allow their visions to be diluted by the tsunami that is corporate-sponsored modern cinema, Dan Ireland has defiantly crafted subtle, engrossing, and fiercely-independent character studies for fifteen years.

Ireland studied directing at the figurative feet of masters as co-founder (with Darryl MacDonald) of the Seattle International Film Festival, purchased and renovated Seattle's beloved Egyptian Theater, and segued into film production with Vestron Pictures in the mid-1980s before taking the director's chair on The Whole Wide World in 1996. With that kind of trajectory, it's no surprise that Dan Ireland's rife with great stories about every phase of his journey to date.

Informed by the arthouse features he championed at SIFF as a programmer, Ireland's own films cover a wide swath of subject matter--from a romantic triangle involving a bisexual porn star, a male hustler, and a waitress (The Velocity of Gary), to a vividly-observed portrayal of Massachusetts-based Portugese-Americans (Passionada), to a bravura showcase for the legendary Joan Plowright (Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont), to his award-winning E.L. Doctorow adaptation Jolene. The trademarks of his style: an emphasis on characterization and a unique eye for spotting up-and-coming actors, as well as bringing out the best in already-established ones.

SIFF's prodigal father returns to Seattle on Sunday to present a director's cut of The Whole Wide World, his affecting drama detailing the relationship between pulp author Robert E. Howard (Vincent D'Onofrio) and schoolteacher Novalyne Price (Renee Zellweger, in her film debut). It's a perfect opening film for SIFF Cinema's Twelve-Hour Movie Marathon, an innovative fundraiser showcasing a stellar lineup of films significant to SIFF's history. The movie stands, in its own quiet way, as one of the best films of the '90s, and one of the Fest's most cherished progeny.

Ireland talked to The SunBreak in detail about the many hats he's worn over the years (stay tuned for part two of this interview next week). But the first portion of our conversation orbited around his acclaimed first feature, its impact on his life and career, and how the director's cut of The Whole Wide World differs from the original theatrical release.... (more)

A rainforest tree at Lake Quinault Lodge. Photo care of Aramark Parks and Destinations.

If James Cameron wants to lick his wounds and soothe his bruised ego after losing a whole bunch of Oscars to his smoking hot ex-wife, apparently he'd feel right at home on the Washington Coast. 

Trying to take a bite of that sweet Avatar pie, two of Aramark Parks and Destinations' four Washington properties are advertising themselves as Pandora on Earth.  It makes sense that both Lake Quinault Lodge and Kalaloch Lodge are taking advantage of the film's success to promote the resorts' picturesque rainforest locales--Lord knows sci-fi fanboys will pony up the money (see New Zealand and LOTR tourism, or Forks' active courting of Twi-hards).

So head to the coast to get in touch with your Na'vi side.  Commune with nature, search for precious unobtanium, and/or try to plug your braid into anything that moves (TWSS).  Full press release after the jump.... (more)

After you watch the other film award show this weekend, take your sense of outrage and "we wuz robbed" to the 20/20 Awards, held next weekend, March 15th at Central Cinema (1411 21st Ave). It features a little less red-carpet treatment, and more brutal honesty.

The organizers explain it like this: "We're going back 20 years to 'correct' the Academy Awards with the advantage of time, perspective, and history." They're doing 15 categories; things start at 7 p.m. Unsuccessful Oscar-defenders will be forever sullied, "new" faces will be rewarded with a Felix.

But of course, just holding an awards show is honor enough. They've managed to placate the lawyers for AMPAS (the cease-and-desist letter was "surprisingly friendly, breezy, and showed a sense of humor"). Some film industry folks were all set to become part of the 20/20 Voting Syndicate body, then reconsidered going on record.

This year, it's the 1990 Academy Awards put under the scrutiny of hindsight. Of the six 20/20 nods for Best Picture, none were noticed by the original Academy back in 1990. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is up for seven 20/20 Awards, despite its poor showing with Oscar voters. And up for Best Doc is Michael Moore’s vastly influential Roger & Me, which didn’t even get a nomination.

The cavalcade of 20/20 stars includes Tyrone Brown (BrownBox Theater); Michael Seiwaerath (former NW Film Forum honcho); Curtiss Marlowe (Geek #1 in Heathers); Brendan Kiley, Lindy West, David Schmader (the Stranger); Andrew Chapman (cinematographer); dj Riz Rollins (KEXP); Jennifer Zeyl (scenic designer); Josh Feit (Publicola); Paul Mullin (gadfly/playwright); Gavin Borchert (Seattle Weekly); Sue Corcoran (writer/director), Brian McDonald (writer/bon vivant) and Sean Nelson (man about town).

[Don't miss Part 1. In Part 2 of the SunBreak's Eddie Muller interview, the Czar of Noir elaborates on the story behind one of his favorite undiscovered Film Noir vehicles, the role of women in the genre, and some of the screen legends with whom he's rubbed shoulders.]

Eddie Muller

You've unearthed a lot of overlooked movies over the years. Is there one that stands out in particular for you?

Woman on the Run. Have you seen it?

No.

It's absolutely fantastic. It really is one of those undiscovered, great films. Sometimes, you find these things and it's like, "Well, it's good," but you know why it's not a classic. But Woman on the Run really is a terrific film. Universal [Pictures]...had to go physically look for the film, because it was an independent, and it wasn't in their database. They looked [in their vaults], and said, "I'll be damned! [laughs] We do have this film."

We had to sign a letter of indemnity in order to show it; saying that if the rights holders were still existent, they would sue me and not sue Universal for showing a film that they didn't have the rights to. I said, "Fine! Bring 'em on." It was Howard Welch's company, and he'd be, like, 97 years old. If they come out of the woodwork, I'm fine with that. Hey, I made a thousand dollars on this screening, you want half of it? Fine, I don't care! [laughs]

When [Universal] sent the film, it was one of those great moments where the projectionist said, "Can you send Eddie up to the booth?" I was thinking the worst; that it actually isn't projectable. This was at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. And the projectionist says, "I just want you to see this, because this never happens." He'd taken the film out to inspect it, and he said, "This is the original band that was put on this film when it came from the laboratory. It has never been taken off this film; this film has never been projected." It was amazing! So we actually had the thrill of showing that print of that film for the first time ever.

So here's the deal: It came time to ship the film back. I said to myself, this film is really great. I can't, in good conscience, send this back without making a copy of it first. So I took it to a guy I know who runs a lab in San Francisco. I said, "I know this is against the law, but I'm asking you, as a steward of film history, to make a digital copy of this film--a Digi-Beta copy of the film." I couldn't do a 35 millimeter copy--I don't have that kind of money. I paid for this out of my own pocket. This is not the Foundation: This was before the Foundation existed. It was one of the things that led to the creation of the Film Noir Foundation. I couldn't send the film back, knowing that it could get lost in the bowels of the company, without making a copy. Not that I intended to do anything with it. I just wanted to know there was a copy somewhere else. So we did it.

I put the copy in my closet. For six years I sat on it. And then Universal had that big fire on June 2, two years ago. I waited a week or two because I knew what pressure these guys were under, and then I called. This was seven months before the next big festival in San Francisco. I was asking about the titles in the festival, and Universal said, "Don't worry about it--we'll make good on all of them because we have all the negatives. We'll just make new prints of everything."... (more)

The fourth annual Noir City Film Festival may have finished its run at SIFF Cinema last week, but conversing with Eddie Muller--Noir City's enthusiastic ringmaster--still feels as bracing and entertaining as one of the Film Noir sagas he labors so tirelessly to preserve.

He's led an interesting enough life to fill a pretty rich book on its own. Long before becoming Film Noir's most vocal and eloquent steward, Muller studied film with (and acted in several films for) underground legend George Kuchar in the late seventies. He made Bay City Blues (an award-winning 14-minute, 16mm valentine to the hard-boiled universe of Raymond Chandler) as a class project next, then dove into the world of print journalism, slugging it out in the footsteps of his dad, a sports writer for the San Francisco Examiner. A decade-and-a-half in the ink-stained trenches honed his investigative and storytelling skills, assets he brought to bear when he started writing books.

The first, Grindhouse: The Forbidden World of "Adults Only" Cinema, opened the door to several written forays into fiction and cultural archaeology, as well as the formation of his own graphics firm, St. Francis Studio. Through St. Francis he wrote and designed The Art of Noir, a stunning and essential coffee table book of vintage Film Noir poster and promotional art. Muller has also written scripts and stage plays, co-written and produced a documentary on Adults-Only cinema (Mau Mau Sex Sex), and bartended professionally (he jokes that the latter marked his "one positive contribution to society").

But when I sit down with Eddie Muller at the bar in the Sorrento Hotel's swank Hunt Club, he's all about Film Noir. His passion for the compelling cinematic sub-genre burns brightly: Every work of fiction he's written has been informed by it; his non-fiction books Dark City and Dark City Dames stand as definitive studies of it; and he started the Film Noir Foundation to preserve and champion its importance as a uniquely American art form. Incidentally, if you've bought or rented a Film Noir DVD, don't be surprised to hear a meaty and informative commentary track by Muller: He's done a lot of them. Not for nothing was he anointed the Czar of Noir.

Tall, dressed in black, and sporting Reed-Richards-style slashes of white at each of his temples, Muller cuts a figure almost as imposing as one of the Noir toughies he's chronicled in those books and countless DVD commentaries...until he starts talking. His regular-guy demeanor leavens that wordsmith's combination of charm, curiosity, and investigative persistence, and his banter's peppered with frequent laughter and engagingly labyrinthine side trips. His knowledge of film in general--and his most beloved genre mistress in particular--is voluminous but never stuffy; and like most good writers he's articulate and insightful without ever putting on airs. Muller's one of those guys who can (and does) literally converse with anyone: In the minutes preceding our chat proper, he's cracking jokes with the server and comparing notes on mixed drinks and San Francisco watering holes with key members of the Sorrento staff. It's all in the service of a mind that never tires of telling--and hearing--great stories.

My interview with the Czar of Noir spans almost two hours, but it zips by at lightning pace. Damon Runyon, one of Eddie Muller's heroes, would be proud.... (more)

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.

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.)... (more)

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!

One of the greatest things about the Grand Illusion Cinema is that the beloved local revival house still manages to dig up some seriously wiggy-assed schlock surprises for their late shows. And Devil's Express, which plays there tonight and tomorrow, qualifies on that front for damned sure.

Warhawk Tanzania plays Luke Curtis, a New York Kung Fu master who visits the Orient with his good-for-nothin' pal Rodan (Wilfredo Roldan). Luke studies martial arts on the sojourn, but Rodan busies himself by stealing an ancient Chinese pendant that releases a ping-pong-eyed demon. Said monster hopscotches to New York via boat, raising a ruckus in the Big Apple's subway tunnels. And somewhere amidst the horror show, there's some amateur-hour inner-city gang warfare, too (hence the movie's alternate title, Gang Wars).

Devil's Express arrives at the Grand Illusion courtesy of Code Red DVD, and this shotgun video label/theater union promises to bring... (more)

Since no one on staff had even the remotest clue about the late Patrick Swayze and his movies, SunBreak asked local dancer, comedian and singer Mark Siano to explain Swayze's apparently deep significance. Read on: Who knew!

The temptation to make jokes about Patrick Swayze's passing is strong. I understand this instinct, his legacy is burned into the minds of generations of moviegoers. I will pass on these silly puns about "corners" and "the wind," because although his association with iconic ironic '80s nostalgia and cheesy one-liners may damn him to good-hearted ridicule, we all know that he was something greater--Swayze was the most talented movie star of our lifetime and a man who forever transformed our culture.

Not since Gene Kelly has one man destroyed a nation with charisma and charm, but also with a gift for song and a unwavering devotion to dance. There aren't many men in the movie star stratosphere who can claim the triple threat title, sure there was always John Travolta, a terrifically multi-talented performer. But forgive me Mr. Travolta, you are no Swayze.

Gene Kelly believed that the only hope for the American Movie Musical was Swayze. Late in his life he passed the baton on to a Swayze in hopes that he could revive the dying American art form. Swayze was never successful in resurrecting the Rodgers-and-Hammerstein-style musical, it was a bygone era that had as much hope in returning to prominence as the Western. Swayze's success in cinema achieved an even higher goal, and what he did for American culture as a whole far surpasses what Gene Kelly had intended. He handed us a gift so great, that it lives on today and for decades to come.

Swayze made it cool to dance again.

Sure people were still bopping and grinding around dance floors. But I'm talking about dancing . Grab your partner, spin her around, lift her up, hold her close and don't you dare let her go, especially if she's above your head eight feet in the air. Swayze brought back an art that had nearly vanished and introduced a whole generation to couples dancing.... (more)

After wrapping up the film festival in June, SIFF Cinema went on hiatus, because of the economy and the monies and so on and so forth (see: the Northwest Film Forum scrambling for cash last month). But now that summer is over, the Cinema is opening up again, starting tonight with You, the Living, the latest from absurdist Swedish director Roy Andersson.  I haven't seen it just yet, but it sounds as if it's a vignette-a-palooza:

Only the fourth feature from the great Swedish auteur Roy Andersson (Songs from the Second Floor), You, the Living is, like its award-winning predecessor, comprised of a series of meticulously wrought tableaux that illustrate the human condition. Both comic and sad, it’s above all a film about the vulnerability of human beings. The characters represent different facets of human existence. They face problems, large and small, that range from issues of day-to-day survival to the big philosophical questions.

Linked by recurring lines of dialogue and situations, the tableaux show...