AltWeeklies Wire
'Call + Response': Slavery Is Bigger Than Illegal Downloading?new
A Bay Area musician and Live Aid baby, Justin Dillon recently discovered human trafficking, then decided to make a movie about it.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
10-14-2008 |
Reviews
'Humboldt County': Like 'The Graduate' on Potnew
The film settles down like the mellow last ember of a joint at sunset, then sustains that mood too far beyond its initial buzz.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
09-29-2008 |
Reviews
'Battle in Seattle': At Last, Our WTO Protests Hit the Silver Screennew
I'd love to tell you that Battle is a feat of guerrilla filmmaking or a Godardian critique of international capitalism, but it's conventional to its core.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
09-22-2008 |
Reviews
'Cthulhu' is Smartly Creepy, if Not Quite Compellingnew
Although murky in its storytelling, Cthulhu isn't stifled by its artiness (notwithstanding the Yeats quotes). But neither does the movie ever achieve the clarity of good, honest bloodletting.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
09-15-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Cthulhu, Dan Gildark
Forest Whitaker Wants You to Bang His Wifenew
It's hard to be too indignant about Forest Whitaker's small, heartfelt contribution to this spiritual exercise-cum-vanity project by writer-director-star Philippe Caland, who once devised the story for that '90s crash-and-burn Madonna/David Lynch fiasco Boxing Helena.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
09-08-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Philippe Caland, Ripple Effect
German Climbers Philosophize in 'To the Limit'new
For this mountain climbing doc, Bavarian brothers Thomas and Alexander Huber opted into Yosemite's recent speed-climbing fad, which makes the Nose into a vertical racetrack.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
08-25-2008 |
Reviews
'Chris & Don: A Love Story': A May-December Gay Romancenew
Nowhere in this fine, quiet, richly-sourced documentary is the phrase "gay marriage" ever uttered.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
08-04-2008 |
Reviews
'American Teen': The YouTube Generation Gets the Movie It Deservesnew
Director Nanette Burstein is so intent here on making a nonfiction version of The Breakfast Club that she erases every trace of documentary convention for most of this pleasing but ultimately unconvincing film.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
08-04-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: American Teen, Nanette Burstein
Mongol: Meet the Barack Obama of 12th-century Asianew
Genghis Khan's all about rejecting the politics and divisions of the past. He's a new kind of leader, ready to unify the fractious clans of Central Asia into one nation under a new code of law.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
06-23-2008 |
Reviews
OSS 117: The Best Spy Spoof Since 'Austin Powers'new
Before Ian Fleming devised 007, long before Mike Myers was born (later to conceive Austin Powers), French agent OSS 117 was a pulpy sensation in countless espionage novels and several movies.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
05-12-2008 |
Reviews
'Graduation': Bank Robbery for Dummiesnew
Shot with all the HD video artistry of an infomercial, Graduation is a CliffsNotes heist movie, apparently written from the video-box blurbs on a stroll through Blockbuster.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
05-05-2008 |
Reviews
Skip the 'Super High Me', Score Your Own Laughsnew
Stoner comic Doug Benson is nothing if not scrupulous about crediting the inspiration for this cold-turkey/baked-turkey documentary -- Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
04-14-2008 |
Reviews
'The Hammer': B-List TV Star Adam Carolla Ain't So Badnew
Carolla is one of those journeymen comics you kinda know from television -- on MTV's old Loveline sex-advice show, on Crank Yankers, and frequently pressing his ass into Jimmy Kimmel's couch. It's a strange resume for this first foray into indieville.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
03-24-2008 |
Reviews
Seattle Director Seeks Uplift in Slums of Manilanew
When the press notes tell you that a neophyte local director quit his job, sold his house, and cashed in his Boeing stock to make an uplifting tale about the power of love, faith, and family in the slums of Manila, a jaundiced critic can only respond that, well, Boeing stock doesn't look so valuable anymore, does it?
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
03-18-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Gil Ponce, Tall as Trees
Stoners Take a Very Bad Tripnew
In Hollywood marketing parlance, this low-budget Irish horror flick should appeal to the sacred "four quadrants" of the filmgoing public: (1) stoners, (2) fans of the Leprechaun movies, (3) mycologists, and (4) people who can't handle Saw IV-level torture porn.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
02-12-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Paddy Breathnach, Shrooms
