AltWeeklies Wire
'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
Tragic Punk Icons The Gits are Recaptured in a Long-awaited Filmnew
Following a series of eBay purchases, a tentative friendship sprung up between Gits drummer Steve Moriarty and aspiring producer Jessica Bender and budding director Kerri O'Kane, who shared an obsession with the Seattle band and their late singer, Mia Zapata.
Seattle Weekly |
Hannah Levin |
06-30-2008 |
Movies
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
The Brutal Reality of 'Heavy Metal in Baghdad'new
Few things could be deemed as authentically metal as the act of carrying cans of gasoline to band practice to power the generators you plug your amp into.
Seattle Weekly |
Hannah Levin |
06-03-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
My Brother Got Burnednew
Tiffany Burns' SIFF-screened documentary aims to clear brother Sebastian's name, and stick it to the cops in the process.
Seattle Weekly |
Nina Shapiro |
06-03-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
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
A Defense of Adam Sandlernew
I will argue that, beneath their frat-house veneer, Sandler's movies are as clever and heartfelt as Judd Apatow's -- and that he is the bigger influence on today's Hollywood comedies, including those made by his old roomie.
Seattle Weekly |
Mike Seely |
04-14-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'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
Seattle Director Trips Through Mongolianew
Brian Short's ambitious documentary All My Love has no narration, no plot, and little more structure than its three themed movements. It also has the power to compel your visual surrender.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
01-07-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: All My Love, Brain Short
Why Seattleites Are Picketing in the Writers' Strikenew
Because they want to get back to writing your after-work specials.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
01-07-2008 |
Movies
'Honey and Clover': Another Art School Confidentialnew
Honey and Clover is a live-action manga adaptation set in a college dorm full of silent longing and artistic insecurity.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
12-10-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Honey and Clover, Masahiro Takada
