{Life As We Know It opened in Seattle Friday, 10/8 and is playing at The Metro, Thornton Place and AMC Pacific Place}

Yet another effort to turn out a money-making romantic comedy (psst – hey guys? There will never be another When Harry Met Sally), Life As We Know It should be re-titled “Life As We Know It if Everyone Looked Perfect and Had Amazing Houses and Jobs”.

*ahem*

So get this, Katherine Heigl (as Holly) and Josh Duhamel (as Messer) play polar opposites who hate each other but get stuck raising their best friends’ baby together after a car accident and then GUESS WHAT HAPPENS. Actually, you don’t need to guess, as that part is all in the preview.

After brief deliberation, they determine that keeping little Sophie and raising her together is the best option, since all of the friends’ family members are completely incompetent (guy w/oxygen tank, couple with 9 kids, a touring stripper!).  And then, my friends, hilarity ensues –but you’ve also seen all of that in the preview.

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Head to The Moore this Wednesday, October 6 at 8pm for Closing Night of the 2010 Local Sightings Film Festival and the West Coast premiere of I Am Secretly An Important Man.

Director Peter Sillen will be in attendance to present his documentary about influential Seattle poet and performance artist Steven (Jesse) Bernstein. Don't know who that is? I didn't either until I started poking around a bit, and discovered enough about this William S. Burroughs-influenced artist to want to learn more.

Bernstein made recordings of his poetry with Sup Pop Records, and (like Burroughs) inspired musicians, including some guy you might know by the name of Kurt Cobain, and filmmaker Oliver Stone (who used a recording of "No No Man" in Natural Born Killers).

With an impressive resume and an hypnotic voice, I can see just from digging around on the Internets a bit why this guy was/is such a big deal, so I have to heartily recommend you hit up the documentary premiere on Wednesday.

Tickets are only $10, and you can grab them here. Go, go and GO.

Once again, the Northwest Film Forum is bringing us the Local Sightings Film Festival. Now in its 13th year, 2010's program includes the Northwest premiere of six feature films, and the world premiere of the documentary Citizen Mayor. Seventy-five short films (!!!) will be screened, as well as the historic film Darkness Rising.

It's all kicking off this Friday (October 1st) with the opening night film, Bummer Summer at 7pm, followed by the opening night party at 9pm, entitled "Party like it's 1995" - which is also celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the NWFF itself. There will be cupcakes! And waffles! And drinks! And a DJ spinning 90s tunes!

The opening night film Bummer Summer will follow the party. Closing night (Wednesday, October 6) features a new documentary about poet Jesse Bernstein, I am Secretly an Important Man, at the Moore Theatre. And in-between: tons of great NW Indie Film goodness in the form of features and shorts, including (listen up TIG readers!) LOTS of music videos, including stuff by Grand Hallway, The Vaselines, and Fleet Foxes.

You can view the full schedule and purchase tickets online here.

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Ironically, this week is officially “Turn off Your TV” week. But as much as I like that idea I’m still totally media-centric, and thus am thrilled that the following shows are out on DVD today.



30 Rock: Season 4: I feel like I “pull a Liz Lemon” every single day, which is probably why I love this show so much. Liz is what would happen if women turned off their filter and said and did everything that was on their mind, and Tina Fey does it so expertly you can barely tell she’s acting (mostly because you’re laughing so hard). Really, the entire cast is awesome and this show is more than worth your time.

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{The Town opened in Seattle on Friday, September 17th at the Guild 45th, Oak Tree Cinemas and AMC Pacific Place}

Ben Affleck’s second feature, The Town, proves to me once again that he’s a better director than actor. This is only unfortunate because he also plays the main character and he’s in almost every scene—but even I can put up with his blank, open-mouthed stare for a movie with enough action to keep me interested, which The Town totally is.

Opening with a few statistics about Charlestown, Boston and the excessive criminal population therein, the film thrusts us directly into a bank heist with 4 men wearing Slipknot masks. When an alarm is pulled, one of the men promptly beats the dude he suspects to a pulp, and grabs bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) as a hostage.

After the job, we meet the men: tortured, wanting-to-change Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), short-fuse-guy “Jem” Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), muscle and getaway driver Albert Magloan (Slaine) and safe-cracker/alarm expert Desmond Elden (Owen Burke).

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Blood into Wine: Here’s something I don’t know anything about: apparently the lead-singer of TOOL (yes, Tool), decided to quit being a hard rocker in the mid-90s in order to start his own WINERY (yes, winery). This doc follows Maynard James Keenan around his Verde Valley vineyard to see if he actually succeeds. Do I like Tool? No. But this thing looks too good to pass up.

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{Going the Distance opened Friday, September 3 in Seattle and is playing at The Metro, Thornton Place and AMC Pacific Place cinemas}

Nanette Bernstein’s (American Teen & The Kid Stays in the Picture) first non-documentary feature, Going the Distance, could have easily been a disaster (as most romantic comedies are), but there’s something about the realness of the two main characters that makes it all work.

Would-be journalist Erin (Drew Barrymore) and hip record label employee Garrett (Justin Long) meet at a bar in New York, and agree after a fun night together that they’ll continue to date, despite Erin’s caveat that she’s leaving in six weeks to finish school back in San Francisco, and Garret’s “just-got-out-of-a-relationship-last-night” jitters.

Of course, those six weeks are ultimately fabulous and they fall in love (DUH), deciding to embark on a long-distance relationship to see what happens. The question is, will the miles between them make them grow apart? Or closer together?

Pretty standard stuff – but this movie makes some surprisingly real choices, instead of going for an easy over-the-top resolution.

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I’ve been finding myself skipping my “three to see” recs lately because there just hasn’t been ANYTHING worthwhile on the release lists – so I decided to change it up and recommend 3 horrible DVD choices, because who doesn’t love to kick back with some bad movies once in awhile?



Titanic II: You read that right – Titanic, the second. James Cameron is in no way involved (you can tell because it’s not in 3D), and the special effects look like they were created with a budget of $100 – but behold the glory of this straight-to-DVD release! Written, directed, and starring B-movie actor Shane Van Dyke (seriously?), this thing has got to be a total disaster (HA). I’m recommending at least a 6-pack of beer before viewing….and I can only hope they’ll somehow tie in Mega Shark and Giant Octopus.

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Greenberg: This is the kind of film that’s definitely not for everyone, but I gotta say that Stiller does an excellent job at portraying someone who’s totally lost, and kind of an a-hole, but still somehow likeable – if you know what I mean. Roger Greenberg (Stiller) comes to LA amidst a mid-life crisis to house-sit for his wealthy brother, meets up with lots of peeps from his past who mostly hate him, and continually mangles his relationships with best friend Ivan, and his brother’s personal assistant, Florence.

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The Secret to a Happy Ending at the Northwest Film Forum: Covering three years of touring and recording by Indie Southern Rock band Drive-By Truckers, this film gets up close and personal with band members as they struggle  through life drama, breakup drama, and just plain drama-drama—all while playing some kick-ass shows. Given my weakness for heartfelt music documentaries (like I Am Trying to Break Your Heart! *sob*), and an admitted fondness for these guys, I feel like I can’t miss this one.

The Girl Who Played with Fire at the Harvard Exit: In a race to beat the American remakes, Swedish Director Daniel Alfredson filmed the second and third installments in the popular “Millennium” trilogy (based on the books by Stieg Larsson) back-to-back. Kick-ass hacker/action heroine/partly insane Lisbeth Salander returns, and this time she’s really pissed because a bunch of jerks framed her for murder. I was a big fan of the first (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and although this is a new Director, I’m confident I’ll love this as well. I’m just caught in my own race to finish the book before I see it.

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