9 (at the Neptune, AMC Pacific Place and Oak Tree Cinemas): I’m trying to ignore the song playing in this trailer, because frankly it gives me a headache, but the animation is so mind-blowingly awesome and I’m such a sucker for dark, creepy animation that I absolutely HAVE to get out and see this immediately. Check it out:

It Might Get Loud (at the Egyptian): Electric Guitar love as told by Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White. This sounds (get it???) too good to miss.

Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-Itchyfooted Mutha (at Northwest Film Forum): 75-year-old Melvin Van Peebles wrote, directed, and stars (playing himself from age 10-47), in his own coming-of-age story based on the 1982 Broadway show Waltz of the Stork. Sounds weird, right? It gets weirder:

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The 1 Reel Film Festival is showing a free sneak preview of Bumbershoot shorts tonight at SIFF Cinema. Just click here to RSVP, then show up and to see some shorts goodness! 1 Reel Sneak Preview Opening Night 2009 includes:

Instead of Abracadabra - Sort of a short, Swedish Napoleon Dynamite (except, in my opinion, funnier), involving the most awkward magician ever and his quest to impress a pretty new neighbor. Chimay!

Short Term 12: Winner of the 2009 SIFF Narrative Grand Jury Prize, this emotionally brutal short explores the lives of both workers and teens in a detention center. Brad William Hanke uses his serious acting skills to show us that adults don't neccesarily always know what's right.

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12-1pm: Films4Families: This Youngershoot package includes the must-see cleverly animated short, Western Spaghetti.

1-2pm: Fly Films SIFF 2009:  With 4 days to shoot and 5 days to edit on B&W 16mm film, 4 filmmakers turned out 4 amazing shorts covering everything from blackmail (Black Coffee) to a creepy tale involving the monorail (Safe Passage).

2-3pm: Picture & Sound Music Videos: A mix of official and unofficial music vids featuring Radiohead, Damien Jurado, The Dutchess and the Duke, Modest Mouse, The Lonely Forest, Surface Tension, The Cove and Sean Peckhold directing claymation Fleet Foxes beardiness (White Winter Hymnal).

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State of Play: I know what you’re going to say – this has to be cheesy, right? Well, kind of. This is a love letter to print journalism wrapped around a political thriller (the end credits even show the print process for a daily newspaper from beginning to end). Russell Crowe plays the grizzled investigative journalist and doll-faced Rachel McAdams plays the young new-fangled blogger that Crowe teaches a few old-school tricks to. The film’s saving grace is that the thriller part centers on a shady government cover-up that’s just real enough to believe – and that Crowe & McAdams don’t end up in bed together.

Is it fantastic? No, but I can definitely recommend it for an entertaining 127 minutes - even if I had to look at Ben Affleck for some of them.

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Assuming you're anticipating the release of Where the Wild Things Are as much as I am, I think you'll appreciate this: Northwest Film Forum and 826 Seattle are collaborating to bring you a special preview showing October 7 (currently, the scheduled release date is October 16) at the Cinerama!

It's a benefit for 826 Seattle, so your money's going to a good place, the film is written by Dave Eggers, who'll also be there for a Q&A session, and directed by Spike Jonze - so I'm pretty sure you can't lose by coming to this thing.

The deets:

NWFF is proud to collaborate with 826 Seattle in presenting a special preview screening of Where the Wild Things Are.

The event, a benefit for 826 Seattle, will be held Wednesday, October 7, at 7pm at the Cinerama Theater: 2100 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98121. Dave Eggers will also attend and participate in a Q&A after the screening.

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Inglorious Basterds: I’m a total Tarantino devotee, so of course I’ve been waiting for this thing FOREVER and am super-excited it’s finally here. I’m a little unsure about the casting, but I’m willing to give it a chance. QT hasn’t disappointed me yet (I’m one of those people who loves Jackie Browne), and I’m definitely not squeamish about blood, so here’s hoping he brings it. You’ve got your choice of theaters for this one: the Guild 45th, the Uptown, AMC Pacific Place, or The Big Picture (my choice, since booze + Tarantino =  movie-watchin’ goodness):

Cold Souls: FINALLY! This is playing at the Uptown, and you guys have to go see this now. Especially if you love Paul Giamatti – but even if you don’t, go see it. It’s brilliant and funny and deep and heart-breaking and I heartily recommend it to everyone. For a better descrip, check out my SIFF write-up here. And seriously, I can't imagine anyone skipping it after they watch the preview:

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Being a rabid Paul Giamatti fangirl, I saw Cold Souls earlier this year at SIFF and have been pretty much dying for it to be released so I could harass everyone I know into going to see it.

Writer and Director Sophie Barthes worked with her partner, Cinematographer Andrij Parekh, to create a film that I loved, loved, LOVED – and I got to ask them all about the process.

I read that you had a dream, and that was the basis of the story – and that you two talked about it and decided to develop it together – is that right?

Sophie: Yes. We live together, we’re life partners – and we shot short films and documentaries together, and he works as a Cinematographer, so he has a career that is much more established than mine. Because we're together we always share ideas, and so he wanted to shoot this.

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The express version:

Apres Lui: Franck kills Mathieu in a car crash, then Matheiu’s mom Camille ( the ever gorgeous Catherine Deneuve) falls for him. Premiered this year at Cannes.

London to Brighton: A tense thriller told in flashbacks with 5 characters in 24 hours. BAFTA-nominated for Most Promising Newcomer.

The Class (Entre les murs): A French teacher plays a version of himself in something-kinda-sorta-like a documentary that might be like what actually happens in his school. The students are played by actual students, no actors. Won the Golden Palm at Cannes (2008). Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Film.

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It seems like nothing from my childhood is sacred anymore – but I’ll give the people making a remake of 1984’s Red Dawn this: they’ve got a lot of guts.

I have no idea how a movie based on 80s Cold War paranoia is going to make sense NOW – other than that they’ve apparently added Chinese soldiers into the equation (Chinese + Russians invading America – what the WHAT?), but I’m curious. No I mean, really, really curious.

Replacing C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen are Josh Hutcherson, Isabel Lucas (the new Transformers babe), Chris Hensworth and Josh Peck – plus Connor Cruise (son of Tom & Nicole, who made his film debut in Seven Pounds) playing the role of Hutcherson’s best friend.

This definitely requires a re-watch or two of the original (ah, beloved nostalgia) – and I’ve no doubt it also requires a few beers before ticket purchasing.

Will anyone else actually go see this movie? I don’t know. But I can’t wait to see how they market this thing - and I'm hoping they at least include the iconic "Wolverines!" battle cry.

{Red Dawn is in pre-production for a forecasted September 2010 release date}

I have to admit that I've been a little late to jump on the Noah and the Whale bandwagon - but now that I've listened to their 2008 release Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down 500 times this year, I'm a card carrying fan club member of NatW. I still cry as I quote the lyrics to "Five Years Time" to friends (I've even managed to forget how much the instrumental refrain was played as a the soundtrack to a Saturn commercial). It was one of my favorite albums of 2008 even though I didn't know it until 2009.

Now I hear that the band not only have a new album entitled The First Days of Spring coming out in October, but they will also be releasing a coordinating film of the same name which runs the same length as the record. The film marks the directorial debut of Noah-singer Charlie Fink who explains:

The film was shot on a miniscule budget in a tight time-frame and can be seen as a companion piece to the album, as a visual version of it, or as a piece of work in its own right but this decision is one which Noah and the Whale have decided to leave up to the listener and viewer.

The film was shot on location in London and Surrey with an ensemble cast that includes model Daisy Lowe. Here's a trailer for the film / album.

With lines like "This is the last song that I write while still in love with you," which prey on my "Five Years Time" heart, I'm left pretty excited to see / hear the full thing.