movies

  • Soundtrack Serenade

    ~ posted by Frank The beauty of a movie soundtrack is that it introduces me to music that I wouldn’t seek out on my own. For me, the music from these five films that I loved has stayed with me and become part of my regular rotation these past few months. Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: African American Films you may have missed

    ~posted by Frank 2014 was another banner year for African American films and filmmakers, capped off by Chris Rock’s hysterical turn as star and director of Top Five and Selma, which has earned a Best Picture nod at this year’s Academy Awards as well as a nearly perfect 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes. While you’re waiting for these on… Continue reading

  • Skip the Holds Queue with Hoopla!

    By Matt K. Recently, I discovered that the musician Beck had put out a new, critically acclaimed album this past February. The glowing reviews for Morning Phase sparked my interest, as I’d been pretty unimpressed with his most recent releases. I thought that because it had been four months since the album’s release, maybe there wouldn’t… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Passing the Bechdel Test

    Movie Mondays: Passing the Bechdel Test

    Ever since I learned about the Bechdel Test, a way of measuring how women relate to each other in film, I haven’t been able to watch movies without thinking about it. Named after American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who laid out the rules in a 1985 comic strip, there are three conditions that must be met… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Happy Birthday, David Lynch!

    Director, artist, musician and all around good guy David Lynch turns 68 today. Lynch is indisputably one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary cinema, a man whose style has often been aped but never replicated. No other director can so often scare the pants off me and wow me with intense beauty, often in the same… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: The ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ Primer

    It has been three long years since a Coen brothers film graced the silver screen. Thankfully, the drought ends this month with the release of their sixteenth feature, Inside Llewyn Davis. The film follows a struggling singer-songwriter in the burgeoning New York folk scene of the early 1960s. Want to get the most out of… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: One for the Guys, One for the Gals

    There are precious few movies about LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) people in which a character doesn’t die, kill somebody, commit a crime or remain closeted and self-loathing. Why is it so difficult for Hollywood to make a grand gay romance—or even a simple one? Be that as it may, in recent years the number… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Where are the women directors?

    The film at SIFF’s closing night gala this year is The Bling Ring, directed by Sofia Coppola. I’ve known that women have been underrepresented as filmmakers, but when I stumbled upon this infographic recently, it was eye-opening: women directors have been nominated for an Oscar only 4 times in 85 years (Lina Wertmuller’s Seven Beauties, Jane Campion’s The Piano,… Continue reading

  • Movies about siblings

    Some of the most important – and enduring – relationships in our lives are those with our siblings. With emotions from petty to profound, our siblings connect us with our past as well as treading the pathways into the future. These emotions are on full display in Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister, which… Continue reading

  • The Life of Words

    A word is dead when it’s been said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day. – Emily Dickinson The characters I read about come to life in my imagination. I sometimes dream about them, their lives continuing to resonate with me long after I finish the book. Some characters move me… Continue reading

  • Happy Birthday Akira Kurosawa!

    While Akira Kurosawa’s status as the greatest director of all time is debatable, we’re all agreed that Seven Samurai is the best movie ever made, right? Good, I’m glad we got that all squared away. Akira Kurosawa was born 103 years ago today. A few short months later, in August of 1910, the University Branch… Continue reading

  • What we were watching in 1962

    On the 50th anniversary of the Seattle World’s Fair, we look back at that year’s popular books, music, movies and TV shows. This week’s list in our catalog: what we were watching in 1962. Lawrence of Arabia was the top-grossing film that year (winning seven Oscars), with the star-studded D-Day epic The Longest Day hot on… Continue reading

  • A Different Beauty: Sharing Film with Children

    I vividly remember the first time I saw The Red Balloon as a child. I’ve never forgotten the haunting, stark beauty of 1950s Paris, the unapologetic taking of the child’s perspective, and the power of images with minimal dialogue. As much as I loved, and love, the work of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Mel Blanc,… Continue reading