'In Fabric' (2019) Movie Review

Peter Strickland’s Duke of Burgundy is one of my favorite movies of the last decade, so In Fabric was always a must-see. And when the first shot has a warm, crackling giallo look, a switchblade, and ‘70s style prog rock score, you have my full attention.

'Monos' (2019) Movie Review

This is an updated version of an earlier review.

High atop a remote mountain, a cadre of eight teenagers with names like Rambo, Smurf, Boom Boom, and Swede, armed with automatic weapons, guard a prisoner and keep watch over a milk cow. A faction of a mysterious group known only as The Organization, this adolescent guerilla squad, left to their own devices, breaks down as loyalties shift and allegiances falter, and their crumbling structure and sanity build towards violence.

'The Death Of Dick Long' Trailer Wants To Get Weird

“Y’all motherfuckers wanna get weird?” So begins the trailer for The Death of Dick Long and…that’s really all there is to say. You hear about how you should go into a movie cold, knowing as little as possible, all the time. That’s usually sound advice, but especially in this case. To say what it’s about ruins the whole thing. Fortunately, you can watch this trailer without worry as it gives away nothing that isn’t in the title.

'The Dead Don't Die' (2019) Movie Review

The Dead Don’t Die is a movie that, on paper, sounds fabulous. Indie icon Jim Jarmusch assembled an amazing cast—Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny, Tom Waits, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, Danny Glover, and a murderer’s row of others—and the last time splashed around in the horror pool we got Only Lovers Left Alive, one of my favorites of 2014. But goddamn if this doesn’t miss in every conceivable way. 

Top 10 Films Of SIFF 2019

It’s been 25 days (more than six weeks for press), but another Seattle International Film Festival is in the books. An epic undertaking, I saw north of 50 movies—not my highest total, not my lowest, but a solid amount—and lived to tell the tale. 

SIFF 2019: 'Pigeon Kings' Movie Review

Did you know there’s a specific breed of pigeons that summersault mid-air? Did you know groups of people around the world who raise birds to do just that and have turned it into a competitive sport? Neither did I, at least until I watched Milena Pastreich’s documentary Pigeon Kings.

SIFF 2019: 'Lynch: A History' Movie Review

For a man notorious for not talking, Marshawn Lynch is imminently quotable: “I’m just about that action, boss,” “I’m just here so I won’t get fined,” “Run through a mother fucker face.” In Lynch: A History, David Shields combines all of his greatest hits, clips of the former Seahawks running back’s career from high school through the pros, and unrelated footage and interviews to provide larger context of the man, his life, and the world that formed him. 

SIFF 2019: 'Koko-Di Koko-Da' Movie Review

We’ve seen the Groundhog-Day-as-horror conceit before, most notably with Happy Death Day, but in Swedish oddity Koko-di Koko-da, writer/director Johannes Nyholm takes the concept to straight-up psychological nightmare territory. Twisted and terrifying, it offers a time-loop of grief, death, and adorable animated shadow puppet bunnies and birds, which he also manages to turn scary and unnerving as all hell. 

SIFF 2019: 'The Art Of Self-Defense' Movie Review

In Riley Stearns’ dark comedy, The Art of Self-Defense, Jesse Eisenberg plays Casey, a milquetoast office drone with no social skills a no friends outside of his dachshund, joins an agro karate dojo to learn to defend himself and become what he fears.

SIFF 2019: 'The Legend Of The Stardust Brothers' Movie Review

Dear The Legend of the Stardust Brothers, where have you been all my life? Seriously, this lost Japanese musical oddity from 1985 fills a gaping chasm in my soul I didn’t even know was there. It also has maybe the most WTF twist I’ve ever seen, and this is a movie that’s basically non-stop WTF moments from one end to the other.

SIFF 2019: 'International Falls' Movie Review

Dee (Rachel Harris) is a harried wife and mother working a at a hotel in a small Minnesota town on the Canadian border. Stuck in a dying marriage, she dreams of doing standup. When Tim (Rob Huebel), a burned-out, low-level, road-warrior comedian—Dee tells a coworker, “We don’t get the kind of people you’ve heard of”—makes a stop in her town, the two form an unlikely bond.

SIFF 2019: 'Deadtectives' Movie Review

Sam Whitner (You’re the Worst’s Chris Geere) leads a TV team of faux-paranormal investigators, staging hauntings to please fans and sponsors. As their show teeters on cancellation, in a last-ditch effort, the gang heads to the “most haunted casa in all of Mexico.” Turns out it’s actually haunted, ghosts are real, and they’re in way over their heads. 

SIFF 2019: 'Enormous: The Gorge Story' Movie Review

From geological anomaly to accidental concert venue—the original owners wanted to start a vineyard—Nic Davis’ documentary, Enormous: The Gorge Story tracks the evolution of Washington’s Gorge Amphitheater into one of the most unique, spectacular places to see live music. The film weaves together archival footage, intimate performances, and talking head interviews with the likes of Dave Mathews, John Oates, Jason Mraz, members of Pearl Jam, and more.

SIFF 2019: 'X - The eXploited' Movie Review

Beginning with slow motion aerial shots of an upside down Hungarian cityscape, intercut with startling images of horrific violence and civil unrest, scored with ominous organs and a child choir, X – The eXploited immediately creates a dreamy, ethereal, disorienting sensation. On top of all of this, voice over sets that stage for investigating apparent suicides and accidental deaths that may actually be foul play. Nothing is what it initially appears.

SIFF 2019: 'Knife+Heart' Movie Review

A heavily stylized, giallo-inspired, queer slasher about a masked, dildo-knife-wielding serial killer stalking a low-budget gay porn crew in late-1970s Paris? Damn, Knife+Heart, you had my full attention from the word go.

SIFF 2019: 'Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story' Movie Review

I grew up watching Warren Miller movies. I spent the summer months wearing out VHS copies of skiing movies like Extreme Winter, Beyond the Edge, and Steep and Deep, praying for snow as I watched neon-clad (it was the 1980s) winter sports enthusiasts huck themselves off cliffs and gracefully carve mountain pitches you’d think twice about walking down, all narrated by his wry, soothing monotone. 

SIFF 2019: 'Who Let The Dogs Out?' Movie Review

It’s a question that has plagued humanity since the dawn of time. Or at least, you know, since the dawn of the summer of 2000. Who did let the dogs out? And as demonstrated by the new documentary from Brent Hodge (A Brony Tale, The Pistol Shrimps), answering that question isn’t quite as easy as one might initially expect. 

11 Must-See SIFF 2019 Movies

May is in full effect, which means that, once again, it’s time for the Seattle International Film Festival. Ever a sprawling, unwieldy behemoth, the 45th chapter of this annual event runs 25 days and encompasses more than 400 films.