Arts
I don't know who has it worse - the 6,000-and-change folks charged with selecting a single Best Picture from nine contenders at this year's Academy Awards, or you, charged with selecting a single decent Oscar party to attend. Or maybe, like Rhett Butler, you simply don't give a damn about
Guides
You have the tree picked out, every box of yard decorations categorized, and the yuletide music at full blast. Now all you need are some choice movies to fully embrace the reason for the season. At this time of year, more than any other (with Halloween as a possible exception),
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There's no doubt this year's Olympia Film Festival will manage to attract a few more to its already substantial band of supporters. With an ambitious 10-day lineup spanning the ages of cinema, there literally is something for everyone - of any age.The OFF looked deep into
Arts
My, my - these film festivals sure grow up quickly, don't they? In the South Sound festival family I see Tacoma and Gig Harbor's film festivals as the precocious youngsters, full of energy while finding their unique niche in a big world. They have some fun years ahead before reaching
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How about a magic trick? Most films perform one; they conceal as much as they reveal. They have us so mesmerized by the world flashing onscreen that we barely tune in to that other world just beyond the frame, that of the film's creators. They cover up their own tracks
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A long time ago (meh, a few years back), in a place far, far away (Shanghai), a man entered a flea market and purchased a DVD, assuming it was one of the prequels to a certain sci-fi American franchise. It turned out to be an actual work
Guides
Adam Manley's camera has seen the end, and it is yellow. As he explains in a recent YouTube video on his "Adam The Alien" channel, while at a Seattle meeting with fellow YouTube partners in May, his workhouse camcorder just randomly decided to begin painting the world in a sickly
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No one likes it when a party has to end. Cinegeek that I am, every year when the Tacoma Film Festival wraps I want it to start all over again, not only to replay the movies I did see, but to catch what I missed the first
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Years from now, the story of OAFF's humble birth might make its way into the annals of cinematic legend, but the memory still burns clearly for those who witnessed its inception. Members of the small film collective Mutually Assured Productions gathered at a bar last summer. The conversation turned to
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Last year's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf and Japan's current tribulations with natural and man-made disasters are periodic, sober warnings of people's tenuous yet vital hold on the environment. Nature nurtures both our physical and artistic instincts. A filmmaker, for instance, looks about and sees Earth as one vast
Arts
Last year's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf and Japan's current tribulations with natural and man-made disasters are periodic, sober warnings of people's tenuous yet vital hold on the environment. Nature nurtures both our physical and artistic instincts. A filmmaker, for instance, looks about and sees Earth as one vast
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Only six films compose the Diversity Film Festival at the Grand (April 6-18), each one a meditation on the theme of cultural diversity. The concept began a few miles (and years) away from the Grand, at Tacoma Community College. Dr. Scott Earle, a TCC English and Humanities instructor since 1999,
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Film noir, with its signature chiaroscuro, hard-boiled dialogue and (most important to an independent moviemaker) low-budget vibe, has spawned countless remakes, spoofs and homages. Falling somewhere amidst these three categories is Quiet Shoes, which hit the Rialto last summer and now returns to the Tacoma Art Museum. A story rife
Arts
Film noir, with its signature chiaroscuro, hard-boiled dialogue and (most important to an independent moviemaker) low-budget vibe, has over the decades spawned countless remakes, spoofs and homages. Falling somewhere amidst these three categories is Quiet Shoes, which hit the Rialto last summer and now returns to town at the Tacoma
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The Grand Cinema's Oscar Party festivities begin at 4 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 27 - one hour before the televised red carpet coverage. Some among us will ogle the brands and fabrics enveloping the VIPs entering the Kodak Theatre. Others may want to satisfy an intellectual curiosity
Arts
An Oscar party hosted by The Grand Cinema. "A contradiction in terms!" you, Perceptive Reader, exclaim. "Our quaint and unassuming town's quaint and unassuming oasis for independent film raising a champagne flute to the Hollywood machine's 83rd annual love-in? Pure poppycock!" Oh pish to your overcritical airs and overindulgence in adjectives!
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Movies about artists carry a certain appeal; if done right they offer the viewer glimpses of the mysterious inspiration behind a genius' work. But therein lies the rub for the filmmaker - how does one photograph "inspiration"? In general, how does a visual medium like cinema capture and give physical
Arts
Movies about artists carry a certain appeal; if done right they offer the viewer glimpses of the mysterious inspiration behind a genius' work. But therein lies the rub for the filmmaker - how does one photograph "inspiration"? In general, how does a visual medium like cinema capture and give physical
SouthSoundland
Summer. The glittering waves on the Sound, the lush parks and idyllic beaches, those unforgettable sunsets. Ready to once again bask in the Northwest's unrivaled majesty? Me neither. Let others map out their annual road trips; I plan on three months parked indoors, watching movies. At least Puyallup's Couch Potato Video can replenish
Archives
Like a good surgeon, a bank robber must maintain a state of order while chaos and bloodshed threaten to erupt at any moment. With time (and law enforcement) in close pursuit, the thief relies on both animalistic cunning and advanced calculation to perform his monetary extraction. This dichotomy between precision
