Shame Sitter (Weekly Links)

“Start spreading the news…” Carey Mulligan, Shame

Links to reviews I wrote for the Herald, and etc.

Shame. “It’s almost the movie’s reason for being, this absence at its center.”

The Sitter. “Trying to explore a certain uneasy zone of creepy-funny.”

Sleeping Beauty. “Appropriately sedated-looking.”

New Year’s Eve. “Tepid romantic trusims and ‘funny ethnics.'”

On KUOW’s “Weekday,” I talk with Steve Scher about the demise of 35 mm. and the primacy of digital video in filmmaking and film projecting; a couple of interesting callers add grain to the picture. It’s archived here; the movie section begins at the 20:17 mark.

At What a Feeling! we round off the week with a quick 1987 appreciation of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Dream Warriors, a return to form for the series.

Be advised of a cancellation in the program: the scheduled “Framing Pictures” event at the Northwest Film Forum at 5 p.m. today (12/9) has been CANCELLED due to last-minute circumstances. We’ll make the scheduled session on January 13th, same time (and price: free) the actual inaugural program.

But still on is Critics Wrap, the seventh annual year-end confab on the best movies of the annum. That’s at the Frye Art Museum, 7 p.m., Thursday December 15; the featured critics are Jim Emerson (scanners), Kathleen Murphy (MSN.com), Andrew Wright (The Stranger), and yours truly. More details here.

Also, a few words on the idea of “Northwest Filmmaking,” delivered for the KCTS-9’s ReelNW series, which showcases films made in this corner of the world. The piece is here.