This weekend boasts a staggering array of film choices; why, it’s practically an embarassment of riches.

• First off, if you’ve never seen Shaft (shut yo’ mouth!), you really, really don’t know what you’re missing. The finest of all “blaxploitation” films, Shaft began life simply as a story about a private detective searching through Harlem for a missing girl, but has since become a pop cultural masterpiece. At Central Cinema, July 6th at 7 & 9:30 pm, July 8 at 9:30 only.
• SIFF‘S Noir City series screens classic noir films all week: Thieves’ Highway/Deadline at Dawn on
  July 6; Pitfall/Woman on the Run on July 7; Desert Fury/Leave Her to Heaven on July 8;
  99 River Street/Framed on July 9; I Love Trouble/Pushover on July 10 ; The Spiritualist/Nightmare Alley on July 11 and Scarlet Street/Wicked Woman on July 12. At SIFF Cinema.
• From Friday July 6 through Friday July 8, catch the showings of Troll and Troll 2 at Grand Illusion. Troll, widely considered to be one of the worst movies of all time (which, really, is saying quite a lot if you think about it) plays at 7 pm daily and Saturday, Sunday at 3 pm. It’s just as bad, if not worse, sequel plays at 9 pm daily and 5 pm Saturday and Sunday. Trust me on this, these movies are bad, very bad…which, you know, some people like. Not me–fond as I am of bad movies, I couldn’t manage more than a few moments of Troll and never even bothered with the second one–I’m way too squeamish. If you’re made of sterner stuff you might want to check them out–there’s even a live appearance by the cast of Troll 2 at the Friday and Saturday showings.
• At the Egyptian this week at midnight on Friday and Saturday: the Kevin Bacon vehicle Footloose featuring one of the most annoying of all stick-in-your-head-for-way-too-long schmaltzy-80s pop soundtracks and some kinda cool dancing. Footloose is entirely mockable, but also rather entertaining. Rumor has it that the film is based on true incidents in Washington state but I’ve never actually bothered to check up on it.
• Actually, come to think of it, just about every film at the local Landmark theaters this week looks appealing in some way or another. (Well, except Fido, you know how I hate zombies.)
• Walking to Werner continues at Northwest Film Forum.
• The Neverending Story is seriously one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s sweet and thrilling and entirely likeable, so likeable that even the horrid, pointless sequel part 2 and the soul-sucking and even more horrid and pointless sequel part 3 were unable to destroy my great love for this film. Neverending Story is a wonderful story with beautiful visuals and excellent performances from its actors, many of whom were quite young at the time of filming. As an added bonus, you get to see it outdoors in Fremont at the Seattle Outdoor Cinema.

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1. Weekend Film Agenda April 18
2. Weekend Film Agenda: August 15
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5. Weekend Film Agenda June 27