As I mentioned earlier, a week of classic noir films begins at SIFF Cinema with their excellent “Noir City” series, this year focused on dark tales of the days of the old fourth estate. Friday’s opening night double feature, Deadline USA and Scandal Sheet are particularly exciting, but the whole series offers many fine options for fans of murder, mayhem, and gripping suspense.

At NWFF: The Model Shop is ostensibly a story about an aimless young architect who has a brief fling with a woman from a modeling agency but is really more French director Jacques Demy’s beautifully shot ode to Los Angeles in the late 1960s. Follow up The Model Shop by sticking around for Lion’s Love, directed by Demy’s wife Agnes Varda whose own LA-shot film is a more avante garde look at LA at the time, shot in mock documentary fashion and starring Viva, one of Andy Warhol’s “superstars”.

Wendy and Lucy, also at NWFF, stars Oscar nominated actor Michelle Williams as a woman struggling with her difficult life whose dog goes missing while she’s on the road in Oregon, forcing her on to a path that could change her fortunes and her life forever. Sympathetic without becoming sugary, Wendy and Lucy is a powerful look at the troubles we all face in trying times and the immense effort it requires to take control of our loives.

If you’ve ever wondered what Shakespeare as interpreted by Akira Kurosawa would look like, you won’t want to miss Throne of Blood at the Grand Illusion, the legendary Japanese film director’s take on “Macbeth”, set in feudal-era Japan.

Late night at the Grand Illusion: The Love Butcher, a mid-70s slasher film about murderous mirror image twins–crippled Caleb and lothario Lester out for bloody revenge on all the women who spurn Caleb’s affections.

Central Cinema presents the John Hughes teen comedy classic Sixteen Candles. The Egyptian screens The Big Lebowski at midnight.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Are you excited about this year’s Academy Awards but too busy (or broke) to make it down to Los Angeles for the ceremony? Join the good folks of Three Dollar Bill Cinema as they team up with Gay City Health Project for their fourth annual Academy Awards Party on Sunday, February 22 at SoDo Park (3200 First Ave S.) Join the fun at 4:30 or pony up for the VIP experience and get in an hour early for a special reception. Viewing options at the party include an eight foot inflatable screen and four big screen TVs; the party also features hor d’oeuvres, drinks, a Hollywood prop and wardrobe display, and fabulous door prizes, with all proceeds benefiting the programs and services of Three Dollar Bill Cinema and Gay City.

Haven’t seen all the Best Pictures nominees yet? You still have time to see them before the award is handed out–the AMC theater chain is once again offering their Best Picture Showcase deal in which $30 gets you a pass that allows you to come and go as their theaters screen all five Best Picture nominated films throughout the day, starting with Milk at 10:30 am and continuing with The Reader, The Curious Case of Benjamin Bratton, Slumdog Millionaire, and concluding with Frost/Nixon at 9:45 pm. The package also includes a free large popcorn with unlimited refills throughout the day. Local screenings are at the Loews Woodinville 12 and the AMC Kent Station 14.