Watching movies is fun. Being outside is fun. Watching movies and being outside at the same time? Super fun–and if you live in Seattle, very easy to do. There are a lot of outdoor movies this summer.

Last year I tried to create a complete directory of all the outdoor summer movie events around Seattle and discovered that it was a lot like trying to cut the heads off a Hydra. Every time I thought I had them all, I found that there were still more. Previous failure doesn’t mean I’m not going to give it yet another try–follow the jump to see what at least some of your outdoor movie watching opportunities are this season. If you plan it right, you could see Juno four times, The Goonies three times and still manage to fit in the midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Seattle Center, which is likely to be a very interesting screening indeed.

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• As previously mentioned [#], SIFF Cinema re-opens with Guy Maddin’s clever and inventive “docufantasia” My Winnipeg
• The Varsity offers up a number of excellent choices: Up the Yangtze about the incredible changes affecting the legendary Chinese river and is one definitely worth seeing.
• By the time I first saw Monty Python & the Holy Grail at The Egyptian a few years back, I’d already seen it at least a dozen times and heard some of the more popular quotes from it at least a zillion but I went, anyway, curious to see if watching it on the big screen is any different from watching it at home. For me, the answer was “yes”. You might want to check it out for yourself at the Egyptian Friday and Saturday night at midnight.
• Central Cinema screens Girlfight, a film about a teenaged girl determined to become a boxer despite all the negative nellies in her life.
• Northwest Film Forum presents Frownland, Ronald Bronstein’s debut film, a black comedy in which a self-described “troll from under the bridge” struggles to make a life for himself in an uncaring New York City.
• Except for the time I idly scanned a dozen pages of one of the novels while waiting for my nails to dry, I have been largely untouched by the Harry Potter phenomenon so while I get that it’s a big deal for a lot of people, I had no idea that there was an entire genre of “wizard rock” bands inspired by the series. Apparently there are lots of “wizard rock” bands out there, enough to inspire an entire film about them. The Wizard Rockumentary: A Movie about Rocking and Rowling opens Friday at the Grand Illusion. Wizard rock bands Hogwarts Trainwreck, Colin and the Creeveys, and the Fizzing Whizbees play between showings on Friday and Saturday.
• Late night at the Grand Illusion: Mausoleum, a creepy 80s horror flick starring Marjoe Gortner and Bobbie Bresee in the tale of a woman turned savage by a devilish family curse. Too bad Harry Potter wasn’t around back then to cure her.
• Want to see a movie but don’t want to give up being inside? Head to Fremont Saturday for the first Fremont Outdoor Movies selection of the summer, Superbad.

photo by shawn [flickr] via our group pool [#].

• Is the Stranger readying a neighborhood blog killer or just preparing to add comments registration system? Please please please the option number two. [capitolhillseattle]
• Oh no. First suicidal dolphins [guardian], now disappearing salmon? [nerdseyeview]
• Gluten-free girl launches a spin-off. Oh, and she’s starting a second website. [gfg]
• Let’s all indulge the dream of a magnetic poetry float in the Gay Pride parade for just a few moments. [hillku]
• Tips and tricks on doing buses right instead of the horribly wrong way we’re doing it now. I have never seen this many comments on Crosscut ever. [crosscut] Maybe it’s because “Driving is no longer fun”. Oh, Joel Connelly. (confession: I couldn’t make it through either of these articles.) [pi]
• Outdoor movie season starts this weekend in Fremont with Superbad. [seattletraveler]

• SIFF kicks off a Stanley Kubrick program that runs through September 6 with a Friday night showing of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film that scared me more as a child than any other film besides Jaws. It still kind of creeps me out now. Saturday they show the rightfully iconic Dr. Strangelove and the history-based Paths of Glory. Sunday brings multiple showings of Barry Lyndon; check their site for showtimes and additional films.
• Outdoor movies: Movies at the Mural this week features Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me on Friday and Casino Royale on Saturday; Supergirl screens at Cal Anderson Park; Seattle Outdoor Cinema in Fremont has Princess Bride; West Seattle’s Sidewalk Cinema has a pre-film set by local band Pagasys [MS] before Edward Scissorshand; and it’s The Sandlot over in Kirkland.
• The Egyptian is going all out with its Midnight Movie this weekend: show up in costume for the screening of the film Young Frankenstein and you could win tickets to the musical playing at the Paramount
• Roky Erickson, a musician from Austin, was an important inspiration of fellow Texan Janis Joplin, amongst others. In 1969 he began a three-year stint in a mental hospital after being busted for marijuana and pleading insanity. When he came out of the hospital, he went into a different of lock-up by keeping himself a recluse, disappointing his many fans and admirers. Keven McAlester’s documentary on Erickson, You’re Gonna MIss Me starts Friday at NWFF and continues all weekend.
• Central Cinema is showing the excellent French action flickLa Femme Nikita
• The Grand Illlusion is again showing 80s summer-camp comedy Oddballs; they’ve also got Ki-Duk Kim’s Time, in which Seh-hee, convinced that her boyfriend no longer loves her, undergoes plastic surgery to become a new woman, one whom he will.

• Central Cinema has The Spy Who Loved Me, one of the more exciting and fun James Bond films with Roger Moore in the title role.
• SIFF was chock full of great documentaries this year; one of the best of them was Dr. Bronner’s Soapbox, a documentary about the iconic soap manufacturer and the empire he built–now run by his son–as part of his colorful and fascinating life. If you missed it during the festival or would like to see it again, you’re in luck–it’s playing at the Grand Illusion for a week. It’s an interesting look at a socially responsible company and the unique characters who built and maintain it.

  Also at the Grand Illusion this weekend: I Have Never Forgotten You, a great documentary about Simon Wiesenthal and 80’s summer camp comedy flick Oddballs

• Midnight at the Egyptian this weekend is A Scanner Darkly, a film that really kinda creeps me out. Based on a Philip K. Dick novel, the film stars Keanu Reeves and features Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Rory Cochrane.
• The Lars von Trier comedy Boss of It All plays at SIFF Cinema.
• It’s classic AND modern French filmmaking at NWFF where they are screening the legendary Belle de Jour, the 1967 film directed by Luis Bunuel and starring Catherine Deneuve, and the 2006 follow up, Belle Toujours, directed by Manoel de Oliviera and starring Bulle Ogier in the Deneuve role.
• As always, there’s a ton of outdoor flicks: Seattle Outdoor Cinema has Casino Royale and Movies at the Mural has Hairspray (the original, with Ricki Lake) and Moulin Rouge, which still makes me weepy at the end of it even though I’ve watched it a bajillion times. Outdoor Movie Night in Kirkland has The Goonies, a film much beloved by its devoted cult audience and West Seattle has Monty Python & the Holy Grail.

• Seattle Central Cinema is screening The Mambo Kings (mmm…Antonio Banderas) Friday night; Saturday night they are celebrating National Home Movie night with a talk by a film preservationist followed by as many home movies as they can show.
• It seems like every outdoor cinema in the Seattle area (and we all know by now that there’s a lot of them) is showing Casino Royale this summer. If you’ve missed it thus far or just can’t get enough, you can see it over on the Eastside at the outdoor cinema in Kirkland. (Yes, that’s yet another outdoor cinema! Next week they’ve got The Goonies)
• It’s a “Twisted Flick” this weekend at Seatle Outdoor Cinema in Fremont, specifically Cat Women on the Moon
• The Seattle Center’s Movies at the Mural is showing Young Frankenstein Friday (a good warm up for the musical currently playing at the Paramount) and The Corpse Bride on Saturday.
• They’ve got some great documentaries at the Grand Illusion this weekend: Casting About, I Have Never Forgotten You (and Dr.Bronner’s Magic Soapbox.. Oops, this is wrong; Dr. Bronner’s starts next week.)
• Bamako, a great example of contemporary African filmmaking is shown at Northwest Film Forum this weekend where you can also catch the documetary The Last Slide Projector.
• Speaking of interesting documentaries, SIFF Cinema screens Ghosts of Cite Soleil, a film about gangs in the Haiti slum called Cite Soleil, labelled by the UN as the most dangerous place on earth.
• Midnight at the Egyptian: sci-fi schlock classic Forbidden Planet.

Opening locally this weekend:

Moliere, this year’s closing film at SIFF. Josh was unimpressed but I really loved it: the story was lively and engaging, the filmmaking deftly handled, and the actor in the lead role (Romain Duris) extremely attractive. (At the Guild.)
• Stardust opens wide; starring the charming Charlie Cox and Claire Danes with excellent star-powered support from Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert DeNiro, this film (adapted from a Neil Gaiman novel) is sweet, fun and exciting.

It’s dark and grey outside my window today which suits me just fine as I’m too sick to do anything but mope today. I’m about to fix myself a cup of tea and watch Key Largo until I drift off to sleep, but if you’re looking for something more lively in the way of film experiences you can get it all over the place. There are a number of hot new blockbusters at the cineplexes, plus:

• Midnight at the Egyptian this weekend is Cannibal! The Musical. I believe the title pretty much speaks for itself.
• If you liked Arbus, a film that imagined a biography of Diane Arbus and are fond of old-fashioned melodramatic romance, you might like Becoming Jane which is playing at the Guild 45th and stars Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wore Prada) as Jane Austen in a film that imagines a biography for her. (Also at the Meridian 16 downtown and other Regal theaters throughout the area.
• Over at the Metro, you can see Arctic Tale, a National Geographic film about the painful, tragic loss of Arctic habitat for the beautiful, fascinating creatures who live there. (This is also at Regal cinemas around town.)
• At Seattle’s Central Cinema see Free Willy or Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai this weekend. Can’t make it this weekend? Head over Monday for 16mm night featuring the John Wayne classic Angel & the Badman
• If you don’t mind the gloomy weather, go outside for The Princess Bride and House of Flying Daggers, respectively Friday and Saturday’s selections for Movies at the Mural; Moulin Rouge (the Baz Luhrman directed, Nicole Kidman/Ewan McGregor vehicle, not the older, more staid film) at Seattle Outdoor Cinema in Fremont (Saturday); or, West Seattle’s Sidewalk Cinema which is showing The Wizard of Oz this Saturday.
• The Grand Illuision continues its All Monsters Attack series with The Beast, Giant Claw, Slithis, and Demons this weekend and The Craving starting Monday.

Enjoy your weekend, and, please feel free to share your remedies for the flu.

• The Grand Illusion is showing Walerian Borowczyk’s erotic horror version of “Beauty and the Beast” entitled The Beast.The L.A. Weekly says the film “tweaks the boundaries between art and porn,” plus it’s a French film made in the late 1970s so you know it’ll be interesting, at least. They’re also running 1972 “Blaxploitation” horror flick Blacula and a 1976 horor flick called J.D.’s Revenge. They’ve got a couple other schlocky horror movies starting Monday, check their site for details.
• The midnight movie at the Egyptian is Another Gay Movie, a gay-themed spoof movie that mocks film conventions in the manner of films like Another Teen Movie. I will not be able to make this one, so someone (who is 18 or older) go and tell me how it is, okay?
• The Simpsons Movie opens wide this weekend but if you’re interested in going to see it you already knew that.
• NWFF presents a story of misjustice: The Trials of Darryl Hunt tells a sad, outrageous story about an unfair trial and and unjust conviction. Starts Friday; on Friday and Saturday Mr. Hunt’s attorney will be on hand to answer audience questions as will a couple of local attorneys.
• Also at NWFF this weekend, “From the Tsars to the Stars: A Journey Through Russian Fantastik Cinema”. The series includes Francis Ford Coppola’s first film ever, a Roger Corman produced reworking of a Russian sci-fi film as well as a number of Soviet sci-fi films from the 50’s on.
• It’s Election time at Cinema on the Lawn
• The classic “mockumentary” This is Spinal Tap is Saturday’s selectin for the Seattle Outdoor Cinema. (I have a friend who can recite this entire movie, from start to finish, off the top of her head. It’s actually kind of impressive.) Across town in West Seattle they’re showing an even funnier film by the same team - Best in Show.
• Also opening wide this weekend: I Know Who Killed Me, starring Lindsay Lohan who is an excellent actor when she’s not off trying to kill her film career.

Upcoming:

• Northwest Film Forum and Three Dollar Bill Cinema present their second annual karaoke challenge in which local filmmakers make karoake videos for their favorite songs and then perform the songs for an audience. Tues, July 31, advance tickets recommended. [brown paper tickets]
• Havana has their own outdoor movie night now on Wednesdays; this coming Wednesday head down for a showing of Dogtown & Z-boys

One of the best ways to beat the heat is in a nice air-conditioned theater with a bottle of water and a package of Red Vines.

• La Vie En Rose, the creative biopic about Edith Piaf that I thoroughly enjoyed both times I saw it, continues at the Egyptian. Their midnight movie this weekend is Dynamite Warrior, an action comedy featuring “ancient wizards, flying rockets, mass destruction, dwarves with swords, cows used as props and, of course, dynamite!”
• The Harvard Exit features the Parker Posey romance Broken English and Once, a contemporary musical set in Dubliin.
• Werner Herzog reimagines his famous documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly as a fictionalized featuer called Rescue Dawn; it and quirky Australian comedy about a young man in love and his entertaining family Introducing the Dwights are at the Guild 45th.
• Sicko continues at the Neptune.li>
• Over at the Seven Gables they’re showing You Kill Me which stars Ben Kingsley as an alcoholic hitman and Tea Leoni as the woman he meets when he takes a job at a mortuary.
• Black Cat, White Cat is a comedy about old friendships, young love, and the attempt to get ahead in life and they’ve got it on screen at Central Cinema.
• The Grand Illusion is screening the 1961 science fiction classic Mothra which has your typical Japanese horror movie plot, this time involving a couple of miniature twin girls and the Larva That Ate Tokyo. Also running Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghdorah GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK! a movie from the 2001 making its Seattle premiere, in it Godzilla is the bad guy and the others are the guardians of the earth.
• Northwest Film Forum celebrates this weekend’s Bastille Day by showing the French farce L’Iceberg whose plot centers on a fast food manager who is locked in a walk in freezer.

If you can bear to be outside, you have some additional movie choices:

• This weekend at Cinema on the Lawn at South Lake Union you can see Dazed and Confused on Friday night and Breakfast at Tiffany’s on Saturday. The former is an intelligent comedy about some high school kids in 1970s Texas and the latter features a performance by Audrey Hepburn so charming that it makes people tend to overlook how cynical most of the story is. Despite the film’s many flaws, it is a beloved classic and deservedly so–just try not to care about the characters.
• Santa Claus is the Twisted Flick at the Fremont Outdoor Cinema. The film is shown minues its original soundtrack while the Jet City Improv troupe acts out all music, dialogue and sound effects for the film, as suggested by the audience.

Thanks to reader Jono, we now know that West Seattle has gotten in on the the outdoor cinema game, with Sidewalk Cinema.

They’ll be up in the Junction at 4400 California Ave SW and they’ll be showing a good mix of films:
Jul 21 is Chicken Run
Jul 28 is Best in Show (perhaps the best “mockumentary” of all time)
Aug 4 is one of my favorite movies, Wizard of Oz
Aug 11 is Raiders of the Lost Ark
Aug 18 is Monty Python & the Holy Grail, a film I once loved until one(million) too many repetitions of all the funniest lines all but ruined it for me
Aug 25 is Edward Scissorhands

By the way, if you’re in a band and would like to play a pre-movie warm up set, the organizers would be happy to talk to you, see the site for contact details.

So, now we know there are movies at Lake Union, movies at the Mural, movies in Fremont, movies in Pioneer Square, and movies in West Seattle…anywhere else or have I finally got them all?