* The Adventures of Prince Achmed was such a treat! The oldest full length animated feature in existence, it is a stunningly beautiful silent film, created using hand-cut silhouettes. I saw it at SIFF Cinema with a live and original score by Miles & Karina, and it was just magical. The story, adapted from Arabian Nights, is still captivating. It’s fascinating to me to see how the mechanics of storytelling (and in particular comic timing) don’t really change.

* Mr Smith Goes to Washington was the final Metro Classic of this cycle. The lowest circle of hell: politics. It’s Capra at his flag-waving best, and of course we can’t help but love Jimmy Stewart, but me being me my favorite was probably Jean Arthur as the seen-it-all assistant, followed by Thomas Mitchell as journalist Diz Moore. Oh, democracy!

* Either you’re buying into Scream 4 or you’re not. I saw the first three Scream films that week & then went to the fourth at midnight, so clearly I was into it. Better than the second and third, and a worthy successor to the first, it featured all the jumpy-out bits, one-liners, and kick-ass ladies that I could hope for.

* The thing about Henry’s Crime is that it came out about sixty years too late. It is at heart a heist film, with Keanu Reeves basically playing himself as your typical noir hero, an everyman caught up in the underbelly of, in this case, Buffalo. Vera Famiga’s the love interest, Fisher Stevens is the scumbag, and James Caan is the salty old conman. Far more entertaining than it had any right to be.

* Carbon Nation is a fun but slight documentary on climate change. I liked that it was the sort of movie one could plunk their Tea Party parents down in front of (Who cares if climate change is real or not? There’s money to be made!), but it came at the expense of showing why these positive changes aren’t happening (there’s more money to be made — at least for a select group — by preventing it).

* I’m a huge, vocal fan of Moon, so I was perhaps unduly excited about director Duncan Jones’ follow-up feature, Source Code. And then it let me down, perhaps inevitably, by cheesy dialogue and a pasted-on romance. However, Gyllenhaal & Monaghan are both damn pretty, Vera Farmiga is always great, and the more you think about it, the more depressing the ending *actually* is. So, perhaps, hooray!

* My other highly-anticipated film of March, however, did not let me down. Sure to earn a spot in my Best of 2011, Win Win was another perfect small film from Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor). Seeee it. See all of them. All three feature characters who could so easily veer into stereotype under another director, but which remain firmly, fully real and true people in the worlds created by McCarthy.

* In the Mood for Love. Yes, this is the second time this year. It was scheduled as the start of this Metro Classics sequence, and my toes curl at the words “shown on 35 mm”. It was a gift to be able to see it that way, particularly since the digital projection in January had so many issues. Films like ItMfL make me consider doing a best beloved films feature here from time to time.

* The Cutting Edge is a ridiculous movie, obviously. Ridiculously entertaining. Central Cinema showed it as the March Pajama Party, and for that it is pretty much perfect. Toe pick!

* I have never seen The Terminator before. Shocking but true. Luckily, Central Cinema is there to help me correct these grievous errors. Sarah Conner is totally my kind of action hero. She wears shoes she can run in! She gets to keep on all of her clothes! Pretty great overall, except for the full frontal Arnold. That’s what we get for sitting in the front row.

* Finally, the best TV dinner ever: Pride & Prejudice! Shown over two Wednesdays at (do we detect a pattern?) Central Cinema, Pride & Prejudice was just a fabulous, hilarious, satisfying experience. Sold out, full of fangirls of all ages, puddles of estrogen everywhere. You should all be jealous.

The biggest benefit of participating in the Oscars Death Race this year was that it forced me to make the effort to see a few more in the theater that I might otherwise have pushed to DVD.

* Black Swan wasn’t one of those, since I’d seen it in 2010, but it was booked at the Cinerama, and I couldn’t resist going again. Still one of my favorites of last year, it really rewards a second viewing. The first time you see it, you’re trapped in Nina’s point of view, but the second time around you can free yourself from that

* Biutiful. Historically it seems that I have wanted to love Iñárritu films more than I actually have; they are well-crafted, but I failed to fully connect with them. In contrast, Biutiful broke my damn heart. Well-played, sir.

* Oscar Nominated Short Films (Animated) Strong package this year! “Day & Night” is the one everyone saw, as it was this year’s Pixar entry. Also, it is fantastic. “Madagascar, carnet de voyage” was probably my favorite, with its variety of animation styles. I could have watched a much longer version of it. The winner, “The Lost Thing”, was dreamy & original; I’m pleasantly surprised that it won.

* Oscar Nominated Short Films (Live Action) This was probably the most depressing live action package I’ve seen in years. Kids killing people, kids dying, Burundi in 1994… man. The winner was, I guess, the least-depressing in the group, the story of a Brooklyn guy who becomes Cupid. More or less.

* I’m so glad Barney’s Version got a nomination, if only for makeup, because then I made the effort for it in spite of the mixed reviews. I loved it. Loved. And I got a kick out of all the Canadian cameos. Now I need to read the book.

* Another Year was magnificent. At the center of it is that most unusual of things on film: a stable married couple, played beautifully by Jim Broadbent & Ruth Sheen. It’s a perfect small film, a year in the life, and would actually be a pretty great double feature with the sprawling biopic nature of Barney’s Version now that I think of it.

I basically haven’t stopped talking about Cave of Forgotten Dreams since I saw it two weeks ago, which I think is telling.

The first film I’ve seen in 3D that actually gained something from the process, Cave of Forgotten Dreams takes us inside the Chauvet Cave in southern France, home of cave paintings dated at 30,000 years old. The cave had been sealed off by a rock slide 20,000 years ago, and was only rediscovered in 1994.

Werner Herzog and his three member team were under heavy restrictions filming inside, including the limits on the size of the team itself, where they could go, the sort of equipment they could bring in, and how long they could remain inside the cave (even the moisture from breathing has damaged cave walls).

Working within these restrictions, Herzog made the decision to film in 3D, so as to best capture the contours of the walls of the cave. It’s brilliant, actually. It’s unlikely the cold lights would have been sufficient, and by bringing the audience into the actual shape of the cave he allows us to experience as closely as possible the intentions of those long-ago artists. One of my favorite things in film is when limitations lead to creative solutions, and a 3D film about cave paintings is definitely creative.

Herzog gives the cave plenty of room to speak for itself. It is breathtaking, images (mostly of animals) instantly recognizable, the oldest art gallery in the world. If you have the opportunity to see this film in the theater, take it.

Cave is definitely a Herzog film. Only he would interview an archeologist & discover he used to be in the circus. Only he would end the film considering the thoughts of albino crocodiles. And only he is the most perfect choice for an archeological film that illuminates the nature of the soul.

I don’t think I’ve ever made it out to the Seattle Jewish Film Festival before, but this year a fellow 3 Dollar Bill volunteer gave me two vouchers, so I was able to check it out. I will definitely be back!

* Nora’s Will intrigued me for the intersection of Mexican & Jewish cultures. The film opens with Nora’s death, and as her ex-husband takes on her funeral arrangements, he challenges her attempts to manipulate the world after she has left it, and discovers that she knew him better than he could ever have hoped to know her. Delightful, subtle, and beautifully acted. Screened with the dark comic short “Banana Bread”. Both recommended.

* He’s My Girl was the film cosponsored by 3 Dollar Bill, which is running it again in next month’s Translations Film Festival. The lead is basically a tool, a musician trying to seduce one young man, while actually being in a secret relationship with a transgender Arab. Complications are kicked up a notch when his ill mother moves in with him and his ex-wife and estranged son reappear. It was more or less Almodovar lite (& French), and I prefer Actual Almodovar. Possibly because when his leads are tools the film acknowledges it and/or manages to make them sympathetic anyway.

I’m done, guys. I have detected a pattern, and I am not seeing another movie with Billy Burke in it for the rest of the year. Or possibly ever. He’s in all these movies that are obviously bad, but *should* be bad in an entertaining way. But they are not entertaining! They are just boring! They are full of possibilities for campy dialogue and crazy plots, but do they go there? No, they do not.

Red Riding Hood had potential. It’s directed by Catherine Hardwicke who also wrote and directed Thirteen, the cast includes Gary Oldman as a werewolf-hunting priest, and the cinematography looked gorgeous. In the stills, anyway. I rarely see trailers.

Plus, it had a number of key elements that at the very least could point to some excellent camp melodrama. Werewolves! Excessive cleavage! A love triangle! Adultery! Almost-incest! Bondage! Torture! Trees and houses with spikes on them for no apparent reason! Gary Oldman *and* Lukas Haas as priests! BSG’s Colonel Tigh! AN IRON ELEPHANT THAT IS AN OVEN AND ALSO A PRISON.

And yet. It was astonishingly dull. The picture opens with a flashback to two thirds of our love triangle as bloodthirsty youth, and then we are rushed forward, soap opera-like, aging them up so they’re old enough to have sex. They live in a village! At the edge of a deep dark woods! And Amanda Seyfried is in love with the penniless lad wot she grew up with, so of course she has been promised to Jeremy Irons’ son instead. (His actual son, that is; Jeremy Irons is not in this movie. Unfortunately.)

Thus, we have a love triangle. Hooray? Except it is totally a chemistry-free love triangle. And who has time for love anyway when there is a werewolf at large? A werewolf who has been around forever and yet! Has suddenly started breaking its deal with the village and killing people instead of tiny pigs or whatever the villagers have left out for him/her/them! Terribly ungrateful.

Naturally, Father Lukas Haas calls Father Gary Oldman, werewolf hunter and object of Haas’s giant man-crush, who shows up with a goon squad made up entirely of actors of color (in case you were wondering where they were in this lily-white production), the aforementioned iron elephant, and an amazing manicure. Oldman tells us that his wife had been a werewolf (HELLO REMUS ILU BB) and so he has Expert Knowledge in the Pain and Suffering when the Curse is on Someone You Love.

Part of his expert knowledge is a bit of Plot! We are currently in a blood moon! Which means this is the only time the werewolf can make new werewolves! And it will be a blood moon for THREE NIGHTS.

At which point I sigh heavily, because obviously there must be Three Nights of Movie Remaining and I perhaps did not bring enough coffee for this.

And so it continues. Characters wander around the village for no apparent reason until the plot rams them into each other. We’re told that it is very cold, but there is no knitwear! We see sweeping shots of glorious mountains, and fog mysteriously gathers only in the graveyard. Actors who have previously demonstrated talent are apparently replaced by robots. (Seriously, Virginia Madsen. What happened?) People die, but no one seems to care very much. Gary Oldman puts on a weird accent, but also delivers the greatest line of the whole picture: “Lock him up! In the elephant!” Which is possibly the only memorable line at all.

The audience thinks about who the werewolf obviously is, and then thinks about how the movie could be so much more interesting if it was one of the other characters instead. Some people fell asleep. Would that I had been so lucky.

The cinematography *was* pretty enough. But on the whole, I think Red Riding Hood was even duller than The Wolfman, which is amazing. I mean, for one thing, Emily Blunt bothered to act, whereas Amanda Seyfried did not. Perhaps because Emily *can* act? Plus The Wolfman had Anthony Hopkins having nearly as good a time as he did in The Rite, Hugo Weaving having more fun than anyone on the planet ever, and though both films featured dismemberment, only in The Wolfman was a hand still able to fire a gun after the fact.

I’m sure there are good werewolf movies out there, but this is not it.

* The Little Princess screened as part of the Children’s Film Festival. This was the 1917 adaptation starring Mary Pickford, and the Film Forum got me in with the magic words “live score”. Performed by Leslie McMichael on three harps, it was a perfect match to a great hour of classic silent melodrama.

Also, I would be remiss if I did not mention that the Children’s Film Festival audience was one of the best behaved I have ever experienced. Adults would do well to take a lesson from them. (Especially, ironically, paying audiences. Free screening audiences know to put the damn phones away.)

* As a tie-in with the SciFi and Fantasy Short Films, SIFF Cinema again ran a series of SciFi on Blu-ray. (Yes, film would be better. But Blu-ray in a theater is still light years ahead of my TV. Plus, audience! And leaving the house! Anyway.) Last year I made it out for 2001: A Space Odyssey (which put me to sleep every damn time I tried to watch it on video, but in the theater? It is just as brilliant as everyone says. If you have the opportunity, take it.)

This year was a change of pace from that, with a double feature of Time Bandits and Galaxy Quest. The former I had never seen before & found utterly charming, and the latter I have long adored, even though I have never seen any Star Trek at all. It still totally works, and it was a treat to see them both on the big screen.

* Earth Girls Are Easy is an 80s classic, terrible and also awesome, and quite formative in my, uh, perception of Jeff Goldblum. In other news, it’s for the best that I don’t live closer to Central Cinema, or I would be there every damn night.

* I saw the American cut of John Woo’s historical epic Red Cliff when it was released in 2009, and was unimpressed. I did think it was unfair to judge on half of the film (especially considering what a fan I am of the talent it had both in front of and behind the camera), so I was delighted when SIFF Cinema programmed the complete version. All 16 reels of it! (insert dreamy sigh).

It truly was a totally different feature, and though there were melodramatic and overly sentimental moments, they felt better earned this time around. The sex scene was still boring, though. Sad but true. The action was epic, dramatic, and absolutely clear, which is not always a given; the cinematography was beautiful; and I can’t imagine seeing it anywhere but on the big screen.

…also, can we take a moment to scan that list of films and giggle about the fact that they are all technically revival? A silent film, scifi/fantasy cheese, and a Chinese epic. Awesome.

We learned a number of lessons at Noir City 5. We learned that it really is best for doctors not to get involved with patients, we learned that one twin is always evil, we learned about caffeine intake and anger management, and we learned what happens when felons don’t learn about Stop, Drop, and Roll. See? Film can be very educational.

I love the series for the films, of course, but also for Eddie Muller’s introductions. The world of classic noir intersects with the creative challenges of the Hays Code, the personal and professional tragedies of the Hollywood blacklist, and the current race against time that is film preservation, and Muller does a fantastic job of bringing that all to us.

The series brings me back to the good bits of junior high: watching commercial-free black-and-whites on AMC in the early 90s, with introductions by Nick Clooney & Bob Dorian. Looking at my life now, they have a lot to answer for!

I made it to thirteen of the fourteen features, which is a new record for me. My favorite feature this year, unsurprisingly enough, was Don’t Bother to Knock, starring Marilyn Monroe as a babysitter with a tenuous grasp on reality, and classic noir lead Richard Widmark as a pilot looking for a little distraction. Bonus: a gorgeous young Anne Bancroft (in her first film role!) as the lounge singer who’s just dumped Widmark.

All of the action takes place within a hotel, and more-or-less in real time, both of which add to the terrifically claustrophobic noir feel. It’s available on DVD, and is one of the better introductions to noir from this year’s series.

Other notable features:

* Angel Face, with Robert Mitchum as the ambulance driver-turned-chauffeur who gets caught in Jean Simmons’ web.

* High Wall, where Audrey Totter is a doctor convinced of Robert Taylor’s innocence and commits several ethical violations to prove it.

* Loophole, your classic story of an average-Joe getting caught up in the underworld; in this case, being framed for a bank robbery. Other viewers seemed frustrated by a lot of bad decisions he made, but it made sense to me. When you don’t have a devious mind yourself, it’s hard to anticipate what folks with devious minds will do.

* The Dark Mirror, featuring brilliant performances from Olivia de Havilland as the sisters, some unfortunate pop psychology, and a few more ethical violations; and Among the Living, which is an entertaining (granted, ridiculous) flick featuring bloodthirsty villager-types in what might easily be Brooklyn or Queens, and a barely legal Susan Hayward setting her cap for the murderous twin. Of course.

I already can’t wait for next year, fourth row center with my Americano from Caffe Zingaro. Bring it on.