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Afterword
Christopher Wood on May 15th, 2012
I wouldn't go so far as to say The Writer's Lodge in Seattle will cast a spell over all visitors, but the ambiance does work some kind of magic. A combination of senses hit me at once upon seeing the newly-opened Lodge last week - the sunshine, the bubbling fountain
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Christopher Wood on April 13th, 2012
Watching a good independent film at a festival is a bit like meeting The One, then losing his/her number - you may never run into each other again. But The Grand Cinema, our local cinematic Cupid, believes in second chances, and second screenings. So in case you missed Losing Control
Arts Feature
Christopher Wood on April 4th, 2012
I pledge allegiance to the flag ...
Our Father, who art in Heaven ...
What else can you recite verbatim from your school days? I know that after 17 years of private and public education, not much stuck with me into adulthood. And don't ask me about the Bible - just trying
Arts Feature
Christopher Wood on February 16th, 2012
I don't know who has it worse - the 6,000-and-change folks charged with selecting a single Best Picture from nine contenders at this year's Academy Awards, or you, charged with selecting a single decent Oscar party to attend. Or maybe, like Rhett Butler, you simply don't give a damn about
Guides
Christopher Wood on November 25th, 2011
You have the tree picked out, every box of yard decorations categorized, and the yuletide music at full blast. Now all you need are some choice movies to fully embrace the reason for the season. At this time of year, more than any other (with Halloween as a possible exception),
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Christopher Wood on November 9th, 2011
There's no doubt this year's Olympia Film Festival will manage to attract a few more to its already substantial band of supporters. With an ambitious 10-day lineup spanning the ages of cinema, there literally is something for everyone - of any age.The OFF looked deep into
Arts Feature
Christopher Wood on November 9th, 2011
My, my - these film festivals sure grow up quickly, don't they? In the South Sound festival family I see Tacoma and Gig Harbor's film festivals as the precocious youngsters, full of energy while finding their unique niche in a big world. They have some fun years ahead before reaching
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Christopher Wood on October 5th, 2011
How about a magic trick? Most films perform one; they conceal as much as they reveal. They have us so mesmerized by the world flashing onscreen that we barely tune in to that other world just beyond the frame, that of the film's creators. They cover up their own tracks
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Christopher Wood on August 2nd, 2011
A long time ago (meh, a few years back), in a place far, far away (Shanghai), a man entered a flea market and purchased a DVD, assuming it was one of the prequels to a certain sci-fi American franchise. It turned out to be an actual work
Guides
Christopher Wood on August 1st, 2011
Adam Manley's camera has seen the end, and it is yellow. As he explains in a recent YouTube video on his "Adam The Alien" channel, while at a Seattle meeting with fellow YouTube partners in May, his workhouse camcorder just randomly decided to begin painting the world in a sickly
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Recent Blog Posts
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on May 7th, 2012
STIFF's evening show at Grand Illusion Cinema last Sunday brought a mixed bag of films to a nearly packed house. A Man, Buried (which I previewed in an earlier Movie Biz Buzz) started things off on the right note, with viewers enjoying this magical, darkly comic fable. While Tacoma's Rick
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on May 2nd, 2012
Can you believe already three years have passed since producer/co-writer Randy Sparks finished his short comedy It Don't Rain on Sunny Days? Even more unbelievable is that I and the Volcano still can't shut up about it. Actually, I get into such a forward-thinking mindset, always seeking out the newest
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on May 1st, 2012
The jagged white triangle of Rainier explodes against a blue sky during the warmest day Tacoma has probably basked in this year. At first glance, the large house overlooking downtown looks as cheery as the weather, yet it houses a cold secret. See that? Someone has even blacked out a
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on April 24th, 2012
Late in 2011, a French director, hardly known to American audiences, came to this country with his film The Artist and won the admiration of critics and five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Now we head back east, as select American moviemakers invade the shores of France for next month's
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on April 17th, 2012
WRITER/DIRECTOR JESSE WATSON'S FILM TO SCREEN AT STIFF >>>
We all have multiple identities. Sometimes, Tacoma's Rick Walters makes films. He produces, acts, and has even written and directed his own short, 2011's Scamp. At other times he wears the title Dad for his son Race (the two performed together in
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on April 10th, 2012
WRITER-ACTOR TONYA YORKE'S FILM LISTEN ACCEPTED AT STIFF 2012 >>>
With already two films to its credit this year, Tonya Yorke's In the Room Productions quickly moves into the spotlight. While the Tacoma actor-producer's effort in The Shootout, a western about gunslinger Jesse James, nears completion for the festival circuit, last
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on April 3rd, 2012
SHOOTING THE END OF THE WORLD ENDS IN GREENWATER >>>
The ant can't act.
I return to the set of Koinonia last Monday, and the shooting has moved indoors. Struggling through a post-apocalyptic world, John (played by Tony Doupe) finds temporary shelter inside an abandoned house. He awakes one morning to
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on March 27th, 2012
POKING AROUND AFTER THE MOTHER OF ALL GLOBAL WARS >>>
My journey to Koinonia, the new feature by Tacoma's Andrew Finnigan, begins last Thursday. Mount Rainier looms larger and Highway 410 gets narrower as I head toward my destination. Buildings melt away, replaced by nothing but trees in all directions.
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on March 20th, 2012
THE DIRECTOR'S CUT >>>
"I was supposed to be done with this thing already," Tchinski tells me. "Of course, you know how things go."
Let me break it down for you: "this thing" refers to Grimises Rising, the new feature-length horror-thriller from director Harry Tchinski of Graham. After the splashes his previous
Spew Blog
Christopher Wood on March 13th, 2012
JESSE HARRIS DID, AND STARTED SEATTLE'S NFFTY >>>
Let's talk numbers.
21
Jesse Harris' age when he co-founded the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (the cool kids call it NFFTY) in Seattle with Jocelyn R.C. and Kyle Seago. What had YOU accomplished by that time in your life? Probably starting your
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Recently Reviewed Movies
Christopher Wood on March 30th, 2011
Independent cinema serves as a refuge for many, a means of expression for those marginalized groups that otherwise wouldn't have a voice (or willing listeners for that matter). Mainstream media cannot hope to cover all viewpoints of an issue; sometimes the only way the rest of us even know a
Christopher Wood on September 15th, 2010
One of cinema's main attractions involves its promise to carry us off and into worlds beyond our everyday living and imagining. Much of the eclectic lineup scheduled for this year's Tacoma Film Festival (Oct. 7-14) takes place in different states, on different continents, and a few emerge purely from their
Christopher Wood on July 12th, 2011
No one likes it when a party has to end. Cinegeek that I am, every year when the Tacoma Film Festival wraps I want it to start all over again, not only to replay the movies I did see, but to catch what I missed the first time.
In a way
Christopher Wood on April 4th, 2012
My birthday, January 2008: Laughing nervously as a crazed Daniel Day-Lewis delivers his now-classic line, "I ... drink ... your ... MILKSHAKE!" in the finale of There Will Be Blood.
Summer 2007: Marveling at the sheer scope of Danny Boyle's sci-fi spectacle Sunshine.
Fall 2005: (Over)acting all over the UWT campus in
Christopher Wood on October 5th, 2011
How about a magic trick? Most films perform one; they conceal as much as they reveal. They have us so mesmerized by the world flashing onscreen that we barely tune in to that other world just beyond the frame, that of the film's creators. They cover up their own tracks
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