July 26-Aug. 2, 2006

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Charade SAM's Audrey Hepburn tribute continues with Stanley Donen's light-on-its-feet 1963 romantic thriller. Looking pretty splendid in her Givenchy outfits, Hepburn plays a widow trying to decide whether Cary Grant is a prince or a predator. The two exist in a glamorous snow-dome kind of Europe, like an overseas colony of JFK's Camelot. Mistaken identities only add to the elegant chicanery; as Hepburn says of Grant, "Do you realize you've had three names in the past two days?" So which one of the three should she trust—or love? Charade isn't explicitly non-naturalistic (in fact, most of its European locations are authentic), and the goons (James Coburn, Walter Matthau, and George Kennedy) pursuing Hepburn help put mundane, murderous reality in its proper place. In other words, it's something to escape. (NR) Museum of History and Industry, 2700 24th Ave. E., 206-654-3121. $35-$39 (series), $6-$8 (individual). 7:30 p.m. Thurs. July 27.

Chief Seattle Local filmmaker B.J. Bullert will discuss her documentary profile of Seattle's namesake and most famous citizen. The screening is a fundraiser for a Duwamish tribal long-house project; tribal leader Cecile Hansen will also be on hand to discuss her forebear. (NR) Camp Long, 5200 35th Ave. S.W. (West Seattle), 206-527-6108. 7 p.m. Thurs. July 27.

Ed Wood In Tim Burton's 1994 (sorta) biopic, playing the angora-attired transvestite director of the worst B-movies in history, Johnny Depp actually has the show stolen right out from under his pencil-thin-mustache-enhanced nose by Oscar-winning Martin Landau, who plays Wood's brilliantly fading fallen star, Bela Lugosi. The movie operates on two levels: hoot and heartbreak, with Depp owning the former and Landau the latter. The hoot is watching Depp as the ever-chipper Micawber of subterranean, mid-century zero-budget moviemaking, his big eyes glowing and shit-eating-grin gloating after every hopeless take of trash classics like Plan 9 From Outer Space—even when the inept actors knock over walls and tombstones and the crew neglects to steal the motor along with the giant octopus they've stolen from the studio, so that poor Lugosi has to flop its arms around for it to appear alive during his big octopus-wrestling scene. (R) TIM APPELO Egyptian, 801 E. Pine St., 206-781-5755. $6-$9. Midnight. Fri. July 28-Sat. July 29.

Filmmakers Saloon Quitting is the subject of this open roundtable discussion, which addresses the perennial question facing anyone trying to forge a movie career here in Seattle: Do I have to leave town to make it in film? Leading the discussion will be Dom Zook of GadZook Films and Andrew McAllister, whose second local feature, Urban Scarecrow, recently debuted at SIFF. So maybe there's hope after all. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 206-267-5380. $3-$5. 7 p.m. Wed. July 26.

Grease Maybe Hollywood stopped making musicals during the '70s, but somebody forgot to tell the cast of this tuneful, cheerful paean to the '50s. Adapted from the Broadway show, the 1978 Grease offers premium family fun with John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, and the wonderful Stockard Channing. This is a sing-along screening, so don't be surprised if the picnickers next to you stand up to dance and belt out "You're the One That I Want." In fact, such behavior is pretty much expected, so practice home at first in the shower. (PG) Fremont Outdoor Movies, N. 35th St. and Phinney Ave. N., 206-781-4230. $5. 7:30 p.m. (doors open); show at dusk. Sat. July 29.

Interkosmos Coincidentally resembling a film screened at SIFF this year (The First People on the Moon), Jim Finn's indie feature imagines a secret Communist space program. Filmed in a retro-futurist '70s style, Interkosmos suggests an obvious debt to Guy Maddin (who's praised it). Our Village Voice colleague Dennis Lim described it thusly: "A cosmonaut romance set aboard a 1970s East German space mission to colonize the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, Interkosmos weaves together lovingly faked archival footage, charmingly undermotivated musical numbers, propagandistic maxims ("Capitalism is like a kindergarten of boneless children"), stop-motion animation (of a suitably crude GDR-era level), a Teutonic (and vaguely Herzogian) voiceover, and a superb garage-y Kraut-rock score. Finn's deadpan is immaculately bone-dry." Better still, Finn will attend to discuss the movie. (NR) Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 206-267-5380. $5-$8. 8 p.m. Tues. Aug. 1.

Jumanji Chris Van Allsburg's original children's book wasn't half so cluttered or intense as this 1995 adaptation with Robin Williams. The notion of a magical board game that opens a portal to adventure will appeal to any kid, though the rampaging rhinos and such may send them screaming back to the familiar comforts of Monopoly. (PG) 4000 California Ave. S.W. (West Seattle), 425-445-5672. Free. Dusk. Sat. July 29.

Kaleidoscope Eyes: Songs for Busby Berkeley Seattle composer Chris Jeffries (Vera Wilde, The Fatty Arbuckle Spookhouse Review) sets 16 old movie choreography sequences to new music in this 75-minute program. Let's hope he has copyright clearances for his source materials (which include Gold Diggers of 1933 and Jumbo). His score is augmented by a chorus of six area vocalists. The show is directed by Ed Hawkins, with Jeffries a fellow alumnus of Annex Theatre. (NR) Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 206-267-5380. $12-$15. 8 p.m. Thurs. July 27-Sun. July 30.