Not a second watched and a few suggestions for my Seattle brethren.

I'm in San Francisco. I'm drinking a lukewarm Americano in a corner cafe, staring out through warm rain at Delores Park, finishing up a little work before I head out to meet my new lady friend and I could not be happier. The future is quickly becoming the present and I'm more excited about, well, being alive than I have been in a while.

Thus, forgive me for the fact that I haven't even picked up the next Criterion film The Night Porter (59), that I haven't scanned a single frame of this critically divisive film about a romance between a Nazi death camp officer and one of his wards. It won't be until Tuesday at the earliest that I have anything to say about the film and that sucks but that's the way it's got to be.

A preface: I'm about to recommend a few movies that are playing in the Seattle area at one of the great theatres, The SIFF Theatre, in this burg. I know, some of you of you hooligans are from places near and far and these movie recs won't do anything for you. Look at it as a gift of free time, you don't have to waste your time slogging through my wordy explanations, you can go out and, uh, buy a bagguette or a pet a mangy stray or, uh, save a child from a forest fire. For you Seattle folk though, y'ain't got an excuse.

Here we go:

Lets start with this current weekend. You can either head on down to the SIFF Theatre during the day and check out the amazing Ray Harryhausen film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (claymation cyclops, half-naked men and more mystical beats than you can shake a stick at) and then hang around the area for one of my favorite thriller/crime/Criterion films Diabolique (35). Also, SIFF is putting on a French Crime Wave series right now that features some of the great movies ever out our snooty film friends across the sea. Seriously, you could pop in on any one of those amazing films and have your party pants knocked sideways in to the aisle. It runs until February 5th.

If you're feeling old school though, you can jaunt on over to The Grand Illusion at check out the truly magical Jean Cocteau version of Beauty and The Beast (6) that features creepy hand candelabra's and one of the strangest jet pack style jump endings I've ever seen. Well worth a peek on the big screen.

Feeling contemporary? You can still check out Benjamin Button (with it's wopping 13 Oscar nods), The Wrestler, Wendy & Lucy and if you're tempted to spend a weekend wallowing in depression, Revolutionary Road.

I might not be moving forward in the long crawl towards Criterion Gold, but at least you Seattle folk have some seriously impressive films to check out in the weeks to come.

Have a good weekend!