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Top 4 Seattle Movies to Watch This Weekend
Photo: Komo News
**Spoiler Alert**
Like most people in this country, especially in the Pacific Northwest, your conversations and newsfeeds have probably been consumed by the COVID-19 Epidemic. There seems to be very little escape from the constant bombardment of local news outlets trying to calm nerves by saying “Plan don’t panic.”
This week Seattle companies Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Liberty Mutual,, and Nordstrom closed offices in lieu of work-from-home solutions in compliance with the Washington State Department of Health, Center for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Even local school districts and universities are following suit.
Many events here in Seattle have been canceled this weekend due to concerns over the respiratory outbreak, including the Emerald City Comic Con, Womxn’s March, Taste Washington, Black Fashionistas, and many more. Austin, TX has even postponed their popular South by Southwest Convention (SXSW) out of growing health and safety concerns. So if the virus spoiled your plans this weekend and you are tired of every media outlet reporting on the best ways to stop touching your face, then we’ve got you covered with the best Seattle-based movies:
1. “I know you can be underwhelmed, and you can be overwhelmed, but can you ever just be, like, whelmed?”
10 Things I Hate About You - The classic 1999 teen dramedy, starring Julia Styles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Larisa Oleynik was mainly filmed in Tacoma, WA at Stadium High School. The opening scene features the signature Seattle skyline from Kerry Park in the Queen Anne neighborhood. The Stratford sisters are forbidden to date by their overbearing, UW alum, OB/gyn father who changes the rules so that Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) can date when older sister Kat (Julia Styles) starts dating—assuming that it would not happen anytime soon. This movie captured the bygone era of Seattle whose landscape has changed substantially in the last two decades. You’ll also notice Alison Janney as Vice Principal Ms. Perky whose role centers on writing her erotic novel. If the plot seems familiar, it is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.”
2. “That's a very nice hat you're wearing. And I don't mean that in an Eddie Haskell kind of way.”
Singles - This 90s grunge-era Cameron Crowe movie shows the lives of a group of Gen X singles living in the same apartment building on Capitol Hill. It mainly follows two main couples played by Bridget Fonda, Matt Dillion, Kyra Sedgwick, and Campbell Scott. If you love everything Seattle grunge, this 1992 movie is a must-watch. Fonda plays Janet, a waitress and aspiring architect who becomes infatuated with Cliff (Matt Dillion) who is a bad boy frontman for band Citizen Dick, which is a play on Seattle band Citizen Sane. The other members of his fictional band are the members of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden, with a special cameo appearance of Tim Burton.
3. "Destiny is something we've invented because we can't stand the fact that everything that happens is accidental."
Sleepless in Seattle - Many houseboats line Lake Union, but none more famous as the one docked at the end of Westlake Avenue, which is best known as home to Tom Hank’s character Sam Baldwin in the classic Nora Ephron rom-com Sleepless in Seattle. We of course could not leave this off the list. This quintessential movie follows the story of widowed Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) who moves to Seattle with his son who looking to find a new wife for his father, by calling into a talk-radio station. Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) hears Baldwin pouring out his soul over the air and falls in love despite being engaged.
4, "What's happened to you? Have you been kissing ass so long, you're starting to like it?”
The Fabulous Baker Boys - This 1989 movie opens with an unrecognizable view of Seattle with the former Washington Mutual building in sight and the Columbia Center mid-construction. The film stars real-life brothers Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges alongside Michelle Pfeiffer. While the majority of the film lives indoors at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, the First & Vine apartments in the opening scene can still be found today, although they have definitely seen a renovation since the eighties. The movie follows the lives of the Baker brothers who are struggling pianists playing second-rate clubs. They find an up-and-coming singer played by Michelle Pfeiffer who helps boost their popularity. You can see the sights of Pioneer Square, 1st Street, Pike Place, and Ivar’s in just the first few minutes.
There are many more films and shows showcasing the Puget Sound area over the years. Do you have a favorite?
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