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I saw two movies today after Mishima, but didn’t get a chance to write them up until now.
It’s hard to talk about Burning the Future: Coal in America as cinematic art. This documentary about the environmental effects on mountaintop mining is propaganda, pure and simple. But as I’m in complete sympathy with its message–that coal [...]

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Just saw Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters at the Rafael. Part of the Mill Valley Film Festival, of course.
I’ve never seen it before, and this is a new “Enhansed” version created for Criterion DVD release. One scene restored (I don’t know which) and some digital trickery added. Well, it was co-produced by [...]

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Odd how these things work. I’ve lived in the Bay Area for 33 years. I even lived in Marin County the first 17 months of that (around the corner from the Rafael, actually). Yet until today, I don’t believe I have ever been in downtown Mill Valley. (Up until this year, every Mill Valley Film [...]

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I caught the last screening of West Side Story at the Castro last night. This was the brand new 70mm print with DTS (almost as good as the original magnetic analog) sound. I’d seen the classic, Oscar-winning musical before, of course, but not for decades and never in anything approaching its original roadshow glory. Quite [...]

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I saw The Dark Knight in Imax on Monday (read my review). Although once skeptical, I’m now a fan of the giant format as the best way to present the most spectacular of Hollywood entertainments.
Regular Bayflicks readers know that I’m a fan of 70mm. In that format’s second golden age (roughly 1977-1993), the movies I [...]

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I just got home from the Pacific Film Archive, where I caught a screening of Miklós Jancsó’s decidedly strange war film,The Red and the White. This was part of the PFA’s current series, The Long View: A Celebration of Widescreen.
I’m not sure what to make of this Hungarian Russian Civil War drama–if drama is the [...]

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I discovered something about myself this weekend. I can only watch so many silent films in three days.
I attended all but two events at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival this weekend. I had a great time, but I feel like I fried my mind. A quick overview:
The General Vibe
There’s more to this festival than [...]

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Owning a movie on DVD shouldn’t keep you from seeing it theatrically. After all, if you love it enough to buy it, you should love it enough to leave the house and see it under the best possible conditions. I’m seeing three such films this week–four if you count Lawrence of Arabia.
Lawrence is a special [...]

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Last night, the Pacific Film Archive introduced me to Johnnie To. Okay, I didn’t meet the Hong Kong action auteur personally, but the archive introduced me to his work. I liked it.
The occasion: opening night of the PFA’s new series, Hong Kong Nocturne: The Films of Johnnie To. The films: The Mission and Fulltime [...]

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