As the theatrical film industry moves to digital projection, will we still be able to watch independent films and classic movies on the big screen? Last week I covered one major issue: How will small, independent theaters finance expensive new projectors and the servers required to run them? This week I’m covering the other side [...]
Filed under: Technical, Theaters | Tagged: 35mm film, Blu-ray, DCP, digital projection | 1 Comment »
Esthetically speaking, I see no problem with digital projection. Under the best of conditions, 2K DCP projection looks better than 35mm film–and 4K looks better than 2K. An incompetent projectionist can ruin a digital presentation, of course, but with film, they can ruin the presentation and the print. As transitions go, digital hardly changes the [...]
Filed under: Technical, Theaters | Tagged: bay area, digital projection, Pacific Film Archive, Rafael Theater | 2 Comments »
The Pacific Film Archive is still on its winter hiatus, and will remain so until January 12. But the January/February schedule is out, so we have some idea of what’s ahead. This is an auteur heavy schedule, with four series devoted to particular filmmakers (two American, two French): Henri-Georges Clouzot, Howard Hawks, Robert Bresson, and [...]
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You may have heard recently that the Castro is converting to live theater and giving up regular movie screenings. I’m happy to report that the rumor is false. I first heard it via a tweet from Roger Ebert. It seemed plausible. Revival cinema hasn’t been economically healthy for a long time. So I emailed my [...]
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The San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation, which runs the Vogue, is joining forces with current Balboa manager Gary Meyer to keep that theater open. (I bet you didn’t even know it was in danger of closing.) The Balboa was built in 1926, making it one of the oldest continuing movie theaters in the Bay Area. [...]
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I know people who use the word showmanship to refer to a high technical quality in motion picture presentation—usually referring to old-fashioned technology. I don’t. When I think of "showmanship," I don’t think of movies. I think of circuses, magic shows, and rock concerts. Showmanship isn’t about technology, but about live human beings putting on [...]
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I recently realized that I could put together a pretty good series on Hollywood in the 70s from DVDs and Blu-ray discs in my home collection. Then I discovered that the Pacific Film Archive had a better one on the way using 35mm prints. In other words, I only recently took a look at the [...]
Filed under: Theaters, Upcoming & Local | Leave a Comment »
I’ve seen a lot of movie theaters close. It always hurts. But none hurt as much as Berkeley’s UC Theatre. There were years when I went there three or four times a week. Even more than the Castro, the UC was my shrine to the art and joy of cinema. It closed its doors for [...]
Filed under: First-person Report, Theaters | 3 Comments »
I just came home from a two-day mini-vacation, and what do I find? The Red Vic will definitely close on July 25—less than three weeks away. This seemed likely back in March, but it’s an absolute fact, now. Among the final films are Babe, Stop Making Sense, Touch of Evil, and The Last Waltz. The [...]
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The Roxie is undergoing more organizational changes. The biggest change: They’ll be mixing more live theater with films. On weekends, you’ll get a half hour of live entertainment before the movie. I don’t have time to really evaluate the announcement, so I’ll just do something horribly unprofessional. I’ll just pass on their press release, unedited: [...]
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