Let me start with a quote from Roger Ebert’s autobiography, Life Itself: In my childhood the Church arched high over everything. I was awed by its ceremonies. Years later I agreed with Pauline Kael when she said that the three greatest American directors of the 1970s—Scorsese, Altman, and Coppola—had derived much of their artistic richness [...]
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The Anti-Corporate Film Festival continues through Saturday, and I Wake Up Dreaming continues through the end of the week. Tramp Camp, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Sunday, 4:00. Want to connect to your inner Charlie Chaplin? Movies will be screened, of course, and there will be lessons in imitating the tramp’s walk and style. I’m [...]
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Last night I attended Christine Vachon’s State of the Cinema address. By her own count, Vachon has produced over 60 films (IMDB says 65), including Boys Don’t Cry, Happiness, I Shot Andy Warhol, and The Notorious Bettie Page. On the other hand, she’s also produced I’m Not There and Cracks; not everything she made is [...]
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I discovered just how fun an Oscar party can be. It happened last night at the Cerrito. But I must confess: I did not, after all, come costumed as a lesbian gardener ballet dancer with an eye patch. A few people were costumed as movie characters, however, and a great many dressed up formally for [...]
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A Marwencol, Lumiere, Shattuck, opens Friday for a one-week run. Five men attacked Mark Hogancamp with such viciousness he lost his entire memory and considerable brain function. Now he uses Barbie Dolls, GI Joe-type action figures, and models to create a fantasy world centering on a fictitious town in World War II Europe. There, Mark’s rugged [...]
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My wife and I attended A Conversation with T Bone Burnett at the San Francisco International Film Festival yesterday evening. Critic Elvis Mitchell moderated, interviewing Burnett and, briefly at the end, taking reader questions. Every so often they would stop for clips from movies Burnett had worked on. A singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and musical [...]
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I’ve just received word that the Cerrito will revive its old Cerrito Classics series, now running the second Thursday night of each month. The series begins April 8 with Diva. Other films on the schedule include Chinatown, Born Yesterday, Jaws, To Catch a Thief, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Rosemary’s Baby, The Red Shoes, and White Christmas.
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Near the end of both 2006 and 2008, I wrote Top Ten lists of very little value (you’ll find them here and here). They listed the best new films I saw at festivals over the past year that hadn’t received regular releases. These were, in a sense, lists of the best films of the year [...]
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I got to the Festival in time to see two films yesterday. I liked both of them, but wasn’t blown away by either. Can Go Through Skin. After barely escaping an attempted murder, Marieke (Rifka Lodeizen) moves to the country to find peace and quiet. She finds a warm and friendly community, and even an [...]
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Just in case the San Francisco International Film Festival leaves you wanting movies that are short, cheap, to-the-point, and both entertaining and depressing, the Roxie will offer a solution: From May 15 to the 28, they’ll screen I Wake Up Dreaming: the Haunted World of the B Film Noir, a series of 29 little-known, low-budget [...]
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