Bayflicks.net

Quite a selection this week. Who says revival cinema is dead!
Stagecoach, Pacific Film Archive, Tuesday, 7:30. How hard is it to see great westerns on the big screen these days? In the 3 1/2 years I’ve maintained this web site, this is my first chance to recommend you catch John Ford’s 1939 masterpiece. Nine [...]

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You’ve probably heard about the big fire at Universal Studios, and about how nothing irreplaceable was destroyed. While that’s true in the technical sense, economic realities control what does and does not get replaced. Thus, thanks to that fire, many an old Universal and Paramount movie will probably never be properly screened again (Universal owns [...]

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This is a follow-up to an earlier post, Indiana Jones and the First Running at the Castro. I’m assuming you’ve read that one.
A PR representative was kind enough to get back to me on Monday with more information about this seeming change in policy:
We had a substantial opening in our programming at the point where [...]

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Missing the old calendar I used to on this site?
The Film on Film Foundation, which I’ve mentioned in the past, has started one. You’ll find it at www.filmonfilm.org/filmcalendar/. I hope the Foundation is able to keep it going.

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We think of westerns as a…as the…American genre. They’re our national myth; our way of defining ourselves as a people. But just as Hollywood has made medieval romances and tales from the Arabian Nights, other countries have made westerns. They’ve also let westerns influence their contemporary dramas and samurai films.
March 1 through April 26, SFMOMA [...]

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Something very funny is coming to the Bay Area the first weekend in October. If you’re a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (and regular readers know I’m one), you’re going to love The Found Footage Festival.
Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett collect the garbage of our video-saturated culture. Rummaging through garage sales, dumpsters, and other [...]

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Lawrence of Arabia, Castro, Saturday and Sunday. Lawrence isn’t just the best big historical epic of the 70mm roadshow era, it’s one of the greatest films ever made. Stunning to look at and terrific as pure spectacle, it’s also an intelligent study of a fascinatingly [...]

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I started Bayflicks.net almost three years ago when my business was in a slump. Now business is doing pretty well. That’s good, but it’s giving me less time to maintain this site. Since I can’t afford to turn down paying work, Bayflicks has been eating into my recreational time. In other words, it’s keeping me [...]

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Some interesting events coming up, none connected to the Mill Valley Film Festival.
First, in honor of its 90th birthday, Oakland’s Piedmont Theater will celebrate its 90th birthday with a week of classic cinema. The movies include Lawrence of Arabia, Safety Last, His Girl Friday, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. All films will be [...]

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Sorry I’m a bit late with the newsletter this week. Rosh Hashanah.
I’ve also changed my weekly newsletter (what you’re reading). I now list ongoing engagements of reviewed films at the bottom, without repeating the reviews.
Delirious, Lumiere and Shattuck, opens Friday for one-week run. It’s official: Low-budget independent films [...]

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