And this week, the Balboa starts Popcorn Palace, a series of kiddie matinees every Saturday at 10:00am. The series starts with a collection of independent, child-friendly, animated shorts.

B Something in the Air, Opera Plaza, Shattuck, opens Friday. Youthful innocence takes strange forms. For Gilles, a French high school student in 1971, it takes the forms of radical activism and artistic ambitions. Sometimes those drives support each other in Olivier Assayas’ loose tale, and at other times they conflict. Something in the Air doesn’t grab you like a great film; you often have to force yourself to stay involved. But the effort is worthwhile. As Gilles grows beyond his radical idealism–even if he never quite renounces it–you’ll find yourself appreciating how we all mature and find ourselves. And yes, the esoteric Marxist arguments are intended to look ridiculous. Read my full review.

C+ Cleopatra (1963 version), Shattuck, Wednesday. New digital restoration. At 243 minutes, this widescreen epic clocks in as the longest single theatrical release by a major American studio. And at an estimated 40 million 1963 dollars, it’s probably the most expensive. It’s also very dependent on a large screen and a large format to work (it was shot in Todd-AO and originally screened in 70mm). In most theaters and with most projectors, the first half (Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar) is mildly entertaining, and the second half (Richard Burton as Mark Antony), unbearably boring. But with a large enough screen and a good enough print (or DCP), the movie’s spectacle makes it much more fun. The first half becomes spectacular entertainment and the second…well, not quite as boring. Frankly, I can’t imagine any screen in the Shattuck doing it justice.

A+ Rear Window, Castro, Saturday. Alfred Hitchcock at his absolute best. James Stewart is riveting as a news photographer temporarily confined to his apartment and a wheelchair, amusing himself by spying on his neighbors (none of whom he knows) and guessing at the details of their lives. Then he begins to suspect that one of them committed murder. As he and his girlfriend (Grace Kelly) begin to investigate, it slowly begins to dawn on us that they’re getting into some pretty dangerous territory (something they don’t realize until it’s almost too late). Hitchcock uses this story to examine voyeurism, urban alienation, and the institution of marriage, as well as to treat his audience to a great entertainment. On a double bill with Body Double, which I haven’t seen.

A Sweet Smell of Success, Roxie, Saturday. Burt Lancaster risked his career to produce this exploration of the seamy side of fame. He plays New York gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker–a truly repellent and despicable character who happily bathes in the adulation and fear of the people around him. Tonight’s main victim: a whinny Broadway press agent (Tony Curtis belying his reputation as a bad actor), terrified that his career will collapse if Hunsecker doesn’t praise the right client. In addition to everything else, Hunsecker–who’s based loosely on the actual Walter Winchell–has a rather too-close relationship with his kid sister. From a script by Clifford Odets and Ernest (North by Northwest) Lehman. On a double bill with All Night Long, which I haven’t seen. Part of the I Wake Up Dreaming series.

A+ The Godfather Trilogy, New Parkway, Sunday, 11:00am. The A+ goes to the first two films. Francis Coppola, taking the job simply because he needed the money, turned Mario Puzo’s potboiler into the Great American Crime Epic. Marlon Brando may have top billing, but Al Pacino owns the film (and became a star) as Michael Corleone, the respectable son inevitably and reluctantly pulled into a life of crime he doesn’t want but fits him like a glove. Great as The Godfather is, the sequel (which is also a prequel) tops it. By juxtaposing the rise of Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando in the first film, a young Robert De Niro here) with the moral fall of his son Michael (Al Pacino again), Puzo and Coppola show us how the decision a seemingly good man makes to care for his family will eventually destroy the very people he loves. I recommend you leave before Part III starts.

A Shadow of a Doubt, Castro, Tuesday. In Alfred Hitchcock’s first great American film, a serial killer (Joseph Cotton at his most charming) returns to his small-town roots. When his favorite niece (Teresa Wright) begins to suspect that all is not right with her beloved Uncle Charlie, her own life is in danger. Cotton’s performance makes the movie. Most of the time he’s warm, friendly, and relaxed. But he can turn brooding and dark, and say things that no well-adjusted person could possibly say. Written in part by Our Town playwright Thorton Wilder. The locations were shot in Santa Rosa. On a double bill with Stoker, which I haven’t seen.

A- Milk, Castro, Wednesday. Yep, I’m always a sucker for a historical epic, and it’s such a rare treat to see one set in a time and place where I actually lived. Sprawling but never boring, and inspiring without preaching, Milk tells the story of America’s first openly gay elected official, from his closeted time in New York to his Castro activism, his all-to-brief service in City Hall, and his untimely assassination. I’ve always known that Sean Penn was a great actor; it’s nice to know that he can do “happy” as well as more tragic emotions. James Franco is also very good as what in a more conventional film would be called the "chick" part.

B+ Black Swan, Castro, Thursday. Natalie Portman loses her grip on reality (and wins an Oscar) in this over-the-top psychological melodrama set in the world of ballet. Between her dominating mother, the artistic director trying to awaken her suppressed sexuality for the sake of art (yeah, right), and the other ballerinas who may be friends or enemies, she has a lot on her mind. No wonder she has a hard time holding on to it. Deliciously fun entertainment. Not to be confused with the 1942 Tyrone Power pirate movie, The Black Swan, which is also deliciously fun entertainment. On a double-bill with Dancer in the Dark.

A+ Raiders of the Lost Ark, Clay, Friday and Saturday, midnight. Steven Spielberg directed it, and the bad guys are Nazis, but it’s as far from Schindler’s List as a great movie can get. But then, it’s great in an entirely different way. There’s absolutely nothing to take seriously in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and no message to help uplift you. The story is fundamentally preposterous, and the hero, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is no more an archeologist than I am a butterfly. But the energy is so high, the action scenes so brilliantly choreographed and edited, and the whole story told with such enthusiasm and wit, that the rest of it just doesn’t matter. If you object to mindless, escapist action flicks on principle, you won’t see it anyway. If you don’t, you probably already love it.

B+ Bridge on the River Kwai, Stanford, Friday. The longer it’s been since you’ve seen David Lean’s World War II adventure, the better it gets in your  memory. That’s because the brilliant story of an over-proud British POW whose actions become arguably treasonable (Alec Guinness) sticks in the mind. But to see the actual movie again is to be reminded that Guinness’ tale is just a subplot (the actor received third billing). The bulk of Kwai is a very well made but conventional action movie with some uncomfortably Hollywoodish elements. Remember the Burmese porters who all just happen to all be beautiful young women? In one way, Kwai is like sex: When it’s good, it’s fantastic, and when it’s bad, it’s at least entertaining. Read my Blu-ray review.

And then there are these:

A+ Powell & Pressburger Technicolor Double Bill: The Red Shoes & The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Castro, Sunday. The A+ goes to Colonel Blimp, which follows a career soldier in His Majesty’s army through four decades and three wars, from his dashing youth to a somewhat foolish old age. Along the way, filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger provide warmth, heartbreak, laughs, and several viewpoints on what it means to be a soldier, a patriot, a young man, an old man, and a decent human being. The Red Shows, set in the world of ballet, examines what it takes to be an artist. The cast and characters are all excellent, but the final hour weighs down with more melodrama than even a well-acted film can bear. On the other hand—and this is why The Red Shoes holds on to its classic status—the 20-minute ballet at the center is a masterpiece of filmed dance, and no other picture used three-strip Technicolor this expressively. I discuss Colonel Blimp in more detail in this article and this Blu-ray review; and The Red Shoes here.

Balboa History Night, Balboa, Tuesday. I know virtually nothing about this. But there’s a trailer.

A- The Master, Castro, Tuesday. Presented in 70mm! Paul Thomas Anderson loosely based The Master on Scientology and it’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard. But this is no more a critique of Hubbard’s cult than Citizen Kane is an attack on Hearst newspapers. The story is really about an alcoholic drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) who finds himself in the circle of a charismatic cult leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Neither man is trustworthy; one steals from his hosts, the other runs what he may or may not consciously realize is a scam. Amy Adams gives The Master’s third great performance, as the "great" man’s wife–sweet on the outside but inwardly hard as nails. The film suffers from a weak third act. Shot in the 70mm format. For more on the film and the format, see The Master, by a Master, in Masterly 70mm and When You Least Expect It: The Return of 70mm,

B+ The Source Family, Rafael, opens Friday. Not what you’d expect from a documentary about an early 70s LA-based cult and hippy commune. Told almost entirely from the point of view of former commune members, the film paints a largely nostalgic picture of early new age spirituality and anti-materialistic idealism. But while it presents leader Jim Baker as a truly holy man whose insights improved the lives of his followers, it also shows how his megalomania and his libido compromised and hurt the family. Read my full review. Note: When I first wrote about this film last year, it was called The Source.

A+ Jaws, United Artists Berkeley, Thursday, 9:00. People associate Jaws with three men in a boat, but the picture is more than half over before the shark chase really starts. For that first half, it’s a suspenseful, witty variation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play, An Enemy of the People, but with a central character more conflicted and less noble (Roy Scheider). Then the three men board the boat and the picture turns into Moby Dick. Jaws‘ phenomenal success changed how Hollywood operates, creating the summer blockbusters which are now all that the major studios care about. Yet by today’s standards, it’s practically an art film, albeit one that could scare the living eyeballs out of you. For more on Jaws, see my Blu-ray review and Book vs. Movie article.

B+ Bridge on the River Kwai, Stanford, Thursday and next Friday. The longer it’s been since you’ve seen David Lean’s World War II adventure, the better it gets in your  memory. That’s because the brilliant story of an over-proud British POW (Alec Guinness) sticks in the mind. But to see the actual movie again is to be reminded that Guinness’ tale is just a subplot (the actor only received third billing). The bulk of Kwai is a very well made but conventional action movie with some uncomfortably Hollywoodish elements. Remember the Burmese porters who all just happen to all be beautiful young women? In one way, Kwai is like sex: When it’s good, it’s fantastic, and when it’s bad, it’s at least entertaining. Read my Blu-ray review.

B- Blazing Saddles, Kabuki and various CineMark Theaters, Wednesday. The most beloved western comedy of all time doesn’t do all that much for me. Sure, it has moments of great laughter as it lampoons everything from the clichés of the genre to institutional racism to the clichés of every other genre. But for every joke that hits home, two are killed by Mel Brooks’ over-the-top, beat-the-audience-over-the-head directing style. If you’re looking for western laughs, Paleface, Son of Paleface, Support Your Local Sherriff, and Shanghai Noon all beat Blazing Saddles.

A The Last Picture Show, Castro, Friday. This film put director Peter Bogdanovich on the map (as well as Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd), and he never again made a picture half this good. Filmed in deep-focus black and white, it studies a group of teenagers in a small Texas town in the early 1950s. The town appears to be blowing away (the title refers to the community’s single movie theater, struggling to stay open). There’s no conventional plot; the youths work, play, experiment with sex, and dream of their lives to come. Think American Graffiti, except made two years earlier, set eleven years earlier, and played for reality rather than laughs. A somber and sexy examination of a dying town, a country in transition, and the behavior of people everywhere. On a double bill with Dazed and Confused, which I haven’t seen since it was new but remember liking.

A On the Waterfront, Stanford, Saturday and Sunday. It’s best to look at On the Waterfront as a drama about finding the courage to do what’s right. Marlon Brando brilliantly plays a half-bright longshoreman torn between his moral obligation to testify against a corrupt union and the serious and dangerous consequences of being a stool pidgin. On that level, it’s a brilliant motion picture. But things get uglier when you put it into a political and autobiographical context. Both writer Budd Schulberg and director Elia Kazan named names to get off the anti-Communist blacklist, after which they made this film to justify their acts of cowardice. On a double-bill with Guys and Dolls, the movie that answers the question: Why did Marlon Brando only make one musical?

The Kiss, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30. I saw this silent Garbo vehicle about 40 years, and I remember little except her incredible face, with its ability to go from one emotion to another without seemingly moving a muscle. One interesting note: To my knowledge, this was the last silent film produced by a major Hollywood studio before Mel Brook’s 1976 Silent Movie.

A Badlands, Castro, Wednesday. Terrence Malick’s first feature introduced us to one of the most daring and unique filmmakers to ever work for Hollywood. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek (very young at the time) play lovers who go on a shockingly casual killing spree; it never seems to occur to them that they’ve done anything wrong. Told through Spacek’s first-person narration, we get the impression at times that it’s little more than a camping trip. Beautifully photographed (of course),Badlands leaves you feeling shocked, confused, sympathetic, and terrified. On a double bill with Electra Glide in Blue, which I’ve never seen.

A Alien, Kabuki and various CineMark Theaters, Wednesday. In the wake of Jaws’ and Star Wars’ phenomenal success, someone had to make a big-budget movie about a large predator on a spaceship. But the obvious marketing value doesn’t explain how good this film actually is, and on so many levels. First you’ve got the extraordinary art direction, giving us a spaceship that feels like a strange and unsettling high-tech haunted house, yet is absolutely believable. Then there’s the working-class astronauts complaining about the food and pay–easily the most realistic people Hollywood has ever shot into space. Don’t forget the star-making performance by Sigourney Weaver, or the overriding sense of loneliness, corporate exploitation, and–dare I say it–alienation. It’s also one hell of a fun, scary ride.

B Donnie Darko, Castro, Saturday. How many alienated-teenager-in-suburbia-time-travel-science-fantasy comedies can you name? Okay, there’s Back to the Future and its sequels, but add the adjectives horrific and surreal to that description, and Donnie Darko stands alone. And how many alienated movie teenagers have to deal with a slick self-help guru and a six-foot rabbit named Frank (think Harvey, only vicious). It’s not entirely clear what’s going on in this strange movie, but that just adds to the fun. On a double bill with–what else?–Back to the Future.

A+ North By Northwest, Alameda, Tuesday and Wednesday. Alfred Hitchcock’s light masterpiece, not as thoughtful as Rear Window or Notorious, but more entertaining than both of them combined. Cary Grant plays an unusually suave and witty everyman in trouble with evil foreign spies (who think he’s a crack American agent), and by the police (who think he’s a murderer). And so he must escape almost certain death again and again while chased from New York to Mount Rushmore. On the bright side , he gets to spend some quality time with a very glamorous Eva Marie Saint (danger has its rewards).

A The French Connection,  Cerrito, Thursday, 7:00. Perhaps the grittiest, filthiest, most realistic contemporary drama to ever win the Best Picture Oscar (and only two years after Midnight Cowboy, the other contender for that honor). A mystery and a character study about a foul-mouthed, violent, and borderline racist police detective (Gene Hackman in the best performance of his career), The French Connection sinks you into a dirty business and the people who have to do it. It also includes one of the best car chases in movie history.

B+ The Source Family, Roxie, through Sunday. Not what you’d expect from a documentary about an early 70s LA-based cult and hippy commune. Told almost entirely from the point of view of former commune members, the film paints a largely nostalgic picture of early new age spirituality and anti-materialistic idealism. But while it paints leader Jim Baker as a truly holy man whose insights improved the lives of his followers, it also shows how his megalomania and his libido compromised and hurt the family. Read my full review. Note: When I first wrote about this film last year, it was called The Source.

C+ 20 Million Miles to Earth, Stanford, Thursday and next Friday. Much as I love Ray Harryhausen, I have to admit that most of his films are barely mediocre. Yes, his character-driven special effects still astound, decades after they became technically obsolete. But with few exceptions, the movies wrapped around those effects were flat and cheap. Alas, 20 Million Miles to Earth is not an exception. A spaceship returning from Venus brings home an egg that soon grows into a very large monster. The creature is expertly realized and your heart goes out to it, but that may be in part because the human characters are so badly drawn that you’re left with no one else the care about. I’m assuming that the Stanford will not screen the colorized version. On a double bill with the original War of the Worlds, which I haven’t seen in decades.

San Francisco International Film Festival

A- The Daughter, Pacific Film Archive, Monday, 9:00. A serial killer is loose in a small Russian town, targeting teenage girls. That’s not a good time for Inna to go through the usual problems of adolescence. What’s more, her mother is long dead, her stern father is cold and strict (although there is a sense that he loves her), she’s responsible for her little brother, and her new best friend is a "bad" girl out to seduce the local priest’s handsome son. The film uses the mystery genre to  take us on a tour of post-Soviet Russian life as the protagonist and the community deal with raging alcoholism,  religious conflict, and corpses turning up in the mud. While in many ways deeply depressing, The Daughter also celebrates the resilience of youth, the genuine magic of first love, and the healing power of humanitarian religion.

B+ Youth, Kabuki, Friday, 6:45; Saturday, 1:30. Justine Malle–the daughter of Louis Malle–makes her narrative feature debut in this openly autobiographical feature. Juliette (Esther Garrel) is the 20-year-old daughter of a great and respected filmmaker, coming to grips with sex, romantic love, and her father’s slow death from a degenerative disease. That’s pretty much what Justine Malle went through in the mid 1990s. Like her father–who also made at least two autobiographical narratives–she handles the story with direct and intimate camerawork, and with love and compassion for the characters. Her protagonist doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, but watching her father slowly die is not on the top of her list.

B Shorts 3: Animation, New People Cinema, Wednesday, 9:00. Quality-wise, this collection of eleven cartoons ranges from the amazing to the dull, with far more good than bad. Among my favorites: In Tram, the driver of the title vehicle gets carried away with her sexual fantasies. Bite of the Tail, a moody mini-drama, explores a married couple in crisis. Eyes on the Stars tells the true story  of Ronald McNair, an African-American astronaut who died in the Challenger explosion. I’m not sure what Lumerence is about, but it sure was beautiful to look at.

B Something in the Air, Pacific Film Archive, Thursday, 6:30. Youthful innocence takes strange forms. For Gilles, a French high school student in 1971, it takes the forms of radical activism and artistic ambitions. Sometimes those drives support each other in Olivier Assayas’ loose tale, and at other times they conflict. Something in the Air doesn’t grab you like a great film; you often have to force yourself to stay involved. But the effort is worthwhile. As Gilles grows beyond his radical idealism–even if he never quite renounces it–you’ll find yourself appreciating how we all mature and find ourselves. And yes, the esoteric Marxist arguments look ridiculous.

B- Night Across the Street, Pacific Film Archive, Saturday, 6:30. Writer/director Raúl Ruiz was dying of cancer when he made this strange, surreal comedy, where an elderly man faces retirement and a seemingly pre-ordained violent death with a matter-of-fact calmness. That all fits well with the film’s deadpan humor. Beethoven and Long John Silver pop up, mostly in scenes where the protagonist is a young boy. Ruiz lit almost the entire film with an amber glow–as if everything was shot at what photographers call golden hour. Wonderful at first, Night Across the Street eventually drags. It should have been a half hour shorter.

C+ Good Ol’ Freda, Pacific Film Archive, Sunday, 6:30. How much more is there to say about The Beatles? Not much, apparently. This documentary focuses on the young woman who became their secretary soon after Brian Epstein signed them, and stayed with them in that capacity until they broke up. She sheds some light on the early days, as the band quickly moved from a local group with a small following to the biggest stars of all time. But once they achieve major fame, she has little to say that you probably haven’t heard before. Most of all, she talks about how she’s always refused to talk about The Beatles. She comes off as extremely principled but not particularly interesting. Good music, though.

C The Last Step, New People Cinema, Saturday, 7:00; Wednesday, 6:15; Thursday, 1:00. In this interesting but ultimately disappointing work, an actress (Leila Hatami of A Separation) can’t keep a straight face when filming a monolog about her dead husband. It doesn’t help that the ghost of her recently-deceased husband is on the set. In the flashbacks that take up most of the film, her still-alive husband seemingly courts death with one dangerous act after another. The real movie and the movie inside the movie appear to be quite possibly the same. This may sound like 8 1/2,but writer/director Ali Mosaffa lacks the light touch that makes Fellini’s masterpiece work. On the other hand, Leila Hatami’s expressive and open face makes anything she’s in at least partially worth seeing.

C- Nights with Theodore, Kabuki, Sunday, 9:30. Here’s a great idea for a supernatural thriller: Two young people meet at a party, leave together, sneak into a large city park officially closed for the night, and make love. But instead of starting a conventional romance, they keep returning every night to the park, which becomes an obsession. The man seems particularly effected, developing mental and physical problems whenever he’s outside the park. It’s a great idea, but writer/director Sébastien Betbeder fails to build empathy, suspense, dread, or any other appropriate emotion. The film just lays there. At least, at 67 minutes, it’s short. I’m hoping that someone more talented will buy the remake rights.

D Leviathan, Kabuki, Thursday, 5:30. One could make an fascinating and informative documentary about a fishing boat plowing the choppy waters off the Massachusetts coast, but this isn’t it. Leviathan consists almost entirely of badly-framed close shots of objects, waves, pieces of the boat, and so on. You  never get to know any of the men you fleetingly see (there are far more close-ups of dead fish than living humans). The film contains some visually striking shots, but it lingers on them long past the point of boredom. I’m happy that people push the cinematic art with daring experimentation, but sometimes, the experiment fails.

My comments on SFIFF screenings are at the end of this very long newsletter.

B+ The Source Family, Roxie, Thursday through next Sunday. Not what you’d expect from a documentary about an early 70s LA-based cult and hippy commune. Told almost entirely from the point of view of former commune members, the film paints a largely nostalgic picture of early new age spirituality and anti-materialistic idealism. But while it paints leader Jim Baker as a truly holy man whose insights improved the lives of his followers, it also shows how his megalomania and his libido compromised and hurt the family. Note: When I first wrote about this film last year, it was called The Source.

A+ Dystopian Comedy Double Bill: Modern Times & Brazil, Castro, Wednesday. The A+ goes to Brazil, although Modern Times easily wins an A. A mostly silent picture made years after everyone else had started talking, Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times laughs at assembly lines, mechanization, and the depression, with Chaplin’s tramp moving from job to job and jail to jail. With Paulette Goddard, the best leading lady of his career. Terry Gilliam’s Brazil comically explores a bizarre, repressive, anally bureaucratic, and thoroughly dysfunctional society. One government worker (Jonathan Pryce) tries to escape into his own romantically heroic imagination, but when he finds the real woman of his dreams (Kim Greist), everything falls apart. With Robert De Niro as a heroic plumber. Read my Blu-ray Review.

70s suspense Double bill: Deliverance & Duel, Castro, Friday. I haven’t seen either of these recently enough to grade them, but going on long memory, they’re both excellent. Duel was Steven Spielberg’s first feature, but it wasn’t a theatrical feature; it was made for television. Nevertheless, the Castro will be screening a 35mm print on their huge screen.

A The Maltese Falcon (1941 version), Oakland Paramount, Friday, 8:00. Dashiell Hammett’s novel had been filmed twice before, but screenwriter and first-time director John Huston did it right with the perfect cast and a screenplay that sticks almost word-for-word to the book. The ultimate Hammett picture, the second-best directorial debut of 1941 (after Citizen Kane), an important precursor to film noir, and perhaps the most entertaining detective movie ever made.

B The Man Who Fell to Earth, Castro, Thursday. Movies were pretty weird in the ‘70s, but they didn’t get much weirder than this—at least with a major director and stars. David Bowie plays an alien who comes to Earth in search of water, but who instead discovers capitalism, TV, alcohol, and human sex. Yet it’s not entirely clear what the film is about. Nicolas Roeg directed it, so you know that the movie won’t be about story. But the images are intriguing, the central characters are puzzles that cry out to be solved, and it has some very sexy scenes to enjoy watching. If for no other reason, see it to remind yourself what science fiction films could be like in the years between 2001 and Star Wars. On a double bill with another weird Roeg movie (and one that I haven’t seen in decades), Performance.

D+ Mama Mia!, New Parkway, Saturday, 10:30. What could go wrong with a musical comedy about long-passed promiscuity, starring Meryl Streep and set on a picturesque Mediterranean island? Plenty, including formless choreography, ABBA’s catchy but ultimately unmemorable music, and way too many exterior scenes obviously shot on a soundstage. But in terms of sheer embarrassing badness, nothing in Mama Mia! comes close to Pierce Brosnan’s nails-on-chalkboard singing voice. I like Brosnan a lot as an actor, but when he tries to sing, I suspect that someone in the sound room was strangling a cat. On the other hand, this is a sing-a-long version, so his voice will probably be drowned out by the audience, who can’t possibly sing as badly. Hosted by Barely Legal.

A- Blancanieves, Shattuck, Rafael, opens Friday. Could The Artist have started a trend in new silent films–all in narrow screen and black and white? But while The Artist looked to Hollywood for its inspiration, Blancanieves–a loose and very Spanish adaptation of Snow White–follows the more expressionistic silent film of Europe. The result is a story that could not possibly have worked as well with sound and color. Dark and atmospheric, Blancanieves holds you as it finds new twists in the old story. Major kudos for Maribel Verdú, who plays the evil stepmother with a relish that’s a joy to watch. The story is familiar, but writer/director Pablo Berger provides plenty of surprises. In the end, he stands the whole Prince Charming thing on its head. See my full review.

A- Ben-Hur (1959 version), Stanford, Saturday and Sunday.  Novelist Lew Wallace ripped off the plot of The Count of Monte Cristo, set the story in Roman-occupied Judea, and had the title character cross paths with Jesus. Hollywood’s second film version of the best-selling book easily surpasses all of the other big, long religious epics that Hollywood churned out in the 50s and early 60s. It even surpasses the 1925, silent original. Ben-Hur makes a rousing tale, a good story, and a visual feast. Say what you will, Charlton Heston is perfect for the role. The chariot scene still beats almost every other action scene shot. Only in the final hour, when Christianity gets ladled on thick, does it drag a bit. Ideally, this should be shown in 70mm or 4K DCP; the Stanford will screen it in 35mm, which assuming it’s a good print, should be fine.

A Pulp Fiction, New Parkway, Thursday, 9:00. Quentin Tarantino achieved cult status by writing and directing this witty mesh of interrelated stories involving talkative killers, a crooked boxer, romantic armed robbers, and a former POW who hid a watch in a very uncomfortable place. Tarantino entertainingly plays with dialog, story-telling techniques, non-linear time, and any sense the audience may have of right and wrong.

B The Graduate, Kabuki and various CineMark Theaters, Wednesday. Maybe it’s no longer the breakthrough movie it was in 1967, but The Graduate is still a well-made romantic comedy with serious overtones. And, of course, it gets Bay Area geography all wrong.

B- Clockwork Orange, Castro, Saturday. Stanley Kubrick’s strange, “ultra-violent” dystopian nightmare about crime and conditioning seemed self-consciously arty in 1971, and it hasn’t improved with time. But several of its scenes–the Singin’ in the Rain rape, the brainwashing sequence, Alex’s vulnerability when he’s attacked by his former mates–are brilliant, as is Malcolm McDowell’s performance as a hooligan turned helpless victim. But it doesn’t add up. On a Kubrick double bill with Barry Lyndon, which I haven’t seen since its original run–and hated it then.

Watch Horror Films, Keep America Strong: A Journey into Creature Features, Rafael, Sunday, 4:15. I haven’t seen this documentary on the old, long-gone Bay Area TV show Creature Features, and even if I had, this version is supposed to be different. But I do have fond memories of the show, which I used to stay up late to watch before we had VCRs. Creature Features host John Stanley will be there in person. Also in the program: Ernie Fosselius’ classic short, "Hardware Wars."

A+ Casablanca, Castro, Sunday. What can I say? You’ve either already seen it or know you should. Let me just add that no one who worked on Casablanca thought they were making a masterpiece; it was just another sausage coming off the Warner assembly line. But somehow, just this once, everything came together perfectly. For more details, see Casablanca: The Accidental Masterpiece. On a double bill with The Year of Living Dangerously, which I haven’t seen for a very long time. It seems like an interesting double bill.

C+ 20 Million Miles to Earth, Stanford, Thursday and next Friday. Much as I love Ray Harryhausen, I have to admit that most of his films are barely mediocre. Yes, his character-driven special effects still astound, decades after they became technically obsolete. But with few exceptions, the movies wrapped around those effects were flat and cheap. Alas, 20 Million Miles to Earth is not an exception. A spaceship returning from Venus brings home an egg that soon grows into a very large monster. The creature is expertly realized and your heart goes out to it, but that may be in part because the human characters are so badly drawn that you’re left with no one else the care about. I’m assuming that the Stanford will not screen the colorized version.

San Francisco International Film Festival

State of Cinema: Steven Soderbergh, Kabuki, Saturday, 1:00. One of the most versatile, daring, and occasionally brilliant filmmakers of our time–and one who has recently announced his planned early retirement–will talk about the state of the art form he’s giving up. Should be interesting.

B+ Youth, Kabuki, Wednesday, 6:45. Justine Malle–the daughter of Louis Malle–makes her narrative feature debut in this openly autobiographical drama. Juliette (Esther Garrel) is the 20-year-old daughter of a great and respected filmmaker, coming to grips with sex, romantic love, and her father’s slow death from a degenerative disease. That’s pretty much what Justine Malle went through in the mid 1990s. Like her father–who also made at least two autobiographical narratives–she handles the story with direct and intimate camerawork, and with love and compassion for the characters. Her protagonist doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, but watching her father slowly die is not on the top of her list. Bob Dylan’s "I Want You" will never sound the same. My major complaint: At 75 minutes, it’s too short. I wanted to spend more time with these people.

B Something in the Air, Kabuki, Saturday, 6:30; Monday, 9:15; Pacific Film Archive, Thursday, 6:30. Youthful innocence takes strange forms. For Gilles, a French high school student in 1971, it takes the forms of radical activism and artistic ambitions. Sometimes those drives support each other in Olivier Assayas’ loose tale, and at other times they conflict. Something in the Air doesn’t grab you like a great film; you often have to force yourself to stay involved. But the effort is worthwhile. As Gilles grows beyond his radical idealism–even if he never quite renounces it–you’ll find yourself appreciating how we all mature and find ourselves. And yes, the esoteric Marxist arguments sound, and are intended to sound, ridiculous.

C+ Good Ol’ Freda, Kabuki, Wednesday, 9:30; Thursday, 6:45. How much more is there to tell about The Beatles? Not much, apparently. This documentary focuses on the young fan who became their secretary soon after Brian Epstein signed them, and stayed with them in that capacity until they broke up. She sheds some light on the early days, as the band quickly moved from a small Liverpool club’s house band to the biggest stars of all time. But once they achieve major fame, she has little to say that you haven’t heard before. Most of all, she talks about how she’s always refused to talk about The Beatles. She comes off as extremely principled but not particularly interesting. Good music, though.

C Cold War, Kabuki, Monday, 6:45; Tuesday, 9:30; Thursday, 2:00. A police van with five cops in it mysteriously disappears. With all of the radios and GPS devices inside, that’s virtually impossible..unless it’s an inside job. In this fast-paced Hong Kong thriller, two high-ranking police officers battle each other as well as the bad guys through explosions, gun fire, and a lot of very fast, very serious dialog. Cold War never pauses enough for us to get to know a character, or care about one. The result is visually kinetic, but dead in the center–as devoid of character as the sleek Hong Kong skyscrapers in which most of it is set.

C- Nights with Theodore, Kabuki, Sunday, 6:45; Monday, 3:30. Here’s a great idea for a supernatural thriller: Two young people meet at a party, leave together, sneak into a large city park officially closed for the night, and make love. But instead of starting a conventional romance, they keep returning every night to the park, which becomes an obsession for them. The man seems particularly effected, developing mental and physical problems whenever he’s outside the park. It’s a great idea, but writer/director Sébastien Betbeder fails to build empathy, suspense, dread, or any other appropriate emotion. The film just lays there. At least, at 67 minutes, it’s short. I’m hoping that someone more talented will buy the remake rights.

And although it’s not officially a festival, the Lark will screen four classics in 4K digital this week . I discuss three of them below. (I haven’t seen the fourth, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion.)

A- Blancanieves, Embarcadero, opens Friday. Could The Artist have started a trend in new silent films–all in narrow screen and black and white? But while The Artist looked to Hollywood for its inspiration, Blancanieves–a loose and very Spanish adaptation of Snow White–follows the more expressionistic silent film of Europe. The result is a story that could not possibly have worked as well with sound and color. Dark and atmospheric, Blancanieves holds you as it finds new twists in the old story. Major kudos for Maribel Verdú, who plays the evil stepmother with a relish that’s a joy to watch. The story is familiar, but writer/director Pablo Berger provides plenty of surprises. In the end, he stands the whole Prince Charming thing on its head. See my full review.

A- What Maisie Knew, Castro, Thursday, 7:00. This family drama follows the aftereffects of a very angry, messy, and vindictive divorce–as seen through the eyes of the bickering couple’s  young daughter. We see nothing that she doesn’t see, or hear anything she doesn’t hear. Of course we realize, even if she doesn’t, that both of her parents are jerks. Julianne Moore plays Maisie’s monster of a mother, an aging rock star incapable of relating to another human being as anything other than an extension of herself. Maisie’s art dealer father (Steve Coogan) fights for joint custody not out of love but revenge. Luckily for her, there are better adults in her life, but they may not be enough to make up for her lousy parents. Opening night of the San Francisco International Film Festival.

A Raging Bull, Kabuki and various CineMark Theaters, Wednesday. Martin Scorsese put a cap on 70’s cinema with Raging Bull, his study of boxer Jake La Motta. It isn’t an easy film to watch; the experience is not unlike a fierce pummeling, but it’s absolutely worth it. Robert De Niro gives one of the great physical performances in cinema, changing from a taut athlete to a man who has let himself go, and at no point does he ask for our sympathy–which is primarily reserved for the other people in his life. Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman make brilliant use of black and white, allowing us to experience the emotional brutality of the fights.

A+ Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, United Artists Berkeley, Thursday, 9:00. I agree with common wisdom: Raider of the Lost Ark is a masterpiece of escapist action entertainment. But I split with the herd on this second sequel; to my mind, it improves on near-perfection. The action sequences are just as well done, but the pacing is better; this time Spielberg knew exactly when to give you a breather. Best of all, adding Sean Connery as the hero’s father humanizes Jones and provides plenty of good laughs. Once again they’re fighting Nazis to recover an ancient religious relic of extreme importance (this time, the holy grail). Just don’t confuse The Last Crusade with the wretched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

A+ Groundhog Day, Lark, Friday & Sunday, 7:00; Saturday & Wednesday, 9:15. Spiritual, humane, and hilarious,Groundhog Day wraps its thoughtful world view inside a slick, Hollywood comedy. Without explanation, the movie plunges its self-centered protagonist into a time warp that becomes his purgatory, living the same day over and over for who knows how long (it could be thousands of years). Bill Murray’s weatherman goes through stages of panic, giddiness, and despair before figuring out that life is about serving others. And yet not a frame of this movie feels preachy. Fast-paced and brilliantly edited, it’s pure, inescapable, but not escapist, entertainment. Even in its darkest, most hopeless moments, something comes up to make you laugh–usually Sonny and Cher singing "I’ve Got You, Babe." For more on this great comedy, see Wait 20 Years, and Then You Can Call a Groundhog Day a Classic. Presented in 4K digital.

B+ Frenzy, Pacific Film Archive, Wednesday, 7:00. Hitchcock’s penultimate movie isn’t up to his best work, but it’s good enough to remind you of just how amazing a talent he was. An innocent-accused-of-murder thriller set and shot in his native England, it harkens back to the low-budget potboilers that first made him famous. It’s also his only R-rated film, and it’s interesting to see what he did without the confines of censorship. This isn’t quite his last masterpiece, but it’s his last really good film–and the first really good one he had made in years.

A Samsara, Castro, Monday. Ron Fricke (Baraka) provides us with a succession of stunningly beautiful and occasionally shocking images, accompanied by a hypnotic musical score and almost no other sound. I sat, enraptured, my eyes and mouth open in astonishment. Although there’s no real story, Samsara is structured like one. Or if not a story, then at least a journey. Fricke shot Samsara in the 70mm format, providing a level of detail impossible to capture with today’s digital cameras or with standard 35mm film. The filmmakers have stated that Samsara is best seen in 4K digital projection, a format that the Castro doesn’t support. See my full review as well as More on Samsara, 70mm, and 4K Digital Projection. On a double bill Monday with Chasing Ice.

A+ The General, Pacific Film Archive Gallery B, Friday, 7:30. Buster Keaton pushed film comedy like no one else when he made this one. He meticulously recreated the Civil War setting. He mixed slapstick comedy with battlefield death. He hired thousands of extras and filmed what may be the single most expensive shot of the silent era (then used that shot as the setup for a gag whose punch line is a simple close-up). The result was a critical and commercial flop in 1926, but today it’s rightly considered one of the greatest comedies ever made. In this special Cine/Spin presentation, UC student DJs will spin records to provide a presumably hip-hop accompaniment for the film.

A Psycho, Pacific Film Archive, Saturday, 8:30. You may never want to take a shower again. In his last great movie, Alfred Hitchcock pulls the rug out from under us several times, leaving us unsure who we’re supposed to be rooting for or what could constitute a happy ending. In roles that defined their careers, Janet Leigh stars as a secretary turned thief, and Anthony Perkins as a momma’s boy with a lot to hide. I’ll always regret that I knew too much about Psycho before I saw it for the first time; I wish I could erase all memory of this movie and watch it with fresh eyes. Part of the series Alfred Hitchcock: The Shape of Suspense.

A+ Lawrence of Arabia, Castro, 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 complex and enigmatic war hero. T. E. Lawrence—at least in this film—both loved and hated violence, and tried liberating Arabia by turning it over to the British. No, that’s not a flaw in the script, but in his character. This masterpiece requires a very large screen and excellent projection–either 70mm or DCP–preferably 4K–to do it justice. The Castro has the screen, but only 2K digital projection. In other words, this isn’t the optimal Lawrence experience, but it’s pretty damn close. For more on this epic, read The Digital Lawrence of Arabia Experience and Thoughts on Lawrence of Arabia.

A Dr. Strangelove, Lark, Friday, 9:15; Saturday, 7:00, Sunday, 4:45; Wednesday, 7:00. A psychotic general named Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) orders his men to bomb the USSR and start World War III. But have no fear! The men responsible for avoiding Armageddon (three of whom are played by Peter Sellers) are slightly more competent than the Three Stooges.  We like to look back at earlier decades as simpler, less fearful times, but Stanley Kubrick’s “nightmare comedy” reminds you just how scary things were back then. Presented in 4K digital.

B+ The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lark, Sunday, 1:30; Tuesday, 7:00. The longer it’s been since you’ve seen David Lean’s World War II adventure, the better it gets in your  memory. That’s because the brilliant story of an over-proud British POW (Alec Guinness) sticks in the mind. But to see the actual movie again is to be reminded that Guinness’ tale is just a subplot (the actor only received third billing). The bulk of Kwai is a very well made but conventional action movie with some uncomfortably Hollywoodish elements. Remember the Burmese porters who all just happen to all be beautiful young women? In one way, Kwai is like sex: When it’s good, it’s fantastic, and when it’s bad, it’s at least entertaining. Presented in 4K digital.. Read my Blu-ray review.

B+ The Truman Show, Pacific Film Archive, Wednesday, 3:10. Before reality television reared its mediocre head, writer Andrew Niccol and director Peter Weir foresaw it in this comic fable about a man raised unknowingly in a giant television studio. Although prophetic in many ways, The Truman Show takes the concept way beyond plausibility, suggesting a television show that would be economically and legally impossible (that’s why I call it a fable). A few months after this picture came out, The Ed Show offered a far more realistic prophesy of reality TV. Part of the series and class Film 50: History of Cinema: The Cinematic City.

B- Foreign Correspondent, Pacific Film Archive, Friday, 9:00. Not one of Hitchcock’s best, but fun, with a couple of great Hitchcockian set pieces. It’s also an anti-Nazi film from a time when such a thing was still controversial in America (it was only Hitchcock’s second American film, made at a time when his native England was fighting for its life). Part of the series Alfred Hitchcock: The Shape of Suspense.

C The Sound of Music, New Parkway, Friday and Saturday. Many people love it, but I find the biggest money maker of the 1960s lumbering, slow, and dull. Not funny or romantic enough for light entertainment, yet lacking the substance necessary for anything else. And most of the songs give the impression that, by their last collaboration, Roger and Hammerstein had run out of steam. On the other hand, the Todd-AO photography of Alpine landscapes makes this one of the most visually beautiful of Hollywood movies–in a picture-postcard sort of way.

B The Big Lebowski, Clay, Friday and Saturday, midnight. Critics originally panned this Coen Brothers gem as a disappointing follow-up to their previous endeavor, Fargo. Well, it isn’t as good as the Coen’s masterpiece, but it’s still one hell of a funny movie. It’s also built quite a cult following;The Big Lebowski has probably played more Bay Area one-night stands in the years I’ve maintained this site than than any three other movies put together.

A Best of Looney Tunes Cartoons, Sebastiani Theatre, Saturday, 9:30am. For much of the mid 20th century, Warner Brothers’ cartoon division ran wild, making some of funniest and cleverest seven-minute shorts ever drawn. This collection, concentrating on the work of the great director Chuck Jones, includes "The Dot & the Line," "Ali Baba Bunny," and the immortal "What’s Opera Doc." Let’s hope it also includes my all-time favorite, "Duck Amuck." All in 35mm prints. Part of the Sonoma International Film Festival.

A Matinee, Rafael, Thursday, 7:00. On one level, Matinee works as a nostalgic comedy, allowing us to laugh at the bad movies and outrageous attitudes of the early 1960′s. But there’s something deeper at work here. Writer Charles S. Haas and director Joe Dante juxtapose a cheap horror film with the Cuban Missile Crisis to examine the nature of fear. It’s one thing to jump in your seat when the monster leaps out on the movie screen. But everything changes when nuclear war is imminent just outside the theater. And what about the fear of asking out a girl with a violent and jealous ex-boyfriend (even if he does write poetry)? Of course, things can’t get too scary when John Goodman and Cathy Moriarty steal the show as a crafty b-movie producer and his long-suffering girlfriend. And watch for John Sayles as a religious fanatic who might not be what he seems. One of the little-known gems of the 1990s. David Templeton & screenwriter Charlie Haas in person.

A Double bill: Touch of Evil & Blood Simple, Castro, Friday. Two excellent noirs, each of which deserves an A on its own merits. In Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil, the director plays a corrupt border-town sheriff–bloated, scary, and yet strangely sympathetic. Janet Leigh is a lovely and effective damsel in distress. True, Charlton Heston is miscast as the Mexican hero, but not as badly miscast as some people say. One of Welles’ best work. The Coen Brothers made a name for themselves with the atmospheric and grotesquely violent Blood Simple. The noirish plot, involving adultery and murder (both real and faked), makes perfect sense to the viewer, although it’s unlikely that anyone within the story will ever figure it all out.

B+ Z, Pacific Film Archive, Friday, 8:40. Costa-Gavras’ breakout film–at least for American audiences–put us in the middle of the military coup that brought fascism to Greece in the 1960s. Fast-paced even when it’s talky, and accompanied by one of the most audaciously exciting scores in movie history (by Mikis Theodorakis),  Z speeds through its combination of edge-of-the-seat thrills and left-wing polemics. With Yves Montand as the progressive candidate targetted for assassination, Irene Papas as his long-suffering wife, and Jean-Louis Trintignant as the magistrate who looks like a fascist but doesn’t act like one. When it was new, Z became the very first subtitled film I ever saw. Part of the series And God Created Jean-Louis Trintignant.

A The Conformist, Pacific Film Archive, Thursday, 7:00. It takes more than good men doing nothing to create fascism. According to Bernardo Bertolucci’s haunting character study, it also takes mediocre men with career ambitions. Jean-Louis Trintignant is chilling as a bland cog in the machine, ready to use his honeymoon in homicidal service to Mussolini. With Stefania Sandrelli as his not-too-bright bride and Dominique Sanda, in a star-making performance, as the object of everyone’s desire. Part of the series And God Created Jean-Louis Trintignant.

B The Pink Panther (original, 1963 version), Castro, Tuesday. The original Pink Panther was never intended to be an Inspector Clouseau movie, or a Peter Sellers vehicle. It was meant to be a charming European comedy of manners starring David Niven. But when Peter Ustinov dropped out at the last minute, Sellers was cast in the supporting role of the bumbling detective. It’s a tribute to Sellers’ performance that we now think of him as the star. But the scenes without him, which are most of the movie, are only okay. This TCM presentation will include actor Robert Wagner in person.

C Old San Francisco, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30. Well, I’m glad someone remembered the Earthquake anniversary, even if they’re remembering it with aristocratic Spaniards, corrupt Chinese, a caged dwarf, an Irishman in love, and an evil land speculator with a humiliating secret–all shaken by the 1906 earthquake and stirred with lurid melodrama. Silly and offensively racist, but still fun, Old San Francisco offers considerable historical interest with its fascinating glimpse at how Hollywood (and white America) saw the world in 1927. With its pre-Jazz Singer Vitaphone music-and-effects soundtrack, the essentially silent Old San Francisco stands as an important early film in the transition to sound. But you won’t hear that soundtrack at Niles; Greg Pane will be tickling the ivories. Also on the bill: Two short subjects shot in San Francisco in 1906.

B+ American Graffiti, Alameda, Tuesday and Wednesday. A long time ago, in a Bay Area that feels very far away, George Lucas made an entertaining (and extremely profitable) movie without action, a big budget, or special effects. Talk about nostalgia. You can also talk about old-time rock ‘n’ roll–American Graffiti makes great use of early 60s rock-n-roll.

C+ High Society, Stanford, Friday. To watch this VistaVision and Technicolor musical remake of The Philadelphia Story is to understand why screwball comedy died. It also makes you appreciate how wonderful Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart were in the original. High Society’s Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra are fine, but their comedic skills just don’t measure up. On the other hand, this version has Louis Armstrong, and that makes up for a whole lot. On a double bill with Silk Stockings, a 1950s musical remake of Ninotchka (do you sense a theme here); I haven’t seen this one in decades but I remember mildly liking it.

A- Moonrise Kingdom, Castro, Saturday. Wes Anderson at his most playful. Also at his sweetest and funniest. Two pre-teens in love run away–disrupting everything on the small New England island where the story is set. While the fantasy of young love makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, the adult reaction keeps you laughing–in large part because the main adults are played by major stars clearly enjoying a chance to clown around. They include Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, and, best of all, Tilda Swinton as “Social Services." On a Wes Anderson double bill with Rushmore, which, I must confess, I haven’t yet seen.

D Marnie, Pacific Film Archive, Saturday, 8:15. I’ve seen most of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, and of the ones I’ve seen, Marnie is undoubtedly the worst. More of a physiological mystery than a thriller, it follows the adventures of a beautiful woman (Tippi Hedren) who is both frigid and a compulsive thief. Sean Connery plays the aristocrat who loves her and sets out to cure her. This kind of story depends entirely on the stars, who must have looks, charisma, and acting talent to pull it off. Connery has the looks and the charisma–although perhaps not enough charisma to let us forgive him for raping Marnie on their wedding night. All Hedren has is looks; and the part is so far beyond her it’s embarrassing. Part of the series Alfred Hitchcock: The Shape of Suspense.

A Lawrence of Arabia, United Artists Berkeley, Thursday, 9:00. One of the greatest films ever made. Stunning to look at and terrific as pure spectacle, Lawrence is also an intelligent study of a fascinatingly complex and enigmatic war hero. T. E. Lawrence—at least in this film—both loved and hated violence, wanted desperately to become something he could never be, and told himself that he was liberating Arabia while knowing deep down that he was turning it over to the British. This masterpiece requires a very large screen and either 70mm film or 4K DCP digital projection for its full effect. I’m knocking this down from an A+ to an A because this theater doesn’t have a really large screen (and it has some really small ones), they often don’t bother to remove the 3D lens, effectively downgrading 4K to 2K, and who wants to start a four-hour film at 9:00 on a weeknight?

B- The Birds, Castro, Sunday. Alfred Hitchcock’s only out-and-out fantasy has some great sequences. The scene where Tippi Hedren calmly sits andsmokes while more and more crows gather on playground equipment, and the following attack on the children, are classics. The lovely Bodega Bay location adds atmosphere and local color, and many of the special effects were way ahead of their time. But the story is weak, the ending unsatisfactory, and that lovely scenery plays side-by-side with obvious soundstage mockups. Worse yet, new-comer Hedren doesn’t provide a single believable moment. She’s beautiful, but utterly lacking in acting talent or charisma.

A+ Seven Samurai, Alameda, Tuesday and Wednesday. If you think all action movies are mindless escapism, you need to set aside 3½ hours for Kurosawa’s epic masterpiece. The basic story–a poor village hires warriors to defend them against bandits–has been retold many times since, but Kurosawa told it first and told it best. This is an action film with almost no action in the first two hours. But when the fighting finally arrives, you’re ready for it, knowing every detail of the people involved, the terrain to be fought over, and the class differences between the peasants and their hired swords. One of the greatest movies ever made, and–I believe–the first subtitled classic being shown in a multiplex "classics" series. See my Kurosawa Diary entry.

A Lore, New Parkway, Monday, 7:00. What happens when your entire world–wealth, security, parental love, and the values you were raised with–dissolves almost overnight? When the Third Reich suddenly collapses and American soldiers arrest her Nazi parents, teenage Lore (Saskia Rosendahl) must guide her four younger siblings across a destroyed Germany to their grandparents’ home. Luckily, she acquires a companion more skilled than she at living off the land. But she couldn’t possibly trust him; after all, he’s a Jew. Filmmakers Cate Shortland and Robin Mukherjee don’t let you off with easy moralizing; decent, generous people can be ardent Nazis. And there’s no heart-warming realization of human decency. See my full review.

B- The Birds, Pacific Film Archive, Thursday, 7:00. Alfred Hitchcock’s only out-and-out fantasy has some great sequences. The scene where Tippi Hedren calmly sits and smokes while more and more crows gather on playground equipment, and the following attack on the children, are classics. The lovely Bodega Bay location adds atmosphere and local color, and many of the special effects were way ahead of their time. But the story is weak, the ending unsatisfactory, and that lovely scenery plays side-by-side with obvious soundstage mockups. Worse yet, new-comer Hedren doesn’t provide a single believable moment. She’s beautiful, but utterly lacking in acting talent or charisma. Part of the series Alfred Hitchcock: The Shape of Suspense.

A Airplane!, Cerrito, Thursday, 7:00. They’re flying on instruments, blowing the autopilot, and translating English into jive. So win one for the Zipper, but whatever you do, don’t call him "Shirley." Airplane! throws jokes like confetti–carelessly tossing them in all directions in hopes that some might hit their target. Surprisingly enough, most of them do. There’s no logical reason why a movie this silly can be so satisfying, but then logic never was part of the Airplane! formula. I’d be hard-pressed to name another post-silent feature-length comedy with such a high laugh-to-minute ratio.

D+ Flushed Away, Lark, Sunday, 3:00. Aardman Animations of Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit fame abandon clay for computer graphics. That might have worked if they hadn’t also exchanged most of that quirky Aardman humor for predictable plot, conventional characters, and obvious moral lessons. As entertainment, this tale of the London sewers falls closer to Chicken Little than Chicken Run.

C+ Django Unchained, Castro, Sunday and Monday. Typical Tarantino–clever, entertaining, way over the top in its gruesome and entirely unrealistic violence, and utterly hollow on the inside. Like Inglorious Basterds, it uses a great crime against humanity as an excuse for a splatter-filled revenge flick that’s also a tribute to a particular kind of action movie.  In this case, the crime is slavery and genre the spaghetti western. The story is idiotic, with the heroes often picking a ridiculously difficult route to their goal, and showing no qualms whatsoever over killing other human beings. But I have to admit that I often enjoyed it, even if I felt guilty about doing so.

A+ The Godfather, Kabuki and various CineMark Theaters, Wednesday. Francis Coppola, taking the job simply because he needed the money, turned Mario Puzo’s potboiler into the Great American Crime Epic. Marlon Brando may have top billing, but Al Pacino owns the film (and became a star) as Michael Corleone, the respectable youngest son inevitably and reluctantly pulled into a life of crime he doesn’t want but for which he seems exceptionally well-suited. A masterpiece of character, atmosphere, and heart-stopping violence, recently restored by the master of the craft, Robert A. Harris.

A Chinatown, Roxie, Saturday. Roman Polanski maybe a rapist, but you can’t deny his talent as a filmmaker (which doesn’t excuse his actions as a human being). And that talent was never shown better than in this neo-noir tale of intrigue and double-crosses set in Los Angeles in the 1930s. Writer Robert Towne fictionalized an actual scandal involving southern California water rights, mixed in a few personal scandals, and handed it over to Polanski, who turned the script into the perfect LA period piece. Archival 35mm print. On a Polanski double bill with Frantic, which I haven’t seen. Also on the program: a live, transcontinental Skype interview with Roman Polanski.

C Rosemary’s Baby, Roxie, Sunday. Some things are scarier than Woody Allen–or Roman Polanski, but this may not be one of them, since Polanski’s first American film barely works. Mia Farrow looks fidgety and nervous as a pregnant wife who slowly begins to suspect that she’s carrying the devil’s spawn, and that everyone she thought she could trust is in on it. Slow enough to let you see what’s coming a mile off, it never quite builds the sense of dread that the material, and the director, were capable of bringing to it. On a Polanski double bill with Death and the Maiden, which I remember liking a lot when it was new.

A Hitchcock Double Bill: The Birds & Psycho, Stanford, through Sunday. That A goes to Psycho, which could result in you never wanting to take ashower again. In his last great movie, Alfred Hitchcock pulls the rug out from under us several times, leaving us unsure who we’re supposed to root for or what could constitute a happy ending. In roles that defined their careers, Janet Leigh stars as a secretary turned thief, and Anthony Perkins as a momma’s boy with a lot to hide. See above for my thoughts on The Birds.

Note: I altered this post on April 7, adding the Tiburon festival.

B+ Don’t Stop Believin’, New Parkway, opens Friday. I’m not a Journey fan, but this music documentary made me a fan of the band’s new lead singer, Arnel Pineda. He’s charismatic, energetic, down-to-earth, and funny. He also has a great set of pipes.Ramona S. Diaz’s documentary tells the story of how he became a part of Journey. Band members, desperate for a new singer, found the poverty-stricken, Manila-based Pineda on YouTube, flew him out to California, worked with him for a few weeks, then took him on what became the most successful tour of Journey’s long history. This  true-life fairy tale lacks conflict–the worst thing that happens to Arnel is a head cold–but Pineda has such a magnetic personality you don’t really care.

B+ On the Road, Rafael, opens Friday. (Yes, I know that I mistakenly listed it as opening last Friday.) Jose Rivera and Walter Salles came maddeningly close to making a great film out of Jack Kerouac’s highly-regarded, biographical  novel. The sense of time and place are letter-perfect. The characters are rich, surprising, believable, and sexy. On the Road captures the dizzy and seductive joys of a drug-soaked and sexually wild youth, as well as the less joyful results of this lifestyle. The lead performers, Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, and Kristen Stewart (of Twilight fame) bring wild abandon, sexual urgency, and subtle characterization to their roles. But in trying to capture the full arc of the novel, it bogs down at times, and the picture is marred by stunt casting in the smaller roles. Read my full review.

A Ratatouille, Roxie, Saturday, 1:00. Brad Bird keeps proving himself the most talented and interesting animator since Chuck Jones. While there’s nothing really original about building a cartoon around sympathetic, anthropomorphic rodents (just ask Walt Disney), Bird does something totally different. He plays with the unsettling image of rats in the kitchen–he even lets our skin crawl at the spectacle–but he still gets us rooting for the varmints. And also for the hapless, human chef-in-training who intentionally sneaks a rat into a gourmet restaurant. The animation is, as you’d expect from Pixar, technically perfect, but you don’t really notice it except as an afterthought. You’re too caught up in the story to think about how it was made. Part of the Food and Farm Film Festival.

A Hitchcock Double Bill: The Birds & Psycho, Stanford, Thursday through next Sunday. That A goes to Psycho, which could result in you never wanting to take a shower again. In his last great movie, Alfred Hitchcock pulls the rug out from under us several times, leaving us unsure who we’re supposed to root for or what could constitute a happy ending. In roles that defined their careers, Janet Leigh stars as a secretary turned thief, and Anthony Perkins as a momma’s boy with a lot to hide. The Birds, Hitchcock’s only fantasy, has some great sequences. But the story is weak, and new-comer star Tippi Hedren sinks the film with her flat performance.

A Manhattan, Pacific Film Archive, Wednesday, 3:10. Made two years after Annie Hall, Manhattan doesn’t quite measure up to Woody Allen’s masterpiece, but it’s still one of his best. A group of New Yorkers fall in and out of love, cheat on their significant others, and try to justify their actions–all in glorious widescreen black and white and accompanied by Gershwin tunes. Part of the series and class Film 50: History of Cinema: The Cinematic City. Read my Blu-ray review.

A+ The Godfather, Alameda, Tuesday and Wednesday. Francis Coppola, taking the job simply because he needed the money, turned Mario Puzo’s potboiler into the Great American Crime Epic. Marlon Brando may have top billing, but Al Pacino owns the film (and became a star) as Michael Corleone, the respectable youngest son inevitably and reluctantly pulled into a life of crime he doesn’t want but for which he seems exceptionally well-suited. A masterpiece of character, atmosphere, and heart-stopping violence, recently restored by the master of the craft, Robert A. Harris.

A+ Casablanca, Kabuki and various CineMark Theaters, Wednesday. What can I say? You’ve either already seen it or know you should. Let me just add that no one who worked on Casablanca thought they were making a masterpiece; it was just another sausage coming off the Warner assembly line. But somehow, just this once, everything came together perfectly.  For more details, see Casablanca: The Accidental Masterpiece.

Night of the Lepus, New Parkway, Sunday, 6:00. Everything I know about this 1972 horror film comes from the Medved Brothers’ book Golden Turkey Awards, where it was nominated for "The Worst Rodent Movie of All Time" (it lost out to The Food of the Gods). The story is about giant, carnivorous, man-eating rabbits. Need I say more? A Thrillville presentation hosted by Misery Ann Mayhem.

A+ Hitchcock Double Bill: North by Northwest & Notorious, Stanford, through Sunday. Each of these films earns its own A+. In North by Northwest, Cary Grant plays an unusually suave and witty everyman in trouble with both evil foreign spies (who think he’s a crack American agent), and the police (who think he’s a murderer). And so he must escape almost certain death again and again while spending quality time with a very glamorous Eva Marie Saint (danger has its rewards). In the far more serious but still entertaining Notorious, a scandal-ridden Ingrid Bergman proves her patriotism by seducing, bedding, and marrying Claude Rains’ Nazi industrialist while true love Cary Grant grimly watches. Grant’s secret agent sends her on this deadly and humiliating mission, then reacts with blind jealousy. Sexy, romantic, thought-provoking, and scary enough to shorten your fingernails. I discuss the film more deeply in my Blu-ray Review.

B The Big Lebowski, UA Berkeley, Thursday, 9:00. Critics originally panned this Coen Brothers gem as a disappointing follow-up to their previous endeavor, Fargo. Well, it isn’t as good as the Coen’s masterpiece, but it’s still one hell of a funny movie. It’s also built quite a cult following;The Big Lebowski has probably played more Bay Area one-night stands in the years I’ve maintained this site than than any three other movies put together.

B+ On the Road, Embarcadero, Shattuck, Aquarius, Rafael, opens Friday. Jose Rivera and Walter Salles came maddeningly close to making a great film out of Jack Kerouac’s highly-regarded, biographical  novel. The sense of time and place are letter-perfect. The characters are rich, surprising, believable, and sexy. On the Road captures the dizzy and seductive joys of a drug-soaked and sexually wild youth, as well as the less joyful results of this lifestyle. The lead performers, Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, and Kristen Stewart (of Twilight fame) bring wild abandon, sexual urgency, and subtle characterization to their roles. But in trying to capture the full arc of the novel, it bogs down at times, and the picture is marred by stunt casting in the smaller roles. Read my full review.

ROAR! The Roaring 1920′s Movie Musical, Castro, Saturday. I have no idea if this is any good, but it would certainly be an unusual experience.The Castro’s Web site describes it as "the all singing, all dancing, roaring 1920′s black and white movie musical! Celebrate the razzle dazzle of Hollywood’s golden era in this unique Bay Area cinema extravaganza. The film features over 160 local youth ages 5-25."

A+ Hitchcock Double Bill: North by Northwest & Notorious, Stanford, Thursday through next Sunday. Each of these films earns its own A+. In North by Northwest, Cary Grant plays an unusually suave and witty everyman in trouble with both evil foreign spies (who think he’s a crack American agent), and the police (who think he’s a murderer). And so he must escape almost certain death again and again while spending quality time with a very glamorous Eva Marie Saint (danger has its rewards). In the far more serious but still entertaining Notorious, a scandal-ridden Ingrid Bergman proves her patriotism by seducing, bedding, and marrying Claude Rains’ Nazi industrialist while true love Cary Grant grimly watches. Grant’s secret agent sends her on this deadly and humiliating mission, then reacts with blind jealousy. Sexy, romantic, thought-provoking, and scary enough to shorten your fingernails. I discuss the film more deeply in my Blu-ray Review.

A Lord of the Rings Marathon, New Parkway, Sunday, 11:00am. Peter Jackson’s mammoth adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy does remarkable justice to the original, while remaining an exceptional and moving entertainment in its own right. As with the novels, Jackson’s films are at their best when they show us hobbits, but the taller characters seem less stodgy here than on the page. I’m not sure whether they’ll be screening the theatrical or extended versions. They expect it to be over about 9 or 10PM.

B+ The Ten Commandments, Castro, Sunday, 2:00.  I enjoy a strange relationship with the biggest commercial hit of the 1950s. With its simplistic characters, corny dialog, and overriding atmosphere of pomposity, The Ten Commandments is the ultimate unintentional comedy. And yet, it’s also a rich, generous, and entertaining spectacle, and a visually lovely motion picture. It has one truly impressive, low-key performance (Cedric Hardwicke as Sethi). At times, it even succeeds in its simplistic spirituality. Besides, it’s a fun way to get in the mood for Passover. The Castro will be screening the 4K restoration digitally (in 2K). Considering how terrific the Blu-ray release looks (read my review), that’s very promising.

A Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Lark, Sunday, 3:00. An eccentric inventor, his long-suffering dog, snooty aristocrats, cute bunnies, and whole lot of clay make up the funniest movie of 2005. I vote for putting this G-rated, claymation extravaganza on a double-bill with that other hilarious British comedy with a killer rabbit, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

A- The Master, Castro, Monday and Tuesday. Presented in 70mm! Paul Thomas Anderson loosely based The Master on Scientology and it’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard. But this is no more a critique of Hubbard’s cult than Citizen Kane is an attack on Hearst newspapers. The story is really about an alcoholic drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) who finds himself in the circle of a charismatic cult leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Neither man is trustworthy; one steals from his hosts, the other runs what he may or may not consciously realize is a scam. Amy Adams gives The Master’s third great performance, as the "great" man’s wife–sweet on the outside but inwardly hard as nails. The film suffers from a weak third act. Shot in the 70mm format. For more on the film and the format, see The Master, by a Master, in Masterly 70mm and When You Least Expect It: The Return of 70mm,

D Vertigo, Alameda, Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m not recommending Vertigo? Yes, I know that Sight and Sound has declared it the greatest film ever made, and there won’t be a chance to correct that error until 2022. Nevertheless,Vertigo tops my list of the Most Overrated Films of All Time.This isn’t like any other Alfred Hitchcock movie; it’s slow, uninvolving, and self-consciously arty.

C+ Hitchcock Double Bill: Vertigo & Dial M for Murder, Stanford, through Sunday. The C+ goes to Dial M for Murder, which was to my knowledge the only 20th-century 3D film made by a major auteur. Dial M isn’t great Hitchcock–it’s pretty much a straightforward adaptation of a stage play–but it’s a good play and Hitchcock knew what to do with it. Forced against his will to use the new-fangled double-lens camera, Hitchcock pretty much ignored the obvious 3D effects popular at the time. But when he finally throws something at the camera, he knows exactly what he’s doing. Unfortunately, the Stanford will not present the movie in 3D. See above for my thoughts on Vertigo.

B+ Don’t Stop Beleivin’, Kabuki, opens Friday. I’m not a Journey fan, but this music documentary made me a fan of the band’s new lead singer, Arnel Pineda. He’s charismatic, energetic, down-to-earth, and funny. He also has a great set of pipes. Ramona S. Diaz’s documentary tells the story of how he became a part of Journey. Band members, desperate for a new singer, found the poverty-stricken, Manilla-based Pineda on Youtube, flew him out to California, worked with him for a few weeks, then took him on the most successful tour of Journey’s long history. This is a true-life fairy tale lacks conflict–the worst thing that happens to Arnel is a head cold–but Pineda has such a magnetic personality you don’t really care.

C+ 20 Million Miles to Earth, New Parkway, Sunday, 6:30. Much as I love Ray Harryhausen, I have to admit that most of his films are barely mediocre. Yes, his character-driven special effects still astound, decades after they have become technically obsolete. But with few exceptions, the movies wrapped around those effects were flat and cheap. Alas, 20 Million Miles to Earth is not an exception. A spaceship returning from Venus brings home an egg that soon grows into a very large monster. The creature is expertly realized and your heart goes out to it, but that may be in part because the human characters are so badly drawn that you’re left with no one else the care about. The New Parkway will screen the colorized version, which doesn’t improve anything. This is a Thrillville presentation, which would probably make the event a lot more fun than the movie. It’s good to have Will (the Thrill) Viharo back where he belongs with this sort of thing. For more on Thrillville, see My First ThrillVille Experience and ThrillVille Report, Part II.

A+ City Lights, Alameda, Tuesday and Wednesday. In Charlie Chaplin’s most perfect comedy, the little tramp falls in love with a blind flower girl and befriends a suicidal, alcoholic millionaire, but neither of them know the real Charlie. The result is funny and touching, with one of cinema’s greatest endings. Sound came to movies as Chaplin was shooting City Lights, resulting in an essentially silent film with a recorded musical score composed by Chaplin himself. Cinema has rarely achieved such perfection.

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T., New Parkway, Friday, 4:00; Saturday, 12:30 and 10:30 (the adult version?). The only Dr. Seuss feature film made during his lifetime, and as creative, visually daring, and funny as any kid’s fantasy ever to come out of Hollywood. At least that’s how I remember it, many years after my last screening. Even the sets, photographed in three-strip Technicolor, look as if Seuss had painted them himself.

A+ Lawrence of Arabia, Kabuki and various CineMark Theaters, Wednesday. One of the greatest films ever made. Stunning to look at and terrific as pure spectacle, Lawrence is also an intelligent study of a fascinatingly complex and enigmatic war hero. T. E. Lawrence—at least in this film—both loved and hated violence, wanted desperately to become something he could never be, and told himself that he was liberating Arabia while knowing deep down that he was turning it over to the British. This masterpiece requires a very large screen and either 70mm film or 4K DCP digital projection for its full effect. I know that it will be screened in 4K XD at the Century San Francisco Centre 9 and XD; I’m not sure of the other locations.

F Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, New Parkway, Thursday, 9:15. Oh, how Terry Gilliam has fallen! Monty Python’s token Yank made three of the best movies of the 1980’s, then his career collapsed and took his talent with it. Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas reeks; a confused, ugly, and meaningless exercise–which would be forgivable, if it also wasn’t boring and witless.

Note: This article was altered a few hours after it went live. I added the Don’t Stop Believin’ capsule.