I wasn't as clear as I should have been in last week's newsletter. I didn't mean to imply that San Francisco still enjoyed a huge market for revival house cinema. There was such a market 30 years ago. In the late 1970's, cinephiles not wishing to leave the City's borders could catch classics any day … Continue reading Classics–Not So Common

Gary Meyer of the Balboa wrote a decidedly depressing newsletter last week. In case you don't subscribe, you'll find it on his Web site's Latest News page. Scroll down to "NO NEW CALENDAR?" Courtesy of Patrick Crowley Meyer informed his theater's fans that the Balboa cannot continue its programming policy of classics and little-known independents. … Continue reading The Balboa’s Problems and the Silent Film Festival

I'm currently reading Phillip Lopate's huge anthology, American Movie Critics. Like all anthologies, it's a mixed bag, offering the fascinating and the dull, the witty with the obtuse, the literate with the commercial. But almost everything in the book is at least of only historical interest. For instance, the book proves that in key ways, … Continue reading American Movie Critics

Want to hear something amazing? Watching movies is more fun than writing about them. With that in mind, I’m going to skip this week’s editorial and go directly to the movies. Recommended: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Commons Park, Ross, Friday, 8:30. I agree with common wisdom: Raider of the Lost Ark is a … Continue reading Movies for the Week of July 7, 2006