Finally saw Hollywoodland. It's a very good film hidden inside a very mediocre one. The good film stars Ben Affleck as George Reeves, the actor best remembered for playing Superman in the 1950's TV show. It paints Reeves as a tragic figure, and a pathetic one--one of those actors who hangs around Hollywood for years, … Continue reading Neither a Bird Nor a Plane

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Red Vic, Friday through Tuesday. A sad, harrowing, yet ultimately inspiring true story told with only moderate competence. Refugee All Stars focuses on six musicians, refugees from Sierra Leone’s horrifyingly brutal civil war, who came together in the Guinean refugee camps in which they’d lived for many years. In the … Continue reading Movies for the Week of March 30, 2007

Once again I don't have time to write an essay, so I'll just give you my recommendations.There isn't much, not because the movies are lousy; I just haven't seen the new ones, and haven't seen the old ones recently enough to comment on them. Children of Men, Elmwood, opening Friday. Set in a dystopian, near-future … Continue reading Movies for the Week of March 23, 2007

The official press conference is more than three weeks away, but the drumbeat for the San Francisco International Film Festival keeps getting louder. (Excuse me, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival, abbreviated SFIFF50--even though no one has thought to register sfiff50.org.) We keep hearing about the various awards planned for the event. I’ve already … Continue reading Tiburon and San Francisco

This is Spinal Tap, Shattuck, Friday and Saturday, midnight. On a scale of one to ten, This is Spinal Tap rates an eleven. And if you didn’t get that joke, you haven’t seen the parody that put all “rockumentaries-- in their place. Comments? The Rules of the Game, Rafael, Friday through Wednesday. I know; everyone … Continue reading Movies for the Week of March 16, 2007

I hate people asking me for my all-time favorite film. I don’t even want to give them an all-time top ten. How do you choose between Ikiru and Singin’ in the Rain? They’re both masterpieces, but each succeeds in doing something entirely different from the other. It’s like comparing apples and orangutans. But I’ve been … Continue reading Criteria for the Very Best Films of All Time

Pandora's Box, California Theatre, San Jose, Friday, 7:00. Nearly 70 years after her last film, cinephiles still debate whether Louise Brooks was a first-class talent or just a beautiful woman in the hands of a great director. Either way, her oddly innocent femme fatale wins our sympathy and our lust as she sends men to … Continue reading Films for the Week of March 9, 2007

How do you like the new look? I'm bringing Bayflicks.net into the 21st century, using WordPress blog software to better organize the editorial parts of the site and let you easily comment on what I write. The schedules are plain old html, and it will be a while before I fix that, but within a … Continue reading Welcome to the New Bayflicks.net

Festivals, festivals, festivals, festivals, and festivals. I take a few weeks off, and film festivals spread like the flu in February. Okay, a quick rundown on what’s here and what’s coming. Let’s start with Cinequest, which, as you read this, has already opened. As an organization, Minnie Driver will receive a Maverick Spirit Award at … Continue reading Festival Update

The General, California Theatre, San Jose, Friday, 7:00. 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 … Continue reading Movies for the Week of March 2, 2007