Anyone with any real love of cinema, and who lived in the Bay Area (especially the East Bay) before 2000, remembers the UC Theater, probably fondly. And if you remember this UC Theater, this will take you back:
Month: November 2009
What’s Screening: November 27 – December 3
A Modern Times, Rafael, Sunday, noon. Leave it to Charlie Chaplin to call an extremely anachronistic movie Modern Times. Why anachronistic? Because it’s a mostly silent picture (with a recorded score) made years after everyone else had started talking. Why Modern Times? Because it’s about assembly lines, mechanization, and the depression. Chaplin’s tramp moves from … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 27 – December 3
Oh My God?
C- I should be the perfect audience for Peter Rodger’s documentary. I’m curious and fascinated by comparative religions, and with how every faith creates both humanists and fundamentalists--including atheism. So it’s with considerable disappointment that I have to report that I didn’t care for Oh My God? It has its interesting moments--enough to keep it … Continue reading Oh My God?
Precious
A Few film-going experiences match this one for intensity. And it’s not the intensity of a good horror film or thriller (although it’s more horrible and suspenseful than most of them). This is the intensity of of life at its most relentlessly depressing and hopeless. And yet, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, … Continue reading Precious
What’s Screening: November 20-26
The Chinese American Film Festival continues through Thursday at the 4-Star. A+ Double Bill: Top Hat & The Gay Divorcee, Stanford, Friday and Saturday. The Gay Divorcee, on its own, would probably get only a B-. Arguably the first Astaire-Rogers movie (certainly the first where they were the real stars), it’s a flawed entertainment with one … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 20-26
What’s Screening: November 13 – 19
In last week’s newsletter, I failed to mention the Chinese American Film Festival that opened yesterday. It runs through Thursday at the 4-Star. The San Francisco International Animation Festival continues through Sunday. And on that very day, New Italian Cinema opens an eight-day run at the Embarcadero. B For the Love of Movies: The Story … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 13 – 19
What’s Screening: November 6 – 12
The 3rd I South Asian Film Festival continues through Thursday. The San Francisco International Animation Festival opens Wednesday for a five-day run. A- Skin, Clay, Shattuck, Guild, Rafael, opens Friday. Sandra Laing (an actual, living person, played here by Sophie Okonedo) was born to white parents in South Africa in 1955, but by all appearances … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 6 – 12
Skin
A- Biographical drama Written by Helen Crawley Directed by Anthony Fabian Race can be a very difficult thing to define; especially for bureaucrats working for a government where race determines everything. Sandra Laing (an actual, living person, played here by Sophie Okonedo) was born to white parents in South Africa in 1955, but by all … Continue reading Skin
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