The flood of festivals is slowing down. New Italian Cinema and the Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival both end Sunday. And amazingly enough, nothing else is on the immediate horizon.
A Harry Potter Marathon, Castro, Saturday and Sunday. Here’s your chance to see all eight Harry Potter movies, over two days, on the Castro’s giant screen. With a few
exceptions (the two first filmes), the filmmakers did a surprisingly good job sticking to the spirit of J. K. Rowling’s wonderful books, even allowing these “family” films to go to PG-13 as the stories got darker. All eight films will be projected digitally off hard drives; the last film in 3D.
B- Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, Opera Plaza, Aquarius, through the week. Steve Jobs was a 
brilliant, charismatic figure who drastically changed the world we live in. But does that mean you’ll enjoy a 16-year-old, 70-minute, videotaped interview consisting of a single close-up? Surprisingly, the answer is Yes—up to a point. That charisma, combined with the simple fact that Jobs had some interesting things to say in 1995, make this a reasonably entertaining and informative document. But there’s no filmmaking craftsmanship whatsoever here, and there’s a limit to how much time you can watch a single close-up. Thus, the Lost Interview begins to wear out its welcome well before it’s through. Read my full review for more.
A Comedy Short Subject Night, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30. The theme this month appears to be Hal Roach, which 
is fine, since his studio made some of the best short comedies of the 1920s. I haven’t seen the Snub Pollard short, “Courtship of Miles Sandwich,” but I can vouch for the other three. “Movie Night” is prime Charley Chase, and “Do Detectives Think?” is one of Laurel and Hardy’s best early efforts. But the real winner will probably be “Pass the Gravy.” I don’t want to give away too much about this Max Davidson two-reeler—let’s just say it involves feuding fathers, young people in love, a prize chicken, and one of the funniest dinners on film.
A- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stanford, Saturday and Sunday. Corrupt political bosses appoint a naive, young idealist (James Stewart) senator because they think he’s stupid. The second and best film in Frank Capra’s common man trilogy, Mr. Smith creeks a bit with patriotic corniness today, and seems almost as naive as its protagonist. But it has moments–Stewart’s speech about how “history is too important to be left in school books,” for instance–that can still bring a lump to your throat. And it’s just plain entertaining. On a double bill with the first film in that trilogy, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, which I haven’t seen in decades and therefore won’t discuss.
B+ The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Pacific Film Archive, Friday, 7:00. Ray Harryhausen enjoys a unique place in the pantheon of noted filmmakers. This special effects “technician” neither wrote, produced, nor directed his films, yet he was their auteur, creating them from his own imagination.Seventh Voyage is the first and best of Harryhausen’s three Sinbad movies. In fact, of all his movies, only Jason and the Argonauts is better. The stop-motion animation is splendid, and the story, while trivial, is fun (although one continuity error makes audiences laugh and groan). Not a must-see like Jason, but still an entertaining escape into a fantasy past. Special effects wizard Phil Tippett will be on hand to introduce the film.
C Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Castro, Wednesday. Woody Allen’s Spanish-set comedy/drama suffers from way too much 
narration. An experienced and arguably great filmmaker like Allen should know that when you show an actor’s face, you don’t need an all-knowing third-person voice telling you what they’re thinking. The result gives you the drawbacks of cinema and the novel, without the advantages of either. On the other hand, you’ve got Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, and beautiful Spanish scenery, so at least there’s plenty of eye candy. This time around, Rebecca Hall does the Woody Allen imitation. Read my original review. As part of the Castro’s Woody Wednesdays series, they’ve double billed Vicky Cristina Barcelona with 1980’s Stardust Memories; I haven’t seen that one since it was new, and I didn’t care for it then.
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