Herzog's vampire, Cameron's cyborg, Eisenstein's mutiny, and Visconti's Postman, along with three film festivals, light up Bay Area movie screens this week. Festivals The San Francisco Green Film Festival closes today The SF Latino Film Festival opens today Greatest Hits with the Club Foot Orchestra takes over the Castro Saturday. See my preview. Promising events … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 14 – 20
Month: September 2018
Mill Valley Film Festival Preview, Part 1
Alfonso Cuarón returns to his roots, the Kronos Quartet take on the Vietnam War, Maggie Gyllenhaal gets obsessed with a five-year-old, and the Big Bad Fox can't get a break. Here are four films that will screen at this year's Mill Valley Film Festival, in order from best to worst…although they're all pretty good. A … Continue reading Mill Valley Film Festival Preview, Part 1
What’s Screening: September 7 – 13
Dogs, cats, and Dennis Hopper. Also Terry Gilliam, Laurel & Hardy, and Ingmar Bergman's greatest comedy. All this and a film festival on Bay Area movie screens this week. Festivals The San Francisco Green Film Festival continues into next week New films opening C- Let the Corpses Tan, New Mission, New Parkway, opens Friday This … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 7 – 13
Mill Valley Lineup Announced
The Mill Valley Film Festival announced this year's lineup Thursday morning. And the big question is: Which film will win the Best Picture Oscar? Okay, the real big question is: What movies should you see? From October 4 through 14, the Festival will screen 108 feature films and 96 shorts, from 46 different countries. I … Continue reading Mill Valley Lineup Announced
BlacKkKlansman: Truth vs. Art (spoiler: Art wins)
"God never wrote a good play in his life" - Kurt Vonnegut. When a movie has actors reciting dialog written by a screenwriter, it's a work of fiction. It can't be anything else, even if it was based on something that really happened. Life doesn't work like a well-told story. If you want facts, watch … Continue reading BlacKkKlansman: Truth vs. Art (spoiler: Art wins)
Forget about the story and just Let the Corpses Tan
C- Thriller Written and directed by Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani From the novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette & Jean-Pierre Bastid This Italian thriller isn't about people. It isn't about story. it's not even about suspense. It's arguably about violence. It's really about cinematic style. And what is that style? Imagine the output of an overenthusiastic, coked-up … Continue reading Forget about the story and just Let the Corpses Tan
Modern Cinema festival honors Satyajit Ray
Few artists caught the sorrows and sympathies of the human condition like India's Satyajit Ray. Come October, you'll get a chance to see 15 of his feature films, along with 11 others that either inspired Ray or were inspired by him, at SFMOMA's Phyllis Wattis Theater. SFFILM and SFMOMA presents Modern Cinema/Satyajit Ray: Intimate Universes … Continue reading Modern Cinema festival honors Satyajit Ray
Chaplin Diary, Part 16: The Great Dictator
In my previous Chaplin Diary entry, I called Modern Times "arguably Chaplin's last performance as The Tramp." But there's still a lot of Chaplin's "little fellow" in his first true talkie, The Great Dictator. By the late 1930s, even Charlie Chaplin couldn't make silent films anymore. No one wanted to see them. The change was … Continue reading Chaplin Diary, Part 16: The Great Dictator
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