Fire, vampires, con artists, a murder mystery, and polar bears. But if these don't seem tempting, how about Ella Fitzgerald and Ai Weiwei? Here are a few movies you can stream at home while helping local theaters get by this week. Virtual Festivals The San Francisco Black Film Festival closes Sunday Bay Area theaters with … Continue reading In Bay Area Virtual Cinema: July 31 – August 6
Month: July 2020
After the flames: Rebuilding Paradise
B+ documentaryDirected by Ron Howard When my father retired around 1990, he built a house in Paradise, California and lived there for at least a decade. He did not live long enough to know that the house he built was almost certainly destroyed. From my point of view, watching Ron Howard's documentary about the people … Continue reading After the flames: Rebuilding Paradise
The so-called Great War and its movies
The First World War, called The Great War before a worse one followed it, created some exceptional cinema. Why is that? Perhaps, it's the timing. The ascendancy of feature-length films happened as the war was being fought. Another possibility: World War 1 was so horrible, and yet so pointless (we weren't fighting fascism yet), that … Continue reading The so-called Great War and its movies
Carmilla: Sexy vampires of Olde England
B+ Gothic horror Written by Emily Harris, from a story by Sheridan Le Fanu Directed by Emily Harris I find vampires much more interesting than other supernatural creatures of horror fantasy. Unlike that other popular form of the living dead - zombies - vampires seem downright housebroken. They can treat you like an honored guest…until … Continue reading Carmilla: Sexy vampires of Olde England
More good than bad in August at the Criterion Channel
If you love great cinema, you really should subscribe to the Criterion Channel. Here you can get your fill of Akira Kurosawa, Fritz Lang, Mike Leigh, Atom Egoyan, Yasujiro Ozu, Asghar Farhadi, and so much more. And it's not all serious. Search for comedy, and (as I write this), you'll get 378 results. Throughout August, … Continue reading More good than bad in August at the Criterion Channel
In Bay Area Virtual Cinema: July 23 – 30
The march on Selma, a Chasidic rabbi in Montana, graffiti wars, one film festival, and reminders of other pictures available in Bay Area virtual cinema. But here's some bad news: The San Francisco Green Film Festival has been killed off by the pandemic - and I'm not just talking about just this year. Judging from … Continue reading In Bay Area Virtual Cinema: July 23 – 30
Activists vs gangs in Days of the Whale
B- Urban youth drama Written and directed by Catalina Arroyave Doing the right thing can be dangerous in Medellín, Colombia's second-largest city, even if the war is initially battled with paint. Days of the Whale (original title: Los días de la ballena) isn't quite exciting enough to be called a thriller - even though it … Continue reading Activists vs gangs in Days of the Whale
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Frozen, Spite Marriage, & Rancho Notorious
Did you sign up for Disney+ to watch Hamilton? I did and I loved it. I'd seen the play live a few months ago, but I liked it much better on the screen, where I could watch the facial expressions and read the closed captions. The question is: Will I continue with Disney+. Anyway, here … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Frozen, Spite Marriage, & Rancho Notorious
In Bay Area Virtual Cinema: July 17 – 23
Jim Jarmusch directs a jailbreak. Ai Weiwei makes art for prisoners of conscience. And Pauline Kael makes sense of it all. Also Jewish and Black film festivals. Virtual Festivals Cinegogue Summer Days continues through Sunday. Read my preview. The San Francisco Black Film Festival continues through August 2 Bay Area theaters with virtual cinema Balboa … Continue reading In Bay Area Virtual Cinema: July 17 – 23
1928: The peak and the fall
I don't believe in golden ages and "great film years." Every year since the beginning of cinema has had good and bad films. But there's something special about 1928. At least in America, it was the artistic pinnacle of silent film. And yet it was also the year where silence began to die. Movies kept … Continue reading 1928: The peak and the fall
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