Finally, I’ve been able to give you a weekly newsletter. Just in time for Christmas. And I don’t even celebrate Christmas.
New films opening theatrically
A- Anselm (2023), various theaters
Try to see the film in 3D. Wim Wenders found a rare, artistic use for stereoscopic cinema. Anselm Kiefer is a German artist who works in very large canvases, and not always in two-dimensional ones. His studio is so large that he uses a bicycle to get around it. The artist still feels that he should apologize for the Third Reich. I found this a very beautiful film to watch.
Double Bills
Stanford Theater
A1 The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
֍ Friday, 7:30pm
֍ Saturday, 3:45pm & 7:30pm
B+ The Wizard of Oz (1929)
֍ Friday & Saturday, 5:35pm & 9:20pm
Both films in 35mm
The Shop Around the Corner: Ernst Lubitsch mixes a little drama into this romantic comedy set in a Budapest store. James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play employees who hate each other in person, but as anonymous pen pals, they’re deeply in love. The movie was remade at least twice, as In the Good Old Summertime and You’ve Got Mail.
The Wizard of Oz: I don’t really have to tell you about this one, do I?
Theatrical revivals
A+ Die Hard (1988), 4-Star
֍ Friday, 7:30pm
֍ Saturday, 4:00pm & 7:00pm
֍ Sunday, 4:00pm & 7:00pm
֍ Monday, 3:00pm & 6:00pm
The original Die Hard is easily one of the best action films ever made. On Christmas Eve, very evil people who don’t care about human life, take over a partially built skyscraper. Luckily, one man (Bruce Willis) is in the building but out of their control. Barefoot and initially armed with only a pistol, he must do what he can to stop them and save the hostages – which include his estranged wife. The movie’s power comes from its willingness to spend time on character development before the action starts, and by allowing the hero to be physically and emotionally vulnerable. Read my essay.
A+ It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
֍ Balboa, Friday & Saturday, 5:00pm
֍ New Mission, Sunday, 11:15pm
֍ New Parkway, Friday, 2:50pm
֍ The Stanford, Sunday, 4:00pm & 9:00pm
There’s a rarely-acknowledged dark side to Frank Capra’s feel-good fable. George Bailey (James Stewart) saves his town and earns the love of his neighbors, but only at the expense of his own dreams and desires. Trapped, frustrated, and deeply disappointed, George needs only one new disaster to turn his thoughts to suicide. The extremely happy (some would say excessively sappy) ending works because George, whose main problems remain unsolved, has suffered so much to earn it. Read my A+ appreciation.
A Tokyo Story (1953), Balboa, Wednesday, 7:30pm
In this excellent film, Yasujirō Ozu shows us a family in all of its troubling complexities. An elderly couple travel to Tokyo to visit their busy and overworked adult children. Everyone greets them with the proper respect, but only a widowed daughter-in-law offers real warmth. In Tokyo Story, Ozu does something altogether different and remarkable; he looks at an ordinary family going through experiences that don’t happen every day but happen in almost everyone’s life. Read my Blu-ray review.
A There Will Be Blood (2007), Roxie, Monday, 6:40pm
35mm! Paul Thomas Anderson’s small, character-driven films always felt like epics, so it’s no surprise that he’d eventually try to do the real thing. Based on an Upton Sinclair novel called Oil! (the title change makes no sense), There Will be Blood is big, sprawling, and spectacular, capturing not just a moment in history but a 30-year transition. Read my full review.
A Frozen (2013), 4-Star, 10:00am Popcorn Palace, 1:00pm
By the time this Disney animated feature came out, my kids could go to the movies by themselves, and therefore I missed a real treat. Yes, it follows the conventional formula for Disney animated features – with a fairyland princess, a handsome hunk, songs, and adorable animals. But this time, you’ve got two princesses. That means a royal sibling rivalry that could destroy the kingdom. And you don’t know which handsome hunk will marry the ingenue we really care about. It’s also beautiful to look at.
A- The Thief of Bagdad, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30pm
35mm! Douglas Fairbanks’ silent, massively spectacular Arabian Nights fantasy never actually fools you into believing a horse can fly. But the clever effects and the imaginative set design inspire awe and delight all the same. Fairbanks’ energetic performance gives us a very happy, ambitious thief. Don’t expect actual Arabian flavor here; this is pure early Hollywood hokum. But also, don’t expect 21st century racial attitudes in Fairbanks’ treatment of the Chinese. Greg Pane on piano.
A- Fiddler On the Roof, New Parkway, Monday, 3:00
With an intermission! As a teenager, I loved the musical stage play and hated the movie (I saw both when they were relatively new). I felt that the film’s production values were too big, and the comic timing was off. Now I can appreciate what director Norman Jewison was trying to do (despite his name, he isn’t Jewish). Rather than making a musical comedy with a period setting and a serious undertone, he turned it into a historical spectacle with songs. It’s fun, but only when appropriate. And its sympathetic story of older people uncomfortable with change is both sad and hopeful. Read my article.
F Female Trouble (1974), Castro, 7:00pm
35mm! This has been a popular underground comedy for almost 50 years. But why? It tries only to be gross, without being funny (I laughed, lightly, but only twice). It simply follows a bunch of truly awful people, sometimes they’re nice, but mostly horrible. It might have been better if I had seen it with a full theater of fans.
Movies I can’t review
- Elf, Sebastopol, Saturday & Sunday, 11:00am, Free!
- Elf, Grand Lake, Movie Party! Saturday, 11:00pm
Bayflicks 