Noir City closed Sunday with a masterpiece…and a pretty good B picture. I finally saw The Big Heat, and I saw it under about the best conditions possible. Following the theme of this year's festival, each double feature included a relatively expensive A picture (noirs were never hugely expensive) and a very cheap B picture. … Continue reading Closing This Year’s Noir City
Category: First-person Report
Saturday at Noir City
Saturday is always the biggest day at Noir City, with two double bills. Yesterday, each double bill had one relatively expensive A picture, and one very cheap B picture. Money talks; in each case, the A was better than the B. All these movies came out in 1950. Matinee: The Underworld Story & Southside 1-1000 … Continue reading Saturday at Noir City
Thursday Night at Noir City
I couldn't go movie-watching Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. But Thursday night, my wife and I managed to get to the Castro for another Noir City double bill. This time, the films were both from 1948. The A picture, I Walk Alone, was pretty damn good. The B picture, Bodyguard, was pretty damn silly. I Walk … Continue reading Thursday Night at Noir City
Darkness in the Castro: The First Weekend at Noir City
I can't catch every movie in Noir City, the Castro-based festival of dark movies filled with crime, corruption, and great-looking hats. But I did manage to see all six films screened on Saturday and Sunday. This year's theme matches a big- or moderate-budget A picture with a low-budget B picture. The films are being presented … Continue reading Darkness in the Castro: The First Weekend at Noir City
Tarkovsky’s Sacrifice at the Pacific Film Archive
Friday night, my wife and I attended the Pacific Film Archive's first screening of 2018 - a new 4K restoration of Andrei Tarkovsky's final film, The Sacrifice. The film opens with the main character (Erland Josephson) teaching a young boy how to plant and care for a new tree. This is clearly an optimistic sign … Continue reading Tarkovsky’s Sacrifice at the Pacific Film Archive
Top 15 Moviegoing Experiences of 2017
Instead of listing my top ten movies of 2017, I'm giving you my top 15 moviegoing experiences of the year. What's the difference? I consider the theater, the quality of the print or digital source, the enthusiasm of the audience, and live onstage supplements such as musical accompaniment and filmmaker Q&As. I also consider the … Continue reading Top 15 Moviegoing Experiences of 2017
Six Silent Films in One Day
I spent Saturday at the Castro Theater, attending the San Francisco Silent Film Festival's Day of Silents. They screened six feature-length movies, all with live musical accompaniment, starting at 10:00AM and ending a little after 11:00PM. The five intermissions ranged from 30 minutes to an hour. Here's what I saw, in the order I saw … Continue reading Six Silent Films in One Day
SFFILM honors Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour
Monday night at the Castro, SFFILM recognized Joe Wright and Anthony McCarten's historical drama, Darkest Hour, giving the film the organization's second annual SF Honors award. The event included a mercifully short presentation of the award, a screening of the film, and a Q&A with five of the filmmakers. Darkest Hour follows Winston Churchill's first … Continue reading SFFILM honors Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: EDtv, Cat People, Irma Vep, & The Body Snatcher
Here are four films I've recently revisited or seen for the first time. I bet you can guess which ones I watched on Halloween. A EDtv (1999), DVD Near the end of the 20th century, two comedies foretold the concept of reality television. The first, The Truman Show, got all the praise. But the second one, … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: EDtv, Cat People, Irma Vep, & The Body Snatcher
Doc Stories Report: Obama’s team in The Final Year
My wife and I attended the Doc Stories festival Saturday afternoon at the Vogue. The movie in question was an inspiring but also deeply sad documentary about Obama's foreign policy team, The Final Year. Director Greg Barker introduced the film, promising us that "For the next 90 minutes, Donald Trump will not be president." If … Continue reading Doc Stories Report: Obama’s team in The Final Year
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