Hollywood has now made four films called A Star is Born, all of which followed the same basic story of love, substance abuse, one star rising while the other falls, and inevitable tragedy. But each of the films, except the most recent one, has been a trailblazer in cinema technology. 1937 version, starring Janet Gaynor … Continue reading The Tech in the Birth of Four Stars
Category: musicals
Gotta Dance: Gene Kelly at the Stanford
For some time now, I've been hoping that some local rep house would do a series on MGM musicals from the 40s and 50s. They could call the series The Lion Dances. For the next four weeks, we have something close. Starting this Friday, the Stanford will run what they're calling the Gene Kelly Film … Continue reading Gotta Dance: Gene Kelly at the Stanford
Music, slapstick, art, & fascism: Saturday at the Mill Valley Film Festival
I saw four films Saturday at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and I never stepped a foot in Mill Valley. I saw all four in the small, upstairs auditoriums at the Rafael. The first was a narrative; the rest were documentaries. B- The Independents The music is pretty good, but not exceptional. The same could … Continue reading Music, slapstick, art, & fascism: Saturday at the Mill Valley Film Festival
Two More Film Festivals in mid-July
They just keep on coming! San Francisco Frozen Film Festival July 18 - 23 Most film festivals concentrate on features. This one is all about the shorts - small, low-budget flicks with short running times. It opens July 18 with a party at PianoFight, accompanied by Best Virtual Reality Screenings, and followed by a midnight … Continue reading Two More Film Festivals in mid-July
A+ List: Top Hat (also To Be or Not to Be)
Few Hollywood features have celebrated their own wholly unreal artifice like Top Hat, the best Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical. Despite its contemporary setting (contemporary for 1935, the year it was released), it contains almost nothing that suggests the real world. Thanks to that artifice, the songs, the madcap comic dialog and hijinks, and most of … Continue reading A+ List: Top Hat (also To Be or Not to Be)
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Battle of the Sexes, Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman, & Le Million
Another three movies I've seen for the first time recently. Two of them, still in theaters, are based on actual events. The other is an early talkie that makes no attempt at anything like realism. A- Battle of the Sexes (2017), Cerrito In 1973, former men's tennis champ Bobby Riggs set up a match with women's … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Battle of the Sexes, Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman, & Le Million
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: The Force, The Player, & A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Here are three other movies I've seen. A The Force (2017), California Theater (Berkeley) No, this not a Star Wars movie, but a cinema verite documentary about the Oakland Police Department, shot over a period of two years. There's no narration, and if anything was staged for the movie cameras - even an interview - I … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: The Force, The Player, & A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
