Who would shell out money and travel across town to see a movie they already own on Blu-ray? I would. Nothing you can do in your own home competes with the theatrical experience. Within the last 10 days, my wife and I bought tickets and crossed town to see two favorites on the big screen: … Continue reading Great Movies are Better on the Big Screen
Category: Theaters
Winter at the BAMPFA
The Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) recently announced its winter schedule, running from December through February, with eleven different film series. These are the ones that caught my eye: The Puppet Master: The Films of Jirí Trnka Dec 1–19 This Czech animator turned a kiddie genre into political satire. I saw his version of … Continue reading Winter at the BAMPFA
Free Tickets at the New Parkway (if you have the right job)
I should have written about this a month ago. My apologies, but I've been busy. Oakland's New Parkway is giving out free movie tickets based on the recipients' professions. In September (or what's left of it), people who work in the nonprofit sector get in free. Come October, media workers such as myself get the … Continue reading Free Tickets at the New Parkway (if you have the right job)
Summer at the Pacific Film Archive
The Pacific Film Archive (or, as they'd prefer I call it, BAMPFA) pretty much shuts down in the second half of May. But come June, the movies come back. Here are the ten series running from June through August: Bergman 100: A Summer Interlude (June 1–July 15) This subdivision of the PFA's year-long Bergman 100 … Continue reading Summer at the Pacific Film Archive
A Snapshot of San Francisco Movie Going, 1977
Peter Moore of the Roxie recently shared a bit of history with his Facebook friends - of which I thankfully am one. It's a facsimile of the San Francisco Chronicle movie listings for Wednesday, May 25, 1977. You'll find a photo of the complete listing at the bottom of this article. May 25th was the … Continue reading A Snapshot of San Francisco Movie Going, 1977
January and February at the Pacific Film Archive
Documentaries old and new, movies about movies, and films directed by Ida Lupino, Sergei Eisenstein, and Ingmar Bergman. The Pacific Film Archive doesn't simply screen films, it screens film series. Here are the series it will run over the next two months: Ida Lupino: Hard, Fast, and Beautiful (January 13–February 24): To my knowledge, Lupino … Continue reading January and February at the Pacific Film Archive
Wide Screens and Tall Screens
A widescreen movie should be projected onto a wide screen. That only makes sense. But in recent years, most new theaters project big, widescreen movies at the same width as not-so-wide movies. To show you the full image, they shrink the picture vertically - sort of like letterboxing on your TV. This may be a … Continue reading Wide Screens and Tall Screens
