I devote and dedicate Bayflicks.net to the best possible way to experience great works of the cinematic art: on film, well-projected, with an appreciative and enthusiastic audience. But what’s the best possible way to experience the worst examples of cinematic trash? With people who can crack wise at the screen--especially if those people are professional … Continue reading Mystery Science Theater 2007

Hot Fuzz, Balboa, Cerrito, continuing. Director/co-writer Edgar Wright fills every frame of Hot Fuzz with his love for mindless action movies. More precisely, he fills the splices between the frames, cutting even the scenes of quiet village life in the frantic style of Hollywood violence–accompanied by overloud sound effects, of course. (And yes, he’s smart … Continue reading Films for the Week of May 18, 2007

A year ago this month I wrote a post about the unfortunate practice of theaters showing movies on video rather than film. I’m not talking about new, experimental works created in video, or free movies in the park, but classic films (with the emphasis on film) in theaters that expect you to pay admission. After … Continue reading Real Film

A few quick, disjointed comments on the San Francisco International Film Festival. While I saw quite a few good movies, even some excellent ones, I caught nothing as fantastic as the cream of last year’s crop: Adam’s Apples (now in theaters for at least one week and not to be missed) and In Bed (which … Continue reading SFIFF Aftermath

Adam's Apples, Lumiere, Shattuck, and Rafael, opens Friday. The plot sounds like vapid, Hollywood, feel-good drek: A hate-filled neo-Nazi fresh out of prison (Ulrich Thomsen) learns to help and care for others--thanks to the help of a minister who sees the good in everyone and a couple of oddball eccentrics. But Adam's Apples is no … Continue reading Films for the Week of May 11, 2007

I may or may not get to more festival events, but yesterday was clearly my last full day devoted to this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival. I started the afternoon with Peter Morgan, winner of The Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting. A respected writer of British television dramas, Morgan was unknown in this … Continue reading Festival Report, Part 4: Second Saturday

Once again, I'll start with the San Francisco International Film Festival presentations . San Francisco International Film Festival La Vie en Rose, Castro, Thursday, 7:00. Early in this Edith Piaf biopic, a hunched, aged-before-her-time Piaf walks up to a recording studio microphone. She looks bored and mildly annoyed. When she starts singing in that incredible … Continue reading Films for the Week of May 4, 2007

I just watched The Last Days of Yasser Arafat, and I give it a C. Sherine Salama conducted Yasser Arafat’s last interview, then she made this documentary about it. Her film’s power comes from the sense of immediacy, of being an eyewitness to history, but that’s a sense that can only go so far. It … Continue reading One More SFIFF Microreview

If you're trying to decide what to see San Francisco International Film Festival, don't go to far out of your way to catch Reprise, which has three more scheduled screenings as I write this. But then, if you happen to be at the right theater at the right time, you could do worse. If that … Continue reading Another SFIFF Recommendation

The bay area is in danger of losing yet another single-screen movie house--one that at least occasionally varies its Hollywood/indiewood fare with the classic and the unusual. I'm speaking of the Lark, a restored, classic single-screener in Larkspur run by a non-profit. A theater like the Lark doesn't make economic sense these days, so it's … Continue reading The Lark in Trouble