The Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival starts Friday night and runs through the weekend. And Frameline also finishes up Sunday. And the San Francisco United Film Festival, which I just found out about while preparing this newsletter, opens today and runs through Thursday at the Roxie. A- Live Theater on the Big Screen: The Importance of … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 24 – 30

The only festival going on this week is Frameline, which opened last night and continues at various theaters. B+ The Cove, Rafael, Tuesday, 7:00. We’re all pretty much used to documentaries as left-wing agit-prop, but The Cove adds a new element. It’s a left-wing agit-prop documentary heist movie. Much of the film follows the filmmakers … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 17 – 23

Festival news: Another Hole In the Head continues through this week (ending Thursday). Frameline opens Thursday. There are, unfortunately, a lot of people in this country who would find Frameline scarier than Hole in the Head. Unfestival news: The Pacific Film Archive opens from its early summer break today with series celebrating Arthur Penn and … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 10 – 16

Festival-wise, Another Hole In the Head continues through this week and beyond. Otherwise, the Castro’s 70mm series dominates the week. A Playtime, Castro, Monday and Tuesday. Presented in 70mm.  An American tourist, Monsieur Hulot, and assorted other specimens of humanity adrift and befuddled in a very modern Paris. That’s all there is of plot in … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 3 – 9

No festival activity this week until Thursday, when Another Hole In the Head opens. A- Midnight in Paris, Kabuki, Embarcadero, Albany Twin, Piedmont, opens Friday. I didn’t think Woody Allen still had it in him. He hasn’t made a film this funny, this wistful, and this heartfelt in decades. And I don’t think he’s ever … Continue reading What’s Screening: May 27–June 2

The Crossroads Festival continues through Sunday. The Roxie's Noir series, I Wake Up Dreaming—2011 : The Legendary and the Lost, opens Friday for a two-week run. And the Anti-Corporate Film Festival opens Thursday.  Gee, I wonder what that one is about. A The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Castro, Saturday. Considering the unethical behavior … Continue reading What’s Screening: May 13 – 19

The San Francisco International Film Festival is over. Whew! But the Epidemic Film Festival runs Friday and Saturday, and the Crossroads Festival opens Thursday. In the meantime, the Castro is screening two films on my Very Best Films of All Time list, one of them on a double-bill with something that almost made the list. … Continue reading What’s Screening: May 6 – 12

San Francisco International Film Festival continues through this week. As usual, I put festival listings at the end of this newsletter. A Strangers on a Train, Castro, Wednesday. One of Hitchcock’s scariest films, and therefore one of his best. A rich, spoiled psychotic killer (the worst kind) convinces himself that a moderately-famous athlete has agreed … Continue reading What’s Screening: April 29 – May 5

The San Francisco International Film Festival opened last night. I'm hoping to spend some serious time there over the next two weeks. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to devote much time to it before opening, so my festival discussion at the end of this newsletter is brief. A Valley Girl, Red Vic, Tuesday and Wednesday. Was … Continue reading What’s Screening: April 22 – 28

The Tiburon and Oakland International Film Festivals closes today (Friday). But you'll have almost a week to cross the bay, where the San Francisco International Film Festival opens on Thursday. And The San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival, Victoria Theater, Friday, 7:30. Hosted by Peaches Christ. Should be unusual and fun. Oddly, this seems to … Continue reading What’s Screening: April 15- 21