This is a heavy week, festival-wise. Another Hole in the Head and LOL-SF both run through the week. And the San Francisco Silent Film Festival opens Thursday night. I’m devoting an entire section of the newsletter to LOL-SF. Unfortunately, I don’t have links to specific films on the schedule. The Iron Horse, Castro, Thursday, 7:00. … Continue reading What’s Screening: July 9 – 15
Category: Weekly Newsletter
What’s Screening: July 2 – 8
And if you’re looking for horror or laughs, both Another Hole in the Head and the Bay Area’s newest festival, LOL-SF, open on Thursday. Also, I’ve got so many listings here for the Castro’s Hollywood on Hollywood series that I’ve put them together at the end of the newsletter. B Double Bill: Sanshiro Sugata & … Continue reading What’s Screening: July 2 – 8
Hollywood Does Hollywood at the Castro
I just found out about this series Wednesday at the Castro. It’s not even on their web site as I write this. As the name implies, Hollywood Does Hollywood features American films about American filmmaking. Because I didn’t know about the series when I prepared the current newsletter, I’m inserting a newsletter-like listing that would … Continue reading Hollywood Does Hollywood at the Castro
What’s Screening: June 25 – July 1
Frameline continues through Sunday, and the Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival runs this weekend (Friday through Sunday). A- Howl, Castro, Sunday, 7:30. What did you expect–a conventional biopic? Would that do justice to the Allen Ginsberg epic poem with which the film shares its name? Like the poem, Howl is challenging, cutting-edge, and unconventional. By … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 25 – July 1
What’s Screening: June 18 – 24
Frameline continues through this week. A+ Ikiru, Pacific Film Archive, Sunday, 7:15. One of Akira Kurosawa’s best, and arguably the greatest serious drama ever put up on the screen. Takashi Shimura gives the performance of his lifetime as an aging government bureaucrat dying of cancer. Emotionally cut off from his family–including the son and daughter-in-law … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 18 – 24
What’s Screening: June 11 – 17
The United Film Festival runs through this week, and Frameline, the big LGBT festival, opens Thursday. And speaking of that: B The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, Castro, Thursday, 7:00. Basically a lesbian Merchant-Ivory picture set in early 19th-century England, this film dramatizes the actual diaries of the real Anne Lister. As close to … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 11 – 17
What’s Screening: June 4 – 10
A lot of Kurosawa this week—hardly surprising with his centenary. But this puts me in an interesting spot as far as my Kurosawa Diary project is concerned. I’m trying to watch all of his films in chronological order. If I get a chance to see one theatrically, do I step out of sequence? Watch it … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 4 – 10
What’s Screening: May 28 – June 3
A+ Double Bill Stagecoach (1939) & High Noon, Stanford, Saturday through Tuesday. Two of the best westerns ever made. In Stagecoach, nine very different people must cross dangerous territory in the titular vehicle–a journey that forces them to confront their prejudices as well as angry Apaches. A young, impossibly handsome John Wayne made the leap from … Continue reading What’s Screening: May 28 – June 3
What’s Screening: May 21 – 27
I Still Wake Up Dreaming is still playing the Roxie and will be playing there through the week. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s a film noir festival. Other than that, not much to tell you about this week. But here are opportunities to see two very different views … Continue reading What’s Screening: May 21 – 27
What’s Screening: May 14 – 20
By the time you read this, I’ll be in New York City for my son’s graduation. Don’t expect many posts this week. Among the events I’ll miss is the first half of I Still Wake Up Dreaming, a film noir series at the Roxie. A Trouble in Paradise, Stanford, Saturday through Tuesday. What’s so fascinating … Continue reading What’s Screening: May 14 – 20