The Latino Film Festival closes Sunday. Then we're festival-free for awhile. Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer, Elmwood, opens Friday. People don’t recognize the name Anita O’Day the way they do Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald, but as a jazz vocalist she’s arguably in their class. She possessed a beautiful voice, a unique … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 21-Thanksgiving

The Stanford is going to weekly engagements. That's the big news this week. The just-announced Humphrey Bogart festival will open a different double bill every Friday and run it through Thursday. 3rd I, the Chinese American, and the Latino Film Festival continue this week. Sounds of Wall-E, Rafael, Sunday, 3:00. Andrew Stanton and Pixar made … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 14-20

Well, yes, I did promise to get back to regular blogging, and it hasn't happened. I guess I have to get back to regular movie-going first. Such a busy life! Three festivals open this week. The Latino Film Festival starts Friday with the traditional opening at the Castro. It runs through the 23rd with screenings … Continue reading What’s Screening: November 7-13

I'm stepping back into Bayflicks, and plan to get to writing about movies--and going to them. So what's going on? DocFest moves from San Francisco to Berkeley's Shattuck for its final week. I didn't have time to check out what they're showing this year, and I'm not about to start now. Here's what else is … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 31-November 6

In a week or two I'll get back to a serious Bayflicks commitment. In the meantime, the Arab Film Festival, DocFest, and the United Nations Association Film Festival continue. Nosferatu, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30. The first (and unauthorized) film version of Dracula, and you can forget about sexy vampires here. Max Schreck … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 24-30

I don't get paid to review movies, but I do get paid to review TV sets. And since PC World wants me to review a lot of them for the January issue, I won't have much time for Bayflicks. I've got one review already written and scheduled to go live late this month, and I'll … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 17-23

The Mill Valley Film Festival runs through this week. I'll list those films after everything else. Three other festivals, Dead Channels, French Cinema Now, and the Oakland International Film Festival open this week. Dead Channels screens independent and international fantasy films Friday through Thursday, mostly at the Roxie, although it moves to the Parkway for … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 3 -9

What do jazz, marijuana, and the family problems of Asian Americans have in common? (And you thought it was going to be easy.) Excellent films on all three of those subjects open for all-too-limited runs open today. In fact, everything's good--very good--in this week's line-up. Oh, yes, and the Mill Valley Film Festival opens Thursday … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 26-October 2

Forbidden Lie$, Roxie and Shattuck, opens Friday. I have mixed feelings about documentaries that recreate scenes with actors, but Anna Broinowski's doc about author/con-artist Norma Khouri justified them beautifully. None of the events recreated in the film actually happened, and Broinowski reminds us of that by showing us the freshly murdered girl, covered in stage … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 19-25

Double Bill: Treasure of the Sierra Madre & There Will Be Blood, Castro, Sunday. Two excellent films from very different times about much the same thing. In Treasure of the Sierra Madre:, three down-on-their-luck Yankees (Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and the director's father, Walter Huston) prospect for gold in Mexico. They find and stake out … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 12-18