The Irish Film Festival runs until Saturday, but the Latino Film Festival continues through the week. And the Oakland Underground Film Festival--which I only found out about Friday morning--opens Wednesday. B+ The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Pacific Film Archive, Sunday, 5:00. Almost certainly the most low-key, matter-of-fact, and inexpensive life-of-Jesus movie ever made; and it … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 20 – 26
What’s Screening: September 13 – 19
Quite a bit of festival activity, especially over the weekend. The San Francisco Dance Film Festival continues through Sunday, and the one-day Atheist Film Festival takes over the Roxie on Saturday. The Latino Film Festival continues through most of the month. And the Irish Film Festival starts its three-day run on Thursday. You'll find some … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 13 – 19
This year’s Mill Valley Film Festival Announced Today
In the Bay Area, we have film festivals for Jews, Arabs, Irish, atheists, Asians, South Asians, Asian Americans, blacks, gays, and gay blacks. We have festivals for people who love silent movies, film noir, comedy, and horror. And we have film festivals for people who just love movies. The Mill Valley Film Festival is one … Continue reading This year’s Mill Valley Film Festival Announced Today
Coming on Yom Kippur: The Atheist Film Festival
The Bay Area's fifth annual Atheist Film Festival plays one day--Saturday, September 14--at the Roxie. That's Yom Kippur. I'll assume it's a coincidence. I also assume that it won't hurt the box office much. I have nothing against atheism. The belief that there is no God is a perfectly reasonable one, and nothing to be … Continue reading Coming on Yom Kippur: The Atheist Film Festival
My Thoughts on Blue Jasmine
Cate Blanchett can do anything. In Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, which my wife and I saw Saturday night, she gives a great performance in an otherwise shallow and unbelievable drama. You probably already know the story. Jasmine (Blanchett) enjoys a life of indulgence and privilege as the spoiled wife of an extremely rich, New York-based … Continue reading My Thoughts on Blue Jasmine
What’s Screening: September 6 – 12
The Latino Film Festival starts Thursday. B+ Afternoon Delight, Kabuki, Albany Twin, opens Friday. The plot sounds like broad, comic farce: A young Jewish mother and housewife invites a stripper and sometimes prostitute to move into her home and become her young son’s nanny. When Afternoon Delight tries to be funny, it generally succeeds. But writer/director … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 6 – 12
Serious Farce: My review of Afternoon Delight
B+ Officially a comedy Written and directed by Jill Soloway The plot sounds like broad, comic farce--a feminist take on Down and Out in Beverly Hills. A bored, Jewish young mother and housewife (Kathryn Hahn) worries about the lack of sex in her marriage. Then, for reasons that are never really explained, she invites a … Continue reading Serious Farce: My review of Afternoon Delight
What’s Screening: August 30 – September 5
No festivals this week. B+ Thérèse, Opera Plaza, Shattuck, opens Friday. In the late 1920s, Thérèse (Audrey Tautou of Amélie) marries the rich and conservative Bernard. It’s a good match economically, but she almost immediately regrets the loveless and stifling relationship. When Bernard blocks his younger sister (Anaïs Demoustier of Living on Love Alone) from … Continue reading What’s Screening: August 30 – September 5
What’s Screening: August 23 – 29
No festivals this week. But I'm placing three Hitchcock 9 films at the bottom of the newsletter. B+ Flesh and the Devil, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30. A silly story, but a sexy one, well-told. I’ll skip the plot, and just tell you that it’s about friendship, young love, uncontrollable lust, and the … Continue reading What’s Screening: August 23 – 29
Laughing at Hitler: My Blu-ray review of To Be or Not to Be
The Nazis conquered Poland with frightening speed. But they prove no match for Carol Lombard and Jack Benny in Ernst Lubitsch's World War II comic masterpiece, available on Blu-ray August 27 from Criterion. Lombard and Benny play a married pair of egotistical stars of the Warsaw stage, heading a theatrical troupe of slightly lesser egos. … Continue reading Laughing at Hitler: My Blu-ray review of To Be or Not to Be
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