Cinequest continues through the week, the Green Film Festival runs through the weekend. The East Bay Jewish Film Festival opens Saturday. The Asian American Film Festival opens Friday. As usual, I'm placing festival films at the end of the newsletter. Balboa Birthday Bash, Balboa, Sunday, 7:00. To celebrate the theater's 81st birthday, the theater will … Continue reading What’s Screening: March 4 – 10
Tarzan of the 30’s
From 1932 through 1948, Johnny Weissmuller starred in 12 Tarzan movies--six for MGM followed by six for RKO, and all now owned by Warner Brothers. The Rafael will present two of these movies--both from the MGM 1930s--over the next two Sundays in a series called Hollywood & Vines: The Movie Magic of Tarzan. Visual effects … Continue reading Tarzan of the 30’s
Cinequest Preview: A Little Help
C- A Little Help, Camera 12, Thursday, March 3, 9:15; Wednesday, March 9, 12:00 noon; California Theatre, Saturday, March 9, 9:15. This film really helped me appreciate Mike Leigh. It did so by reminding me that not everyone can make a good low-key drama about ordinary, damaged human beings. A Little Help's protagonist (Jenna Fischer) … Continue reading Cinequest Preview: A Little Help
Cinequest Preview: Small Town Murder Songs
Cinequest opens tonight, and I'm not ready. The festival recently sent me several screener DVDs so I could review some of their films, but I don't know how many I'll get to in time. Because I don't know how many of these films I'll get to in a timely manner, I'm going to post capsule … Continue reading Cinequest Preview: Small Town Murder Songs
Oscars at the Cerrito
I discovered just how fun an Oscar party can be. It happened last night at the Cerrito. But I must confess: I did not, after all, come costumed as a lesbian gardener ballet dancer with an eye patch. A few people were costumed as movie characters, however, and a great many dressed up formally for … Continue reading Oscars at the Cerrito
Cinequest
With its celebration of technology and independent filmmaking, Cinequest always seemed like a festival I should attend. But San Jose a big schlep for me, and I've yet to make it. But that doesn't mean you should miss it. It runs the first 12 days of March. The festival kicks off this year with Passsione, … Continue reading Cinequest
What’s Screening: February 25 – March 3
Cinequest opens Tuesday night, if only as a reminder that not all festivals open on a Thursday. But then, the Green Film Festival opens on Thursday. And here's something strange: There's not a show in this newsletter I can give a grade to. No A's, no F's, and nothing in between. There are two movies … Continue reading What’s Screening: February 25 – March 3
Oscar Parties
The rule used to be that you watched movies in theaters and TV at home. Today, so many of us watch movies at home that we need to get out once in awhile to watch TV in the theater. And why not do it with the biggest movie night on television: The Academy Awards? Comedy … Continue reading Oscar Parties
The Leopard at the Castro
Historical epics like Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi, and Cleopatra tell us stories about people who changed history. Others--what I call passive epics--concentrate on people whose worlds are changed by the history happening around them. Gone With the Wind, Ben-Hur, and Dr. Zhivago fit into this category. Luchino Visconti's 1963 film The Leopard takes this passivity … Continue reading The Leopard at the Castro
What’s Screening: February 18 – 24
No festivals this week. A Double bill: Chinatown & L.A. Confidential, Castro, Thursday. Roman Polanski may be a rapist, but you can’t watch Chinatown and deny his talent as a filmmaker. (Not that that in any way excuses his actions as a human being.) Writer Robert Towne fictionalized an actual scandal involving Southern California water … Continue reading What’s Screening: February 18 – 24
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