There's limited room in my life for Bayflicks at the moment, so I'm doing the bare minimum. I'll keep the weekly schedules going and the microreviews, but I won't start the newsletter with an essay. I hope to be back to full mode in a few weeks. Design for Living, Pacific Film Archive, Sunday, 3:45. … Continue reading Movies for the Week of February 2, 2007

Must I write about the Oscars? Must I gnash my metaphoric teeth over lousy films nominated and good ones ignored? Must I ask just what the Academy was thinking? Reality check: The Motion Picture Academy doesn’t have a single mind to think with. It contains hundreds of minds, of various levels of brightness, that choose … Continue reading Oscars and Indies

Noir City, Castro, Friday through Sunday, February 4. I’m not highlighting any one particular movie here--I haven’t seen any of them. I’m just reminding you of 10 rare, black and white, 35mm double bills showing off the bleakest of Hollywood filmmaking. Show People, Pacific Film Archive, Wednesday, 3:00. We remember Marion Davies, if we remember … Continue reading Recommendations for the Week of 1/26/07

Technology will one day eliminate the image quality gap between home theater and real 35mm. But it will never eliminate the audience gap, because it can never replace the thrill of watching a movie while surrounded by hundreds of your fellow homo sapiens. Or so I was reminded last Saturday when I caught Rear Window … Continue reading Big Screens–German and American

Let me start with an apology. I only this week found out that a Werner Herzog Retrospective has been running at SFMOMA since November. I'll list the few remaining films as they come. The Holy Mountain In more up-to-date news, the Castro will screen Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1970's cult favorites El Topo and The Holy Mountain … Continue reading Coming Soon

I have two hands with five fingers each, and therefore must pick my Top Ten Films of 2006. But first, some ground rules: To qualify, a film must meet three criteria: First, it had to play its first open-ended, Bay Area release in 2006. Films that only played festivals don't qualify, but I've already given … Continue reading Best Films of 2006

You may have already noticed a change in the weekly schedules. I'm now grading movies like a school teacher. If I place an in front of a film title, it's not to be missed. If I give one an , missing it is a top priority. And when I mark a film with a , … Continue reading New Icons; Berlin & Beyond

Sickness kept me out of movie theaters for a couple of weeks. And when I finally felt up to going out, what did I see? Blood Diamond. Big mistake. Writer Charles Leavitt and director Edward Zwick tried to create an entertaining thriller and a lesson on the diamond industry’s horrible toll on African lives. But … Continue reading Bloody Diamonds!

In case you haven't heard, we cinephiles won the struggle to save the 4Star last week. For nearly three years now, the theater's owners, Frank and Lida Lee, have been at odds with the owners of the property, the Canaan Lutheran Church. The Lee's wanted to keep running the 4Star as a movie theater--something it's … Continue reading 4-Star Saved

Here's a list you can really use: The Best Unavailable Films of 2006. I attended a lot of festival screenings this year, so it's not surprising that many of the best movies I saw didn't get a wide--or even an art house--release in this country. Since I lack the resources to produce the Bayflicks Second … Continue reading Best Films You Haven’t Seen