This week on Bay Area movie screens: Hitmen on vacation, vampires from outer space, Oscar-winning double bills, and films by Richard Linklater, Jacques Demy, Alain Resnais, and Alfred Hitchcock. Also two new films worth seeing and two film festivals. Festivals The East Bay Jewish Film Festival closes Sunday. Read my preview. Berlin & Beyond opens … Continue reading What’s Screening: March 8 – 14
Styx: How many can you save?
A Drama/Thriller Written by Wolfgang Fischer and Ika Künzel Directed by Wolfgang Fischer You can find a lot of movies about a vacation gone wrong, where the protagonist (or protagonists) must fight for their lives and the lives of those they love. But Wolfgang Fischer does something much more interesting in Styx. Aside from one … Continue reading Styx: How many can you save?
Albany FilmFest: The Hometown Festival Near Me
I generally have a significant commute to get to a film festival. My own corner of the East Bay rarely hosts such events. And yet I have never visited the Albany FilmFest, where all of the venues are an easy walk from my home. It's a calendar problem; for reasons unrelated to movies, I'm generally … Continue reading Albany FilmFest: The Hometown Festival Near Me
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Bohemian Rhapsody, Hangmen Also Die, & School Ties
Three more movies that I saw just because I wanted to see them. A- Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), New Parkway, Theater 1 The Freddie Mercury Story (as this film would have been called in the 1950s) plays out as a relatively conventional rock star biopic. The protagonist (played by Rami Malek) finds and joins an existing band, … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Bohemian Rhapsody, Hangmen Also Die, & School Ties
What’s Screening: March 1 – 7 (this time for real)
Not much going on in Bay Area movie theaters this week. But we do have two new films, a curious double bill, an early western, and three film festivals. Festivals The East Bay Jewish Film Festival continues through this week and beyond. Read my preview. The Dynamation Celebration honors animation wizard Ray Harryhausen. It starts … Continue reading What’s Screening: March 1 – 7 (this time for real)
Cancelled: What’s Screening: March 1 – 7
I accidentally posted an unfinished article. The full one will come up tomorrow.
Three Days of Ray Harryhausen
We use the word auteur primarily when we talk about directors. Occasionally we call producers auteurs. But Ray Harryhausen was the only special effects engineer who can be reasonably called an auteur. He picked the stories and fleshed them out. His drawings guided the art direction and camerawork. And his model animation technique, which he … Continue reading Three Days of Ray Harryhausen
It Happened One Night one afternoon at BAMPFA
Almost every Wednesday afternoon at 3:10, BAMPFA screens a film with a lecture or discussion in one of their In Focus series. This Wednesday, I finally got to one. Perhaps that's because they were screening Frank Capra's 1934 classic It Happened One Night. But also because I believe that screenwriters don't get enough credit, and … Continue reading It Happened One Night one afternoon at BAMPFA
Quick thoughts on the Oscars
Green Book? That's the official best film of 2018? It's not bad. I gave it a B+, which means it's a very good film, but not an exceptional one. But I gave a solid A to three of the Best Picture candidates: BlacKkKlandman, A Star is Born, and Roma…especially Roma, easily the best film of … Continue reading Quick thoughts on the Oscars
What’s Screening: February 22 – 28
What's playing in Bay Area movie theaters this week? Frank Capra, Humphrey Bogart, Buster Keaton, and The Band. Also two film festivals and the Academy Awards at a theater near you. Festivals Modern Cinema: Jia Zhangke closes Sunday. Read my preview. The East Bay Jewish Film Festival opens Thursday. I have a preview for that … Continue reading What’s Screening: February 22 – 28
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