Here are four more movies I've seen recently that don't fit into any other articles I've written. B+ Mrs. Miniver (1942), Filmstruck William Wyler's first Best Picture winner celebrates the British stiff upper lip during the early months of World War II. These are the sort of people who enjoy a flower show with death all … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Mrs. Miniver, First Man, 9 to 5, & The Goldwyn Follies
What’s Screening: October 19 – 25
Faust with live music, a Dashiell Hammett double bill, a porn epic, a preview of Alfonso Cuarón's follow-up to Gravity, and five film festivals play this week in Bay Area theaters. Festivals The San Francisco Greek Film Festival closes Saturday The Arab Film Festival closes Sunday Modern Cinema>Satyajit Ray: Intimate Universes also closes Sunday. Read … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 19 – 25
United Nations Festival starts tonight
I can't possibly cover all the Bay Area film festivals. It's hard enough just listing them. However, just this morning, I realized that I should write something about the United Nations Association Film Festival, which opens tonight. After all, its screening three movies that I've already seen. None of these films are likely to get … Continue reading United Nations Festival starts tonight
Chaplin Diary, Part 17: Monsieur Verdoux
It took a long time for me to get to the next movie in my Chaplin Diary. I've been busy. I'm also not that enthusiastic about Chaplin's later work. By the time Monsieur Verdoux came out in 1947, Chaplin had not made a movie in almost seven years. He horribly altered and re-released The Gold … Continue reading Chaplin Diary, Part 17: Monsieur Verdoux
Lebanon & Beale Street: Closing Day of the Mill Valley Film Festival
This year's Mill Valley Film Festival closed Sunday. I caught two narrative films there. I loved them both. Both films will get theatrical releases in the near future. A Capernaum Children living in poverty have to do for themselves in this heartbreaking story of love and the lack of love. Twelve-year-old Zain sues his parents for … Continue reading Lebanon & Beale Street: Closing Day of the Mill Valley Film Festival
The West meets Islam on the Mill Valley Film Festival’s penultimate day
I saw three films Saturday at the Mill Valley Film Festival - all at the Rafael. Two were narratives, one was a documentary. All three dealt with the line between Islam and the West. A- Northern WindThis essentially serious film offers flashes of humor while studying the universality of working-class struggle. Two blue-collar men, who … Continue reading The West meets Islam on the Mill Valley Film Festival’s penultimate day
What’s Screening: October 12 – 18
We've got old movies: Dial M for Murder, The Leopard, Cabaret, and a series of very early films directed by women. We've got recent movies: The Hate U Give, The Happy Prince, and The Martian. We've got movies for Deadheads and the living dead. And we have seven - that's right - seven film festivals. … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 12 – 18
Comedy Weekdays at the Mill Valley Film Festival
I saw one Mill Valley Film Festival screening on Monday, and another two on Wednesday. Oddly, not a single documentary. Even odder, all three movies were comedies - a genre generally considered too frivolous for film festivals. In the order I saw them: A- Seder Masochism Nina Paley created this blasphemous and hilarious adult animation … Continue reading Comedy Weekdays at the Mill Valley Film Festival
The Hate U Give comes back to you
A- Drama Written by Audrey Wells, from a novel by Angie Thomas Directed by George Tillman Jr. Of this year's many impressive films about the African-American experience, The Hate U Give must be the most thematically ambitious. It covers police brutality, inner-city neighborhoods, being black in an overwhelmingly white school, drug dealing, black-on-black violence, demonstrations, riots, … Continue reading The Hate U Give comes back to you
The Happy Prince & the very sad story
C- Period drama Written & directed by Rupert Everett Opens Friday Many assume that if a movie focuses on very unhappy people wallowing in their many past mistakes, it must be a great film. This is especially true if the photography is conventionally beautiful, the cast British, and the main character an actual historical figure. Many … Continue reading The Happy Prince & the very sad story
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