Robbie Robertson ignores his Band. Kurosawa goes '60s noir. Hitchcock becomes stranger on a train. And a giant mutant predator hits South Korea (and no, it's not Donald Trump). All this, plus three film festivals and more this week in Bay Area arthouse cinemas. Festivals The East Bay International Jewish Film Festival opens Friday and … Continue reading What’s Screening: February 28 – March 5
Tag: Alfred Hitchcock
What’s Screening: December 27 – January 2
How can you close 2019 and open 2020 in Bay Area movie theaters? The Lark has a major New Year's Eve Party, including a movie. But there's a whole week of good films, including works by Paul Thomas Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, Louis Malle, Harold Lloyd, Ernst Lubitsch, Agnès Varda, and more. New Year's Eve Events … Continue reading What’s Screening: December 27 – January 2
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Dark Waters, Summer Stock, & High Anxiety
I see a lot of films at festivals - always with a press pass. I screen movies before they're opened so I can review them. But I also see pictures like everyone else; buying a ticket or streaming at home. If I see the film that way, and have never written about before, it goes … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Dark Waters, Summer Stock, & High Anxiety
What’s Screening: August 16 – 22
Aside from the obvious, here are a few worthwhile films screening in Bay Area movie theaters this week. Festivals Modern Cinema: Haunted! (Gothic Tales by Women) continues through the month. Read my preview. New films opening A After the Wedding, Embarcadero Center, opens Friday Two of our greatest American actresses, Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore, … Continue reading What’s Screening: August 16 – 22
What’s Screening: August 9 – 15
Want something other than superhero movies? Here's what else is playing in Bay Area movie theaters: A Palestinian soap opera, jazz geniuses, and classics by Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Abbas Kiarostami, Sergio Leone, Masaki Kobayashid, David Lean, and Ernst Lubitsch. Also, two film festivals. Festivals Modern Cinema: Haunted! (Gothic Tales by Women) continues through the … Continue reading What’s Screening: August 9 – 15
What’s Screening: August 2 – 8
This week in Bay Area movie theaters: Jack the Ripper meets Sherlock Holmes and Captain James T. Kirk. The Princess Bride meets William Shakespeare. A punk rocker meets a valley girl. Also, Hitchcock, zombies, and some good old rock and roll. Also two film festivals. Festivals The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival closes Sunday. I'm covering this one … Continue reading What’s Screening: August 2 – 8
Hitchcock, James Bond, Star Trek, and some other terrific double features in August at the Castro
The double bill is almost a lost art, but this month you can find many excellent examples at the Castro. Let's start with Hitchcock Wednesdays (my label). Each Wednesday in August, San Francisco's best movie theater matches a feature from the master of suspense with an appropriate non-Hitchcock title: August 7: Strangers on a Train … Continue reading Hitchcock, James Bond, Star Trek, and some other terrific double features in August at the Castro
What’s Screening: May 24 – 30
This week in Bay Area movie theaters: Two very different opera movies, three silent films with live accompaniment (in three different theaters), lesbian love in Kenya, dancing about death, thrillers by Hitchcock and Malle, and the biggest epic of all time. Also, a documentary festival opens. Festivals SF DOCFEST opens Wednesday The Week's Big Event … Continue reading What’s Screening: May 24 – 30
What’s Screening: May 17 – 23
Here's what's in Bay Area movie theaters this week: New movies about spaceflight, Shakespeare, and fascism. Old movies about kidnapping and adultery. You can spend your weekend at an Asian-American film festival, then on Monday watch Tarantino's Holocaust revenge fantasy. Festivals CAAMFest (The Center for Asian American Media Festival) continues through Sunday New films opening … Continue reading What’s Screening: May 17 – 23
What’s Screening: April 26 – May 2
SFFilm left me with a lot of reviews to write and post. Here are the first three. Also in Bay Area theaters, Satan, assumed witches, another Satan, a Wim Wenders double bill, deep loneliness in the inner city, Maori feminism, Monty Python, and early Hitchcock. Just remember that "Life's a banquet and most poor suckers … Continue reading What’s Screening: April 26 – May 2