Did you sign up for Disney+ to watch Hamilton? I did and I loved it. I'd seen the play live a few months ago, but I liked it much better on the screen, where I could watch the facial expressions and read the closed captions. The question is: Will I continue with Disney+. Anyway, here … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Frozen, Spite Marriage, & Rancho Notorious
Tag: Buster Keaton
1928: The peak and the fall
I don't believe in golden ages and "great film years." Every year since the beginning of cinema has had good and bad films. But there's something special about 1928. At least in America, it was the artistic pinnacle of silent film. And yet it was also the year where silence began to die. Movies kept … Continue reading 1928: The peak and the fall
Saul Bass and the Big Comedies
Before Saul Bass, a film's opening credits were something to get done with as fast as possible (yes, and now the closing credits seem to go on forever). But Bass changed that in the 1950s. Using animation, slow motion, soft focus, and every trick in the printer, he made those credits fun, or exciting, or … Continue reading Saul Bass and the Big Comedies
Cinequest coming in March
You'd expect a major film festival in the South Bay to celebrate technology as well as movies. And that's what you get at Cinequest. Yes, like other Red Carpet Festivals, Cinequest showcases plenty of films that have not yet been seen in the Bay Area, with filmmakers in attendance. But it also showcases new (and … Continue reading Cinequest coming in March
What’s Screening: January 17 – 23
What's in Bay Area outarthouse cinemas this week? A hilarious disaster. A real and tragic disaster. And movies by Spielberg, Forman, Fellini, Lumet, Keaton, and Varda. But no film festivals. <Sorry about that. I was running a fever when I wrote that.> The Week's Big Event A Airplane! 40th anniversary, Castro, Sunday, 3:00They're flying on … Continue reading What’s Screening: January 17 – 23
My Report on the Day of Silents
I spent Saturday at the Castro Theater for the Day of Silents, a one-day event produced by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. I saw four features and eight shorts, all with live musical accompaniment. It was a wonderful day. Fatty + Buster: The Comique World of Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton One hundred years … Continue reading My Report on the Day of Silents
Keaton’s Our Hospitality on a new Blu-ray
Three years before he made The General, Buster Keaton mined the antebellum South for comic gold in this almost gentle comedy inspired by the Hatfield/McCoy feud. Our Hospitality places Buster in the home of a family sworn to kill him. What keeps him alive? The cordial Southern manners that forbid murdering a guest in your own home. … Continue reading Keaton’s Our Hospitality on a new Blu-ray
A Day of Silents at the Castro
As usual, the San Francisco Film Festival will put on its one-day affair in early December, called A Day of Silents. This year's Day is December 7. From 11:00am until probably about 10:00pm, you can enjoy movies, live music, other enthusiasts, and the Castro Theatre. Here's what they're showing: 11:00am: Fatty + Buster: The Comique … Continue reading A Day of Silents at the Castro
What’s Screening: September 20 – 26
This week in Bay Area theaters: Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery save Alcatraz. Teenage vampires and a hammy Shakespearean reduce the population. Silent builders put up a rickety shack and the Taj Mahal. And Peter Bogdanovich closes the last picture show. Plus four film festivals. Festivals The Oakland International Film Festival opened yesterday (sorry, I … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 20 – 26
What’s Screening: June 14 – 20
Orson Welles revealed, the first movie director gets her due, Chaplin comes to America, and Frank Capra goes to Washington. Also, Hollywood's best western and one big festival. All this and more on Bay Area movie screens this week. Festivals Frameline opens Thursday The Week's Big Event A+ Stagecoach (original, 1939 version), New Mission, Sunday, … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 14 – 20
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