More than 75 movies will disappear from the Criterion Channel at the end of the month. Here are some that I recommend you watch before February. One brilliant filmmaker, Bill Plympton, stands out on this list. A Idiots and Angels (2008) A man so rotten he pushes a tear of empathy back into his eye … Continue reading What’s leaving Criterion when January ends
Tag: Frank Capra
What’s Screening: December 20 – 26
This week in Bay Area movie theaters (aside from the final Star Wars flick): Agnès Varda says her goodbye. Bruce Willis and Gene Hackman go after bad guys. Sidney Lumet opens his big-screen career and Ingmar Berman closes his. You can even spend Christmas watching Fiddler on the Roof. And speaking of that happy holiday, … Continue reading What’s Screening: December 20 – 26
What’s Screening: December 13 – 19
Frank Capra's masterpiece. Cagney and Bogart. The movie that made Terry Gilliam famous and the one that created the word gaslighting. The creepy world of medieval Christianity. And remember, the family that runs an ambulance together struggles to make a living. All that and more on Bay Area movie screens this week. Festivals The last … Continue reading What’s Screening: December 13 – 19
What’s Screening: September 27 – October 3
On Bay Area movie screens this week: A 59-year-old erotic thriller from Korea, early works by Capra, Buñuel, and Pennebaker, and two young men born to be wild. We also have seven, yes seven, film festivals. Festivals The Women Sports Film Festival closes Saturday The Green Film Festival continues through Sunday. Read my preview. The Oakland … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 27 – October 3
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Let the Sunshine In, The Chaperone, & The Miracle Woman
I didn't see any of these movies at a film festival. They weren't sent to me for review. Unfortunately, I didn't see any of them in theaters. But here's what I think about them. A- Let the Sunshine In (2017) Netflix Blu-ray This Claire Denis film opens with a fairly explicit, but not very erotic … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Let the Sunshine In, The Chaperone, & The Miracle Woman
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
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
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
What’s Screening: December 21 – 27
This week on Bay Area movie screens: Two great new social dramas, plus Garbo, Forman, Lubitsch, Bergman (of course), a Billy Wilder double bill, no film festivals, and a theater's birthday party. Oh, and some Christmas movies. New films opening A Capernaum, Clay, Shattuck, Rafael, opens Friday Children living in poverty have to do for … Continue reading What’s Screening: December 21 – 27
What’s Screening: August 17 – 23
No festivals this week. But we do have a whole lot of A+ classics. A+ Great Gangster Movie Double Bill: The Godfather & Goodfellas, Castro, Saturday. Two A+ films on one double-bill! Francis Coppola, taking the job simply because he needed the money, turned The Godfather into the Great American Crime Epic. Marlon Brando got … Continue reading What’s Screening: August 17 – 23
