At the end of every month, The Criterion Channel removes a considerable number of films from their streaming platform. Here are some I suggest catching before April Fool's Day. Full recommendations A The Killing (1956) Stanley Kubrick started his Hollywood career with this crackerjack noir heist thriller. A career criminal (Sterling Hayden) orchestrates a complex racetrack robbery … Continue reading What’s leaving Criterion at the end of March
Tag: Pedro Almodóvar
What’s Screening: Jan 28 – Feb 3
What's happening in Bay Area cinema as January turns into February? We've got laughs from Preston Sturges, Bill Murray, and Monty Python. Also noir from Pedro Almodóvar, or satire from Boots Riley. I had to prepare this newsletter earlier than usual for personal reasons. That means that if a screening is announced at the last … Continue reading What’s Screening: Jan 28 – Feb 3
What’s Screening: January 7 – 13
I dedicate this week's newsletter to film historian and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022). Considering what Omicron is doing all over the world, we have a surprising number of vintage movies playing in real theaters. We've got major works from Peter Jackson, F.W. Murnau, Wong Kar Wai, The Coen Brothers, … Continue reading What’s Screening: January 7 – 13
Parallel Mothers: What you heard at the maternity hospital
A- drama Written & directed by Pedro Almodóvar Some movies are easy to review, but not this one. If I'm not careful, I can ruin the movie for you - and not just in the last act. Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, Parallel Mothers, contains some important surprises over its two-hour runtime, and each new revelation … Continue reading Parallel Mothers: What you heard at the maternity hospital
What’s Screening: March 6 – 12
With coronavirus spreading, it's a scary time to go to the movies. The Stanford is closed until further notice, ending or delaying the Kurosawa series. Amazon, Netflix and other companies have dropped out of SXSW - a major technology and film festival in Austin. But if you have the courage to go to an arthouse … Continue reading What’s Screening: March 6 – 12
What’s Screening: October 11 – 17
Coming to Bay Area movie theaters this week: An aging filmmaker, rebellious students, creatures from the dead, a future that never happened, pre-Columbian America, and lots of beautifully photographed water. And six film festivals. Important message: Yesterday, October 9, I received an email from BAMPFA stating that the museum/theater was closed do to the blackouts. … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 11 – 17
Pain and Glory: A portrait of the artist as an aging man
B+ Drama Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar You can't watch a fictitious film by a major auteur, where the protagonist is also a major auteur, and not wonder to what degree the movie is autobiographical (think 8½). When I viewed Pedro Almodóvar's new film, Pain and Glory, I had to wonder to what degree … Continue reading Pain and Glory: A portrait of the artist as an aging man
Films you may want to catch at the Mill Valley Film
The Filipino war on drugs, failed justice in rural Alabama, an aging filmmaker, and documentaries on one of the worst, and one of the best, men in recent American history. Here's my opinions on five films that will screen at this year's Mill Valley Film Festival. A Watch List The Philippines' outrageously inhuman war on … Continue reading Films you may want to catch at the Mill Valley Film
What’s Screening: August 30 – September 5
In a miracle of miracles, Captain Kirk and H.G. Wells time travel to 1980s San Francisco. Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone cross swords in early California. Pedro Almodóvar can take kink to another level, but unlike Bette Davis and Paul Henreid, you can't share a cigarette in a Bay Area movie theater this week. Festivals … Continue reading What’s Screening: August 30 – September 5
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Stalker, Bad Education, Bardelys the Magnificent, & Carry on Cleo
Four more films that are new to me. As usual, I'm sorting them by quality. A Stalker (1979), Filmstruck This slow, strange, allegorical fantasy from the great Andrei Tarkovsky gets under your skin. A guide, called a stalker, takes two other men on a journey into a strange place called The Zone. We never find out … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Stalker, Bad Education, Bardelys the Magnificent, & Carry on Cleo
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