This Tuesday is Valentine's Day, so there should be a lot of romance in the air. Take your loved one to the cinema…or take several loved ones. I can tell you about three films that will be screening at the Mostly British Film Festival – two of them good, and one stinker from the great … Continue reading What’s Screening: February 10 – 16
Tag: Vittorio De Sica
What’s Screening: September 3 – 9
Since the pandemic shut down theaters, there has been little or no screenings of classic films in real movie theaters. That's why the Cerrito's opening festival seemed so wonderful last May. But now, we're getting more classics on the big screen, thanks to the Balboa, the Roxie, and the Vogue. Festivals & Series The Rose … Continue reading What’s Screening: September 3 – 9
Films that increase empathy
Roger Ebert once called movies "a machine that generates empathy." I'm not sure that's always true. Triumph of the Will generated a lot of emotions, but empathy wasn't one of them. And yet, the best films can help you understand those trapped in poverty, loneliness, and sickness. Ever since the invention of the close-up, motion … Continue reading Films that increase empathy
What’s Screening: January 11 – 17
Real and fake Laurel and Hardy, dogs and cats of the deadly kind, a dying bureaucrat, a desperate cyclist, a hitchhiker with a twitchy trigger finger, musical POWs, and a boy named Apu. But no film festivals. The Week's Big Event A The Apu Trilogy, Stanford, Friday through Sunday The Stanford is starting a Satyajit … Continue reading What’s Screening: January 11 – 17
Modern Cinema festival honors Satyajit Ray
Few artists caught the sorrows and sympathies of the human condition like India's Satyajit Ray. Come October, you'll get a chance to see 15 of his feature films, along with 11 others that either inspired Ray or were inspired by him, at SFMOMA's Phyllis Wattis Theater. SFFILM and SFMOMA presents Modern Cinema/Satyajit Ray: Intimate Universes … Continue reading Modern Cinema festival honors Satyajit Ray
Brando, Baldwin, Keaton, & The Marx Brothers Coming to Pacific Film Archive
August is nearing its end, so it's about time to tell you about the film series going on at the Pacific Film Archive in September and beyond. Marlon Brando: The Fugitive Kind September 1–October 28 Marlon Brando burst onto screens at the beginning of the 1950s, changed the art of acting, then self-destructed. In between, … Continue reading Brando, Baldwin, Keaton, & The Marx Brothers Coming to Pacific Film Archive
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Baby Driver, L’Atalante, & Marriage Italian Style
Three move movies I've seen recently - at home and in theaters. A Baby Driver (2017), Shattuck Cinemas This very entertaining crime thriller provides some of the best choreographed action I've seen in years. More importantly, it's built around an engaging and original character. Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a very young and extremely talented getaway driver. … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Baby Driver, L’Atalante, & Marriage Italian Style