SanFrancisco Tagged Articles at Cinematical
San Francisco Film Festival Lineup Announced
Filed under: Fandom », Exhibition », San Francisco International Film Festival »
The 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival, announced its massive 150-film lineup this week. The world's oldest film festival (Federico Fellini showed his film La Strada here when he was just a pup will open with Peter Bratt's La Mission -- starring brother Benjamin Bratt -- and closes with Alexis dos Santos' Unmade Beds, with Marc Webb's 500 Days of Summer -- with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel -- as a Centerpiece. Francis Ford Coppola will receive the festival's directing award (previously awarded to Mike Leigh, Spike Lee and Werner Herzog) and will hopefully screen a trailer and some bits and pieces from his upcoming Tetro. Robert Redford will be honored with the Peter J. Owens award (for actors whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity). James Toback will receive the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting, and the festival will screen his new documentary Tyson. Other guests include Evan Rachel Wood and Elijah Wood (no relation).
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards Announced
Filed under: Documentary », Drama », Foreign Language », Thrillers », Awards », New Releases », George Clooney », Oscar Watch », Western »
The San Francisco Film Critics Awards have been announced, and they're especially exciting for us here at Cinematical. Why? Because three of our writers are in the SFFC! Our very own James Rocchi, Jeffrey M. Anderson, and Richard Von Busack are all part of the San Francisco critic "scene." San Fran made some interesting picks, several outside of the expected Oscar nominees. So what were their choices? For Best Foreign Film, they selected Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (which I am watching when I finish this post). For Best Documentary, they selected No End in Sight (which didn't blow me away, but was certainly well done). Best Adapted Screenplay went to Sarah Polley for Away From Her (great script, one of the most kick-in-the-stomach depressing movies I've seen lately). And Best Original Screenplay went to Tamara Jenkins for The Savages.Amy Ryan was named Best Supporting Actress for her brilliant portrayal of a highly difficult character in Gone Baby Gone. Ryan's co-star in that film, Casey Affleck, was named Best Supporting Actor for his outstanding work in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Best Actress was Julie Christie for Away From Her and Best Actor was George Clooney in Michael Clayton -- two choices I approve of though I disagree with them. Joel and Ethan Coen took Best Director(s) honors for their latest masterpiece, No Country for Old Men. And -- drumroll please -- the Best Picture Award went to Jesse James. A surprising pick perhaps, but it was an absolutely fantastic film, and hopefully the award encourages more people to see it. The SFFC gave a special citation to an indie called Colma: The Musical, "a homegrown song-and-dance extravaganza about the paradoxical drudgery and surreality of life in a city where the dead outnumber the living one thousand to one." That old story again? See the list for yourself here -- it's a San Francisco treat!
RvB's After Images: Barbary Coast (1935)
Filed under: Classics », After Image », Columns », Cinematical Indie »
Ending a film must be the hardest part of any screenwriter's task. I've seen so many films with bad endings lately. I could make a list but it would be too depressing; for instance, seeing Stardust on second run got me miffed again. Shouldn't they have crowned Una Queen of Stormhold, to demonstrate the end of misrule by fratricidal princes? And the end of 3:15 to Yuma sill leaves a bad after-taste. It's as if James Mangold had walked out in front of the camera and said, "I really don't know what this struggle between good and evil is about." A screenwriter may only be safe if he figures out the ending first and then works backward to set it up.
Barbary Coast, a minor film by Howard Hawks seems headed for tragedy in the end. The last few minutes have the hero with a bullet in him, being tended by a heroine in a fog-shrouded rowboat, with the villain in pursuit. You can feel everything in the movie heading toward the finish of Tristan and Isolde. But the movie doesn't finish there. Barbary Coast resolves is in a triptych of three-way dignity: villain, hero, and heroine all getting their respect in the finish. (Funny that Andrew Sarris himself misremembered the way Barbary Coast ended, in this book...but that was published in the days before home video and niggling little pedants on the Internet.)
From the Editor's Desk, Sept. 29
Filed under: Classics », Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », From the Editor's Desk »
I've been writing From the Editor's Desk for Cinematical for, wow, a whole week -- and I'm a little concerned that it might make me sound like one of Dana Carvey's Grumpy Old Man Weekend Update pieces. So let me tell you about something I love: They're showing Them! Outside at The Presidio this weekend. The San Francisco Film Society puts on Film in the Fog every year showing films outside, and this year it's one of my favorite monster films. ("Shoot the antennae! It's blind without them!") And to be honest, as much as I love my DVD collection, as much as I love going to press screenings and what-have-you, there's nothing like watching a film with a bunch of people you don't know. And it's Them! -- what a perfect film, full of atom age paranoia and nicely-crafted cheapness. (It doesn't hurt that Them! was supposed to be in 3-D but that never happened -- so the film has plenty of lunging, goofy 3-D cinematography.) And there's gonna be kids there who've never seen it, and people older than I who remember it from their youth, and it's gonna be great. I think I'm gonna yell out loud when I see Nimoy on-screen, too.
What are your movie plans for the weekend?
J.
Tales of the City: San Francisco Film Roundup
Filed under: Mark Cuban », Tales of the City », Columns »
After over fifteen years in the making -- and making Malick look rushed -- Caveh Zahedi's I Am a Sex Addict opened in
Zahedi's own Bay Area this week, at the Balboa. The notable, quotable Neva Chonin has the best piece, from The Chronicle. The first weekend's screenings also include an extensive series of
in-person appearances by Zahedi and his fellow filmmakers from in front and behind the camera; The Balboa's Website has more information. And,
fascinatingly, the release of I Am a Sex Addict also had the nice side-effect of inducing a media-mogul
slapfight that's based around ownership of the film's future rights; we have the story, if that
look behind the curtain appeals to you in any way, shape or form.
Also this week, the weeklies have some nice film-related stuff, including a discussion of Jim Jones and the new documentary Jonestown:
The Life and Death of Peoples Temple in the Bay Guardian. The
ever-ready Cheryl Eddy has a review.
San Francisco had 25 days of rain in March. Twenty-five days of rain.
Tales of the City: Fake Tales of San Francisco
Filed under: Action », Classics », Comedy », Drama », Foreign Language », Romance », New Releases », Cinematical Indie »
Well, the big hullabaloo in town this week would have to be the Castro's
premiere of The
Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, based on the faux-moir by J. T. Leroy. For those of you who don't follow
San Francisco's literary scene – which is probably all of you – The SF Chronicle had a nice piece about how drugged-up, ex-hustler, super-shy, HIV-positive author and
celeb J. T. LeRoy turned out to be a big fat fraud. (And really, is HIV-positive status something that can be used as a
character detail? That's, uh, not cool, as the kids say.) I haven't seen The Heart is Deceitful yet, because I
know it's loaded with cross-dressing and drug use and sexual depravity and, like you, I go to the movies to escape
from work. If you're not feeling fraud-a-liscious, the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival – whose acronym is two letters shy of being a James Bond '60s bad-guy group – is closing up in San Jose, including a screening of the witty and fun Red Doors. Ask Burt Bacharach for directions. The Red Vic has King Kong, in case you can't get enough of an expensive, sad-looking monkey; finally, The Clay has a midnight showing of, God help us, The Goonies as part of their actually-quite-good Midnight Movie series. Remember folks: The Goonies is just a gateway film; soon, you'll be watching Explorers. …
See you around the Bay,
J.
SXSW: indieWIRE to Launch Social Networking Space
Filed under: Independent », SXSW », Cinematical Indie »
I'm flogging myself for not getting this scrap of
gossip up earlier, but here it is: whilst introducing the Landmark panel on Sunday at SXSW, indieWIRE EIC Eugene Hernandez announced two new ventures for the 10-year-old
company, the reigning online indie film portal. Officially launched on Tuesday, SF360.org is a new web destination dedicated to the San Francisco film scene; Hernandez
said it's hopefully the first of many experiments for iW in local satellites. The other new project is, to me at least,
potentially far more exciting. The old indieWIRE community forum is
going to relaunch either tomorrow or early next week as, essentially, a film-centric competitor to MySpace. Keep an eye out for an official announcement.Free Movies: Corpse Bride Edition
Filed under: Animation », Drama », Music & Musicals », New Releases », Free Movies »
Since I couldn't find any nationwide Curse of the Ware-Rabbit preview screenings, I selected the next best thing. Most likely less funny, but still cool and cartoony. Go and marvel at how deeply weird it would be to spend time inside Tim Burton's head.
If you want a chance to attend these screenings, you have to enter by tomorrow (9/18).
- Los Angeles (9/21)
- Chicago (9/22)
- Detroit (9/22)
- New York (9/22)
- San Francisco (9/22)
- Atlanta (9/22)
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
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