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  • Home

    He-Men Command Belief in MMA Film 'Warrior'

    Dennis Harvey
    Sep 13, 2011

    Gavin O'Connor does a remarkable job making his two-and-a-half-hour fight film gritty, involving and as credible as humanly possible.

  • Reviews

    He-Men Command Belief in MMA Film 'Warrior'

    Dennis Harvey
    Sep 13, 2011

    Gavin O'Connor does a remarkable job making his two-and-a-half-hour fight film gritty, involving and as credible as humanly possible.

  • September 15, 2011

    He-Men Command Belief in MMA Film 'Warrior'

    Dennis Harvey
    Sep 13, 2011

    Gavin O'Connor does a remarkable job making his two-and-a-half-hour fight film gritty, involving and as credible as humanly possible.

  • September 8 2011

    He-Men Command Belief in MMA Film 'Warrior'

    Dennis Harvey
    Sep 13, 2011

    Gavin O'Connor does a remarkable job making his two-and-a-half-hour fight film gritty, involving and as credible as humanly possible.

  • August 25, 2011

    San Francisco, Open Your Golden Gates

    SF360 Staff
    Aug 20, 2011

    The Golden Gate Bridge remains in heavy rotation in sci-fi, action genres.

  • Home

    San Francisco, Open Your Golden Gates

    SF360 Staff
    Aug 20, 2011

    The Golden Gate Bridge remains in heavy rotation in sci-fi, action genres.

  • News & Blogs

    San Francisco, Open Your Golden Gates

    SF360 Staff
    Aug 20, 2011

    The Golden Gate Bridge remains in heavy rotation in sci-fi, action genres.

  • Home

    The Naked Truth on Nudity in Film

    George Rush
    Jul 12, 2011

    A legal expert offers advice on staying within the law while shedding extra layers.

  • July 14, 2011

    The Naked Truth on Nudity in Film

    George Rush
    Jul 12, 2011

    A legal expert offers advice on staying within the law while shedding extra layers.

  • Legal

    The Naked Truth on Nudity in Film

    George Rush
    Jul 12, 2011

    A legal expert offers advice on staying within the law while shedding extra layers.

  • Festivals

    Frameline35 Opens, Features Wildly Diverse Program

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 16, 2011

    The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival delivers internationally as well as locally made films of every identity and genre stripe.

  • Home

    Frameline35 Opens, Features Wildly Diverse Program

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 16, 2011

    The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival delivers internationally as well as locally made films of every identity and genre stripe.

  • June 16, 2011

    Frameline35 Opens, Features Wildly Diverse Program

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 16, 2011

    The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival delivers internationally as well as locally made films of every identity and genre stripe.

  • Home

    Soap-Operatic 'Bride Flight' Is an Entertaining Ride

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 10, 2011

    An historical-romantic novel in screen form, 'Bride Flight' offers all the pleasures (some guilty ones) of a film made half a century ago.

  • June 16, 2011

    Soap-Operatic 'Bride Flight' Is an Entertaining Ride

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 10, 2011

    An historical-romantic novel in screen form, 'Bride Flight' offers all the pleasures (some guilty ones) of a film made half a century ago.

  • Reviews

    Soap-Operatic 'Bride Flight' Is an Entertaining Ride

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 10, 2011

    An historical-romantic novel in screen form, 'Bride Flight' offers all the pleasures (some guilty ones) of a film made half a century ago.

  • Home

    'Blank City' Looks Back at Underground 'B' Heyday

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 3, 2011

    A documentary digs into New York's 'No Wave' movement that briefly flourished in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

  • June 9, 2011

    'Blank City' Looks Back at Underground 'B' Heyday

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 3, 2011

    A documentary digs into New York's 'No Wave' movement that briefly flourished in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

  • Reviews

    'Blank City' Looks Back at Underground 'B' Heyday

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 3, 2011

    A documentary digs into New York's 'No Wave' movement that briefly flourished in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

  • Festivals

    Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 2, 2011

    The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

  • Home

    Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 2, 2011

    The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

  • June 2, 2011

    Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 2, 2011

    The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

  • June 9, 2011

    Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 2, 2011

    The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

  • Festivals

    Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 2, 2011

    The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

  • Home

    Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 2, 2011

    The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

  • June 2, 2011

    Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 2, 2011

    The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

  • June 9, 2011

    Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 2, 2011

    The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

  • Home

    YBCA Revisits Vintage Erotica

    Dennis Harvey
    May 19, 2011

    YBCA uncorks another era's eros.

  • May 19, 2011

    YBCA Revisits Vintage Erotica

    Dennis Harvey
    May 19, 2011

    YBCA uncorks another era's eros.

  • Reviews

    YBCA Revisits Vintage Erotica

    Dennis Harvey
    May 19, 2011

    YBCA uncorks another era's eros.

  • Home

    Poetry in Motion: Working in Action

    Lisa Rosenberg
    Mar 1, 2011

    Build an action picture with a poor script? At your own risk.

  • March 3, 2011

    Poetry in Motion: Working in Action

    Lisa Rosenberg
    Mar 1, 2011

    Build an action picture with a poor script? At your own risk.

  • Screenwriting

    Poetry in Motion: Working in Action

    Lisa Rosenberg
    Mar 1, 2011

    Build an action picture with a poor script? At your own risk.

  • Home

    Temporary Insanity Takes Hold at Noir City

    Max Goldberg
    Jan 21, 2011

    Noir City 9's "madness" theme means a few more gothic titles and a fresh context to appreciate noir’s signature motifs.

  • January 27, 2011

    Temporary Insanity Takes Hold at Noir City

    Max Goldberg
    Jan 21, 2011

    Noir City 9's "madness" theme means a few more gothic titles and a fresh context to appreciate noir’s signature motifs.

  • Reviews

    Temporary Insanity Takes Hold at Noir City

    Max Goldberg
    Jan 21, 2011

    Noir City 9's "madness" theme means a few more gothic titles and a fresh context to appreciate noir’s signature motifs.

  • Home

    'Deathstalker' Muscles its Way Back to Big Screen

    Dennis Harvey
    Jan 6, 2011

    Sword, sandals and a sinister real-life epilogue: 'Deathstalker' earns top billing in a Midnite for Maniacs evening at the Castro. As one of 1982's bigger box-office hits, Conan the Barbarian accomplished two things. First, it finally made a movie star out of thick-bodied, thicker-accented Arnold Schwarzenegger after several failed attempts. Second, it spawned a legion of cheaper imitations cashing in on the early 1980s' seemingly bottomless need for films to fill cable airtime and video rental shelves. (Remember, until that time there the only commercial outlets for movies were theatrical release and network TV—so these were entirely...

  • January 6, 2010

    'Deathstalker' Muscles its Way Back to Big Screen

    Dennis Harvey
    Jan 6, 2011

    Sword, sandals and a sinister real-life epilogue: 'Deathstalker' earns top billing in a Midnite for Maniacs evening at the Castro. As one of 1982's bigger box-office hits, Conan the Barbarian accomplished two things. First, it finally made a movie star out of thick-bodied, thicker-accented Arnold Schwarzenegger after several failed attempts. Second, it spawned a legion of cheaper imitations cashing in on the early 1980s' seemingly bottomless need for films to fill cable airtime and video rental shelves. (Remember, until that time there the only commercial outlets for movies were theatrical release and network TV—so these were entirely...

  • December 16, 2010

    Film 2010: Big Pictures Light up the Small Screen

    Michael Fox
    Dec 16, 2010

    Perhaps it's OK to bring art film home for the holidays with sophisticated collections of DVDs and must-buy film books.

  • December 28, 2010

    Film 2010: Big Pictures Light up the Small Screen

    Michael Fox
    Dec 16, 2010

    Perhaps it's OK to bring art film home for the holidays with sophisticated collections of DVDs and must-buy film books.

  • Home

    Film 2010: Big Pictures Light up the Small Screen

    Michael Fox
    Dec 16, 2010

    Perhaps it's OK to bring art film home for the holidays with sophisticated collections of DVDs and must-buy film books.

  • Reviews

    Film 2010: Big Pictures Light up the Small Screen

    Michael Fox
    Dec 16, 2010

    Perhaps it's OK to bring art film home for the holidays with sophisticated collections of DVDs and must-buy film books.

  • Home

    Going McCarey's Way

    Dennis Harvey
    Sep 2, 2010

    A Mechanics' Institute series appreciates Leo McCarey's genius with comedy.

  • Reviews

    Going McCarey's Way

    Dennis Harvey
    Sep 2, 2010

    A Mechanics' Institute series appreciates Leo McCarey's genius with comedy.

  • September 2, 2010

    Going McCarey's Way

    Dennis Harvey
    Sep 2, 2010

    A Mechanics' Institute series appreciates Leo McCarey's genius with comedy.

  • August 26 ,2010

    A Vampire Weekend at YBCA

    Max Goldberg
    Aug 26, 2010

    Three vampire films capture more than the imagination. That the vogue for vampire melodramas may have run its course is clear enough from the appearance of Vampires Suck (in theaters as of this writing, though not likely much past it) and the news that the American redo of the 2008 Swedish indie hit, Let the Right One In, will be titled "Let Me In." Just like that, a lovely slice of pop-baroque gets reprocessed as a pathetic whine. No matter: as long there is cinema, the vampire will reemerge. Ever since the twin pinnacles of Nosferatu (1922) and Vampyr (1932), in which two of early cinema’s. . .

  • Home

    A Vampire Weekend at YBCA

    Max Goldberg
    Aug 26, 2010

    Three vampire films capture more than the imagination. That the vogue for vampire melodramas may have run its course is clear enough from the appearance of Vampires Suck (in theaters as of this writing, though not likely much past it) and the news that the American redo of the 2008 Swedish indie hit, Let the Right One In, will be titled "Let Me In." Just like that, a lovely slice of pop-baroque gets reprocessed as a pathetic whine. No matter: as long there is cinema, the vampire will reemerge. Ever since the twin pinnacles of Nosferatu (1922) and Vampyr (1932), in which two of early cinema’s. . .

  • August 19 2010

    Back with a 'Vengeance'

    Matt Sussman
    Aug 13, 2010

    Johnnie To delivers on his trademark themes with 'Vengeance.'

  • Home

    Back with a 'Vengeance'

    Matt Sussman
    Aug 13, 2010

    Johnnie To delivers on his trademark themes with 'Vengeance.'

  • Reviews

    Back with a 'Vengeance'

    Matt Sussman
    Aug 13, 2010

    Johnnie To delivers on his trademark themes with 'Vengeance.'

  • Home

    Crime on the Mind

    Sura Wood
    Jul 29, 2010

    The Pacific Film Archive's Criminal Minds series offers a liberating mix of asocial outlaws and sordid stories based on the ripped-from-the-headlines exploits of real-life gangsters and killers.

  • Reviews

    Crime on the Mind

    Sura Wood
    Jul 29, 2010

    The Pacific Film Archive's Criminal Minds series offers a liberating mix of asocial outlaws and sordid stories based on the ripped-from-the-headlines exploits of real-life gangsters and killers.

  • Home

    Getting Down, Dirty with Bob Ray and Chad Holt

    Sean Uyehara
    Jul 26, 2010

    Bob Ray brings his Down & Dirty Austin Film Tour to the Bay Area. And you can't stop him.

  • Q & A

    Getting Down, Dirty with Bob Ray and Chad Holt

    Sean Uyehara
    Jul 26, 2010

    Bob Ray brings his Down & Dirty Austin Film Tour to the Bay Area. And you can't stop him.

  • Festivals

    San Francisco International's Local Filmmakers Next Step

    Michael Fox
    May 6, 2010

    We caught up with several Bay Area makers, fresh off their high-energy screenings at SFIFF53 and primed to keep the momentum rolling.

  • Festivals

    SFIFF53 Reports: Divine Madness at 'All About Evil' Premiere

    Dennis Harvey
    May 4, 2010

    Judging from Saturday night s festivities, half the capacity Castro Theatre audience had worked on or otherwise invested in Joshua Grannell a.k.a. Peaches Christ s debut feature.

  • Festivals

    SFIFF53 Reports: James Schamus, Roger Ebert and the Writing Life

    Dennis Harvey
    May 3, 2010

    Few would argue that a good movie often starts with a good story. Yet it has been the screenwriter s lot to be underappreciated.

  • Festivals

    SFIFF53 Reports: The Butcher Block; Opening Night

    SF360
    Apr 24, 2010

    To be from the Bay Area and called The Butcher Brothers might mean you get mixed up with purveyors of grass fed meats.

  • Reviews

    Bong Joon-ho's 'Mother' Pleases

    Dennis Harvey
    Mar 18, 2010

    One of the heroes of South Korean cinema's recent renaissance wisely sticks to home terrain with his follow-up to The Host.

  • Festivals

    Cinequest at 20

    Dennis Harvey
    Feb 21, 2010

    Wasn't it just yesterday that Cinequest was the scrappy upstart amongst Bay Area festivals? Apparently not: San Jose's annual cinematic blowout is entering its third decade.

  • Festivals

    Darkness Of Noir City On Castro Screen

    Dennis Harvey
    Jan 20, 2010

    In late January, many tune their radar to the snowy, showy glare of Sundance. With Noir City here, the stay-at-homes are the luckier ones.

  • Q & A

    Michael House's Translation of Tati at YBCA

    Michael Guillen
    Jan 17, 2010

    Riding the crest of the Tati tsunami hitting our shores is The Magnificent Tati by Michael House, who lived in S.F. for 12 years before moving to Paris.

  • Reviews

    Thoughts On the Aughts: Best/Worst Trends

    Susan Gerard
    Dec 31, 2009

    While the U.S. moved from rebuilding decimated skyscrapers to the rebuilding of an entire economy, film moved from the multiplex to the mailbox to the mobile.

  • Reviews

    Holiday Film Preview, Part II

    Dennis Harvey
    Dec 11, 2009

    Dennis Harvey weighs in on the upcoming films of the holiday season.

  • Reviews

    The Cockettes' Celluloid Afterglow Still Strong at 40

    Dennis Harvey
    Dec 3, 2009

    The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art honors the 40th anniversary of The Cockettes with a one-night-only program.

  • Reviews

    On the Road Before 'The Recess Ends'

    Michael Fox
    Nov 10, 2009

    Shot in depressed burgs and 'burbs across the country, this documentary looks at the U.S. at its lowest economic ebb in generations.

  • Reviews

    The Exiled Ingrid Bergman at PFA

    Dennis Harvey
    Nov 6, 2009

    The PFA is offering a rare overview of Bergman's European films in the series, A Woman's Face: Ingrid Bergman in Europe.

  • Festivals

    French Cinema Now—and then

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 29, 2009

    Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is being revived as part of San Francisco Film Society’s second annual French Cinema Now festival, which runs the week of October 29 through November 4 at the city’s Clay Theatre.

  • Q & A

    Robert Mailer Anderson on Mendo Madness of 'Pig Hunt'

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 26, 2009

    After ripping it up at various genre fests, the Bay Area indie horror flick settles in for a theatrical run at the Red Vic.

  • Reviews

    Columbia Pictures' noir lights at the Roxie

    Dennis Harvey
    Sep 17, 2009

    The Roxie's Best of Columbia Noir seroes features great films capitalizing on a simple formula: a girl, a guy and a gun.

  • Screenwriting

    Understanding Backstory

    Lisa Rosenberg
    Aug 25, 2009

    Behind any narrative for the screen is the story that came before it—the life that shaped the central character, who arrives fully formed as your story opens

  • Q & A

    Bob Goldthwait, Fate and 'World's Greatest Dad'

    Dennis Harvey
    Aug 23, 2009

    Bay Area favorite Bob Goldthwait, whose pop culture moment seemed to expire in the mid '80s, returns with comedic vengeance via World's Greatest Dad.

  • Reviews

    'District 9' a Summer Sci-fi Surprise

    Dennis Harvey
    Aug 14, 2009

    This fanboy-anticipated New Zealand-produced film set in South Africa, with gang activity, theft, riots, and ever-mounting interspecies hostility, is a summer breakout.

  • Q & A

    Seiji Horibuchi on VIZ Cinema

    Michael Fox
    Aug 8, 2009

    Seiji Horibuchi, founder and chairman of VIZ Media, speaks about VIZ Cinema, a built-from-scratch venue located in the New People building in Japantown.

  • Reviews

    'Thirst' and the Vampire Genre Still Bleeding

    Dennis Harvey
    Aug 7, 2009

    Vampires are still the It Ghoul of our cultural moment and South Korean film Thirst is as precisely crafted as it is gleefully over-the-top in content both carnal and carnivorous.

  • Q & A

    Shelley Diekman Reflects on Well-Spent life

    Hilary Hart
    Jul 27, 2009

    Newly-retired Pacific Film Archive publicist Shelley Diekman discusses her cinephile tastes, her past and her future.

  • Q & A

    Berkeley-based writer Barry Gifford's wild screen-rides

    Sura Wood
    Jul 19, 2009

    A peripatetic childhood laid fertile ground for the heated imagination of Berkeley-based author Barry Gifford, who has written Wild at Heart and Lost Highway.

  • Q & A

    Britta Sjogren and "Women's Film"

    Max Goldberg
    Jul 16, 2009

    Sjogren threads her vexations with feminist film theory into a study of sound and voice in "women's film" touchstones like Letter from an Unknown Woman.

  • Reviews

    An Ample Display of Tilda Swinton's Edge

    Dennis Harvey
    Jul 10, 2009

    Tilda Swinton's edge of riskiness is on ample display in Julia, a new film by French director Erick Zonca.

  • Festivals

    SF Silent Film Festival

    Dennis Harvey
    Jul 9, 2009

    Douglas Fairbanks in The Gaucho is one of the many highlights on screen during the three-day San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

  • News & Blogs

    'The Greatest Year in Film' at the Castro

    Dennis Harvey
    Jul 2, 2009

    A series at the Castro marks 1939 as the high-water mark of cinema.

  • In Production

    The horror, the horror: 'Tweaker With an Axe'

    Michael Fox
    Jul 1, 2009

    An interview with Flynn Witmeyer about his debut feature Tweaker With an Axe, and the desire to make genre films—horror or sci-fi or fantasy—that incorporate gay and lesbian characters.

  • In Production

    The horror, the horror: 'Tweaker With an Axe'

    Michael Fox
    Jul 1, 2009

    An interview with Flynn Witmeyer about his debut feature Tweaker With an Axe, and the desire to make genre films—horror or sci-fi or fantasy—that incorporate gay and lesbian characters.

  • Festivals

    Frameline33: Icons and Unsung Heroes

    Matt Sussman
    Jun 25, 2009

    A festival full of drama finds no more emotional screening than the homophobia-in-sports double bill of Training Rules and Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial.

  • Reviews

    Frameline33: Youth in Revolt

    Lynn Rapoport
    Jun 22, 2009

    In this year's Frameline Fest, as so often in life, it's all about the one(s) that got away.

  • Festivals

    Frameline33: Something Old, Something New

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 17, 2009

    A dose of self-affirmation arrives with Frameline33 (or, if you prefer, the multiple-breath-intake-requiring San Francisco International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Film Festival.)

  • In Production

    'All About Evil'-doer Joshua Grannell in post

    Michael Fox
    Jun 17, 2009

    Blood-soaked, darkly comic All About Evil has writer-director Joshua Grannell and editor Rick LeCompte on an express-train schedule rare for an independent feature.

  • Popular

    'All About Evil'-doer Joshua Grannell in post

    Michael Fox
    Jun 17, 2009

    Blood-soaked, darkly comic All About Evil has writer-director Joshua Grannell and editor Rick LeCompte on an express-train schedule rare for an independent feature.

  • Festivals

    Another Hole in the Head

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 4, 2009

    At a film festival called Another Hole in the Head, dedicated to sci-fi, horror and fantasy, catastrophic carnage meets comedy more often than not.

  • Reviews

    Raimi's Return to Horror: Drag Me to Hell

    Dennis Harvey
    May 29, 2009

    Despite a few flaws in story and continuity, Drag Me to Hell offers the pleasures of a first-class entertainer thoroughly enjoying himself.

  • Festivals

    Bruce Goldstein: From NY to SF to 'Con'

    Judy Stone
    May 17, 2009

    Bruce Goldstein recalls his adventures in film land as he prepares to host the Con Film Festival at the Film Forum in New York.

  • Reviews

    SFIFF52: Leone's 'Once Upon a Time in the West'

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 30, 2009

    Once Upon a Time in the West is grand, cynical, lavish and above all huge, Sergio Leone's penchant for the iconically gargantuan (perhaps at the willing expense of relatable human detail) expressed in ultimate form.

  • Reviews

    "Observe and Report:" Seth Rogen Strikes Again

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 9, 2009

    If it grows darker than one might expect, Observe still hesitates at becoming a true black comedy; it's more medium-gray, earning stripes for breaking from current comedy norms on a moment-to-moment basis without quite arriving at an original, fully-developed whole. But Hill has a good eye, ear (the soundtrack choices are notably sharp), sense of off-kilter pacing, and, most importantly, a firm grasp on character.

  • Q & A

    Michael Jacobs 'Audience of One' at the Roxie

    Susan Gerhard
    Mar 30, 2009

    Michael Jacobs talks about his documentary, which follows Pentecostal Pastor Richard Gazowsky engaged in the creation of an ambitious, multi-million dollar sci-fi-feature on God.

  • Legal

    'Medicine for Melancholy' and the Art of DIY Legal Agreements

    George Rush
    Mar 3, 2009

    For many narrative filmmakers, hiring a lawyer is either an afterthought or not a financial reality, but moving forward with a film without considering legal is a huge mistake.

  • Reviews

    Re-Viewing 'The Savage Eye'

    Dennis Harvey
    Feb 18, 2009

    This "dramatized documentary" was a labor of love–if also a graphic portrayal of the vast LA detached from Hollywood's success-bubble glamour.

  • Q & A

    Intersections of 'Harrison Montgomery' with Daniel Davila

    Michael Fox
    Feb 16, 2009

    SF360.org interviews Davila on his film about a bottom-rung Tenderloin drug dealer with aspirations of becoming an artist.

  • Festivals

    SF Indiefest 2009

    Dennis Harvey
    Feb 5, 2009

    With a roster that sprawls from horror to softcore to verite-style drama and documentary, the only constant is that you won't be bored.

  • Reviews

    Sundance '09: Award-Winners, Bloggers, and More

    Susan Gerhard
    Jan 26, 2009

    Susie Gerhard gives an overview of a festival moving back to the basics of art-making.

  • Q & A

    Eddie Muller and Noir City

    Sura Wood
    Jan 18, 2009

    SF360.org spoke with Eddie Muller, who launched Noir City, an annual noir festival that has attracted an avid following in the Bay Area and beyond.

  • Reviews

    The Year in Film 2008: Oscar Odds

    Dennis Harvey
    Jan 2, 2009

    Instead of breaking it down strictly category-by-category, Dennis Harvey meanders through some principal heat-seeking prestige films and their various chances.

  • Reviews

    The Year in Film: What did Women Want?

    Matt Sussman
    Jan 1, 2009

    Matt Sussman draws conclusions about women and Hollywood from three big women-oriented films of 2008.

  • Reviews

    Bursting with 'Button'

    Dennis Harvey
    Dec 23, 2008

    Dennis Harvey reviews The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

  • Reviews

    Season's Gleanings, a Holiday Preview

    Dennis Harvey
    Dec 15, 2008

    Dennis Harvey reviews some of 2008's year-end sobering dramas.

  • Reviews

    Supernaturalism with 'Let the Right One In'

    Dennis Harvey
    Nov 4, 2008

    Based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel, Let the Right One In is a poignant, nuanced, original addition to the cinematic vampire canon.

  • Festivals

    Dead Channels 2008 Comes Alive

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 3, 2008

    Those inclined toward healthy doses of sleaze, gore, and retro-shlock can rejoice that it's time for the second annual edition of Dead Channels.

  • Reviews

    Baloney Sandwiches With No Cheese: Ted V. Mikels' Wild World

    Matt Sussman
    Sep 18, 2008

    'It takes your guts and your entrails and your soul to make a film,' Mikels once proclaimed. 'It takes everything you possess within you!'

  • In Production

    Mendocino's Swine Country

    Michael Fox
    Sep 17, 2008

    "Horror films can hold a lot of crazy ideas and political ideas and no one blinks," says Pig Hunt writer and producer Robert Mailer Anderson, "and that serves our purposes."

  • Reviews

    Toronto 2008: Slow Food, Fast Festival

    B. Ruby Rich
    Sep 12, 2008

    Every year, people grumble. Every year, someone points out how much worse it is than before. And every year, there are films that pull everyone out of the doldrums and guarantee it all continues. Welcome to this season’s Toronto International Film Festival.

  • Reviews

    Curators at Bay Area Now 5

    Sean Uyehara
    Sep 11, 2008

    YBCA's triennial exhibition has developed a deserved reputation for presenting an energetic survey of current Bay Area artistic practice.

  • Reviews

    Vertigo's 50th Anniversary

    Miguel Pendás
    Aug 8, 2008

    Not many movies call for a celebration of their anniversaries, but one exception is what many have called 'the ultimate San Francisco film.'

  • Reviews

    'The Dark Cinema of David Goodis' at the PFA

    Dennis Harvey
    Aug 7, 2008

    The Pacific Film Archive screens a survey of Goodis-related works from both the big and small screen, spanning nearly five decades.

  • Reviews

    Swinging '60s suburbs in 'Viva'

    Dennis Harvey
    Jul 8, 2008

    Viva's cautionary tale is aptly encapsuled by the poster line: 'They were housewives seeking kicks, in a world of swingers, orgies, booze, and sin.'

  • Reviews

    Travel Guide Through Another Hole in the Head Film Festival

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 5, 2008

    The Hole Head Festival takes audiences back to terrifying locales and dangerous situations that should be pleasantly familiar to horror aficionados.

  • Festivals

    Capelle on Composers: Day Three

    Staff
    May 8, 2008

    The final installment in the San Francisco composer and musician's blog from the 2008 SFIFF.

  • Festivals

    Capelle on Composers: Back to Back

    Marc Capelle
    May 7, 2008

    Back to music.

    I have some friends that were in a Sub Pop band that pre-dated Nirvana. They were known as the Dwarves. Their music is and was a snotty suburban unholy mixture of the Sonics, the Orlons, the Stooges and a vat of amphetamines. Their record covers usually featured midgets and half-naked woman covered in either blood or some sort of Nestle syrup of some sort. Here is one of their lines.

    [Editor’s note: For the San Francisco International’s 51st edition, SF360.org has asked Bay Area musician/composer/cineaste Marc Capelle to blog his thoughts on movies, music, and the films showing in the Festival. This is the third of three installments.]

  • Festivals

    Asia Argento, In Full Flower

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 23, 2008

    Motherhood has supposedly had a slowing-down effect on Asia Argento, though at present evidence points rather wildly to the contrary. Not only does she star in this week’s San Francisco International Film Festival official opener, Catherine Breillat’s costume intrigue The Last Mistress, she also figures heavily in two other SFIFF features. Both are programmed in the culty "Late Show" section: Go Go Tales, Abel Ferrara’s most acclaimed film in years, and The Mother of Tears, a latest horror opus directed by her own fan-idolized gorehound dad Dario Argento. A couple weeks ago yet another vehicle opened commercially, Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate, which is entirely dominated by her feverish and highly physical performance.

    Conventional logic might suggest all this visibility means it’s "breakthrough" time for Asia Argento, that moment when an actor goes from being a familiar face to a marquee name that can singlehandedly draw folks into the multiplex, or at least the arthouse. (In Europe she’s already quite well-known.) But as her project choices among other things bear out, Argento probably isn’t very interested in becoming a "star" in the conventional sense. In fact, she seems the girl most likely to run from any such fate.

  • Q & A

    'Thrillville' turns 11

    Michael Fox
    Apr 9, 2008

    Will "the Thrill" Viahro, impresario of East Bay cult movie extravaganza "Thrillville," discusses the difference between "trash" and "garbage" in film.

  • Festivals

    SF Int'l announces its 51st program and year-round screen

    Susan Gerhard
    Apr 1, 2008

    The SFIFF announced its 2008 program and the June 13 launch of its year-round programming on one screen at the Sundance Kabuki

  • Reviews

    SFMOMA's "Nonwestern Westerns" Series

    Dennis Harvey
    Mar 26, 2008

    A series of films at SFMOMA present an outsiders take on the outmoded American staple, the Western.

  • Reviews

    SFMOMA's "Nonwestern Westerns" Series

    Dennis Harvey
    Mar 26, 2008

    A series of films at SFMOMA present an outsiders take on the outmoded American staple, the Western.

  • Reviews

    "Shrooms" Screams Bloody Horror

    Dennis Harvey
    Feb 8, 2008

    The Irish flick might put the leper back in leprechaun, but it's still at heart a reassuringly formulaic hunk of bloody commercial horror.

  • Q & A

    Jesse Hawthorne Ficks's Midnight Movie Empire

    Dennis Harvey
    Dec 3, 2007

    Midnites for Maniacs unearths populist yet esoteric genre and exploitation flicks that have mostly disappeared into the netherworld of discarded VHS rental tapes.

  • Reviews

    Dead Channels : The San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Film

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 19, 2007

    Taste a bit of the vintage grindhouse experience at the last of Dead Channels' Month of Sleazy Sundays triple bill of under-the-radar movies.

  • Reviews

    Reviews: 'Comedy of Power'

    Robert Avila
    Apr 17, 2007

    in Claude Chabrol's latest film, Isabelle Huppert plays a judge plunging headlong into a dangerous investigation of french corruption and gender dynamics.

  • Q & A

    Paul Verhoeven and His "Black Book"

    Howard Feinstein/indieWIRE
    Apr 13, 2007

    Verhoeven's career can be divided between the character-driven movies he made in Holland and the slick genre films he directed in Hollywood after 1985.

  • News & Blogs

    Signs of the Zodiac

    Susan Gerhard
    Feb 28, 2007

    As this week's blanket coverage of David Fincher's Zodiac shows, it's axiomatic that nothing intrigues San Franciscans more than San Francisco. And why not?

  • Festivals

    Noir City5, Fun with Dicks and Janes

    Robert Avila
    Jan 25, 2007

    A preview of the festival's rich program with festival's organizer Eddie Muller

  • Reviews

    Written and Directed by Preston Sturges

    Max Goldberg
    Dec 13, 2006

    It would not seem to bode well for the stewardship of studio classics that Preston Sturges's indomitable comedies have been so slow to DVD.

  • Q & A

    Frank Lee on 4 Star Theatre's Second Life

    Laura Irvine and Jennifer Young
    Dec 11, 2006

    Last week, theater operators Frank and Lida Lee won the battle to save the 4 Star, and announced they'd purchased the building.

  • Reviews

    Cheryl Eddy's Badder Santas

    Susan Gerhard
    Dec 1, 2006

    You can't imagine a critic like Cheryl Eddy,with her dazzlingly caustic skepticism, ever believed in Santa Claus.

  • Q & A

    A Word From Our Sponsored Films

    Max Goldberg
    Nov 28, 2006

    Collector and archivist Rick Prelinger puts on a show at the Other Cinema to celebrate his new book, A Field Guide to Sponsored Films.

  • Q & A

    Arnold On the Auction Block

    Michael Fox
    Oct 31, 2006

    Make a bid on Schwarzenegger's low-budget 1970 travesty, Hercules in New York.

  • Q & A

    Mary Woronov Visits Midnight Mass

    Dennis Harvey
    Aug 3, 2006

    An appreciation of the great actress of cult and mainstream films, before her appearance at a Midnight Mass screening of Death Race 2000.


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