AltWeeklies Wire
Icky, Icky, Ickynew
The filmmakers want to have it both ways: They do everything to convince the protagonist and the audience that it might indeed be OK to run off with a 10-year-old boy, then cop out just before she's about to throw away her life.
Tags: birth, Jonathan Glazer
Exposing Utopia's Gateway to Auschwitznew
The Holocaust hangs like a shadow over everything, but this is really more a Kurt Gerron biopic, from his days onstage to his long-awaited stint as a director. Seeing Nazism as just a passing fad, he ignored the threat to himself until it was too late.
Motivating Undecideds: Exploit Their Apathynew
Apathy is only a reasonable option when things are going relatively well, and things are going badly in America right now. So if you've got an undecided cousin in Des Moines, call her up and explain why her ability to watch daytime talk shows is threatened, and why she needs to vote for John Kerry.
Tribes Used to Bring Slots to Bay Areanew
Native Americans have become little more than human props in the high-stakes battle involving real estate developers, powerful consultants, and out-of-state gaming interests to bring casino gambling closer to urban centers.
SF Weekly |
Ron Russell |
11-01-2004 |
Business & Labor
Tags: business & labor
Look Inward, Voyagernew
Los Angeles buzz-band Midnight Movies stands out from the pack with its love of '60s rock and spiritual themes.
SF Weekly |
Mosi Reeves |
10-26-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Bay Area Political Groups Get Out the Nation's Votenew
A massive national voter-registration, vote-canvassing and poll-watching operation organized by Bay Area political groups will have an unpredictable effect on the presidential election.
Brave and Crazynew
There is no denying that Tarnation is a very brave movie. Rarely is the subject of a documentary willing to lay himself bare before the camera, exposing his very consciousness to the audience, and it's still more uncommon for a director to do it.
The People's Historiannew
At 80-plus, Zinn has the kind of sheen that emanates, spreading cheer even as he exposes the corruption, deceit, and violence that characterize the lion's share of the history he studies. Zinn's beauty is the beauty of righteousness.
Full of Gracenew
The plot makes this film sounds like a cheap romantic fantasy, contrived to make a chunk of change off wistful women pushing 40. In fact, p.s. is a character-driven drama, concerned more with its protagonist's emotional life than with her romantic one.
Public Fiber-Optic Plans Have History of Failurenew
A study on whether San Francisco should go into the business of providing Internet, cable TV, and telephone services to residents is a boondoggle-in-the-making.
Child's Death Exposes Workings of a Moms-and-Pop Cultnew
After a 19-month-old boy was brought dead to an emergency room, investigators discovered four women in thrall to a self-styled mystic named Winnfred Wright. Wright appears to have used psychological coercion on the women, who bore him 13 children.
SF Weekly |
Lessley Anderson |
10-15-2004 |
Crime & Justice
Environmental Defense Fund Embarks on Shame Campaign Over Damnew
To obtain a pristine water supply, San Francisco dammed the Tuolumne River a century ago, filling the Hetch Hetchy Valley with water. Now an Environmental Defense Fund study argues that the valley could be restored without harming the city's water and electricity supplies.
SF Weekly |
Matt Smith |
09-28-2004 |
Environment
Mad Cownew
Numerous auteur directors have been inspired by David Lynch. Takashi Miike is one of the few who not only get Lynch's sense of surrealism but also seem to understand his sense of humor.
Float Onnew
M83 is a French band that makes huge, holy soundscapes out of guitars, synthesizers, drum machines, and voices. Its sound is as gigantic and complex and stupefying as the galaxy it's named after.
Fringe Political Group Pedals Toward a Cyclocross Ethicnew
The 10th annual Urban Outlaw Cross Dress Cyclocross is an amalgam of bike-riding, roller derby, steeplechase, mud wrestling and ballet, with a special prize for best cross-dressing. The purpose is to protest property ownership that comes at the expense of the common good.
