AltWeeklies Wire
Cary Cronenwett's 'Maggots and Men' (Re)stages a Revolutionnew
Set in a mythologized postrevolutionary Russia but based on actual historical events, Maggots marshals early Soviet cinema, the gutter erotics of Jean Genet, and what at times seems like a transgender cast of thousands to build its case for the necessity of queer utopias.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Matt Sussman |
06-17-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Lymelife' Nails a Savvy Balance of Comedy and Dramanew
Do we really need another dysfunctional-family flashback with the requisite retro pop hits, pot smoking (back when it came dirt cheap), awkward virginity loss, and nostalgically horrible decor? Sure, why not?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
04-22-2009 |
Reviews
Art and Horror Converge in Steve McQueen's Uncompromising 'Hunger'new
Hunger is completely realized, without compromise. It's convincingly ugly in an aesthetically beautiful way, cool to the touch, admirably near-perfect, and off-putting.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
04-01-2009 |
Reviews
A New Film Imagines Vietnam If Kennedy Had Livednew
A new documentary makes the case that Kennedy's nonconfrontational tactics on the world stage during his presidency would surely have carried over to preventing that "quagmire" known here as the Vietnam War (and over there as "the American War"). Had he lived, of course.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
03-18-2009 |
Reviews
A Filmmaker and Her Subject Chronicle an Epic Immigrant Experiencenew
The Betrayal fascinates like other rare, intimate documentaries shot over long periods -- Michael Apted's Seven Up series being the most famous example.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
02-25-2009 |
Reviews
Catching an Elusive Icon's Drift As He Sings About Pasolini and Mussolininew
Time stood still yesterday in the music Scott Walker made, and it stands still today when 30 Century Man languishes in the songs from Walker's quartet of self-titled Philips solo albums from 1967 through 1970.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
01-21-2009 |
Reviews
'Dexter' is Killing Us Softly with Slaughternew
You know a show has gotten under your skin when it begins to trigger nightmares. That's the case with Showtime's Dexter, now winding up its third season after building, with frustrating slowness, its intertwined partnership narratives revolving around serial killer-turned-crime fighter Dexter Morgan.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
12-04-2008 |
TV
Ghosts is a Powerful and Realistic Look at Illegal Chinese Immigrantsnew
Made before his terrific 2007 Iraq War docudrama, Battle for Haditha, but only released here now, Ghosts (2006) isn't quite that film's equal. But it's still powerful and realistic.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
11-19-2008 |
Reviews
'Milk': The Politics Behind the Picturenew
The new Harvey Milk movie, which opens later this month, begins as a love story, but after that, the movie gets political -- in fact, by Hollywood standards, it's remarkably political. The movie raises a lot of issues that are alive and part of San Francisco politics today.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Steven T. Jones and Tim Redmond |
11-19-2008 |
Movies
Gus Van Sant Gives Harvey Milk His Close-Upnew
Van Sant's first brush with Milk came in 1978 while he was driving across the country and heard on the radio that the supervisor was shot. Though he later saw the 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, it never occurred to him to make a film about the politician.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
11-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Slumdog Millionaire' Gracefully Slides Between Fairy Tale Romance and Gritty Dramanew
It's a credit to the filmmakers that every moment, from the harsh street scenes to a Bollywood-style song-and-dance number, is integral to the story. In the end, that juxtaposition is what helps the film capture a sense of the "real" India, however tenuous the concept.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Louis Peitzman |
11-12-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Quantum of Solace' Doesn't Deliver on the Hypenew
Overhyped screenwriter Paul Haggis plods away with execrable emotional grand narratives of revenge, love, and betrayal that have no place in a Bond film.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Ben Richardson |
11-12-2008 |
Reviews
Fear(s) of the Dark Offers an Animated Omnibus of Juvenile Dreadnew
Structured as a frame story of sorts, the film begins with a pack of four voracious hounds, tethered to a sadist, who set out across the countryside in search of blood. Positioned along the backdrop of this chase are four vignettes of horror that center on popular phobias.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Erik Morse |
10-30-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Various, Fear(s) of the Dark
Madonna's 'Filth and Wisdom' is Another Unlucky Starnew
Seeking to amuse and enlighten, Filth feels joyless and pretentious, yet empty. There will be worse 2008 movies. Probably none will make their makers seem quite so smugly unpleasant.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
10-23-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Madonna, Filth and Wisdom
'Secrecy' Investigates Executive Power and the Need-to-Knownew
Even as Secrecy's former operatives acknowledge the massive intelligence failures leading to 9/11, they're ready to make the case for the increased need for government subterfuge in the War on Terror: what secrecy begets, only secrecy will solve, and every time the gloves come off, the blinders will go on.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
10-23-2008 |
Reviews
