AltWeeklies Wire
Trainspotting America with James Benning's 'RR'new
Barring a change of mind or circumstance, the masterful RR will be the last of Benning's works shot on 16mm, and how fitting that this 37-year phase closes with the image of a locomotive, pointedly stopped in front of a wind farm outside of Palm Springs, scrapped tires lying in the foreground, the end in a line of 43 trains shot across the United States.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Mark Peranson |
05-08-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Strap Yourself In for the Summer Movie Blitznew
Must be summer -- every movie I want to see in the next three months is either a sequel, a superhero movie, or a superhero movie sequel.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Cheryl Eddy |
04-30-2008 |
Movies
'Medicine for Melancholy' Faces the Changing San Francisconew
Jenkins' film is important because it spotlights the most overlooked aspect of the city's changing face: black people, and the lack thereof.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
D. Scot Miller |
04-30-2008 |
Reviews
'The Visitor' Charms but Overstays its Welcomenew
This movie is a respectable follow-up to The Station Agent, but its suit-finds-groove response to globalization and deportation ultimately feels like a formula McCarthy should have already seen beyond.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
04-16-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: The Visitor, Thomas McCarthy
Wong Kar-Wai Takes a Wrong Turnnew
Norah Jones helps derail mystifyingly titled My Blueberry Nights.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Maria Komodore |
04-16-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: My Blueberry Nights, Wong Kar-Wai
Has 'Battlestar Galactica' Jumped the Shark?new
Somewhere a shark is whimpering from a severe head wound created by a misfiring motorcycle, and one can only hope BSG's fourth season doesn't injure more sea creatures.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
03-26-2008 |
TV
Gus Van Sant's Beautiful Losersnew
Soliloquizing the life of a skateboarder in Paranoid Park.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
03-12-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park
Giving the U.S. the 'Funny Games' it Deservesnew
It's worth noting that perhaps Haneke's most ingenious (and frequently overlooked) gambit is that there is almost no onscreen violence. As much as Funny Games feels like particularly merciless, graphic torture porn, the actual moments of assault are almost always cut away from or just out of frame.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
03-12-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Funny Games, Michael Haneke
'Girls Rock!' is Everything 'American Idol' Ain'tnew
Shane King and Arne Johnson totally know what you're about to ask them, because it's the question everyone springs right off the bat: What are a couple of dudes doing behind the camera of a film about an all-girls rock 'n' roll camp?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Cheryl Eddy |
02-28-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Tre' Shows a Quietly Devastating Relationship Meltdownnew
This cunning, sardonic psychological study pays off in grim affirmation.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
02-13-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Eric Byler, Tre
Daily Life in Sao Paulo is Anything but Dullnew
Director Chico Teixiera is best known for his documentaries -- his first film was the doc Favelas -- and his first narrative feature speaks to the honest and intimate way he is able to convey the life of an urban, middle-class Brazilian family.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Jennique Mason |
01-23-2008 |
Reviews
'The Violin': Angels With Dirty Facesnew
Folksy lyricism makes Francisco Vargas's film a quiet beauty.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
01-09-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Francisco Vargas, The Violin
The Year in Film: Cartooning the Warnew
Transformers and 300 turn the conflict into comic book blockbusters.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
12-28-2007 |
Movies
Barber of Gorenew
Tim Burton's inspired Sweeney Todd is black and red all over.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
12-19-2007 |
Reviews
Todd Haynes Dives Deep into Dylan With 'I'm Not There'new
With this, his most ambitious work to date, Haynes' affection for re-creating the past finds its match in his innovative dissection of a complex artist's soul.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Cheryl Eddy |
11-21-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: I'm Not There, Todd Haynes
