Spock's Jungle, Terran and Oedipal Fever

The Oshima and Karlson retrospectives are in full swing at the PFA. Another Hole in the Head is entering its second week at the Roxie.

However, I've been busy with other films.

Star Trek directed by J.J. Abrams; (2009) - Official Website
Easy Virtue starring Jessica Biel, Kristin Scott Thomas & Colin Firth; (2008) - Official Website
Inglorious Bastards starring Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson; (1978)
Psych-Out starring Jack Nicholson, Dean Stockwell, Susan Strasberg and Bruce Dern; (1968)

I was all over the City. Star Trek at the Balboa, Easy Virtue at the Landmark Embarcadero, Inglorious Bastards at the YBCA and Psych-Out at the Red Vic.

Star Trek is a major hit so I don't need to add much to the chorus. I enjoyed it but am a little disappointed that they rendered the original TV and movie series an alternate reality. Damn time travel; it's Star Trek writers' cocaine. How many times has the crew of the Starship Enterprise gone back in time? Some parts of the plot were silly but they did some interesting reinterpretations of the old familiars. Uhura is more accomplished and self-confident and Sulu is more masculine or de-Asianified (i.e. not hewing to the Asian male stereotype). Zach Quinto plays Spock half and half. He captures a lot of Nimoy's mannerisms but his Spock embraces his human side (as well as Uhura's human side) more openly. Come to think of it, Spock is quite the hypocrite; he hauls Kirk before the disciplinary board for "cheating" on the Kobayashi Maru exam but he's a Starfleet instructor having a relationship with his student.



Easy Virtue screened at the 2009 San Francisco International Film Festival and the Mostly British Film Series at the Vogue. I had been looking forward to it for a few months. Based on a Noël Coward play set in the 1920's, the film is ostensibly a cutting satire on elitism and sexism in post-WWI British society. Viewed through the 21st century commercial cinematic prism, the film is primarily a vehicle for Jessica Biel and Kristin Scott Thomas to trade barbs and match wits. Biel holds the moral high ground especially given modern attitudes but I thought Scott Thomas gave the stronger performance. The film was uproariously funny for the first 3/4 but tacks on a serious ending that seems out of place. Kris Marshall as Furber adds to the pantheon of great deadpan performances by actors playing the butler. Kimberley Nixon as Biel's childish, cruel and morbid sister-in-law also stood out.



I don't have much to say about Inglorious Bastards. I wasn't too impressed and wonder what Tarantino sees that I don't. I thought the film looked like a cheesy 70's action film. The special effects reminded me of a cross between an episode of The A-Team and those 1960/70's horrorfests that used squib bullets with unrealistically pink blood.

Psych-Out wasn't very good either but as a Hippie era touchstone, it was fascinating. Jack Nicholson wears a ponytail and Bruce Dern looks like Jesus. Susan Strasberg looks like she is 35 years old (she was 29 at the time of the filming) but is playing a 17 year old runaway; Nicholson looks like he's 40 (he was 31). Stockwell looks pretty much the same. Anyway, the plot involves Strasberg looking for her brother in San Francisco (Haight-Ashbury to be specific). Seeing the film in the same area where it was filmed added to the experience (like seeing Milk at the Castro Theater). The plot is just an excuse to film some exterior shots of San Francisco, espouse Hippie credo and for Stockwell to point out the shortcomings in Nicholson's character (and by extension the whole "turn on, tune in and drop out" lifestyle). I found it interesting that Nicholson beds the underage Strasberg and nothing is made of the statutory rape. Stockwell only criticizes Nicholson's promiscuous ways not his choice of underage sex partners. Of course, Stockwell later drops acid with Strasberg so he wasn't in a position to criticize. Incense and Peppermints (one of my favorite songs from the era) was on the soundtrack.

Rita Hayworth Burns Up the Screen

A co-worker mentioned this story to me today. The Stanford Theater was evacuated Friday night due to a fire. The cause of the fire was an old nitrate film getting jammed in the projector. Nitrate film stock is very flammable; it is even more dangerous as the film gets older and less stable. There have been several incidents of film vaults catching fire due to nitrate films. A few years ago, as a demonstration, a guy from France lit a small piece of nitrate film at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and the combustion was impressive.

It was very fortunate that no one was injured or that the Stanford Theater wasn't seriously damaged. Nitrate fires can be difficult to put out and they produce toxic smoke. I assume the theater is open for business. The website still lists the upcoming film program.

The film that was screening when the fire broke out was Cover Girl (1944) with Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth. I know that Rita Hayworth was hot but this is ridiculous.

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Speaking of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF), I read in the Chronicle that Steven Salmons is stepping down as its Artistic Director after 17 years. Salmons and his wife Melissa Chittick were the co-founders of the festival. It's a little surprising that Salmons would step down. I don't know the circumstances but Salmons is the public face of the festival. He introduces each film and seems to enjoy the limelight (or at least the Castro Theater spotlight). In my mind, Salmons (along with Eddie Muller of Noir City) are indelibly linked to their respective festivals. Executive Director Stacey Wisnia (pronounced Visnia) is staying on at SFSFF and Anita Monga is coming on board as Acting Artistic Director.

Monga is a living legend in the San Francisco film community. She was for many years the programmer at the Castro Theater. After having been unceremoniously fired a few years back, has made her presence known on the festival circuit. Wisnia was the manager of the Castro who resigned after Monga's firing.

Monga co-programs Noir City and IndieFest. She helps selects the annual Mel Novikoff Award winner at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF). She and Balboa Theater owner/Telluride International Film Festival Director Gary Meyer are close friends and both were acolytes of Novikoff.

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On April 16, the Vogue Theater is presenting I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale, a 40 minute documentary about the actor. Cazale, best known as Fredo Corleone from the The Godfather and The Godfather II, had a short but blindingly brilliant screen career before dying in 1978 at the age of 42. He made five films and all of them were nominated for Oscars. In addition to the two Godfather movies, Cazale appeared in Dog Day Afternoon, The Conversation and The Deer Hunter. What a filmography - directed by Francis Ford Coppola (3 films), Sidney Lumet and Michael Cimino, co-stars include Al Pacino (3 times), Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Harrison Ford, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep.

After the screening of I Knew It Was You and a Q&A with director Richard Shepard, they will screen Dog Day Afternoon.

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Last month, I attended a few screenings of the Mostly British Film Series at the Vogue Theater. All the films screened February 26 through March 5 except Easy Virtue which screens May 14. I thought it was odd that one film screened so long after the others. After seeing the program guide for the 2009 SFIFF, it makes sense. Easy Virtue is screening May 6 and 7 at the SFIFF (both screenings at the Sundance Kabuki). They scheduled the screening because the print will be in the Bay Area the week before. I wouldn't be surprised to see it screened elsewhere in the between May 7 and 14. Easy Virtue stars Kristen Scott Thomas, Colin Firth and Jessica Biel.

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The 4-Star Theater has been advertising The Beast Stalker for several months. I predict The Beast Stalker will open at the 4-Star sometime after April 29 because that is the last time it screens at SFIFF. The Beast Stalker, a Hong Kong thriller starring Nicholas Tse, is getting three screenings at SFIFF - April 24, 26 and 29. All screenings are at the Kabuki.