Captain Phillips

On January 21, I went to the Castro to see Captain Phillips.

Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks & Barkhad Abdi; directed by Paul Greengrass; English & Somali with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website

With Captain Phillips, I have seen 7 of the 9 films nominated for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards.  The two nominated films which I have not seen are Her and The Wolf of Wall Street. With any luck, I'll be able to see both films before the month is out.

Captain Phillips is based on a true story of an American cargo ship captain who was kidnapped by Somali pirates.  Ultimately, Navy SEALS snipers killed the pirates while Phillips was being held hostage in a lifeboat.  The 2009 incident is well known and I recall the initial cable news reports on the rescue.

I put Captain Phillips in the same category as The Hurt Locker & Zero Dark Thirty (what is Kathryn Bigelow up to?). These films are about real-life events which are so compelling that it would be difficult for any competent director not to make a great film.  Captain Phillips was riveting and suspenseful; even though I knew how it had to end.

Barkhad Abdi has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the lead pirate.  Eliciting some empathy from me, Abdi's portrayal was measured and for most of the film the pirates were seemingly motivated by existential concerns.  However, as the Navy closes in on lifeboat, the tension is ratcheted up and I couldn't help but empathize with the Somalis.  Although I could not condone their actions and I support the ultimate outcome, I clearly understood how these men could be driven to such depths.  In fact, the parallels between the Somali pirates and US inner city youths made me uncomfortable.  The chasm between the haves and the have-nots is made abundantly clear in this film and you don't have to go halfway across the world to witness it. 

Back to the film - it's a shame that even after being engrossed by the film for the entire 2.25 hour length, I left-handedly dismiss it as a film that only an idiot could have messed up.  My expectations for suspense were high going into the film and they were met.  The first half of the film played like a procedural.  The array of countermeasures cargo ships take to fend of the pirates was fascinating for me although some (many?) may find sight of fire hoses pointed outwards or zigzag maneuvering to be boring. 

I categorically praise Captain Phillips and recommend it to everyone.  My only disappointment was that my high expectations were not exceeded.

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Several weeks ago, I received an email announcing that Second Act has opened in the old Red Vic location on Haight. "Second Act Marketplace and Events is a neighborhood public space. The marketplace includes five retail businesses bringing a fresh vision of food and beverages, and a venue that showcase events, which is also available for rent."  It's hard to believe that it's been 2.5 years since the Red Vic closed.

I also noticed that the Alamo Drafthouse San Francisco now states that it is set "to open during the third quarter of 2014 at 2550 Mission St. in the historic New Mission theater."  It's been two years since Alamo Drafthouse announced it was coming to SF and it'll be another four to seven months before it opens.  There were times I felt certain that they were stuck in building permit purgatory and would walk away from the project.  Call me a pessimist.  Regardless, I'm very much looking forward to the day they open and sampling their renowned programming.  The Castro Theater, the Roxie and the Alamo Drafthouse will form a Golden Triangle of rep house/art house film theaters in San Francisco.

Finally, I was on California Street recently and passed by the old Lumiere Theater.  It's the first time I have been on that block of California since before the Lumiere closed in late 2012.  Some of the Lumiere signage is still up.  It looks like there are no plans for leasing out the space at present. 

Oddball Celluloid Sex

I can't stop writing on this blog.  I've been writing and writing and writing and by my count, I'm still 13 films from being caught up on this blog.

On August 16, I went to Oddball Films for the second time to see a program titled Celluloid Sex.

Among the highlights were:

Getting His Goat; silent with intertitles; (1923)
Lovemaking; directed by Scott Bartleet; (1970)
The Game; directed by George Kaczender; (1966)
Buried Treasure; animated; (1928)

I believe the programmer for the evening was Kat Shuchter.  The "official" program started late as there were a series of films screening as I entered.  The projectionist (whom I assume was Ms. Shuchter) had two projectors rolling at the same time.  One image was a nude or scantily clad woman while the other film image was a nude man, frequently exercising.  The images of the two people frequently overlapped and created interesting juxtapositions.  The films featuring the women mostly looked like strippers or burlesque dancers performing.  The films featuring the men appeared to be exercise videos.  Rather than attempting to titillate the audience like say Chippendales dancers, these young men seemed to be doing a normal calisthenics exercises...except they were nude.  Jumping jacks seemed to be the exercise of choice for the men.  I thought the dual images were fascinating; especially when the overlap of images was almost exact.  It seemed like the directors of the films had placed their cameras at the same height and distance from the subjects.

Buried Treasure is part of the vintage erotica compilation film The Good Old Naughty Days which screened annually at the Red Vic.  Buried Treasure is an animated cartoon starring Eveready Harton, a prodigiously endowed man who apparently suffers from priapism & satyriasis.  Oddball only screened a short clip but I saw the entire short film at the Red Vic.  Popeye animator Max Fleischer was rumored to have worked on the film.  The film was rumored to have been commissioned for a party honoring Winsor McCay.  By coincidence (or perhaps by design on the part of the programmer), there was a Winsor McCay presentation at this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival.  Unfortunately, I missed that program.

Getting His Goat was purported to star Creighton Hale who appeared in D.W. Griffith's Way Down East but that claim is in dispute.  Regardless, the film is interesting for the way pornography was approached in the 1923.  In Getting His Goat, a young man comes upon three women swimming nude in the ocean.  He takes their clothes and agrees to return their clothing if they agree to have sex with him.  They agree to the act but only if the sex occurs through a hole in a tall wooden fence.  Never trust a glory hole.  As the protagonist protrudes himself through the hole (which is conveniently located at waist level), he unknowingly couples with not one of the women but rather a goat which the women have procured.  I guess the goat didn't make any noise because after the man climaxes, he proclaims it was the best sex he had ever had.  The obvious comparison is to Edward Albee's The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia, but Albee's play (which I saw at an ACT production in 2005) was a serious drama whereas Getting His Goat is clearly a comedy.  In today's world, I doubt there is such a thing as a pornographic comedy.

Lovemaking consisted of an extreme close-up of two people having sex.  I believe it was a man and a woman but it was difficult to make out which body parts were being shown or exactly what act was being performed.  The film reminded me of biology when we would increase the power of magnification on the microscope and the image would completely change going from the original to something unrecognizable.

The Game had a plot, dialog and everyone kept their clothes on so it stuck out like a sore thumb from the rest of the evening's program.  An 11th grade boy with a reputation as a ladies man bets his friends that he can score with the class virgin.  He goes with the soft sell to charm the girl who is initially hesitant.  He eventually breaks down her defenses but his conscience gets the better of him and he cannot bring himself to deflower the girl.  He reacts with depression and frustration towards his family and friends.  I thought it was a little overwrought for what it was but then by 2013 standards, it was kind of quaint the way teenagers interacted in 1966; at least the way it was portrayed in The Game.

There were a string of television commercials which were very amusing too.  I cannot recall them all except one for a detachable shower head which all but stated it's primary purpose was for women to masturbate with in the shower.

Overall, it was another enjoyable evening at Oddball.  I wish I could make time to see more of their programs.

Even at $3.50...

The second closest movie theater to my residence (in terms of distance) is the Stonestown Cinema operated by  Regal Cinemas.  I rarely go to the twin screen theater.  Largely showing films I don't want to see or occasionally films I have already seen, the theater does not program to my taste.  I credit them for trying.  They try to appeal to the large Filipino population in nearby Daly City by programming new Filipino films every three or four weeks.

Hidden away behind Stonestown Galleria, closer to Lake Merced than 19th Avenue, the theater sits in a huge parking lot which is always empty when I drive by or see a film there.  The parking lot serves as a sad reminder of better days.  I recall reading that Star Wars opened there to sellout crowds and a long run.

Opened as a single screen in 1970 (as single screen theaters were becoming passé), the original theater could seat approximately 1,000. Split down the middle to make the twin screens, the two auditoriums are long and narrow...and in need of some refurbishing.  I was surprised that the theater converted to digital according to Fandango.  However, I was not completely surprised when I received an email last week stating the previously full-price Stonestown Cinema was changing its admission policy to $3.50 for all screenings.

For their first week under this pricing schedule, the theater is screening Battleship and Dark Shadows - two films which are in second run theaters elsewhere.  In essence, the Stonestown has turned into a dollar theater but since everything costs more in San Francisco, they are charging $3.50.

I don't know what to say about that.  It's not as if the price was keeping me from going there and I'll doubt I'll go more frequently at $3.50 per ticket.  To be frank, I'm surprised the theater is still open.  I cannot believe it was profitable before or will be profitable at the new admission price.  It's been over a decade since I read about development plans for the plot of land now occupied by the theater and its parking lot.  As much I love going to the movies, I wish someone could develop the land and put it to better use.  I doubt there would be much public outcry like there was with the Red Vic or attempts to close the Vogue and 4 Star.

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Speaking of the Red Vic, I read an article last week in the Half Moon Bay Review on its reopening.  Apparently, building owners Betsy & Jack Rix live in the HMB area.  They have yet to get the space rezoned to accommodate a "food hub."  Although I venture to the Haight Ashbury infrequently, I've been curious as to how the Red Vic would be repurposed.

July 25 will mark the one year anniversary of the closing of the Red Vic.  According to the article, the Rix are not planning on reopening until the end of this year.  That's a long time for the property to sit vacant...but it is San Francisco after all.

2011 By the Numbers

Refreshing a post from early 2010, I summarize my 2011 theater going experiences below.

I saw 406 "films" on a theater screen in 2011. This compares to 382 "films" in 2010. For these purposes, a film is not just a feature length film but also includes programs (typically from film festivals) which consist of multiple short films. If it was categorized as a single program in a festival guide, it counts as one film entry on my list. Conversely, I saw several programs which consisted of a short film and a feature length film. For my counting purposes, those are counted a single film entry.

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The top 10 venues in which I saw films in 2011 were:

1) Castro Theater (102 films) - 19 films at the 2011 Noir City and 12 films at the 2011 San Francisco Silent Film Festival. While these numbers are comparable to their 2010 coutnerparts, I went to the Castro for their regular or house programming more frequently in 2011 than 2010. I was frequently in attendance at the Cary Grant and Pedro Almodóvar retrospectives.

2) Roxie Theater (78 films) - 23 films as part of their 2011 I Wake Up Dreaming series, 11 films at 2011 Another Hole in the Head and 10 films at the 2011 Docfest.

3) Pacific Film Archive (58 films) - 11 films from the Japanese Divas series, 7 films from the Jeanne Moreau series, 7 films from the 1970s Cinema series and 7 films from the Southern Discomfort series.

4) New People/Viz/SFFS Cinema (27 films) - 6 films at French Cinema Now, 5 films at the Classic Summer Weekends Japanese film series, 4 films at the Hong Kong Cinema Series and 4 films at Taiwan Film Days.

5) Camera Cinemas (24 films) - 22 films at the Camera 12 and 2 films at the Camera 3. Of the 22 films at the Camera 12, 14 films were part of 2011 Cinequest and 8 films were part of the 2011 San Francisco International Asian American Films Fesatival (SFIAAFF).

6) Landmark Theaters (23 films) - six films at Embarcadero Center Cinemas, four at the Clay (all from the 2011 SFIAAFF), four at the Bridge, three at Berkeley Shattuck and the remainders at the Lumiere, Opera Plaza, Berkeley California and Palo Alto Aquarius.

7) Kabuki Cinemas (21 films) - 16 films were part of the 2011 SFIAAFF and five films were part of the 2011 San Francisco International Film Festival.

8) 4 Star (13 films) - six films at the Asian Movie Madness series. Not included in the 13 is the film (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) I saw at the Presidio which is affiliated with the 4 Star.

9) Vogue and Balboa (9 films each) - all nine films at the Vogue were part of the 2011 Mostly British Film Series. All the Balboa films were programmed by the Balboa staff. It's appropriate I saw an equal number of films at these two theaters since the Balboa came under the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation (SFNTF) aegis this year. SFNTF owns and operates the Vogue.

Tied for the 11th place were Stanford and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts with 8 films each.

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The top three venues (Castro, Roxie & PFA) remained the same from 2010 although the order was rearranged in 2011.

The 4th place venue (Viz) remained the same as 2010.

Camera Cinemas vaulted into the top 10 (at #5) in 2011 as a result of my going to Cinequest and the San Jose screenings of SFIAAFF.

Camera Cinemas pushed the Landmark Theaters down one spot to #6 in 2011.

The Kabuki and 4 Star swapped relative positions. They came in at #7 and #8 in 2011 vs. #7 and #6 in 2010, respectively.

The Red Vic dropped off the list in 2011. I saw three films there in 2011 before it closed in July

The Vogue cracked the top ten (#9) in 2011 as a result of my attending the Mostly British Film Festival.

The YBCA and Stanford tied for 9th in 2010 and coincidentally tied for 11th in 2011.

The Balboa moved from #11 in 2010 to #9 in 2010.

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On 246 days in 2011, I saw at least one film.

My maximum was four films during a single day. I did that eight times in 2011. The first time was in February when I saw three films at the Silent Film Festival's Winter Event and then caught a midnight screening (Nude Nuns With Big Guns) at Indiefest. Five of the eight days were in March when I went to quadruple bills at Cienquest (2 days) and SFIAAFF (3 days). In July, I went to four films on the Saturday and Sunday of the SF Silent Film Festival.

On 16 days, I saw three films. On 100 days, I saw two films. On 122 days, I saw one film.

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I still track how much I spend on admission but it's getting difficult to boil everything into one number. Charitable donations and prepayments mean that I paid for some 2011 films in 2010 and incurred costs in 2011 for films I plan to see in 2012.

The cumulative 2010 and 2011 average is $8.49 per admission but that is almost certainly overstated as I have not accounted for the tax deductions I enjoyed and am sitting on a modest stockpile of Landmark Theater Gold Books which will yield savings in 2012 and perhaps beyond.

San Francisco Artifacts in the Richmond District

I stopped by the Balboa to see Tom Wyrsch's latest documentary.

Sutro's: The Palace at Lands End; directed by Tom Wyrsch; documentary; (2011) - Official Website

First, the Balboa & the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation (SFNTF) announced that SFNTF "has reached an agreement to lease the theatre to 2024 - thus securing the future of one of San Francisco's oldest operating cinemas." In his weekly newsletter, Gary Meyer characterized the announcement as "good news...But not good enough news to assure the theater can operate that long." On November 5, the Balboa Theater and SFNTF hosted an open house discussing topics such as "creating a realistic long-term plan for the future of the Balboa Theatre."

I was aware that SFNTF was interested in the Balboa three months ago. I'm not sure why it took so long to finalize the agreement. I did not attend the November 5 open house so I have no idea what was discussed. I've never seen a regular screening at the Vogue Theater, the theater SFNTF's currently owns and operates. My sense is that it is not well attended but for all I know, they are are packing them in every night. I'm more partial to the programming at the Balboa which is similar to the Vogue. They both program select general release films (with an eye towards their neighborhood's tastes) but the Balboa includes more special events or art house films from time to time. Of course, this programming has led the Balboa to the brink of closure so perhaps a change in programming is necessary "to assure the theater can operate."

To be honest, a 13 year lease on an 85 year old movie theater doesn't make much sense to me but bless SFNTF for taking the risk.

Now that the Balboa has "been saved," I wonder if a theater can close down in San Francisco again. Having pulled off this trick twice (with the Vogue & Balboa), I can't help but think that the SFNTF would be expected to save remaining movie theater's from the classic era such as the Clay, Bridge, Castro, 4 Star, Presidio and Marina.

The Red Vic (which closed in July) was formerly a furniture showroom as recently as the early 1990s. It didn't have the label of being a "movie palace" or "neighborhood theater." In other words, the building seems as important as the function. Buildings designed to be movie theaters need to be preserved as movie theaters to allow future San Franciscans to enjoy the unique pleasure of seeing a movie in a building designed to watch movies. At least, that's the line coming from movie theater preservationists.

Coincidentally, the Red Vic announced the next phase of its existence recently. The Alembic Bar (next door to the Red Vic) will expand into the lobby area. The actual theater will be split into a "marketplace" featuring "four to six food-related start-up entrepreneurs and retail businesses." They are also carving out space for a 49 seat screening room available for private rental.

Also, I recently saw a film at the 4 Star (in the larger screening room) where I was the only person in the audience on a weeknight screening (8:40 PM, I believe). That auditorium can probably seat approximately 200 people. That can't last for long. However, the Lees moved heaven and earth to "save" the 4 Star. I can't see them closing the theater after working so hard to abrogate the lease and purchase the building.

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Sutro's: The Palace at Lands End is directed by Tom Wyrsch who directed Remembering Playland at the Beach which I also saw at the Balboa. Sutro's is cut from the same cloth as Playland which is appropriate; Sutro Baths was just up the hill from Playland at the Beach and owned by the same person (George Whitney). Sutro Baths was originally built by Adoph Sutro in 1896, a San Francisco mayor who made his fortune in developing mining techniques for the Comstock Lode.

I called Playland a "barebones documentary." I recall thinking it was a little amateurish. Both documentaries relied on talking head interviews, still photos, home movies and minimal narration. However, Wyrsch seems to have upped his game as a documentarian. At nearly 90 minutes, Sutro's is twenty minutes longer than Playland but Wyrsch keeps the film moving much better. Whereas Playland felt like a substandard History Channel documentary, Sutro's has the look of one of those better made KQED documentaries.

That's not really very important though. Like Playland, Sutro's is targeted for people with an interest in San Francisco history. They'll lap up the photos and reminiscing. In addition, Sutro Baths seems more interesting than Playland. Sutro Baths was a impressive engineering feat and to this day, its ruins look like some Roman baths. The Playland site is now condominiums. Actually, epic plans for condos on the site of Sutro Baths was proposed after a fire destroyed the site but never came to fruition.

Wyrsch has set the table for a trilogy - Playland at the Beach, Sutro Baths and the natural finale could be a documentary on the Cliff House which still exists. I've always been interested in history and particularly San Francisco history so count me as a fan of Sutro's.

Irish Cops and Portuguese Lovers

For reasons which are not clear to me, I've been going to Landmark Cinemas quite a bit in 2011 compared to previous years. In many ways, Landmark is old school regarding tickets. It's owned by Mark Cuban who put it up for sale earlier this year. I don't know the status of the sale but I know the Landmark website looks a little dated.

I have been using Discount Cards which are five admissions for $40. The cards cannot be used on Friday and Saturday nights. The cards are a piece of thick paper with perforations. Each time you use the card, the box office employee tears off one of the perforations. The system worked fine for me although there were times I wanted to see something on Friday or Saturday night. Regular prices for evening screenings are $10.50 and matinees are $8.25. Frequently, I'd use the discount cards for evening screenings only to get a bigger savings. If I went to a matinee, I'd pay full price ($8.25). The Discount Cards expire six months after they are sold. Sometimes, as I approached the six month mark, I'd use the card to see a matinee or a film I didn't really want to see.

On a visit to the Embaracdero Center Cinemas a couple months ago, they had a handwritten sign at the box office advertising their Gold Tickets, Gold Book or Gold Cards. These Gold Tickets were sold in increments of 25 at $7.75 per admission or $193.75 for 25. I chatted with the box office employee and he said the Gold Tickets could be used for all performances including Friday and Saturday nights. Also, they had no expiration dates. The Discount Cards could only be used for two admissions per screening whereas the Gold Tickets could be used in any increment. He pointed to a group milling about the lobby and said they just bought one and used it for 17 or 18 admissions for a screening about to start. The only restriction was an occasional film which did not allow discount cards. He said the only film he could remember in the past year or so which was restricted in that manner was Terrence Malick's Tree of Life.

Based on this information, my increased patronage and the knowledge I could get 1% cash back on my credit card purchases ($7.67 per screening!), I purchased a Gold Book recently. It's old school too - 25 small piece of paper stapled together with perforations at the top of each page. Tear off a page or ticket and submit it to the box office for admission.

The reason I mention all this is because I can't find either mentioned on the Landmark Theater website - no mention of the $40 discount cards or the $193.75 Gold Books.

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In the past month, I saw two films at the Embardero Center Cinemas:

The Guard starring Brendan Gleeson & Don Cheadle; (2011) - Official Website
Mysteries of Lisbon; Portuguese & French with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website

The Guard is a comedy about a small town Irish cop (Garda
for those familiar with Irish law enforcment). Brendan Gleeson plays Sergeant Gerry Boyle. Sgt. Boyle enjoys a pint of ale, pharmaceuticals and the services of prostitutes. He sees no reason to keep his recreational habits a secret...I guess there are no secrets in small towns. Don Cheadle plays FBI agent Wendell Everett, an American heading up an international drug task force which has indications that a major drug shipment is coming ashore in the small town Boyle polices.

The film is set up as a cop buddy movie as well as stranger in a strange land. Everett is a straight-laced, by-the-book cop who is in disbelief of some of Boyle's behavior. The film also makes clear that small town folks in Ireland don't like outsiders, particularly English speakers and Yanks. Everett could benefit from a little more blarney whereas Boyle probably committed career suicide by adhering to his picaresque lifestyle.

On the other side of the ledger are a trio of ruthless, Nietzsche quoting, introspective drug dealers (Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham & David Wilmot). One is weary of the job, on is more committed and other is a sociopath. The film sounds very dark and it broaches some serious subject - Boyle's mother is dying and a fellow cop is killed leaving Boyle to deal with the widow. However, the film is a comedy through and through. Anti-Irish, anti-American and gallows humor permeate the film. Several scenes stand out in my memory - Boyle drinking a milkshake while declining a bribe, Boyle mistaking the cop's widow for a prostitute and Boyle's initial meeting with Everett. I thoroughly enjoyed The Guard.

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Mysteries of Lisbon allows me to digress some more. When I was in high school (a public school, mind you), I recall my English teacher giving some context to the works of Charles Dickens before we embarked on Oliver Twist. She said that Dickens published his works serially in newspapers or literary anthologies. As a result, he was paid by the word or chapter length. As such, he frequently had to pad out the chapters or the entire novel to 1) fulfill his contractual obligations and/or 2) maximize his income. It took more than two years to publish Oliver Twist. This fact explains a lot about Dickens' writing style.

The reason I mentioned this is because Mysteries of Lisbon is described as a cross between Dickens and Victor Hugo. I doubt Mysteries of Lisbon was required to be a certain length but I'm not sure how else to explain the 4 hours and 40 minutes of runtime (including a 10 minute intermission). An employee of the theater introduced the film before it started and mentioned the length. Several audience members let out audible signs of disbelief and surprise. At the intermission, several people left and did not return. I saw the 7:30 PM screening and around midnight more people left before the film was complete. I suspect they were worried about missing the last East Bay BART train. The film let out around 12:15 AM and I strolled to the Embarcadero BART station (knowing Peninsula bound trains run until nearly 1 AM). Not more than 5 minutes after I got to the platform, the last East Bay train was pulling into the station.

I'm not going to go over the plot of Mysteries of Lisbon. It's a bit of a roundelay as each character experiences love (or unrequited love), jealousy and death. Let's see if I can name all the characters this happens to - a beautiful Countess, her true love, her husband (not her true love), the priest who gives her shelter, the monk at the monastery where she becomes a nun, an assassin who killed her love and took pity on her infant son, her son and the assassin's lover. I may have missed a few. As a young man, the monk cuckolded an aristocrat who sounded like Sean Connery speaking Portuguese.

There was a definite similarity to each story. As each character launched into their story, the audience responded with knowing laughter. Many of the scenes appeared to be on the same set - doors at the right and left of the room and the action taking place in the middle. As each character made the same or similar mistake as one of the others, the point was driven home. Also, even though each character had a secret, there were no secrets as there was always someone outside the door listening. Many times, the camera angle made the theater audience the eavesdropper. The film moved backward and forward in time as flashback scenes unfolded - plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

At two hours, the film was kind of fun; at three hours, it was pretentious; at four hours, it was arduous. I stuck it out because I wondered how they were going to wrap things up.

I can think of better ways to spend 4.5 hours than Mysteries of Lisbon but the film is not completely without merit. The performances of Adriano Luz as the priest, Ricardo Pereira as the assassin and Clotilde Hesme as his lover were colorful and multifaceted. Like a "good" trashy novel, I became engrossed in the liaisons and revenge plots. Although anathema to admit, Mysteries of Lisbon is one of those films that is better on a DVD or streaming so that one can digest it in serial format (like Dickens).

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The recently departed Red Vic Movie House is holding a "final" poster sale on Saturday, October 8 from 1 PM to 5 PM.

TV Noir

From July 18 to 20, the Roxie presented TV Noir. The films were introduced by Johnny Legend. Legend is a compatriot of Elliot Lavine and mentioned the three day series was a preview of a longer series he and Lavine were planning for September. Legend has quite a pedigree that probably merits a documentary about him. Legend has been an rockabilly singer, actor, pro wrestling promoter, porn producer and now television archivist.

Each night, they screened a double feature which were generically named Program 1 and 2. I was able to catch both programs on July 18 and 19. I skipped July 20 to see The Last Waltz at the Red Vic which I have recounted. Each program consisted of television shows from the 1950s and early 1960s. Many of them screened with the original commercials.

I can't recall all the programs but a few highlights were:

Johnny screened the premiere episode of Medic, a show which ran from 1954 to 1956 and starred Richard Boone as a doctor. In this episode, Boone's patient was a pregnant woman (Beverly Garland) who is diagnosed with late stage cancer (leukemia I believe). Boone must keep the woman alive long enough for her to deliver her child. Dispensing with the melodrama, the episode tells the story with cold and sober delivery. Boone's voiceover narration recites the facts - "patient admitted on March 20 in her 28th week of pregnancy; white blood cell count is 35,000." Boone's character keeps a detached professionalism when dealing with the woman and her husband (Lee Marvin). Any doubt about the doctor's passion is put to rest during the 5 to 10 minute finale. Set in the operating room, the doctor struggles to save the woman. When she dies, he delivers the baby who appears stillborn. Boone won't give up as he tries every method to save the child before ultimately being successful. If that episode was any indication, Medic was a very intense 30 minutes drama.

In a 1960 episode of The Dupont Show, Harpo Marx appears as Benson, a deaf mute who witnesses a murder. Spotted by the killers but unable to communicate what he has witnessed (he's also illiterate), Benson has to hide as the killers come looking for him. At age 72, this was billed as Marx's final performance although I can find later credits for him on IMDB.

Treasury Men in Action ran from 1950 to 1955 on ABC. The title says it all and the 1955 episode with Charles Bronson was just as subtle. Bronson plays a wife beating, gun toting, heroin smuggling, jail breaking, clipped syllable speaking tough guy. Similar to Medic, I liked the way the show stripped away everything but the facts to give a detached view of the story; although according to the prologue, the T-Man story was taken from actual case files.

Bronson had a supporting role in a Dan Duryea episode of Suspicion, an anthology series produced by Alfred Hitchcock which ran from 1957 to 1959. How many times did Dan Duryea play the brains of an outfit that planned a heist? In this one, Duryea is planning a bank job. Duryea infuses his character with a lot of depth and the ambiguous nature of who fired the fatal shot at the end elevated this episode above the crowd of anthology series from the period.

In an 1950 episode of Suspense (1949-1954), a struggling actor (Leslie Nielsen with dark hair!) overhears a conversation to kill a bigshot Hollywood agent (George Reeves) and has to overcome numerous obstacles in his attempt to save the day. Shot live (with a few goofs visible), the episode had that early television look and spirit. As Johnny Legend mentioned, in the early days, Suspense wasn't called a television show but rather a teleplay. Shooting live probably gave the actors and crew an adrenaline rush but give the visible mistakes, its not surprising that television evolved to filmed or tape-delayed programming. Saturday Night Live, one of the few current series I watch on television, is a notable exception.

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I don't know how a one or two week series of TV Noir will work out. There were several segments that left me less than impressed & I dozed off a few times. I find myself dozing off more during films. If a film isn't keeping my attention, I tend to drift off to sleep. It's become my new litmus test as to whether a film met the base criteria of being worthwhile.

Even the best segments were 30 minutes or less so it was impossible to flesh out the plots and characters. Whereas a good film feels like having a nice meal, the best TV Noir segments felt lilke I just had a tasty appetizer and left me wanting more.

The Final Film I Watched at the Red Vic

I miscounted the number of punches left on my Red Vic discount card. I thought I had one punch left but I had two. As I mentioned, I wanted to see The Last Waltz with my final punch but the screening was sold out. The Last Waltz was the penultimate film screened at the Red Vic. After it, the Red Vic closed on Thursday, July 21 and then screened Harold and Maude for three consecutive days before permanently shutting down. I've seen Harold and Maude a few times (never on the big screen) and I wouldn't have minded seeing it again but the Roxie was having Monte Hellman series at that time.

My final film at the Red Vic ended up being the 9:20 screening of What's Up Doc? on Wednesday, July 13.

What's Up Doc? starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal & Madeline Kahn; directed by Peter Bogdanovich; (1972)

Filmed in San Francisco, the screwball comedy involves four identical valises owned by four very different people who converge at a hotel for various reasons. One bag is owned by Barbra Streisand, a homeless waif doing a Bugs Bunny impersonation throughout the film. The second bag (which is full of rocks) is owned by Ryan O'Neal, a uptight musicologist up for a grant award for his research into ancient man's use of rocks as musical instruments. The third bag, containing jewels, is by a wealthy dowager. The fourth bag contains unspecified government secret.

You can imagine the zany misadventures everyone gets into. The hotel dick (played by a pre-Boss Hogg Sorrell Booke) is after the jewels. A mysterious counter-espionage type is after the secrets. Barbra Streisand is after Ryan O'Neal even though he has an irritating fiancée (Madeline Kahn).

There is little point in recounting the plot further; all that needs to be said is hilarious hijinks ensues. Sometimes that is short-hand for stupidity follows but Peter Bogdanovich pulls it off skillfully. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. O'Neal plays straight man throughout the film to great effect. Streisand acquits herself satisfactorily but is overshadowed by Kahn and others. Supporting actors Kenneth Mars plays a Slav with a smile-inducing, scene-stealing accent and Austin Pendleton's character must have been Michael Myer's inspiration for Austin Powers.

In 1972, Streisand was nearing the peak of popularity and was an honest-to-goodness sex symbol. I always found that a little strange given her vaguely androgynous looks. She wears a cap through parts of the film which gives her the appearance of a 12 year old boy. However when she is scampering around in a bath towel or singing As Time Goes By while laying on top of a piano, her sex appeal come through. Like most comediennes or at least how audiences view most comediennes, Streisand cannot simultaneously be sexy and funny.

Bogdanovich drops a number of references to Golden Age films and caps the film with an elaborate car chase through San Francisco. What's Up Doc? adds to Hollywood's rich tradition of outstanding car chases in San Francisco. Bullitt, Freebie and the Bean, 48 Hours, The Rock, Basic Instinct and Jade are a few that I remember.

I'm disappointed the Red Vic has closed but with What's Up Doc?, I ended on a high note. I wish the members of the collective the best of luck in the future and thank you for the good times I had there.

Five in Transition

In the past month or so, major changes have been announced at various San Francisco film exhibition organizations.

1) The Red Vic made it official. They are closing on Monday, July 25 after the 9:15 PM screening of Harold and Maude. I stopped by last night to catch the 9:25 PM screening of The Last Waltz. It was sold out and I was turned away at the door. According to their website, the July 25th screenings of Harold and Maude are already sold out. Where were these crowds before? It appears that I will have to eat the final punch on my Red Vic discount card. C'est la vie et adieu Red Vic.

2) In this morning's San Francisco Chronicle, there was an article on Gary Meyer and the Balboa Theater. Meyer, the operator and sub-leasee of the Balboa, will be leaving the theater after this summer. Meyer cited the need for a $200,000 digital conversion and his duties as the director of the Telluride Film Festival as the main reasons for stepping away. In the near future, films will be distributed digitally rather than in 35 mm prints thus necessitating the digital conversion. Meyer said he's working to find someone to operate the theater. My guess is that the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation (which currently operates the Vogue) will attempt to operate the Balboa.

I don't go to the Balboa often anymore. When Meyer was programming repertory and international films, it was my favorite theater but for the past several years, my attendance has been spotty. It's anyone's guess as to what the future holds for the Balboa.

I will say that with the exception of the Mostly British Film Series, I have not gone to the Vogue except for a disastrous John Cazale double feature in April 2009. I much prefer Meyer's programming at the Balboa over the line-up of mostly mainstream films which have appeared at the Vogue over the past few years.

3) In early July, Graham Leggat, Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society (which runs the San Francisco International Film Festival), announced he was immediately resigning from SFFS. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Leggat has been diagnosed with cancer. After treatment earlier this year, the cancer has metastasized to several organs and according to Leggat, "It is largely deemed incurable."

My mother died of cancer and her suffering was horrible. I don't wish that on anyone. I was never formally introduced to Leggat. He was a friendly type who would occasionally chat up festival goers. I've exchanged pleasantries with him but can't say I know him well. His successes at the SFFS and SFIFF are undisputed. Still, I've never been a huge fan of SFIFF as the crowds are too large for my taste. I prefer their smaller fall festivals more. Speaking of which, programmer Sean Uyehara announced at the 2011 SFIFF that they were planning a Hong Kong series in the fall. True to his word, the series will be held September 23 to 25.

I wish Graham Leggat the best. After my mother's passing, I have one wish in life - let me die peacefully in my sleep.

4) Just before Leggat's departure, SFFS announced an agreement with Viz Cinema. SFFS will program films, events and classes at the Viz on a daily basis beginning in September. Replacing a similar deal SFFS had with the Sundance Kabuki, the Film Society will have a venue dedicated to their programming needs.

I'm a little ambivalent about this announcement. The Viz is currently in the middle of a classic Japanese film series. Although their programming is sparse, the Viz's dedication to Japanese cinema is to my liking. I hope they can retain some of that programming when SFFS takes over. I don't believe I ever went to the SFFS screen at the Kabuki. I am not a fan of their reserved seating policy or vaguely off-putting environment. The $11 admission price plus sliding scale "amenity fee" hasn't help matters either.

5) Also in this morning's SF Chronicle was a Q&A with San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Executive Director Peter Stein. The 2011 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival runs from Today to August 8. Stein is resigning his position of 8 years after this year's festival closes. I wasn't aware of this but Stein started the documentary series on San Francisco neighborhoods which has aired on KQED for years. He personally wrote and produced the installments on the Castro and the Fillmore. He also co-hosts the Sunday Cinema Club with SFIFF programmer Rod Armstrong.

I've never spoken to Stein and probably wouldn't recognize him if he came up to me. I have enjoyed numerous screenings at the SFJFF over the years. Not being Jewish, it's hard for me to embrace the films that celebrate being Jewish. I have purchased tickets for four programs in this year's festival so I saw a few I liked. Two are documentaries on Adolf Eichmann and Bobby Fischer - a key Nazi figure in the Holocaust and the Jewish-born/anti-Semite chess champion. My interest is more historical curiosity than specific Jewish curiosity.

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As I mentioned, I was told that the Landmark Bridge is soon closing. Between the mice, sparse crowds and defection of Peaches Christ to larger venues, it doesn't surprise me. However, I can't find anything on-line to confirm it. The information was already third hand when it got to me so I won't state it as a certainty although it could very easily be fait accompli.

In this post, I pondered the fate of the Landmark Clay. The entry was posted a week before SFFS announced the deal with Viz. That leaves the Clay out in the cold as far as SFFS is concerned. Brian Darr commented that the Clay will take over midnight screenings of The Room from the Red Vic. It seems that Landmark decided it needed to close one of its single screen theaters in the City; if not the Clay, then the Bridge will do.

The Long Goodbye or Love and Haight

The Long Goodbye is a Robert Altman film but I am referring to the painful demise of the Red Vic.

It's been a longtime, open secret among San Francisco film lovers that the Red Vic is not long for this world. In the past few weeks, multiple sources have reported the Red Vic is closing on July 26. The news was posted on a KQED blog and SFist. Even at this late date, one of the operators of the theater is holding out hope that "George Lucas or Pixar or somebody really big to step in."

Hope springs eternal but the potential closure of the Red Vic just isn't moving me off the needle much. The Red Vic is suffering because not enough people go there and I am less guilty than most. As I posted, I saw 10 films there in 2010; good enough for 8th place on my 2010 list.

However, the Red Vic and I have a cool relationship. Unlike the Roxie, the Red Vic is not conveniently located along my commute. However, the PFA is very out of the way for me and the Castro is equally inconvenient. Whereas the programming at PFA and the Castro excites me enough to take a special trip, the Red Vic's programming largely leaves me luke warm. The Roxie, the Castro and Sundance Kabuki host the film festivals I like to attend, the Red Vic seems to eschew festivals.

When Viz Cinema ceased daily operation, I truly felt like I had lost a something valuable and wished I had gone more frequently (even though I did see 41 films there in 2010). The impending closure of the Red Vic is not evoking the same sense of loss in me. It's like a casual acquaintance passing; you feel bad but the emotional impact is not as strong as when a close friend of family member passes.

I have a discount admission card for the Red Vic. It has one punch left on it so I'll be saying my farewell to the old gal before July 25. If it is the end, I thank the Red Vic for all the experiences and wish there had been more of them. July 25 is the Red Vic's 30th anniversary so it was a good, long run.

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By the way, what happened to the negotiations between the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) and the landlord of the Clay Theater? Several months ago, Landmark Theaters announced it was closing the Clay. Landmark only operates the Clay. The building is owned by someone else. Landmark was going to cease operating the Clay and speculation was rampant as to what the landlord would do with the property. A last minute push by SFFS was enough to convince Landmark to continue operating the Clay while SFFS and the landlord negotiated terms for SFFS to operate the Clay. Several months have gone by and I haven't heard any news. I doubt Landmark will operate the theater indefinitely if negotiations have stalled.

Kung Fu Fighting, Hippies, The Last Generation of Soviets and Faye Dunaway

In a one week period earlier in May, I went to four independent movie theaters - the Red Vic, Balboa, 4 Star and Castro.

The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen starring Donnie Yen and Shu Qi; directed by Andrew Lau; Cantonese with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website
Hair starring Treat Williams & John Savage; directed by Miloš Forman; (1979)
My Perestroika; directed by Robin Hessman; documentary; Russian with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website
Puzzle Of A Downfall Child starring Faye Dunaway; directed by Jerry Schatzberg; (1970)
Eyes Of Laura Mars starring Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones; directed by Irvin Kershner; (1978)
Deaf Mute Heroine starring Helen Ma; Mandarin with subtitles; (1971)
Pursuit starring Chow Yun-Fat; Cantonese with subtitles; (1980)

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Let me get all the seven degrees facts out of the way. The Legend of the Fist, Deaf Mute Heroine and Pursuit are part of the 4 Star's Asian Movie Madness series which runs every Thursday through July. The co-star of Pursuit was Deborah Dik who is Nicholas Tse's mother. Nicholas Tse was the star of The Stool Pigeon, my favorite film of the 2011 San Francisco International Film Festival. Nicholas Tse is married to actress Cecilia Cheung who was previously involved with Edison Chen and subsequently involved in his sex photo scandal. I most recently saw Edison Chen in Almost Perfect at the 2011 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. The first film that I can recall Chen from is Initial D which was co-directed by Andrew Lau who also directed The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen. If that isn't enough for you, Chen's co-star in Initial D was Shawn Yue who starred in Love in a Puff which I saw at the 2011 SFIFF. I can't stop myself from pointing out the coincidences...the theme song to Eyes Of Laura Mars was "Prisoner" by Barbra Streisand which I distinctly recognized from a scene in Pursuit. The coincidence is all the amazing because I saw Eyes Of Laura Mars one night before Pursuit.

In most of the cases, I had discount passes to the theater that I wanted to use up before they (the pass or the theater) expired. I saw Hair at the Red Vic, My Perestroika at the Balboa and Puzzle Of A Downfall Child & Eyes Of Laura Mars at the Castro.

There is a lot of history behind The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen. Donnie Yen starred in a Hong Kong television series called Fist of Fury in 1995. Yen played Chen Zhen, the same character as he does in The Legend of the Fist. If Fist of Fury sounds familiar, it's because it was also the title of a 1972 Bruce Lee film. Bruce Lee played Chen Zhen also. A stuntman on Lee's Fist of Fury was Jackie Chan who would go on to make a film called New Fist of Fury (1976). Chan's film is set in the same time period and locales but is not Chen Zhen. In 1994, Jet Li made film called Fist of Legend where he took his turn as Chen Zhen.

Chen Zhen is a fictitious character but probably based on composite of a real people. As portrayed by Yen, Chen Zhen is WWI veteran who lives in Shanghai during the 1930s. He is a hell of a kung fu fighter but he keeps a low profile as the manager of a nightclub and casino owned by gangster Anthony Wong. The main attraction at the nightclub is the beautiful singer Kiki (Shu Qi from The Transporter and Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Three Times). However it is the 1930's in China which means the Japanese are causing problems. Has anyone noticed a lot of Chinese films recently which are set in the 1930s with the Japanese as villains? In this film, Colonel Chikaraishi Takeshi (Kohata Ryu) of the Imperial Japanese Army is the villain. Fans of Yen's television series know that Chen Zhen killed Chikaraishi's evil father in the television series. Ryu played the evil Japanese Army officer in City of Life and Death which impressed me at last year's San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

Donnie Yen, 1930s, Chinese kung fu master, evil Japanese army officers...sounds like Ip Man. There were a lot of similarities. The lovely Shu Qi elevated Legend of the Fist somewhat (for her beauty not necessarily her acting) but ultimately the film was fluff. There is a time and place for fluff but I like my action films more gritty. Full disclosure - I'm very smitten with Shu Qi.

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A week after seeing Legend of the Fist, I returned to 4 Star to catch a double feature of Deaf Mute Heroine and Pursuit.

Deaf Mute Heroine looks like a standard HK chop socky film from the 1970s. One Armed Swordsman, Blind Swordsman and now a Deaf Mute Swordswoman - so they doubled the handicaps and changed the gender but the film is still the same. In this particular instance, the heroine's motivation was not completely pristine as she seemed most interested in some stolen jewels. That is until she shacks up with a poor laborer. Then the fearsome warrioress puts down her sword and reflective bracelets (so she can see people coming up behind her) and embarks on journey of domestic bliss. Of course, we all know that can't last.

Helen Ma, as the eponymous heroine, acquits herself admirably in a film which is a small notch above the rest. Ma had such expressive eyes which I guess is only natural for a deaf mute character. The fight choreographers threw a couple good fight sequences and the "villain" is also a woman (Shirley Huang).

Called by many a classic, I'm more stingy in my praise. I thought it was above average but the fight sequences became tiresome after awhile.

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Although Chow Yun-Fat is billed as the star of Pursuit, it's really a vehicle for Deborah Dik. The film was trying to balance humor with suspense but it didn't do a very good job. Dik is a off key lounge singer who is pimped by her manager to the snaggle-toothed club owner with secret S&M peccadilloes. Escaping his advances, Dik witnesses a murder committed by a sunglass wearing hitman (Chow Yun-Fat). The rest of the film has Chow (or his henchmen) pursuing Dik with her always escaping through luck or timely bouts of resourcefulness.

The problem with Pursuit is not its premise but rather its execution. The humor is too silly and the violence too extreme. I was whipsawed by the film as it veered from one to the other and back.

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Hair was not a film that was on my list of films I had to see. I went because I have a Red Vic Discount Card that I'm worried will be worthless if they go out of business. The film was mildly entertaining. The hippie era has never fascinated me so seeing a musical about it is not an integral part of my film viewing list.

I can't fault the film's three principals (Beverly D'Angelo, Treat Williams and John Savage) but the film felt flat to me. I got a kick out of seeing Treat Williams with long hair. I can't criticize her performance but I couldn't get over the fact that just 4 years after Hair, D'Angelo was playing opposite Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Vacation.

The songs were not quite a toe-tapping as I expected. The finale where Williams goes off to war in place of Savage was particularly well done.

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My Perestroika is a documentary about half a dozen people who were adolescents when the Soviet Union dissolved. They are unique because their childhoods were traditionally Soviet but they had to adjust in early adulthood to very different political and economic systems from their youths. There are a married couple who are school teachers, a musician, an entrepreneur and a woman who services coin-operated pool tables in bars and pubs. Though they all went to the same school as children, they have very different memories and opinions. These difference make for an interesting film. Director Robin Hessman can't quite tie all the strands together to find commonality but the individuals and their contrasts are sufficient to carry the film along.

My Perestroika will open at the Camera Cinemas in San Jose on June 3.

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Eyes Of Laura Mars was a pretty good thriller featuring Faye Dunaway as Laura Mars, fashion photographer who specializes in stylized photos with an erotic and violent twist to them. The photos in the film were taken by actual photographer Helmut Newton.

Unfortunately, Mars has visions where she sees her colleagues brutally murdered. Tommy Lee Jones plays the copy who is investigating the murders but also warms up to Mars. I won't give away the ending. I will say that Mars' visions are never explained except through some implied psychic connection between Mars and the killer.

Rene Auberjonois gives a strong performance as Mars' homosexual business manager.

Puzzle Of A Downfall Child is a fragmented psychological portrait of a fashion model (Dunaway) who is recovering from a nervous breakdown. Recounting her life in flashback, we see that Dunaway's character had several less-than-positive life experiences including an exploitive relationship with an older man as a schoolgirl which shaped her future dealings with men.

41 years old, the film plays like coffee table psychobabble but it has a few things going for it - Dunaway's youthful beauty, Dunaway's considerable acting skills and a disjointed narrative which is open to multiple interpretations. I can't say I liked Puzzle Of A Downfall Child but I can't say I disliked it either.

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The Asian Movie Madness double feature scheduled for May 26 has been cancelled. Originally Ong Bak and Golden Sand Sword were scheduled. That's too bad as I was looking forward to both films.

Four Days in the Castro

A couple weekends ago, I believe I set a personal record. I went to the same theater four days in a row without a film festival or retrospective running at the theater. The theater was the Castro.

The films were:

Picnic at Hanging Rock with John Jarratt; directed by Peter Weir; (1975)
The Passenger starring Jack Nicholson & Maria Schneider; directed by Michelangelo Antonioni; (1975)
Bullitt starring Steve McQueen and Robert Vaughn; directed by Peter Yates; (1968)
Freebie and the Bean starring James Caan & Alan Arkin; directed by Richard Rush; (1974)
Heavy Metal; animated; (1981)
Trick or Treat starring Marc Price; directed by Charles Martin Smith; (1986)
The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter & Edward G. Robinson; directed by Cecil B. DeMille; (1956)

Heavy Metal and Trick or Treat were part of a Midnites for Maniacs quintuple bill which also featured This is Spinal Tap and The Monster Squad.

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I was vaguely aware of Picnic at Hanging Rock mostly by name and reference to the famous Australian landmark. I was expecting upscale Ozploitation and instead I got Australian Gothic. That's not a complaint because director Peter Weir's film is fascinating to look at with its 1970's aesthetics and languid pace. It was the exact opposite of what I was expecting. The plot involved some boarding school girls who go missing at Hanging Rock. Even though one of the girls is found, she is unable to explain their disappearance. I won't detail the script too much because the film is about the mood surrounding the repressed sexuality enforced by the alcoholic headmistress. Is Picnic at Hanging Rock the classic it is made out to be? It wasn't quite to my liking but I have to admit it never lost my interest and Rachel Roberts was outstanding as the headmistress.

If I was misinformed about Picnic at Hanging Rock, I was completely ignorant of The Passenger, an Antonioni film from the 1970s. Looking very much of its time, the film features Jack Nicholson as a British-born, American-raised reporter who fakes his own death in Africa to exchange places with a naturally-deceased stranger at his hotel. It turns out that the stranger is an arms dealer and Nicholson gets in over his head. If the film was made now, you'd get an action thriller with lots of explosions. In 1975, Antonioni was able to make a very different film. Antonioni and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli lovingly film the sand dunes of Africa, the grungy "hotel" in a backwater, Third World town and Barcelona as I've never seen it on film. Without a doubt, the centerpiece is the final silent sequence where the camera pans out of a hotel window, swivels around and returns to the room where a man has just been murdered. I'm not sure if that scene could even be made today. First, it would be done in CG and then some idiot would layer on a pretentious soundtrack to let us know what to think.

Putting aside Antonioni and Tovoli's mastery of the camera lens, Antonioni story is more existential than thriller. It's hard for me to remember that Jack Nicholson was once a serious actor. When did he jump the shark? Batman? The Shining? A Few Good Men? I don't know but in The Passenger, he's not Jack as I have come to regard him but a capable actor who has subtlety in his repertoire. Coming into the film cold and seeing Nicholson's performance made The Passenger a revelation to me. It validates Antonioni and Nicholson's reputations but to a certain extent, validates the reputation of 1970's cinema which is much acclaimed by serious film critics but not much appreciated by me.

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There is not much new to be said about Bullitt. I've seen it several times on television. There is the car chase and Steve McQueen is way cool. McQueen/Bullitt (do we even know his first name?) is cooler than 99.9% of the actors/characters to ever be on the silver screen. He makes eating a white bread sandwich with a glass of milk look cool. The more I see the film, the more I appreciate Robert Vaughn's slimy politician. Bullitt couldn't be the legend if he didn't have Vaughn's Chalmers to play off of. Even Norman Fell delivers a performance notable for how much he conveys with silence and a look. Also, the two killers who die in the crash convey more without a word of dialog than any hitman in movie history. Those two actors, the white haired John Aprea and Bill Hickman (who looks vaguely like Karl Malden) were incredible - professional, detached, stone cold killers. They'd kick Jules and Vincent's asses without breaking a sweat.

Freebie and the Bean was a rambunctious film featuring James Caan and Alan Arkin as wild cops tracking down hitmen sent to town (in this case San Francisco as well). Wacky comedies and over-the-top chase scenes may have been all the rage in the 70s but Freebie and the Bean felt like a mean-spirited It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with racial overtones thrown in for good measure. Valerie Harper plays Arkin's wife with Puerto Rican accent so thick you'd think she be wearing fruit on her head and dancing the samba. The most amazing part is that she is able to deliver a humorous performance while talking like an outcast from West Side Story. Even more impressive is a scene where Arkin and Harper express their love while discussing her douche bag and Arkin continually saying she is not as stupid as he thought. Harper deserved a better career than what she had. Caan & Arkin quickly bored me and the car chases became tedious. There was a transvestite killer that added some surprise at the end. It was interesting to see the Financial District of SF in 1974 but otherwise, Freebie and the Bean left me unenthused.

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On April 30, Jesse Hawthorne Ficks is hosting a special Maniacs event at the Red Vic. I have previously discussed the Red Vic's financial troubles. Ficks put the odds of the Red Vic survival at the unusually precise figure of 11%. One in nine? That's not much of an encouragement to go to the event. Why contribute money to a dying cause? Another issue is that they scheduled the fundraiser opposite the most prestigious film festival in the City. I still urge you to support the Red Vic but I'll be at the SFIFF.

Heavy Metal is a film I remember from my adolescence and it proves that the forces of nostalgia can be quite strong. I believe I have seen the film twice in the past 25 years and each time I see it, it appeals to me less. Juvenile, sexist, silly and borderline pornographic, the film was obviously designed to target 13 year old boys (or men who think like 13 year olds) which was when it hooked me. Set in the future where all young women are beautiful, nymphomaniacs and have 38DD breast implants, watching Heavy Metal gets old pretty fast. I'm not sure how much of that is the film and how much is the cynical outlook of a fortysomething year old.

There were only two vignettes that kept my interest - Harry Canyon, a noirish tale about a hardscrabble cabbie who hooks up with a beautiful woman with killers on her tail and Taarna, a story about a beautiful female warrior (dressed like a S&M dominatrix) and her loyal pterodactyl who single-handedly battle the forces of evil. Even those two stories were mediocre at best. The only thing that really saves Heavy Metal is a soundtrack that kicks ass and takes name, as we used to say back in the day.

After taking a few hours to finish my income tax returns and go to the gym, I returned to see Trick or Treat. When I read the synopsis, I recognized director Charles Martin Smith's name. He was memorable as the tax accountant on Kevin Costner's team in The Untouchables. The name Marc Price (wasn't there an NBA player by that name?) didn't ring any bells but as soon as I started watching Trick or Treat, I immediately recognized him as Skippy Handleman from Family Ties. Another embarrassing pleasure of my youth revealed. During my high school years, I was a big fan of Family Ties. I identified with Skippy, I aspired to be Alex and I lusted after Mallory. I even remember one of my favorite scenes even though it's been 20 years since I've seen the show. Alex was dating Tracy Pollan's character. He would eventually break up with her on the show but marry her in real life. Alex was out of his environment because the two of them were so different. Spying a poster of the Beatles in her dorm room, he asks if they are her brothers. I don't know why that stuck with me for over 20 years.

Back to Trick or Treat, Skippy is sporting a mullet and he's an unpopular kid at school who calls himself Ragman. I can't remember why. He's into heavy metal music and idolizes Sammi Curr, a heavy metal musician who went to the same high school as he attends. A DJ (Gene Simmons) gives him a pre-release version of Sammi's final album. Sammi has just died (suicide?) and Ragman is depressed about it. Unfortunately, the album is backward masked. For those too young to remember, allegedly several albums in the 1980's had hidden messages that were audible if you played the record or tape in reverse. Some of these hidden messages were satanic and, allegedly, drove teenagers to murder and/or suicide. The gist of Trick or Treat is that Sammi has backmasked his final album and like he's Freddy Kruger's cousin, his spirit can run the record in reverse and conjure him back to life to wreak vengeance and havoc on unsuspecting teens. Ragman has discovered the secret and is the only one who can save his school's prom from becoming another Carrie.

The film was fairly silly but it was fun to see Skippy Handleman with a 1980's mullet. At times, Price portrayed Ragman as if he were channeling Skippy. Tony Fields (a Solid Gold dancer) was suitably over-the-top as Sammi. Doug Savant has a nice role as the school bully. Ozzy Osbourne makes a cameo. Beyond that, it was pure 80s fluff which isn't a bad thing. In fact, Ficks has built a decade long film exhibition series around celebrating 80s fluff. Would someone not familiar with the 80s enjoy it? I think so but it definitely helps to have grown up in the period in which the film was set. I went to high school with guys like Ragman and no, I'm not referring to myself.

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Finally, on a Sunday evening, I settled in for the four hour version of The Ten Commandments. The film has looked out of place for decades but I was intrigued by the chance to see it on the big screen and in one sitting. Everything that was ridiculous about the film on television is amplified on the Castro's huge screen. Charlton Heston's diction and ridiculous beards, Anne Baxter's vulgar arousal, Yul Brynner's dialog, Edward G. Robinson's miscasting and the patently staged look of the crowd scenes. It's pure Cecil B. DeMille and despite everything I could criticize, I loved it.

They don't make movies like The Ten Commandments anymore but that's probably because they don't make movie stars like Heston and Brynner anymore. A line Brynner has to say sums up the film. When speaking to a reluctant Anne Baxter who will be his future but alway reluctant wife (didn't the Egyptian pharaohs marry their sisters?), Brynner utters this all-time classic, "You will be mine, like my dog, or my horse, or my falcon, except that I shall love you more - and trust you less." Give Brynner credit, he plays it straight and comes within a hair (pun intended) of pulling off that line.

Trouble for the Roxie, Red Vic and Castro

In the past month or so, there have been several articles in various publications detailing problems with the Roxie, Red Vic and Castro theaters.

The Red Vic has been in financial straits for some time. I think I became aware of it last year. They've held a number of fundraising events. The next one will be a Midnites for Maniacs auction and secret screening on April 30 at 7:30 PM.

The latest article on the Red Vic's struggles appeared in the March 23 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. KQED reported on the theater's troubles in December. I also remember listening to a KQED broadcast (Forum with Michael Krasny?) which included discussion about the Red Vic's trouble. That was around the time it was announced the Landmark Clay would be closing. Speaking of which, I haven't heard anything about the San Francisco Film Society's plans to buy or lease the Clay for year-around programming. However many months ago that was, the Clay is still in daily operation.

The Red Vic has begun selling patron memberships. According to their Myspace blog,

Support the Red Vic! Please consider becoming a Patron. We, of course, appreciate donations at any level. We ask that you consider donating at one of the support levels listed below:

$100 - Twelve Free Passes and a Patron Card
$250 - A 3-Month Pass and a Patron Card
$500 - A 6-Month Pass and a Patron Card
$1,000 - A 1-Year Pass and a Patron Card
$5,000 – Private screening and golden (bottomless) popcorn bowl
$10,000 - Let's talk!

Please do not mail cash. Make checks out to Red Vic Movie House and mail along with your name & return address to: Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight St., S.F., CA 94117. Thank you!

Or, we have set up a Pay Pal account for donations:
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The Red Vic is a collective. I'm not sure what that means in terms of legal ownership or structure but they are definitely not a non-profit organization so donations are not tax deductible. However, the Red Vic has partnered with the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation which owns the Vogue Theater. Again from their Myspace blog,

For tax deductible donations, you can make a check out to our fiscal sponsor, the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation, and note in the memo line: For the Red Vic Movie House.

Mail to:
Red Vic Movie House
1727 Haight St.
San Francisco, CA 94117

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The prolonged nature of the Red Vic's trouble reminds me of the Roxie's trouble a few years ago. The were constantly hanging on by the skin of their teeth. I recall Nicholas Cage donated a sizable amount in appreciation for the Roxie screening and releasing Red Rock West (1993) which revived his career. Within a few years, the Roxie was back in trouble. I can't remember the changes in ownership. They were owned for awhile by the now defunct New College of California. I think someone else owned them before they reorganized under their current non-profit structure.

The Roxie seems to be doing much better financially. What bothers me about the Roxie is the state of their Mission District neighborhood. Apparently after years of peace, a gang war has erupted in the Mission over the past year. In March, I read that five men were shot at 11 PM on Monday night in the 3000 block of 16th Street. El Tin Tan's "front door was riddled by bullets, and gunfire shattered the glass front door of the Pancho Villa Taqueria next door."

That sent a chill down my spine. I walk past the El Tin Tan bar from 16th Street BART whenever I go to the Roxie. I've dined at Pancho Villa Taqueria. Not only that but I like to go to the Roxie on Monday nights because they offer reduced price admission. If I catch a 9 PM show, I would be walking on the 3000 block of 16th Street at around 11 PM on my way back to BART. That incident was a little too close for comfort.

Earlier this week, the Misison Local published an article called The Mission’s 10 Most Dangerous Blocks. The 2nd most dangerous block was 16th Street between Mission and Valencia. That's the block where El Tin Tan, Pancho Villa Taqueria and the previously mentioned shooting occurred or in onther words, the block I have to walk through to get to the Roxie. The most dangerous block is Mission between 16th and 17th which is where the 16th Street BART station exit and entrance is. Basically, I have to traverse the two most dangerous blocks in the Mission to go to the Roxie.

I'll have my opportunity to take a walk on the wild side because SF Indiefest has announced the dates of its 2011 Hole in the Head Film Festival. It'll be June 2 to 16 at the Roxie Theater. All things considered, I'd rather be on 2nd Street in San Jose.

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Also in March, the San Francisco Examiner ran an article reporting the reduced schedule at the Castro Theater.

The article referred to the fact that the Castro was only running films five days per week in April (Mondays & Tuesdays will be dark). I've noticed the Castro always has 3 to 5 days per month which it doesn't screen films. I thought it was to perform maintenance, cleaning and/or for private events. The Castro is closed 8 days in April which is more than one quarter of the time. That does seem ominous.

“It’s not a financial move, it’s a management move in terms of making sure we have the best product available for people to see,” Nasser said, adding that he’s not sure when the Castro will go back to seven days per week. “It will vary from month to month.”

Nasser is Don Nasser, owner and operator of the Castro. “It’s not a financial move, it’s a management move...” What does that mean? Mr. Nasser seems to have worked in management consulting prior to operating the Castro Theater because he has the doublespeak down to pat.

I think the Castro is in the least precarious position of the three theaters. Without the Castro, San Francisco film festivals would not havea a venue for their opening and closing night films if not their entire festival (Noir City & Silent Film Festival).

Thinking Inside the Box

One of the first films I saw in 2011 was Buried at the Red Vic.

Buried starring Ryan Reynolds; directed by Rodrigo Cortés; (2010) - Official Website

The premise for Buried sounds intriguing but proves problematic. The entire film is told from the perspective of Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), a US contractor in Iraq. Conroy has the misfortune of having been kidnapped and buried alive in a coffin. He has been left a cell phone by his abductors to communicate with the outside world. This sounds like an modern day Edgar Allen Poe story. Unfortunately, director Rodrigo Cortés literally didn't think outside the box.

The entire film is shot within the coffin. We seen Conroy from above, from the side, from the head looking down, from the feet looking up, etc. This gives a claustrophobic effect and makes the audience empathize with Conroy. However, it is extremely difficult to hold one's attention for 95 minutes with such a film technique. Cortés doesn't even apply flashbacks to allow the audience a break.

If his situation isn't bad enough, Conroy suffers a host of indignities while talking to various people on the cell phone. He is fired with cause from his job so that his employer can avoid any liability. I also recall he had to cut off his finger to satisfy the demands of his kidnappers. Cortés periodically ratchets up the tension or invokes outage from the audience but ultimately this is unsustainable for a feature length film. I believe Hitchcock mentioned that a thriller must give its audience a respite so that the audience can better appreciate the suspense. A great thriller should be a rollercoaster not a step function.

I read Cortés specifically made the film to respond to a challenge or self-challenge. He deserve plaudits for how close he came to pulling it off. Ultimately, my interest waned and I thought the film would have benefitted from some exterior scenes. The plot is fiendishly simple but packed with possibilities. Limiting the action to the box diminished the potential of the film.

I thought Buried was an interesting experiment but unfulfilling movie.

2010 By the Numbers & A Reprieve for the Viz

When I count up all the films I see in a year, I feel like a shopaholic confronted with his or her credit card bill.

I saw 382 "films" on a theater screen in 2010. For these purposes, a film is not just a feature length film but also includes programs (typically from film festivals) which consist of mutlitple short films. If it was categorized as a single program in a festival guide, it counts as one film entry on my list. Conversely, I saw several programs which consisted of a short film and a feature length film. For my counting purposes, those are counted a single film entry.

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The top 10 venues in which I saw films in 2010 were:

1) Roxie Theater (97 films) - primarily the result of four film festival - San Francisco Indiefest, I Still Wake Up Dreaming, Another Hole in the Head and Not Necessarily Noir. The number includes both the Big Roxie and Little Roxie.

2) Pacific Film Archive (71 films) - more than half of my visits were for the Kurosawa series, Italian Neorealism series and the Asian American Film Festival.

3) Castro Theater (62 films) - I saw 30 films between Noir City 8 and the 2010 Silent Film Festival.

4) Viz Cinema (41 films) - I saw 18 films from various Ozu, Mizoguchi and Kurosawa series and 9 films at Another Hole in the Head.

5) Landmark Theaters (17 films) - nine films at the Lumiere, four at the Embarcadero, three at the Opera Plaza, one at the Bridge and zero at the Clay.

6) 4 Star (16 films) - I saw seven films as part of the Chinese American Film Festival. Interestingly, I did not watch any films at the Presidio or Marina, the other theaters affiliated with Lee Neighborhood Theaters.

7) Sundance Kabuki Cinemas (15 films) - All 15 films were part of the 2010 SF International Film Festival.

8) Red Vic (10 films)

9) Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Stanford Theater (9 films each)

In 11th place was the Balboa Theater (6 films). I also watched seven films at various theaters in the Las Vegas area where my father has retired.

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On 250 days in 2010, I saw at least one film.

My maximum was four films during a single day. I did that four times in 2010. On Sunday, February 14 (which was the day before Presidents Day), I saw a Frank Capra film at the PFA and then went to see three films at the Roxie as part of IndieFest.

During the Silent Film Festival, I saw four films at the Castro Theater on Saturday, July 17 and another four on Sunday, July 18. A week later on July 25, I saw two films at the Castro as part of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and two films at the Viz as part of Another Hole in the Head.

On 21 days, I saw three films. On 78 days, I saw two films. On 147 days, I saw one film.

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In 2010, I spent $2,777.77 for admission to the 382 films. That averages out to $7.27 per film. I paid for three films which I was not able to attend due to traffic, last minute work obligations and illness, respectively. That would have lowered the average to $7.21.

That compares to $2,390.76 to see 348 films in 2009 which averages to $6.87 per film. I'm not sure why the average increased by over 5% in 2010. I saw more films at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2010. That doesn't explain it all though. I also bought a festival pass to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in 2010 which I had not done in the past. I saw more films and lowered the average cost in 2010 vs 2009 but the average cost of the SF Silent Film Festival was over $12 per film so that raised the total average price.

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After writing that Viz Cinema is closing, I read that "VIZ Cinema won't cease its operation. Just programming policy will be changed." That is from a tweet sent by Viz Cinema and directed to Brian Darr who writes Hell On Frisco Bay.

That sounds a little ominous. "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." Until confronted with evidence to the contrary, I'll take this as great news. I hope the programming policy will continue to accept the discount tickets I have at home.

Scott Pilgrim, Hester Prynne, Johannes Krauser II and Antoine Doinel

I've recently watched a number of films which featured teenagers or targeted to teenage audiences.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World starring Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead; directed by Edgar Wright; (2010) - Official Website
Detroit Metal City starring Ken'ichi Matsuyama and Rosa Katô; Japanese with subtitles; (2008) - Official Website
Easy A starring Emma Stone; with Thomas Haden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson and Malcolm McDowell; directed by Will Gluck; (2010) - Official Website
The 400 Blows starring Jean-Pierre Léaud; directed by François Truffaut; French with subtitles; (1959)

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Scott Pilgrim vs. The World has been well reviewed so I won't say too much about it. Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were both very good in their roles but the supporting actors raised the level of the film. Standouts include Alison Pill as the dyspeptic drummer and ex-girlfriend of Michael Cera's Scott Pilgrim, Brandon Routh as Winstead's ex-boyfriend who gains his evil powers from his vegan diet, Jason Schwartzman the evilest and most powerful of Winstead's exes and Ellen Wong as Knives Chau, Pilgrim's Chinese girlfriend who has an axe to grind with Winstead.

The film was funny; I was probably too old to catch all the references although I did appreciate Pilgrim using Pacman trivia as a pickup line. Knives gets off the best line when she say to Pilgrim, "I'm too cool for you anyway."

I enjoyed Easy A much more than Scott Pilgrim. Scott Pilgrim was too cartoonish for me to really enjoy it. Easy A is implausible as well with star Emma Stone's Olive being too independent for a high school girl. Still, the film captured the spirit of being a teenager which apparently hasn't changed much since I was in high school. Best line - Aly Michalka as Olive's best friend telling her to show some "lady balls." For added cinephilia, the film makes numerous references to the 1926 version of The Scarlet Letter starring Lilian Gish and John Hughes films of the 1980's although the most prominent reenactment is of the John Cusack's raised boombox scene in Cameron Crowe's Say Anything (1989).

Emma Stone, who I was unfamliar with before watching Easy A (I didn't see Zombieland and don't recall her from Superbad), turned in a starmaking comedic performance as the headstrong Olive. Amanda Bynes as the uptight, judgmental, devout Christian also caught my attention. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive's understanding parents make the most of their limited screen time.

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I first saw previews of Detroit Metal City in July at the Viz Cinema portion of Another Hole in the Head. It took 3 months for the film to arrive but I can't say the wait was worth it. Detroit Metal City is one of those films where the best parts are in the trailers.

The story centers on Soichi Negishi (Ken'ichi Matsuyama), a singer who wants to write and sing "serious" pop songs. His personal motto is "No Music, No Dream." Towards that goal, he sings his songs and plays acoustic guitar on a street corner. The problem is that his songs are banal and people think he is creepy with his perma-smile and "dickhead haircut."

Negishi pays the bills with his sideband - DMC (Detroit Metal City), a death metal band. Negishi puts on face paint, wears a wig, gets into a KISS inspired costume and growls out his songs under the stage name Johannes Krauser II. His bandmates are bassist Alexander Jagi and drummer Camus. As Jagi says later in the film, if they weren't in DMC, Jagi would be a DJ in a karaoke bar and Camus would be in prison for some sexual perversion. Leading the group is their record label boss, a perpetually shrieking, foul-mouthed harpy with a penchant for short skirts, large dogs and violence.

Negishi is embarrassed by the music DMC plays and his involvement with the band although he certainly has a stage presence as Johannes Krauser II. He has a crisis of conscience when his former college classmate and secret admiree Yuri Aikawa bumps into him at the record store. She hates DMC and Negishi hides his alter ego from her. Unfortunately for Negishi, DMC is rising on the record charts so he is pressed by his boss to tour Japan on a sort of Death Metal Challenge Tour where DMC goes up against the hardest rocking bands in Japan which includes a rapper and a post-modern grrrl punk band. DMC dispatches them with ease but the greatest death rocker in the world, Jack II Dark (Gene Simmons) is coming to Japan to challenge DMC.

The pressure becomes too much for Negishi so he hangs up his platform shoes and goes back to the small farming town he came from. To his horror, he discovers that his younger brother who worshipped him when he left for Tokyo a few years prior now is an obnoxious brat and a huge Johannes Krauser fan to boot. Negishi dons the Krauser costume again to teach his younger brother some manners and lessons in life. This is where he has his epiphany - death metal can be used for the good of mankind. Krauser rushes back to Tokyo and arrives just in time for DMC's faceoff against Jack II Dark.

The range that Ken'ichi Matsuyama shows in the film is amazing. When one also considers his character in the Death Note films, the actor's abilities become obviously apparent. Matsuyama shows some talent for comedy. Everyone else in the film delivered unmemorable performances. Despite Matsuyama's lack of support, Detroit Metal City has some funny moments. My complaint is that I saw those funny moments in the trailers.

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I've heard of François Truffaut's The 400 Blows for as long as I can remember. I had never seen it before. I didn't realize that Truffaut revisited the main character of Antoine Doinel in three additional feature films - Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970) and Love on the Run (1979). In all the films, Doniel is portrayed by Jean-Pierre Léaud.

In The 400 Blows, Doniel is a 12 year old boy who is having behavioral problems at school. As the film unfolds, we see that Doniel's mother is selfish and distant. Eventually, we learn that she is having an affair which his father (technically step-father) suspect. The tension between the couple spills into their relationship with the boy. After being truant from school, nearly burning the apartment down, stealing a typewriter and running away from home, Doniel is sent to a juvenile reform school. This gives rise to the most amazing scene. In semi-documentary style, Truffaut has an offscreen psychiatrist ask Doniel a series of questions which reveal much about his life and actions. We discover Doniel's mother wasn't married when she became pregnant with Doniel. As the scene plays out, we begin to understand the woman's resentment towards her son and the near inevitability of Doniel's misbehavior.

The final scene is also iconic as Doniel runs away from the juvenile facility. He runs until he reaches the sea or English Channel. The film ends with a freeze shot of his face. I interpreted the look on his face as one of sadness but other make much of the water erasing his footprints. The film definitely ended on a melancholy note. The character of Doniel in The 400 Blows was partly based on Truffaut's own youth.

The 400 Blows was very engaging. I'm now interested in seeing the other films in the series.

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I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World at the 4-Star, Detroit Metal City at Viz Cinema, Easy A at the Metreon and The 400 Blows at the Red Vic.