BLACK AND WHITE AND NOIR AS ALL GET OUT

By Ben Terrall (Updated January 25,2023)  If you’re looking for a double dose, or more, of big screen escape from the exhausting ills of our modern world, you could do a lot worse than a film festival exemplified by this bit of turgid narration: “If I’d known where it would end, I’d never let anything […]

Critics Corner: RAMS

Rams garnered a host of awards as it traveled the international film festival circuit in 2015. The bleat goes on as the Icelandic feature about feuding sibling shepherds opens around the country (in San Francisco, Friday, Feb 12 at Landmark’s Opera Plaza Cinema) and critics Michael Fox and Dennis Harvey decide whether it merits the […]

How NOT to Watch INTERSTELLAR

by Gary Meyer Polyvision, Cinerama, Todd-AO, Dimension 150, Emergo, Circle-Vision 360, Kino-Automat, Showscan–I have experienced all these attempts at immersive cinema and more. They were celluloid film-based formats before almost everything went to digital a few years ago.

Critics Corner: FINDING FELA!

Read two critical perspectives on Finding Fela!  (2014, Alex Gibney) , from Michael Fox and Angeline Rodriguez.  Finding Fela!  opens at the Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco, and the Shattuck Theatre in Berkeley on Friday, August 15, 2014. 

Critics Corner: MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT

Read two critical perspectives on Magic in the Moonlight  (2014, Woody Allen) , from David Robson and Michael Fox.  Magic in the Moonlight  opens in San Francisco at the Clay Theater and the Century 9 on Friday, July 25, and throughout the Bay Area on Friday, August 1.