Arts & Culture :: Movies

'Joy Ride' is a trip

'Joy Ride' is a trip

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jul 4, 2023

The best way to describe "Joy Ride" is as a good and bad 'trip gone wrong' copycat that gets off to a great start, lags a bit, and then surprises us with scenes that are alternately outrageous and heartbreaking.

Passion for Pasolini: Criterion Collection rereleases nine classic films

Passion for Pasolini: Criterion Collection rereleases nine classic films

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Jun 27, 2023

Just about anything you would want to know about gay Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini is showcased in Criterion's essential collection of nine Pasolini films, with extended interviews and a fascinating booklet of essays and images.

Frameline's finest & finales

Frameline's finest & finales

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Jun 20, 2023

Frameline47 emphasizes the interplay between past and present, in particular queer cinema history and the collective history of the LGBTQ community at large.

Frameline47's coming-of-age films

Frameline47's coming-of-age films

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Jun 13, 2023

Looking through this year's Frameline film selections, a majority of the films focus on young adult LGBTQ people and their concerns. Out of 71 films, 50 are in the teens-to-35 category.

Frameline47: film faves & fails

Frameline47: film faves & fails

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Jun 6, 2023

Frameline47 will host 47 screenings at the Castro Theatre, currently in controversy as to what its future might bring. This will entail half of the nearly 90 film screenings during the June 14-24 runtime, including streaming encores June 24-July 2.

'The Little Mermaid' - Disney's 'meh-made' remake

'The Little Mermaid' - Disney's 'meh-made' remake

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • May 30, 2023

Disney's Oscar-winning 1989 animated adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" launched a whole new era for the studio. But the live-action remake seems like just more vault-raiding.

SF DocFest's cinematic statements

SF DocFest's cinematic statements

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • May 23, 2023

The 22nd San Francisco DocFest will be held June 1-11 with 39 features and 47 shorts at the Roxie Theater. DocFest always offers a smattering of LGBTQ-related films this year with six features plus nine short films.

Camera Obscura's 'Virtue' — rarely-seen cautionary tale at the Roxie

Camera Obscura's 'Virtue' — rarely-seen cautionary tale at the Roxie

  • by Michael Flanagan
  • May 23, 2023

Filmmaker Camera Obscura's tech-dystopian "Virtue" comes to us like a latter day version of James Whale's "Frankenstein" to assure us that indeed, "Fire bad!" It also features a bevy of 1990s SF luminaries.

'Everything Went Fine's family entanglements

'Everything Went Fine's family entanglements

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • May 16, 2023

Anyone with aging parents knows the fear of answering the kind of dreaded phone call that novelist Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau) receives at the beginning of queer filmmaker François Ozon's "Everything Went Fine."

Arts notes: Cal. Academy talks; Frameline's Colin Higgins Foundation grants

Arts notes: Cal. Academy talks; Frameline's Colin Higgins Foundation grants

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 14, 2023

A new series of panels at the California Academy of Sciences reclaims scholarly research to underserved voices, and Frameline announced new young filmmaker grant recipients.

'Joyland' — queer Pakistani film is transcendent

'Joyland' — queer Pakistani film is transcendent

  • by Joshua Polanski
  • May 9, 2023

Saim Sadiq delivers a remarkable directorial debut in "Joyland," the first Pakistani film to premiere at Cannes Film Festival. It's also the first major Pakistani motion picture to feature a trans actor in a lead role.

'Mama's Boy' - Dustin Lance Black's personal cinematic family memoir

'Mama's Boy' - Dustin Lance Black's personal cinematic family memoir

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • May 2, 2023

The new HBO Max documentary "Mama's Boy," based on screenwriter and director Dustin Lance Black's 2019 bestselling memoir, aims to tell you much more than what it shows you, yet remains touchingly personal.

'The Doom Generation' 2.0 Gregg Araki's indie cult classic, restored

'The Doom Generation' 2.0 Gregg Araki's indie cult classic, restored

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Apr 25, 2023

Gregg Araki's "The Doom Generation" has been called the alienated teen pic to end all alienated teen pics, "a zany, violent, and erotically charged depiction of Gen-X malaise." The director discussed the restoration of his film ahead of local screenings.

The art of 'Showing Up'

The art of 'Showing Up'

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Apr 25, 2023

Kelly Reichardt's "Showing Up" (A24), her fourth collaboration with Michelle Williams, is about a Portland-based artist who supports herself by working at a local art school, and the various eccentric people in her frazzled life.