2010 was not a very good year for the motion picture arts and sciences. Well, it wasn’t very good politically, economically, or in most other respects, either — but cinema was probably due for a period of the doldrums, and 2010 appears to have marked the beginning of such a period. The pallid, peaked nature […]
John Seal
Freelancer John Seal is Berkeleyside’s film critic. A movie connoisseur with a penchant for natty hats who lives in Oakland, John writes a weekly film recommendation column at Box Office Prophets, as well as a column in The Phantom of the Movie’s Videoscope, an old-fashioned paper magazine, published quarterly. He also writes regular film reviews for IMDB, which can be read here.
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Big Screen Berkeley: Boxing Gym
A young client trains in Boxing Gym. A letter published in the March 1929 issue of Motion Picture Magazine asked: “Why in the world does anybody want to see life represented on the screen as it is? How can they stand to see anything so monotonous? We all see these commonplace things every day of […]
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Where’s my DVD?: Strangers in the City
Camilo Delgado in Strangers in the City. This week, Berkeleyside’s film writer John Seal looks at a movie he recommends you check out on DVD. In May 2009, Turner Classic Movies aired a bi-weekly, primetime series entitled “Latino Images in Film”, showcasing 40 films focused on the Chicano-American experience and Latino cinematic representations. Selections ranged […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: Tiny Furniture reviewed
Lena Dunham and Jemima Kirke emote in Tiny Furniture Perhaps this confession reflects badly on me, but writing a bad review is easier than writing a good one: snark flows more freely from my pen (or through my keyboard) than praise. When the subject is your average Uwe Boll or Michael Bay summer schlockbuster, a […]
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Made in Berkeley: Shadow of the Thin Man
Nick and Nora Charles enjoy a day at Golden Gate Fields Shooting a movie on location simply wasn’t necessary during Hollywood’s Golden Age—the period from the late 1920s through late 1950s when the studio system was firmly in control of American film production. Whether a film was set in the back alleys of Old Shanghai, […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: Brute Force
Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn share an intimate moment in Brute Force Producer Mark Hellinger died young in 1947 — he was only 44 — but he left behind a handful of pictures that remain highlights of American cinema. His penultimate production was director Jules Dassin’s drama Brute Force (screening at Pacific Film Archive this […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: Four Lions
Kayvan Novak, Arshan Ali, Riz Ahmed and Nigel Lindsay prepare for war in Four Lions In 1965, a new television series entitled Hogan’s Heroes caused mild outrage by (according to its critics) trivializing the horrors of World War II. Now writer-director Chris Morris’s new film, Four Lions (currently playing at San Francisco’s Lumiere Theatre — […]
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Where’s My DVD?: Uncle Silas
Katina Paxinou in Uncle Silas This week, Berkeleyside’s film writer John Seal looks at a movie he recommends you check out on DVD. Published in 1864, Irish-born writer Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Uncle Silas” was the first Gothic novel of the Victorian era. Thirty-three years later, however, the world was introduced to Count Dracula, and from […]
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Locally Grown Produce: The Graduate
Dustin Hoffman keeps an eye out for Katharine Ross in The Graduate Time for a confession: until two weeks ago—shortly after creating the Berkeleyside Berkeley film quiz—I’d never seen The Graduate in its entirety. Though I’d somehow made time in my life for thousands of other films, including all three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle epics, […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: Tamara Drewe
Gemma Arterton (foreground) and bovine menace (background) in Tamara Drewe It is, of course, a well-worn maxim that Helen’s face launched a thousand ships, precipitating the bloody and lengthy Trojan War. But what could a nose alone accomplish? That’s the question posed by Tamara Drewe, director Stephen Frears’ (High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things) marvelous new […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: Gerrymandering
With yet another ‘most important election in years’ almost upon us, political junkies and solid citizens alike are perusing their voter booklets in search of enlightenment. Which candidates and issues are worthy of their support? Meanwhile, a new documentary entitled Gerrymandering — opening this Friday October 15 at the Shattuck Cinemas — suggests that the […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: Radical Light
Stan Brakhage at work during the 1950s In a world where the short attention span is rapidly becoming the cultural norm, it’s somewhat surprising that short subjects tend to get short shrift from film-goers. The full-length feature has been king since the Roaring 20’s, when Hollywood lost the knack for making money from one- and […]