Some intriguing smaller pictures opened in Berkeley this past weekend, giving moviegoers ample opportunity to sample something a little more refined than, for example, the new wide-release apocalyptic thriller Legion. Truth be told, though, I’m probably going to check out Legion at some point (it’s currently playing at the UA Berkeley 7). For those of us who […]
Big Screen Berkeley
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Big Screen Berkeley: Gilliam’s still got it
Just another sight you'll see on the streets of Terry Gilliam's London After the tempered enthusiasm I offered it last week, I’m delighted to report that Terry Gilliam’s latest film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is the director’s best in ages. This comes as something of a relief after his two previous misfires—the off-kilter The […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: The Imaginarium of Frank Capra
Frank Capra behind the camera Capra-corn: ever since 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life morphed into an American pop culture staple, that’s the pejorative term often used to describe the work of director Frank Capra. Pacific Film Archive is doing its part to put the term out to pasture with their new series, Before “Capraesque” (the […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: More tales of cinemas past
Last week I shared fond memories of the legendary and much missed UC Theater, but Berkeley has lost many other movie houses over the last few decades (and many more before then, but that’s a story for another day). Among the fallen was Center Street’s Act 1/Act 2, a drafty twinplex with exceptionally uncomfortable seats. […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: A trip down memory lane
With Pacific Film Archive closed over the holidays, I thought this the perfect time to take a trip down memory lane and ruminate upon the ghosts of Berkeley cinemas past, starting with the biggest and best of them all, the UC Theatre on University Avenue. After moving to the East Bay in 1981, I promptly […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: In Chris Smith’s new release things are getting worse, much worse
Pacific Film Archive has a couple more Otto Preminger treats in store for us before they close down for their annual hibernation scheduled this winter between December 21 and January 13. On Saturday December 19 at 8:30 pm, the Archive offers Preminger’s psychedelic anti-classic Skidoo, a 1968 mistake that truly must be seen on the big screen […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: prickly Preminger’s in town
Pacific Film Archive’s ongoing salute to Otto Preminger continues this week with a selection of the director’s best features from the 1950s and 1960s. On Friday December 11, at 8:20pm, the Archive offers a screening of Otto’s taboo-breaking 1953 comedy-drama The Moon is Blue, long infamous for being the first Hollywood film in which the […]
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Big screen Berkeley: Thomson treks east and top picks
One of the world’s most respected film writers, British expat and longtime San Francisco resident David Thomson, will travel across the Bay to the Pacific Film Archive on Saturday December 5 for a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Thomson is promoting his new book, The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love […]
