The ‘missing person’ movie has been one of cinema’s most reliable and venerable sub-genres for a long time. From Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938) to Terence Fisher’s So Long at the Fair (1950) and on to Costa-Gavra’s Missing (1982), filmmakers have gone to the bank (and sometimes to the Oscars) with mysterious tales of the […]
John Seal
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‘Code Black’: behind the scenes in L.A. emergency room
Code Black details the work done by doctors, nurses and interns in one of the country’s busiest emergency rooms Two years ago I penned an all too brief single paragraph recommendation for The Waiting Room, an outstanding documentary about the emergency room at Oakland’s Highland Hospital, the East Bay’s primary trauma center and public health […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: ‘Mother Joan of the Angels’
Mother Joan of the Angels screens at 7:00 p.m. at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive on Wed. June 25 as part of the series ‘Martin Scorsese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema’ screens at 7:00 p.m. at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive on Wed. June 25 as part of the series ‘Martin Scorsese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema’ […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: ‘Borgman’, SF Int’l LGBT Film Festival
Borgman, by Dutch director Alex van Warderman: unpredictable from start to finish Most major studio productions -– heck, most films period — cleave to a formula. Though you may not be able to predict each specific plot development before it occurs, nine times out of ten you’ll be able to guess with some precision how […]
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‘The Saragossa Manuscript’: Jerry Garcia’s favorite film?
The Saragossa Manuscript: possibly Jerry Garcia’s favorite movie, is screening at BAM/PFA on Saturday June 14 The Saragossa Manuscript: possibly Jerry Garcia’s favorite movie, is screening at BAM/PFA on Saturday June 14 Word on the street for many years has been that Wojciech Has’s 1965 feature Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie (The Saragossa Manuscript) was musician […]
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‘The Dance of Reality’ is Jodorowsky at top of his game
The Dance of Reality is Alejandro Jodorowsky’s first film in almost a quarter century is Alejandro Jodorowsky’s first film in almost a quarter century Before viewing his new film La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality, opening at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas on Friday, May 30), I didn’t know a great deal about the legendary filmmaker […]
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Reviewed: ‘Ida’ is impressive, ‘Breastmilk’ is eye-opening
Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida opens at Landmark’s Albany Twin on Friday, May 23 ‘Ida:’ Beautifully shot, slow burner of a movie From the dramatic (The Nun’s Story) to the comedic (Bedazzled), from the sacred (Black Narcissus) to the profane (any movie made in the 1970s with the word ‘nun’ in the title), Brides of Christ was a […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: ‘The Double,’ a top film of 2014
Richard Ayoade’s Dostoevsky adaptation The Double will appear near the top of our critic John Seal’s 2014 favorites list will appear near the top of our critic John Seal’s 2014 favorites list I’m no literary critic (heck, I barely qualify as a film critic), but director Richard Ayoade’s new Dostoevsky adaptation The Double (opening at […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: 57th SF International Film Festival
Historia del miedo (History of Fear), directed by Terrence Malick, screens on Wed. May 7 at Pacific Film Archive Ever wondered what a horror film directed by Terrence Malick might look like? The 57th San Francisco International Film Festival (continuing through May 8 at Pacific Film Archive) is here to help. Screening at the Archive […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: ‘Alan Partridge,’ ‘Teenage,’ ‘Trap City’
Alan Partridge: Anglophiles of all generations will surely enjoy it tremendously It was my fourth favorite film of 2013. Now, thanks to the miracle of modern technology – okay, more likely thanks to the erratic release pattern afforded British comedies in the U.S. these days — Alan Partridge (originally titled, somewhat cryptically, Alan Partridge: Alpha […]
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Review: ‘The Galapagos Affair,’ a gripping documentary
Dore Strauch and Freidrich Ritter in The Galapagos Affair, a gripping documentary about a remarkable story. Remember that awful film version of the board game ‘Clue’ that came out in 1985? No? Despite featuring a solid cast (including Martin Mull as Colonel Mustard and Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plum!), Clue (the movie) really was pretty […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: The Missing Picture
The Missing Picture: “A million miles from an enjoyable experience, but a film you won’t easily forget.”: “A million miles from an enjoyable experience, but a film you won’t easily forget.” And still they come: it’s already April, and last season’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominees continue to saunter lackadaisically into Berkeley. This week’s […]
