Japantown's new Sundance Cinemas Kabuki will offer the more discerning moviegoer (i.e.. people who self-consciously laugh out loud during Shakespeare comedies) something, well, more. Curbed SF has the full rundown on the new movie house that's sure to make you feel even that more self-righteous than you already do while braving the choppy waters of independent film. Check it: Designed by Berkeley-based ELS architects, the renovation of the former AMC Kabuki 8 utilizes post-consumer......

What? Even more free movie passes on SFist? It's INSANE!!! But yes! It's true! Wanna go to a sneak preview of Evan Almighty tonight? 7:30 p.m. at the AMC 1000 (1000 Van Ness, x O'Farrell) -- and we've got passes to give away! Evan Almighty is the sequel to Jim Carrey's Bruce Almighty (where God (Morgan Freeman) gives Jim Carrey the powers of God), and this time, none other than everyone's favorite Office boss......

Not content with just one opportunity today to get free movie passes? Well, you're in luck! We've got free passes to the new John Cusack movie 1408 tonight! John Cusack!!!! Sigh, If you want to go, send an email to VIPTickets@alliedadvpub.com and you'll get back a pass for you and a friend! Email ASAP, though, they've only got a limited number of seats to give away. 1408 is about a cursed hotel room that Cusack's......

SFist Mihi kicked it Rotoscope-animated style at the SFIAAFF Friday night. We love a good Cinderella story and apparently so do a bunch of people on dates. Year of the Fish, a modern interpretation of a 9th century Chinese folk tale played at the Van Ness AMC 1000 on Friday night and the place was lousy with well-groomed couples holding-hands and making kissy faces at each other. Unfortunately, there's something about placing this Chinese......

Preview for the movie Baby, which premiered last night at the SF Int'l Asian-Am Film Fest. (Movie's not rated but this clip probably should be rated R for violence.) The clip is a pretty good example of what the movie's like (though the movie is better lit). If you describe a movie as "the Asian American Boyz N The Hood," you're going to get a lot of attention. This screening of Baby was totally......

The moving and inspirational Na Kamalei has the distinction of being the first movie to sell out in this year's San Francisco Int'l Asian-American Film Festival -- and the buzz only got better once the SFIAAFF announced that local San Francisco hula troupe Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu would perform before the screening. We met up with SFist Jim at the AMC 1000 lobby, and he took the gorgeous picture above. (We took......

Of course, our number one viewing choice this evening is the season finale of "America's Next Top Model" at 8 p.m. on the CW. Will Melrose, the local girl-we-love-to-hate, become America's Next Forgotten Model? We're loathe to play into the whole youth-is-king attitude of the modeling industry, but we have to agree with the judges' assessment that Melrose does photograph a lot older than she is (although at age 23, she's older than most......

With January's merger between AMC and Lowes theatres, the company they became, AMC Entertainment Inc, is required by U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general of California to sell the Kabuki and 1000 Van Ness theatres. While the Van Ness property remains available, today the long-rumored purchase of the Kabuki by Robert Redford's Sundance Cinemas was officially announced. Expected to become "a state-of-the-art independent movie house", Sundance plans on beginning renovations to the......

San Francisco Japantown's seen a lot in the last 100 years -- from the influx of Japanese-American immigrants after the 1906 earthquake and the development of an ethnic community, to the forced displacement of those same immigrants to internment camps in World War II, and a controversial redevelopment scheme to welcome back San Francisco Japanese-Americans, at the expense of the African-Americans who'd moved into the area in the meantime. And now, over this backdrop of repeated economic emigration, you can get udon, a shiatsu massage, and crepes there! As J-Town's centennial celebration gets underway, a new phase of redevelopment is emerging for the 21st century -- the Osaka-based owners of the Kintetsu Mall, the centerpiece of the Japan Center complex, have announced that they've put the building on the market. They own not only the Kintetsu section of the mall (the one with Benihana in it) but also the Miyako Mall (the one with the bridge), the Radisson, and the Best Western up the street. And FYI, the Kabuki Theater is also up for sale, but in a separate transaction through AMC. The Kinokuniya building (with Sophie's Crepes and the awesome Kinokuniya stationery store is under separate ownership (by the eponymous bookstore) and is not for sale -- or at least not yet. At a community meeting last night, the local attorneys representing the Kintetsu owners pledged that they would work with Osaka HQ to ensure that any sale would be made to a buyer who would recognize the historic and cultural value of the space, and Gavin Newsom and Ross Mirkarimi promised that the city would put incentives in place to make sure that happened (because, in part, the city owns those garages underneath the mall.) However, the attorneys weren't sure how much pull they'd have, in part because the deal is almost done. Here's hoping the community can work together to make sure the sad history of redevelopments in the J-Town area don't repeat themselves this time around. ...

Walking the fine line between Jimmy Carter sober and Billy Carter drunk, Barrespondent Drew keeps on keepin’ on, puts the hammer down and gets this convoy truckin’. After that, he asks himself why he felt the need to watch all of Smokey and The Bandit when it was on AMC the other day. In the case of most businesses, the outside appearance can greatly assist you in figuring out what it’s like inside. For......

San Francisco's favorite but least read Q&A columnist, the Essefficist, answers a question about where to watch the new Star Wars movie....

You could go check out a hott live music show, or you could do this stuff. Up to you. It's that time of month again -- party in City Hall! Tonight, Ross Mirkarimi will be hosting another art party, this time featuring acclaimed muralista Andrew Schoultz. SFist's nominee for best name in The City, Windy Chien, is rumored to be buying 'boxes of forties.' Gild that, Willie Brown! SFist Interviewee Ross Hogg and friends......

SFist knows that some good movies have been shot in the city. But damned if they ever seem to run them on TV. At least, not on the basic cable we're set up with. Final Analysis, airing Wednesday at 11:30am on AMC, is an example of a bad San Francisco movie. Richard Gere stars as a San Franciso shrink and Uma Thurman is his patient. Uma also has a sister, played by Kim Basinger.......

SFist contributor and virtual TV pundit Rain Jokinen offers her Bay-area-centric TV picks of the week SFist does not deny that a lot of head-burying has occurred this week. Post-election blues lead to a lot of TV watching, much of it pure escapism. Nothing dulls the pain like a good episode of The Surreal Life. And if Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen can find love with each other, perhaps there is hope for the country!......

SFist contributor and virtual TV pundit Rain Jokinen offers her Bay-area-centric TV picks of the week It looks like Indian summer may be over for good what with the wind and the rain and the whining about the wind and the rain. So SFist recommends that you stay indoors and enjoy some of San Francisco's local landmarks on the small screen. The creative partnership of Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel is probably best remembered......

Where SFist seeks to unsettle and dismay its loyal readers by relaying news of woe, randomly collected from a variety of news sources for the period of this week....