What with so many cinema houses closing down, we always worry about our dear Castro Theatre, the Bay Area's best (if we may) theater. But, just like in April, it will go dark on Monday and Tuesday nights during August. Michael Petrelis reports: more ›

While we sadly bid farewell to the beloved Red Vic tonight, we gladly welcome a new addition at one of the city's favorite independent movie houses: As the boozegazers in the Mission report today, the Roxie on 16th street has applied for a full-time, on-sale beer license. Meaning upcoming screenings of Happy will get that much happier and lines at the Roxie's tiny restroom facilities will get that much longer. more ›

After serving the stoned and extremely tripped out for three decades, Haight Street's Red Vic will officially close forever on July 25, the movie theater's 31st birthday. It was the kind of place people love, despite never going (like bookstores and record shops!), and you can probably trip pretty hard if you lick the right armrest in there. more ›

The folks at Streesblog are looking for a few good (and, God willing, entertaining) fillmmakers to document the streets of San Francisco, if you will. They say: "we are now seeking future Streetfilms filmmakers who can help us document best practices in the Bay Area, and highlight some of the glaring problems and policy failures preventing livable streets." Problems like, say, getting the valet's attention at Le Club, or how to effectively cram your mini-SUV into a 'compact' space, or any number of street- or transportation-related issues. more ›

German film isn't necessarily something in which you dabble. With its rich history kicking off during the Weimar era and expanding into the very controversial Third Reich propagandist movement, German cinema is known around the world for its grim demeanor (we hear the horror genre is pretty huge right now), biting social commentary and thoughtful art house consciousness... more ›

So. Has senate candidate Carly Fiorina been hitting the medicinal marijuana brownies a bit too hard as of late? Because we see no other explanation for this epically entertaining attack ad. It's part of FCINO, which was created to expose Tom Campbell as a 'Fiscal Conservative In Name Only.' more ›

Oh, we love the Roxie. Or rather, we love the idea of the Roxie. It's a small, yet oddly spacious seeming, theater nestled in the heart of the Mission with so much potential. And according to Mission Mission, the theater wants your feedback on how they can do a better job at the best independent cinema house in San Francisco -- e.g, ease up on the progressive elite/boring documentaries; enact some sort of B.Y.O.B. unwritten rule; invent a warming device that softens Milk-Duds. Anyway, MM editor Allan Hough suggests serving "serving beer and pizza," but we think vodka and pizza would do just as nicely. For more info on how to give the Roxie your sparkling brilliant ideas, go here. more ›

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It's almost Academy Awards® time and whether or not the writers will still be on strike, it seems that each year the movies are less and less relevant to the show itself. Between the Valentino dresses, Armani suits and pregger rumors, we feel Oscar® (or at least media coverage) has lost its focus. more ›

One of the greatest misunderstandings in the history of US cinema -- oh please, as far as repeated viewings go, Ordinary People is a superior and more devastating film than Raging Bull -- is the genius of Sophia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette. A fantastic flick, really. It's gorgeous, laced with a few Bay Area inside jokes, oddly nerve-wrecking to watch, and the ending is perfect. Brilliant. In every way. more ›

-- Aimee Mann's Second Annual Christmas Show: Paul F. Tompkins, Sean Hayes, Chuck Prophet, and Morgan Murphy join the delightfully blond songstress for a night of holiday warm fuzzies. Because X-Mas is coming and there's no way around it, come catch this wonderful singer/songwriter during the, um, recording-a-holiday-album period of her career. Show starts at 8 p.m. at Bimbo's 365; $35.50. more ›

-- Cinema Soundscapes: This evening of "voice, music and cinematic exploration" features mezzo-soprano vocalist Silvie Jensen and woodwind musician Bodhan Hilas headlining a night of sound oddities and Stephen Parr film such as "A Dream of Wild Horses," (1971) and "“Symphonies in Stone" (1942). Starts at 8:30 p.m. at Oddball Films; $10 (RSVP) more ›

Eater SF uncovered something new and morally-questionable -- two of our favorite topics -- TablePronto, an online service that scalps restaurant reservations. Basically, it's a site that allows you to buy and sell reservations for a price. As of now they have a scant few available for SF: - Perbacco, 11/16, 9pm, $18; Foreign Cinema, 11/16, 8:30pm, $15; Town Hall, 11/16, 9:15pm, $10; Aqua, 11/16, 8:45pm, $10 Oh, all prime dining hours, too! But... more ›

Tonight, for one night only, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts will be featuring two sneak previews of Dirty Country, a highly entertaining documentary about the underground world of raunchy music, directed by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, founders and hosts of the Found Footage Festival, which sold out four shows at the Red Vic last month. Dirty Country, which won the Audience Award at this year's South By Southwest, is part of Yerba... more ›

The International Animation Festival starts tonight, kids. And speaking of them, don't bring yours to tomorrow night's wonderfully smut-filled orgy of animated shorts, Top Drawers. more ›

So much to do, so much not to do. What's a girl to do? Well, here is just a smattering of what's going on tonight. (An aside, is there any reason to buy bags of fun-size candy anymore to hand out to costumed tykes? We haven't seen a trick-or-treater in ages. Sob.) -- Hellgate Halloween: Vice magazine (SF's no. 1 fan) is throwing a bash with a complimentary bar (!) and tunes by Chromeo... more ›

-- Lust, Caution (2007): Ang Lee's new espionage flick is rated NC-17 (i.e., the pretentious thinking person's X). Hot. Oh, and it's actually really good -- at least we think so, anyway. Screens tonight at 8 p.m. and 9 at the Embarcadero Cinemas; $7.50-10. more ›

-- Bachelorette, 34: Oh the manic behavior of being on your 30s and still single. Check out Kara Herold's personal film about mothers, daughters, marriage, and being single. Starts at 8:30 p.m at Other Cinema at Artists' Television Access (ATA), 992 Valencia. more ›

Hey, wanna see . more ›

SFist interviews HP Mendoza and Rich Wong of "Colma: The Musical" more ›

We are always going to tell you to see Other Cinema. You can set your watch to it, we promise. This week’s Incredibly Strange Music program is packed with punk rock/bad music video genius. We’re particularly into the experimental film but there’s oddity for every taste, as curator Craig Baldwin’s program religiously offers. more ›

Sunday night, the SF International screened the world premiere of the film at the Castro Theater. There were shades of Sundance as many of the films featured filmmakers and actors, including George Lucas and Robin Williams, casually red carpeted-their way to the theater, complete with flashbulbs and film cameras documenting the night. more ›

Theatrical Releases April 13th, 2007 We haven’t seen everything on the roster for this week but we have seen Hot Fuzz and we strongly suggest it. Hot Fuzz does for cop/buddy action films what Pegg, Wright and Frost’s Shaun of the Dead did for zombie films. Fuzz is every bit as researched and diligent as was Shaun. Afterwards you can hit the pub and discuss which you think is funnier. more ›

Here's a listing for tonight's events more ›

It's been forty-nine years of great cinema for the SF International Film Festival (SFIFF), and starting April 26 through May 10 2007, it'll be fifty! more ›

Theatrical Releases March 30th, 2007 more ›

Please don’t mistake us for fans of human suffering but it’s high time a film was made to tell the uninformed public about the genocide in Rwanda. Beyond the Gates, at the Embarcadero, is a smart, engaging, often (rightly) painful view of the conflict from the view of a Catholic training college manned by John Hurt and Hugh Dancy. It’s a tearjerker but it’s really edifying to see how screwed up our international policy was just a generation ago – compared to now when it’s 2-3 times worse. (Watch trailer here.) more ›

At the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Wednesday the 21st, the Film Arts Foundation is presenting a documentary on twenty years of the SF Graffiti scene, called Piece by Piece. more ›

Anyone been to the Cerrito Speakeasy Theater in El Cerrito yet? The Cerrito is the sister theater to the fabulous Parkway Theater in Oakland and opened this past November. more ›