At the risk of ruining the start of the work week, we have some worrisome casting news: Ashton Kutcher, star of That ’70s Show and Two and a Half Men, will play Steve Jobs in an upcoming indie flick. The movie, tentatively titled Jobs, will be directed by Joshua Michael Stern and written by Matt Whiteley. It will center around Jobs's life "from his relatively wayward youth to his involvement in the creation of Apple," notes NYT. more ›

Benjamin Button and Salt will jack up your Monday commute in Oakland tonight. And we couldn't be happier. (Glitz! Glamour! Celebrities! A-list celebrities! Chiseled bone structure!) See, Brad Pitt's latest cinematic effort, Moneyball (based on the Oakland A's 2002 season and how General Manager Billy Beane took a team with no winners and... zzzzzzz) premieres this evening in Oakland. Expect heavy traffic congestion and possible street closures around the Paramount Theatre (2025 Broadway) this evening beginning around 4 p.m.-ish. more ›

A pointy Quentin Tarantino doing a Q&A after Inglorious Bastards (or, Inglourious Basterds) screening at the Castro Theatre. more ›

MUSIC: The Heavenly States, along with French Miami, Railcars, 60 Watt Kid, Anderson Congress and Vitiligo, rally the troupes at tonight's DorkFest. more ›

Jan Wahl, the greatest wide-brim hat wearing Bay Area on-air talent of all time, gives Sacha Baron Cohen's , the film version of his popular fictional gay Austrian fashion reporter, a dismal review. Claiming that it enforces stereotypes of gay men, Wahl chides the satire for its "gross-out sex jokes," saying that it "will cause all kinds of bad things to children who are already bullied. ... it will cause real problems that we will not hear about and will not happen in the Bay Area." Which, yes, it will be a rich source of material insofar as playground taunting goes. Anyway, Wahl goes on to give the film no hats. "NO hats?!?!" the stunned KCBS reporter exclaims. That's right, no hats. Listen to the review in its entirety here.) more ›

FILM: The Bay Area's own Craig Baldwin, master of independent, experimental cinema, presents Mock Up on Mu, a feature-length "collage-narrative" based on (mostly) true stories of California's post-War sub-cultures of rocket pioneers, alternative religions, and Beat lifestyles. Baldwin, machine artist Kal Spelletich, and author Erik Davis will be present for a Q&A after the film, and Spelletich will unveil a kinetic sculpture in front of the theater. more ›

MUSIC: Raunchy rockabilly fave Reverand Horton Heat will heat up the Great American tonight with Danish psychobilly band The Nekromantix, who describe themselves as "Elvis meets the Wolfman." more ›

FILM: This week's feature at Bad Movie Night is Rocky IV. Filmed at the height of the cold war, the statuesque Ivan Drago uses the highest technology to train for the fight of the century against Rocky, who meanwhile runs in the cold Russian snow with an oxbow. Guess who wins? more ›

BENEFIT: Glen Park's Bird & Beckett Books & Records are having an 11-Hour Charlie Parker Jam Session to help Bird & Beckett "beat the banks." It's going on as we speak with a whole line-up of bebop players and special guests. more ›

MUSIC: Tonight's Noise Pop Happy Hour boasts Music for Animals, Aim Low Kid, and Audio Out Send. If you haven't checked out any Noise Pop shows, be sure to check out the festival's schedule today. It ends Sunday. more ›

What in heaven's name are you thinking going out tonight, the night before New Year's Eve? And unless you're in rehab or hitting the pipe, don't even think about calling it "amateur night," unless you want a surprise visit from Candy Finnigan. more ›

THEATER: Jackie Mason, Pontius Pilot, Bacchus, Mother Theresa, Mohamed, Mary Magdalene, Phil Silvers, Satan, and more come together to throw shade at Our Lord and Savior Jesus H. Christ. Conceived by locals Howard Stone and Kurt Weitzmann, and featuring the real-life talents of Will Franken, Caitlin Gill and Beth Schumann, "The Jesus Roast - A Celebrity Roast of Jesus H Christ" is a tribute to the celebrity roasts of yore. We hope you enjoy the performance and the eternity you will spend in hell. more ›

, will open next week. In 1977, Milk became the first openly gay man to be elected to a major public office in the United States, only to be assassinated within his first year of serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. At turns tragic and exhilarating, the film chronicles the last eight years of Milk’s life (played by Sean Penn), when he worked on campaigns for public office and the protection of gay employees. more ›

October 30. OK, well; October 30, 1988. At least according to the movie Donnie Darko.

Which means it's the last chance to warn you with this picture via punditkitchen.com. more ›

Well, sort of. more ›

(By Joe Kukura) more ›

The title of Nobuhiro Yamashita's A Gentle Breeze in the Village poignantly conveys the tone of this film. Witnessing the gentle coming of age of young Soyo (played by Kaho), the oldest of the students in her small, combined elementary and middle school, personifies for the viewer the lush yet gentle breeze that reverberates throughout the beautiful landscape shots of the Japanese countryside. Oh, to be young and going to the beach and playing with your friends again every day all summer--oh, and getting chased by ghosts on railroad tracks. Each young character is so "full of love" for her friends, to quote a few of the characters themselves. more ›

Due to the popularity of Portland's Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls, (and just in time for the national release of Girls Rock! The Movie this spring) girls' rock camps are now sprouting up all over the country, including one opening in the Bay Area this summer! The Bay Area Girls Rock Camp will serve 25–40 girls between the ages of 8 and 18 and will take place at Julia Morgan School for Girls in Oakland from July 7 through 11, with the showcase on July 12. In addition to forming bands, writing songs together, and then performing in front of family and friends, campers will partake in workshops that will include songwriting, self-defense, zine-making, screenprinting, and more to be announced. Camper applications are due April 30. Contact them at info [at] bayareagirlsrockcamp [dot] org if you're interested in volunteering or donating space, money, or equipment. more ›

Bay Area filmmakers Arne Johnson and Shane King present Girls Rock! The Movie, a highly moving documentary about Portland's Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls, a place for girls ages eight to eighteen to learn an instrument, form their own bands, write songs, make friends, and then perform in front of 700 people -- all in a week's time. The film is opening in seven cities today -- San Francisco, Berkeley, Portland, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle and will be opening in over thirty cities nationwide throughout this spring and summer. The filmmakers will be at all of the Embarcadero screenings today and tonight for Q&As, and Shane King will be there tomorrow at the 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. screenings. Check out this great interview with Arne and Shane over at Mental_Floss. more ›

We just got word that Gustaf Van Sant needs more extras this Sunday for . You know what that means, don't you? Time to throw on your hippest and tightest '70s duds revealing the most chest hair possible in order to help the poor Palme d'Or winner out. You will help him out this coming Sunday, won't you? Good. more ›

Have you always wanted to appear on Spike TV? We have. We'd even be on Max-X, which is, aside from Intervention, the best show on TV. But there's a safer way to get on the testosterone -heavy network: the 2008 Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge. This year's SWFMC winners will air on Spike TV, so hop to it. more ›

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 ›

Seeing as how castroshopper's Ray F. has some choice shots of the Castro's conversion to 1978, we thought we'd thrill you with a few more recent images of the world's most flowery neighborhood. more ›

Jesus, have you seen those ads for this movie "Hancock"? Is it us, or is there something insaaaaaanely racist about them? Let's break it down: Will Smith plays an African-American superhero -- the first big-screen African-American superhero since, um, Robert Townsend in 1993's Meteor Man? Oh, that's right, there was that black sidekick in "The Incredibles." And Halle Berry as Storm. And Wesley Snipes as Blade ... so, okay, there've been four black superheroes in the last 15 years. But Will Smith's the first black leading-man flying superhero, which is a very cool and progressive thing to happen ... except that he's apparently a homeless dude who's borderline retarded and keeps getting in the white folks' way. more ›

Undergoing a procedure to erase 30 years from its face, the Castro neighborhood is going retro, circa 1978, for the filming of Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic, Milk, which starts shooting this week. Already the Castro Theatre, right, and boutique shop Given, formerly Milk's camera store / campaign headquarters, are being renovated to get that '70s vibe. Rumor has it that Castro Street between 18th and 19th streets (i.e., the staphicenter) will be closed on Thursday. We'll update with more info as it comes in. more ›

OMG! It's the Nicole Ritchie of laptops! (Ritchie before she got fat and pregnant, that is.) more ›

New York Times, in their weekly Critic's Choice: New CDs column, introduced us to four different musicians we have never heard of: Lupe Fiasco, Jaheim, Birdman and Steve Lehman. We think that it has nothing to do with the "critic's choice", but rather there is nothing significant to write about this week - seems like a repeat of last week. We're patiently waiting for the January releases of: Radiohead (the actual CD), Kate Nash, Sia, Vampire Weekend and Idina Menzel. For now, it might be best just to reflect on your favorite album of 2007 - you'll find out ours soon enough. more ›

HBO bought the rights to Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO and the Steroids Scandal That Rocked Professional Sport, the infamous book penned by Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. According to a sister over at Variety, in it Bonds is "painted in 'Game of Shadows' as a gifted player who made a Faustian bargain to increase his power." (Might we suggest Damn Giants as a working title, then?) Ron Shelton -- auteur... more ›

Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. more ›

According to the Chronicle, '90s comic brain behind the long-ago hit In Living Color and current Scary Movie franchise, Keenen Ivory Wayans, will not build a movie studio and shopping center (a shopping center and movie studio...why not?) on the old Oakland Army base as originally planned. more ›