Kevin Spacey makes a great villain. We were remembering this recently when some basic cable channel was playing Se7en, and he of course won his first Oscar for playing Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects. And holy shit were we reminded again last night at the U.S. premiere of Richard III at the Curran Theater — as directed by Sam Mendes originally for the Old Vic in London. We haven't seen enough of Spacey in recent years, and it's because he's been holed up across the pond working on projects like this, and we can tell you right now he hasn't lost an ounce of his signature creepiness, or his acting chops. more ›

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: more ›

-- Completely Hollywood (abridged): The Reduced Shakespeare Company's latest stage play skewers "Tinseltown's most lauded stars and starlets" ranging from the silent era to today's most beloved and pretentious independent films. The curtain goes up at 8 p.m. at Marines Memorial Theater; $45-60. more ›

-- Bambi Lake-inspired cabaret duo Kiki and Herb perform at ACT. (Also, did you know that they met at Café Flore in the Castro before they became totally famous? It's true.) Show starts at 8 p.m. at American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary; $20-$60. more ›

We really love these guys, and you should love them too! The Del Sol Quartet performs works by 20th and 21st century women composers in Berkeley tonight (and one male composer too) in their "Umbilical Chords: Women Composers and the Creative Process" program. And in interesting modern music trivia, one of the women composers (Ruth Crawford) is folk singer Pete Seeger's mother. Del Sol plays at the Ashby Stage (1901 Ashby, x MLK, right across from the Ashby BART), $20, 8 p.m. They'll also be playing at the DeYoung this Sunday and the SF Main Library next Tuesday. more ›

Hey kids, it's contest time at the ole -ist as we have a two pairs of tickets to go see "David Gordon's Pick Up Performance- 'Dancing Henry Five'" at the ODC this Thursday night. What is "David Gordon's Pick Up Performance- 'Dancing Henry Five?'" Well, it's a version of Shakespeare's "Henry V" (you know, the one about Prince Hal going from drunken overgrown child to heroic leader and leading his country into a huge military victory, unlike someone we know), except done in an hour. And with dancing. And all multi-media like with recordings from Laurence Olivier and Christopher Plummer intermixed into the performance and we're guessing those recordings won't be from Clash of the Titans or the Sound of Music (although who doesn't want to hear a little "Edelweiss" now and then?) more ›

"I love that word 'relationship'. Covers all manner of sins, doesn't it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship. A relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm... Britain. We may be a small country but we're a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that. And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the President should be prepared for that." - Hugh Grant, as Prime Minister, in Love Actually more ›

It's our week up on the weekly-reading duties! Last week's winner from SFist Sarah L, the SF Weekly. A letter writer says: "While Matt [Gonzalez] may not be the next Picasso (but don't count him out)..." It doesn't matter what the rest of the letter says. The SF Fire Department gave a bad test. Cover article: We hate baby boomers and their dirty self-centered hippie ways. Carnivorous plants! Yay, the SFIFF! A flyer fell out of our Weekly advertising Netflix for porn. Meredith likes Maverick, and we thought SFist Ced's post on "Mission Accomplished" was his thoughts on the review! (That'd be an excellent title for the post about Maverick, which is on 17th and Mission.)). Dueling opinions on Wilco. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are on the Spiderman 3 soundtrack? (from an ad.) And a man tickling his stepmother in Savage Love. more ›

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle announced their season ending yesterday, something of which we are constantly told could mean something when it comes to the Oscars. The idea, we guess, being that these awards are like the NCAA brackets: Movie A wins the SF Flim Critics and movie B wins the LA Film Critics award, then they go off to meet the winner of the New York Critics Awards with the winner being the front-runner for Oscar gold. Or something like that. more ›

This week's picks should hold you over until December. more ›

Special treat this week, kids: a review. Oh, yeah, and the usual previews too. more ›

Hey, isn't it a bit early for horror and blood? more ›

We bloggers love the pop culture references. Love, love, love, them. We use them everywhere and anytime. This is especially true of us sports bloggers-- nothing goes hand in hand like sports and pop culture. It's like Shakespeare and poetry or George Will and obscure quotes by obscure people. So, in keeping with this tradition, we here at SFist will break down the upcoming NFL season with quotes from one of our favorite personages of pop culture-- Moliere. Cause nothing says American football like Enlightenment-era French dramatists. Grab a seat, put on some chamber music, and put on your favorite wig as SFist takes a look at the new NFL year! more ›

We take a break from our regularly scheduled theater programming for a road trip north to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. more ›

It's been awhile since we heard from Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval. Maybe he's decided to keep a low profile after his big Hannity & Colmes flame out? Well, who knows. Anyways, he's back and in rare form, having proposed legislation to the Board of Supervisors that in an effort to save American values that are currently threatened by an influx of Spanish speakers, we need to make English the official language of SF. And not just any ole English, Shakespearean English at that. more ›

Ever want to take in some of the City's edgier theater offerings, but don't know if you should take the risk? Or, for that matter, even what some of the edgier shows are? That's where we come in. more ›

Break out the blanket and brie, and check out our selected (not complete works of) Shakespeare. more ›

After sitting through a particularly entertaining and modernized rendition of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labor’s Lost (we’re talking choreographed dance to music from the Killers) at the Exit Theater on Friday, we were looking for a cozy spot with stiff drinks and a little respite from the rain. Serendipitously, we stumbled upon the Bar of Contemporary Art (BOCA), the latest artspace/bar/restaurant from the folks at blasthaus. more ›

. HA HA HA HA HA HA!" We do love some good old fashioned postmodern irony, and Mantooth fits the bill, from the evil robot named "World's Greatest Grandpa" to a plot to make zombies out of the world's Nobel Prize winners. And the annotations -- inspired, we are told, by an annotated volume of Shakespeare -- reveal both the comic's script and the author's intentions, both of which make for an illuminating read. more ›

"Seinfeld" has given much to us over the years. It's given us more words and phrases to enter into our language than Billy Shakespeare, it's given us a whole new way of perceiving and quantifying reality, and it's single-handedly killed off the puffy-shirt look. Could you even say that about "Friends?" It also appears to giving us a new holiday--Festivus, of course. more ›

We're gonna restrain ourselves from making cheesy Shakespeare jokes as we tell you about this week's adoptable dog, Portia, from Grateful Dogs. OK, fine, just one: "Pound of flesh? How about pound of floppy tongue?" more ›

Just a little word from your sponsor before we kick into last week's winner: this correspondent's taking a little time off from the column -- it's not you, it's us -- and SFist Eve has generously volunteered to cover the column for a few weeks. We'll be back soon, though, we promise! (Or rather, more specifically, we promised SFist Eve.) Okay, where were we? Oh yes, the Guardian. It's the endorsement issue! Get your November ballot cheat sheet here! (Never fear, SFist will do one too, if we get around to it.) Featuring: the world's most tepid endorsement in the assessor's race! (Thanks to Left in SF for pointing this out.) In other news, an article about Friend of SFist H. Brown's one-blogger campaign for reopening the bathrooms in the public park, and a picture of a protest outside TIC lawyer Andrew Zacks' office. Hey, that's right by our Peets' Coffee! The sex columnist is forced to explain the sex subculture of people obsessed with Conan the Barbarian. (Maybe the SchwarzenWatcher can get behind that one?) Local band Deerhoof. And two pictures previously featured on the 'Fist, Edward Burtynsky and Dr. Atomic. Next up, the Metro: Legal drug plants! Landlord evicts all those cool shops in the middle of downtown San Jose -- apparently tacos will attract SJSU student riffraff. The Mercury News refuses to run an article about a man campaigning against "penal enlargement" (you know, prisons) with a mildly-risque cartoon illustration. Cover article: facilitating Chinese internet censorship with Cisco routers. Just like the SJ City Hall, only substitute the word "ethical shenanigans for "Chinese internet censorship." Korean food in the S. Bay. Gwen Stefani and other folks who broke from their bands in an attempt to make it big. How's that working out for ya, Trey Anastacio? And Straight Dope: who ya got, Shakespeare or Tom Clancy? Get your New Times Media barrage with the SF Weekly and the EBX after the jump. Plus, this correspondent's very last pick of the week! Who knows what SFist Eve's gonna like starting next week? more ›

This week we bring you a crucifixion, ghetto Shakespeare and mean people in love. more ›

This week we take you from Orinda to Fort Mason to the Artaud Building for Shakespeare, an Irish story and a reimagined Greek myth. more ›

SFist Karen takes in the SF Mime Troupe's new show about how our fiscal behavior has wreaked havoc on third-world countries, and though she likes parts of it, she knows the Mime Troupe could do so much better. more ›

Your weekly roundup of interesting theater that's happening around town. This week: Marga Gomez, a 40-something superheroine, and a Twelfth Night that promises to be not your average Bardfest. more ›

We happened to be walking past Alamo Square Park yesterday, and remembered that nestled in the trees at the crest of the hill, overlooking a perfect San Francisco skyline, is what we are declaring the most beautiful tennis court in the world. Sure, maybe Andre and Steffi have something overlooking the bay up in Marin, but the fact that anyone with some sneakers and a racket can play here for the cost of a can of fresh balls at Walgreens is what puts it over the top. more ›

Skyler Cooper is one of the most beautiful women in the Bay Area. SFist has been vacillating between envy and infatuation since we saw her in the title role of Impact Theatre's (Full disclosure: A SFist staffer is deeply involved with Impact Theater) . How can someone who looks that good be so talented? It's enough to incite us to go to the Castro Gold's Gym, (where she works as a personal trainer) and beg her to teach us to walk in her footsteps, until we remember that there's probably hard work involved, and we're just not into that. more ›

S'il vous plait. Nous cherchons des écrivains exceptionnels. Editor@sfist.com est le contact de poste electronique. Nous amis de Torontoist et Parisist (le hyperlink est un secret) parlent en le langue de Dumas, Rousseau et Camus -- pourquoi nous pas? more ›

While we at SFist have been known to stalk around movie sets, yesterday we were actually invited by our friend to the set of the Darwin Awards, which was filming at a bar in Alameda. Directed by Finn Taylor and starring Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes, the movie has a multi-layered plot about a hemophobic police officer and a comely insurance adjuster. (Do they fall in love? We're not tellin'!) From what we understand, part of the film's Bay area connection involves something about Beat poets and the City Lights Bookstore. more ›