Arts & Entertainment Wooden And Laughable 'Fifty Shades Darker' Is More Cautionary Tale Than Romance In hindsight, the ending of the first movie, in which our once naive heroine finally recognizes the inherent cruelty in her lover's sexual proclivities and decides to walk away from him forever, was
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: Are You An SF Native Snob? SFGH, place of my birth, as seen two years earlier in the film Bullitt Dear Rain, Are you a San Francisco native snob? I mean, do you actually think you are somehow more
Arts & Entertainment Maudlin Mediocrity Fills 'The Space Between Us' Sometimes you see a movie and the only reaction you can really have is, "Hunh. So, that's what they came up with? They had money, and a good cast, and an interesting story,
Arts & Entertainment 'Gold,' Panned I'm so tired. So tired of movies centered on morally bankrupt white men men who get rich off of the middle class, or the poor, or the backs of minority labor. So tired
Arts & Entertainment Ask a San Francisco Native: Have Bikes and Cars Always Hated Each Other? Dear Rain, I feel like there's a lot of weird antagonism between cyclists, motorists, and pedestrians in this town, a feeling, I will admit, I got after reading numerous comments on bike related
Arts & Entertainment Standard Girls-Trapped-In-A Basement Thriller 'Split' Isn't Weird Enough In 2015, M. Night Shyamalan returned to the horror genre with , a film that was his best in over a decade. Now he's back with Split, another horror flick that, while not quite
Arts & Entertainment 'Live By Night' Spreads A Stiff Ben Affleck Too Thin Ben Affleck is a good director, but has yet to prove himself a great one. His first film, 2007's remains his best, and it is no coincidence it's also the only film he
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Ask A San Francisco Native: What's The Deal With SF Pizza? Hi, Rain! When I moved here from the East Coast (with a stop for college in the Midwest) in the 1990s, it seemed like I couldn't get a decent pizza anywhere. Sure, I'd
Arts & Entertainment 'Paterson' Illustrates A Life Of Quiet Inspiration Henry David Thoreau wrote "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Some might see the life led by Paterson, the lead character in Jim Jarmusch's latest film, , and think that in
Arts & Entertainment 'Hidden Figures' Reminds Us That We Have A Long Way To Go, Baby Hidden Figures tells an inspiring story about four women much of the world had probably previously never heard of, whose work and perseverance in the face of institutionalized racism and sexism broke astronomical
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: What Are Your San Francisco Christmas Traditions? Dear Rain, After over a decade of living in San Francisco but flying "home" every year, it occurred to me that, uh, this is my home! So I'll be staying in the city
Arts & Entertainment Icky Stalker Scenario Spoils Intriguing Premise Of 'Passengers' is being billed as an sci-fi action romance starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt as two passengers on an interstellar voyage who accidentally wake up decades before they're set to arrive at their
Arts & Entertainment 'Irving Berlin's White Christmas' Is Colorful, Lively, And Predictable The touring company of has returned to San Francisco for a ten day run through December 24th, at the Golden Gate Theater. It's a production that's colorful and lively, if a little too
Arts & Entertainment It's Hard Not To Be Swept Away By 'La La Land' I'm a bitter cynic who's long insisted I don't like musicals, even though there's more than one in my list of top 20 favorite movies, and just hearing songs from my favorite childhood
Arts & Entertainment Odd Casting Chills A Jumpy 'Jackie' Natalie Portman, who began her career as a child actress, moved on to play both a manic pixie girl and a sci-fi princess, has grown up to be a very actress. Even when
Arts & Entertainment Ask a San Francisco Native: Where In SF Can I Chase Away The Blues? Dear Rain, Maybe it's the holidays, or maybe it's the election, or maybe it's the onslaught of bad news, or maybe it's just me, but I'm depressed. Are there any places in San
Arts & Entertainment 'Rules Don't Apply' Is A Gorgeous, Creepy Mess Warren Beatty has been wanting to make a movie about Howard Hughes since the 1970s, and it's no wonder why he felt an affinity for the eccentric billionaire. Both Beatty and Hughes were
Arts & Entertainment 'Moana' Isn't Your Standard Disney Princess Movie, And That's A Good Thing Towards the middle of Moana, Disney's latest non-Pixar animated release, the demi-god Maui calls the heroine "princess." Moana corrects him, telling him she's not a princess, she's the daughter of the chief. "You're
Arts & Entertainment Plot-Packed 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them' Plays To Adults It's been almost 20 years since the first novel was released, and fifteen since the first film in the series hit theaters. Those kids who first read those books and saw the movies
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: Is It Hard To Raise A Kid In SF? Can you spot the author? Hint: Her dress is the prettiest. Dear Rain, People say that it's hard to raise a kid in SF, but you grew up here and you seemed to
Arts & Entertainment 'Arrival' Is Both Sci-Fi Spectacle And Art House Head Trip It's an interesting time for a movie like . Had I seen it a week ago, and not the day after the beginning of the apocalypse election, my reaction to it may have been
Arts & Entertainment 'Doctor Strange' Is A Superhero Movie On Peyote Having suffered this year through both and Suicide Squad, I went into Doctor Strange with some trepidation. Yes, both of those disasters were DC flicks, and Doctor Strange is the latest entry into
Arts & Entertainment 'Moonlight' Is One Of The Best Films Of 2016 is easily one of, if not the best, films I've seen this year. It crushed me, and made me remember just why I love the movies. That's something easily forgotten when you have
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: Where Are All The Trick-Or-Treaters? Photo of the author, ca. 1983, in her "Halloween III" mask, and her aunt and cousin as terrifying clowns Dear Rain, I've lived in San Francisco for over 10 years, and every Halloween
Arts & Entertainment Tom Cruise Shouldn't Have Gone Back For 'Jack Reacher: Never Go Back' Going into I kept wondering why the movie even existed. Tom Cruise already has a successful action adventure series with the Mission: Impossible movies, is Jack Reacher so different that it warrants an
