Arts & Entertainment Plot Holes And Clunky Exposition Make 'The Accountant' A Write-Off The Accountant stars Ben Affleck as a high functioning autistic man who is a strip mall CPA during the day, and a criminal bean-counter/assassin at night. He doesn't dress up in a
Arts & Entertainment 'The Girl On The Train' Is A Formidable Thriller Following the success of Gillian Flynn's 2012 novel , (though I would posit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is probably where it really started), there has been a seemingly endless stream of similar
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: Is It OK To Hate Tourists? In these Troubled San Francisco Times, there is a lot of talk about who was here when, and what that does (or doesn't) mean. In an effort to both assist newcomers and take
Arts & Entertainment Tim Burton Fails Again With 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children' While I've often appreciated the films of Tim Burton, I've very rarely loved them, finding him too often to be so involved with the the look of his films that he forgets he's
Arts & Entertainment 'The Dressmaker''s Uneven Tone Makes For A Jarring Experience The Dressmaker opened overseas last year, and became the second highest-grossing film of 2015 in its home country of Australia. But I seriously doubt it will be met with quite the same enthusiasm
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: If You Could, Where In SF Would You Buy A House? In these Troubled San Francisco Times, there is a lot of talk about who was here when, and what that does (or doesn't) mean. In an effort to both assist newcomers and take
Arts & Entertainment 'Sully' Manufactures Unnecessary Drama, Sells Subject Humorlessly Short I'll say up front that Sully was a difficult movie for me to watch, since one of my biggest fears is flying (and I happen to be getting on a plane Monday). But
Arts & Entertainment 'The Light Between Oceans' Is Pretty But Turgid The Light Between Oceans, adapted by writer and director Derek Cianfrance from the 2012 novel by M.L. Stedman, is an old-fashioned romantic tragedy filled with fateful events, bad choices, and really pretty
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: What Are Your Favorite San Francisco Books? Dear Rain, Do you have a favorite set-in-SF book? Novel, biography, short stories, whatever. Signed, SF Reads Dear SF Reads, I'm a pretty voracious reader. In fact, I'm a little over halfway to
Arts & Entertainment 'Don't Breathe' Goes Where Most Modern Horror Movies Won't In a scene near the beginning of Don't Breathe, our three teenage antiheroes are sitting in a car, casing the next house they're going to rob. It's owned by a recluse who won
Arts & Entertainment <i>War Dogs</i> Is A Derivative Pack Of One-Note Antiheroes Imagine you're a guy who became somewhat famous, or perhaps even infamous, and you've just found out a major motion picture is going to be made based on that part of your life.
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: Has Muni Behavior Gotten Better, Or Worse? Dear Rain, Has behavior on Muni (people not moving to the back, criminals, backpack wear) changed over the years? Some people claim that it's gotten worse with the most recent flood of new
Arts & Entertainment <i>Florence Foster Jenkins</i> Is More Than Just Hilariously Bad Singing Remember when Meryl Streep was the queen of drama? When any movie in which she shed a tear was guaranteed to garner her an Oscar nomination, and often the prize itself? (A running
Arts & Entertainment <i>Suicide Squad</i> Is A Huge Swirling Vortex Of Trash Warner Bros. wants to make their DC comic book movies as popular as Disney's Marvel movies have been, with a plan that includes reboots, new standalone hero movies, and a Justice League film,
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: Where Were You During The 1989 Quake? Dear Rain, Where were you in the 1989 quake? If we had another quake of that magnitude today, would SF be better or worse off, in your opinion? Signed, Shaky Dear Shaky, On
Arts & Entertainment We Don't Need <i>Jason Bourne</i> Jason Bourne, the fifth film in the franchise, but only the fourth to star Matt Damon as the titular character, is the Bourne movie we don't really need, except perhaps as a way
Arts & Entertainment Pleasantly Cliché-Laden: <em>Star Trek Beyond</em>, Reviewed Early on in Star Trek Beyond, after a failed and ultimately comedic attempt at interstellar diplomacy, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) wearily confesses in his captain's log that his life has "started to feel.
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: What's Your Favorite SF Urban Legend? Dear Rain, In every city I've ever lived, there are urban legends that people (sometimes, transplants, sometimes people that have lived their all their lives) repeat again and again. Alligators in the New
Arts & Entertainment Snowball Rules: <i>The Secret Life Of Pets</i>, Reviewed I think everyone has fantasies about what our animals do when we're not around. Do they sit and stare at the door all day, waiting for our return? Do they watch soap operas?
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: Has The Fog Always Been Named Karl? In these Troubled San Francisco Times, there is a lot of talk about who was here when, and what that does (or doesn't) mean. In an effort to both assist newcomers and take
Arts & Entertainment Mainly For The Fans: <i>Eat That Question: Frank Zappa In His Own Words</i> Eat That Question: Frank Zappa In His Own Words is a documentary without a single shot of new footage. Instead, the film is comprised of archival video interviews and performances, spanning thirty years
Arts & Entertainment Striving For Wonder: <i>The BFG</i> I never read Roald Dahl's book The BFG as a kid, so pardon me for thinking, for a little while, that the title was short for "the Big Fucking Guy;" turns out it's
Arts & Entertainment Roundabout Theater Company's <i>Cabaret</i> Is One For Our Times I would never have thought a musical that originated in 1966, became more famous as a movie in 1972, and started as a short novel published in 1939, would feel so completely and
Arts & Entertainment Pretty, Disgusting: <i>The Neon Demon</i>, Reviewed You could toss any and all criticisms about Nicolas Winding Refn's new thriller The Neon Demon at me, and I'd probably agree with all of them. A preoccupation with style over story? Sure.
Arts & Entertainment Ask A San Francisco Native: Is It OK To Use 'Frisco'? Lobby card from the 1934 film Fog Over Frisco Dear Rain, While I don't expect you to be the "final" answer on the use of the term "Frisco," I'd love to get your
