Reps Etc.

FRIDAY (Dec. 13): "The fight to the top begins now" with a Mobile Fighter G Gundam tournament marathon, Volumes 7 & 8 5-9 p.m.

SUNDAY (Dec. 15): Mobile Fighter G Gundam Volumes 9 through 12, continuously from noon-7 p.m.

OPERA PLAZA

601 Van Ness (at Golden Gate), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. Taking over from the Lumiere this fall season, this multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater. For the rest of the Opera Plaza's schedule, see our Showtimes page. $8.75.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Christian Frei's documentary War Photographer (Switzerland, 2001); see Ongoing for review. Call for times.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Dec. 13-19): Diane Kurys' Children of the Century (France, 2001); see Opening for review. Call for times.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE

2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch), Berkeley, (510) 642-1124, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. $7, second show $1.50. The East Bay mecca for film scholars, part of UC's Berkeley Art Museum, thrives at its on-campus location, up the steps on Bancroft between Telegraph Avenue and the Hearst Gym.

WEDNESDAY: A tribute to the long collaboration of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and star Toshiro Mifune continues with the samurai comedy Sanjuro (1962) 4:30, 6:30, 8:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: Kurosawa and Mifune's last picture together, the medical drama Red Beard (1965) 4, 8 p.m.

FRIDAY: Kurosawa and Mifune -- The black comedy rogue-samurai hit Yojimbo (1961; 4:30, 9:40 p.m.), remade several times as a western and itself an unauthorized reworking of Hammett's Red Harvest, screens with the Star Wars-inspiring The Hidden Fortress (1958; 7 p.m.).

SATURDAY: Kurosawa and Mifune -- A detective loses his gun in the dog days of summer in the postwar film noir, Japanese style, Stray Dog (1949; 4:30, 9:25 p.m.), screening with an exciting crime drama that reworks the earlier film's themes, High and Low (1963; 6:50 p.m.).

SUNDAY: Kurosawa and Mifune -- An old man goes mad obsessing over the atomic bomb in I Live in Fear (1955; 2, 6:20 p.m.), screening with the actor's debut for Kurosawa as a gangster dying of TB, Drunken Angel (1948; 4:15, 8:35 p.m.).

MONDAY: Kurosawa and Mifune -- A superbly visualized Macbeth, Throne of Blood (1957) 4:30, 6:40, 8:50 p.m.

TUESDAY: Kurosawa and Mifune -- The Hidden Fortress 4:30, 7:10 p.m.

PALACE OF FINE ARTS

3301 Lyon (at Bay), www.palaceoffinearts.org/events, 567-6642 for this event. $6.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY (Dec. 13 & 14): The festival of "tasteless toons," Spike & Mike's 2002 Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation 9, 11:30 p.m.; also Sat 7 p.m.

PARKWAY

1834 Park (at Lake Merritt), Oakland, (510) 814-2400, www.picturepubpizza.com. $5 save as noted. Pizza, beer, and movies on two screens. Call theater for programs, booked a week in advance.

THURSDAY (Dec. 12): In honor of the Chairman's 87th birthday, the Parkway offers "Frank's Birthday Luau," with Sinatra shorts, trailers, clips, and the Pearl Harbor-set From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann, 1953). Hawaiian wear is encouraged. $6 9:15 p.m.

MIDNIGHT SHOW (Saturday): The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975), with live performance by Barely Legal. $6.

RAFAEL FILM CENTER

1118 Fourth St. (at A Street), San Rafael, 454-1222, www.finc.org. $8.50 save as noted. This three-screen repertory theater is operated by the Film Institute of Northern California. Programs are complex; check carefully and call for confirmation.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Standing in the Shadows of Motown (Paul Justman, 2002) 9 p.m.; also Wed 6:45 p.m. Heaven (Tom Tykwer, Germany, 2002) Wed only, 9:10 p.m. Rivers and Tides (Thomas Riedelsheimer, Germany, 2001) 6 p.m. Daughter From Danang (Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco, 2002) 8 p.m. See Ongoing for reviews.

THURSDAY: A Carole Lombard tribute continues with Alfred Hitchcock's one screwball comedy, the amusing Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941). Had she lived, Lombard could easily have played one of Hitchcock's chilly blondes, but here she's still a comedienne 7 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: The Way Home (Lee Jung-hyang, Korea, 2002); see Ongoing for review. Christian Frei's documentary War Photographer (Switzerland, 2001); see Ongoing for review. Standing in the Shadows of Motown and Rivers and Tides continue. Call theater for times and other films.

SATURDAY: ILM veteran and proprietor of Matte World Digital Craig Barron lectures on "The Invisible Art" of movie matte painting, the cinemagic that's provided painted but believable backgrounds for movies since the late 1920s. $10 7:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: Carole Lombard was at her funniest as the stubborn, more than a little dim blonde who lassos My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava, 1937) 7 p.m.

RED VIC

1727 Haight (at Cole), 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com. $6.50 save as noted. There's a spot on the couch for you at this collectively owned rep house.

WEDNESDAY: Pray for Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968), who'd be 34 about now, and ready to run for president 2, 7, 9:45 p.m.

THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY: Gregory Schell's The Far Shore (2002) compiles 10 years' worth of 1970s surf footage. Filmmaker in person for evening screenings 7:15, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat 2, 4 p.m.

SUNDAY & MONDAY: Miguel Arteta's drama of life at the Retail Rodeo, The Good Girl (2002) 7:15, 9:15 p.m.; also Sun 2, 4 p.m.

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY (Dec. 17 & 18): A deaf secretary promises no new taxes in Jacques Audiard's good crime drama Read My Lips (France, 2002) 7, 9:25 p.m.; also Wed 2 p.m.

ROXIE

3117 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $8. Short-run repertory in one of the most adventurously programmed theaters in the U.S.A.

WEDNESDAY: Bill Weber and David Weissman's popular documentary The Cockettes (2002), about an S.F. institution 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30 p.m.

THURSDAY & FRIDAY: The Bay Area premiere of Pleasure & Pain (Danny Clinch and Sam Lee, 2002), a digital tour with roots musician Ben Harper 6, 8, 10 p.m.