Commentary by Gregg Rickman (greggr1@mindspring.com). Times compiled from information available Tuesday; it's always advisable to call for confirmation. Price given is standard adult admission; discounts often apply for students, seniors, and members.
We're interested in your film or video event. Please send materials at least two weeks in advance to: Film Editor, SF Weekly, 185 Berry, Suite 3800, San Francisco, CA 94107.
ACT ONE/TWO
2128 Center (at Shattuck), Berkeley, (510) 843-FILM, www.landmarktheatres.com. $6. This duplex offers a midnight movie series (plus "drawings for valuable and coveted prizes") on Saturdays. For additional screenings, see our Showtimes page.
SATURDAY (April 5): Mel Brooks remakes Star Wars as Spaceballs (1987); can Attack of the Clowns be far behind? Midnight.
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (April 2): Carole Bouquet must save imprisoned husband Daniel Auteuil during the German Occupation in Lucie Aubrac (Claude Berri, 1997) 7 p.m.
SATURDAY (April 5): Lucie Aubrac 2 p.m.
ARTISTS' TELEVISION ACCESS
992 Valencia (at 21st Street), 824-3890, www.atasite.org for most programs, www.othercinema.com for Saturday evening programs. $5 save as noted. This venue offers all manner of strange and unusual video and film.
SATURDAY (April 5): "Covert Operations," a program on the doings of the CIA, screens two short films by Stephen Marshall of the Guerrilla News Network, Julia Meltzer's In Light of Recent Events (on the CIA in Chile), and Jacqueline Salloum's Interview, a Playboy interview with the Agency's Philip Agee digitally illustrated with pinups from the same issue 8:30 p.m.
CASTRO
429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com. $8. Short-run rep in a spectacular 1922 Greco-Roman-themed palace designed by Timothy L. Pflueger. Evening intermissions feature David Hegarty or Bill McCoy on the Mighty Wurlitzer.
WEDNESDAY: "The Big Picture," a three-week series marking the 50th anniversary of CinemaScope, continues with J. Lee Thompson's Holocaust drama Return From the Ashes (1965; 1, 5:15, 9:35 p.m.) and Tony Richardson's adaptation of Jean Genet's Mademoiselle (1966; 3:05, 7:30 p.m.), with Jeanne Moreau.
THURSDAY: "The Big Picture" -- Two space oddities from the go-go 1960s, Roger Vadim's Barbarella (1968; 7 p.m.), with Jane Fonda as a spy in space, and producer Charles K. Feldman's James Bond extravaganza Casino Royale (1967; 9 p.m.), a spoofy hodgepodge with five credited directors and numerous uncredited writers, directors, and stars. A great score by Burt Bacharach ties it all together, sort of. Peter Sellers is in it for the longest time but disappears by the finale. With Woody Allen as Dr. Noah.
STARTS FRIDAY: Recent Oscar winner (Best Foreign Film) Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link, 2001) screens through April 16. See Opening for review 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 p.m.; no matinee Monday, April 7.
CLAY
2261 Fillmore (at Clay), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. "Laugh Riot," an eight-week midnight series of comedies, continues; www.8tales.com for more info. For the rest of the Clay's schedule, see our Showtimes page. $5.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY (April 4 & 5): "Gentlemen! No fighting in the war room!" -- Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964), with G.W. Bush as President Muffley, Saddam Hussein as Premier Kissoff, Donald Rumsfeld as Gen. Ripper, and Dick Cheney in the title role. Wheelchair Olympics and Bucking Bomb Rides are promised as added attractions on Saturday midnight.
FOREIGN CINEMA
2534 Mission (between 21st and 22nd streets), 648-7600, www.foreigncinema.com. Free with meal. This restaurant screens foreign films, usually in 35mm, on the back wall of its outdoor patio, with drive-in speakers available for the tables of those who want to watch while they dine. Closed Mondays.
DAILY: Pass the butter -- Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci, France, 1973) screens through April 13 7, 9:15 p.m.
GOLDEN GATE 303
303 Columbus (at Broadway), 955-9080. Free with meal. This venue now offers "Dinner and a Movie" with a Pacino/De Niro series in April, plus weekend shows. Sound played over loudspeakers.
WEDNESDAY: Al Pacino goes straight down Carlito's Way (Brian De Palma, 1993) 7 p.m.
THURSDAY: Robert De Niro jollies the GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990) 7 p.m.
FRIDAY: De Niro hacks Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976) 7 p.m.
SUNDAY: "Hitchcock Sunday" -- Shadow of a Doubt (1943) 7 p.m.
MONDAY: Call for program.
TUESDAY: De Niro breaks the Casino (Scorsese, 1995) 7 p.m.
MIDNIGHT SHOW (Saturday): The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975).
JEZEBEL'S JOINT
510 Larkin (at Turk), 820-3907, www.sfindie.com. This "Rock 'n' Roll DJ Bar" offers an "S.F. IndieFest MicroCinema" Monday through Friday (most weeks). Screenings are followed by DJ music at 10 p.m. Free.
WEDNESDAY: Emilio Estevez is Alex Cox's Repo Man (1984), with Harry Dean Stanton as Obi-Wan Kenobi to Estevez's Luke Skywalker 8 p.m.
THURSDAY: The timely Good Kurds, Bad Kurds (Kevin McKiernan, 2000) documents the difference between "good" Kurds in Iraq who are anti-Saddam, and the "bad" Kurds fighting against Turkey ... of course they may be good Kurds themselves by now 8 p.m.
FRIDAY: "The Unamerican Film Festival" presents a program of shorts including S-11 Redux by the Guerrilla News Network; Flag TV (Susie Lee); A Message to Bin Laden, Monroe Bardot's pledge to destroy him; Roger Beebe's Composition in Red and Yellow, about the "one symbol that truly shows what Americans are all about, the Golden Arches"; and more 8 p.m.
MONDAY: "Silent Monday" screens Buster Keaton's great and dreamlike Sherlock Jr. (1924) 8 p.m.
foam order.com
