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.
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ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (July 30): A Claude Chabrol series concludes with The Story of Women (Une affaire de femmes , 1988), with Isabelle Huppert as a back-alley abortionist during the Nazi Occupation 7 p.m.
SATURDAY (Aug. 2): The rich make fun of their lessers in The Dinner Game (Francis Veber, 1998), a popular farce (and not just in France) and a popular occupation (ditto) 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.
FRIDAY (Aug. 1): The Tour Baby! (Scott Coady, 2003), billed as a "sentimentally funny behind-the-scenes look at the 2000 Tour de France," screens as a benefit for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Filmmaker in person 8 p.m.
SATURDAY (Aug. 2): The "Fast Forward Film Festival" screens new work by local teens 3 p.m.
SUNDAY (Aug. 3): The fifth annual Polyester Prince Rambling Road Show screens Super 8 films direct from L.A.'s Echo Park 8 p.m.
BALBOA
3630 Balboa (at 37th Avenue), 221-8484, $7.50. This great neighborhood house is a good place to catch second-run Hollywood fare. See our Showtimes page for what's at the Balboa the rest of this week.
THURSDAY (July 31): The Tour Baby! (Scott Coady, 2003), a documentary about the 2000 Tour de France, screens as a benefit for the cancer-fighting Lance Armstrong Foundation's Peloton Project. Director in person. $15. Doors open 6 p.m.
BRIDGE
3010 Geary (at Blake), 751-3213, www.peacheschrist.com for this series. This popular little theater offers, in addition to its regular screenings (see Showtimes for listings), a "Midnight Mass" every Saturday this summer, hosted by Peaches Christ. $7.
SATURDAY (Aug. 2): The restored, six-minutes-extra version of Spider Baby (Jack Hill, 1964), with Lon Chaney Jr. and three teenage cannibals. A "Drag Queen Rollerderby" precedes the show midnight.
CASTRO
429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com, $8 save as noted. 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.
DAILY: The Weather Underground (Sam Green and Bill Siegel, 2003) screens through Aug. 7. See Ongoing for review 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat, Sun, & Wed 1, 3, 5 p.m.
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.
DAILY (Closed Mondays): Jean Cocteau's lovely adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (France, 1946) screens through Aug. 17 8:30, 10:30 p.m.
FOUR STAR
2200 Clement (at 23rd Avenue), 666-3488, www.hkinsf.com/4star/. This innovative theater screens second-run movies, a "Midnites for Maniacs" series on weekends, and "Hong Kong Movie Madness" double features on Thursdays. For the rest of the Four Star's schedule, see our Showtimes page. $6.
THURSDAY (July 31): A six-week series of "Hong Kong Movie Madness" concludes. Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh star in Tai Chi Master (Yuen Wo-Ping, 1994; 2, 6, 10 p.m. ), screening with South Shaolin Master (Siu Lung, China, 1984; noon, 4, 8 p.m. ), a fight film from the mainland.
MIDNIGHT SHOW (Saturday): A "Slumber Party Triple Feature" of Revenge of the Cheerleaders (Richard Lerner, 1976), with David Hasselhoff, and the arcade-themed Pinball Summer (George Mihalka, Canada, 1981) and Joysticks (Greydon Clark, 1983). A free bowl of cereal to survivors midnight.
JEZEBEL'S JOINT
510 Larkin (at Turk), 345-9832, www.jezebelsjointsf.com. This "Rock 'n' Roll DJ Bar" offers an "S.F. IndieFest MicroCinema" Tuesday through Friday (most weeks). Screenings are followed by DJ music at 10 p.m. Free save as noted.
WEDNESDAY: The Church of Satan's Rev. Leyba works his magic for San Francisco's power brokers in Unspeakable 8 p.m.
THURSDAY: Crystal meth Cookers go paranoid 8 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: Call for programs.
MECHANICS' INSTITUTE LIBRARY
57 Post (near Market), 393-0100 and www.milibrary.org for information; phone or e-mail rsvp@milibrary.org for reservations. $5. This cultural asset of long standing concludes a summer film series this week. Shown on projected video, with salon-style discussions to follow.
FRIDAY (Aug. 1): Rudolph Valentino stars with Vilma Banky in the entertaining Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926). In person, guest speaker Emily Leider, author of Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino 6:30 p.m.
PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE
2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch), Berkeley, (510) 642-1124, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. $8, second show $2. 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 two-month series of campy takes on immorality, "Excess of Evil," screens Charles Laughton's silent film-influenced The Night of the Hunter (1956), with Robert Mitchum as the evil preacher with tattooed knuckles 7:30 p.m.
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