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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ACT ONE/TWO
2128 Center (at Shattuck), Berkeley, (510) 843-FILM, www.landmarktheatres.com. $6. This duplex offers a 10-week midnight movie series (plus drawings for valuable and coveted prizes). For additional screenings, see our Showtimes page.
SATURDAY (Sept. 20): The Steven Spielberg-produced (and ghost-directed) Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982) demonstrates the dark side of his suburban force midnight.
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (Sept. 17): Jean-Paul Rappeneau's period adventure The Horseman on the Roof (1992) 7 p.m.
SATURDAY (Sept. 20): The Horseman on the Roof 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.
THURSDAY (Sept. 18): James Longley's documentary portrait Gaza Strip (2002), sponsored by ANSWER, with a representative from the Free Palestine Alliance in person 8 p.m.
FRIDAY (Sept. 19): The MadCat Women's International Film Festival offers "Divided Spaces," a selection of short films on boundaries and space including Rose Dabb's New York's Big Back Yard (Central Park, 1982) and Vivian Ostrovsky's Nikita Kino (Moscow, 2002). $7-20 8 p.m.
SATURDAY (Sept. 20): ATA's Other Cinema showcases a program of experimental audio made the old-fashioned (analog) way in "Dead Media," featuring 16mm projections by Wobbly, Steev Hise's Detritus Manifesto, Carl Diehl's Rock Robot, and more 8:30 p.m.
CALIFORNIA PALACE OF THE LEGION OF HONOR
100 34th Ave. (at Clement, in Lincoln Park), 863-3330 for venue, 553-8135 and www.cineaccion.com for information and advance tickets. The San Francisco landmark hosts a fund-raising event for this year's Latino Film Festival. $25.
FRIDAY (Sept. 19): A Director's Night Gala Event screens Rolando Cruz's Chac: The Rain God (Mexico/U.S., 1974). Reception 6 p.m. Film 7 p.m.
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: Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt's "The Animation Show" offers a generous program of shorts, screening here through Sept. 24 7, 9:30 p.m.; also Sat, Sun, & Wed 2, 4:30 p.m.
CLAY
2261 Fillmore (at Clay), 267-4893, www.landmarktheatres.com; www.8tales.com for this series. A weekend midnight movie series continues. For the rest of the Clay's schedule, see our Showtimes page. $5.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY (Sept. 19 & 20): William Goldman's popular comic fantasy The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987). Saturday night features a Princess Rescue competition midnight.
DANGER & DESPAIR KNITTING CIRCLE
182 Second St. (at Howard), Third Floor, www.noirfilm.com/Noir_Flatiron3.htm for information; call 552-1533 or e-mail darkmarc@msn.com to reserve seats. Free with reservation; don't come without one. A "16mm Noir" series presented by the Danger & Despair Knitting Circle screens in this new location every Thursday, with round-table discussion to follow. Come at 7 p.m. for no-host bar; lobby doors locked at 8:15 p.m.
THURSDAY (Sept. 18): A Film Noir Bad Girls series screens The Sign of the Ram (John Sturges, 1949), with Jean Peters as a wheelchair-bound villainess 8 p.m.
EL RIO
3158 Mission (at Precita near Cesar Chavez), 282-3325. The MadCat Women's International Film Festival screens programs here on Tuesdays through September on this venue's outdoor patio (or indoors if it rains). $7-20 sliding scale.
TUESDAY (Sept. 23): "The F-Word," a program challenging conventional notions of feminism, includes Stephanie Gray's ode to Kristy McNichol, Kristy, and Rebecca Barten's portrait of her horse, Johnson. Free barbecue 6:30 p.m. Films 8:30 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 Monday): Old Snake Eyes is back -- Lee Van Cleef, considerably more charismatic than his opposite number, takes on nameless Clint Eastwood (and shameless Klaus Kinski) in Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More (Italy, 1965), screening through Sept. 28 7:30, 9:45 p.m.
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 offers an autumn film series. Shown on projected video, with salon-style discussions to follow.
FRIDAY (Sept. 19): Robert Young discovers that They Won't Believe Me (Irving Pichel, 1949), especially when he has a wife and two mistresses at all-American MGM 6:30 p.m.
MOVIE PALACE AUCTION SALES ROOM
2700 Saratoga (near West Red Line), Alameda, (510) 740-0220, www.auctionsbythebay.com. $7. Classic films in 35mm screen in a former U.S. Navy theater, the Alameda facilities of Auctions by the Bay.
FRIDAY (Sept. 19): A champagne reception officially christening this site at 6 p.m. precedes Alfred Hitchcock's adventure North by Northwest (1959) 7, 9:30 p.m.
SATURDAY (Sept. 20): Fred Astaire's first starring musical sans Ginger, A Damsel in Distress (George Stevens, 1937), features Burns & Allen, some great numbers, and an evidently terrified teenage leading lady, Joan Fontaine 7, 9:30 p.m.
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