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. $9.25. One of this venue's two screens is a "calendar house" for Landmark Theatres. For additional Act One/Two screenings, see our Showtimes page.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: The Same River Twice (Robb Moss, 2003); see Ongoing for review 7:30, 9:30 p.m.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Jan. 30-Feb. 5): Nicolas Philibert's To Be and to Have (2002); see Opening for review 7:10, 9:40 p.m.; also Sat & Sun 2:15, 4:45 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY:The Fog of War (Errol Morris, 2003); see Ongoing for review 6:45, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat & Sun 1:45, 4:15 p.m.
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.
WEDNESDAY (Jan. 28): Gérard Depardieu stars as a hustler-philosopher tangling with the Nazis in World War II in Claude Berri's Uranus (France, 1990)7 p.m.
SATURDAY (Jan. 31): A Juliette Binoche series opens with Jean-Paul Rappeneau's swashbuckler The Horseman on the Roof (France, 1995) 2 p.m.
ARTISTS' TELEVISION ACCESS
992 Valencia (at 21st Street), 824-3890, www.atasite.org. $5 save as noted. This venue offers all manner of strange and unusual video and film.
FRIDAY (Jan. 30): A "Gravity Records Screening" of videos for The Locust, The Rapture, Tristeza, The Black Heart Procession, Mens Recovery Project, Sea of Tombs, and more. Plus live music by Winfred E. Eye 8 p.m.
TUESDAY (Feb. 3): The Super-8 Club meets here ever first Tuesday. Free 7 p.m.
AUCTIONS BY THE BAY
Movie Palace Auction Sales Room, 2700 Saratoga (near West Red Line), Alameda, (510) 740-0220, www.auctionsbythebay.com. $7. Classic films in 35mm (save as noted) screen in a former U.S. Navy theater.
FRIDAY (Jan. 30): Don Siegel's candy-colored adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's short story The Killers (1964) finds John Cassavetes the doomed patsy of hitman Lee Marvin, gangster Ronald Reagan, and moll Angie Dickinson 7, 9 p.m.
SATURDAY (Jan. 31): Stanley Kubrick's B&W nightmare Dr. Strangelove (1964) finds President Peter Sellers the patsy of mad general Sterling Hayden and mad scientist Peter Sellers 7, 9 p.m.
SUNDAY (Feb. 1): Dr. Strangelove 5 p.m. The Killers 7:15 p.m. Separate admission.
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.
WEDNESDAY: A two-week Noir City festival of the dark cinema of the 1940s and '50s continues with two adaptations of noir novelist Cornell Woolrich, Phantom Lady (Robert Siodmak, 1944,1:20, 5, 9 p.m.), with Ella Raines trying to save her boss from a murder rap, and Deadline at Dawn (Harold Clurman, 1946; 3:10, 7 p.m.), with Susan Hayward trying to save a sailor from a murder rap. Is there a pattern here?
THURSDAY: Noir City concludes with two starring sometime "Oomph Girl" Ann Sheridan: The Unfaithful (Vincent Sherman, 1947; 7 p.m.), an L.A.-set reworking of The Letter, and as a Woman on the Run (Norman Foster, 1950; 9:15 p.m.) through San Francisco.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Jan.30- Feb. 4): Nicolas Philibert's To Be and to Have (2002); see Opening for review 2, 4:30, 7, 9:20 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): Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern (China, 1991) screens through Feb. 15 6:15, 8:30 p.m.; also Fri-Sun 10:45 p.m.
LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER
3105 Shattuck (at Prince), Berkeley, (510) 849-2568, www.lapena.org. This cafe for activists offers occasional film and video screenings.
SATURDAY (Jan. 31): The debut of the final cut of Viva Chile M...! A Tribute to the Life and Work of Fernando Alegria (2004), a Chilean-American activist, with proceeds to film producer the Western Institute for Social Research. $14 4:30 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 Berkeley's Art Museum, thrives at its on-campus location, up the steps on Bancroft between Telegraph Avenue and the Hearst Gym.
WEDNESDAY: A UCB film history class open to the public screens early short films from "Edison to Early Griffith," hosted by professor Marilyn Fabe 3 p.m. "They Might Be Giants," a series of historically important video works, continues with When Video Came (Andres Tapia-Urzua and Ralph Vituccio, 2003), a history of video art, and a program of works by pioneer Nam June Paik, including an excerpt from Global Groove (1973) and Blue Studio: Five Segments (1975-6), a collaboration with Merce Cunningham 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: A series of films by Swedish pioneer Victor Sjöström continues with The Girl from the Marsh Croft (1917), an adaptation of Nobelist Selma Lagerlöf's novel about an out-of-wedlock child 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY: A parallel series of films by tough-guy auteur Anthony Mann screens the tragic "pro-Indian western" Devil's Doorway (1950; 7 p.m.), with Robert Taylor as a cheated Shoshone. Also, Mann's first film of several with Jimmy Stewart -- whose image he toughened up -- Winchester '73 (1950; 9:10 p.m.)
SATURDAY: More Mann -- one of the director's bests, The Naked Spur (1953; 7 p.m.), with Stewart a vengeance-driven bounty hunter, and The Tall Target (1951; 8:50 p.m.), an entertaining historical tale of an 1861 assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln.
SUNDAY: More Sjöström -- Parts I and II of another Lagerlöf adaptation, The Sons of Ingmar (Sweden, 1919), an evocation of vanishing rural folkways 5:30 p.m.
MONDAY: Theater closed.
TUESDAY: Experimental films by Robert Beavers include Sotiros (Greece, 1977/1996) -- sunlight travels across a room. Artist in person 7:30 p.m.
PARAMOUNT
2025 Broadway (at 20th Street), Oakland, (510) 465-6400, www.paramounttheatre.com. $5. This beautifully restored picture palace's ongoing "Movie Classics Series" regularly includes a feature plus a newsreel, cartoon, previews, and a few spins of the Dec-O-Win prize wheel.
FRIDAY (Jan. 30): You might possibly remember this: Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942). Doors open at 7 p.m., film at 8 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. The Parkway also offers occasional scheduled special programs.
MIDNIGHT SHOW (Saturday): The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975), with live performance by Barely Legal. $6.
1118 Fourth St. (at A), San Rafael, 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $9 save as noted. This three-screen repertory theater, now officially the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, is operated by the California Film Institute. Programs are complex; check carefully and call for confirmation.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: The Same River Twice (Robb Moss, 2003) 7, 9 p.m. The Station Agent (Thomas McCarthy, 2003) 6:40, 8:40 p.m. See Ongoing for reviews.
WEDNESDAY: A preview screening of Raquel Bitton's one-woman show Piaf ... Her Story, Her Songs (George Elder, U.S.-France, 2003), with Bitton in person for a Q&A. $10 7 p.m.
THURSDAY: A three-week Sunday/Thursday series of films devoted to Cary Grant's "Century of Elegance" continues with the dialogue-driven Talk of the Town (George Stevens, 1942), with Cary Grant as a factory worker hiding out in Ronald Colman's attic 7 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: To Be and to Have (Nicolas Philibert, France, 2002) and Japanese Story (Sue Brooks, Australia, 2003). See Opening for reviews. The Same River Twice continues. Call for times.
FRIDAY: A "Global Lens" series of new films from the developing world opens with Angel on the Right (Djamshed Usmonov, Tajikistan, 2002), a comedy about a thug back from Moscow conned by his small town mom and other villagers 7 p.m.
SATURDAY: Global Lens -- A hangman is haunted by guilt in Shadow Kill (Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India, 2002). Repeats Tuesday 2 p.m. From Algeria, Yamina Bachir's Rachida (2002) is a schoolteacher targeted by terrorists. Repeats Monday 4 p.m. Hique Gomez's Margarette's Feast (Brazil, 2002) is a Chaplinesque silent comedy starring and with music by Gomez, about a little man trying to assemble a birthday party for his wife 7 p.m.
SUNDAY: Cary Grant's "Century of Elegance" concludes with his shared discovery with ex-wife Irene Dunne of The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, 1937) 2:15 p.m. Global Lens -- A postal clerk rewrites letters in Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti's Nothing (Cuba, 2001) 2 p.m.Wretched Lives (Joel Lamangan, Philippines, 2002), a melodrama about corruption and poverty 4 p.m. A travelling film projectionist seeks a Ticket to Jerusalem (Rashid Masharawi, Palestine, 2002) 7 p.m.
MONDAY: Global Lens -- Rachida 7 p.m.
TUESDAY: Global Lens -- Shadow Kill 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 & THURSDAY: Philip Boston's Billabong Odyssey (2003) takes viewers inside two surfers' hunt for the "world's biggest wave" 7:15, 9:15 p.m.; also Wed 2 p.m.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: Jack Black teaches theSchool of Rock (Richard Linklater, 2003) 7:15, 9:30 p.m.; also Sat 2, 4:15 p.m.
SUNDAY & MONDAY: Hiroshi Teshigahara's popular documentary about visionary architect Antonio Gaudi (Japan/Spain, 1985) 7:15, 9:15 p.m.; also Sun 2, 4 p.m.
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY (Feb. 3-4): Love is a chemical reaction in Mark Decena's Dopamine (2003). Filmmaker in person 7:15, 9:15 p.m.; also Wed 2 p.m.
ROXIE
3117 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $8 save as noted. Short-run repertory in one of the most adventurously programmed theaters in the USA.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Two documentaries on a French fashion legend, YSL: His Life and Times (6:15, 9:45 p.m.; also Wed 2:45 p.m.), an overview of Yves St. Laurent's career, and YSL: 5 Avenue Marceau (8 p.m.; also Wed 1, 4:30 p.m.), 60 days inside his salon. Both films were directed by David Teboul.
STARTS FRIDAY: Call theater for program.
SF LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER
1800 Market (at Octavia), 865-5555. A free monthly screenings series continues.
THURSDAY (Jan. 29): The 30-year history of women's music, from lesbian folksingers to riot grrlz, is traced in Radical Harmonies 4, 6:30 p.m.
VARIETY CHILDREN'S CHARITY PREVIEW ROOM
Hobart Building, 582 Market St. (at 2nd St., near Montgomery BART Station), 861-1637 for questions, annb@bettyslist.com for reservations (required).
SUNDAY (Feb. 1): The Betty & Ann Reel to Real Film Series of previews of forthcoming films of interest to the LGBT community and their friends offers Osama (2003), the first post-Taliban feature from Afghanistan, about an all-female family that disguises a daughter as a boy so they can travel within their village. $25. Reception 4 p.m. Film 5 p.m. with discussion to follow.
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS
701 Mission (at Third Street, in Yerba Buena Gardens), 978-2787, www.YerbaBuenaArts.org. $6 save as noted. This venue's Screening Room is a home for film and video programs of all sorts.
WEDNESDAY (Jan. 28): The S.F. Jewish Film Festival screens Adam Vardy's Mendy (2003), about a Brooklyn Hasid who falls for a Brazilian dancer. Screens on Beta video. $7 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY (Jan. 30): "Unnatural Born Killers," a series devoted to serial killers, screens the uncut version of Richard Stanley's Dust Devils (South Africa, 1993; 7 p.m.), blending witchcraft and tribal ritual with a true story of murder. Stanley in person. Also, Nexxxt (aka Frau Plastic Chicken Show, Arpad Schilling, 2001; 9:15 p.m.), a spoof of reality TV presenting the "real Alex" from A Clockwork Orange. $7.
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