Reps Etc.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Tom Dowd & the Language of Music (Mark Moorman, 2004) 6, 8 p.m.; also Wed 2, 4 p.m. Hijacking Catastrophe (Jeremy Earp and Sut Jhally, 2004) 9:45 p.m. See Ongoing for reviews.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call for program.

LUMIERE

1572 California (at Polk), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater, and also offers a midnight movie series, "The Filth," with just the film on Fridays and audience participation events on Saturdays. For other Lumiere programs, see our Showtimes page. $9.50, midnight show $8.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Aug. 27-Sept. 2): End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (Michael Gramaglia and Jim Fields, 2004). See Opening for review. Call for times.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY (Aug. 27 & 28): Richard Elfman's cult-y Forbidden Zone (1980), with director in person midnight.

OPERA PLAZA

601 Van Ness (at Golden Gate), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. 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: Imagining Argentina (Christopher Hampton, U.S./Argentina, 2003). See Ongoing for review 2:30, 5:10, 7:45 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: An "Exploit-O-Scope" series concludes with Bud Townsend's Nightmare in Wax (1966), with Cameron Mitchell as a Hollywood wax museum impresario on a mission of vengeance 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: A Luchino Visconti series continues with the director's last film, Conversation Piece (Italy, 1974), with Burt Lancaster as an art historian in retreat 7 p.m. Visconti's family melodrama Vaghe stelle dell'orsa (Italy, 1965), with Claudia Cardinale 9:20 p.m.

FRIDAY: A new print of Visconti's much loved, much parodied Death in Venice (Italy, 1970), with Dirk Bogarde as a dying, mascara-melting composer 7 p.m. Giancarlo Giannini's wife Laura Antonelli is Visconti's The Innocent (Italy, 1976) 9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: The Innocent 5 p.m. Visconti's vision of Nazi Germany, The Damned 7:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: A free screening of Visconti's 238-minute portrait of the art-loving "mad king of Bavaria," Ludwig II (Italy, 1972), with Trevor Howard as Wagner 5:30 p.m.

MONDAY: Theater closed.

TUESDAY: Bill Morrison's amazing compilation of rotting nitrate footage, Decasia (2002) 7:30 p.m.

PARAMOUNT

2025 Broadway (at 20th Street), Oakland, (510) 465-6400, www.paramounttheatre.com. $6. 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 (Aug. 27): James Mason wields weapons of mass destruction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Richard Fleischer, 1954). 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.

THURSDAY (Aug. 26): Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) leadenly transforms Hunter S. Thompson's high-octane weirdness to the screen. Sponsors Reel Video and Sierra Nevada offer goodies watchable and drinkable, respectively. $5 9:15 p.m.

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

RAFAEL FILM CENTER

1118 Fourth St. (at A Street), 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: Stander (Bronwen Hughes, U.K., 2004) 7, 9:15 p.m. Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston, 2004) 6:45, 9 p.m. Seducing Dr. Lewis (Jean-François Pouliot, Canada, 2003) 8:45 p.m. Ongoing for reviews.

WEDNESDAY: A twice-weekly Barbara Stanwyck series screens the Preston Sturgesscripted Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1941), with Stanwyck a shoplifter taken to a small town for Christmas by her prosecutor (Fred MacMurray). Sweet! 7 p.m.

THURSDAY: The Story of the Weeping Camel (Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni, Mongolia, 2003). See Ongoing for review 6:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Mean Creek (Jacob Aaron Estes, 2004); see Opening for review. Maria Full of Grace, Seducing Dr. Lewis, and Stander continue. Call for times.

SATURDAY: A free open-air screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) at the San Rafael City Plaza on Fourth Street, a block from the theater 8:45 p.m.

SUNDAY: Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, together again, seek Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) in the classic California noir 7 p.m.

RED VIC

1727 Haight (at Cole), 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com. $7 save as noted. There's a spot on the couch for you at this collectively owned rep house.

WEDNESDAY: Yoji Yamada's excellent, low-key The Twilight Samurai (Japan, 1961) 2, 4:25, 7, 9:40 p.m.

THURSDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY (Aug. 26-Sept. 1): Improvisational rap's on display in Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme (Kevin Fitzgerald, 2004). See Opening for review 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat, Sun 2, 4 p.m., Wed 2 p.m.

ROXIE

3117 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087 and www.roxie.com. $8 save as noted. Short-run repertory in one of the most adventurously programmed theaters in the USA.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Bill O'Reilly Outfoxed (Robert Greenwald, 2004); see Ongoing for review 6:15, 8, 9:45 p.m.; also Wed 1, 2:45, 4:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Orwell Rolls in His Grave (Robert Kane Pappas, 2004). See Opening for review 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat, Sun, & Wed 2, 4:30 p.m.