Repertory Film Listings

Commentary by Gregg Rickman (greggr2006@yahoo.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. For additional Reps Etc. listings, go to sfweekly.com.

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.

BALBOA 3630 Balboa (at 38th Avenue), 221-8484, www.balboamovies.com. $8.50 save as noted. This great neighborhood house shows films of all sorts. A Food Bank drive continues — bring in canned and packaged foods for a movie prize.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Where there's a Will, there's a Pursuit of Happyness (Gabriele Muccino, 2006) noon, 2:25, 4:45, 7:05, 9:30 p.m. In Theater 2, step into Charlotte's Web (Gary Winick, 2006) 11:45 am.; 1:55, 4:05, 6:20, 8:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call for films and times.

BAY CLUB MARIN
220 Corte Madera Town Center, Corte Madera, 945-3000 for venue, 381-4123 and www.tiburonfilmfestival.com for the Tiburon Film Society, which hosts screenings here once or twice monthly. $10.

WEDNESDAY (Dec. 20): A young girl struggles to be an angel in the annual summer church procession animates Saint Monica (Terrance Odette, Canada, 2004) 8 p.m.

CASTRO
429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120 and www.thecastrotheatre.com. $10 save as noted. Short-run rep in a spectacular 1922 Greco-Roman-themed palace designed by Timothy L. Pflueger. Evening intermissions feature David Hegarty on the Mighty Wurlitzer.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Sing-A-Long Grease offers supertitles allowing you to join in with Travolta, Newton-John and the rest in this karaoke take on the 1978 film musical directed by Randal Kleiser. $15 8 p.m.; also Wed 2 p.m.

FRIDAY: A John Waters double-bill of the mass-audience intended, future Broadway musical Hairspray (1988; 7 p.m. ), and the Johnny Depp vehicle Cry Baby (1990; 8:50 p.m. ).

SATURDAY: Get your Gollum on for Peter Jackson's complete The Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001; 1:30 p.m.), The Two Towers (2002, 4:45 p.m. ) and The Return of the King (2000; 8 p.m. ). $10 for all.

SUNDAY: No films, just singing: The San Francisco Gay Man's Chorus does include a tribute to holiday music. Call for showtimes; get tickets at http://www.sfgmc.org or call the Community Box office at 415.865.ARTS (2787).

MONDAY: Closed.

TUESDAY: A weeklong "Holiday with the Stars" series opens with a double-bill of It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934; 3:10, 7 p.m. ) and Red Dust (Victor Fleming, 1932; 1:30, 5:15, 9 p.m. ), both splendid vehicles for Clark of the Seven Gables.

CERRITO SPEAKEASY
285 Ninth St. (at Folsom), www.cerritospeakeasy.com. This recently restored second-run theater, a sister theater to Oakland's Parkway, offers occasional special screenings, including "Cerrito Classics," a different revival every weekend.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY (Dec. 23-24): Bishop David Niven hosts angelic Cary Grant for the benefit of Loretta Young, The Bishop's Wife (Henry Koster, 1947) Sat 6 p.m.; Sun 5 p.m.

DARK ROOM THEATRE
2263 Mission (between 18th and 19th "between the pawn shop and the laundromat"), 401-7987, www.darkroomsf.com. Live cabaret, plus regular film screenings with audience cat-calling encouraged.

SUNDAY (Dec. 24): Dark Room's "Bad Movie Night" returns after an absence after their projector, they say, broke down in shame. Tonight, the whiskery holiday perennial White Christmas (Michael Curtiz, 1954), which they describe as "like eating a candy cane: it only comes around once a year, and too much will make you sick." Call to confirm — this event is on their Web site but not their calendar. $5 8 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 35 mm, 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: Hot bubbling magic realism, Like Water for Chocolate (Alfonso Arau, Mexico, 1992), through Dec. 31 "Starts at dusk."

LUMIERE
1572 California (at Polk), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater; for the rest of the Lumiere schedule, see our Showtimes page. $9.50.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Dec. 22-28): Soap (Pernille Fischer Christensen, Denmark, 2006). See Opening for review. Call for times.

OPERA PLAZA
601 Van Ness (at Golden Gate), 267-4893, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater. $9.50.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Off the Black (James Ponsoldt, 2006) 2:15, 4:45, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call theater for program.

PARKWAY
1834 Park (at Lake Merritt), Oakland, (510) 814-2400, www.parkway-speakeasy.com. $5 save as noted. This friendly neighborhood theater serves beer, pizza, and more with its films. 21 and over.

MIDNIGHT SHOW (Saturday): Barely Legal's live presentation of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975). $6.

RAFAEL FILM CENTER
1118 Fourth St. (at A Street), San Rafael, 454-1222, www.cafilm.org, $9.50 save as noted. This three-screen repertory theater, 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: Sweet Land (Ali Selim, 2006). 6:30, 8:50 p.m. Train Man: Densha Otoko (Shosuke Marakami, Japan, 2005) 6:45, 9:05 p.m. Babel (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2006) 7:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Wondrous Oblivion (Paul Morrison, U.K., 2004) and Words of My Perfect Teacher (Lesley Ann Patten, Canada, 2005). See Opening for reviews. Call for times and other films.

RED VIC
1727 Haight (at Cole), 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com. $8 save as noted. There's a spot on the couch for you at this collectively owned rep house.