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.

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 MODEL
2100 Bridgeway (at Spring), Sausalito, 332-3871 for venue, 381-4123 and www.tiburonfilmfestival.com for the event-sponsoring Tiburon Film Society. Free.

THURSDAY (Jan. 4): The trials and tribulations of the classical trio Eroica are detailed in Alan Miller's documentary Eroica! (2003) 6 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: A new print of Marcel Camus' Black Orpheus (France/Brazil, 1959), the Greek legend set in Rio 7, 9:15 p.m.; also Wed 2:30, 4:45 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY (Jan. 5-10): Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (Phillip J. Bartel, 2006), a sequel to the "trisexual farce" which played here in 2005. See Opening for review. Call for times.

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. $5.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY (Jan. 6-7): Jimmy Stewart follows Bob and Ray's injunction to hang by his thumbs in the first of a four-week Alfred Hitchcock series, Vertigo (1958) 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 (Jan. 7): Dark Room's "Bad Movie Night" screens what else but last year's would-be cult film Snakes on a Plane (David R. Ellis, 2006). I want this bad movie out of my column!$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: Welcome the future with 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968), through Jan. 28 "Starts at dusk."

MECHANICS' INSTITUTE LIBRARY
57 Post (near Market), 393-0100 and www.milibrary.org for information; phone or e-mail rsvp@milibrary.org for reservations. $10. This cultural asset of long standing concludes a summer film series this week. Shown on projected video, with salon-style discussions to follow.

FRIDAY (Jan. 5): A "Sex and the City" series opens the 2007 season with Jean Harlow in the funny, pre-Code Red-Headed Woman (Jack Conway, 1932). 6:30 p.m.

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: Sigmund Freud goes to Catalonia in the psychoanalytic comedy Unconscious (Joaquin Oristrell, Spain, 2004). Recommended 1:45, 4:20, 7, 9:35 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call theater for program.

PARAMOUNT
2025 Broadway (at 20th Street), Oakland, (510) 465-6400, www.paramounttheatre.com. 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. 5): Maybe the Iraq Study Group should have seen Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) for some tips in getting the right letters of transit for your one-way trip out of the Middle East. $8 8 p.m.

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: Babel (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2006) 7:30 p.m. Words of My Perfect Teacher (Lesley Ann Patten, Canada, 2005) 6:30 p.m. Wondrous Oblivion (Paul Morrison, U.K., 2004) 6:45, 9 p.m. Sweet Land (Ali Selim, 2006). 8:45 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Call theater for films and times.

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.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Take a long ride on the Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell, 2006) 7:15, 9:25 p.m.; also Wed 2 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY: It's depressing but true: Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (Stanley Nelson, 2006) 7:15, 9:15 p.m.; also Sat & Sun 2, 4 p.m.

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY: It's depressing, but also amusing, and also a memoir: Running with Scissors (Ryan Murphy, 2006) 7, 9:25 p.m.; also Wed 2 p.m.

ROXIE FILM CENTER
3117 and 3125 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $8 save as noted. Short-run repertory on two screens, separated by a bar, in this adventurous affiliate of New College.