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.
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ARTISTS' TELEVISION ACCESS
992 Valencia (at 21st Street), 824-3890, www.atasite.org. This venue offers all manner of strange and unusual video and film. $5 save as noted.
THURSDAY (Aug. 9): When not treating visiting heroes of 9/11, Cuban doctors treat people throughout Africa and Latin America, as documented in Montaña de Luz (Mountain of Light, Guillermo Centeno, Cuba, 2005). $6 7:30 p.m.
BALBOA
3630 Balboa (at 38th Avenue), 221-8484, www.balboamovies.com. This great neighborhood house shows films of all sorts. $8.50.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Maybe the fourth Bourne movie should be done like Memento, with amnesiac Matt Damon tattooing himself with CIA secrets — in the meantime, there's The Bourne Ultimatum (Paul Greenglass, 2007) noon, 2:20, 4:35, 7, 9:20 p.m. Homer forgets his doughnut in The Simpsons Movie (David Silverman, 2007) 12:30, 3, 5:15, 7:30, 9:35 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: Call for films and times.
CASTRO
429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com. 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. $10 save as noted.
WEDNESDAY: Wes Anderson's melancholic fish tale The Life Aquatic (2004; 2:50, 7 p.m. ) screens with Paul Thomas Anderson's musical romance Punch Drunk Love (2002; 1, 5:05, 9:20 p.m. ).
THURSDAY: Dead Channels, the San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Film, opens with an ultra-rare 35mm print of a Kurt Vonnegut adaptation Happy Birtday, Wanda June (Mark Robson, 1971) with Susannah York and Rod Steiger 5:15 p.m. Cult favorite Takashi Miike's boys-in-prison fantasy Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (Japan, 2006) 7:30 p.m. Postal (Uwe Boll, Germany/Canada, 2007) with director and cast in person 9:30 p.m.
FRIDAY: Live music from Monique Argent and "Hawaii's Ambassador of Music" Amy Hanaiali'I Gilliom. Reserved seating only; see www.cityboxoffice.com for tickets ($35 and $45) 8 p.m.
SATURDAY: The charming Laurel & Hardy western comedy Way Out West (James Horne, 1937) plus a program of Bugs Bunny cartoons, all for a quarter (that's 25, the same price as the Castro's opening day in 1922) 11 a.m. It's a Singalong The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939), with Monique Argent singing "Over the Rainbow" and other tunes before the film. $15 2 p.m. An "Only in San Francisco" themed evening screens Jeanette MacDonald warbling San Francisco (W. S. Van Dyke, 1936) followed by live music by the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, cake and Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941). Program starts at 7 p.m.
SUNDAY: The South rises again in its Civil War revision Gone With the Wind (Fleming, 1939) noon Lon Chaney prowls again as The Phantom of the Opera (Rupert Julian, 1925), with a live organ score by Warren Lubich and the splendid Laurel & Hardy short subject Big Business (Horne, 1929) 7 p.m.
MONDAY: Theater closed.
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY (Aug. 14-15): Werner Herzog's classics of humanity in extremis, Aguirre the Wrath of God (Germany, 1972; 7 p.m.; also Wed 2:50 p.m. ) and The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser (Germany, 1974, 9 p.m.; also Wed 12:45, 4:50 p.m. ), the one about a mad conquistidor, the other about a victimized enigma.
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. $5.
SUNDAY (Aug. 12): Supervillain Ivan Ooze takes on "Bad Movie Night" and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (Bryan Spicer, 1995) 8 p.m.
FOREIGN CINEMA
2534 Mission (between 21st and 22nd streets), 648-7600), www.foreigncinema.com. 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. Free with meal.
DAILY: Ang Lee's generous The Wedding Banquet (1993), through Aug. 26 "Starts at dusk."
FOUR STAR
2200 Clement (at 23rd Avenue), 666-3468, www.hkinsf.com/4star/. This enterprising theater hosts occasional special screenings. $8.50.
THURSDAY: An on-going "Asian Movie Madness" series screens Jet Li's farewell to martial arts, Fearless (Ronny Yu, China, 2006; noon, 4, 8 p.m. ) and the famed martial arts epic Shaolin Temple (Cheh Cheng, Hong Kong, 1976; 2, 6, 9:45 p.m. ) in its English-dubbed version. Jet Li played the hero played here by Alexander Fu Sheng in his 1993 film Fong Sai Yuk.
LUMIERE
1572 California (at Polk), 352-0810, www.landmarktheatres.com. This multiplex is only partly a "calendar house" rep theater. $9.75.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: One to Another (Pascal Arnold and Jean-Marc Barr, France, 2006) 5, 7:30, 9:45 p.m.
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Aug. 10-16): This is England (Shane Meadows, U.K., 2006). See Opening for review. Call for times.
MECHANICS' INSTITUTE LIBRARY
57 Post (near Market), 393-0100 and www.milibrary.org for information; phone or email rsvp@milibrary.org for required reservations. This cultural asset of long standing continues a summer film series this week. Shown on projected video, with salon-style discussions to follow. $10 donation.
FRIDAY (Aug. 10): A musical series screens MGM's all-star Ziegfeld Follies (1944), much of it lavishly directed by Vincente Minnelli (but not the painfully unfunny Red Skelton and Fanny Brice comedy skits) 6:30 p.m.
ROXIE FILM CENTER
3117 and 3125 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087 and www.roxie.com for venue, www.deadchannels.com for the Dead Channels Film Festival, here Aug. 10-16. Short-run repertory on two screens, separated by a bar, in this adventurous affiliate of New College. $8 regular admission, $10 for Dead Channels save as noted.
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