Email Author Michael Fox

2012 Stories by Michael Fox

• Mad Blokes

  published January 18, 2012

  If you find American TV spots entertaining and clever, you should see the brief bits of brilliance concocted by the whiz kids on the other side of... More >>

• The British Have Way More Latitude in TV Commercials Than We Do -- See Their Best

  published Jan 27, 2012

  If you find American TV spots entertaining and clever, you should see the brief bits of brilliance concocted by the whiz kids on the other side of the Atlantic. The British Arrows Awards (a more color More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Filmmaker Chris Metzler Brings Fishbone Back to S.F. With Everyday Sunshine

  published Jan 06, 2012

  ​Chris Metzler fits in perfectly in the eclectic documentary circles of his adopted S.F. home, even if he hasn't shed his L.A. roots. Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, the high-energy fo More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Top 10 Stories in Bay Area Film 2011

  published Dec 30, 2011

  ​Change is the only constant, and every movie marquee provides incontrovertible visual evidence: new movies, promising debuts and fresh succes de scandales, as well as vintage revivals and retro More >>

• Animation Has Grown -- and Grown Up

  published Nov 10, 2011

  Animation used to be the province of the fantastic and the impossible: dancing hippos, futuristic planets, talking rabbits, and psychedelic forests. We're still inundated with anthropomorphized anima More >>

• Cruz Reynoso -- Son of Farmworkers, Former High Court Justice -- Inspires Latinos to "Keep Fighting"

  published Sep 23, 2011

  Abby Ginzberg can be a fighter or a diplomat, depending on what the situation calls for. For a lawyer (which she was, for a decade) and a documentary filmmaker (her calling for the past 25-plus year More >>

• Mary Lou, Israeli Musical About a Teenage Drag Queen, Makes Its U.S. Premiere Saturday

  published Sep 14, 2011

  "Courage," declares the gay teenage protagonist in Mary Lou, "is sometimes nothing more than an outburst of great despair." Meir (Ido Rozenberg) plainly needs someone to tell him it gets better in Isr More >>

• Filmmaker Chris Marker -- who Inspired Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys -- Turns 90 This Week

  published Jul 25, 2011

  Fifty years after La Jetee -- the most radical and mesmerizing short work of speculative fiction in cinema history and the inspiration for Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys -- the world still hasn't caught More >>

• Local Filmmakers Feed at the Udder of
  a Scary Cow (Film Festival)

  published Jun 30, 2011

  Aspiring young directors have a choice these days: drop a serious wad on film school, or put the dough into making a feature, where they get a real-world, sink-or-swim education. Scary Cow, our town' More >>

• S.F. Film Society Lands New Japantown Venue

  published Jun 23, 2011

  ​Say goodbye to SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas. As of Sept. 1, the San Francisco Film Society is relocating its theatrical exhibition outpost two blocks down Post Street at the New P More >>

• See San Francisco Through the Eyes of Pro and Amateur 20th-Century Filmmakers

  published Jun 14, 2011

  It would be a mistake to accuse vaunted San Francisco film archivist and collector Rick Prelinger of living in the past. Sure, he's forever sifting through vintage reels and tapes of unedited material More >>

• Local Film with Local Talent:
  Contractor's Routine Opens at the Lumiere

  published Jun 03, 2011

  We love it when local talent gets a big break, and Contractor's Routine is a big example. The psychological thriller was shot in San Francisco. All the cast except Tom Sizemore is local. And it start More >>

• Corner Store: An Immigrant Tries to Bring His Family 'Home' to S.F. But Finds It's Not Easy

  published May 19, 2011

  A decade ago, Yousef Elhaj left his home and family in the West Bank and came to San Francisco. He diligently and solitarily worked his tail off, paving the way -- or so he hoped -- for his family to More >>

• Restored Taxi Driver Print Screens at the Roxie

  published May 09, 2011

  Our national pastime is paranoia, not baseball. In the mid-1970s, when the Watergate revelations about the Nixon White House and a wave of conspiracy theories about JFK's assassination fueled a mood More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Oliver Stone Gets Political -- and Light-Hearted -- During Film Festival Interview

  published Apr 28, 2011

  ​Say what you will about Oliver Stone, he's a heck of a good sport. The recipient of this year's Founder's Directing Award from the S.F. International Film Festival was feted last night in the More >>

• Christine Vachon Is Short on Insight, Inspiration in 2011 State of Cinema Address

  published Apr 25, 2011

  ​A few years ago, Christine Vachon says, she visited a psychic. Baffled by what the cards spread before her indicated, the spiritualist asked, "Are you a general in the Armyr You're moving great More >>

• Beth Lisick, Frazer Bradshaw Collaboration Featured at S.F. Underground Short Film Festival

  published Apr 15, 2011

  Peaches Christ doesn't show movies -- she stages events. Peaches is the longtime force behind Midnight Mass and director of last year's horror comedy All About Evil. Her spring salute to taboo-smashi More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  What to See at the S.F. International Film Festival

  published Mar 29, 2011

  ​Here's the first thing you should know after hearing that the San Francisco International Film Festival announced its full program this morning: Even hardcore film buffs and multilingual critic More >>

• Disposable Film Festival Starts Thursday

  published Mar 23, 2011

  A guiding principle of art, at least for those without a patron or trust fund, is work with what you've got. Cavemen and women used natural pigments and, well, cave walls, while modern primitives avai More >>

• San Francisco Green Film Festival Offers Laughs, Entertainment -- and Stark Reality

  published Mar 01, 2011

  ​Here's a clue that the startup San Francisco Green Film Festival isn't another feelgood hugfest sprouted by evangelical vegans: Rachel Caplan's business card identifies her as "CEO/Founder" of More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Academy Awards, You Lie: Seven Movies that Expose the Real Hollywood

  published Feb 25, 2011

  The central myth propagated by the annual Academy Awards telecast is that Hollywood is one big happy family of mutually supportive artists in thrall to the sacred muse of inspiration. (We'll pause for More >>

• 100 Profiles: Craig Baldwin Rages Against the Multiplex Machine

  published Feb 10, 2011

  100 ProfilesSF Weekly interviews 100 people in San Francisco arts and culture.No. 99: Craig BaldwinForget about Sumatran coffee blends, lab-concocted energy drinks or full-bore action flicks. If you n More >>

• IndieFest Features 'Dogumentary'

  published Feb 07, 2011

  We San Franciscans are lucky when it comes to film. To offset the 100-screen multiplexes in shopping malls throughout the region that show whatever big-budget star vehicles Hollywood sends their way, More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Five Sports-Themed Movies to Counteract the Super Bowl

  published Feb 04, 2011

  Are you appalled by the prospect of turning your brain off for five hours during the national holiday that is Super Bowl Sundayr Do you dread making small talk between commercials with equally benumbe More >>

• Tuesday's Pick: 'The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector'

  published Sep 14, 2010

  The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil SpectorRoxie Theater$6-$10With the Ronettes, the Righteous Brothers, and the Ramones, producer Phil Spector swathed dozens of hit singles in a layered sheen. His sign More >>