Email Author Michael Fox

2003 Stories by Michael Fox

• Goodbye, Mr. Chips

  published December 31, 2003

  The year in Bay Area film, which did not present many opportunities for jubilation, ended on a decidedly down note with the Dec. 5 passing of... More >>

• City Hall

  published December 24, 2003

  It's not at the top of Mayor-elect Gavin Newsom's list, but expect major changes by next spring at the San Francisco Film Commission. For eight... More >>

• Freedom on My Mind

  published December 17, 2003

  After 23 years at the wheel, Gail Silva has relinquished the day-to-day responsibility of overseeing the nonprofit Film Arts Foundation. In her... More >>

• Mad as Hell

  published December 10, 2003

  The 1970s provided a bounty of movie catch phrases ("Make him an offer he can't refuse" and "May the Force be with you," most memorably) that... More >>

• Choose Me

  published December 10, 2003

  In one of the more shocking developments of the year, local filmmakers were nearly shut out of competition slots at next month's Sundance Film... More >>

• Continuum

  published December 3, 2003

  North Beach filmmaker Dominic Angerame recently bought a spiffy digital camcorder, but he's still committed to the tactile pleasures of exposing,... More >>

• MonkeyBone

  published November 26, 2003

  "I call this his Fellini movie," says a chuckling Henry Selick, the Bay Area stop-motion animation wizard whose distinctive style elevated the... More >>

• Triumph of the Will

  published November 19, 2003

  There's nobody more pretentious than a Hollywood director passing himself off as a "storyteller," but somehow avant-garde filmmakers are the ones... More >>

• The Enforcer

  published November 12, 2003

  Sgt. George Carrington, the film production liaison in the SFPD's Police Law Enforcement Services unit for the last six-plus years, was anointed... More >>

• The Defiant Ones

  published November 5, 2003

  "The thing that really drives me is I'm a very political beast and I have messages I want to get out to the world," says Lise Swenson, the Mission... More >>

• The Entertainer

  published October 29, 2003

  When Frank Lee signed the risky deal last year to take over the Presidio Theater on Nov. 1, he sidestepped questions about whether he would divide... More >>

• Dirty Dancing

  published October 22, 2003

  An empathetic portrait of four straight male strippers in Tampa, Adam Ballachey's American Dancer reveals the dark side to every guy's... More >>

• The 400 Blows

  published October 15, 2003

  Documentary makers typically dream of the prestige and glory of a theatrical release, and happily "settle" for the wide reach of a TV broadcast.... More >>

• Speed

  published October 8, 2003

  "We're still sort of formulating our team and our resources," says commercial producer Alisa Goldstone. "That's the whole gimmick -- you don't... More >>

• The Man Who Knew Too Much

  published October 1, 2003

  "Nowadays we look at Coppola, Lucas and Phil Kaufman," Hitchcock biographer Patrick McGilligan writes in an e-mail, "and understand that they live... More >>

• The Hours and Times

  published September 24, 2003

  Robert Hall's soft-spoken recollections of being abused as a boy and his gentle commitment to healing himself and others were powerful, but novice... More >>

• No Shades of Gray

  published September 17, 2003

  For most of the 17 years that Sacha Parisot worked as a contract technical writer for Silicon Valley companies, he took film classes and made... More >>

• On_Line

  published September 10, 2003

  Of the 23,000 new posts on www.craigslist.com on Aug. 4 -- a date the site's founder, Craig Newmark,... More >>

• Time of the Gypsies

  published September 3, 2003

  Citing financial pressures stemming from the lame economy, the San Francisco Film Society -- nonprofit parent organization of the S.F.... More >>

• The Bad Sleep Well

  published August 27, 2003

  Film buffs seeking a choice for governor beyond Schwarzenegger, porn actress Mary Carey, and Larry Flynt (The People vs. Larry Flynt) might... More >>

• Out of the Fog

  published August 20, 2003

  Elliot Lavine, who emerged as one of the top rep programmers in the country during his 13-year tenure at the Roxie Cinema before stepping down... More >>

• The Man Who Fell to Earth

  published August 13, 2003

  S.F. State film grad Bill Rose has built a solid career over the last 20 years producing and directing corporate videos, striving to make "mundane... More >>

• Bound for Glory

  published August 6, 2003

  The introduction of yet another film festival in this town, especially one scheduled Oct. 23-25 at the height of the fest season, is guaranteed to... More >>

• Time Out

  published July 30, 2003

  I got the "no longer in service" recording when I called Christopher E. Brown in April, and a more shocking response to my e-mail. "I am no longer... More >>

• Bad Day at Black Rock

  published July 23, 2003

  Respect must be paid, as Willy Loman's wife said. When the Royal Theater closed on the last day of February 1998, the chances of it ever reopening... More >>