Email Author Michael Fox

2012 Stories by Michael Fox

• Whistle While You're Off Work

  published December 19, 2012

  Unlike Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney didn’t completely abandon short subjects for features. After all, there was a lot of money in cartoons,... More >>

• Revenge Is a Tapas Best Served Cold

  published December 26, 2012

  Hypocrites stalk the land with impunity, stuffing their faces and pockets while lecturing us proles on the need for self-sacrifice. Lord, we miss... More >>

• A Roving Pack of Raving Santas

  published December 12, 2012

  It’s impossible to name a filmmaker more unassuming than our own Terry Zwigoff. That particular quality wouldn’t impress us so much if... More >>

• Toasting Our Neighbors

  published December 12, 2012

  Flawed human beings that we are, we routinely take for granted the people, places, and traditions that make this city special. One of the gifts of... More >>

• You Can Leave Your Hat On

  published November 28, 2012

  Local film historian Matthew Kennedy’s forthcoming book, Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, recounts in juicy, gory... More >>

• Video of the Day: Three Documentaries about Quirky San Francisco

  published Dec 21, 2012

  Flawed human beings that we are, we routinely take for granted the people, places, and traditions that make this city special. One of the gifts of the holiday season is the chance to convey our apprec... More >>

• Nightmare on 16th Street

  published November 21, 2012

  Another Hole in the Head Film Festival is predicated on the proposition that horror — and exploitation flicks and dystopian... More >>

• Frame by Frame

  published November 21, 2012

  For its 34th annual jamboree of creative functionality (or functional creativity), the venerable Celebration of Craftswomen introduces a... More >>

• Video of the Day: Retro Sex Musicals

  published Dec 06, 2012

  Local film historian Matthew Kennedy's forthcoming book, Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, recounts in juicy, gory detail how bloated bombs like Doctor Dolittle, Paint Your Wagon, Star... More >>

• People, It’s What’s for Dinner

  published November 14, 2012

  Alfred Hitchcock’s great contribution to postmodern unease was thrusting murder into the center of everyday life. Killing was no longer the... More >>

• Video of the Day: Finally, a Film Festival Devoted to Horror and Dystopian Nightmares

  published Nov 30, 2012

  Another Hole in the Head Film Festival is predicated on the proposition that horror -- and exploitation flicks and dystopian nightmares -- knows no bounds and no borders. (Or season, apparently, for t... More >>

• Video of the Day: People. It's What's for Dinner

  published Nov 27, 2012

  Alfred Hitchcock's great contribution to postmodern unease was thrusting murder into the center of everyday life. Killing was no longer the exotic province of cunning, sophisticated masterminds but t... More >>

• Tiramisu for Two

  published November 7, 2012

  The list of female auteurs who also perform in their own films is regrettably short: Agnes Jaoui, Asia Argento, Julie Delpy, and Lena Dunham are... More >>

• The Needle and the Damage Done

  published October 31, 2012

  Once upon a time, when documentaries consisted almost exclusively of “educational films,” inventors and presidents were usually the... More >>

• Pusher Men

  published October 24, 2012

  Natalia Almada has some serious bragging rights. Awarded a MacArthur Fellowship just a few weeks ago, the rising documentary filmmaker will have... More >>

• Video of the Day: A Tale of Underground Artists Mike Giant and Mike Maxwell

  published Nov 07, 2012

  Once upon a time, when documentaries consisted almost exclusively of "educational films," inventors and presidents were usually the only people deemed worthy of the camera's attention. These days, tha... More >>

• No One Can Hear You Scream

  published October 17, 2012

  The uninitiated moviegoer might toss out a dig at silent films, and be heard speaking dismissively of black-and-white movies. It’s a... More >>

• Video of the Day: A Film About Violence with No Violence

  published Nov 01, 2012

  Natalia Almada has some serious bragging rights. Awarded a MacArthur Fellowship just a few weeks ago, the rising documentary filmmaker will have the word "genius" (as in "genius grant") attached to he... More >>

• Video of the Day: The Silent Era's Best Horror Movie

  published Oct 30, 2012

  The uninitiated moviegoer might toss out a dig at silent films, and be heard speaking dismissively of black-and-white movies. It's a juvenile offense. But nobody jokes about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligar... More >>

• After Dark, My Sweet

  published October 10, 2012

  Calling all Warren Oates fans: A tough-minded tribute to the late, great character actor unspools tonight as part of Not Necessarily Noir... More >>

• The Good Earth

  published September 26, 2012

  In a pair of acclaimed documentaries, local filmmaker Micha X. Peled tracked globalization’s footprints from a big-box store in Virginia... More >>

• High Stakes

  published October 3, 2012

  Halloween is no longer Fright Night so much as Amateur Night. (Impossibly high expectations quenched with too much cheap booze likewise ruined New... More >>

• Video of the Day: Before Vampires Sparkled

  published Oct 15, 2012

  Halloween is no longer Fright Night so much as Amateur Night. (Impossibly high expectations drowning in cheap booze likewise ruined New Year's Eve years ago.) Satisfy your primeval need for cathartic ... More >>

• Video of the Day: Another Reason to Hate Monsanto

  published Oct 10, 2012

  In a pair of acclaimed documentaries, local filmmaker Micha X. Peled tracked globalization's footprints from a big-box store in Virginia (Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town) to a blue jeans facto... More >>

• Fact Checking

  published September 12, 2012

  Hollywood directors test-drive their movies for focus-group audiences in Anaheim. Bay Area documentary makers, although not averse to reaching the... More >>