|
2/4
|
70%
|
Wrong (2013) |
"
Dupieux has to be applauded for creating a unique universe, but sometimes he seems stuck in it - to the point where we feel we're not always in on the joke."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Mar 29, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
70%
|
Somebody Up There Likes Me (2013) |
"
American cinema has been churning out slacker movies for what seems like eons, so it's refreshing to report that Somebody Up There Likes Me enlivens the genre with a welcome breath of imagination, wit and charm."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Mar 25, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
71%
|
Greedy Lying Bastards (2013) |
"
The film's structural flaws appear to stem from the lack of access to oil industry titans and the other usual suspects. (To be fair, the filmmakers tried.)"
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
86%
|
Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives (2013) |
"
This film is so bereft of conflict and seems so intent on celebrating commune life and the sisterhood and the joys of midwifery that it glosses over important issues."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
65%
|
The Jeffrey Dahmer Files (2013) |
"
Different - and chillingly effective."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Feb 28, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
88%
|
Yossi (2013) |
"
"Yossi" offers genuine pleasures (even some of Fox's trademark musical numbers)."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Feb 14, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
98%
|
Beware Of Mr. Baker (2012) |
"
This is warts and all, with the emphasis on the warts."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Jan 24, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
86%
|
The Law In These Parts (2012) |
"
On the surface, it sounds like a boring, esoteric day in law class, but in truth, it plays out like a riveting session in court ..."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Jan 17, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
80%
|
Only The Young (2012) |
"
A charming, aimless film about the aimless. It plays like a nuanced MTV reality show (an oxymoron, perhaps, but you get the idea)."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Jan 10, 2013
|
|
|
83%
|
Prince of Broadway (2010) |
"
Director Sean Baker's fascinating, impossible-to-categorize film relies on handheld cameras, improvised dialogue, jump cuts and a very photogenic arena, the city's wholesale fashion district."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Jan 10, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
73%
|
Generation P (2012) |
"
Plays like a metaphysical Moscow version of "Mad Men" - on acid."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Dec 7, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
80%
|
North Sea Texas (2012) |
"
It's a story that's been told countless times, but first-time director Bavo Defurne has such an assured hand and visual flair (much credit also belongs to cinematographer Anton Mertens) that everything seems fresh and new."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Dec 7, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
11%
|
Just 45 Minutes From Broadway (2012) |
"
You will either laugh or cringe, depending on your enjoyment of comic melodrama (the kind view) or distaste for overindulged actors (the not-so-kind view)."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Nov 29, 2012
|
|
0/4
|
46%
|
The Comedy (2012) |
"
A mean-spirited piece of mumblecore that tries to provoke you, but only succeeds in boring you."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Nov 22, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
100%
|
Question One (2012) |
"
We've all heard the arguments many times before. Here, it's between the lines that count."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Oct 25, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
——
|
Bitter Seeds () |
"
This film doesn't provide a lot of bars or charts or fancy graphics. Just cue cards to give us perspective. And surprisingly beautifully shot scenes of an intimate family drama that takes place over a season of growing cotton."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Oct 4, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
84%
|
Detropia (2012) |
"
Artfully - perhaps too artfully - illustrates the transformation of the Motor City from a middle-class utopia to an urban nightmare of blight, crime and fleeing residents."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 28, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
87%
|
Somewhere Between (2012) |
"
A play-it-safe, by-the-numbers kind of documentary - yet somehow it gets under your skin."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 20, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
90%
|
Keep the Lights On (2012) |
"
A harsh yet delicate tale of two New Yorkers whose co-dependent relationship is fueled by sex, drugs and complex longings for companionship."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 13, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
88%
|
Cane Toads: The Conquest (2012) |
"
The namesake of the wacky, yet substantial documentary "Cane Toads: The Conquest" is not a creature to be taken lightly, even if the film (and the audience) has plenty of fun at his expense."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 13, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
93%
|
Beauty Is Embarrassing (2012) |
"
Though the movie isn't wildly original, its time-tested, artistic mantra of "just go out there and do it" is hard to resist."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 13, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
64%
|
Kumaré (2012) |
"
Your view of the film may hinge on whether you can accept the ethics of his fakery."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 6, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
75%
|
Alps (2012) |
"
A strange story. A strange world. And strange characters doing even stranger things."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Aug 23, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
62%
|
The Awakening (2012) |
"
A lot of tension and buildup leads us to ... well, it's hard to say."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Aug 16, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
70%
|
Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012) |
"
Both old-fashioned and modern, both funny and melancholic, the witty, heartfelt "Celeste and Jesse Forever" is populated by moments that at first appear all too familiar, then turn out to surprise you."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Aug 9, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
82%
|
Bill W. (2012) |
"
Pretty much like the man himself: solid, sometimes flawed and seriously unflashy."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Aug 2, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
71%
|
Sacrifice (2012) |
"
It charges out of the gate in Indiana Jones style, employing so many plot twists that you may need a scorecard. Then after an hour or so, it settles into an intimate, character-driven drama, before its low-key yet thought-provoking finale."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Jul 26, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
77%
|
Here (2012) |
"
[It] doesn't offer up a ton of narrative surprises, but there is plenty going on the screen to keep you engaged - and visually stimulated."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted May 10, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
64%
|
Hit So Hard (2012) |
"
An absorbing, educational, sad, humorous and ultimately uplifting film that is easily accessible and entertaining even for those not familiar with the grunge rock scene, or with the considerable role that Schemel played in that milieu."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Apr 26, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
38%
|
Blue Like Jazz (2012) |
"
It tackles existential struggles that many of us grapple with - and the film industry virtually ignores - while doing so in an entertaining way."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Apr 13, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
84%
|
The Raid: Redemption (2012) |
"
It's claustrophobic, tense, ultraviolent -- and fun."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Mar 22, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
67%
|
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (2012) |
"
Rarely do films offer such intimate insights into the inner workings of a true artist."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Mar 8, 2012
|
|
—
|
64%
|
The Frighteners (1996) |
—
Variety
Posted Feb 23, 2012
|
|
—
|
40%
|
The Bucket List (2007) |
—
Variety
Posted Feb 23, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
——
|
Hell: The Devil's Domain (2006) |
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Feb 3, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
75%
|
Domaine (2012) |
"
[Dalle] commands the screen from the first frame, when she hosts a late-night, outdoor drinking fest and babbles on about how mathematics - and not words - create order."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Feb 2, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
85%
|
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (2012) |
"
This is a very intelligent, well-plotted story - and my hunch is that we have not seen the last of our heroes."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Jan 19, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
98%
|
Silent Souls (2011) |
"
An astonishing, haunting, sensual, lyrical, bleak and ultimately beautiful road-trip movie."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Dec 22, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
88%
|
Eames: The Architect And The Painter (2011) |
"
As fascinating - and at times oblique - as the famous couple themselves."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Dec 1, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
38%
|
Programming The Nation? (2011) |
"
The filmmakers deserve credit for delving into a topic that has received scant attention in the movies, but a lot of it is old news (except, perhaps, for younger viewers)."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Oct 27, 2011
|
|
4/4
|
91%
|
City of Life and Death (2011) |
"
Lu Chuan makes this feature film soar by telling the story both through the eyes of the Japanese occupiers and the defenseless Chinese civilians in the ancient capital. It makes the savagery all the more senseless."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 22, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
91%
|
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) |
"
It is mostly impressionistic - but, wow, some of those impressions really pack a punch."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 22, 2011
|
|
4/4
|
——
|
Mary Lou (2011) |
"
From its joyously rambunctious opening number to its bittersweet yet ultimately uplifting finale, a catchy song is never far away, but neither is a deep, universal thought to keep you on your toes."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 15, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
80%
|
Littlerock (2011) |
"
This evocative, deceptively rich slice of life has its own voice, and it never fails to be enjoyable for several reasons."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 8, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
57%
|
Film socialisme (2011) |
"
This isn't exactly a popcorn movie. I'm not sure it's even a movie, as much as an edgy art installation."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 1, 2011
|
|
4/4
|
90%
|
Love Exposure (2011) |
"
As the old cliche goes, you will not have another moviegoing experience quite like this one all year."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Sep 1, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
67%
|
Shut Up Little Man! (2011) |
"
"Shut Up, Little Man! An Audio Misadventure" has to rank right up there as one of the oddest films of the year. But odd in a very good way."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Aug 25, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
62%
|
Gun Hill Road (2011) |
"
In writer-director Rashaad Ernesto Green's assured hands, "Gun Hill Road" manages somehow to be gritty, delicate, in your face and nuanced at the same time."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Aug 11, 2011
|
|
4/4
|
89%
|
Crime After Crime (2011) |
"
This emotionally affecting documentary will move you like few films this year, thanks to a luminous heroine and an unlikely but appealing trio who work tirelessly to release her from prison."
—
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted Aug 4, 2011
|
78%
——
——
85%
45%
40%
