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Now Playing at the Clay Theatre
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In the still of the night, three lives are about to cross…a woman abandoned,
a stranger awaiting his chance and a best-selling author who imagines the
thriller of the year. Deceptively layered and intriguingly misleading, this
highly anticipated new feature from writer/director Claude Lelouch (Oscar
winner for A Man and a Woman) stars Dominique Pinon and Fanny Ardant
as an unlikely couple caught up in a game with high stakes—and deadly
consequences. The thriller takes its title from the name given to pulp fictions
sold in French train stations. Co-starring Audrey Dana. Official Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
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Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a Jiu-Jitsu teacher who has avoided the
prize fighting circuit, choosing instead to pursue an honorable life by operating
a self-defense studio with a samurai's code. He and his wife Sondra (Alice
Braga) struggle to keep the business running to make ends meet. An accident
at the Academy between an off duty officer (Max Martini) and a distraught
lawyer (Emily Mortimer) puts in motion a series of events that will change
Terry's life dramatically, introducing him to a world of promoters (Ricky
Jay, Joe Mantegna) and a movie star (Tim Allen). To pay off his debts and
regain his honor, Terry must step into the ring for the first time in his
life. Written and directed by David Mamet (Spartan, The Spanish Prisoner). Official Web Site Ruthe Stein's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Lumiere Theatre
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Colorful and action-packed, this jubilant film endearingly spoofs James Bond-style
spy adventures from the 1960s. The setting is Egypt, 1955. Cairo is a veritable
nest of spies, with everyone wary of everyone and plotting against everyone:
the English, French, Soviets—even the radical Eagles of Kheops brotherhood.
To bring order to this desert at the edge of chaos, the French Secret Service
sends their main weapon: Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath (Jean Dujardin), a super
agent and ladies man otherwise known as OSS 117. His mission: investigate
the death of a friend and fellow spy, control the Suez Canal and establish
peace in the Middle East! Directed by Michel Hazanavicius. Official Web
Site Walter Addiego's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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| In 1980s Britain, young Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) is raised in isolation among The Brethren, a puritanical religious sect in which music and TV are strictly forbidden. When Will encounters his first movie, a pirated copy of Rambo: First Blood, his imagination is blown wide open. Now, Will sets out to join forces with the seemingly diabolical school bully (Will Poulter) to make their own action epic, devising wildly creative, on-the-fly stunts, not to mention equally elaborate schemes for creating a movie of total commitment and non-stop thrills while hiding out from The Brethren. Written and directed by Garth Jennings (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), who captures the agony and the giddy ecstasy of a camcorder childhood with inventive humor, poignancy and a rousing dose of cinematic panache. Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Bridge Theatre
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| Born to race cars, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized—the legendary Rex Racer, whose death has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father (John Goodman), the designer of Speed's thundering Mach 5. When Speed turns down a lucrative offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company's maniacal owner (Roger Allam) but uncovers a terrible secret—some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls. If Speed won't drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed teams with his one-time rival—the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox)—to win the race that had taken his brother's life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible. Written and directed by Larry & Andy Wachowski (The Matrix trilogy). Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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Helen Hunt makes her feature directing debut with the touching story of schoolteacher
April Epner (Hunt) and her very unlikely path towards personal fulfillment.
Following the separation from her husband (Matthew Broderick) and the death
of her adopted mother, April is contacted by her apparent birth mother (Bette
Midler), who turns out to be a local talk show host Bernice Graves. As Bernice
tries to become the mother to April that she was never able to be, April seems
to find solace in the arms of the parent of one of her students (Colin Firth),
only to find that the mystery to life's questions cannot be solved by a simple
revelation. Adapted from Elinor Lipman's novel of the same name. Official
Web Site Ruthe Stein's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Lumiere Theatre
Must End Thursday, May 15!
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Most people don't think about singing when they think about revolutions.
But song was the weapon of choice when, between 1987 and 1991, Estonians sought
to free themselves from decades of brutal Soviet occupation. During those
years, hundreds of thousands gathered in public to sing forbidden patriotic
songs and to rally for independence. James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty's
feature documentary tells the moving story of how the Estonian people peacefully
regained their freedom—and helped topple an empire along the way. Narrated
by Linda Hunt. Official
Web Site Desson Thomson's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
Must End Thursday, May 15!
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| Chinese science student Liu Xing (Liu Ye) arrives at a big U.S. university in pursuit of a Ph.D., with plans to study the origins of the universe. When the head of the department (Aidan Quinn) welcomes him into his select cosmology group, it seems that only hard work stands between him and a bright future. Driven by ambition, but unable to navigate academic politics when his teacher turns against him for pursuing a project in opposition to the professor's favorite theory, Liu Xing is pushed over the edge and reacts with violence. Meryl Streep co-stars as a university donor who tries to help the troubled student. Based on a true story. The feature film debut of renowned opera and theater director Chen Shi-Zheng. Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood star in an intense and visually evocative
drama about the loss of youth, investigating how a single moment in time can
define an entire life. Based on Laura Kasischke’s visionary novel, the
story hinges on a pivotal confrontation: two high school girls held captive
by a gunman and forced to make the terrifying choice as to who will live and
who will die. Director Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) explores
the reverberations stemming from the collision of past and future, reality
and dream. Life can end in an instant—yet the echoes of possible futures
been remain inescapable. Moving backwards and forwards in time, it combines
the dramatic intensity of Sophie’s Choice with the eerie mystery
of a ghost story like The Others. Official
Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
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A smash hit in its native Italy, director/co-writer Daniele Luchetti's intensely
cinematic and incisive comedy-drama looks at the dreams and disillusionments
of the 1960s and '70s. In a small Italian town, two brothers want to change
the world—but in completely different ways. The elder, Manrico (Riccardo
Scarmaccio), is a handsome, charismatic firebrand who becomes the prime mover
in the local Communist party. Accio (Elio Germano), the younger and more rebellious
brother, finds his own contrarian voice by joining the reactionary Fascists.
What starts as a typical tale of sibling rivalry becomes the story of the
polarizing and paralyzing politics of those turbulent times, and the rift
between the brothers when Accio realizes that he loves his brother’s
girlfriend, Francesca (Diane Fleri). Official
Web Site Walter Addiego's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, 62-year-old Walter
Vale (Richard Jenkins) fills the void by trying to learn to play classical
piano. Sent to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find
a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real
estate scam, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian man, and Zainab (Danai Gurira),
his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go. In the first of a series
of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him.
Touched by his kindness, the talented Tarek insists on teaching the aging
academic to play the African drum. The instrument's exuberant rhythms revitalize
Walter's faltering spirit and open his eyes to a vibrant world of local jazz
clubs and Central Park drum circles. When Tarek is arrested as an undocumented
citizen and held for deportation, Walter finds himself compelled to help his
new friend with a passion he thought he had long ago lost. Written and directed
by Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent). Official Web Site Director Tom McCarthy is fascinated by how and why people connect Ruthe Stein's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
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Prepare to be entertained and inspired by a New England senior citizens chorus
that has delighted audiences worldwide with their covers of songs by everyone
from The Clash to Coldplay. As director Stephen Walker's documentary begins,
the retirees, led by their strict musical director, are rehearsing their new
show, struggling with a discordant Sonic Youth number and giving new meaning
to James Brown's "I Feel Good." What ultimately emerges is a funny
and unexpectedly moving testament to friendship, creative inspiration and
reaching beyond expectations. Official
Web Site Walter Addiego's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Starts Friday, May 16
at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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The English-language debut of acclaimed Indian director Santosh Sivan (Asoka,
The Terrorist) is set in 1930s southern India against the backdrop
of a growing nationalist movement. Rahul Bose stars as an idealistic young
Indian man who finds himself torn between his ambitions for the future and
his loyalty to the past when people in his village learn of an affair between
his British boss (Linus Roache) and a village woman (Nandita Das). Co-starring
Jennifer Ehle and John Standing. Presented by Merchant Ivory, creators of
A Room With a View, Howards End and The Remains of the Day. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, May 16 at the Bridge Theatre
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| A mysterious red balloon affectionately follows seven-year-old Simon (Simon Iteanu) around Paris in this imaginative tale. His mother Suzanne (Juliet Binoche) is a puppeteer who uses her vocal talents to bring life to the shows she writes. Completely absorbed in her new show, Suzanne becomes overwhelmed by the complications of modern daily life, so she decides to hire Song (Song Fang), a Taiwanese film student, to help her care for Simon. Inspired by the 1956 classic, The Red Balloon. Feeling at times almost improvisatory, this first European-made film by writer/director Hou Hsiao Hsien (Flowers of Shanghai, Millennium Mambo) is a poetic delight. Co-starring Hippolyte Girardot and Louis Margolin. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, May 16
at the Opera Plaza Cinema
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| Meet Bill (Aaron Eckhart)—a doormat if there ever was one. A man reduced to a mere accessory to his family by working a dead end job at his father-in-law's bank, Bill's wife Jess (Elizabeth Banks) is loathe to explain her "friendship" with the local news anchorman (Timothy Olyphant). But Bill's fate begins to change when he becomes mentor to a self-assured boy (Logan Lerman) who engineers Bill's recovery with the help of a cute lingerie sales girl named Lucy (Jessica Alba). Together, the trio confronts Bill's hapless life with humor and energy while forcing him to capture his dream of being financially independent and self-confident. Directed by Bernie Goldmann and co-writer Melisa Wallack. Official Web Site |
Fri & Sat Midnight Movies at the Clay Theatre!
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Lucio Fulci's 1981 shocker The Beyond · May 16 & 17 3 nights! The Dark Crystal · May 23, 24 & 25 The Rocky Horror Picture Show · Sat, May 31 only! Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby · Jun 6 & 7 Kevin Bacon in the original Friday the 13th · Jun 13 & 14 Firefly on the big screen! Serenity · Jun 20 & 21 The Rocky Horror Picture Show · Sat, Jun 28 only! |
Starts Friday, May 23
at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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| This sexy, playful, poignant tale kicks off just as Phillip (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik (Espen Klouman-Høiner)—two cocky, grinning rebels full of the verve and dreams of 20-year-olds everywhere—ship off their first novels to publishers, each hoping to become a wildly influential "cult author." Fast-forward six months. These reveries have crashed, hard, into reality. Phillip, whose novel garnered instant acclaim and turned him into a mini-celebrity, has had a terrifying breakdown. Erik, who never sold his novel, is still pecking away, determined to follow in the footsteps of his undying hero, a reclusive but idolized writing genius. Nimbly moving both backwards and forwards in time—via a dazzling mix of flashbacks, rapid-fire editing, philosophical voiceovers and comical flights of fancy—the film traces how Erik and Phillip arrived at this precipice where exuberant youth runs into the harsh light of day…and witnesses the emotionally gripping aftermath. Directed and co-written by Joachim Trier. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, May 23 at the Lumiere Theatre
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| Only Harmony Korine (writer of Kids, auteur of Gummo and Julien Donkey-Boy) could weave Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, her daughter Shirley Temple and flying nuns into a hypnotically funny and truly poignant tale of the instability behind fanaticism and the redemption we can hope to find in one another. The film follows a lonely Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) who is invited by a beautiful Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton) to a commune full of other impersonators—including the Queen of England, Madonna, Sammy Davis Jr. and James Dean—in the Scottish Highlands. In a parallel story line, the incomparable Werner Herzog plays a Latin American priest who learns his missionary of nuns can literally fly. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, May 23 at the Lumiere Theatre
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| "Let the manhunt begin!" When Luke (co-writer Jesse Archer) enters the gay bar flanked by his sidekicks, he doesn't know that he is about to meet his match—in hot macho man Stephen (Charlie David). Awakening in a twisted heap of naked strangers, Luke heads to work at a Chelsea sex store where he is forced to face his lifestyle by his co-worker Zeke (Cory Grant), a confrontational gay crusader who will stop at nothing short of changing the world. Smitten with Stephen, Luke considers giving monogamy a chance. He attends a sexual compulsives meeting where he discovers he is not the only "nympho" in New York. Luke is falling for Stephen, but it soon turns out that Stephen's cash doesn't flow from a trust fund; he works hard for his money—as a hustler! A sexy, romantic gay comedy from director/co-writer Casper Andreas (Slutty Summer). Official Web Site |
Sat, May 31 at Midnight at the Clay Theatre!
With The Bawdy Caste LIVE!
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| The longest-running midnight movie of all time stars Tim Curry as the kinky yet endearing “transsexual from Transylvania” Dr. Frank N. Furter, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick as his hapless guests Brad and Janet, Meat Loaf as motorcycle-riding rough trade and author Richard O’Brien as the hunchbacked butler Riff Raff. It’s harmless musical fun—a delightful spoof of Hollywood horror movies and Old Dark House melodramas. All of our engagements feature live casts who perform scenes during the movie, and the audience is always welcome to respond to the on-screen action. The Rocky Horror Picture was the first—and is still the best—interactive movie experience! Official Web Site |
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