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Check out the latest exclusive engagements and premieres, including the best in new indies, foreign films, documentaries and restored classics, by downloading a PDF of the Shattuck Cinemas Movie Guide, with all-new programming from November 13 through February 11! |
Now Playing at the Shattuck Cinemas
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In this quirky dark comedy inspired by a real life story you will hardly
believe is actually true, astonishing revelations about a top-secret wing
of the U.S. military come to light when a reporter encounters an enigmatic
Special Forces operator on a mind-boggling mission. Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan
McGregor) is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady
(George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental
U.S. military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is changing the
way wars are fought. A legion of "Warrior Monks" with unparalleled
psychic powers can read the enemy's thoughts, pass through solid walls, and
even kill a goat simply by staring at it. Now, the program's founder, Bill
Django (Jeff Bridges), has gone missing and Cassady's mission is to find him.
Intrigued by his new acquaintance's far-fetched stories, Bob impulsively decides
to accompany him on the search. When the pair tracks Django to a clandestine
training camp run by renegade psychic Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), the reporter
is trapped in the middle of a grudge match between the forces of Django's
New Earth Army and Hooper's personal militia of super soldiers. An eye-opening
and often hilarious exploration of the government's attempts to harness paranormal
abilities to combat its enemies, inspired by Jon Ronson's non-fiction bestseller
of the same name. Official
Web Site Roger Ebert's Chicago Sun-Times review... |
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Now Playing at the Shattuck Cinemas
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A fashionable contemporary art gallerist in Chelsea, New York falls for a
brooding new music composer in this comic take on the state of contemporary
art. Adam Goldberg (Two Days In Paris) plays the composer, whose work
calls for paper crumpling, glass breaking and bucket kicking. Marley Shelton
(Grindhouse) plays the gorgeous Chelsea gallerist, whose latest show
features an artist (Vinnie Jones, Snatch) who employs taxidermy and
household objects. Further complicating the affair is the composer's brother
Josh (Eion Bailey, "Band of Brothers"), whose highly commercial
art work—the financial backbone of the gallery—is sold to corporate
clients discreetly out of the gallery's back room. Directed and co-written
by Jonathan Parker (Bartleby). Official
Web Site Director/co-writer Jonathan Parker on creativity and success Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Shattuck Cinemas
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The award-winning drama Skin tells one of the most unusual and moving true stories to
emerge from apartheid South Africa. Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo, The Secret
Life of Bees) is a black child born in the 1950s to white Afrikaners (Sam
Neill, Alice Krige) who are unaware of their black ancestry. Her parents are
rural shopkeepers serving the local black community, who lovingly bring her
up as their 'white' little girl. But at the age of ten, Sandra is driven out
of white society. The film follows Sandra's thirty-year journey from rejection
to acceptance, betrayal to reconciliation, as she struggles to define her
place in a changing world. Official
Web Site Walter Addiego's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Shattuck Cinemas
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Julius Shulman was, as many experts agree, the world's greatest architectural
photographer. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Visual Acoustics celebrates
the life and career of this brilliant artist and highlights not only the iconic
images that made the man, but the magnetic character behind those images.
Shulman captured the work of virtually every modern architect since the 1930s,
including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry.
His work epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California's modernist
movement and ushered modern architecture into the American mainstream. This
fascinating portrait is a testament both to the evolution of modern architecture
and to the joyful, whip-smart gentleman who captured its indelible images.
Taking its aesthetic cues from Shulman's own sensual and nuanced photography,
the narrative of director Eric Bricker's film is built from a blend of Shulman's
own images as well as in depth interviews with architect Frank Gehry, designer
Tom Ford, artist Ed Ruscha, actress Kelly Lynch, writer Mitch Glazer, publisher
Benedikt Taschen, Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Dante Spinotti,
and a host of others. Official
Web Site Walter Addiego's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the California Theatre
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| What if someone gave you a box containing a button that, if pushed, would bring you a million dollars...but simultaneously take the life of someone you don't know? Would you do it? And what would be the consequences? The year is 1976. Norma Lewis (Cameron Diaz) is a teacher at a private high school and her husband, Arthur (James Marsden), is an engineer working at NASA. They are, by all accounts, an average couple living a normal life in the suburbs with their young son...until a mysterious man with a horribly disfigured face (Frank Langella) appears on their doorstep and presents Norma with a life-altering proposition: the box. With only 24 hours to make their choice, Norma and Arthur face an impossible moral dilemma. What they don't realize is that no matter what they decide, terrifying consequences will have already been set in motion. They soon discover that the ramifications of this decision are beyond their control and extend far beyond their own fortune and fate. Written and directed by Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko). Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Shattuck Cinemas
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The magnificent new film from Agnès Varda (Cleo From 5 to 7, Vagabond,
The Gleaners and I) is a kind of cinematic autobiography—an innovative
and whimsical journey through an extraordinary artistic life. Weaving together
footage of her vast body of work, old photographs and present-day sequences
with intimate anecdotal voice-overs, Varda looks back on her childhood, her
work as a photographer and installation artist, her marriage to late filmmaker
Jacques Demy, and the birth of the French New Wave. Varda is an avid collector
of people and places, sensual experiences and intellectual preoccupations,
personal commitments and political principles. She is a mother and wife, a
feminist, nature-lover and urban-dwelling artist. Above all, she is a woman
in love with cinema whose new movie perfectly expresses her sentiment, "While
I live, I remember." Featuring Jean-Luc Godard, Catherine Deneuve, Chris
Marker (who only appears in his cat persona), Alain Resnais, Harrison Ford,
Jane Birkin, Michel Piccoli, Gérard Depardieu and Jim Morrison. Official
Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Shattuck Cinemas
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| A grieving couple retreat to 'Eden,' their isolated cabin in the woods, where they hope to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse… Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg (winner of the Best Actress Award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival) give brave, outstanding performances in the new provocation from writer/director Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville). Antichrist is a totally uncompromising psychological horror film conceived and made while the director was experiencing emotional challenges in his own life. Reviewing the intense and controversial film at its Cannes premiere, Roger Ebert called it "powerfully made" and continued: "The performances by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg are heroic and fearless…Von Trier's visual command is striking…And if you can think beyond what he shows to what he implies, its depths are frightening…Von Trier has reached me and shaken me." Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Shattuck Cinemas
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An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off,
Good Hair visits beauty salons and hairstyling battles, scientific
laboratories and Indian temples to explore the way hairstyles impact the activities,
pocketbooks, sexual relationships and self-esteem of the black community.
Director Jeff Stilson follows Chris Rock on this raucous adventure prompted
by Rock's daughter approaching him and asking, "Daddy, how come I don't
have good hair?" Haircare professionals, beautyshop and barbershop patrons,
as well as celebrities including Ice-T, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné,
Dr. Maya Angelou, Salt n Pepa, Eve and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer
their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles with the task of
figuring out how to respond to his daughter's question. Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Albany Twin
and Piedmont Theatre
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An Education is the story of a teenage girl's coming-of-age set in
1961 London, a city caught between the drab, post-war 1950s and the glamorous,
more liberated decade to come. Jenny (Carey Mulligan) stands on the brink
of becoming a woman: a brilliantly witty and attractive 16-year-old whose
suburban life is about to be blown apart by the utterly unsuitable 30-something
David (Peter Sarsgaard). Urbane and witty, David manages to charm her conservative
parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour). David introduces
Jenny to a glittering new world of classical concerts and late-night suppers
with his attractive friend and business partner, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and
Danny's girlfriend, the beautiful but vacuous Helen (Rosamund Pike). Just
as Jenny's family's long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into
Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life. Written
by Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity) and directed by Lone Scherfig
(Italian for Beginners). Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Piedmont Theatre
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| An extraordinary life of adventure, celebrity and continuing mystery comes to light in Amelia, a vast, thrilling account of legendary aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart (two time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank). After becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia was thrust into a new role as America's sweetheart—the legendary "goddess of light," known for her bold, larger-than-life charisma. Yet, even with her global fame solidified, her belief in flirting with danger and standing up as her own, outspoken woman never changed. She was an inspiration to people everywhere, from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Cherry Jones) to the men closest to her heart: her husband, promoter and publishing magnate George P. Putnam (Richard Gere), and her long time friend and lover, pilot Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor). In the summer of 1937, Amelia set off on her most daunting mission yet: a solo flight around the world that she and George both anxiously foresaw as destined, whatever the outcome, to become one of the most talked-about journeys in history. Directed by Mira Nair (The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding). Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Shattuck Cinemas
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| Since the birth of movies, New York has long been cinema's dream city—its teeming populace of one-of-a-kind characters, its stone-and-glass skyscrapers rocketing towards the heavens, its subterranean cultures and its rooftop love affairs all making for the perfect backdrop to all manner of action, comedy, drama and poetry. Directed by an eclectic group of some of today's most imaginative filmmakers, including Mira Nair, Yvan Attal, Brett Ratner, Natalie Portman and Fatih Akin, New York, I Love You is a collective film that invites the audience into the intimate lives of New Yorkers as they grapple with, delight in and search for love. Their stories are woven together to form a colorful, lyrical collage not only of the city—but of the deep yearning for love and human connections that sustain everyone within it. All-star cast includes Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, Andy Garcia, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci, Ethan Hawke, Anton Yelchin, James Caan, Olivia Thilrlby, Julie Christie, John Hurt, Shia LaBeouf, Shu Qi, Burt Young, Chris Cooper, Robin Wright Penn, Eva Ammuri, Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman. Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the California Theatre
and Piedmont Theatre
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The new dramatic comedy from the Coen Brothers (Burn After Reading, Fargo)
is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson
Airplane is on the radio and "F-Troop" is on TV. It is 1967, and
Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university,
has just been informed by his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) that she is leaving
him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy (Fred
Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry.
Larry's unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch,
his son Danny (Aaron Wolf) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew
school, and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching money from his
wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy blithely
make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a
burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances
for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying
to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue
him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing
nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different
rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous
person—a mensch—a serious man? Official
Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Albany Twin
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A little girl who is sent with her sister to an orphanage in the heart of
France, who waits in vain every Sunday for her father to come for her…
A cabaret performer with a weak voice who sings to an audience of drunken
soldiers… A humble seamstress, who stitches hems at the back of a provincial
tailor's shop… A young, skinny courtesan, to whom protector Étienne
Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde) offers a safe haven, amongst the idle and
decadent… A woman in love who knows she will never be anyone’s wife,
refusing marriage even to Arthur 'Boy' Capel (Alessandro Nivola), the man
who returned her love… A rebel who finds the conventions of her time
oppressive, and instead dresses in her lovers' clothes… This is the story
of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (Audrey Tautou, Amélie),
who begins her life as a headstrong orphan, and through an extraordinary journey
becomes the legendary couturier who embodied the modern woman and became a
timeless symbol of success, freedom and style. Official
Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Fri & Sat Midnight Movies
and Selected Sunday Matinees
at the Piedmont Theatre!
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Michael J. Fox goes Back to the Future · Nov 6 & 7 Miyazaki's animated classic Spirited Away · Nov 13, 14 & 15* Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark · Nov 20, 21 & 22* *Also screens Sunday as an early matinee! |
Starts Friday, November 13 at the Shattuck Cinemas
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| Set in Harlem in 1987, Precious is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome. Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) is a 16-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo'Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write. Precious may sometimes be down, but she is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination. Winner of three awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. Co-starring Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd and Lenny Kravitz. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, November 13 at the California Theatre
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| 2012 is an epic science-fiction adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors. Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists and governments. Starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson. Directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day). Official Web Site |
One Week Only!
Starts Friday, November 13 at the Shattuck Cinemas
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| Raquel (Catalina Saavedra), age 42, has worked over twenty years for the well-to-do and numerous Valdes family, and on the surface seems like the perfect maid, almost part of the family. But she is controlling and territorial, carrying on a private war with the family's headstrong teenage daughter, and suffering frequent headaches and dizziness. The mother cannot bear to fire the woman who helped raise her children, so instead she hires a second maid to help Raquel. This alarms Raquel, who sees the newcomer as a threat and instantly sets out to drive her away. Her childish but ruthless tactics quickly succeed, but the family then hires an older and tougher maid who proves much harder to oust. Raquel meets her match with the third new maid, Lucy (Mariana Loyola), an enthusiastic and self-confident young woman who, attacked by Raquel, retaliates with affection and humor, helping her to find a new outlook on life. Saavedra is magnificent as the grumpy Raquel, seething with loneliness, anger, and jealousy, yet always managing to retain our sympathy. Winner of two prestigious awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, November 13 at the Piedmont Theatre
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| Pirate Radio is a high-spirited, laugh-out-loud ensemble comedy from filmmaker Richard Curtis (screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, and writer/director of Love Actually), spinning the irreverent yet fact-based tale of a seafaring band of rogue rock and roll deejays whose "pirate radio" captivated and inspired 1960s Britain. Broadcasting live 24/7 from an old tanker anchored in the middle of the North Sea (just beyond British jurisdiction), Radio Rock sends out a vibrant and unifying signal to millions across the nation. The Radio Rock roster, overseen by unflappable station owner Quentin (Bill Nighy), includes a risk-prone American known only as The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman); mystic deejay royalty Gavin (Rhys Ifans); slyly amorous Dave (Nick Frost) and others. One night in 1966, Quentin's teenaged godson Carl (Tom Sturridge) comes aboard. While Carl harbors romantic aspirations that he hopes will be fulfilled during one of the biweekly visits by Radio Rock's prettiest fans, he also hopes to find out more about his long-absent father… As the ship sails on and rocks out, what Carl and the freewheeling, free-loving Radio Rock gang don't know is that back in London, a landlocked government minister (Kenneth Branagh) has embarked on a vehement crusade to silence their signal—permanently. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, November 20
at an East Bay Landmark Theatre
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| In his most powerful performance to date, Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will's emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival. Featuring tour-de-force performances from Foster, Harrelson and Morton, and a brilliant directorial debut by Oren Moverman, The Messenger brings us into the inner lives of these outwardly steely heroes to reveal their fragility with compassion and dignity. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, November 20 at the Shattuck Cinemas
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| In Werner Herzog's new film, Nicolas Cage plays a rogue detective who is as devoted to his job as he is at scoring drugs—while playing fast and loose with the law. He wields his badge as often as he wields his gun in order to get his way. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina he becomes a high-functioning addict who is a deeply intuitive, fearless detective reigning over the beautiful ruins of New Orleans with authority and abandon. Complicating his tumultuous life is the prostitute he loves (played by Eva Mendes). Together they descend into their own world marked by desire, compulsion and conscience. The result is a singular masterpiece of filmmaking: equally sad and manically humorous. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, November 20 at the Shattuck Cinemas
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| Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw and Kathy Bates star in The Blind Side, which depicts the remarkable true story of All-American football star Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron). A homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, Oher is taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential on and off the football field. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Touhys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle. Official Web Site |
One Week Only!
Starts Friday, November 20 at the Shattuck Cinemas
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| William Kunstler was one of the most famous and controversial lawyers of the 20th century. In the 1960s and '70s, Kunstler fought for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. and represented the famed "Chicago 8" activists who protested the Vietnam War. When the inmates took over Attica prison, or when the American Indian Movement stood up to the federal government at Wounded Knee, they asked Kunstler to be their lawyer. To his daughters, filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, it seemed that he was at the center of everything important that had ever happened. But when they were growing up, Kunstler represented some of the most reviled members of society, including rapists, assassins and accused terrorists. This powerful film not only recounts the historic causes that Kunstler fought for, it also confronts a man that even his own daughters did not always understand, a man who believed that, however unpopular, justice should serve all. Official Web Site |
Starts Wednesday, November 25 at the
Piedmont Theatre & Shattuck Cinemas
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| Viggo Mortensen leads a stellar cast (including Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce) in the epic, post-apocalyptic tale of the survival of a father (Moretensen) and his young son (newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they journey across a barren America that was destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm. A masterpiece of adventure, The Road is adapted from author Cormac McCarthy's (No Country for Old Men) beloved, best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which boldly imagines a future in which men are pushed to the worst and the best that they are capable of—a future in which father and son are sustained by love. Directed by John Hillcoat (The Proposition). Official Web Site |
Starts Wednesday, November 25
at an East Bay Landmark Theatre
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| Legendary action-cinema master John Woo and international superstar Tony Leung reunite for the first time since the 1992 classic Hard Boiled in this epic historical drama based on a legendary 208 A.D. battle that heralded the end of the Han Dynasty. Red Cliff opens as power hungry Prime Minister-turned-General Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) seeks permission from the Han dynasty Emperor to organize a southward-bound mission designed to crush the two troublesome warlords who stand in his way, Liu Bei (You Yong) and Sun Quan (Chang Chen). As the expedition gets underway, Cao Cao's troops rain destruction on Liu Bei's army, forcing him into retreat. Liu Bei's military strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) knows that the rebels’ only hope for survival is to form an alliance with rival warlord Sun Quan, and reaches out to Sun Quan’s trusted advisor, war hero Zhou Yu (Tony Leung). Vastly outnumbered by Cao Cao’s brutal, fast-approaching army, the warlords band together to mount a heroic campaign—unrivaled in history—that changes the face of China forever. A massive hit in Asia and the most expensive Asian film production of all time, Red Cliff is a breathtaking war epic that marks the triumphant return of John Woo. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, November 27 at the Shattuck Cinemas
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| Frustrated with religious turmoil, fanaticism and fundamentalism, filmmaker Peter Rodger set out on a global quest to understand why the concept of God has become politicized. In his stunningly beautiful documentary film, Rabbis, Christian Fundamentalists, Catholic Priests, Buddhist Llamas, Hindu Swamis, Zen Masters, Muslim radicals, Shamans and ordinary people across the globe share their unique perspectives and understanding of God, along with several celebrities including Hugh Jackman, Seal, Ringo Starr, Sir Bob Geldof, Princess Michael of Kent, David Copperfield and Jack Thompson. The film is set amongst beautiful backdrops around the world, filmed in 23 countries over three years. From the 9th ward of New Orleans to the Guatemalan Jungle, to the Himalayan region of Ladahk, Rodger searches for the common thread in our diverse humanity and reveals that which often divides us can also unite us. The film features inviting faces and personalities that are a touching reminder of the melting pot that we call humanity and the mystery that we have given many names. Official Web Site |
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