film: Boho Beat, North Bay Bohemian

June 18: Angela Davis film 'Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners' at Summerfield Cinemas

Anna Hecht — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:11:00 -0700

Angela Davis is best known as an educator and activist for civil rights who, in 1970, became involved with a group of prison inmates called the Soledad Brothers. When the men were accused of murder, Davis also found herself being accused for her alleged role in the event.…

May 4: Film Fest Petaluma at the Mystic Theatre

Gabe Meline — Wed, 01 May 2013 11:05:00 -0700

Here’s a fun way to spend a Saturday: load up on coffee in the morning, and then, mid-afternoon, plunk down $25 and park your keister for nine hours of independent film shorts ranging in length from two to 21 minutes at Film Fest Petaluma. There’s truly too much good stuff on offer here: a film about handcrafted bikes; a man who builds a Viking ship; a woman (Judi Dench) who tries to find love via social networking; a stranded astronaut; a post-apocalyptic marriage; the spoils of an affair; sexual dysfunction, and more.…

April 20: 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' at the Phoenix Theater

Estefany Gonzalez — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:32:00 -0700

There are generally two types of people who’ve seen ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’: those who roll their eyes whenever they think of Tim Curry singing “Sweet Transvestite” and those who love the movie and can’t shut up about it. Those in the latter camp will enjoy knowing that the cult classic screens yet again this week with the Barely Legal cast acting out the film live onstage, just as they have been doing since 1995.…

March 5: 'The Wrecking Crew' at the Napa Valley Opera House

Estefany Gonzalez — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:17:00 -0800

Denny Tedesco, director of ‘The Wrecking Crew,’ provides a behind-the-scenes look at the uncredited Los Angeles studio musicians responsible for playing on hundreds of hit songs by the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, the Monkees and many more. Led by drummer Hal Blaine and featuring pioneering female bassist Carol Kaye, the group is truly the Funk Brothers of Los Angeles; this is their Standing in the Shadows of Motown.…

Feb. 1: Tahoe Adventure Film Festival at the Mystic Theatre

Nicolas Grizzle — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:37:00 -0800

If you can't get up to Tahoe, you can always live vicariously through the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival. Now with POV footage from GoPro-style cameras, skiing and snowboarding videos are more amazing to watch than ever.…

Jan 8: 'Soul Food Junkies' at the Rialto Cinemas Community Cinema Film Series

Leilani Clark — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:15:00 -0800

Barbecued ribs, black-eyed peas, sweet potato pie, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, fried chicken—the incredible variety of delicious soul food dishes only begins here. We’re talking serious comfort food, and a menu that lies at the heart of African-American cultural identity.…

Nov. 25: The Third Man screens at the Rafael Film Center

Leilani Clark — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:08:59 -0800

I’d like to cut you in, old man. There’s nobody in Marin County that I can really trust, and we’ve always done things together. When you make up your mind, I’ll send you a message, any place, any time.…

Nov. 8 and 11: Johnny Legend's 'TV in Acidland' at the Rafael Film Center

Gabe Meline — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:03:25 -0800

Johnny Legend is a man of many roles—he's a self-proclaimed rockabilly bastard, being a musician since the hippie days, a wrestling promoter, and an archiver of the weirdest and the rarest bits of film debris. Legend is an expert in psychotronia recognized by QT and Eli Roth alike.…

Nov. 8: Sonoma County Jewish Film Festival at the Rialto

Leilani Clark — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:44:48 -0800

Films showing through November at the Sonoma County Jewish Film Festival include Nicky’s Family, Reuniting the Rubins and A.K.A. Doc Pomus, a documentary about the legendary rock-and-roll songwriter that got rave reviews from Greil Marcus in the latest issue of The Believer. Nicky’s Family tells the true story of Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker who organized the rescue and transport of 669 children fleeing Hitler’s Army in 1938.…

Sept. 28: 'Where Soldiers Come From' at Sebastopol Center for the Arts

Gabe Meline — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:17:04 -0700

“Supporting the troops” takes on many forms more complex than waving a plastic made-in-China flag, and one such way is to tell a soldier’s story. Heather Courtney returned to her snowy Michigan hometown to make the documentary ‘Where Soldiers Come From,’ which follows a group of friends who are lured into the Army by signing bonuses and college-tuition support.…

Sept. 25: 'Grand Hotel' at Napa Valley Opera House

Gabe Meline — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:25:15 -0700

Greta Garbo. Joan Crawford.…

June 29: Pink Ribbons, Inc. at the Rafael Film Center

Jay Scherf — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:07:00 -0700

In the early ’90s, Charlotte Haley began a grassroots movement to increase breast-cancer awareness. She attached salmon-colored ribbons to her mailers, a campaign that attracted skin-product giant Estée Lauder.…

June 26: The Man Who Knew Too Much at Napa Valley Opera House

Jay Scherf — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:27:00 -0700

Intrigue and suspense run high when the Napa Valley Opera House’s Tuesday Night Flicks series screens Alfred Hitchcock’s 1957 self-remake of ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much,’ a Technicolor thriller starring Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day caught in an assassination plot and kidnapping in Morocco. The film is introduced by host Richard Miami, the ever-knowledgeable Napa County native who hosted weekly classic movie nights at COPIA before its closing.…

June 6: Mark Cantor's 'Jazz Night at the Movies' at the Raven Theater

Gabe Meline — Wed, 30 May 2012 12:26:42 -0700

Over 4,000 clips strong, the incredible film archive of Mark Cantor is a jazz lover’s dream: rare and unseen live footage of greats like Miles Davis, Billie Holiday and Chet Baker abound. But since Cantor’s collection is almost entirely on actual film, chances to see it strung through a projector are rare.…

April 19-26: Tiburon International Film Festival

Jennifer Cuddy — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:50:00 -0700

It’s that time of the year again—time for the 11th annual Tiburon International Film Festival! Providing movie enthusiasts with over 100 different films from 50 countries, this year’s lineup promises nonstop movies from up-and-coming film directors, as well as old hands.…

March 22: Mozart's Sister at the Napa Valley Museum

Michael Shufro — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:30:46 -0700

In 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John, asking that he and his compatriots—toiling in Philadelphia over the Declaration of Independence—“Remember the Ladies, & be more generous & favourable to them than your ancestors.” Some 4,200 miles abroad in Salzburg, Austria, that same year, Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart’s prodigious musical gifts withered from the very gender inequities Abigail spoke against. When younger brother Wolfgang showed promise, Nannerl’s father hastily swapped his children’s places and forbid her from ever playing the violin or composing again.…

March 18: I'm Here at Rafael Film Center

Michael Shufro — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:38:10 -0700

The hard drive of a computer is a mysterious place that most humans dare not attempt to fully understand. Is it all wires and hardware?…

Feb. 13: 'Dr. StrangeLove' at Mill Valley Library

Jennifer Cuddy — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:33:00 -0800

Did someone call for a doctor? After the inevitable candy-eating binge from Valentine’s Day weekend, some of us might soon be feeling a little sick to the stomach.…

Jan. 1: 'Casablanca' at Cameo Cinema

Gabe Meline — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:42:00 -0800

Every year, the Cameo Cinema in St. Helena asks their audience to vote on which film they’d like to see, for free, on New Year’s Day. This year the running was tight, but the choice was ‘Casablanca.’ Winning by only six votes over Midnight in Paris, the timeless Humphrey Bogart / Ingrid Bergman classic screens free of charge, although tickets are required and available for pickup in advance at the theater.…

Dec. 11: 'Sutro's: The Palace at Land's End' at the Rafael Film Center

Gabe Meline — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:17:57 -0800

Pee-laden swimming pools filled with unwashed, bratty kids are oftentimes the only option for those without oversized tubs of their own. San Francisco’s Sutro Baths, once the world’s largest indoor swimming pool establishment, burned down some 45 years ago, but in its heyday boasted seven pools, one freshwater and six saltwater, all with varying temperatures.…

Nov. 7: 'Home' premieres at the Sebastiani Theater

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:58:40 -0700

Plane rides can be numbingly terrifying, especially that moment when you look out the tiny window to see the world a staggering 30,000 feet below. But producer-director Yann Arthus-Bertrand sees something that’s more disturbing—namely, the effect we are having on our planet.…

Nov. 5: Cinematic Titanic at the Wells Fargo Center

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:52:41 -0700

While the saying “any publicity is good publicity” rings true in most circles, Mystery Science Theater 3000 always found the opposite. The show, starring a man and his robot sidekicks stuck on a space station blasting bad films, morphed into a cult classic through zany one-liners like “They must have spent tens of dollars on this.” Twelve years after the show’s demise comes Cinematic Titanic, with a full-length film and the original cast of MST3K—Joel, Servo, Crow, Frank and Pearl.…

Oct. 22: 'The Odd One Out' at Petaluma International Film Festival

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:17:19 -0700

An all-inclusive knowledge on knives and their related accoutrements? A deep-seated obsession for slicing recently departed flesh?…

Oct. 15: "Martha Marcy May Marlene" at the Mill Valley Film Festival

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:04:55 -0700

So apparently the Olsen twins have a ridiculously attractive younger sister with a slightly more relevant film career than her entrepreneurial New York Minute sisters. In “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” one of many films featured at the Mill Valley Film Festival, Olsen plays Martha, a young woman damaged by two years in a family style cult.…

Oct. 8: "Happy Family" Screening at the Marin Civic Center

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:58:27 -0700

Young love is impossible to dictate. ‘Happy Family,’ the second movie in the Marin Italian Film Festival series, is a meta-rich film bringing a scriptwriter, Ezio, into the depths of his own story when two brazenly different families are reluctantly brought together through the stubborn love of two 16-year-olds.…