Latest news with #RoxieTheater
San Francisco Chronicle
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
From $1 movies to free popcorn: The Bay Area's best movie deals
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to the summer movie season, and both chain multiplexes and indie arthouse theaters have reason to hope for their best summer since 2019. That's because the start of the pandemic is now five years in the past, practically a distant memory these days. And productions that were halted during the writers' and actors' strikes of 2023 have been completed, leading to a wealth of films in the release pipeline such as ' Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,' 'Jurassic World Rebirth' and 'Superman.' All systems are go, and Bay Area theaters aren't taking any chances. From $1 movies to free popcorn, they're doing anything to lure film fans back to the cinema. Many offer steep discounted tickets on Tuesdays. Elsewhere, a diverse programming slate has led San Francisco's arthouse treasure Roxie Theater to be on pace to exceed its 2019 ticket sales, the last prepandemic year. Hits have included the Oscar-winning Israeli-Palestinian documentary ' No Other Land ' and horror master David Cronenberg 's ' The Shrouds.' There's even a 40th-anniversary 4K restoration of Akira Kurosawa's 'Ran' that opens Friday, May 23. The California Film Institute 's Sequoia Cinema in Mill Valley is offering $1 classics this weekend — audience favorites such as 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981), the French charmer ' Amelie ' (2001) and Wes Anderson's ' Moonrise Kingdom ' (2012) — to celebrate the one-year anniversary since it reopened after a renovation. The following are some of the best deals in the Bay Area. Pro tip: Most deals offered by multiplexes require monthly memberships. Independent theaters tend to have lower base ticket prices, and their perks can further reduce an already comparatively budget friendly night out. Multiplexes AMC Theatres: The world's largest theater chain, already slashing tickets by 50% on Tuesdays, will add Wednesdays beginning July 9. The deal is available to all AMC Stubs members, including the free Insider tier. The highest tier, A-List, is $27.99 for up to four movies every week and a host of other perks. Cinemark's Century Cinemas: The Bay Area's most prolific chain offers ticket discounts of up to 50%, even for nonmembers of its Movie Rewards program (though members get extra perks). Alamo Drafthouse: The dinner and a movie chain might have the best monthly membership in the country: For $29.99 a month, you can see a movie a day. It pays for itself after two movies. The chain's New Mission theater in San Francisco has been open for 10 years; new theaters in Mountain View and Santa Clara open next month. Independent theaters San Francisco Roxie Theater: The Mission District treasure offers steep discounts for students and EBT/SNAP card holders, and relaunches its Roxie Kids series this summer, with children getting in for $5. East Bay Grand Lake Theatre: The Oakland movie palace offers $6 tickets all day Tuesday and $7.50 daily matinees — and that includes 70mm and 3D presentations. Also: no commercials. 'I have always believed that it cheapens the experience of going to a theater,' owner Allen Michaan said. Alameda Theatre and Cineplex: In addition to $6 Tuesdays, the Art Deco venue built in 1932, which also has live events at its Cinema Grill, is bringing back its Kids Summer Series on Wednesdays beginning June 11. The Chabot: The 75-year-old Castro Valley gem is the only independent, single-screen theater offering first-run films within the East Bay. It has $6 Tuesdays and often offers a free popcorn or drink size upgrade for guests who come dressed in theme with the movie. For example, if ticket buyers wear floral prints to screenings of 'Lilo & Stitch' during its run beginning Thursday, May 22, a medium popcorn becomes a large, and the normal free refills for large popcorns apply. North Bay Lark Theater: The single-screen Larkspur Art Deco venue has among the most interesting programming in the Bay Area, with an eclectic mix of first-run and classic cinema. The first movie of each day as well as Friday and Saturday late-night classics are $7 per ticket and includes free popcorn. South Bay/Peninsula
San Francisco Chronicle
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Which Bay Area theaters have the best projection and sound?
Dear Mick LaSalle: Which theaters have the best projection and sound? Teresa Concepcion, Emeryville Dear Teresa Concepcion: Well, in one sense of the word 'best,' I'd say the Roxie Theater, the Stanford Theatre, the Rafael Film Center and the theater inside the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive have the best projection, because they project the best movies. But in the sense that I think you mean it, the best sound and picture is at the private Dolby Theatre on Market Street. As for what's available to the public, I have no love for the Metreon, but its IMAX theater is very good. Dear Mr. LaSalle: I was surprised to learn from your article that apparently lots of people spread out a movie over several nights. I thought I was one of the few lazybones who did that. Michael Biehl, San Francisco Dear Mr. Biehl: Everybody does it, but it doesn't mean they should. True, 95 times out of 100, it doesn't matter, because most movies are unremarkable. But with great and near-great movies, watching them over several nights on a small screen – that is, watching them in the wrong way – can bland out the experience and make real greatness seem merely good. Cinema is an art form that assumes and needs a captive audience. Movies are made with the assumption that you're small and the screen is huge, and that you're staying in your seat, that the volume is turned up, and that you can't rewind anything, so you have to pay attention. Even with all those conditions in place, movies face a hard climb, because they're trying to make you believe in an imaginary world and care about the people in it. But strip away those conditions, and their task becomes even more difficult. The sad part of this is that some of the best films are subtle and most are in need of being met halfway. I mean, you can half-watch 'The Avengers' and get the idea. But a quiet masterpiece like 'Before Sunrise' requires that you actually watch, listen and take it in. Otherwise, it might seem like endless, pointless conversation. And no, checking your phone to read about the movie as it's playing doesn't count as watching the movie. Still, we all do it, probably for the same reason that there's a certain resistance to being hypnotized, and in the same way that it requires an act of will to take a nap in the middle of the day, even if you're sleepy. There's an inertia that must be overcome in order to let go of the state we're in, even when we want to or need to. Dear Mick: I just watched 'The Vanishing' (1988) and found the ending very disturbing. The kind of movie that stays with you but not in a good way. Have you watched any really creepy movies that you wished you had not watched? Joyce Harvis, Stockton Hi Joyce: Yes. I have one, and it's the same as yours – 'The Vanishing.' It's a seriously unsettling film, and while I can't say that I wish I never saw it, I can confirm that the movie's disturbing quality doesn't go away, ever. I saw 'The Vanishing' when it was released in the United States in 1989, and a few months ago I made the mistake of thinking of the movie's ending right before bed, and I couldn't sleep. Talk about a lasting impact. Here was this movie keeping me up some 35 years after I saw it. I won't reveal the nature of the ending here, because there may be hearty souls out there willing to risk it. Consider this a combination recommendation/warning. Also, readers should note that we're talking about the original 1988 'The Vanishing' from the Netherlands, and not the idiotic American remake from 1993.
San Francisco Chronicle
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Fraenkel Film Festival returns to Roxie as theater campaigns to purchase historic building
After a well-received first run in 2024, the Fraenkel Gallery's Fraenkel Film Festival will return to the Roxie Theater this summer. The news of the festival's second year comes as the nonprofit seeks to to raise $2 million to purchase the historic Mission District building it has occupied for the last 112 years. This includes the main, 234-seat Roxie Theater at 3117 16th St., the 50-seat Little Roxie theater, the office two doors down and the adjacent Dalva cocktail bar. All proceeds from the Fraenkel Film Festival will go to the Roxie. 'Last year's Fraenkel Film Festival at the Roxie was a heartwarming and wildly successful collaboration that brought an entirely new, deeply engaged audience to the theater,' Roxie Executive Director Lex Sloan told the Chronicle. 'We're extraordinarily thankful for this ongoing partnership with Jeffrey Fraenkel and Fraenkel Gallery, which also acts as a meaningful fundraiser for our cinema. It's been especially well timed as we begin a capital campaign to invest in our future.' From July 9-19, the Roxie plans to screen 21 films curated by the 21 living artists Fraenkel represents, including international art stars like Nan Goldin, Carrie Mae Weems, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Sophie Calle. Founder Jeffrey Frankel, whose Union Square gallery is among the most important in the world specializing in photography, said the inaugural festival started as an experiment, tied to the 45th anniversary of the Fraenkel Gallery. 'The Roxie was the unquestionable best choice for an event like this,' he said. 'Our sensibilities seem to align in certain ways, but we were so surprised and happy with the response. … At least half the films had to have multiple screenings to accommodate the interest.' This year, the festival will open with Peter Bogdanovich's 'The Last Picture Show' (1971). Berkeley artist Richard Misrach said in a statement that he chose the Academy Award-winning melodrama because of how it 'speaks to the importance of film and the death of small towns all over America.' 'The film is also a harbinger of things to come decades later — in fact, at our particular historical moment — when screens began to disappear along with the communal experience of watching together in the dark.' The screening will include a pre-recorded conversation with Misrach and the film's star, Jeff Bridges. 'There couldn't be a better choice for an opening night movie,' Fraenkel noted. Oakland artist Kota Ezawa's selection is George Miller's 2015 sci-fi action movie 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' scheduled for the festival's second night. It's paired with Goldin's pick, the 1932 pre-code classic 'Merrily We Go to Hell,' directed by pioneering female director Dorothy Arzner. 'When I read The New Yorker review of 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' which compared the experience of watching this film to someone pressing their thumbs onto your eyes for two hours, I couldn't resist,' said Ezawa, who also noted the movie's themes of disability and female empowerment. 'The film doesn't disappoint.' Other films span the gamut from Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 thriller 'The Conversation' selected by Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller; Jonathan Demme's Oscar-winning 1991 psychological horror 'The Silence of the Lambs,' selected by New York artist Wadell Milan; and Francois Truffaut's 1959 French coming-of-age classic 'The 400 Blows.' Victor Fleming's 1939 musical favorite 'The Wizard of Oz,' selected by San Francisco artist Elisheva Biernoff; Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 suspense masterpiece 'Rear Window,' chosen by New York photographer Lee Friedlander; and Sofia Coppola's 2003 comedy-drama 'Lost in Translation' closes out the 11-day showcase. General admission is $16 for all films, except for the opening night screening of 'The Last Picture Show,' which will be $20. A six-film pass is $72, while all other festival passes are $200. Tickets and passes are on sale now at 'There's a palpable difference in seeing a movie on a big screen in a theater and sharing the experience with other people,' said Fraenkel. 'It's better than just watching a movie at home — I don't care how big one's monitor is. 'And don't forget, a lot of the films in the film festival will be screened in 35 millimeter.'
CBS News
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Roxie Theater in San Francisco's Mission District raises funds to buy its building
Roxie Theater getting close to raising enough funds to buy its building Roxie Theater getting close to raising enough funds to buy its building Roxie Theater getting close to raising enough funds to buy its building The Roxie Theater is working to cement their position San Francisco's Mission District by purchasing the building they've been in for more than 100 years. It's one of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the country. For Matt Sigl, it's become home. "It means everything to me," Sigl told CBS News Bay Area. Sigl moved to San Francisco almost five years ago, and quickly discovered the theater. "Walked down the street, I didn't even know I was in The Mission at the time, I looked in the window and I saw that they had a poster for 'Eraserhead.' I said, that's the movie theater I'm going to be going to," said Sigl, remembering the first time he encountered the theater. He did go to the theatre, he saw a movie and applied for a job his first time visiting. "It's a labor of love for me. These are the kind of movies I love, these are the kind of people I like to interact with and engage with," Sigl said, thinking about his experiences there over the last few years. He's now a manger. The marquee outside the Roxie Theater in San Francisco's Mission District. CBS Last week, Roxie staff announced they have been working on a $7 million capital campaign called "Forever Roxie" to buy their building outright. Sigl believes as long as they are renting, their future will always be uncertain, and they want to become a permanent fixture in The Mission. "We're still at the mercy, in theory, of the landlords and the real estate market or whatever," said Sigl. "If we own the space, it's ours, and we can secure the Roxie for generations to come." Zappa Johns was seeing "Freaky Tales" at the Roxie on Sunday night. He's being seeing movies at the theater for years. He says he's hopeful that the purchase will happen. "Giving the Roxie a little bit more control over their own space, I think, is a fantastic idea," said Sigl. "Having a real movie house like this, especially as part of the neighborhood, is a fantastic part of San Francisco's cinema legacy." Theater staff already privately raised about $5.5 million. With less than $1.5 million left to raise, they're asking the public for donations. Sigl said with so many movies being released online, it makes place like this more valuable. "It's a special experience that I think people seek out now in an active way, as an almost affectionate relationship to movies that you just don't get in your home cinema," said Sigl. With the Forever Roxie campaign they plan to do some upgrades, such as replacing projectors, screens and sound systems. But they plan to do it in a way that will stay true to the historic location. Sigl says he doesn't want to ever have to imagine The Mission without this place. "It's a gem, it's a landmark. We've been here 110 years so it's just the physical embodiment of this place has been here since The Mission grew and developed into what we know it is today," said Sigl. The Roxie already has an agreement with the owners of the building to purchase it, so raising this money is the final step to secure the location.
San Francisco Chronicle
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Death becomes him: ‘The Shrouds' director David Cronenberg dips into the macabre
David Cronenberg, a master of the body horror movie genre, is genuinely mystified at the sudden cultural conflict between his native Canada and the United States, two countries he loves with a passion. The brouhaha was sparked recently by President Donald Trump, who has called for the U.S. to annex Canada as its 51st state and has instigated a trade war through actual or threatened tariffs. Cronenberg, whose dad was from Baltimore and therefore makes him 'half-American,' wasn't shy when talking to the Chronicle about the current adminstration during a recent visit to San Francisco to promote his new film ' The Shrouds.' He called Trump and his associates, including special adviser Elon Musk, 'strange' — and that's something coming from a director responsible for some of the weirdest movies of the past half-century. But he has a message for those social justice warriors who are so angry at Musk, the CEO of Tesla, that they are selling the electric cars they bought from the company or are protesting at its dealerships: You can pry the steering wheel of his beloved Tesla out of his cold dead hands. 'I'm not selling. I do have a personal relationship with the car,' said Cronenberg, who is on his third Tesla and directed 'Crash' (1996), about people erotically attracted to car wrecks and sex in cars. 'It could be illegal in certain states. My car and I, we are a couple, and Elon has nothing to do with it.' Whether entertaining a rapturous, late-night crowd after recent a sold-out screening of his latest film at the Roxie Theater or sitting for an interview with the Chronicle the next morning at the Hotel Drisco in Pacific Heights, Cronenberg is unexpectedly witty, given the tone of his films. But make no mistake, the 82-year-old director and sometimes actor (a regular on 'Star Trek: Discovery') has been thinking a lot about death. His wife of about four decades, editor Carolyn Zeifman, died in 2017 and he's still grieving, which has led to his current film. As part of the mourning process, he starred in a 2021 short film, co-directed by himself and his daughter Caitlin, called 'The Death of David Cronenberg,' in which he faces his own mortality. Also, a spiritual brother — the filmmaker he calls 'the other David' — David Lynch, died in January at 78, which Cronenberg called 'a shock.' The two existential directors both came up in the 1970s and shared a Hollywood impresario who supported their distinctive visions in comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks, who produced Lynch's ' The Elephant Man ' (1980) and Cronenberg's ' The Fly ' (1986) without taking official credit. 'Every day you look at the newspaper or go online and there's somebody your age who just died,' Cronenberg observed. 'The Shrouds,' which opens Friday, April 25, follows Karsh (Vincent Cassel, looking very Cronenbergesque with his tall angular figure and shock of gray hair swept back), a tech entrepreneur and widower who has developed GraveTech, which allows family members to observe their deceased loved ones' bodies as they decompose. Karsh uses the innovation to watch his wife's body, with which he was obsessed. Played by Diane Kruger, she comes to him in his dreams. Kruger also plays his wife's sister, still among the living, and Karsh's AI bot and confidant, Hunny, who follows him everywhere there are screens, including in Karsh's Tesla. For Cronenberg, an atheist who is a former car and motorcycle racer who doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs and who bicycles, walks and has lifted weights since he was 16, the human body is a temple. But it also is isolating and lonely. 'The Shrouds' director spoke to the Chronicle about how his films often centers around characters who transcend their bodies using technology, which creates chaos but also the hope for connection. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Q: You were famously in the mix to direct ' Return of the Jedi ' (1983), the last film of the first 'Star Wars' trilogy. How close did you come? A: I got a phone call from somebody from George Lucas ' company and they said, 'George is interested in having you as director of 'Revenge of the Jedi.'' That's what it was called at the time, until they realized that the Jedi don't take revenge, so they had to change it. I said, 'Well, I don't usually do other people's material.' They hung up on me because they didn't expect that kind of reaction. Q: Yet the year 'Jedi' came out, so did 'The Dead Zone,' starring Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen, your adaptation of another person's work, Stephen King's novel. A: Absolutely. The deal there was I could be very involved in the rewriting of the screenplay. There were five screenplays and one of them was by Stephen, and I had carte blanche up to a point to fashion it in my own way. I don't know if I would have had that with the 'Star Wars' thing. Q: You directed and are credited as co-writer of 'The Fly,' the remake of the 1950s science fiction classic starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, which contains one of the great catch phrases of the 1980s that is still quoted today: 'Be afraid. Be very afraid.' Who actually wrote that line? A: It was Mel Brooks. I had written a scene where the Geena Davis character says, 'Don't be afraid,' and Mel said to me, 'No, she should be saying, 'Be afraid. Be very afraid,'' and I said, 'Yeah, you're right, Mel.' I put it in the script, exactly as he said it. Mel is a very literate, intelligent guy, and I really loved working with him. Q: In your latest film'The Shrouds,' you open with Karsh on a first date a few years after his wife's death. Have you been dating? A: I've had a couple of serious relationships since my wife died, and I'm single right now, so if any of your readers are interested, I am available. (Laughs) But they were good despite the fact that they didn't last long, because it let me know that I could have a relationship. I learned there is life after grief. Q: Like all of your films, 'The Shrouds' could be classified as body horror. Why are you obsessed with the human body in your work? A: I find (the body horror label) diminishes my intentions. It's a marketing question: How do we sell this movie? Without maybe being conscious of it, all filmmakers are obsessed with the human body. The way (humans) perceive the world is different than the way your dog perceives the world or the way that spider over there perceives the world. Each one has its own reality and it's dependent on its body, its nervous system, the expanse of its life or the restrictions of its life. As humans, we've never accepted our bodies as given. We tattoo them, we change them, we amputate them, we alter them for aesthetic reasons, for religious reasons, for political reasons, cultural reasons. Q: Technology is also front and center in your films. Karsh's GraveTech and his AI bot; you can go back to your 'Videodrome' (1983, starring James Woods and Deborah Harry) which predicted our addiction to screens. Is the future scary or welcoming to you? A: Technology is innately human, and I'm very comfortable with it. And of course, cinema is a very technological creative medium compared with painting or writing, so it's a natural thing for me. I can make it very clear: Behind my ears is a set of new hearing aids that incorporate an artificial intelligence chip that's made by Phonak, a Swiss company. I'm looking at you through plastic lenses in my eyes because I've had cataract surgery. Without those, my career would have ended five or six movies ago. So that, to me, is innately what technology is best at, and it is part of being human. Q: What about AI? A: I'm not more concerned with AI than I am about nuclear power, frankly. It's something that we continuously deal with. Being the technological animals that we are, we are constantly coming up with possible planet destroying technology, one way or another. So in each case, it's got the power to be amazingly wonderful and beautiful, and it always has the power to be hideously destructive. AI is just one more version of that. An unusual one, but one that's been anticipated in science fiction for a long time. Q: What will happen to your body after you die? A: There's a Walk of Fame in Toronto that's sort of like Hollywood's. I do have a plaque in the sidewalk, and at one point I thought that it would be great if I were buried under that, and that a plexiglass part of the pavement was put in so that people walking over could look down into the grave and see me there, decomposing.
