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DEAR FRIENDS,

The Oscars have come and gone and we move into the spring movie season. We are especially excited to be opening the intelligent thriller GHOST WRITER this week.

As you may have heard, our REMEMBERING PLAYLAND shows are a smash success, selling out both Tuesday shows, one of our Wednesday shows, and our Saturday matinee well in advance. Read about opening night on the Richmond SF blog.

We have added screenings for the following two Saturdays. Tickets are on sale now for March 27 @ noon on BrownPaperTickets.com.

Don’t miss the other special shows coming in the next few weeks. THEY CAME TO PLAY, CREATURE FEATURES, and GUMBY DHARMA. See below for complete details.

Movie lovers enjoy a few good laughs. If you didn’t see the spoofs on the Ten Best Picture nominees at College Humor, take a look.

Movie poster mashups are a popular pastime on the web and in the coming weeks we’ll give you some other sites to enjoy.

Have a great week.

Sincerely,
Gary

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THIS WEEK’S EVENTS

REMEMBERING PLAYLAND AT THE BEACH

Our first five shows for this nostalgic documentary about Playland completely sold out. But we are adding shows on Saturday, March 27 and April 3. Advance tickets for March 27 are now on sale at this link.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FILM GO TO: http://www.balboamovies.com/events.php#playland

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Monday, March 22: THEY CAME TO PLAY @ 7:30pm

Live piano performances from Ken Iisaka and Esfir Ross on a Steinway grand piano courtesy of Sherman Clay.

Tickets are $12-$15. Advance tickets here.

“A documentary of outstanding merit…a brilliant multiple character study, an in-depth look at how music is made...” -- Janos Gereben, San Francisco Classical Voice

Life comes between us and our dreams. Sometimes, we are lucky enough to be reunited.

They Came to Play is a multi-award-winning, uplifting feature-length documentary chronicling the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, hosted by The Van Cliburn Foundation.

Top amateur pianists from all over the world, ranging from self-taught to classically-trained, aged thirty-five to almost eighty, convene in Fort Worth, Texas for a week of competition, music and camaraderie.

“They Came to Play is both entertaining and touching, with a marvelously quirky cast of characters that reminds you why documentary films are so much more surprising than fictional ones.” --Mark Harris, Oscar Winner, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport

Entertaining and above all, inspiring, the film provides an intimate look into the lives of these colorful, multi-faceted competitors as they strive to balance the demands of work and family with their love of music. Years of dedicated preparation culminate in top-level performances before a professional jury and discerning audience during three nerve-wracking elimination rounds.

All of the film's heroes have made their careers outside of music in fields ranging from medicine to business, and professional tennis to education. For competitors who have faced such extraordinary challenges as drug addiction, AIDS, or political asylum, the competition is also a triumph over adversity. For all, it represents an overwhelming desire to express a deeper side of themselves, musically and otherwise.

“...a wonderful and inspiring chronicle of amateur musicians with a lust for life that is truly infectious.” --Bryant Manning, Chicago Sun Times

Commentary from noted American pianist Van Cliburn and gold medalists from the Foundation’s professional competition, along with outstanding performances of great classical masterworks—from Beethoven to Alkan and from Rachmaninoff to Barber—complement the action in a film that celebrates the creator and the competitor in each of us.

They Came to Play is an 88 Films production directed by Alex Rotaru, produced by Lori Miller, and executive produced by Ronnie Planalp. It features amateur pianists including Esfir Ross, Dr. Drew Mays, Clark Griffith, and Annette Dimedio. They Came to Play’s running time is 91 minutes.

“For moviegoers who love classical music, this is a great movie...for moviegoers who dont love classical music, this is a great movie.” --Tom Gallaher, Grants and Gov. Relations Seminole Tribe of Florida

PERFORMING LIVE AT THE BALBOA

Esfir Ross – a dental assistant living in Oakland, CA described as “jolly” by one film critic, was not always so. Prior to the competition she was battling depression, and felt a lack of purpose in her life. She said “I had no idea that the competition existed, and by chance while at a friend’s house I found out about it just before the submission deadline...”

She did not expect that “the competition would change my life completely. It gave me a great purpose – to practice and perform for an audience, and now I’m going around the world, playing in different competitions, meeting people. I could not imagine that I would shake hands with Van Cliburn, and play in front of such a jury which includes people like Veda Kaplinsky, the head of the piano department at Juilliard, and Richard Dyer, the renown music critic.”

Ken Iisaka – an investment analyst from Mill Valley, CA talks about the competition, and his participation in the film:

"I have been playing the piano since I was a young child, and music has been a very important part of my life. As a professional in a different field, I yearned to connect with other amateur pianists, and my passion led me to participate in the competition to share my love with others. It was a gathering of kindred spirits, and I made important life-long friends.

Alex and the entire film crew were a part of the kindred spirits. Their passion and compassion in the art of filmmaking inspired me through their retelling of our tales, something very personal to us.”

Details at www.theycametoplay.com.

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Thursday, March 25 @ 7:00pm: CREATURE FEATURES PRESENTS: HORROR EXPRESS

RELIVE THE EXPERIENCE OF WATCHING A "CREATURE FEATURES" SHOW FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF TV!

Advance tickets here. Tickets are regular admission, $6.50 for Seniors (60+) and Children (11-), $9.00 General. All seats on Saturday are at our matinee price of $6.50.

WITH HOST JOHN STANLEY, WHO PRODUCED THE SHOW AT CHANNEL 2, KTVU IN OAKLAND, FOR SIX YEARS.

JOHN STANLEY INTRODUCED ON STAGE BY DENNIS WILLIS, KGO-RADIO.

FILM REVIEWER AND AUTHOR OF THE NEW MOVIE BOOK "FLICK NATION".

HORROR EXPRESS (Spanish-British 1972) Starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas . . . A train speeding through the trans-Siberian wilderness is terrorized by a supernatural entity with blazing red eyeballs (someone from the IRS?) who mesmerizes his victims and turns them into corpses with bleeding eyeball sockets . . . It's enough to bring tears to your eyes.

Savor John Stanley’s classic four-part interview with actor/voice impressionist FRANK GORSHIN . . . Frank discusses his career and imitates several famous actors. See dramatic footage from TV's BATMAN, STAR TREK and "BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL".

See Bob Wilkins interview John Stanley on Market Street in downtown San Francisco . . . a rare treat not shown since it was first aired in 1977.

For the first time in 30 years, John Stanley’s mini-movie classic THE DEMON STRIKES BACK, a roller-coaster ride into a fantasy dimension from which you may or may not return.

Plus KTVU Station Promotions and Original Television Commercials . . . the kind they don’t make anymore.

View Trailer.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, April 1: GUMBY DHARMA- Documentary about the creator of Gumby.
More info here.
Advance tickets here.

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About This Week's Movies

THE GHOST WRITER (PG-13)

Official site         View Trailer

When a successful British ghostwriter, THE GHOST, agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister ADAM LANG, his agent assures him it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang’s long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident.

The Ghost flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day after he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, RUTH, and his personal assistant (and mistress), AMELIA. As The Ghost works, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA—and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind. Was Lang in the service of the American intelligence agency while he was prime minister? And was The Ghost’s predecessor murdered because of the appalling truth he uncovered?

Resonating with topical themes, this atmospheric and suspenseful political thriller is a story of deceit and betrayal on every level— sexual, political and literary. In a world in which nothing, and no one, is as it seems, The Ghost quickly discovers that the past can be deadly—and that history is decided by whoever stays alive to write it.

Rated PG-13 for language, brief nudity/sexuality, some violence and a drug reference. – 128 minutes.

“This movie is the work of a man who knows how to direct a thriller. Smooth, calm, confident, it builds suspense instead of depending on shock and action.”
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“Here's another thought: This old man who can't leave the house has just made the first important film of 2010.”
- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

“The Ghost Writer is the kind of impeccable adult entertainment, able to alternate edge-of-your-seat episodes with bleakly comic moments, that Hitchcock used to specialize in and that Polanski himself realized so successfully in Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby.”
- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“An extraordinarily precise and well-made political thriller—the best thing Polanski has done since the seventies, when he brought out the incomparable Chinatown and the very fine Tess."
- David Denby, The New Yorker

Read interview with Ewan McGregor

Read interview with Pierce Brosnan

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GREEN ZONE (R)

Official site         View Trailer

Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, United 93) re-team for their latest electrifying thriller in Green Zone, a film set in the chaotic early days of the Iraqi War when no one could be trusted and every decision could detonate unforeseen consequences.

During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Damon) and his team of Army inspectors were dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that inverts the purpose of their mission.

Spun by operatives with intersecting agendas, Miller must hunt through covert and faulty intelligence hidden on foreign soil for answers that will either clear a rogue regime or escalate a war in an unstable region. And at this blistering time and in this combustible place, he will find the most elusive weapon of all is the truth.

R for violence and language. - 115 minutes.

“An energetic, frenzied thriller -- Paul Greengrass-style -- set in Iraq in the chaotic post-invasion days.”
- Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

"Bourne goes epic. A wham-bam actioner, but its pointed political subtext ensures Damon and Greengrass deliver their most provocative mission yet."
- Mark Dinning, Empire

"Greengrass has crafted Green Zone as a high energy thriller. The level of tension starts out high and rarely lets up during the course of nearly two hours.....Damon's prior appearances as Jason Bourne make him credible in this role. There's never a disconnect to see him in this heroic, action-oriented part."
- James Berardinelli, Reelviews

"You catch your breath only to have the wind knocked out by the mirage of the carefree scene around the Green Zone swimming pool."
- J. Hoberman, Village Voice

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ART IN THE LOBBY - JIM ROSENAU

Jim Rosenau was raised in a house with 5,000 books. He has been making and selling thematic bookshelves from vintage books since 2002.

Come visit our lobby and to learn more: Lobby Art Gallery.

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PARAMOUNT THEATRE WINTER CLASSICS SERIES

We are blessed in the Bay Area to have a handful of true movie palaces still showing great movies...the Castro, Stanford and our favorite, The Paramount in Oakland. The theater will once again host a selection of great classics with cartoons, prizes and tremendous fun.

The Balboa will be giving away passes at weekend shows.

Next Show is FRIDAY, MARCH 26 @ 8:00 PM
CAPTAIN BLOOD
Running time: 119 minutes
Box Office opens @ 6:00pm | Doors open @ 7:00 | Curtain rises @ 8:00pm
All Tickets: $5.00

CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) - Starring the great swashbuckling Errol Flynn as a doctor who is wrongly convicted of treason and sold into slavery, this is perhaps the best pirate movie ever made. Rafael Sabatini's brilliant historical novel receives incomparable treatment from director Michael Curtiz and his stellar cast. Captain Peter Blood's sardonic humor, cold nerves, and hot-blooded temper are so perfectly realized by Errol Flynn that it is impossible to think of any other actor in this role. Leonard Mudie as the heartless Lord Jeffries, Olivia de Havilland as the firey Arabella Bishop, Basil Rathbone as the French buccaneer Levasseur... This is literally an unforgettable cast. And you won't soon forget the story of Peter Blood, Captain of the great ship Arabella, virtuoso swordsman, and undisputed master of the waters of the Spanish Main.

2025 Broadway, Oakland ~ (510) 465-6400
Take BART and exit at the 19th Street Station

Paramount Schedule

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BUSTER KEATON’S COMIC MASTERPIECE AT THE PARAMOUNT
SAVE 20% FOR THE SUNDAY MATINEE

Image from The General courtesy Douris UK Ltd.

This month, the Oakland East Bay Symphony will present a unique event at the beautiful art deco Paramount Theatre in Oakland: a screening of Buster Keaton’s silent film classic The General, with live organ accompaniment on the Paramount’s “Mighty Wurlitzer” pipe organ. Acclaimed concert organist Christoph Bull’s original score to The General blends seamlessly with the train chases and breath-taking stunt work on-screen, adding color and excitement to Keaton’s comic masterpiece. Bull will also join the orchestra and Maestro Michael Morgan for the Organ Symphony by Saint-Saëns.

“The General is an imaginative masterpiece…One of the greatest of all silent comedies (and Keaton's own favorite).” – Filmsite

Friday, March 19, 8pm and Sunday, March 21, 2pm
Paramount Theatre, Oakland

Tickets start at just $20. Save 20% on Sunday matinee when ordering online with promo code BUSTER.

Click here for tickets.

Paramount Schedule

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BALBOA THEATRE INFO

3630 Balboa Street (@ 37th Ave)
San Francisco 94121
(415) 221-8184
www.BalboaMovies.com

Bike Rack in front of the Balboa
Muni Bus #31 Balboa or #18 46th Ave stop at Balboa &37th. Also #5 Fulton and all 38 Geary Street buses stop two (long) blocks from Balboa.
Relatively easy Parking

San Francisco's Favorite Neighborhood Theatre
Voted by the Bay Guardian, SF Weekly, SF Gate's A List and San Francisco Magazine

General Admission: $9.00
Seniors (60+) and Children (11-) $6.50
Bargain Matinees: All seats $6.50 for shows in ( )
SCHOOL NIGHT - Mondays are School Days and Nights. With proof of being a student, faculty, or staff member, your admission is only $6.50 on Mondays.

On Your Birthday, You Are Our Guest. That’s right. You get in free with proof of your birth date.

And at all other times you can get the “I’d Rather Be At the Balboa” Discount Card. What a deal! 5 tickets to the Balboa for $32.50. That is only $6.50 per show. Good every day and night. And two people can use the card at once. You can go on a date even when you are low on cash with your Balboa Card. A savings of up to $12.50! Makes a perfect gift as well. And every Discount Card comes with a FREE POPCORN!

The Balboa is Wheelchair and Handicapped Accessible.

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NEIGHBORHOOD RESTAURANTS

One of the strengths of the Balboa is our neighborhood. Other than the bank, all the businesses are family owned and operated. The restaurants are especially wonderful. On the outer Balboa strip there are 24 eating establishments by my count. You can eat Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian, Italian, American, Mexican, Seafood and Vietnamese cuisines. The foods are fresh, distinctive and all reasonably priced. The media food critics have only discovered a few of them but the locals know a good thing. We encourage you to enjoy a meal at one of these fine eateries while visiting the Balboa. All are within easy walking distance. And please send us reviews and recommendations we can share with our other guests. Send reviews to balboafans (at) yahoo.com . (Change (at) to @. We are trying to avoid spam.)

We love it when you send us a review of a neighborhood restaurant you've enjoyed. We encourage you all to write about your culinary adventures in the Outer Richmond.
Check out the Menu Book in our lobby and our COMPLETE RESTAURANT LIST.

PoppinMedia.com