General Admission: $9.00, Senior (60+) or Child (11-): $6.50
(First matinee show of each movie is bargain price: $6.50)
YOUR BIRTHDAY? BE OUR GUEST.
THEATRE #1 |
THEATRE #2 |
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THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (NR) |
THE GHOST WRITER (PG-13) |
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SPECIAL EVENTSGUMBY DHARMA REMEMBERING PLAYLAND AT THE BEACH |
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COMING SOON
April 9: DATE NIGHT |
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VOTE FOR THE BALBOA
Once again, the Balboa Theatre has been nominated for the Baylist. We are proud of the comments and votes from last year that resulted in the Balboa being named one of the Top 5 Theatres in the Bay Area (includes live theater as well as film houses).
The polls are open at: http://baylist.sfgate.com/balboa-theater/biz/13806
This Thursday, April 1, don’t miss our Gumby Tribute Night, featuring GUMBY DHARMA, the documentary about Gumby creator Art Clokey. We’ll also have live music by J.Kleinberg and a panel discussion after the film with local creators, artists, and stop-motion animation industry people.
This Friday, we are opening the highly praised suspense thriller THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO based on the book by Stieg Larsson. It is exciting, a little kinky and sometimes violent… and certain to keep you on the edge of your seat. We will have one more week of Roman Polanksi’s THE GHOST WRITER, top prize winner at the recent Berlin Film Festival.
This is the last weekend for REMEMBERING PLAYLAND. It plays Saturday and Sunday at 12 noon. Advance tickets are available at the Balboa box office or online here.
Next week brings a very funny new comedy starring Tina Fey and Steve Carrell, DATE NIGHT.
Sincerely,
Gary
Step into the life and work of Art Clokey, creator of Gumby and grandfather of stop-motion animation, and explore through this documentary why a man would spend his 85 years on earth playing with lumps of colored clay. His world famous characters, Gumby and Pokey, and Davy and Goliath, echo the spiritual path of their creator. Art's journey takes us from the orphanage to inspiring adopted father, from the Seminary to the Hollywood movie business, and from traditional Episcopalian church values to Buddhism and Indian guru Sai Baba. It is a fascinating life and career in it's own right but also in how it gently influenced his characters and story lines for over 40 years. Clokey's work is one of the few animation characters that have survived the test of time to become a true American Icon. Interviews with contemporary leaders in animation, including Director Henry Selick (Coraline, Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) and special effects legend Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts, Adventures of Sinbad), place Clokey's work in perspective with the history of animation and explore stop motion's future in a computer graphics world. The evening will be a tribute to Art Clokey who recently passed away. The event will include the screening of the hour long Emmy Award winning documentary film Gumby Dharma by Robina Marchesi, Klara Grunning-Harris and Tim Hittle, followed by a panel discussion with local creators, artists and stop-motion animation industry people. J.Kleinberg who wrote the score for GUMBY DHARMA will perform live as part of the show. Kleinberg is a San Francisco violinist and songwriter who performs as a solo artist and with Diego’s Umbrella across the U.S., Europe and Japan. He’s also recorded and played with local San Francisco bands such as The Pine Box Boys, Sonny Smith, Paula Frazier and Beulah. "An insightful glimpse into the personal and spiritual life of an influential career of a great artist and filmmaker." - The Senteniel-Record "Art Clokey taps into something primal, deep within everyone's psyche and unconscious through his style...it is a message of love, really." - SF Weekly Details at www.gumbydharma.com. |
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her beloved uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and the tattooed and troubled but resourceful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vanger's are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves. Author Stieg Larsson, who died suddenly in 2004, left behind three unpublished novels, known as the "Millennium" trilogy, which have become a global sensation, elevating Larsson to the world's second best-selling author last year (behind "The Kite Runner"'s Khaled Hosseini). "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is one of the decade's major literary success stories, selling over 8,000,000 copies worldwide and the film adaptation is the highest grossing Swedish film in history. |
"Everyone has secrets in the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a mind-bending and mesmerizing thriller that takes its time unlocking one mystery only to uncover another, all to chilling and immensely satisfying effect."
- Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
"A stylish thriller with real complexity, people with interesting faces, a sensational actress cast as an ambisexual Goth hacker heroine -- the news about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is nothing but good."
- Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
"Expert, screw-turning narrative filmmaking put at the service of old-dark-madhouse claptrap."
- Todd McCarthy, Variety
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is rife with nightmarishly violent and horrific behavior. It's intense, graphic, frightening. And, yes, exhilarating."
- Steven Rea, Philedelphia Enquirer
"A finely plotted, stylishly photographed and brilliantly acted whodunit that clocks in at 2 1/2 hours but never seems long."
- V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Read Interview with Actress Noomi Rapace: Swedish Actress Brings Life to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Huffington Post
Read Interview with Actress Noomi Rapace — Ion Cinema
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. |
“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
As a Balboa Theatre newsletter subscriber you can save $10* on tickets to the show critics are hailing as “Fresh and Exciting” and “The Best Rat Pack Show out there!” PLUS! You can enter to win tickets to re-live the magic of the Rat Pack on: April 16 at 8pm, April 17 at 8pm, or April 18 at 2pm! Marking a half century since the original Rat Pack’s legendary Las Vegas performances at the Sands Hotel, Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show takes audiences on a journey back to the days of highballs, hi-jinks and happy hour with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop and Dean Martin. Produced by Sandy Hackett - son of the late, great comedian and actor Buddy Hackett - and Lisa Dawn Miller - daughter of legendary songwriter Ron Miller – Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show features the classic songs everyone knows and loves such as “For Once in My Life,” “My Way,” “Mack the Knife,” plus original, never-before-heard songs written by the late Miller. To take advantage of this offer go to www.marinesmemorialtheatre.tix.com or www.sandysratpack.com and enter RATPACK in the Promotional Code Box or call 415-771-6900 and mention RATPACK before placing your order. *Note: this discount is not valid on previously ordered tickets, with any other offers, on preview performances or premium seats. Limit 6 tickets per order. Must be requested at time of purchase. Subject to availability. Service fee applies. |
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.
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.
Advance tickets 
Not Rated. Contains graphic violence. 152 minutes.
Rated PG-13 for language, brief nudity/sexuality, some violence and a drug reference. 128 minutes.
Direct from Las Vegas, SANDY HACKETT’S RAT PACK SHOW kicks off its National Tour at San Francisco's Marines’ Memorial Theatre for a limited engagement beginning Thursday, April 15!