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.
WHAT’S IN THE NEWS: Showtimes, Dear Friends, The Grateful Dead: Crimson, White & Indigo, Date Night, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, SF International Film Festival, Win Tickets to Arlo Guthrie, Theater Information.
SHOWTIMES - through Thursday, April 22, 2010 |
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THEATRE #1 |
THEATRE #2 |
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THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (NR but has violence and sex not appropriate for young audiences) |
DATE NIGHT (PG-13) |
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SPECIAL EVENTSTHE GRATEFUL DEAD: CRIMSON, WHITE & INDIGO WILD AT HEART (X-Rated Version) with BARRY GIFFORD AND FRIENDS IN PERSON |
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COMING SOON
April 23: REMEMBERING PLAYLAND AT THE BEACH May 7: IRON MAN 2 May 14: ROBIN HOOD May 28: SEX AND THE CITY 2 |
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GRATEFUL DEAD
Sometimes things come together very quickly and that happened this week when we got a call asking if we could screen a previously unseen Grateful Dead concert. CRIMSON, WHITE & INDIGO was a huge concert at JFK Stadium in 1989. As soon as we announced that it would show Monday night, tickets started to sell and it was decided to give people a second choice. Tuesday was added.
In January of 1966 a group of my high school friends drove to San Francisco to The Trips Festival-The Acid Test. Billed as “An LSD experience without LSD” we were promised a theatrical recreation of an LSD Trip…they’d take us up and then bring us gently down with music, poetry and this new concept called a “light show.” Stewart Brand (later creator of The Well and the Whole Earth Catalog) and author Ken Kesey were presenting it with a range of local talent performing at the Longshoreman’s Hall. Appearing would be many acts including Big Brother and the Holding Company, Allen Ginsburg, The Loading Zone, and one of the first appearances of a band called The Grateful Dead. All for $2!
It was quite a trip…they didn’t tell us that the free punch was heavily laced with LSD. I am not going to give you the entire story here but you can read about it in Tom Wolfe’s ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST. The scene was a true “mind blower” for a bunch of Napa teens. And the Dead were something else. We became fans and attended many concerts…though not Deadheads.
To raise money so several friends could go to college, I co-produced a series of rock shows in Napa with the emerging San Francisco bands. At a Country Joe concert, some locals tried to attack the “long-haired” musicians. My job was to convince the band to play and keep the audience from getting rowdy over the delay. Joe McDonald and Barry Melton finally agreed with the caveat/promise that our next show, featuring the Dead, would include a gang of Hell’s Angels protecting the stage. This was a scary concept but I needed the show to go on. The next month the Grateful Dead arrived with the motorcycle gang. We were nervous until the band started playing and the entire place became one happy family dancing ‘til the Midnight Hour.
More about the TRIPS FESTIVAL:
http://www.pranksterweb.org/trips.htm
http://www.postertrip.com/public/5577.cfm
To read all about the film and other details see below.
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
This is nostalgia week. The Balboa Theatre was built by the Levin family in 1926. In 1957 Irving and Irma Levin started the San Francisco International Film Festival. It was 1965 when I started attending regularly. How lucky to be in my formative years when Festival Director Albert Johnson was selecting the films and Tributes. Long after the Levins gave the Festival to The City and handed over the operation of the Coronet, Metro, Alexandria, Vogue and other local venues to United Artists, they continued to operate the Balboa and the family are our landlords. The festival they created is now 53 years old and has grown into one of the world’s leading film events.
There are a lot of exciting programs to see starting April 22. We asked the festival’s directors to select some special events and films they want to urge audience to explore. See below.
I wanted to make my own recommendations of films I have already seen and can strongly urge you to consider. I am just listing titles as I don’t have time to describe them. You can get a program guide at the Balboa, around town and online at www.sffs.org.
All of the special awards nights with Walter Salles, Robert Duvall, James Schamus, Don Hertzfeldt and the Midnight and Golden Gate Awards are worth considering. I am biased about the Mel Novikoff Award because I am on the selection committee. This award in memory of San Francisco’s pioneering art house exhibitor is given to people whose enthusiasm for cinema enhances our love and appreciation of the art. This year the award goes to Roger Ebert and it will be a very special evening.
You should seriously consider the conversation with music producer T-Bone Burnett and Walter Murch’s “State of Cinema” address. Both will be one-time-only events as will Sam Green’s multimedia UTOPIA IN FOUR MOVEMENTS. Ever been to Porchlight? This storytelling series will have a special “Behind the Scenes” theme. And also unique will be the rarely seen silent 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA with live music by Stephen Merritt of Magnetic Fields.
The films I urge you to see? Opening Night features Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s (AMELIE, CITY OF LOST CHLDREN, etc) MICMACS. Follow with BUDRUS, CYRUS, EVERYONE ELSE,14-18: THE NOISE AND THE FURY, HENRI-GEORGE CLOUZOT’S INFERNO, LEBANON, LOURDES, THE MUSIC ROOM, NENETTE, NORTHLESS, THE OATH, PIANOMANIA, LA PIVELLINA, RESTREPO,SON OF BABYLON, WILD GRASS and WINTER’S BONE.
This is a group of challenging and entertaining films. Try a few out and look through the other choices. Take chances and be adventurous. This is San Francisco.
Next week gets even more nostalgic when we bring back REMEMBERING PLAYLAND for a full week’s engagement, both matinees and evenings due to the huge demand. There will be a great memorabilia display. More next week.
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
Sincerely,
Gary
Based on strong advance ticket sales, the Balboa has added a second night's screening on April 20. It will now play Monday and Tuesday nights at 8pm. All seats $10.00. Advance tickets can be purchased at the Balboa Theatre or online at BrownPaperTickets.com.
Box CD/DVD sets of CRIMSON, WHITE & INDIGO will be awarded to several lucky winners each night. A special sound system is being installed by Meyer Sound of Berkeley. |
Background: The Philadelphia concert offers a snapshot of the Dead’s 1989 tour, where the band played to some of its biggest audiences ever, a result of the group’s only Top 40 hit, “Touch Of Grey” from 1987’s In The Dark. During this tour, the band was recording the follow-up to that album, Built To Last, which is an important reason why the jamming heard here is particularly fluid and concise. In fact, the band played a pair of songs from the upcoming album, the aching ballad “Standing On The Moon” and the poignant “Blow Away,” a song cowritten by keyboardist Brent Mydland, who sadly died a year later. The band helped raze the aging stadium, thundering through “Hell In A Bucket,” “Little Red Rooster,” and Bob Dylan’s “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again.” Many sitting at the north end of the open-air stadium recall the concrete bleachers trembling during Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann’s drum duet in the second set. The show closed with another Dylan cover, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” the last song ever performed at JFK. When this show was recorded, the band included guitarist Jerry Garcia, drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, bassist Phil Lesh, keyboardist Brent Mydland, and guitarist Bob Weir. |
Wednesday, April 28 @ 7:00pm: WILD AT HEART (X-Rated Version) with BARRY GIFFORD IN PERSON
See our Events Page for more info.
Advance Tickets now online.
Claire and Phil Foster are a suburban couple slogging through their daily lives and marriage. Even their "date nights" of dinner and a movie have become routine. To reignite the marital spark, they visit a trendy Manhattan bistro, where a case of mistaken identity hurtles them through the city at breakneck speeds, into non-stop adventure. Remembering what made them so special together, Phil and Claire take on a couple of corrupt cops, a top-level mobster and a crazed cabbie as their date becomes a night they'll never forget. |
"A romantic comedy with action, edge and genuine chemistry between its leads, Date Night scores a home run."
- Lael Loewenstein, Variety
"Steve Carell and Tina Fey make a terrific comic pairing in this entertaining comic thriller."
- Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
"Everything works in Date Night, a brilliantly conceived comedy in which boring, everyday reality morphs into a thrilling fantasy drenched in danger."
- Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile
"This is the rare screwball comedy that is superbly paced, cleverly plotted and hilarious from start to finish."
- Claudia Puig, USA Today
"The movie's stars, Steve Carell and Tina Fey, are exactly what they seem. They're perfect casting in a short, sweet comedy that makes the most of their genial gifts."
- Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
Read interview with stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell and director Shawn Levy. - Movies Online
Watch stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell interview each other. — Moviefone Unscripted
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
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SFIFF53 films of particular interest include:
All About Evil (Dir. Joshua Grannell, USA, 2009)
A meek librarian turns sanguinary filmmaker after inheriting an old movie palace in this hilarious tribute to ’80s slasher films by Bay Area impresario Joshua Grannell—aka Peaches Christ—who’ll be on hand with special guests for a live prescreening spectacular. Keep your eye out for Balboa staff as extras during the climactic scene!
In Search of On the Road (a Work in Progress) (Dir. Walter Salles, Brazil, 2010)
In a rare look inside an artistic labor of love, SFIFF tributee Salles fashions this cinematic essay on his ongoing quest to adapt Kerouac’s mythic novel On the Road, drawing on a treasure trove of material, including screen tests, interviews, archival footage and candid personal reflections.
Linha de Passe (Dir. Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas, Brazil, 2008)
A triumph of neorealist storytelling, Linha de Passe conveys the memorable and moving story of a mother and her four fatherless sons struggling to find their way in the challenging metropolis of São Paulo.
The Music Room (Dir. Satyajit Ray, India, 1958)
A turn-of-the-century aristocrat whose wealth is dwindling continues to spend money on lavish concerts in his music room in this rueful, ironical film that stands as one of the greatest in Indian cinema. This classic of Indian cinema will be seen in a print restored by the Academy Film Archive.
The Practice of the Wild (Dir. John Healey, USA, 2010)
Beautifully attuned to the cycles of nature and the transcendent power of the written word, this warm portrait of Beat poet Gary Snyder and his cantankerous compadre Jim Harrison intertwines Bay Area bohemia, Zen Buddhism and musings on ecology and spirituality with the complex simplicity of a perfectly crafted stanza.
Senso (Dir. Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1954)
Alida Valli stars as an Italian countess who betrays both family and country in a desperate affair with Farley Granger’s charming but dissolute officer from the Austrian occupying forces in 1866 Venice. Visconti’s first color has been beautifully restored by StudioCanal, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia/Cineteca Nazionale, Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata.
State of Cinema Address: Walter Murch (Live & On Stage)
Acclaimed film editor, sound designer, intellectual maverick and nine-time Academy-Award nominee Walter Murch will deliver a fascinating reading on the cultural origins of cinema in the 19thcentury, with special consideration paid to the legacies of Beethoven, Flaubert and Edison.
Utopia in Four Movements (Dir. Sam Green & Dave Cerf, USA, 2010)
Following a triumphant debut at Sundance, this live documentary performance with live music by the Quavers explores the battered state of utopian thinking at the dawn of the21st century, finding new possibilities in a humorous and touching look at contemporary disaffection with the future.
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For more information on the show and how to buy tickets.
Enter to win two tickets on Friday, April 23 @ 8pm at Zellerbach Hall B. We have 5 pairs to give away.
To qualify for our random drawing, send an email to balboafans (at) yahoo.com (change (at) to @, we are trying to avoid spam) no later than April 18 @ noon.
You must include:
1. Your full name as it appears on a photo I.D.
2. Your email address in the body of the email.
3. Clever comments always appreciated but they won’t sway the random drawing.
4. The Subject Line must state ARLO GUTHRIE.
Please do not enter if you cannot attend. You may only enter once. If we see duplicates, each entry will be disqualified.
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.
On July 7, 1989 the Grateful Dead got together with some 95,000 close friends at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. By the end of the day, all involved shared a highly improved outlook on life. Join us at the Balboa Theatre where Grateful Dead productions is pleased to present Crimson, White & Indigo, the entire full-length 3-hour theatrical concert experience.
Rated PG-13 for sexual and crude content throughout, language, some violence and a drug reference. 88 minutes.
Not Rated. Contains graphic violence and sex not appropriate for young audiences. 152 minutes. In Swedish with English subtitles.
The 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF53) returns April 22-May 6 with more than 100 unique programs of the finest independent, documentary and international cinema, combining a range of marquee premieres, international competitions, digital media work and star-studded gala events into the best two weeks of the year. The Festival will honor film icons including Robert Duvall and Roger Ebert, open with Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s dazzling caper Micmacs, feature the original score and live performance of Stephin Merritt to the silent epic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, celebrate a comedic legend on Closing Night with the documentary Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work, with Rivers in attendance—and so much more. For tickets and information, visit 
Arlo Guthrie's career exploded in 1967 with the release of "Alice's Restaurant," which became nothing less than an anthem of an entire age. His stock in trade comes in the form of classically styled folk songs intermingled with clever storytelling, always reminding one and all of Guthrie's father, the beloved singer/writer/philosopher Woody Guthrie. Now Arlo gathers three generations together on one stage with his Guthrie Family Rides Again program, in which the entire clan performs favorite songs, Arlo's standards, and a selection of unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics put to music by friends and family. "The Guthries are the first family of American folk. They practice what Woody preached." (Vanity Fair)