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Check out the latest exclusive engagements and premieres, including the best in new indies, foreign films, documentaries and restored classics, by downloading a PDF of Landmark’s San Francisco Movie Guide, with all-new programming from November 13 through February 11! |
Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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In Werner Herzog's new film, Nicolas Cage plays a rogue detective who is
as devoted to his job as he is at scoring drugs—while playing fast and
loose with the law. He wields his badge as often as he wields his gun in order
to get his way. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina he becomes a high-functioning
addict who is a deeply intuitive, fearless detective reigning over the beautiful
ruins of New Orleans with authority and abandon. Complicating his tumultuous
life is the prostitute he loves (played by Eva Mendes). Together they descend
into their own world marked by desire, compulsion and conscience. The result
is a singular masterpiece of filmmaking: equally sad and manically humorous.
Official Web Site Peter Hartlaub's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
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Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
Filmmaker Emily Kunstler In Person
Sunday, November 22 at 7:30 & 9:45pm!
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William Kunstler was one of the most famous and controversial lawyers of
the 20th century. In the 1960s and '70s, Kunstler fought for civil rights
with Martin Luther King Jr. and represented the famed "Chicago 8"
activists who protested the Vietnam War. When the inmates took over Attica
prison, or when the American Indian Movement stood up to the federal government
at Wounded Knee, they asked Kunstler to be their lawyer. To his daughters,
filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, it seemed that he was at the
center of everything important that had ever happened. But when they were
growing up, Kunstler represented some of the most reviled members of society,
including rapists, assassins and accused terrorists. This powerful film not
only recounts the historic causes that Kunstler fought for, it also confronts
a man that even his own daughters did not always understand, a man who believed
that, however unpopular, justice should serve all. Official Web Site Amy Biancolli's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Lumiere Theatre
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From writer-director Ti West comes a satanic thriller set in the 1980s starring
Jocelin Donahue as Sam, a pretty college sophomore so desperate to earn some
cash for a deposit on an apartment that she accepts a babysitting job even
after she finds out there is no baby. Mr. and Mrs. Ulman (cult actors Tom
Noonan and Mary Woronov) are the older couple who lure Sam out to their creeky
Victorian mansion deep in the woods, just in time for a total lunar eclipse.
Megan (indie ingénue Greta Gerwig) is Sam’s best friend who gives
her a ride out to the house—and reluctantly leaves her there despite
suspecting that something is amiss. Victor (AJ Bowen) at first seems like
just a creepy guy lurking around the house, but quickly makes it clear that
Sam will end this night in a bloody fight for her life.... Official
Web Site Peter Hartlaub's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Lumiere Theatre
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| Victory Day is a dramatic thriller played out against the beautiful and brutal landscapes of Eastern Europe and Russia from the 1990s to the present. Sam Cassels (director Sean Ramsay) is a "firebrand" correspondent just thrown out of Russia. Oksana Tihomirova (Natalie Shiyanova) is a willful small town girl from south Russia trafficked into prostitution. The two meet up in Prague when Cassels lands a new job as a magazine photographer. Sam is pursuing the story of rich oligarch Anton Igralski (Czech heartthrob Milan Kolik), a high-profile player of the 1990s who is clearly implicated in sabotage of the reforms and privatization of the former Soviet Union in order to make billions. As he closes in on the oligarch, Sam finds that he and Oksana are already closely connected to the man. In search of "justice" Sam sets his sights on a chance to settle the score for things past. Winner of the Best Political Film award at the 2009 Action on Film Festival. Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Clay Theatre
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Raquel (Catalina Saavedra), age 42, has worked over twenty years for the
well-to-do and numerous Valdes family, and on the surface seems like the perfect
maid, almost part of the family. But she is controlling and territorial, carrying
on a private war with the family's headstrong teenage daughter, and suffering
frequent headaches and dizziness. The mother cannot bear to fire the woman
who helped raise her children, so instead she hires a second maid to help
Raquel. This alarms Raquel, who sees the newcomer as a threat and instantly
sets out to drive her away. Her childish but ruthless tactics quickly succeed,
but the family then hires an older and tougher maid who proves much harder
to oust. Raquel meets her match with the third new maid, Lucy (Mariana Loyola),
an enthusiastic and self-confident young woman who, attacked by Raquel, retaliates
with affection and humor, helping her to find a new outlook on life. Saavedra
is magnificent as the grumpy Raquel, seething with loneliness, anger, and
jealousy, yet always managing to retain our sympathy. Winner of two prestigious
awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Official
Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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A fashionable contemporary art gallerist in Chelsea, New York falls for a
brooding new music composer in this comic take on the state of contemporary
art. Adam Goldberg (Two Days In Paris) plays the composer, whose work
calls for paper crumpling, glass breaking and bucket kicking. Marley Shelton
(Grindhouse) plays the gorgeous Chelsea gallerist, whose latest show
features an artist (Vinnie Jones, Snatch) who employs taxidermy and
household objects. Further complicating the affair is the composer's brother
Josh (Eion Bailey, "Band of Brothers"), whose highly commercial
art work—the financial backbone of the gallery—is sold to corporate
clients discreetly out of the gallery's back room. Directed and co-written
by Jonathan Parker (Bartleby). Official
Web Site Director/co-writer Jonathan Parker on creativity and success Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
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The award-winning drama Skin tells one of the most unusual and moving true stories to
emerge from apartheid South Africa. Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo of Hotel Rwanda and The Secret
Life of Bees) is a black child born in the 1950s to white Afrikaners (Sam
Neill and Alice Krige) who are unaware of their black ancestry. Her parents are
rural shopkeepers serving the local black community, who lovingly bring her
up as their 'white' little girl. But at the age of ten, Sandra is driven out
of white society. The film follows Sandra's thirty-year journey from rejection
to acceptance, betrayal to reconciliation, as she struggles to define her
place in a changing world—and triumphs against all odds. Official
Web Site Walter Addiego's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Lumiere Theatre
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A little girl who is sent with her sister to an orphanage in the heart of
France, who waits in vain every Sunday for her father to come for her…
A cabaret performer with a weak voice who sings to an audience of drunken
soldiers… A humble seamstress, who stitches hems at the back of a provincial
tailor's shop… A young, skinny courtesan, to whom protector Étienne
Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde) offers a safe haven, amongst the idle and
decadent… A woman in love who knows she will never be anyone’s wife,
refusing marriage even to Arthur 'Boy' Capel (Alessandro Nivola), the man
who returned her love… A rebel who finds the conventions of her time
oppressive, and instead dresses in her lovers' clothes… This is the story
of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (Audrey Tautou, Amélie),
who begins her life as a headstrong orphan, and through an extraordinary journey
becomes the legendary couturier who embodied the modern woman and became a
timeless symbol of success, freedom and style. Official
Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
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An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off,
Good Hair visits beauty salons and hairstyling battles, scientific
laboratories and Indian temples to explore the way hairstyles impact the activities,
pocketbooks, sexual relationships and self-esteem of the black community.
Director Jeff Stilson follows Chris Rock on this raucous adventure prompted
by Rock's daughter approaching him and asking, "Daddy, how come I don't
have good hair?" Haircare professionals, beautyshop and barbershop patrons,
as well as celebrities including Ice-T, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné,
Dr. Maya Angelou, Salt n Pepa, Eve and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer
their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles with the task of
figuring out how to respond to his daughter's question. Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
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Set in 1960s and 1970s England, The Damned United tells the confrontational
and darkly humorous story of Brian Clough's doomed 44-day tenure as manager
of the reigning champions of English football, Leeds United. Previously managed
by his bitter rival Don Revie (Colm Meaney), and on the back of their most
successful period ever as a football club, Leeds was perceived by many to
represent a new aggressive and cynical style of football—an anathema
to the principled yet flamboyant Brian Clough (Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon),
who had achieved astonishing success as manager of Hartlepool and Derby County,
where he built teams in his own vision with trusty lieutenant Peter Taylor
(Timothy Spall). Taking the Leeds job without Taylor by his side, with a changing
room full of what in his mind were still Don's boys, would lead to an unheralded
examination of Clough's belligerence and brilliance over 44 days. Official
Web Site Peter Hartlaub's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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An Education is the story of a teenage girl's coming-of-age set in
1961 London, a city caught between the drab, post-war 1950s and the glamorous,
more liberated decade to come. Jenny (Carey Mulligan) stands on the brink
of becoming a woman: a brilliantly witty and attractive 16-year-old whose
suburban life is about to be blown apart by the utterly unsuitable 30-something
David (Peter Sarsgaard). Urbane and witty, David manages to charm her conservative
parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour). David introduces
Jenny to a glittering new world of classical concerts and late-night suppers
with his attractive friend and business partner, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and
Danny's girlfriend, the beautiful but vacuous Helen (Rosamund Pike). Just
as Jenny's family's long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into
Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life. Written
by Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity) and directed by Lone Scherfig
(Italian for Beginners). Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Bridge Theatre
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| Since the birth of movies, New York has long been cinema's dream city—its teeming populace of one-of-a-kind characters, its stone-and-glass skyscrapers rocketing towards the heavens, its subterranean cultures and its rooftop love affairs all making for the perfect backdrop to all manner of action, comedy, drama and poetry. Directed by an eclectic group of some of today's most imaginative filmmakers, including Mira Nair, Yvan Attal, Brett Ratner, Natalie Portman and Fatih Akin, New York, I Love You is a collective film that invites the audience into the intimate lives of New Yorkers as they grapple with, delight in and search for love. Their stories are woven together to form a colorful, lyrical collage not only of the city—but of the deep yearning for love and human connections that sustain everyone within it. All-star cast includes Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, Andy Garcia, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci, Ethan Hawke, Anton Yelchin, James Caan, Olivia Thilrlby, Julie Christie, John Hurt, Shia LaBeouf, Shu Qi, Burt Young, Chris Cooper, Robin Wright Penn, Eva Ammuri, Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman. Official Web Site |
Now Playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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The new dramatic comedy from the Coen Brothers (Burn After Reading, Fargo)
is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson
Airplane is on the radio and "F-Troop" is on TV. It is 1967, and
Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university,
has just been informed by his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) that she is leaving
him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy (Fred
Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry.
Larry's unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch,
his son Danny (Aaron Wolf) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew
school, and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching money from his
wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy blithely
make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a
burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances
for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying
to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue
him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing
nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different
rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous
person—a mensch—a serious man? Official
Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
Now Playing at the Opera Plaza Cinema
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Cédric Klapish, the beloved director of L'Auberge Espagnole, gathers
together some of the biggest actors in French cinema for a valentine to the
city of lights. The all-star cast includes Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche,
Romain Duris, Melanie Laurent, Fabrice Luchini, Francois Cluzet and Karin
Viard. While waiting for a heart transplant that could save his life, Pierre
(Duris) grows close again with his sister (Binoche) and her lively children.
This rediscovery of his family and observation of the teeming streets outside
his window give Pierre a new, hopeful sense of how he might spend the time
still left to him. A cinematic love letter to the city that seems to hide
a story behind every shop window, small alley, street market or grand apartment
building, the film explores the life and love possible only in Paris. Official Web Site Mick LaSalle's San Francisco Chronicle review... |
November 15 - 22 at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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Fri & Sat Midnight Movies at the Clay Theatre!
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The Bawdy Caste performs live at all Rocky Horror shows! The Graduate — Fri & Sat, Nov 20 & 21 Hedwig and the Angry Inch — Fri, Nov 27 only! The Rocky Horror Picture Show — Sat, Nov 28 only! Stanley Kubrick's The Shining — Fri & Sat, Dec 4 & 5 John Carpenter's The Thing — Fri & Sat, Dec 11 & 12 The Big Lebowski — Fri & Sat, Dec 18 & 19 The Rocky Horror Picture Show — Sat, Dec 26 only! |
Starts Wednesday, November 25
at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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| Viggo Mortensen leads a stellar cast (including Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce) in the epic, post-apocalyptic tale of the survival of a father (Moretensen) and his young son (newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they journey across a barren America that was destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm. A masterpiece of adventure, The Road is adapted from author Cormac McCarthy's (No Country for Old Men) beloved, best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which boldly imagines a future in which men are pushed to the worst and the best that they are capable of—a future in which father and son are sustained by love. Directed by John Hillcoat (The Proposition). Official Web Site |
Starts Wednesday, November 25
at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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| Legendary action-cinema master John Woo and international superstar Tony Leung reunite for the first time since the 1992 classic Hard Boiled in this epic historical drama based on a legendary 208 A.D. battle that heralded the end of the Han Dynasty. Red Cliff opens as power hungry Prime Minister-turned-General Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) seeks permission from the Han dynasty Emperor to organize a southward-bound mission designed to crush the two troublesome warlords who stand in his way, Liu Bei (You Yong) and Sun Quan (Chang Chen). As the expedition gets underway, Cao Cao's troops rain destruction on Liu Bei's army, forcing him into retreat. Liu Bei's military strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) knows that the rebels’ only hope for survival is to form an alliance with rival warlord Sun Quan, and reaches out to Sun Quan’s trusted advisor, war hero Zhou Yu (Tony Leung). Vastly outnumbered by Cao Cao’s brutal, fast-approaching army, the warlords band together to mount a heroic campaign—unrivaled in history—that changes the face of China forever. A massive hit in Asia and the most expensive Asian film production of all time, Red Cliff is a breathtaking war epic that marks the triumphant return of John Woo. Official Web Site |
Sat, Nov 28 at Midnight at the Clay Theatre!
With The Bawdy Caste LIVE!
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| The longest-running midnight movie of all time stars Tim Curry as the kinky yet endearing “transsexual from Transylvania” Dr. Frank N. Furter, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick as his hapless guests Brad and Janet, Meat Loaf as motorcycle-riding rough trade and author Richard O’Brien as the hunchbacked butler Riff Raff. It’s harmless musical fun—a delightful spoof of Hollywood horror movies and Old Dark House melodramas. All of our engagements feature live casts who perform scenes during the movie, and the audience is always welcome to respond to the on-screen action. The Rocky Horror Picture was the first—and is still the best—interactive movie experience! Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, November 27
at a San Francisco Landmark Theatre
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| Frustrated with religious turmoil, fanaticism and fundamentalism, filmmaker Peter Rodger set out on a global quest to understand why the concept of God has become politicized. In his stunningly beautiful documentary film, Rabbis, Christian Fundamentalists, Catholic Priests, Buddhist Llamas, Hindu Swamis, Zen Masters, Muslim radicals, Shamans and ordinary people across the globe share their unique perspectives and understanding of God, along with several celebrities including Hugh Jackman, Seal, Ringo Starr, Sir Bob Geldof, Princess Michael of Kent, David Copperfield and Jack Thompson. The film is set amongst beautiful backdrops around the world, filmed in 23 countries over three years. From the 9th ward of New Orleans to the Guatemalan Jungle, to the Himalayan region of Ladahk, Rodger searches for the common thread in our diverse humanity and reveals that which often divides us can also unite us. The film features inviting faces and personalities that are a touching reminder of the melting pot that we call humanity and the mystery that we have given many names. Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, December 4
at the Embarcadero Center Cinema
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When a decorated Marine goes missing overseas, his black-sheep younger brother
cares for his wife and children at home—with consequences that will shake
the foundation of the entire family. Brothers tells the powerful story
of two siblings, Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and younger brother Tommy
(Jake Gyllenhaal), who are polar opposites. A Marine about to embark on his
fourth tour of duty, Sam is a steadfast family man married to his high school
sweetheart, Grace (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two young daughters.
Tommy, his charismatic younger brother, is a drifter just out of jail who's
always gotten by on wit and charm. Shipped out to Afghanistan, Sam is presumed
dead when his Black Hawk helicopter is shot down in the mountains. At home
in suburbia, the Cahill family suddenly faces a shocking void, and Tommy tries
to fill in for his brother by assuming newfound responsibility for himself,
Grace, and the children. When Sam unexpectedly returns to the States, he is
uncharacteristically withdrawn and volatile, and grows suspicious of his brother
and his wife. In the shifting family dynamics, who will dominate? And how
will the brothers come to terms with issues of love, loyalty, and manhood—and
with the woman caught between them? Directed by Jim Sheridan (In America,
My Left Foot). Official Web Site |
Starts Friday, December 4
at a San Francisco Landmark Theatre
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| In this love/hate comedy, things don't go exactly as planned for high-powered Manhattan lawyer Louise (Meg Ryan) after she arrives at her country home for a romantic weekend getaway. First, her husband of 13 years, Ian (Timothy Hutton), tells her that he's leaving her for a younger woman (Kristen Bell). Then, one thing leads to another, and pretty soon Ian finds himself held captive by an oddly cool Louise who explains that she won't release him until he professes his love for her and commits to working on their marriage. And that's when things really start to go wrong. The unexpected arrival of an opportunistic young gardener (Justin Long) and Ian's impatient mistress only serve to complicate the crisis even further, while somehow forcing Louise and Ian to reckon with their past and realistically deal with their future. Written by Adrienne Shelly (writer/director of Waitress) and directed by Cheryl Hines (Larry David's wife on "Curb Your Enthusiasm"). Official Web Site |
One Week Only!
Starts Friday, December 4 at the Lumiere Theatre
Film Subject Michael Ruppert In Person
Friday, December 4 at Both Evening Shows!
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"Americans generally like to hear good news…But is anyone prepared
for the worst? Michael Ruppert, a former Los Angeles police officer turned
independent reporter, predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published
newsletter From the Wilderness at a time when most Wall Street and Washington
analysts were still in denial. Chris Smith has always had a feeling for outsiders
in films like American Movie and American Job. In Collapse,
Smith stylistically departs from his past films by interviewing Ruppert
in a format that recalls the work of Errol Morris and Spalding Gray. Sitting
in a room that looks like a bunker, Ruppert recounts his career as a radical
thinker and spells out the crises he sees ahead…He is especially passionate
over the issue of "peak oil," the concern raised by scientists since
the 1970s that the world will eventually run out of fossil fuel. While other
experts debate this issue in measured tones, Ruppert doesn't hold back at
sounding an alarm. He portrays a future that resembles apocalyptic science
fiction. Listening to his rapid flow of opinions, the viewer is likely to
question some of the rhetoric as paranoid or deluded; and to sway back and
forth on what to make of the extremism. Smith lets viewers form their own
judgments."—Thom Powers, Toronto International Film Festival Official Web Site |
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