Cheryl Eddy

Points of no return

Retro fear and loathing in 'Wake in Fright' and 'They Live'

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cheryl@sfbg.com

FILM Wake in Fright opens with a slow 360 degree pan across a dry, barren, isolated landscape. There are railroad tracks and two small structures, but the rest is filled with a whole lot of nothing.Read more »

Staunch characters

The leading ladies of 'French Cinema Now'

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cheryl@sfbg.com

FILM Last year's The Artist is still glowing months after its multi-Oscar triumph — its canine star just released a memoir, Uggie: My Story, and its human star, Jean Dujardin, will appear in Martin Scorsese's 2013 The Wolf of Wall Street.Read more »

Drunks, drugs, kung fu, and rock 'n' roll: just another week at the movies

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This week, get thee to the Roxie for "Not Necessarily Noir III" (Dennis Harvey's preview here), or the wind-whipped moors for Andrea Arnold's brutal new Wuthering Heights (my chat with Arnold here). Other new stuff we haven't reviewed yet: the not-screened-for-critics-because-let's-face-it-these-movies-are-critic-proof Paranormal Activity 4, and Tyler Perry's first Madea-free enterprise in some time, Alex Cross.

Read on for more new reviews!

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Rep Clock

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Schedules are for Wed/17-Tue/23 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.

"ARAB FILM FESTIVAL" Various Bay Area and SoCal venues; www.arabfilmfestival.org. $10-25. 16th annual fest featuring films from and about the Arab world, through Sun/21.Read more »

Gimme Moors

Andrea Arnold offers a raw take on 'Wuthering Heights'

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cheryl@sfbg.com

FILM Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights has inspired multiple films, as varied in quality as the 1939 Best Picture nominee starring Sir Laurence Olivier — and the 2003 made-for-MTV adaptation, in which "Heath" is a pouty, motorcycle-riding himbo. The source material may seem an odd choice for acclaimed British director Andrea Arnold, best-known for 2006's Red Road and 2009's Fish Tank, both gritty films about working-class people, unfussily shot using hand-held cameras.Read more »

Happy hunting

Just admit it: you're obsessed with 'House Hunters'

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cheryl@sfbg.com

TV Stainless steel appliances. Hardwood floors. Walk-in closets. The House Hunters drinking game, which lovingly mocks the HGTV program's predictability, will have even a seasoned lush drunk before the first commercial break. "But there's nowhere for my man cave!" DRINK.Read more »

Affleck! Psychopaths! Lithuanian hoops! Yep, more new movies

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Yes, it's true: Argo is entertaining. Former cheeseball Ben Affleck has come a long way, baby.

Some cool local stuff this week: the Arab Film Festival, San Francisco Film Society's Taiwan Film Days, and some seasonally-appropriate horror programming at the Roxie. Another Halloween-timed flick is the Ethan Hawke-starring Sinister, about a beastie that attacks people who've seen him on film, or something. So be warned.

More new releases, including a highly recommended sports doc about basketball in Lithuania, after the jump.

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The rescuer

'Gigli' is forgiven: 70s thriller 'Argo' is Ben Affleck's best yet

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cheryl@sfbg.com

FILM A decade or so ago, Ben Affleck was drowning in Bennifer mania and starring in schlock like Daredevil (2003) and Gigli (2003). Rumors percolated that Affleck and Matt Damon hadn't really written that Oscar-winning script for 1997's Good Will Hunting — though Damon's career was bearing more fruit at the time (see: 2002's The Bourne Identity), the "Jenny From the Block" video was nauseating enough to make anyone question the authenticity of anything Affleck-associated up to that point.Read more »

The big show

Pioneering producer Irwin Yablans talks baseball, disco, and his favorite holiday
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cheryl@sfbg.com

FILM/LIT Any horror fan can tell you that John Carpenter directed and co-wrote 1978's Halloween. But it would require a slightly more credits-obsessed moviegoer to recognize the name of behind-the-scenes maestro Irwin Yablans.Read more »

Zombie dogs! Neeson! Southern-fried jail tales! And more, in this week's new movies

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It's finally Halloweentime! (Though Walgreens would have you believe that season started in August.) Hollywood prepares appropriately with a few spookier picks (for kids, Frankenweenie, reviewed below; for older crowds, found-footage anthology V/H/S, discussed in my interview with some of the filmmakers here.) For good measure, you can check out my interview with Dee Wallace, star of some horror classics but making the press rounds for the 30th anniversary Blu-ray release of E.T. The Extraterrestrial.

Of local interest, the Mill Valley Film Festival is up and running, with some stellar picks noted here (HOLY MOTORS!) and an interview with indie pioneer Allison Anders, who debuts her new Strutter at the fest, here.

And, as always, there's more. Read on for takes on films like The Paperboy and Taken 2, which each define "trashy entertainment" in their own special ways.

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