Balboa Theatre. Stop Making Sense: The Balboa's Summer Music Documentary Series shows Jonathan Demme's 1984 Talking Heads concert film, widely considered to be one of the best-conceived live shows of all time. Thu., Aug. 14, 7:30 p.m. $7.50-$10. 3630 Balboa, San Francisco, 221-2184, balboamovies.com.
The Castro Theatre. Carax Meets Linklater: For three consecutive Thursdays, the Castro pairs two distinctively unique filmmakers — France's Leos Carax and the United States' Richard Linklater — in double feature screenings of their respective theme trilogies: Carax's "Alex" films with Denis Lavant (Boy Meets Girl, Mauvais Sang, and The Lovers on the Bridge) and Linklater's "Before" films with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight). Starting Aug. 14. Thursdays. Continues through Aug. 28. $8.50-$11. SF Sketchfest Summer Social: San Francisco's juggernaut of a comedy festival hosts an off-season party featuring three film screenings with a quirky array of special guests: The Muppet Movie with puppeteer Dave "Gonzo" Goelz (11 a.m.), Twilight: Eclipse with comedian Doug Benson (4:20 p.m.), and Office Space with actor Stephen "Milton" Root (9 p.m.). Sat., Aug. 16, 11 a.m. $10-$20. sfsketchfest.com. 429 Castro, San Francisco, 621-6120, castrotheatre.com.
Century San Francisco Centre 9 and XD. RiffTrax Live: Godzilla: Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy of MST3K take comic umbrage at the world's most famous atomic monster. No, not the Japanese original. No, not even the decent recent remake. We're talking about the Roland Emmerich superturd from the '90s, where the creature's a sneaky iguana and Matthew Broderick is the world's most humdrum hero. It will get all the mockery it deserves, and hopefully more so. Thu., Aug. 14, 8 p.m.; Tue., Aug. 19, 7:30 p.m. rifftrax.com. 845 Market, San Francisco, 538-8422, cinemark.com.
Clay Theatre. Magic in the Moonlight: Woody Allen's latest romantic comedy stars Colin Firth as a 1920s magician who tries to expose psychic medium Emma Stone as a phony, but she may have a few tricks of her own up her sleeve. Daily. Ghost in the Shell: Two midnight screenings of the cyberpunk anime classic, shown in Japanese with English subtitles. Fri., Aug. 15, 11:59 p.m. $10. 2261 Fillmore, San Francisco, 267-4893, landmarktheatres.com.
Dark Room Theater. Bad Movie Night: Escape from the Planet of the Apes: Hosts Sherilyn Connelly, Mike Spiegelman, and Alexia Staniotes learn that escaping from the ape-ocalypse of the previous movie only gets you as far as 1973 Los Angeles. Sun., Aug. 17, 8 p.m. $6.99. 2263 Mission, San Francisco, 401-7987, darkroomsf.com.
Embarcadero Center Cinema. Begin Again: Writer/director John Carney's follow-up to Once stars Mark Ruffalo as a frustrated record exec who takes young songstress Keira Knightley under his wing. Daily. Boyhood: Richard Linklater spent 12 years filming this universally acclaimed coming-of-age tale in which the actors grow up right before your eyes during the film's 165-minute running time. Daily. A Most Wanted Man: Anton Corbijn (Control) adapts John le Carré's espionage novel into a slow-fuse spy thriller, with the late Philip Seymour Hoffman leading a cast that also features Willem Dafoe, Rachel McAdams, and Robin Wright. Daily. Second Annual Turkish Film Festival: The small — but totally free — Türk Filmleri Festivali offers four movies in three nights, including Uur Yücel's Miracle Worker-esque My World (Aug. 19 at 7:30 p.m.), Maryna Gorbach and Mehmet Bahadir Er's comedy-drama Love Me (Aug. 20 at 7 p.m.), Kemal Uzun's comic adventure Oh Brother (Aug. 20 at 9 p.m.), and Hakan Yonat's love story Only You (Aug. 21 at 7 p.m.). Aug. 19-21. Free. turkishfilmfestivals-usa.com. 1 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, 267-4893, landmarktheatres.com.
Exploratorium. Saturday Cinema: Weekly thematic film screenings presented in the Kanbar Forum by the Exploratorium's Cinema Arts program. Saturdays. Free with museum admission. Pier 15, San Francisco, 528-4444, exploratorium.edu.
Main Library, Koret Auditorium. The Factory's End-of-Summer and 10th Anniversary Screening: The Bay Area Video Coalition's advanced teen filmmaking program hosts a free screening of its latest mini-documentaries focusing on local social issues, followed by a Q&A session. Wed., Aug. 13, 4 p.m. Free. bavc.org. 100 Larkin, San Francisco, 557-4595, www.sfpl.org.
Opera Plaza Cinemas. Obvious Child: Writer-director Gillian Robespierre makes a winning debut with this fresh and unfiltered abortion comedy (no, seriously) starring Jenny Slate. Daily. Alive Inside: Joyously tear-jerking documentary about how music can be used as a therapeutic treatment for patients suffering from dementia. Through Aug. 14. Le Chef: French cuisine and comedy share the menu in Daniel Cohen's film starring Michaël Youn and Jean Reno. Daily. A Five Star Life: Sumptuous resort settings serve as the backdrop for this Italian dramedy about a middle-aged woman (Margherita Buy) whose job as a jetsetting hotel critic ensures that her life is luxurious but lonely. Daily. Finding Fela: After a string of dire (but required) sociopolitical documentaries, filmmaker Alex Gibney now turns to a more inspirational subject: Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, whose life was as revolutionary and complex as his music. Aug. 15-21. 601 Van Ness, San Francisco, 777-3456, landmarktheatres.com.
Pacific Film Archive. Over the Top and Into the Wire: WWI on Film: BAM/PFA presents a survey of cinematic portrayals of the (Not-So-)Great War, including films by Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Jean Renoir, Gregory La Cava, Alexander Dovzhenko, Stanley Kubrick, and Lewis Milestone Wed., Aug. 13, 7 p.m.; Sun., Aug. 17, 5 p.m.; Fri., Aug. 22, 7 p.m.; Wed., Aug. 27, 7 p.m. 2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch), Berkeley, 510-642-1124, bampfa.berkeley.edu.
Public Works. Bay Area Global Health Film Festival: The Institute for Global Orthopaedics and Traumatology hosts this screening of short films based on the theme of "Road Traffic Safety Locally ... and Globally." Tue., Aug. 19, 6 p.m. $7-$10. bayareaghff.org. 161 Erie, San Francisco, 932-0955, publicsf.com.
Roxie Theater. Heli: Amat Escalante's unsparing look at a family trapped in the middle of Mexico's brutal drug war combines violence with visual flair, earning him the Best Director Award at last year's Cannes Film Festival. Through Aug. 14. $7.50-$10. Venus in Fur: Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric star in Roman Polanski's screen adaptation of the Broadway hit inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's erotic fiction. Through Aug. 14. Future Twin Video Release Party: Local indie/post-punk trio Future Twin unveils the interactive new music video for its song "We're Here," with a live band performance and a showing of everyone's favorite genderfucking Japanese zombie movie starring Guitar Wolf, Wild Zero, adding to the fun. Wed., Aug. 13, 9:30 p.m. $10-$20 suggested donation. Valentine Road: Frameline Encore hosts a free screening of this heart-tugging documentary about the 2008 murder of a gay teenage student in Oxnard, CA. Thu., Aug. 14, 7 p.m. free. Kink: James Franco produced and Christina Voros directed this documentary peek inside the BDSM boudoirs of Kink.com and its S.F. Armory studios. Aug. 15-21. Mi Casa No Es Su Casa: Directors Avery Yu and Haley Jensen present their new short documentary about the changing cultural face of the Mission District. Sat., Aug. 16, 7 p.m. $7.50-$10. I Play with the Phrase Each Other: Young filmmaker Jay Alvarez is in town to showcase his Slamdance-approved new indie film, in which the plot is relayed almost entirely by characters talking to each other on the phone. Tue., Aug. 19, 7 p.m. $12. 3117 16th St., San Francisco, 863-1087, roxie.com.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Midnites for Maniacs: The Exploitation of William Lustig – A Tribute Retrospective: MFM's Jesse Hawthorne Ficks takes over the YBCA's screening room for two triple bills of trashy cinema by director William Lustig: Friday features Lustig's deliciously twisted original Maniac, the Death Wish-esque Vigilante, and out-of-print actioner Hit List, while Saturday's lineup includes all three films in the Robert Z'Dar-starring Maniac Cop trilogy. Lustig is scheduled to be in attendance for all screenings, plus he makes an autograph appearance at Amoeba Music on Haight Street at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Aug. 15-16, 7 p.m. $15. midnitesformaniacs.com. 701 Mission, San Francisco, 978-2787, ybca.org.
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