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PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE
2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch), Berkeley, (510) 642-1124, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. $8, second show $2. The East Bay mecca for film scholars, part of UC's Berkeley Art Museum, thrives at its on-campus location, up the steps on Bancroft between Telegraph Avenue and the Hearst Gym.
WEDNESDAY: "Recon/Decon," a program of films re-editing Hollywood including Kevin and Jennifer McCoy's Horror Chase (2002), a loop of the chase from Evil Dead II; Scott Stark's Noema (1998), de-eroticized moments from porn; and Les LeVeque's "Reconstruction Trilogy," condensed versions, circa 12 minutes apiece, of three standards -- Backwards Birth of a Nation (2000), Stutter the Searchers (2001), and Red Green Blue Gone With the Wind (2001) 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: A series of the films of Nicholas Ray continues with The High Green Wall (1954), a teleplay from a story by Evelyn Waugh with Joseph Cotton and Thomas Gomez, and I'm a Stranger Here Myself (David Helpern Jr. and James Guzman, 1974), a documentary about Ray with producer Myron Meisel in person 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY: Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground (1951; 7:30 p.m. ), a film noir that turns into a film blanc in the snow; and Run for Cover (1955; 9:15 p.m. ), a good, low-key western with James Cagney.
SATURDAY: James Mason is a tormented teacher in Nicholas Ray's excellent family melodrama Bigger Than Life (1956; 4:30, 9:10 p.m. ), while James Dean is the quintessential Rebel Without a Cause (1955; 7 p.m. ), Ray's one great pop-culture breakthrough.
SUNDAY: Vera Chytilova's multicolored dazzler Daisies (Czechoslovakia, 1966), screening with her early short film Ceiling (1963) 5:30 p.m.
MONDAY: Theater closed.
TUESDAY: Jesse Lerner's The American Egypt (2001), on the role of the United States in Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, plus two shorts 7:30 p.m.
RAFAEL FILM CENTER
1118 Fourth St. (at A Street), San Rafael, 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $9 save as noted. This three-screen repertory theater, now officially the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, is operated by the California Film Institute. Programs are complex; check carefully and call for confirmation.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: A spelling bee leaves kids Spellbound (Jeff Blitz, 2003) 6:30, 8:30 p.m. Jacques Perrin's Winged Migration (France, 2002) 7, 9 p.m. See Ongoing for reviews.
WEDNESDAY: Director John Antonelli in person with his documentary, with dramatized re-creations, of scenes from the life of our own Saint Jack, Kerouac (1985) 7 p.m.
THURSDAY: Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link, Germany, 2002) 7:30 p.m. See Ongoing for review.
FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: Spellbound, Winged Migration, and Nowhere in Africa continue. Call for times.
SUNDAY: A Sunday and Wednesday Greta Garbo series commences with her justly celebrated comedy Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939) 7 p.m.
RED VIC
1727 Haight (at Cole), 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com. $6.50 save as noted. There's a spot on the couch for you at this collectively owned rep house.
WEDNESDAY: The seconds crawl like The Hours (2002) in Stephen Daldry's melodrama. We like the kid, the cake, and Julianne Moore though 2, 7, 9:25 p.m.
THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY: Orlando Bloom surfs The Two Towers (Peter Jackson, New Zealand, 2002) Thurs & Fri 7 p.m.; Sat 2, 5:30, 9 p.m.
STARTS SUNDAY: Call for program.
ROXIE
3117 16th St. (at Valencia), 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $8. Short-run repertory in one of the most adventurously programmed theaters in the U.S.A.
WEDNESDAY: Call for program.
THURSDAY: Beats on film -- John Antonelli's documentary Kerouac (1985; 8 p.m. ), with director in person for post-film Q&A, screening with Howard Brookner's Burroughs the Movie 6:20, 9:40 p.m.
STARTS FRIDAY: Beat on this film -- The world theatrical premiere of David Anspaugh's Wisegirls (2002), a Mafia comedy with Mira Sorvino, Mariah Carey, and Melora Walters. See Opening for more 6, 8, 10 p.m.; also Sat, Sun, & Wed 2, 4 p.m.
SPANGENBERG THEATRE
Gunn High School Campus, 780 Arastradero (at Foothill Expressway), Palo Alto, (650) 354-8263, www.spangenbergtheatre.com. This newly refurbished Center for the Arts offers 35mm films on a 30-foot screen. $5.
FRIDAY (May 30): Matthew Broderick takes Ferris Bueller's Day Off (John Hughes, 1986) 4:30 p.m.
STANFORD
221 University (at Emerson), Palo Alto, (650) 324-3700, www.stanfordtheatre.org. $6. This handsomely restored neighborhood palace usually screens pre-1960 Hollywood fare in the best available prints, with excellent projection and a courteous staff.
WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY: The Stanford commemorates Bob Hope's 100th birthday with a three-week series of his films, beginning with the haunted house comedy The Ghost Breakers (George Marshall, 1940; 7:30 p.m. ) and the best of the Hope-Crosby comedies, Road to Morocco (David Butler, 1942; 5:45, 9:05 p.m. ). Anthony Quinn is a frustrated villain in both films.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Hope's two popular western spoofs, The Paleface (Norman Z. McLeod, 1948; 4:05, 7:30 p.m. ) and the especially cartoonlike Son of Paleface (Frank Tashlin, 1952; 5:45, 9:15 p.m. ). Jane Russell is a good foil for Hope in both films.
MONDAY & TUESDAY: Closed.
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS
701 Mission (at Third Street, in Yerba Buena Gardens), 978-2787, www.YerbaBuenaArts.org. $6 save as noted. This venue's Screening Room is a home for film and video programs of all sorts. Closed Mondays.
DAILY: Continuous-loop screenings of three DVDs, part of the visual arts exhibition "Time After Time: Asia and Our Moment," run through July 13 -- From China, Chinese Utopia and Living Elsewhere, plus Haunted Houses, on Thai soap operas 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
WEDNESDAY (May 28): The Jewish Film Festival screens The Travellers (Robert Cohen, Canada, 2001), about four folk singers inspired by Pete Seeger. $7 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY (May 29): The S.F. Cinematheque sponsors a "Stan Brakhage Memorial" commemorating the late experimental filmmaker with a screening of all of his hand-painted, 35mm films, including Eye Myth, Night Music, The Garden of Earthly Delights, Night Mulch, and Very. Also screening are his 1955, filmed-in-San Francisco In Between and his last movie, Panels for the Walls of Heaven. Call 978-ARTS for advance tickets ($50 and $20). Reception follows first screening 7:30, 9:30 p.m.
