Brimstone & Glory (2017; Viktor Jakovleski) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, November 3, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. A color-saturated, visually stimulating, razor-thin documentary about the National Pyrotechnic Festival that takes place in the Mexican municipality of Tultepec, a national center for fireworks production. There […]
Tragedy Girls (2017; Tyler MacIntire) GRADE: C By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, November 3. Appealing newcomers Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp headline this ghoulish and unfunny horror satire. They play high school cheerleaders and lifelong “besties” with an unhealthily active interest in serial killers. In an attempt to expand […]
Rat Film (2017; Theo Anthony) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, October 27, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. Director Anthony makes his feature debut with this unconventional documentary about the persistent rat problem in Baltimore, as well as the connections between the thriving vermin and the […]
78/52 (2017; Alexandre O. Phillippe) GRADE: C- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, October 27, at the Alamo Drafthouse at New Mission; now playing on VOD services. Superficial cinephilia from The People vs. George Lucas director Phillippe, a wide-ranging non-examination of the infamous shower scene from Psycho. The title of 78/52 refers to the […]
Dina (2017; Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, October 20, at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley. Dina is the best documentary of the year so far, and also the most touching love story. Directors Santini […]
In recent years, I spent the first two weeks of October covering the Mill Valley Film Festival . The festival celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, honoring the gamut of independent film, from star-heavy productions with awards in their sights (Sean Penn, Greta Gerwig and Andrew Garfield were […]
