Screwball (2019; Billy Corben) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, March 29, at the 4 Star Theater in San Francisco. Less a documentary than a feature-length piece of click-bait, the true-crime sports movie Screwball offers the most superficial look imaginable at the steroids scandal surrounding Alex Rodriguez […]
Monrovia, Indiana (2018; Frederick Wiseman) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, November 9, at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Rialto Elmwood in Berkeley. Living legend Frederick Wiseman (In Jackson Heights; Ex Libris) brings his democratic approach to documentaries to the heart of Trump America in Monrovia, […]
Generation Wealth (2018; Lauren Greenfield) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, July 27, at the Landmark Clay in San Francisco, the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley and the Regency Cinemas 6 in San Rafael. The Queen of Versailles director and long-time documenter of conspicuous consumption Greenfield creates her […]
LA 92 (2017; Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin) GRADE: A- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, November 17, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. The best documentary of the year so far, a harrowing, sweeping, intelligent, dynamic and elegantly constructed montage about the Los Angeles riots of 1992. LA […]
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 […]
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 […]
