John Seal is Berkeleyside’s film critic. A movie connoisseur with a penchant for natty hats who lives in Oakland, John writes a weekly film recommendation column at Box Office Prophets, as well as a column in The Phantom of the Movie’s Videoscope, an old-fashioned paper magazine, published quarterly. He also writes regular film reviews for IMDB, which can be read here.
At the festival: a lovely Estonian film with a charming protagonist; a screen adaptation of Michael Lesy’s book 'Wisconsin Death Trap;' and a review of recent Brazilian politics. Also: Aretha in her full glory.
Highlights screening at BAMPFA from this year's festival, which opens this week and continues through Tuesday, April 23.
Mary Kay Place is brilliant in 'Diane," delivering an Oscar-worthy performance.
'The Invisibles' sheds light on one of the least known stories of WW2: the Jewish occupants of Berlin who managed to evade the camps. Also: A serious analytical review of life and work of one of cinema's great.
Based on Anna Segher’s 1944 book of the same name, 'Transit,' directed by Christian Petzold, has attempted, with mixed results, to transpose the novel’s World War II-specific plot to the 21st century.
This week: Idris Elba directs his first feature film; a 1963 movie that's every bit as good as John Ford’s classic The 'Grapes of Wrath;' and a "can't look away" film by artist Ulrike Ottinger.
If a movie about the damage wrought by western consumer capitalism on Colombia's indigenous Wayuu people sounds dry, dusty and ideological, don’t worry: it’s anything but. Also: BAMPFA screens Karl Schnabel’s only film.
A terrific new documentary opening at the Roxie Theater this weekend tells the story of an extraordinary man who became one of the most visionary graphic artists of the 20th century.
The new film by 'The Lives of Others' director Florian Maria Georg Christian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck, is a fictionalized take on the life of German artist Gerhard Richter.
This year’s Oscar-nominated shorts, both live and animated, screen at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas starting Friday. Who's going to win?
A preview of this year’s festival, which kicks off on Wednesday and continues through Feb. 14, with programming at the Mission District’s Roxie and Victoria Theaters.
This film features numerous elements of the classic prison-break movie, but ultimately strays quite far from the template, instead incorporating a few tried-and-true genre tropes into a satisfying storyline.
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