News from Lee Neighborhood Theatres

Dear Friends,

First off we'd like to announce our lineup for the 4TH ANNUAL CHINESE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL slated for 11/17-11/23. The films include:

*Go La La Go
*Ip Man 2
*The Treasure Hunter
* Confucius
*A Tibetan Love Song
*Cool Young
* Love at 7th Sight
*Huang Jia Ci Qing
*My Father and I
*The Star and The Sea

More details on the films will follow in our next email.

This week we are opening Clint Eastwood's HEREAFTER starring Matt Damon at Marina. The film tells three parallel stories about three people affected by death in different ways.
Cowboy Clint and Thereafter to Hereafter
HereAfter, Writer Peter Morgan
Still showing at Marina is THE SOCIAL NETWORK has been receving rave reviews from critics every where and topped the box office two weeks in a row. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 nonfiction novel The Accidental Billionaires, the film is about the founding Facebook.
David Fincher Dissects Society: The Social Network, Fight Club, Zodiac
David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin on The Social Network

Opening at Presidio is Woody Allen's YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER featuring an ensemble cast including Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto, Naomi Watts, and Christian McKay. The film follows a pair of married couples, Alfie and Helena, and their daughter Sally and husband Roy, as their passions, ambitions, and anxieties lead them into trouble and out of their minds.
Woody Allen: A career measured in punctuation
Anthony Hopkins Meets A Tall Dark Stranger
With its $50 million box office debut,JACKASS 3D is still at Presidio this week. Johnny Knoxville and company return with stunts and pranks crazier than any you have seen and, yes, in 3D.
Jackass 3D: Because slapstick deserves another dimension
Two clips from Jackass 3D
Still showing at Presidio is the comedy LIFE AS WE KNOW IT starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. The film is about two single adults become caregivers to an orphaned girl when their mutual best friends die in an accident.
Interview with director Greg Berlanti
Still showing at Presidio and moving to 4-Star is THE TOWN, which tops the box office on its opening weekend and has garnered rave reviews from critics.
Ben Affleck: Will 'The Town' finally earn him some respect?

Still showing at 4-Star is WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS. The film takes place 23 years after the original, revolving around the 2008 financial crisis and the reformed Gekko who follows his attempts to help Wall Street before its soon-to-be stock market crash as well as trying to repair his relationship with his daughter Winnie with the help of Jacob, Winnie's fiance.
Oliver Stone talks 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'
Also showing at 4-Star is MAO'S LAST DANCER. The film tells the story of a Chinese dancer who defects to the Houston Ballet, resulting in love, culture shock and a political change of heart.
Li CunXin: Mao's Last Dancer
'Mao's Last Dancer': A beautiful, inspirational film
The amazing documentray LAST TRAIN HOME directed by Lixin Fan remains at 4-Star. It records the event of 130 million migrant workers traveling back to their home villages for the New Year's holiday in China. The film has won the Best Documentary Award at 2009 International Documentary Film Festival.
Taking 'Last Train Home' Shows Changes In China
The experimental film HOWL which explores both the Six Gallery debut and the 1957 obscenity trial of 20th century American poet Allen Ginsberg's noted poem Howl stays for another week.
Howl: How Allen Ginsberg beat the system

Coming to 4-Star on tomorrow is the indie film HARRISON MONTGOMERY. Filmed and set in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, the film tells the story of game show-obsessed recluse with magical powers and a large stash of money that Ricardo Papa, a small time drug dealer with artistic pretensions, tries to steal.

The documentary THE LAST PLAY AT SHEA will screen at 4-Star on 10/22 for one show only! Through the prism of Billy Joel's extraordinary career and blue collar perspective, The Last Play at Shea will chronicle the waning days of Shea Stadium through a tapestry of performance, historical documentary and personal journey while at the same time providing audiences with a pop-culture snapshot of a seminal era in New York history.

Coming to 4-Star on 11/3 is a DVD Launch Party to Celebrate the Arthur Dong Collection, Vol. 2. Headlining the event will be a screening of the restored and newly scored 1916 film, The Curse of Quon Gwon, the earliest known Chinese American feature film ever made that Dong helped rescue during his work on the documentary, Hollywood Chinese. More info on this fundraising event can be found in this email.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend!
Lee Neighborhood Theatres

Tickets for our daily shows are available online at movietickets.com

Show times

4-Star Screening times for Friday 10/22 ONLY

*THE LAST PLAY AT SHEA 8:30
*MAO'S LAST DANCER [PG] 12:00 5:25
plus LAST TRAIN HOME [PG] 2:15
*HOWL [NR] 3:50 8:00
*WALL STREET [PG-13] 12:15 5:20
plus THE TOWN [R] 2:50

4-Star Screening times for Saturday 10/23 to Thursday 10/28

*THE LAST PLAY AT SHEA 8:30
*MAO'S LAST DANCER [PG] 12:00 5:25
plus LAST TRAIN HOME [PG] 2:15
*HOWL [NR] 3:50 8:00
*WALL STREET [PG-13] 12:15 5:20
plus THE TOWN [R] 2:50 7:50
(No 7:50pm show for THE TOWN on Thursday 10/28)

ROAD TRIP TO PLUTO showing at 8:30pm on Thursday 10/28

Presidio Screening times for Friday 10/22 to Thursday 10/28

*JACK ASS 3D [R] 1:35 4:15 7:35 9:45
*LIFE AS WE KNOW IT [PG-13] 1:45 5:00
*WALL ST. [PG-13] 8:00
*THE TOWN [R] 1:50 4:30 7:25 9:50
*YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER
[R] 1:40 4:20 7:30 9:40
(No last shows on Monday to Thursday 10/25-10/28)

Marina Screening times for Friday 10/22 to Thursday 10/28

*HEREAFTER [PG-13] 12:30 3:30 6:30 9:15
*THE SOCIAL NETWORK [PG-13] 12:40 3:40 6:40 9:20

AAS @ SFSU Presents:
Stories from Chinese America, A DVD Launch Party to Celebrate the Arthur Dong Collection, Vol. 2

Headlining the event will be a screening of the restored and newly scored 1916 film, The Curse of Quon Gwon, the earliest known Chinese American feature film ever made that Dong helped rescue during his work on the documentary, Hollywood Chinese. The Curse of Quon Gwon was directed by San Francisco-born, Marion Wong, and produced in Oakland, California. Mills College Director of Music (dance department) and Oakland resident, Judy Rosenberg, composed and performed an original score for the 36-minute film. Dong, a San Francisco native, will be on hand to give a tour of the many hours of extra archival and interview material that comes with his new DVD anthology. Guest performance by the Grant Avenue Follies (www.grantavenuefollies.com <http://www.grantavenuefollies.com> ), with a reception and door prizes to follow.

The DVD anthology includes the collector's edition DVD of Hollywood Chinese, Arthur's landmark examination of Chinese in American feature films, with over 3.5 hours of bonus material on two discs; Forbidden City, U.S.A., his ground-breaking account of the Chinese American nightclub scene during World War II; Sewing Woman, the Oscar-nominated documentary based on the filmmaker's mother; LOTUS, a dramatic short film exploring the conflicts over foot binding; and Living Music for Golden Mountains, Dong's 1981 documentary directorial debut profiling his Chinese music teacher. The anthology also includes the last remaining copies of Forbidden City, U.S.A. available for home use sale. An added bonus in the collection is the newly scored Curse of Quon Gwon with a gallery of production stills and information about the original filmmakers. Please visit www.deepfocusproductions.com for more information on Arthur and his films.

TICKETS:

$25 minimum donation.

Available online at Brown Paper Tickets with a $1.99 service charge

Limited tickets are also available for purchase without the online service fee at the Four Star Box Office and at the Asian American Studies Department, SF State University (415.338-2273; aas@sfsu.edu).

PREMIERE SPONSORS:

Asian American Studies Department, San Francisco State University

Lee Neighborhood Theaters

SUPPORTING SPONSORS:

Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)

Asian Student Union, San Francisco State University

This is an Asian American Studies Fundraising Event. Proceeds will support AAS programs and students at SF State University. In accordance with University policy, donations to Asian American Studies at SF State University will be deposited with and administered by the University Corporation, San Francisco State, which is a non-profit auxiliary organization of the University and is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Hereafter

Director Clint Eastwood delves into the mysterious world of the hereafter with this ensemble supernatural drama starring Matt Damon, C�cile De France, Jay Mohr, and Bryce Dallas Howard. In the wake of a near-death experience during a powerful tsunami, French television reporter Marie (De France) takes her married lover's advice to pen the political book she has always talked about writing. As hard as Marie tries to stay focused on the task at hand, however, she repeatedly finds her attention diverted to scientists who have been stigmatized for investigating the afterlife. Meanwhile, in America, reluctant psychic George (Matt Damon) struggles in vain to cease using his powers for profit while falling for a gorgeous stranger (Bryce Dallas Howard). All the while, his greedy brother (Jay Mohr) prods him to milk his ability for all it's worth. Over in London, a pair of inseparable twins is forcibly parted by tragedy when one of them dies suddenly. The harder the more introverted surviving twin (Frankie McLaren) attempts to reach out to his deceased brother in the afterlife, the deeper his mom sinks into heroin addiction. When his mother goes into rehab, the grieving boy is placed in foster care, and begins succumbing to his corrosive ennui. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi Runtime: 135mins

A.O. Scott @ THE NEW YORK TIMES says,
"It has the power to haunt the skeptical, to mystify the credulous and to fascinate everyone in between."
Full Review

Official Website

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger

Two couples find their lives turned upside down by their unfulfilled longings in this ensemble comedy from director Woody Allen. Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) and Helena (Gemma Jones) have been married for years. They have a grown-up daughter named Sally (Naomi Watts), who is married to a successful novelist named Roy (Josh Brolin), but finds the future of her marriage in jeopardy after falling for Greg (Antonio Banderas), the dapper owner of a prominent art gallery. Meanwhile, as Roy develops a fixation on Dia (Freida Pinto), an exotic beauty he encounters on the street, Alfie ditches Helena for Charmaine (Lucy Punch), an impressionable young call girl. Now it seems that the harder everyone tries runs away from their problems, the faster their lives seem to fall apart. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi Runtime:110mins

Joe Morgenstern @ WALL STREET JOURNAL says, "It's terribly touching, as well as entertaining, to watch everyone's struggles, and instructive to discover that the screwiest people on screen are the only ones who find true happiness."
Full Review

Official Website

Jackass 3D

The Jackass pranksters are at it again in this third outing, presented for the first time in 3D -- an effect that will no doubt redefine the use of the in-your-face technology. Once again Jeff Tremaine returns to direct the MTV Films/Paramount Pictures production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi Runtime:105mins

Official Website

Mao's Last Dancer

From Academy Award (R) nominee Bruce Beresford (DRIVING MISS DAISY, TENDER MERCIES) comes MAO'S LAST DANCER, the inspiring true story of Li Cunxin and his extraordinary journey from a poor upbringing in rural China to international stardom as a world-class ballet dancer. Based on the best selling autobiography, MAO'S LAST DANCER weaves a moving tale about the quest for freedom and the courage it takes to live your own life. The film compellingly captures the struggles, sacrifices and triumphs, as well as the intoxicating effects of first love and celebrity amid the pain of exile. -Samuel Goldwyn Films Runtime:135mins

Amy Biancolli @ SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE says, "This is a handsome, conventional biopic, as fluent and polished as its subject matter."
Full Review

Official Website

Screening at 4-Star on 10/21 at 8:30pm:
Harrison Montgomery

Directed by Daniel D�vila
Starring Martin Landau, Octavio G�mez Berr�os
Written by Cliff Traiman, Karim Ahmad and Daniel D�vila
Produced by Martin Landau, Karim Ahmad, April D�vila, Catherine D�vila, and Daniel D�vila
Director and Cast in attendance

In San Francisco's poverty-stricken Tenderloin district, would-be artist Ricardo Papa is trying to make ends meet as a petty drug dealer. On the run from his boss and on the outs with his girlfriend, he takes up residence in the dilapidated Hotel Boyd. There he crosses paths with thirteen-year-old Lattie Flemming who charms Ricardo with her fearless and beguiling attitude. As they grow closer, Ricardo learns that Lattie's mother, Margo, is trapped in an abusive relationship that puts mother and child in jeopardy. When Ricardo desperately presses to make good on a deal gone bad, he encounters another of the Boyd's residents, Harrison Montgomery. Ricardo discovers that this aging recluse has a secret - a secret that could solve all of Ricardo's problems. With his boss closing in, and Margo and Lattie on the ropes, Ricardo is forced to choose between saving himself, and saving his only friends.

Official Website

Life As We Know It

Two people who can't stand each other are forced to care for the same child in this domestic comedy drama starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. Holly (Heigl) is a caterer whose career is just getting off the ground; Eric (Duhamel) directs sports for a major network. Their first date was a nightmare, and now they're about to become a family. When their goddaughter Sophie's parents both perish in a tragic accident, Holly and Eric are informed that they were singled out as Sophie's caretakers in the event of an unforeseen disaster. Now, in order to raise Sophie right, this bickering pair must put their differences aside while mastering the fine art of parenthood. Coordinating their new lives and getting along won't be easy for Eric and Holly, but somewhere between the conflicting schedules and drastic lifestyle changes, the reluctant couple realizes that with a help from Sophie, they're starting to resemble a real family. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Kirk Honeycutt @ HOLLYWOOD REPORTER says,
"Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel do make for very attractive leads."
Full Review

Official Website

Last Train Home

Every spring, China's cities are plunged into chaos as 130 million migrant workers journey to their home villages for the New Year's holiday. This mass exodus is the world's largest human migration-an epic spectacle that reveals a country tragically caught between its rural past and industrial future. Working over several years in classic verit� style Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Lixin Fan (with the producers of the award-winning hit documentary Up the Yangtze) travels with one couple who have embarked on this annual trek for almost two decades. Like so many of China's rural poor, Changhua and Sugin Zhang left behind their two infant children for grueling factory jobs. Their daughter Qin-now a restless and rebellious teenager-both bitterly resents their absence and longs for her own freedom away from school, much to the utter devastation of her parents. Emotionally engaging and starkly beautiful, Last Train Home's intimate observation of one fractured family sheds light on the human cost of China's ascendance as an economic superpower.-- (C) Zeitgeist Films Runtime: 95mins

G. Allen Johnson @ SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE says,
"Lixin Fan's Last Train Home is a remarkable documentary that, by following a family of factory workers during a three-year period, says a lot about China and its difficult transition to economic powerhouse."
Full Review

Official Website

Howl

Starring James Franco in a career-defining performance as Allen Ginsberg, HOWL is the story of how the young poet's seminal work broke down societal barriers in the face of an infamous public obscenity trial. In his famously confessional style, Ginsberg - poet, counter-culture icon, and chronicler of the Beat Generation - recounts the road trips, love affairs, and search for personal liberation that led to HOWL, the most timeless work of his career. HOWL interweaves three stories: the unfolding of the landmark 1957 obscenity trial; an imaginative animated ride through the prophetic masterpiece; and a unique portrait of a man who found new ways to express himself, and in doing so, changed his own life and galvanized a generation. -- (C) OscilloscopeRuntime: 145mins

A.O. Scott @ NEW YORK TIMES says it is "[a]n exemplary work of literary criticism on film, explaining and contextualizing its source without deadening it."
Full Review

Official Website

The Social Network

The remarkable story behind Facebook comes to the big screen with this Columbia Pictures production scripted by The West Wing's Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac). The year was 2003. Computer programming wizard Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) was a Harvard undergrad when he laid the foundation for a social networking website that would revolutionize the way we communicate. Six years later the ambitious entrepreneur made his first million -- but that was just the beginning. Despite all of Zuckerberg's wealth and success, his personal life began to suffer as he became marred in legal disputes, and discovered that many of the 500 million people he had friended during his rise to the top were eager to see him fall.

Andrew O'Hehir @ SALON.COM says,
"Is The Social Network one of the fall season's best big movies? Without question."
Full Review

Official Website

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

As the global economy teeters on the brink of disaster, a young Wall Street trader partners with disgraced former Wall Street corporate raider Gordon Gekko on a two-tiered mission: To alert the financial community to the coming doom, and to find out who was responsible for the death of the young trader's mentor. -20th Century Fox Runtime: 145mins

Kirk Honeycutt
@ HOLLYWOOD REPORTER says it is "[o]ne of the better sequels in a long time."
Full Review

Official Website

The Town

"The Town" is the tale of four men -- thieves, rivals and friends -- being hunted through the streets of Boston by a tenacious FBI agent and a woman who might destroy them all. The book won the 2005 Hammett Prize for excellence in crime writing.
Boston bank robber Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) falls for a woman his gang had previously taken hostage after feigning a chance meeting with her to ensure that she can't identify them in Affleck's adaptation of author Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves. The son of a tough, Charleston, Massachusetts thief, Doug passed on his chance to walk the straight and narrow in favor of becoming a career bank robber. Not only is Doug's crew one of the most ruthless in Boston, but their also one of the best; they never a trace of evidence, and always make a clean break.
-Warner Bros. Pictures Runtime: 135mins

Roger Moore @ ORLANDO SENTINEL says,
"It's the best heist picture since Heat, and it confirms that Affleck, who co-wrote the adaptation of a Chuck Hogan novel, is no Gone Baby Gone fluke."
Full Review

Official Website

Lee Neighborhood Theatres Gift Options:

Presidio Theatre Discount Series Ticket:
5 Admissions for $40.00, good for one admission at a time. Valid Daily

4Star dis tix

4-Star Theatre Discount Series Ticket:
6 Admissions for $40.00, good for one admission at a time. Valid Daily

t-shirt

Lee Neighborhood Theatres T-shirts:
Only $8.00 each and comes in both black and brown. All Sizes are available.

Gift Certificates and gift passes are also available at the amount you would like to purchase. Good for all Lee Neighborhood Theatres.

Directions:
4-Star Theatre
2200 Clement St. @23rd Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94121
Public Transportation:
Muni bus lines: 38 Geary, 2 Clement, 1 California, 28 19th Ave (Park Presidio) 29 Sunset
Parking:
Low-rate Parking at lot next door to theater (between 23rd and 24th Avenues)
Additional Parking: 18th Ave @Geary Blvd. $1.00 an hour (former Alexandria Theatre lot)
Parking meters around 4-Star are good for 2-hour parking and for only about $1.50 an hour!

To Presidio Theatre
2340 Chestnut St. (between Divisadero & Scott)
San Francisco, CA 94123
Public Transportation:
Muni bus lines: 30 Stockton. 22 Fillmore, 43 Masonic
Parking:
Public parking garage at Lombard and Fillmore (on top of US Post Office)
$5.50 PARKING FOR 3 HOURS AT LOMBARD AND WEBSTER TOP LEVEL OF UNITED STATES POST OFFICE ENTER FROM MOULTON ALLEY

Marina Theatre
2149 Chestnut St. (between Divisadero & Scott)
San Francisco, CA 94123
Public Transportation:
Muni bus lines: 30 Stockton. 22 Fillmore, 43 Masonic
Parking:
Public parking garage at Lombard and Fillmore (on top of US Post Office)
$5.50 PARKING FOR 3 HOURS AT LOMBARD AND WEBSTER TOP LEVEL OF UNITED STATES POST OFFICE ENTER FROM MOULTON ALLEY