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10/10/08LOLs aplenty in Bill Maher's Religulous
While watching Bill Maher's new comic documentary, Religulous, I was reminded of sleepover parties I used to have with an old grade-school buddy, Ray Page. Ray's parents had a VCR, so we would rent R-rated movies and watch them very late at night after his parents went to bed. We were 10 or 11 years old, and this felt extremely subversive at the time. In hindsight, watching Mel Brooks's History of the World, Part 1 or Bachelor Party really wasn't as Weather Underground as it felt at the time—but it really was fun. But thinking back to those eary days of VHS, one film really stands out: Monty Python's Life of Brian. Life of Brian was an extremely controversial film when it came out in thelate 70s, I believe the Catholic Church declared... Posted at 01:57 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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10/09/08Creature From the Black Lagoon-in 3-D-this weekend at the Cerrito
Economy got you down? Is the political climate too full of hate? Well, here's a fun weekend matinee that will definitely get your mind off the blahs. On Saturday and Sunday, the beautiful Cerrito Theater is showing an awesome print of the 50's monster classic Creature From the Black Lagoon. I can't even begin to describe how cool this movie is. You have to see it for yourself. In its original 3-D format. Have fun! More information here Posted at 01:06 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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10/07/08Q&A with Lisa Landry, headlining at Tommy T's through Thursday
Tonight through Thursday, comedian Lisa Landry is headlining Tommy T’s Comedy Club in Pleasanton. Lisa gave me a call at Diablo just after driving up I-5 from her home in Los Angeles, and we had a chat about her stand-up career and her gig as one of Us Weekly’s “Fashion Police.” Posted at 02:25 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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10/02/08Oakland A's fan guide to the MLB playoffs
I'm a big Oakland A's fan, which is why I spent most of the second half of the baseball season talking about how great Heath Ledger was in the new Batman movie. Now that the playoffs are here, and there aren't any Bay Area teams in the hunt for a World Series title, it's easy to lose interest. But the game is just too sweet to not have some rooting interest in the post-season. So here's an A's fan's guide to the playoffs: NATIONAL LEAGUE: Milwaukee vs. Philadelphia: The Milwaukee Brewers snuck in as the wild card team on the last day of the season. There's a couple of reasons for East Bay fans to root fopr the Brew crew. One is catcher Jason Kendall, who was the catcher for the A's until halfway through the 2007 season, when he was traded to the Cubs. He signed with the... Posted at 06:26 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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09/30/08Raitt, Costello, Browne, Lobos wow Paramount crowd at SEVA benefit
I was pretty much blown away by the Seva Foundation's 30th anniversary concert at Oakland's Paramount Theatre on Saturday night. 60s icon Wavy Gravy put the show together as a benefit for Seva, an international organization that raises money for cateract surgery for people in impoverished countries. It's really an amazing cause, and the Seva crew have a charming spirit of the '60s hippie vibe. The show they put together was a knockout. Bonnie Raitt kicked things off with a nice mini set, including a beautiful acoustic version of John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery". The last song of Raitt's opening set was a "Love Reign Over Me" and she was joined by Elvis Costello, David Crosby and Graham Nash. Not a bad opening. Next, Jackson Browne tore through a nice set... Posted at 11:47 AM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
09/23/08I can't wait for Country Joe's coffee shop in Berkeley
A few years ago, I did a story about Berkeley resident Country Joe McDonald, the iconic 1960s folk singer who wrote "Fixin' To Die Rag". Joe had me over to his house in Berkeley and entertained me with some wild stories about the hippie days. So I was pretty excited to learn that he's opening a coffee shop/concert hall in the Gourmet Ghetto next month. Check it out: Gimme a Cuppa Joe Posted at 11:39 AM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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09/17/08William Shatner fest at Cerrito Speakeasy
Thursday night marks the annual William Shatner tribute night at the Cerrito Speakeasy Cinema in El Cerrito. My buddy Will Viharo, one of the great cult movie activists in the East Bay or anywhere else, puts this tribute to all things Shatner together each year, finding rare films the Star Trek captain made ove the years. Highlights in years past have included Kingdom of the Spiders (Shat plays a large animal vet in a town overrun by killer spiders) and Impulse (Shat plays a serial killer with a serious mommy complex. This year's feature is White Commanche, in which our favorite ham plays twin half breed Native Americans. More info here. Posted at 05:35 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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09/16/08The Graduate comes to Town Hall Theatre Company in Lafayette
I was reading Boxofficemojo.com the other day and came across a fun fact: If movie tickets cost the same price from the dawn of cinema to this summer's blockbuster THE DARK KNIGHT, then THE GRADUATE would be the 18th highest grossing film of all time. As much as I love that movie, I was surprised to see what a huge smash it had been in its 1967 heyday...after all, adjusted for inflamation, it would have grossed nearly twice as much as Finding Nemo, Shrek, or Spider-Man. 41 years after The Graduate made Dustin Hoffman a movie star, Lafayette's Town Hall Theatre Co. has resurrected the stage adaptation that was a huge hit on Broadway back in 2000. The production marks the... Posted at 06:43 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
09/15/08Coen Brothers, Clooney re-team for "Burn After Reading"
I've loved almost every Coen brothers movie since BLOOD SIMPLE back in 1985, so when a new one comes out, it goes straight to the top of my priotity list. This weekend, BURN AFTER READING hit theaters and I caught a screening in the magnificent Alameda Theatre. BURN AFTER READING is the Coen's send-up of CIA/espionage thrillers, filtered through a confederacy of dunces cast. An all-star cast by the way. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malcovich, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins, JK Simmons all create memorable characters in what is essentially a minor effort by the Coens—think Raising Arizona-lunacy meets Big Lebowski-vulgarity meets Fargo-black humor. While Burn doesn't reach the artistic heights of Fargo or No... Posted at 01:20 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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09/08/08Vicky Christina Barcelona shows that Woody Allen still has it
I'd been trying to get to see Woody Allen's newest, VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA, for the past week, and finally got there on Saturday—a nice, air-conditioned matinee at the beautiful Orinda Theater. The movie is a real treat for a couple of reasons. The first three are location, location, location. Barcelona is beautiful through Woody's eye (and cinmeatograher Javier Aguirresarobe's lens), watching the movie made me want to have dinner after midnight that night. One of the great thrills I find at a matinee movie is the ability to escape through time and space to European cities and/or backwoods gothic nightmares (I also watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre this weekend). Another thing VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA has going for it is a pretty spectacular cast. The... Posted at 06:55 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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About This Blog
This is a blog about movies by Pete Crooks.
Recent Posts
- LOLs aplenty in Bill Maher's Religulous
- Creature From the Black Lagoon-in 3-D-this weekend at the Cerrito
- Q&A with Lisa Landry, headlining at Tommy T's through Thursday
- Oakland A's fan guide to the MLB playoffs
- Raitt, Costello, Browne, Lobos wow Paramount crowd at SEVA benefit
- I can't wait for Country Joe's coffee shop in Berkeley
- William Shatner fest at Cerrito Speakeasy
- The Graduate comes to Town Hall Theatre Company in Lafayette
- Coen Brothers, Clooney re-team for "Burn After Reading"
