Monday, September 10
Wonder Boys
Under appreciated gem based on Michael Chabon's novel of the same name. A one-weekend odyssey through the hectic life of a professor (Michael Douglas) scrambling to finish his behemoth of a novel. Along for the wildly comedic rider are his eccentric editor (Robert Downey, Jr.), student boarder (Katie Holmes), gifted but troubled student (Toby Maguire), and the chancellor (Frances McDormand) of his university. In the trunk of his car are the body of his boss's dog (accidentally shot), Marilyn Monroe's wedding dress (stolen), and some very curious luggage.

Directed by Curtis Hanson, 2002.

Monday, October 8
Night Watch
Vampire thriller set in the gritty back alleys of present-day Moscow. Visually arresting morality tale of Good versus Evil - not your Mom's vampire film!

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, 2006

Monday, November 5
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait
of Diane Arbus
Remarkable (perhaps for its jarring anti-historicity) pseudo-biography starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey, Jr. Loosely based on the revolutionary sixties photographer Diane Arbus's artistic awakening.

Directed by Steven Shainberg, 2006.

Monday, December 3
Russian Ark
The first and only feature film shot directly to hard drive in one continuous take (the longest uninterrupted shot in film history). Stars the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg Russia (the largest art museum in the world). An intimate visit to 36 of the over 1,600 formal galleries in the museum (with historical figure the Marquis de Custine as your creepy guide "The Stranger"). This is the English-speaking producer's presentation of the entire film, with his explanation of how it was created.

Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov, 2002.

Monday, January 7
Yield to Total Elation: The Life and Art of Achilles Rizzoli
Pat Ferrero's "docu-revelato" explores the life and work of Achilles Rizzoli, a visionary San Francisco genius whose architectural legacy consists of all the Beaux Arts work he envisioned but never built. With a draftman's precision, Rizzoli fused visual and verbal metaphors to translate the voices and hallucinations that haunted him.

Directed by Pat Ferrero, 2007.

Monday, February 4
Man in the Sand:
Billy Bragg & Wilco
Documentary project initiated by Nora Guthrie to resurrect a portion of the thousands of songs left behind by her father Woody Guthrie. British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg brings his political passion to the effort and recruits Wilco to perform with him. THe end result is the emotionally charged story of an imperfect, yet haunting, Guthrie revival on stage and screen-the two volume album "Mermaid Avenue." 2001

Monday, March 10
Downtown 81
Legendary painter, graffiti artist, poet, and musician Jean Michel Basquiat was only 19 when he starred in this work, a historical document that chronicles the explosive early 1980s Manhattan art/music scene. This entertaining slice of life in pre-Guiliani New York City is a showcase for Basquiat's band Gray, Deborah Harry, James White and the Blacks, Kid Creole, Tuxedomoon, The Plastics, DNA, the Lounge Lizards, and other punk bands.

Literally lost in 1980, recovered and remastered, 2002.

Monday, April 7
Klimt
John Malkovich as fin-de-siecle Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, whose lavish paintings have come to symbolize the Viennese Art Nouveau style. Every bit as seductive as Klimt's luscious but disturbing femme fatales.

Directed by Raoul Ruiz, 2007.