Movie and Entertainment News

ARIES (March 20-April 18): Friends encourage you to move past an old grudge, but you can’t. That’s OK. Forgiveness comes when the time is right—and not before. TAURUS (April 19-May 19): A loved one is angry and with good reason. Make amends ASAP because you’...

Bad Reporter

SFGate: Entertainment

Comic strip. The Lies behind the Truth, and the truth behind the Lies that are behind that Truth.

Theater review: 'Seafarer' crew devilishly fun

SFGate: Entertainment

RATING: (WILD APPLAUSE)The Seafarer: Drama. By Conor McPherson. Directed by Jasson Minadakis. With Andy Murray, Julian López-Morillas, Robert Sicular, Andrew Hurteau and John Flanagan. (Through Dec. 7. Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave. Mill Valley. Two...

Guarneri/Johannes recital lineup changed

SFGate: Entertainment

A family emergency has caused a change in the performing lineup and repertoire for tonight's joint recital by the Guarneri and Johannes String Quartets in Herbst Theatre. Choong-Jin "C.J." Chang, violist of the Johannes String Quartet, left for Korea after...

Jackson called too sick to testify in London

SFGate: Entertainment

Michael Jackson might be too sick to travel to London to testify in a suit claiming that he owes an Arab sheikh $7 million, the pop star's attorney said Tuesday. Jackson is seeking to give his testimony by video link from the United States. "It would be...

Date Lines: News from the Bay Area arts scene

SFGate: Entertainment

Indian film awards "Before Tomorrow" won best film award at the American Indian Film Festival. Best actor honors went to Trevor Duplessis for "In a World Created by a Drunken God" and best actress was Candace Fox for "Moccasin Flats." In addition, "River of...

Week's TV ratings

SFGate: Entertainment

Week's TV ratings Prime-time ratings as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 10-16. Top 20 listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week, in millions. 160 MinutesCBS25.12NBC Sunday Night Football: Dallas at WashingtonNBC19.23CSI:...

Latest travelers' bill of rights is toothless

SFGate: Entertainment

Asked in December to come up with an airline passengers' "Bill of Rights," a hotshot task force finally released its findings. It needn't have bothered. Instead of maximum time limits for keeping passengers prisoner on an airplane sitting on the tarmac - as...

Serbia more than just another pretty country

SFGate: Entertainment

Q: Next year's World Canals Conference is in Serbia, and we need help planning some sightseeing while we're there. Perhaps a riverboat ride on the Danube or hiking in one of the national parks? Can you recommend a travel agent who is familiar with the country?...

Knowing thyself and describing thyself

SFGate: Entertainment

Two indispensable pieces of advice from "Face to Face," Susan RoAne's new book about "improving personal communication": Turn off your cell phone at a funeral, particularly if you're the officiating member of the clergy. And at every occasion when you're...

Last week I saw the movie "Rachel Getting Married," which I liked better than I...

SFGate: Entertainment

Last week I saw the movie "Rachel Getting Married," which I liked better than I thought I would and than Mick LaSalle thought I would. Its centerpiece is the most improbable wedding party I have ever seen in a seriously intentioned movie (that is, a movie...

Neighbors pitch in for the party

SFGate: Entertainment

In the midst of serving 6,000 martinis on Friday to celebrate John's Grill's 100th birthday, owner John Konstin says his 12 bartenders ran out of olives and cocktail napkins. But that's what neighbors are for. Johnny Foley's on O'Farrell pitched in with...

I would like to quote from Thomas Friedman's column in the New York Times on...

SFGate: Entertainment

I would like to quote from Thomas Friedman's column in the New York Times on Sunday: "Now is when we need a president who has the skill, the vision and the courage to cut through this cacophony, pull us together as one nation and inspire and enable us to do...

Jazz Prof. Dee Spencer's Stevie Wonder project

SFGate: Entertainment

Dee Spencer is grooving to Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke," doing a little dance and banging a tambourine on the backbeats. "Vocalists, get into more! Get into the spirit of the song!" shouts Spencer, a robust woman with a high-beam smile. She's rehearsing the...

Review: 'Chagall: A Biography' cites innovation

SFGate: Entertainment

Chagall A Biography By Jackie Wullschlager Knopf; 582 pages; $40 With young artists expected and encouraged to be plugged-in polymaths happily jerry-rigging signifiers, the notion of formal innovation within a medium feels more dated than ever. Ironically,...

Dimensions Dance Theater celebrates its 35th

SFGate: Entertainment

Anyone who's seen a Dimensions Dance Theater performance knows the all-women Oakland company is always dancing full tilt. So if there seemed to be more energy than usual Saturday night, maybe it was coming from the grateful crowd gathered for Dimension's 35th...

Music review: Usher, the family and ladies' man

SFGate: Entertainment

There were no special effects or elaborate props, not even an opening act Tuesday night at the Warfield - just two fast-paced hours of music and movement by Usher Raymond, contemporary soul music's permanent song-and-dance man. The sold-out show was the 10th...

Movie review: Dreamy undead in 'Twilight'

SFGate: Entertainment

RATING: (POLITE APPLAUSE) Twilight: Romantic horror drama. Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Billy Burke. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. (PG-13. 122 minutes. At Bay Area theaters. To see complete movie listings and show times, and to buy...