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Feature

Hit List

The top movies of 2007

By Scott Foundas, J. Hoberman, Nathan Lee, Jim Ridley, Ella Taylor, Robert Wilonsky

Published: December 26, 2007

It's that time of year again. Our six critics don't always (or often) agree, but we've combined their top 10 lists (allowing for ties) to pretend they do! So without further ado, the 10 (or 15)...

Matt Smith

Portrait of a Capitalist

Take a close look at Don Fisher and his motivations for a Presidio museum

By Matt Smith

Published: December 26, 2007

For a version of San Francisco history from the perspective of the masses, visit the Rincon Annex at Mission and Spear streets. The cartoonish yet unsettlingly realistic murals Anton Refregier...

Feature

Missed Opportunities

Kick yourself for not seeing these 10 movies

By Jim Ridley

Published: December 26, 2007

How tough is it for a movie to find its audience, above the din of blockbuster marketing and beyond the clogged distribution pipeline? Tsai Ming-liang, the Taiwanese-Malaysian director regarded as...

News

Developments in Shaky Town

Have developers killed the possibility of higher seismic standards for new high-rises?

By Joe Eskenazi

Published: December 26, 2007

Structural engineer Patrick Buscovich grabs an oversize metal ruler and stands it upright atop the table like Christopher Columbus planting a flag on the shore of the New World. Then, unlike...

Feature

Counter-Strike

Steel yourself for 2008 with a look back at 2007's best scripts

By Jim Ridley

Published: December 26, 2007

The year: 2505. Your viewing choices tonight: an oldie but a goodie — a picture called Ass , a feature-length screensaver of butt cheeks punctuated by the occasional fart — or the hit...

Sucka Free City

Tapioca Takedown

The ball-filled beverage wars in the Sunset may have brought down Ed Jew.

By Mary Spicuzza

Published: December 26, 2007

Call it the year of the city's big beverage scandal. No, not Gavin Newsom's affinity for white wine — which was revealed after the mayor admitted to having an affair with the wife of a close...

Feature

Doc Block

Nonfiction continues its ascent onscreen

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: December 26, 2007

An acquaintance who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq says he has no use for documentaries about George W. Bush's bungling of the War on Terror. He has not and will not see a single one of the...

Sucka Free City

Double Payer

SF is out of the health-care business if the governor's new plan goes through.

By Benjamin Wachs

Published: December 26, 2007

Just days before state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a deal moving California closer to universal health care, the city of San Francisco said it...

Feature

Bad Blood

Horror films failed to scare up the big bucks in 2007

By Luke Y. Thompson

Published: December 26, 2007

Only a couple of years ago, the horror genre seemed newly resurgent, like an undead killer digging himself out of the grave. "Fresh-faced" directors like Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Darren Lynn Bousman,...

Letters

SF Weekly Letters

Published: December 26, 2007

BANGing on the Union Getting ANGsty in the Contra Costa Times newsroom?: Regarding John Geluardi's feature "One Big BANG" [Dec. 19]: I wonder what the union would have to say about the...

Feature

Support Group

The year's best characters

By Ella Taylor

Published: December 26, 2007

Some years it can be hard to come up with enough stellar lead performances to make an awards minyan. But every year is a good year for supporting roles, and not just because the field has grown so...

Feature

On Deck

Something to look forward to in 2008: Clint Eastwood's Changeling

By Scott Foundas

Published: December 26, 2007

The first thing you notice when you walk onto the set are the 300 extras in late-1920s period costume, seated at cafeteria tables in a holding area, gazing up at you in their wool suits (for the...

Music

From Radiohead to the Stooges and Merzbow: The wide world of boxed sets

By Keith Laidlaw

Published: December 26, 2007

As two different Radiohead releases this month prove, rock boxed sets aren't becoming any more sensible. The "discbox" version of the band's new record, In Rainbows, is stuffed with extras, from...

BeatBox

Kid Sister got her toes done up, with her blog buzz matchin

Ernest Barteldes, Tamara Palmer

Published: December 26, 2007

Kid Sister might have to consider finally quitting her day job at a Chicago children's store after MTV put the rapper's "Pro Nails" video on regular rotation. Though the lyrics, which basically...

Hear This

The Melvins melt your noggin this New Year's Eve

By Ernest Barteldes, John Graham, Jonah Bayer, J. Pace, Toph One

Published: December 26, 2007

On first hearing Ledisi 's major-label debut, Lost and Found , you might think that the New Orleans–born, Oakland-raised jazz and R&B; singer is attempting to make more radio-friendly...

Music

Skream signals dubstep's dance with assimilation

By Darren Keast

Published: December 26, 2007

Too many new ideas in electronic music quickly become decoration to match the drapes at the IKEA showroom. But, as with the Jackson Pollock that hangs over the corporate conference table, we...

Music

The Court & Spark's M.C. Taylor re-emerges as Hiss Golden Messenger

By J. Poet

Published: December 26, 2007

M.C. Taylor's last band, the Court and Spark, developed a strong cult following in San Francisco. Over four excellent albums, the group confounded critics with a blend of rock, country, and...

Music

Young vet Bow Wow bestows advice on adolescent rappers

By Ben Westhoff

Published: December 26, 2007

Bow Wow, the pint-sized novelty act who made preteen girls swoon with his 2000 debut, Beware of Dog , has somehow evolved into an elder statesman in the hip-pop genre. Now 20, he has split with...

Let's Get Killed

Van Halen live: Diamond Dave is back! As Dr. Teeth!

By Jennifer Maerz

Published: December 26, 2007

In the early '80s, Van Halen always seemed like the dudes you'd want cracking jokes at your house party. They made weekend-ready hard rock without all the tough meathead bullshit. They were...

Eat

The New Grazing

A fancy restaurant morphs into a place where you can order some food with your cocktails

By Meredith Brody

Published: December 26, 2007

A recent piece by ex-San Franciscan Kim Severson in The New York Times , "Is the Entrée Heading for Extinction?," deliberately overstated its case in its first line: "The entrée,...