Um, my sincerest apologies for not mentioning this sooner, but American Mary is also opening Friday the 31st at the Digital Gym. Must have been some kind of block. But Scott thought it was pretty good!

"Twenty Feet From Stardom" brings you up close to a legend

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/31/46617/ Is there a better way to end the week than with Twenty Feet From Stardom? Well, a private screening of The Day the Clown Cried, comes to mind, but until Jerry decides the time is right, we'll just have …

Let's get the drunken stumbles out of the way: we have not yet seen the magician caper flick Now You See Me. To make up for this gross oversight, here are the first four minutes, free of charge: Wasn't that …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/30/46577/ By day, Branden Parrish is the regional Marketing Coordinator for Landmark Theatres, a man responsible for brewing some of the most savory movie theatre coffee ever to warm this reporter's gullet. Under the cloak of darkness, Branden transforms into …

Had he lived, venerable comedian Bob Hope would have turned 1,478 yesterday. In honor of the occasion, TCM dragged a river in Toluca Lake and pulled out a few prime catches. My lips moved along with the dialog while reexamining …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/29/46514/ Walt Disney Studios Chairman, Alan Horn, announced today that proceeds from the World Premiere screening The Lone Ranger will benefit the American Indian College Fund. “We’ve had a terrific collaboration with the Native American community throughout the production of …

Isn't this the franchise responsible for introducing the world to Megan Fox and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley? Shouldn't there be sexy promotional snaps of Nicola Peltz, Michael Bay's latest fantasy object and star of the upcoming Transformers 4, rather than images reminiscent …

I remember my first high school film festival. Our teacher, Miss Peiffer, plunked a creaky 16mm Bell & Howell Autoload on a card table in the back of the school gymnasium, pointed the projection beam in the general direction of …

Any film that posits two women vying for Liberace’s romantic affection is not fit to include the word “sincerely” in its title. It was the ‘50’s, people were stupid, and every matronly naif who owned a TV set wanted their …

Before you hit the road for this Memorial Day weekend, why not give your memory a workout by trying to spot which three (3) of the following 20 (twenty) title cards are bogus. If you have to resort to using …

Dept. of No, Not Really

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Well, maybe not.

But it's hard to look at this lineup of obscure movie references on his new T-shirt line and not think of the estimable Mr. Marks and his cavalcade of quizzery. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/24/46252/

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/24/46247/ My friend, colleague, and Earth Mother of the San Diego Film Critics Society, Diana Saenger, asked that I pass on this news of a great way to spend Memorial Day by honoring our troops. The Alpine Community Center is …

Friday movie meltdown can be fun!

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/24/46227/ So: one last time. Something is wrong with the showtime machine here at the Reader. So here's a roundup of what's new this week: Deceptive Practice, Fast & Furious 6, The Hangover Part III, Epic, What Maisie Knew, Frances …

For as long as I've known my pal, John Dacapias, he's been touting the virtues of Pac-Arts monthly Film Forum. The group, limited to a precious few, meets 12 times a year -- with pot luck in hand -- to …

Now that's structure.

Okay, it's not out until tomorrow, but I really really like the device in Frances Ha of having addresses serve as chapter headings, especially when your film is set in New York City. Still, I'm not sure that even that …

Brilliant. Mean, but brilliant.

Okay, so that was awful. That's understood. But there's a special evil to the awfulness. Because even though the trailer is barely over a minute long, it still manages to insult each and every one of its Academy Award-winning leads …

"S.W.A.T." star and Dana Andrews' younger brother

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/23/46129/ Steve Forrest, movie actor, Lt. Hondo Harrelson on TV's S.W.A.T., and dependable Dana Andrews' real-life kid brother, is dead. For years I couldn't see the Forrest for the Andrews. (It must have had something to do with countless childhood …

Perhaps the ultimate example of making an indie film in order to break into Hollywood

Hey, did you see the sperm-donor comedy Starbuck? Probably not - it made just $335,000 in the States, and received middling reviews. But hey, it managed to do $1.6 million worldwide! And you know what else it managed to do? …

Another celeb encounter gone very, very wrong...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/22/46081/ It was around 1999 when I first heard through mutual acquaintances that Paul Reubens, AKA Pee Wee Herman, liked the (utterly unauthorized, but not negative) comic book bio that I wrote about him back in '92. As in many …

I drew the unenviable task of reviewing the first Smurfs movie. I peed blue for three weeks. If I belch hard enough I can still taste it. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/22/46069/ Send slashers films, Jennifer Aniston romcoms, or Zach Galifianakis slob-fests: anything but …

Soderbergh's biopic premiers Sunday on HBO

Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra, is not the first time the story of the flamboyant pianist has been brought to life on the small screen. Liberace died on February 4, 1987 at the age of 67 and his …

Satan's waitin'!

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Two memorably wonky celebrity encounters that didn't go as planned

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/21/45954/ Here I am with "Vampira" (real name Maila Nurmi), probably best known for appearing in Ed Wood Jr.'s Plan 9 From Outer Space, and Conrad Brooks, who played the dumb cop in the same movie. Heather and I saw …

Earlier this month The Big Screen brought news that the first annual La Costa Film Festival is looking for submissions. Now comes news that the Oceanside Film Festival is also on the lookout for films to screen at their second …

The Box Office Mojo report on Star Trek Into Darkness's middling $70 million opening weekend included this fun little detail: There's only so much money to go around, and following the strong performances of Iron Man 3 and The Great …

Dept. of No, Not Really

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/17/45772/ "This is not the buzz we had in mind. No one can even see our product now!" Chopard statement following the theft of over $1 million in jewelry intended for celebrity display during 2013 Cannes film festival: "When we …

Three's a trend. This is just silly.

Click to enlarge. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/17/45770/

Plus some other stuff!

Question for debate: which ship takes more abuse, the Enterprise or the Millennium Falcon? I liked Star Trek Into Darkness. I liked the back-and-forth between Kirk and Spock. I liked the chilly superiority of Benedict Cumberbatch's character. I liked seeing …

Co-Founder of Bad Robot productions sits down with The Big Screen

Matthew Lickona: I can't help but notice that all of the screenwriters — Roberto Oci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof - also have producer credits, along with director J.J. Abrams. Could you talk about what being a producer meant for …

Dept. of No, Not Really

Disney animation chief John Lasseter: "We started with Cars, because Hot Wheels. Then we moved on to Planes, because Top Gun. But there was no way we weren't going to finish the job. Happily, there was a media property with …

Wasn't it Tom Aquinas who first said something like, "For those who understand, no explanation is necessary; for those who don't, no explanation will suffice?" http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/17/45745/

Here is a unique film event for local cinephiles to support. This could be your chance to meet the the next Scorsese, or at least DePalma. "Lights! Camera! Acne!" La Jolla High School rolls out the red carpet tonight at …

Gatz, Jay Gatz. He couldn't have been more Jewish had his parents named him Israel Hebrewstein. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/16/45731/ Matthew drew review duty, but I couldn't resist chiming in. I could be wrong, but my high school English teacher taught her students …

Single-piece sculpture? Oh, no no no. Mass production, that's the ticket.

So everyone is making a fuss because some artist somewhere is offering to make replicas of the famous penis sculpture that gets used as a murder weapon in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (here about to be employed by the …

Let's make this happen, people.

Really, y'all should be reading Scott's entire interview with the great Michael Shannon here. (There was almost nothing to enjoy in Premium Rush - nothing, that is, other than Michael Shannon's dirty cop with a gambling problem. And he was …

Overall quality may vary, but Michael Shannon’s name on a poster guarantees satisfaction at least for as long as he’s on screen. The man is quite simply incapable of giving a bad performance. Sadly, I left Chicago right around the …

Bay: "I AM THE ANGRIEST BIRD OF ALL! THE RAGING COCK!"

"Did they not see the BASE jumping scene in Transformers: Dark of the Moon? Do they not know that I am the king of things flying through the air? Do they not know that I am the master of things …

Ludovico ain't got nothin' on Crystal

Got a press release the other day. Decided to illustrate it. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/15/45658/ Culver City, CA (May 13, 2013) – Billy Crystal is attached to star in Winter’s Discontent... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/15/45654/ ...as a widower... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/15/45655/ ...who moves into a reputed active adult …

Erik Rosenbluh aced this morning's quiz in record time. The problem is, my former student and eternal friend lives in LA. You may think me dumb, just don't talk me dumb. I'm not driving 123 miles to take you to …

Yesterday's quiz met with such little resistance that I thought it wise not to break what was already fixed and continue on with another round of Spot the Fake Titles Quiz. You'll notice that "titles" is now plural. That means …

Ixnay on the Ooglegay!

This one is fairly simple. Below are ten title cards, nine of which come from actual movies, trailers, and maybe even a TV show or two. Your job is to spot the fake. I'll even make it interesting. There's an …

Dr. Joyce Brothers was a celebrity in the truest sense of the word; a person famous for being famous. She rose to fame in 1955 by competing on the TV program, The $64,000 Question. Dr. Joyce originally entered the show …

Plus "Beatles Do Diego," chronicling the Fab 4's local adventures, together and separately

Someone stole my Wings Over America (1976) triple-album way back when triple-albums were still a "thing," and it's been a looooong time since I've been able to play my Paul McCartney and Wings laserdisc edition of Rockshow, the rarely seen …

The enormously appealing Craig Robinson makes the leap from second-string relief in raunchy comedies to top billing as the Ben Stiller substitute in this Tyler Perry-approved sitcom riff on Meet the Fockers. Robinson stars as Wade Walker, an affable loser …

No, it's not German for "The Disney the." It's just the Mondays, grumpy about the Disney Machine and what they're doing to my childhood down in the basement, er, marketing department: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/13/45410/ Now don't misunderstand me. I know that George …

Okay, The Great Gatsby. I shouldn't complain. It's not based on a toy property. It's not a superhero movie. It's not a sequel. It's not even a brainless shoot-em-up (not that there's anything wrong with that). It is, however, a …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/10/45317/ Has it really been two years since my editor, Ernie Grimm, called to say, "Hey, Marks, The Reader is thinking of doing a movie blog. Can you start tomorrow?" May Ten is also the date of the first entry …

How many times have I spent the witching hour surfing the cable in search of a Taxicab Confessions rerun or a new Ron Popeil infomercial, only to find an endless stream of half-hour ads for product I have zero use …

Judge cautions, "Don't be a blockhead!"

Peter Robbins, the former voice of Charlie Brown on numerous Peanuts television specials, was sentenced Wednesday to one year in jail. Robbins, who has been in jail since his arrest in January, will get off with time served and five …

Peter Robbins to be sentenced today

Peter Robbins, the former child vocal artist who gave voice to Charlie Brown on many of the Peanuts television specials, will be sentenced today for stalking and threatening his former girlfriend and a La Jolla plastic surgeon who gave her …

Never mind the above-the-line talent: Ray Harryhausen was one of the few special visual effects creators whose name in the advertising guaranteed butts in seats. Harryhausen's Dynamation sequences, his patented brand of model animation, were the stop motion equivalent of …

Famed North County Resort and Spa turns screening destination October 24 - 27

And you thought the La Costa Resort and Spa was all about playing tennis, getting mudpacks, and seeing stars. Festival founders, and La Costa residents Michael and Ruby Callihan, decided the time was right to transform the ultimate relaxation destination …

What's come to be known as 'the mountain of dreams' began in 1914 as a boardroom doodle from the pen of W. W. Hodkinson, founder and president of Paramount Pictures Corporation, America's first nation-wide film distributor. Paramount Pictures was founded …

So yeah, Iron Man 3. Man, do I hate bloated finales. Remember the first Iron Man? Stark vs. Stane, Iron Man vs. Iron Monger, one on one, plus, of course, a little help from Tony's friends. This? This is not …

Jack Shea. The name sounded so familiar. The rest of the world probably remembers Shea's contributions to television history through the number of popular shows he directed, but why am I having such a tough time making a connection? There …

Come on, people - help me out.

Word is that they're making a Fred Rogers movie. Jon Hamm? http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/02/44805/

Is everybody excited yet? http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/02/44801/ Here's Part II Here's Part I

Tony gets a little touchy... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/02/44794/

First in a series. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/02/44793/

Allow me not to be the first to say, "Was Deanna Durbin still alive?" She was a huge star in her day, Universal's answer to Shirley Temple. In 1946 Deanna Durbin was the second highest paid woman in America. Bette …

Okay, so everyone's excited for this, because deep down inside, everyone is still an eight-year-old boy. Except, maybe, you know, the girls. But they'll go with their boyfriends, just like they used to go to the arcade with their boyfriends …

My father always envisioned himself dying behind a ship's wheel rather than seated in a Sears recliner. Perhaps that's why a copy of Thor Heyerdal's Kon-Tiki took up a prime spot of real estate on my parent's coffee table for …