Big Screen Entries for January, 2012

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Toward a Regional Cinema

I think it's pretty clear that casting should have begun on a film based on Marisol Valles Garcia the day ...

Star Wars Fan Jailed, Must Undergo Mental Health Evaluation for Lightsaber Attack in Toy Store

It took this long for officials to realize the root word of "fanatic" is "fan?" Has it not occurred to ...

DVD Rentals: Mister Roberts (1955)

In spite of the forced, bully-boy shipboard comedy and mismatched attempts to stitch sumptuous location shots with obvious studio replicas, ...

Actress from The Actress Reacts to Pro-Hugo Defense

The following Facebook encounter took place between an industry-insider friend, we'll call him "Kappy," and an actress who has a ...

Review: One for the Money

One for the Money. Two others at the show. 3.) I had to review it. 4.) I could not get ...

Trailer Reviews: Nicolas Cage Gets Paid

Nicolas Cage has had his share of financial troubles - remember when he had to sell this fabulous house? So ...

Plenty to Yawn About as Midnight Movies Return to The Ken

While looking over that past few programs of midnight screenings at The Ken, the thought of revisiting Metropolis and The ...

Trailer Reviews: Controlled Cinematic Haiku

Trailers these days are sometimes like shortened forms of the movies they're selling. So we're gonna start reviewing them via ...

RE:Generation Musical Documentary - Local Screenings Feb. 16

The musical documentary RE:Generation looks at the history, songwriting and studio process of different musical genres through the eyes of ...

Short Takes: Addiction Incorporated

This smoker would like to personally thank director Charles Evans, Jr. for refraining from taking the scare-tactic route. The last ...

This Should Be Interesting

Lessee, now...Steven Spielberg is reported to be close to directing a Moses picture that features the "gritty reality of Saving ...

Day 3 of the San Diego Black Film Festival's Big 8

(Day 3 of the San Diego Black Film Festival is tomorrow, Saturday, January 28, of course, but we're posting this ...

Day 2 of the San Diego Black Film Festival's Big 8

My invitation to the San Diego Black Film Festival got delivered to the crazy squatter who lives in my front ...

Does Your Film Have What It Takes to Play the SD Asian Film Festival?

The largest showcase of Asian cinema in the Western United States needs your submissions. The San Diego Asian Film Foundation ...

Notes on Speedy Gonzales & Slowpoke Rodriguez, His Half-Baked Cousin

Of all the superstars in the Warner Bros. cartoon canon, Speedy Gonzales is the most nonessential. Within 36 hours of ...

When a Problem Comes Along, Demi Moore Must Whip-It

What kind of number did Ashton Kutcher play on Demi Moore that left her in such dire straits? She has ...

Reviews!

Is David Elliott doing the best work of his career here at the Reader? Hard to say. But there is ...

Thanks for the 5:30 A.M. Wake-Up Call, Oscar!

In spite of Hugo garnering 11 Academy Award nominations, I spent most of yesterday in a crankier than usual state. ...

Oscar Picks and Shovels

Admittedly, I am not much when it comes to handicapping the Oscars, so let's get it out of the way ...

Black-Spotting the Oscars

Well, Mr. Marks was his usual wonderfully grumpy self in his coverage of this year's Oscar nominations - no sense ...

Hugo Receives 11 Academy Award Nominations

Random raging over this year's nominees: Quick -- what were last year's Best Picture nominees? Can't remember, huh? That's because ...

Double Features From Hell: The Warrior and the Slave Girl and Louis Prima?!

This ad from the November 5, 1959 edition of The Modesto Bee reminds me just how much I miss the ...

Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: Local Wrote the Book (& Upcoming DVD Extras)

I first got to know local pop culture historian and TV Time Machine host Jim Benson back around 1994, when ...

Review: Underworld: Awakening

I dunno, guys. I had a lot more fun at Underworld: Awakening than I had any reason to expect I ...

Review: Red Tails

I left Red Tails thinking, "Not bad." Except for a few head-scratcher moments and a dreadful score, it did a ...

Update on Asian Film Festival Screening of The Viral Factor

I was under the false impression that tonight's screening of Dante Lam's The Viral Factor on behalf of the San ...

SD Asian Film Festival Celebrates Lunar New Year With Dante Lam's The Viral Factor

I'll see you tomorrow night at AMC Mission Valley for the one and only screening of Dante Lam's The Viral ...

Review: Haywire

Steven Soderbergh made it clear: upon completing three more movies, the 49-year-old director intends to walk away from filmmaking. (He ...

More "Meet the New Hollywood, Same as the Old Hollywood"

We've done this before, with Shark Night and X-Men: First Class...Now it's time for Red Tails - opening tomorrow! Nate ...

SD Latino Film Festival and Nickelodeon Collaborate on Script-Review Competition

First came the outrage. Dora the Explorer putting in yearly personal appearances at the San Diego Latino Film Festival is ...

Bright British Moviegoers Demand a Refund Because The Artist Has No Dialog

I've been meaning to relocate to London since news hit that the San Diego water supply is began being contaminated ...

Adult Film Performers Ordered to "Glove Up": It's the Law!

There will be no more "it's like taking a shower in a raincoat" excuses for porn stars. The Los Angeles ...

Judd Apatow to Jerry Lewis: "'F@&# You!"

Jerry Lewis deserves every insult people throw his way in retaliation for telling the crowd at a 2000 comedy festival, ...

"We’ve Never Had the John Wayne Treatment"

That's Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder, swooning over the George Lucas-produced Red Tails, a film about the Tuskegee Airmen. The full ...

Colorado Man Dies in Multiplex Bathroom, Body Not Found for FIVE Days

Have you ever noticed a small clipboard hanging in the entryways of movie theatre lavatories? There is a checklist attached ...

The Disappearing Golden Globes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_OnK0SrtC8 So Ricky Gervais brought his acid wit and razor tongue to the Golden Globes last night... Why the hangdog ...

Golden Globe Awards Live Blog

Marty is there. Let's do it! Ricky Gervais is so concerned with referencing his own irreverence he forgot to be ...

Join in The Big Screen's Live Golden Globes Blog Tomorrow Night

If I'm going to watch the poor man's Oscars, it might as well be on company time. Join me tomorrow ...

Latest Dark Knight photo is, um...

Well, see for yourself. Gotham I'm in Gotham And the plans I made to rain chaos from above Seem to ...

Reviews!

Reader critic John Rubio has the Captain's chair today, and our first destination is...France! Land of wine, food, and conservative ...

David Elliott on The Big Screen: A Review of The Iron Lady

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome lead movie critic David Elliott as he crosses the Great Digital Divide and presents this ...

Part 3 of A Closer Look at the Clip from Red Tails

aka Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Master Class in Pipe Insertion.

There Is Something Haywire About Releasing the First 5 Minutes of Haywire

Earlier in the week, Matt mentioned the internet debut of the opening 5 minutes to Haywire, arriving January 20 at ...

At last.

Remember Ricky Gervais? Razor-sharp wit, often used for self-evisceration - and by extension, the evisceration of all showbiz, the very ...

Anthropomorphic Yidlach? Only at This Year's San Diego Jewish Film Festival!

The San Diego Jewish Film Festival rolled out its 2012 lineup and it includes an event to end all events: ...

Part 2 of A Closer Look at the Clip for Red Tails

Okay, let's continue our look at Red Tails. Specifically, let's ask ourselves why George Lucas would decide to take on ...

A Closer Look at the Clip from Red Tails

Oh, man. So much to see here. But let's take it slow, baby. We've got time. Beginning, then, at the ...

They Should Have an Oscar for Best Credits

So I'm sure everybody knows the story about how an enterprising soul went and made some credits for the Tintin ...

The Continuing and Ever-Expanding Wonder of YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIURYDKfSvg&feature=relmfu Apparently, Two Thousand Maniacs is the picture for which H.G. "Godfather of Gore" Lewis would like to be remembered. ...

Shinebox TV? AMC Readies Goodfellas: The Series

You gotta' be kidding me. A television series based on Goodfellas coming to American Movie "Classics?" During their commercially-interrupted airings ...

Haywire: The First Five Minutes

See, if you become a big enough deal in Hollywood -- a slick enough director, an arty enough auteur -- ...

Better Than All Six Episodes of Star Wars Combined!

Q: What do you get when you combine Spielberg's lisp, Lucas' chins, and Carrie Fisher's mammary glands? A: Jabba the ...

Contraband from a Vantage Point

Tonight is reserved for Contraband, the new Mark Wahlberg picture, and for whatever reason, the trailer has me psyched. Something ...

NoDoz for Elvis Fans

Stay Awake, Joe? Is that the title of an Elvis picture or a cautionary warning for narcoleptics named Joe? NoDoz ...

DGA Refuses to Recognize Spielberg's Nag

Please play the following in the background while reading this post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqsT4xnKZPg The Directors Guild of America announced their nominees, ...

Oscars Trailer Is...Well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXGI9suAyBI So, does Mr. Crystal look more like his wife from The Princess Bride or the Booing Hag from The ...

France Takes Home the Gold in SD Latino Film Festival Poster Competition

Last month, the San Diego Latino Film Festival announced the finalists in its 2012 poster competition. Timpani! And the winner ...

Review: El Bulli: Cooking in Progress

You will never eat at elBulli, aka Chef Ferran Adria’s Temple of Molecular Gastronomy, aka The Finest Restaurant in the ...

Review: The Devil Inside

Here’s hoping all cinema-demons of the coming year have been purged with this, the first fright of 2012. The scariest ...

Review: Faust at the Met's Live in HD

/ I don’t usually go to movies at 9:55 a.m. Or operas, either. But here I am on a Saturday ...

Man Strips Naked at Matinee Showing of Chipwrecked in Exchange for Promise of Sex & Drugs

You know, some days I miss Chicago more than others, particularly when I read heart-worming stories like this. In exchange ...

"See It First on iTunes" — Is This a Thing Now?

Remember the whole Tower Heist release kerfuffle? Folks were all upset because Universal was planning to release the film to ...

Marilyn?

So Lindsay Lohan, who was an actress once and may be yet again - you never know! - went and ...

Human Rights Watch Film Festival Returns to MoPA

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to MoPA for a second year with a series of seven films the ...

Exercise Tips from the Possessed.

It's common sense, people. But still, it's probably good to hear it from those who have been there, like this ...

Grindhouse Movie Reviews/Seen on DVD: The Billy Jack Collection

Billy Jack & the Hollywood Generation Gap “Kitten on wheels with her bike, her boots, and bikini! Out for kicks, ...

Kensington Video Now Closed Sundays

Pam Sisneros, one of the proprietors of San Diego's family-owned treasure, Kensington Video, wants to make one thing perfectly clear. ...

The "In CinemaScope" Quiz

Let's open 2012 W-I-D-E with a pop quiz all about my favorite aspect ratio: CinemaScope! Developed by Dr. Henri Chrétien ...

Filmmaker's Lexicon: ATF

Yawn. No, not Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms - though that should probably get its own entry in this little lexicographical ...

12 Films From 2011 That Brightened My Life in the Dark

It was a year like any other, only this time with the addition of two dozen rancid sequels. I proudly ...