Big Screen Entries for February, 2013

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10 reasons why Steve Spielberg will be jury president at Cannes Film Festival

'Oscar-winning director' isn't bad enough. Now he's 'President Spielberg!'

10.) They'll save money on electricity by illuminating the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès with high beam flashlights. 9.) ...

Ephemeral Groucho

The blog has been a bit Groucho-heavy of late, but while researching Sunday night's Live Oscar Blog, I stumbled across ...

New Iron Man poster reveals new armor!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Mark Episode IV: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/28/40884/ Ha ha no seriously: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/28/40885/ Um, careful, Tony - that fist you're ...

Interview with Phantom technical advisor Kenneth Sewell

Kenneth Sewell is the author of Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine's Nuclear Strike Attempt on ...

Ninja III: The Domination coming to Blu-ray

There is no such thing as a bad genre

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/27/40831/ There was a time in my life, several years before Jackie Chan forced me to rethink my stance, where ...

Boobgate 2013 continues: this time with actual quotes, and a defense from Roger Ebert!

Last one, I promise, but it's about time we had a serious discussion about nudity in film, right, Seth Rogen? ...

Boobgate 2013: the boobs talk back

Seth MacFarlane's "We Saw Your Boobs" song has generated rather a good deal of uproar since he sang it during ...

Interview: Mike Tyson

My 10 minutes in the ring with The Champ

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/27/40801/ So give him a stage where this bull here can rage. Mike Tyson is coming to town. The legendary ...

Exile Nation: The Plastic People of the Tijuana River canal

Filmmaker Charles Shaw addresses the difficult reality behind deportation, homelessness, and drug abuse.

If you’ve ever crossed the pedestrian bridge over the Tijuana River canal, you’ve no doubt seen dozens of people living ...

Groucho Marx was boy soprano in an Episcopal Church choir!

You don't believe me? It says so in this cartoon. You bet your Captain Roscoe! http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/26/40767/

New rules for Oscar shows

A modern day Joe Barbera riding herd over a three-and-a-half hour orgy of inanimate self-veneration

Last year it was Minny's pie. This year it's Life of Pi. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/25/40652/ We were forced to do business with ...

Oscar Autopsy: John Goodman > Daniel Day Lewis

At least as far as Best Picture is concerned.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that what last year's Best Picture, The Artist, has in common with this ...

Big Screen Academy Awards 2013 Live Blog

Here we go again. Powered by Blyve

Interview with Bless Me, Ultima stars Luke Ganalon and Castulo Guerra

Bless Me, Ultima is the film version of the novel by Richard Anaya, and it tells the story of Antonio, ...

New releases opening this week

No, seriously! This one's character-driven! Maybe it's the sun shining down after a wet and chilly week. Maybe it's the ...

Trailer Park: the mundane horrors of Dark Skies

Haven't seen this one yet, but there are some genuine chills in the trailer. Children who don't come home for ...

Review: Hansel & Gretel Get Baked

It's better than anything Tommy Wirkola had to show us

For 420 eyes only. After hearing the title I asked, “Did Harvey Weinstein go stark raving mad and produce an ...

Albert Brooks in This is 40 for Best Jew?

The New Yorker's Richard Brody says yes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ438Fy_PYg I'm not sure if Scott would agree, but I thought I'd toss it out there for him.

Don't forget this Sunday's Live Oscar Blog!

Will it be Lincoln or Argo? Hunt or Field? Zeitlin or Lee? Phoenix or Washington? France or Dick? Who cares? ...

Hollywood is an engine that runs on mutual loathing and bottomless need

Teamwork!

Remember this lovely bit from the 2010 Oscars? Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. doing a back-and-forth about writers and ...

It's 'Take Aim at Marks Day' at The Reader

A pair of socks from Holman and Grimm

Lickona told me to expect a gift from Reader publisher, Jim Holman, and features editor, Ernie Grimm. While putting in ...

Trailer Park: Hansel and Gretel Get Baked

The 02/22/13-02/28/13 edition of Gaslamp Programming Chart, my favorite weekly email, just arrived and with it news of 10pm only ...

Martin Scorsese first director named Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities

He's movin' on up!

Shpilberg may take home another Oscar for Lincoln, but Marty is the first director to take home a Jefferson. The ...

The Ten Commandments of Hollywood trailers

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40399/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40394/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40395/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40396/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40397/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40401/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40402/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40403/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40404/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40405/

Americans have good reason to give thanks this President's Day

Audiences refuse to swallow "Beautiful Creatures" 'caster' oil

Beautiful Creatures didn't crack this weekend's top five at the box office. It barely took in $10 million. No sequels! ...

Truth in advertising: Woody plugs Groucho

I saw Groucho Marx perform in person. Allow me to take a moment to stick my tongue out at you ...

Interview: Director Ric Roman Waugh rats on Snitch

Ric Roman Waugh is a wow of a salesman. I'm generally a fan of The Rock, but it's been some ...

Trailer Park: Escape from Planet Earth

How many acts of cinematic theft can you pack into one trailer?

Let's take a look! Beloved super-dude appears before huge crowd of adoring fans and kisses a baby. Wow, haven't seen ...

Review: A Good Day to Die Hard

Note to franchise: drop dead already!

The third act plays out inside the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but take my word for it: A Good Day ...

New movies opening this week

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/15/40217/ If the above image does not convince you to see the senior-center documentary short "King's Point," I'm not sure ...

Interview: Cult director Don Coscarelli

Don Coscarelli first terrified audiences in 1979 with a flying sphere in Phantasm. Since then he has directed only ten ...

How did San Diego go from two dozen drive-in theaters to only two?

Hint: The murder of a future SD Mayor's brother had a lot to do with it

The Reader's Don Bauder has an excellent new story about former San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor's recent legal tribulations: "Mayor ...

Now hear this: Marty announces His next offering

Just in time for Valentine's Day!

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40161/ The next film by Andrew Lau, writer and director of Infernal Affairs, will be produced by Martin Scorsese, the ...

Appreciation: Castle Freak

In praise of low-budget, lowbrow, minor collaborations

Nobody, I think, is going to argue that Castle Freak represents the finest execution of the the "H.P. Lovecraft to ...

Product placement: John Wayne Organic Beef Jerky

From the man who died with 40 lbs. of impacted feces in his colon comes a new taste treat! There's ...

Trailer Park: The Internship

I don't think they're even trying any more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a8DjuGlVknQ Just. Wow. What is the sound of one film pandering? Let's begin. Vince Vaughn is 42. Owen Wilson is ...

My funky valentines

February holidays suck. All I can think of is how white and unloved I am. Happy VD from your pals ...

Records Collecting Dust: a film about the music that changed our lives

Documentary features members of Black Flag, The Locust, Hot Snakes, Heroin, Sleep, the Jesus Lizard, Drive Like Jehu, and many more.

Local musicians Jason Blackmore (Otro, Rats Eyes, Sirhan Sirhan, Molly McGuire) and David Robles (Wha?, Marsupials) posted a trailer today ...

Torrey Pines (La Jolla) Rotary Club raffling off tickets to Comic-Con

A 1 in 6,500 chance to win

Ten bucks, one-tenth of a Frankiln, could net you a pair of tickets to this year's Comic-Con. That's all it ...

San Diego Film Critics live to die hard another day

Mid-meeting robbery occurs in Mission Valley Mall food court

I kinda’ like it when my colleagues at the San Diego Film Critics Society holler at me. It’s when they ...

Old movie stars never die...

...they just come back as grizzled versions of themselves.

Well, Bullet to the Head and Stand Up Guys and The Last Stand sure seem to be making the case ...

Trailer Park: Beautiful Creatures

OMG, you guys.

The good times roll on Friday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8C-wk5XfpE Whoa. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/12/40000/ "I'm not saying that George Harrison and Liberace ever partied with ...

Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

Matthew beat me to it with this brilliant evisceration of Spielberg's latest ploy to ensure his place in the history ...

Lincoln Educational Outreach Teaches Middle Schoolers Value of Political Deception & Sexual Influence

DEPT OF NO, NOT REALLY

Press release came over the transom today: “LINCOLN” SPURS EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN All Middle and High Schools Across the U.S. to ...

Albert Brooks back as 'Marlin' in Finding Nemo 2

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/12/39982/ While I'd much prefer to report news of Albert Brooks directing Still Lost in America or Looking for More ...

Which 007 will be a no show at this year's Oscar Bond rally?

The six actors who have portrayed James Bond over the years were invited by the Academy to stand together on ...

Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Steven Seagal impose martial (arts) law

Following the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn. that left 20 first-graders and six teachers dead, tough talking Sheriff Joe ...

New releases opening this week

Jude Law thinks back on the days when he would have gotten the Channing Tatum role. You guys, Side Effects ...

Review: Identity Thief

An alcoholic sociopath in a Bozo fright wig (Melissa McCarthy) uses money she electronically pilfers from middle class schmucks to ...

Additional notes on French sexual harrasser Pepe Le Pew

This Marks piece on Speedy Gonzalez was great - you should read it. I'm posting this followup only to spur ...

No more free parking at Whoreton Plaza

Shopping mall gouges patrons with $8 an hour parking fee

It was all over the news yesterday. The three free hours with validation are gone unless you drop at least ...

I got yer tortured-artist prestige role right here

Phil Spector? Too easy. C'mon Pacino - reach. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/06/39652/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/06/39653/

Trailer Park: Top Gun 3D

Some crucial omissions!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx-mUxk82B4 I mean, yeah, 3D dogfights are probably cool, but we all know why everybody's going, right? 3D Buns! http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/06/39648/ ...

Casting The Yoda Movie

Word is circulating that Disney plans to devote one of its stand-alone Star Wars films to Yoda. Yoda!

Disney Exec 1: "Have you tried this stuff? Green cocaine. They mix it with lemongrass or some shit - it's ...

Crybaby DeNiro gives best performance in years

Call me Satan, but I sure do love it when celebrities break down in public. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/06/39640/ First off, what the ...

Pac-Arts Drive-By Cinema launch party this Friday

Years in the making, Pac-Arts white Drive-By Cinema van, an experimental mobile movie project, is set to hit the streets ...

A closer look at the trailer for Fast and Furious 6

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/05/39554/ In order to ensure a PG-13 rating they'll be plenty of this... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/05/39556/ ...and not enough this. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/05/39557/ This ...

San Diego Jewish Film Festival turns 23 this week

Festival runs February 7-17 at Reading Cinemas Town Square 14

With the meshungina v'toit over at AMC La Jolla still deciding whether they want to run a movie theatre or ...

Top Gun brought back in IMAX 3D (for those who care)

Tony Scott is ended (but the malady lingers on). Top Gun, the film that made San Diego famous, is being ...

Afterimage: Cloud Atlas

It's all about the money, boys and girls.

Oh, boy, this is a sad story. Not the story in the movie - that was meant to be hopeful ...

Trailer Park: Day of the Falcon

Not to be confused withe Day of the Jackal or Day of the Triffids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Iig7KChzY This film got made in 2011, but for whatever reason, it's coming out here in 2013. The premise isn't ...

Diahann Carroll in town to pick up Lifetime Achievement Award at SD Black Film Festival

The legendary and eternally graceful Diahann Carroll will be at the San Diego Black Film Festival tomorrow night to accept ...

February brings new film releases

January must be over, because suddenly, the stars are shining in the cinematic firmament... You know what I think? I ...