Gold amid the dross
Why was I reading a listicle at Cracked.com? No idea. But I liked what I read there.
I mean, "13 Photos That Shatter Your Image of Famous People (Part 2)"? Really? Didn't I have something better to do, like blog here at The Big Screen? Yes, yes I did. But first, it's sharing time. Do you remember …
New releases opening this week: The Act of Killing, In A World... and more
Remember when I said that movies weren't driving the culture any more? You know what I mean - they're not the subject of the national conversation. Christopher Nolan basically made the Occupy movement into domestic terrorists in The Dark Knight …
Interview with In A World... writer-director-star Lake Bell
"Women are complicated. I don't have to tell you that."
So what if New York Magazine got the full-body tattoo shots? We got the feminist musings. In a World... tells the story of Carol, the daughter of a movie trailer narrator who is trying to follow her father into the …
New releases opening this week: Smurfs 2 and who cares what else?
Smurfs 2!
Smurfs 2! Also, More Than Honey, a film about hive colony collapse. And Computer Chess, a film about the rise of the machines. And Blue Jasmine, a film about how Woody Allen makes a lot of movies. And 2 Guns, …
Trailer Park: Seventh Son
That crackling sound you here is Jeff Bridges rapidly burning through all the goodwill he's built up over the years. Because admit it, you left R.I.P.D. thinking, "That wasn't nearly as aggressively stupid as it could have been, and I …
Trailer Park: American Hustle
"Sell the sizzle, not the steak" applies here in at least two ways.
Other folks have already commented on the fact that here, at long last, is a trailer that gives you the feeling of a movie without spilling out nine of its ten plot points. That's "sell the sizzle, not the steak" …
Trailer Park: 2 Guns
Wow. I've seen the film, and lemme tell you, Denzel does not ask his boss in the interrogation room, "Did you know he was special forces?" It's one thing when the trailer gives you a scene that didn't make it …
Casting Katy Perry's Blade Runner sequel the right way.
So Katy Perry announced that she'd like to play Rachael in Blade Runner 2, because of course: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/31/50409/ But wait, you say: Blade Runner 2? Of course. The alternate ending from the "Final Cut" kind of leaves it open, no? …
Everyone complains about the weather...
...but nobody makes a movie about it. (The Day After Tomorrow doesn't count.)
Remember The Lorax? Pulled in around $350 million worldwide while smilingly castrating one of Dr. Seuss's more urgent moral messages: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot/ Nothing is going to get better. It's not." Why do I …
Dept. of Final Bows: Jonathan Winters and Orson Welles
Let's inaugurate this consideration of final film roles with a couple of gentlemen who would undoubtedly have appreciated the absurdity involved, shall we? I mean, Jonathan Winters was never what you'd call a Hollywood star, but by gum, he helped …
Poster Time: Emily Blunt gets sporty, spacey
You guys, I can't wait for this one. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/26/50119/ Kidding. It's really called Edge of Tomorrow. But I like my title better.
Oh, by the way: The Conjuring
We were slow getting to this one, but get there we did, and you should, too. You know, if you're into that sort of thing.
Oh, by the way: Only God Forgives
Look, I know we don't have a proper review of this dark little followup to Drive, but I have it on good authority that Only God Forgives is the latest candidate for Scott Marks's reverse Midas touch. If you're at …
New movie releases this week: Storm Surfers 3D, The Wolverine and more
Scott really liked Storm Surfers 3D, but that's just because he spends so much time surfing himself. I kid, I kid. It's because he likes 3D. Kidding! Me, I liked Fruitvale Station, but that's just because it's good. (Though I'd …
Movies opening this week: Un Flic, Still Mine and more
Lots more
Look, I'm not saying you have to go see Un Flic this weekend. But Scott is. But if you still want to see something after Un Flic, you could do worse than Still Mine. Lush, emotional, sympathetic - apple pie …
Because Acting for Dummies is too literal
Look, we've already gone after the trailer for Last Vegas. But if I had any clout whatsoever, I would keep this in mind for my YouTube interview series, Acting for Dollars. The whole joke of the show would be to …
Interview with Still Mine star James Cromwell
Still Mine tells the story of Craig Morrison, an independent-minded old man who bumps up against the system when he sets out to build a single-story home on his property. (Craig's wife Irene has begun to suffer from dementia, and …
Lickona's Lexicon: Geriaction
Action movie starring old people, usually old people who starred in action movies before they were old people. Cf. The Expendables, Bullet to the Head, Red, Red 2, The Last Stand, etc.
Movies opening this week: Pacific Rim, The Way, Way Back and more
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/12/49078/ "Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?" Okay, so Scott Marks liked Pacific Rim more than I did, as you can tell from this Facebook chat. And I liked The Way, Way Back more than Scott did, …
Interview with The Way, Way Back co-writers and co-directors Jim Rash and Nat Faxon
The Way, Way Back tells the story of Duncan (Liam James), a pouty-slouchy teenage boy who heads off for a month's vacation at the beach house of his mom Pam's (Toni Collette) new boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell). It doesn't go …