PhotosCity Heights YMCA locks the door
"But that's the neighborhood, and I'm glad they're looking out for us."
Marty Graham 9:30 a.m., Sept. 26
Scott Marks
Articles by Scott Marks
A Boston Marathon bombing victim's story
Stronger's director David Gordon Green
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Boston Marathon bombing victim Jeff Bauman, but don’t expect the Lifetime Channel. Stronger invites audiences to cast aside all fear of drippy sentiment in tight closeup. This tale of an ordinary ...
Sex & violence & sex & violence
Flesh and blood in this week's new movie releases, including The Villainess and The Wound
I mean, it's the movies, so what else is new? But still. The Wound has violence done to a bunch of guys' sexy bits. Also, sex and violence. mother! has much more violence than sex, ...
Anne Frank in the attic
Local Matt Sivertson’s first feature, Love All You Have Left
A private message arrived from local actress (and new Facebook friend) Caroline Amiguet asking that I attend this Friday’s screening of her husband Matt Sivertson’s first feature, Love All You Have Left, in which she ...
Remembering Jerry Lewis
A first-hand account
The elevator doors parted just in time for me to spy the hotel maid emptying the contents of a garbage can into the housekeeper’s trolley. We exchanged smiles as she passed, the opulent carpeting of ...
A Rumble: “Indian” vs. “Native American”
Political correctness rules in critic’s favor
Political correctness is a game one must master in order to keep the paychecks coming. One thing this woefully incorrect chronicler has learned the hard way is: what plays in the head need not always ...
Scorsese to produce a comic book movie
It’s the death of cinema!
My response is always the same: “I’ll attend Comic-Con when Scorsese puts in a personal appearance.” Be careful what you bitch for. Seven months ago Scorsese proclaimed, “Cinema is gone!”, in effect admitting that he’s ...
Escapes, a docu-biography
Who knew that Blade Runner was financed in part by Flipper’s TV dad?
Contemporary documentarians, adrift without historical recordings to help illustrate their case, too often try and pass off stock shots from vintage black-and-white studio releases as the emmes. Michael Almereyda’s docu-biography Escapes never once attempts to ...
How do you like your popcorn?
By the bucket or by the bag?
Popcorn became part of the moviegoing experience beginning in the late ’20s. The cinematic staple was originally dispensed in a paper sack, the crinkling of which by inconsiderate patrons was said to drown out dialogue. ...
Damaged parents
The Glass Castle, by San Diego’s own Destin Daniel Cretton
An old joke came to mind while watching Destin Daniel Cretton’s The Glass Castle. A father and his two young children stand outside a 7-Eleven, asking all who enter to spare a little change. Before ...
