Silence isn’t golden. He may not be the hardest working man in show business — not with just one theatrical release every two years — but at 74, and with almost 60 features, shorts, and …

“Hi, this is Debbie. If you are over 30 and have been inactive or have any ankle, knee, or back problems, you should have a medical checkup before starting any exercise program.” The preceding disclaimer …

Martin Scorsese claims to have stopped watching most contemporary films. “Cinema is gone,” he told the Associated Press. At a New York press conference Scorsese admitted, “I don’t see that many new ones over the …

10) Hirokazu Koreeda’s Our Little Sister At their estranged father’s funeral, the oldest of three sisters takes it upon herself to ask her little-known teenage half-sister — the product of an adulterous relationship that “crushed …

“‘Based on a True Story” has replaced “The Adventure Continues” as Hollywood’s most cringeworthy coming attraction tagline. Just because a narrative is rooted in reality doesn’t mean that its chronicler isn’t going to lie, cheat, …

When was the last time you saw an expressionistic use of color in a trailer, let alone a feature? There was more color in the preview for La La Land than a box of 120 …

I owe my love of Pablo Larraín to the San Diego Latino Film Festival. Their programming of Tony Manero and Post Mortem was tantamount to extracting a giant thorn from this reporter’s paw. Tony Manero …

Individuals who have history thrust upon them frequently make the best movie subjects. Lawrence of Arabia, Melvin and Howard, The Last Emperor, Vera Drake, and many other cinematic profiles have done wonders with a passive …

When asked to name a sequel that surpasses its original, The Godfather, Part II and The Bells of St. Mary’s are always the first to come to mind. (Exorcist II: The Heretic runs a close …

A few weeks ago, a story appeared on The Big Screen about a “critic” who couldn’t manage to make it through a screening without texting. It was greeted with a tidal wave of sympathetic comments …

The Museum of Photographic Arts invites you to spend a day in Hollywood walking through the extensive picture collections at the Academy Film Archive. Established in 1991, the Archive currently houses 190,000 items including an …

Why would anyone cancel a phoner with Peter Sarsgaard? The next critic in line did just that, leaving twice the normal allotted time for your Big Screen correspondent. Our talk was meant to promote Sarsgaard’s …

The trailer for Rules Don’t Apply, with its promise of one notorious playboy starring as another equally profligate real-life womanizer, set the bar high. You see, rules don’t apply to Warren Beatty. They never have. …

There will be a free screening of the upcoming Universal Studios release this Saturday morning at 10 am. Here's the catch: you have to be one of the first 200 patrons in line at either …

What’s the textbook definition of stupid? Anyone — “critic” or pass-whore — who sits in the same row as I and proceeds to text during a movie. Believe it or don’t, that's exactly what one …

It’s always nice to welcome an old friend back to town, particularly one who is as bright and talented a filmmaker as Wolfgang Hastert. After years spent studying and getting his graduate degree from Duke …

President-elect Donald Trump — it feels dirty just writing it — could have been the next Clark Gable. Just ask him. Before the shortchanging, meow-meow-grabbing real estate tycoon transformed New York City into a garish …

November 2, 2016 will go down as a good day. The Cubs won the World Series, this proud papa’s built-tough 1994 Ford Ranger, for five years the apple of my eye, studied hard and passed …

The Pacific Arts Movement’s San Diego Asian Film Festival breezes through town this week and for the first time in its 17-year history, festival founder Lee Ann Kim will not be in the driver’s seat. …

Martin Scorsese was once asked his opinion of professional sports. “Sports?” he scowled. “Anything with a ball, no good!” Forgive me Marty, for I have sinned. True, there is no bigger waste of time than …

Every year around award season, a cry goes out bemoaning the lack of quality female parts in movies today. For those not allergic to subtitles or a 142-minute running time, there’s Aquarius — a gleaming, …

Seconds after the email offering an interview with Kelly Reichardt crossed my desk, a reply in the affirmative was sent. Hopefully I made the best of our brief time together. Scott Marks: Can you give …

The sixth annual German Currents Film Festival returns to Balboa Park this weekend, and with it comes the usual fine array of five films you’re not likely to find anywhere else in town. The call …

Modern Times would have to wait. No sooner did the DVD of Chaplin’s immortal comedy come off the shelf then I found myself drawn to the contents of the supplementary disc. The documentaries, footage of …

Listen, you screwheads, here’s a film that still can take it...a theatrical revival over 40 years after its initial release...a film that stood up...to the test of time...here is Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Nothing before …

From the folks who bring you the booming San Diego Surf Film Festival comes another three-day screening gala. The second annual, somewhat misleadingly titled ACTION! International Film Festival comes to La Jolla’s Misfit Pictures HQ …

What better way to cloud your vision of San Diego’s two largest theatre screens than by taking advantage of Grossmont Cinema’s new stocked bar? As if movies weren’t intoxicating enough, this weekend Reading Cinemas Grossmont …

This came about thanks to the kindness of Jean Walcher, public relations sage and President of J. Walcher Communications. Jean’s cousin is the executive producer of No Pay, Nudity, a delightful Broadway Danny Rose-ish comedy …

From Disney to Elvis(es) to Plissken and now Jimmy Harrell in Deepwater Horizon, opening Friday at a multiplex near you, those of a certain age would be hard-pressed to recall a period when they didn’t …

“Putting on a festival is kinda like having a baby,” writes Tonya Mantooth, executive and artistic director at the San Diego International Film Festival. “You don't remember the pain until you go into labor, aka …

Judy Davis had a bad cold, her normally husky voice pitched a few octaves lower. After a couple of postnasal one-word answers, the interview appeared destined to be the shortest on record. One mention of …

It’s funny the way fate has a habit of yanking the reins when it’s least expected. An Amish plow horse named Snowman was but a few laps away from the glue factory until Dutch immigrant …

A call came in from Shane P. Allen, a 53-year-old Tierrasanta resident and realtor by day, eager to talk about his performance in Clint Eastwood’s Sully. Here’s how the happily married father of three (“my …

Let’s start the week with a smile and a “heil!” with this video assemblage of Tinseltown’s Ten Best Fascist Dictators. Here they are arranged in order of rank. 10) Considering the variety of top-shelf candidates …

The title of Clint Eastwood’s latest, Sully, works as a two-edged nod to both titular hero and what the National Transportation Safety Board wanted to do to his reputation. There isn’t an American alive who …

Hugh O’Brian, the lantern-jawed cowboy star who apprenticed at the hands of several Hollywood mavericks and later rose to stardom as TV’s Wyatt Earp, has died. Born Hugh Charles Krampe, O’Brian dropped out of college …

A Frances O’Neill Zimmerman of La Jolla writes: “The first ten films (from 1967 to 1976) of famed aging documentarist Frederick Wiseman are being screened in Los Angeles at Cinefamily on North Fairfax beginning August …

Light is hardly the word to describe the melodramatic slog that awaits viewers in writer-director Derek Cianfrance’s The Light Between Oceans. After a tour of killing Jerrys in the Great War, bachelor Tom (Oscar®-nominee Michael …

Gene Wilder was such a brilliant actor that he fooled audiences into believing one of his most revered creations, Willy Wonka, was something other than a magnetizing Nazi goon offering kids a Golden Ticket to …

The last time Ralph DeLauro brought movies and music to the lives of his followers was at a screening of The Wrecking Crew held last November at the Central Library. It was one of the …

Last week brought news of Exitos del Cine Latino, a brand-new week-long film festival, running August 26 to September 1 at AMC Plaza Bonita, that boasts 14 San Diego premieres. Be on the lookout for …

If the Chuck Heston interpretation of Ben-Hur is comparable to a Classics Illustrated comic book, M­G­M’s new digital facelift should never have left Turner Network Television. The third (and hopefully final) theatrical reboot, this Ben …

It is the ultimate glorification of sports on film and a testament to the man Max Bialystock would later call, “The Hitler you loved, the Hitler you knew, the Hitler with a song in his …

Those who missed out on last May’s San Diego Surf Film Festival — I was surfing the net that weekend — are about to be tossed a life preserver. Huey, the God of Surf, has …

With the Lickona bunch vacationing in New York, this week’s aggregation of new releases falls on my watch. Speaking of aggregation, according to the generally aggravating Rotten Tomatoes, Hell or High Water is Certified 100% …

The Media Arts Center is nothing if not ambitious. Monday brought news of film curator Moisés Esparza’s inspired commitment to second-run bookings. Next week is a three-film tribute to the late Iranian master, Abbas Kiarostami. …

Second-run theatres appear to have gone the way of video cassettes. The once popular “dollar houses” offered audiences a chance to catch big releases on their way to home video, generally at a cost of …

It was 54 years ago today that Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her apartment of an apparent overdose. Suicide? Murder? Accident? Joe Kennedy? The debate rages to this day as the legendary sex symbol …

Who is our greatest (hardly) working director? Godard? Scorsese? Wenders? Arthur Hiller? Oh, yeah! Timpani! It’s Jerry Lewis! I’ve spent more of my adult life defending Jerry Lewis than any other pussycat mush genius on …

T-minus six months and counting before the 27th Annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival comes to town, but there’s no time like the present to start the fundraising matzo ball rolling. SDJFF launches its Underwriter …