Aunt Fay had the hots for Elvis, and little Scotty loved going to the movies. So it was that many a Saturday afternoon found us hopping the 96 Lunt Ave. bus to Chicago’s Adelphi Theatre …

The banners are down, the fanboys back in their parents’ basements, and the convention center no longer a giant roll of flypaper used by corporations to ensnare the costumed souls that make it through the …

It was the part I was born to play. No, not Kristen Stewart, but the unenviable role of angry critic forced to endure the insidious brands studios impose on their “art” in the name of …

I ain’t afraid of no sequels, so long as they are not sequels to inferior remakes of films that were lousy to begin with. The all-girl, effects-powered reboot of Ghostbusters cost producers — among them …

Believe it or don’t, I was once a big fan of wrestling. Larry used to take me to Chicago’s International Amphitheater to study the squared-circle wizardry of such giants as Bruiser & Crusher, Bob Brazil, …

ArcLight Cinemas and San Diego Filmmakers have joined forces to establish the San Diego Women’s Film Network, a new forum to support, inspire, and educate women working in the entertainment industry or looking to wedge …

Changes are in the offing at Landmark’s Hillcrest Cinemas that include the addition of electronic seats, a lobby makeover, reserved seating, alcohol, and even newly designed finishes and fixtures to make every bathroom encounter feel …

Far be it from me to deride any exhibition chain that’s okay with showcasing repertoire fare a few weeks out of the year, but have we not heard the chimes at midnight? The last time …

It’s been five years since Dmitriy Demidov and the Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation revived the Oceanside International Film Festival. In that time it’s grown from a few-day gathering to a weeklong celebration that lays claim …

What has four Renoir’s, two Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s, a quartet by Max Ophüls, Tony Bennett’s one and only acting performance (watch and learn), an ace high Diamond straight flush from Preston Sturges, Buñuel leading Brontë to …

Don’t Think Twice, opening August 12 at Landmark’s Ken Cinema, is Mike Birbiglia’s second feature as a director. The comedy introduces us to a six-person improv troupe that dwindles in size as the top floaters …

It could have been an ad for Mrs. Paul’s Fish Sticks. Instead, parents of California kiddies attending a screening of Finding Dory at the Brenden Concord 14 were in for a shock when the pre-show …

A promising young luminary beading together a string of pearly performances will gain my loyalty more effectively than yanking a thorn from my paw. After Little Murders and Elliott Gould’s first two pictures for Altman …

Antenna TV began airing nightly reruns of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson in January. Hour-long shows originally broadcast between 1980 and 1992 run Monday through Friday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. 90 minute …

She’s been praised for cutting-edge performances powered by an “assertion of total originality.” If that’s the case, why is Lady Gaga singing a familiar tune by entertaining a remake of the ancestral A Star Is …

You’ve heard of surrealism in the movies? Here’s a case of surrealism at the movies. Halfway to the lobby, with eyes half-adjusted to the light, you find the subject of the film you just exited …

For his first tour behind a camera, famed British stage director Michael Grandage chose as his subject nothing less than the Dean of American Literary Editors, Maxwell Perkins. The title Genius could have stood pluralizing …

Try analyzing comedy. The only thing more exasperating is sitting stone-faced through one. Discussing the evening’s drama consumes a drive home from the multiplex, but ask someone why a gag made them howl and all …

“I just got an email that Luis [Guzmán] has completely lost his voice so canceling all phoners and his NY press day for Puerto Ricans in Paris,” read the publicist’s note that arrived an hour …

He’s one of the sweetest, funniest “bastards,” art or otherwise, you’ll ever want to meet. And here’s your chance to do just that. Robert Cenedella, artist, social satirist, and subject of Victor Kanefsky’s moving and …

The April Fools is one of those terribly mod (and borderline terrible) late ’60s romantic comedies that for reasons both numerous and peculiar, earned its unit of storage in my memory bank. The one-sheet took …

Meet Robert Cenedella: painter, pictorial satirist, art teacher, and all around swell guy who also happens to be the subject of a new documentary, Art Bastard, opening June 17 exclusively at the Angelika Film Center …

My buddy, John Albert, posted a link to the trailer for the inescapable Monster Trucks with the following comment on my Facebook wall: “Remember this, the next time anybody says that Hollywood ought to stop …

Variety recently reported that Melissa McCarthy will star as celebrity-biographer-turned-literary-forger Lee Israel in Fox Searchlight’s upcoming biopic, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Israel had a knack for cranking out facsimile correspondences — numbering over 400 …

Once upon a time, a little girl walked into her parents’ bedroom to find Daddy in bed with a guy. Mommy promptly retaliated by having an affair that left her expecting another child. Mommy eventually …

The unpleasantness began even before Neighbors 2 hit the screen. The trailer for War Dogs screamed, “From the Director of The Hangover Series!” My face grew cold, and I started bawling. When Jonah Hill’s traditionally …

Francofonia Credits normally withheld for a closing crawl open Aleksandr Sokurov’s (Russian Ark) latest self important hymn to the importance of art museums. Listen as the disembodied voice of the documentarian expresses disappointment over his …

From the mind of the working-class Chuck Workman comes another kaleidoscopic array of clips strung together as only this smart aleck can. The idea had been growing in my brain for some time. True farce. …

One film, two critics and a world of disagreement. Lickona hung on every turn of the page in Whit Stillman’s variation on Jane Austen, Love & Friendship, while Marks wanted to tear out a row …

For those unaware, almost a decade of my life was spent teaching animation history, affectionately dubbed “cartoons for credit,” at Chicago’s Columbia College. It’s not unusual to find me popping in a thematically paired seven-minute …

For the first 15 years or so of my life, I was weaned almost exclusively on English-language movies. At the time, a Taiwanese martial arts epic (badly dubbed or otherwise) would not have ranked high …

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Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! You can’t choose a political candidate without first knowing which celebrities champion which cause. Here are a few of your favorite luminaries — and Stephen Baldwin — with their …

Having resisted the costly conversion to higher-quality, dual-sided aluminum LaserDiscs, and with thousands of titles already committed to miles of polyethylene VHS ribbon taking up half the apartment, I was reluctant to make the switch …

Last year’s presentation at the presumptive Kensington Video farewell dinner met with such little negative response, the good folks at the Kensington-Talmadge Community Association have invited me back as their guest speaker at this year’s …

Ralph DeLauro, former curator of the Central Library’s long-running (31 year) and highly popular Film Forum screening program, returns with a series of Film Discussion classes. Times, locations, and admission prices vary. The (mostly) daytime …

He may be best known for his tough guy roles in (Licence to Kill and Showgirls), but as Robert Davi put it, when it comes to singing, he’s “not just your grandmother’s Oldsmobile.” This is …

Garry Marshall got his start in television and hasn’t evolved one artistic iota since his days producing derivative spinoffs — a small-screen version of The Odd Couple and Happy Days, TV’s answer to American Graffiti. …

Fear no art! The shibboleth must not have made its way to Songzhuang, a suburb of Beijing and home to China’s largest “artists village.” One day before the curtain is scheduled to go up on …

An email arrived late Friday, asking that I consider reviewing a particular film at this year’s San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase, running April 28–May 5 at UltraStar Mission Valley. The subject matter held …

Robert Davi, the menacing-mugged tough monkey we love to hate, will set aside the snarls and brass knuckles long enough to take center stage on The USS Midway to serenade an audience with an evening …

Her name is as difficult to remember as her face is hard to forget. With more than 60 television and movie roles to her credit, 27-year-old Alia Shawkat is currently one of cinema’s most in-demand …

Jordan Roberts leads a lineup of industry pros scheduled to attend this Saturday's Encinitas Student Film Symposium. Roberts is the writer-director of two terrific family comedies (Around the Bend and 3, 2, 1… Frankie Go …

Too long since your gut’s had a good churning? The Invitation was sent out for a tight-knit group of friends (and a couple of hand-picked interlopers) to gather at a dinner party that initially had …

You can strike it from the record, but AMC honcho Adam Aaron’s suggestion that the world’s largest theatre chain allow texting in designated auditoriums will forever stick in this juror’s mind. It began on Wednesday …

The Disney Store celebrates the grand opening of its new store at Westfield Plaza Bonita in National City on Saturday, April 16. A quick call to friend and unofficial Mayor of National City John Dacapias …

It’s only fitting that David Gest died on Tiny Tim’s birthday. Wedding bells between the concert promoter and Liza Minnelli amounted to the biggest Barnum & Bailey wedding of all time, a marriage made in …

There’s a new festival coming to town, this one brought to you the City of Encinitas and San Diego Filmmakers. I’m the first to grumble that art shouldn’t compete, but there’s more to the Encinitas …

If there is indeed only one chance at making a good first impression, then an impeccable introductory shot is as essential to a film’s narrative as a lashed Windsor knot and highly reflective pair of …

It’s not often one finds a student film, for lack of a better term, covered in these pages. Call me snobby, but after 11 years spent teaching film (and a lifetime devoted to studying the …