Thoughts of writing this one off were tempting, but the day was hot, the timing right, and the screen large. Was Marvel right to patiently ride out the pandemic by skipping the VOD route in …

As promised in last week’s review of Alexandre Rockwell’s Sweet Thing, a few words on its prequel, Little Feet. But first, let’s present two of the director’s previous films. In the Soup and Pete Smalls …

Where were you on July 20, 1969? Unless you were among the thousands fortunate enough to have been in Mount Morris Park for the opening of the Harlem Cultural Festival, chances are you were glued …

Before we discuss three of the better Bugs and Elmer shorts contained in the numbered, limited edition blu-ray set, The Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, a word about packaging. The Looney Tunes gang has morphed …

The latest family affair from Alexandre Rockwell (In the Soup, 13 Moons) is a product from another time. On the surface, it could very well have been a black-and-white low-budget indie that was left lounging …

The movies’ one glorious footnote to disco roller-boogie can be found in Peter Bogdanovich’s awfully romantic comedy They All Laughed, wherein a klutzy John Ritter attempts to skate his way into Dorothy Stratten’s heart. That’s …

The company Grandpa Bill Marks worked for threw an annual picnic that encouraged employees to invite family members for an afternoon of games, barbeque, and enough beer to keep back teeth at high tide. Having …

Three comedies about critics starring Mel Brooks, Vincent Price, and Bob Hope. Our first entry earned Mel an Oscar® for Best Animated Short, and in spite of that, it’s good! The Critic (1960) For many, …

’Twas home video that first began sawing away at television’s umbilical cord. It was bad enough that stations sliced and diced movie running times quicker than a Popeil Chop-O-Matic to make room for commercial breaks. …

Walter Matthau? A bank robbing serial killer wanted by both good guys and bad guys alike?! Times were tough. The actor had to hock wedding presents just to pay the rent. The $2500 this minisculely …

It was to be the first image I’d seen projected since the lockdown. The trailer pronouncement landed with the jaw-splintering force of a fist enfolding a roll of quarters: “From the director of Crazy Rich …

My original intention was to cover a couple of Woody Allen’s middle-to-modern funny films. Then I happened across this hilarious, never-broadcast, half-hour PBS mockumentary on YouTube. I hope you enjoy this Holy Grail of hilarity …

A haughty fashion designer (Emma Thompson) and the seamstress most likely to dethrone her (Emma Stone) wage battle in this, the third live-action attempt on the part of the studio to ransack the Disney Vault, …

This week’s offerings include a trio of documentaries that range in subject from the history of everyone’s favorite curse word, Miami’s cocaine cartel, and for openers, a cautionary fable for the marginally talented among us …

North Hollywood arrives with the tagline: The first ever movie about becoming a pro skater. Sonja Henie and I, Tonya to the contrary, for the sake of argument the profession referred to in the catchphrase …

Having spent 14 months in quarantine, the sudden reintroduction to the outside world left me feeling nostalgic for cramped spaces. For those having similar difficulty reacclimating, this week’s viewings selections are all sewer-based. Talk about …

What is it about playing firefighters that makes big shot movie stars agree to fiddle while the budget burns up around them? I submit the following list of A-listers who, at the peak of their …

The British Film Institute launches BFI Player Classics on May 14. The new streaming outlet promises what it calls a “collection of classic British cinema specifically for the American market.” (I’m guessing that means no …

If it seems as though it was just a couple of months ago that we spoke about the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, it was. Alas, nothing on this list comes close to topping Talking …

By the time a wave of big screen hits earned Rick Moranis household name status, he had already gained cult immortality in certain sectors of the USA and Canada for his participation in 25 episodes …

The last time I viewed a projected image was inside the Grossmont 10 on March 13, 2020. Since then, I’ve gone to bed each night asking God to spare me from covid-19, if only because …

Oscar-nominated movies...at home! Crip Camp (2020) Judy Heumann. The mere mention of her name sends shivers down the spines of all who look to cut corners at the expense of denying the disabled community equal …

It’s been over a year since most of us have set foot inside a theatre. Instead, we’ve spent the past 13 months streaming instead of screening, and so the idea of handing out movie awards …

Breakfast on Pluto (2005) Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game stands as one of the most significant films released in the past thirty years, if for no other reason than that it’s a suspense thriller that …

Over the past decade or so, the early months of the year — a time when most average moviegoers spend their days either catching up on Awards Season dross or in hibernation — have generally …

This week brings a pair of first rate action thrillers from the mind of Luc Besson, a creative force in French cinema who makes a much better writer-producer than he does a director. District b13 …

Wallace Shawn’s first Woody Allen film was also his first screen appearance. His cameo in Manhattan amounted to little more than a brilliant punchline. One doesn’t easily associate the terms “oversexed” and “brilliant kind of …

The definition of insanity is watching another sequel with “Kong” and/or “Godzilla” in its title and expecting different results. Godzilla vs. Kong is a risk-free retread of Jurassic proportions. Kong still calls Skull Island his …

Confession is good for the soul: campy sci-fi has never been my bag, particularly when it comes bearing the stamp of network TV. Having never made it all the way through an episode of Star …

Almost 60 years after my babysitter let me stay up to watch it, I finally paid a return visit to the seedy underbelly of life on Chicago’s skid row, Let No Man Write My Epitaph. …

With Yes Day, the team that brought you Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day once again proves that when it comes to entertaining families (and single guys in their sixties), director …

Hold That Lion is legendary among Stooge disciples as the only time Shemp and Curly appear on screen together. It is also Curly’s swan song. Hold That Lion (1947) By this time, doctor’s orders had …

There are still a few days left to partake in this year’s San Diego Latino Film Festival. For a complete list of titles, visit http sdlatinofilm.com. In the meantime, here are two worth watching. La …

The 28th annual San Diego Latino Film Festival runs March 11-21 both virtually and at a drive-in near you. (The South Bay Drive-in and Westfield Mission Valley.) For a complete list of times and titles, …

‘This is a true story.” The presence of this disclaimer (or a reasonable variation thereof) at the outset of a picture suggests a license to speak truth to power. But a corking yarn without a …

Felt like making a return revisit to an old Scorsese friend and booked passage on a boat trip to Shutter Island, the film that asks the musical question, “Baby, why are you all wet?” Shutter …

There is so much fact-fudging going on in The United States vs. Billie Holiday that for all the good it did screenwriter Suzan-Lori Parks, the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, she could …

It had been 50 years since Billy and I last met. To say that time had been unkind would be an understatement. Billy Jack (1971) Jean Roberts’ (pseudonymous co-writer and Mrs. Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor) …

What must breakfast be like at the home of married co-workers Milla Jovovich and Paul W. S. Anderson? “Remember back a decade ago, when I first entertained adapting Monster Hunter for the screen?” Paul asks. …

When people point up gaping holes in my film viewing history, I generally counter with, “I have to save something for my deathbed.” Seeing how I’m closer to the end than I am to the …

From the look of things, Mark (Kyle Allen) is definitely a morning person. He impresses both his dad and younger sis by tending to every item on his breakfast menu with the skill and grace …

Before reviewing the current remake, the purist in me thought it wise to first examine the original feature of the same name. (It’s available on YouTube.) I suggest you do the same. The Queen of …

It was the greatest love story never told. For decades, Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Mado (Martine Chevallier) have lived a romance in the shadows, on the same floor, in opposite apartments. Nobody knew. Not the …

What do this week’s films have in common? Both were found in Chula Vista, on the shelves of the Deseret Thrift Store, waiting patiently for me to take them home. The Wrecking Crew (2008) “What …

Another week, another film festival — this time, the 31st Annual San Diego International Jewish Film Festival, which runs February 11-21. For a complete lineup of features and virtual discussion groups, visit www.lfjcc.org/cjc/sdijff.aspx. Here are …

This week, zombie pets and dynamite Vietnam vets combine for a pair of hilarious late-2000s parodies. Fido (2007) For a seemingly limited genre, it’s amazing how many great zombie pictures have risen up and shambled …

The Museum of Photographic Arts once again hosts the annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival, which, for the first time in its 11-year history, screens virtually and therefore all across the United States. The lineup …

It’s a tradition in excellence that dates back to when I was 9-years-old and first introduced to the Marx Bros. The local ABC-TV affiliate in Chicago would devote their Saturday night late-to-pre-dawn slot to Paramount …

The press release hyped him as “one of the most versatile talents in Hollywood.” The late Danny Aiello dubbed him a “five tool guy” capable of singing, acting, performing, writing, and fighting “like a sonofabitch.” …

Somewhere, Joan Rivers is rolling in her grave. While on her way to becoming a household name in 1973, the comedian conceived the story of (and along with Agnes Gallin, co-scripted the teleplay for) a …