I think it's pretty clear that casting should have begun on a film based on Marisol Valles Garcia the day she took the job of Police Chief of Guadalupe. Guadalupe! You know, like the Virgin! The one that Catholic Mexicans …

It took this long for officials to realize the root word of "fanatic" is "fan?" Has it not occurred to them that a certain sector of the movie-going population has forever been irreparably harmed by George Lucas' Star Wars series, …

In spite of the forced, bully-boy shipboard comedy and mismatched attempts to stitch sumptuous location shots with obvious studio replicas, countless childhood viewings of a center-scan print of Mister Roberts on The Best of CBS render this title beyond criticism. …

The following Facebook encounter took place between an industry-insider friend, we'll call him "Kappy," and an actress who has a small role in the odds-on favorite to take home this year's best picture Oscar, The Artist. "Kappy's" Facebook wall has …

One for the Money. Two others at the show. 3.) I had to review it. 4.) I could not get up and go. The Chicken Pie Shop' was particularly turned-on last Friday night, and the waitress' inability to stop gabbing …

Nicolas Cage has had his share of financial troubles - remember when he had to sell this fabulous house? So now, instead of wondrous Cage insanities like Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans, we get phone-it-ins like Seeking Justice, …

While looking over that past few programs of midnight screenings at The Ken, the thought of revisiting Metropolis and The Maltese Falcon had crossed my mind. When push came to shove, staying out until 2 a.m. watching a couple of …

Trailers these days are sometimes like shortened forms of the movies they're selling. So we're gonna start reviewing them via short-form poetry! 28 Hotel Rooms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MCxrYpTA8E Sex in hotel rooms Someone else washes the sheets It will end in tears …

The musical documentary RE:Generation looks at the history, songwriting and studio process of different musical genres through the eyes of five of the most influential electronic producers/DJs in music today, each of whom writes and records a brand new track …

This smoker would like to personally thank director Charles Evans, Jr. for refraining from taking the scare-tactic route. The last thing I need to look at as the morning cup of coffee warms my wheezy bronchi are billboard-sized views of …

Lessee, now...Steven Spielberg is reported to be close to directing a Moses picture that features the "gritty reality of Saving Private Ryan," and is "a real warrior movie." (Lest anyone forget, the first great military victory of Moses' life? It …

(Day 3 of the San Diego Black Film Festival is tomorrow, Saturday, January 28, of course, but we're posting this today because we know you check The Big Screen only when you're at work, and damned if you come in …

My invitation to the San Diego Black Film Festival got delivered to the crazy squatter who lives in my front yard by mistake, so I missed last night's opening films, including two of the festival's Big 8. (The Big 8 …

The largest showcase of Asian cinema in the Western United States needs your submissions. The San Diego Asian Film Foundation today put out a call for entries for the 2012 San Diego Asian Film Festival. You don't have to be …

Of all the superstars in the Warner Bros. cartoon canon, Speedy Gonzales is the most nonessential. Within 36 hours of purchasing each of the Looney Tunes Golden Collections, I had watched every cartoon and most of the supplementary features, including …

What kind of number did Ashton Kutcher play on Demi Moore that left her in such dire straits? She has more money than God and what's her drug of choice? Coke? Ecstasy? Charlie's angel dust? According to TMZ, the actresses' …

Is David Elliott doing the best work of his career here at the Reader? Hard to say. But there is surely much to enjoy in this week's installment, beginning with his black-spot assessment of Best Picture nominee Extremely Loud and …

In spite of Hugo garnering 11 Academy Award nominations, I spent most of yesterday in a crankier than usual state. Movies have endowed me with an incredible sense of time, so much so that I never arrive late to the …

Admittedly, I am not much when it comes to handicapping the Oscars, so let's get it out of the way while the fresh stench of the nominations waft through my nostrils. This way, when people ask, I will direct them …

Well, Mr. Marks was his usual wonderfully grumpy self in his coverage of this year's Oscar nominations - no sense in blaming it on the early hour, he's always like that. But what struck me is that, grumpiness aside, there …

Random raging over this year's nominees: Quick -- what were last year's Best Picture nominees? Can't remember, huh? That's because in the grand scheme of things, the Academy Awards are a meaningless arbiter, reflecting the dim taste of Hollywood's "elite." …

This ad from the November 5, 1959 edition of The Modesto Bee reminds me just how much I miss the dartboard booking practices of drive-ins and grindhouses. The closest I ever came to a double feature of this magnitude was …

I first got to know local pop culture historian and TV Time Machine host Jim Benson back around 1994, when I was editing a newsstand teen magazine called TV Teens, concerning, well, teens on TV. Jim maintains a complete collection …

I dunno, guys. I had a lot more fun at Underworld: Awakening than I had any reason to expect I would. All the stuff that's bad about this vampires vs. werewolves series (blueness, bloatedness, Byzantine plotting) is still bad, and …

I left Red Tails thinking, "Not bad." Except for a few head-scratcher moments and a dreadful score, it did a lot of things...competently. But this is a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen, sort of the Jackie Robinsons of fighter pilots. …

I was under the false impression that tonight's screening of Dante Lam's The Viral Factor on behalf of the San Diego Asian Film Festival was a one-shot deal. It's not. The film will play all week at AMC Mission Valley, …

I'll see you tomorrow night at AMC Mission Valley for the one and only screening of Dante Lam's The Viral Factor. No DVD screeners were sent out (GOOD!) so I'll be among the crowd eager to see it when it …

Steven Soderbergh made it clear: upon completing three more movies, the 49-year-old director intends to walk away from filmmaking. (He will instead devote his artistic attention to painting.) After watching Haywire, either Soderbergh was hit by a sudden case of …

We've done this before, with Shark Night and X-Men: First Class...Now it's time for Red Tails - opening tomorrow! Nate Parker - Denzel Washington David Oyelowo - Yaphet Kotto Tristan Wilds - Cuba Gooding, Jr. (who is also in the …

First came the outrage. Dora the Explorer putting in yearly personal appearances at the San Diego Latino Film Festival is one thing. A script review competition in cahoots with Nickelodeon that encourages budding writers to basically trace their favorite television …

I've been meaning to relocate to London since news hit that the San Diego water supply is began being contaminated by fluoridation, that destroyer of all precious bodily fluids. This latest move on the part of British filmgoers is just …

There will be no more "it's like taking a shower in a raincoat" excuses for porn stars. The Los Angeles City Council approved a new law Tuesday that will require adult film actors to use condoms. Supporters of the ordinance …

Jerry Lewis deserves every insult people throw his way in retaliation for telling the crowd at a 2000 comedy festival, “I don’t like any female comedians.” It's a slap in the face to Lucy, Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Lisa Lampanelli, …

That's Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder, swooning over the George Lucas-produced Red Tails, a film about the Tuskegee Airmen. The full quote reads like this: "This movie kind of represents the last barrier of equality for the black fighting man. We’ve …

Have you ever noticed a small clipboard hanging in the entryways of movie theatre lavatories? There is a checklist attached to the portable writing surface for theatre employees to initial while making their hourly bathroom rounds. It took the crack …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_OnK0SrtC8 So Ricky Gervais brought his acid wit and razor tongue to the Golden Globes last night... Why the hangdog look, Mr. Gervais? Oh, dear. Well, I'm sure they can't have got far... Hm. Well, better luck next time.

Marty is there. Let's do it! Ricky Gervais is so concerned with referencing his own irreverence he forgot to be funny. When did Johnny Depp get the faux British accent? And in case you're wondering why a star of his …

If I'm going to watch the poor man's Oscars, it might as well be on company time. Join me tomorrow night for The Big Screen's first live blog. (Expect more of the same on Oscar Sunday.) I'll be bivouacked at …

Well, see for yourself. Gotham I'm in Gotham And the plans I made to rain chaos from above Seem to vanish in a snowy fog of love When we're out together, dancing hand in glove... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeisCvjwBMo

Reader critic John Rubio has the Captain's chair today, and our first destination is...France! Land of wine, food, and conservative politicians in the middle of simultaneous messy divorces and political campaigns! Rubio says the film creates a "thematic paradox that …

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome lead movie critic David Elliott as he crosses the Great Digital Divide and presents this Internet-only review of The Iron Lady: Some iron was lost by filming Margaret Thatcher through a glass darkly. As the …

aka Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Master Class in Pipe Insertion.

Earlier in the week, Matt mentioned the internet debut of the opening 5 minutes to Haywire, arriving January 20 at a megaplex near you. (The reviewing duty falls on my watch leaving Br'er Lickona to sink his fangs in Underworld.) …

Remember Ricky Gervais? Razor-sharp wit, often used for self-evisceration - and by extension, the evisceration of all showbiz, the very world he inhabited? I'm talking about Extras, of course: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv6mEv_rDdE Bloody brilliant. Yeah, that Ricky Gervais is gone. He's thinner …

The San Diego Jewish Film Festival rolled out its 2012 lineup and it includes an event to end all events: a Jews in Toons seminar! No, not Jews in Tune (who can afford Streisand?), but an evening dedicated to celebrating …

Okay, let's continue our look at Red Tails. Specifically, let's ask ourselves why George Lucas would decide to take on a producer role on a project like this one. Go ahead and watch the rest of that initial train attack …

Oh, man. So much to see here. But let's take it slow, baby. We've got time. Beginning, then, at the beginning, in which the Tuskegee airmen attack a train. Just the first 30 seconds or so. http://vimeo.com/34818823 Okay, first thing. …

So I'm sure everybody knows the story about how an enterprising soul went and made some credits for the Tintin movie, which credits somehow made their way onto director Steven Spielberg's online video playback device and subsequently got the animator …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIURYDKfSvg&feature=relmfu Apparently, Two Thousand Maniacs is the picture for which H.G. "Godfather of Gore" Lewis would like to be remembered. And so naturally, it's available on YouTube. Along with The WIzard of Gore and The Gore Gore Girls. Oh, and …

You gotta' be kidding me. A television series based on Goodfellas coming to American Movie "Classics?" During their commercially-interrupted airings of Marty's 1990 masterwork, the profanity is either bleeped or replaced with something close, like "freaking" or "shoot." Why not …

See, if you become a big enough deal in Hollywood -- a slick enough director, an arty enough auteur -- you can make something that looks like a student film with oddly well-trained fighters and everybody will say Hooray. Me …

Q: What do you get when you combine Spielberg's lisp, Lucas' chins, and Carrie Fisher's mammary glands? A: Jabba the Nut! Thanks to my friend, former student, and eternal teacher Ward Porrill for slapping this on my Facebook wall. You …

Tonight is reserved for Contraband, the new Mark Wahlberg picture, and for whatever reason, the trailer has me psyched. Something else came to mind while watching the preview. One film's electrical tape is another studio's Dymo label. Anything but another …

Stay Awake, Joe? Is that the title of an Elvis picture or a cautionary warning for narcoleptics named Joe? NoDoz is probably the only drug the King never ingested -- over-the-counter meds are for suckers -- but that didn't stop …

Please play the following in the background while reading this post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqsT4xnKZPg The Directors Guild of America announced their nominees, and with two films up for contention, Spielberg got the gate. Marty is in, as are Alexander Payne (The Descendants), …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXGI9suAyBI So, does Mr. Crystal look more like his wife from The Princess Bride or the Booing Hag from The Princess Bride? You be the judge! Also, hey, it's Robin Williams! Nice to see the host remember his friends. Kudos, …

Last month, the San Diego Latino Film Festival announced the finalists in its 2012 poster competition. Timpani! And the winner is... ...Florie Parenthoux, a 24-year old artist from Annecy, France! According to SDLFF, "Ms. Parenthoux is currently completing a B.A. …

You will never eat at elBulli, aka Chef Ferran Adria’s Temple of Molecular Gastronomy, aka The Finest Restaurant in the World (judged to be so five times by Restaurant magazine), aka Two Million Call for Reservations, but only Eight Thousand …

Here’s hoping all cinema-demons of the coming year have been purged with this, the first fright of 2012. The scariest part of the evening was the pre-show entertainment. A member of a “street team” — a group of performers hired …

/ I don’t usually go to movies at 9:55 a.m. Or operas, either. But here I am on a Saturday at AMC Mission Valley 20, waiting for the caffeine from my morning tea to kick in before seeing the Metropolitan …

You know, some days I miss Chicago more than others, particularly when I read heart-worming stories like this. In exchange for a promise of sex and drugs, Edward Brown, 34, agreed to get naked while taking in a 4 p.m. …

Remember the whole Tower Heist release kerfuffle? Folks were all upset because Universal was planning to release the film to Video On Demand services less than 30 days after its theatrical release. One more reason for people to stay on …

So Lindsay Lohan, who was an actress once and may be yet again - you never know! - went and posed for Playboy in a photo shoot designed to make her look like Marilyn Monroe, who was an actress once …

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to MoPA for a second year with a series of seven films the New York Times calls, the "cinematic conscience of the world." The four-day fest runs Friday, January 20 through Monday, January …

It's common sense, people. But still, it's probably good to hear it from those who have been there, like this poor soul from The Devil Inside, opening tomorrow: What do you think, young lady from The Last Exorcist? Well, then …

Billy Jack & the Hollywood Generation Gap “Kitten on wheels with her bike, her boots, and bikini! Out for kicks, in for trouble, she’s going to join the BORN LOSERS…” Well, not voluntarily she isn’t. I can't believe I went …

Pam Sisneros, one of the proprietors of San Diego's family-owned treasure, Kensington Video, wants to make one thing perfectly clear. "We are not closing our doors on Sundays due to a lack of business," Pam told me earlier today. "We …

Let's open 2012 W-I-D-E with a pop quiz all about my favorite aspect ratio: CinemaScope! Developed by Dr. Henri Chrétien during World War I to enable army tank gunners a broader field of view through their periscopes, the rights to …

Yawn. No, not Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms - though that should probably get its own entry in this little lexicographical effort (just one of The Big Screen's new features in 2012!) Rather, Arbitrary Toughness Factor. The first thing about ATF …

It was a year like any other, only this time with the addition of two dozen rancid sequels. I proudly boast that the five biggest grossing pictures of 2011 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Transformers: Dark of …