Entries
Free movies of the weak: Misérables loves company
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/dec/27/37484/ Brace yourself: Les Misérables took in a weekday Christmas record of $18.2 million in the United States and Canada when it opened on Tuesday. People must not have heard that a new Billy Crystal film debuted the same day. …
O Durning, Where Art Thou?
A couple of genius moments from one of my very favorite films, here and here. Thank you, Pappy O'Daniel.
Dig a hole: Charles Durning
Would characters actors please refrain from dying long enough for me to unwrap my Christmas presents? First Jack Klugman and now Charles Durning. Charles Durning, the man who played Santa Claus five times (It Nearly Wasn't Christmas, Mrs. Santa Claus, …
Dig a hole: Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman played the slob long before his role as TV's Oscar Madison made it fashionable. An image of cardinal significance from the Jewish guilty pleasure, Goodbye, Columbus (1969), instantly made me a Klugman convert. Ben Patimkin (Klugman) is seated …
Everybody loves somebody sometime, except when your cat and Dean Martin die on Christmas Day
She was a full-grown Calico who couldn't have weighed more that 4 or 5 lbs. Aria was adorable, shy, but not so timid that she'd hide the second company came over. She became mine when her owners realized they could …
Putting the "X" back in Xmas - a brief history of San Diego porn theaters
Plus what killed the Gaslamp's peep show empires, and why they deserved to die
Modern day porn movies are notorious for their ridiculous and idiotic titles. Looking at a porn star's list of film names would have been funny to me a few years ago. Now, it's just sad and disturbing to realize that …
Christmas jeer
Critic finds lump of coal in stocking
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/dec/24/37352/ Look what they're writing to the editor, and at Christmas no less. I almost passed on the Hitchcock movie after reading the Scott Marks' review. What a mistake that would have been. It was a way- above-average movie, as …
Lil' Paul Williams (who made Kensington history in 1983) is STILL ALIVE!
New documentary reminds that the tiny songwriter was a gigantic music AND movie star.
If you were around in the 1970s, and even if you weren't, you probably know Paul Williams. He wrote classic songs like “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Evergreen" and “The Rainbow Connection" and acted on countless TV shows (as well as …
What we're missing
Cirque du Soleil? More like Cirque du SoGAY, amirite, fellas?*
So this came in the mail: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/dec/21/37277/ So now I feel obliged to remind y'all that Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away opens tonight! I won't be there, though. I'll be showing up in your nightmares, wearing this very special mask! …
Dept. of Context is Everything
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/dec/21/37271/ This shot shows up in a Vince Vaughn bro-comedy, there are protests about demeaning gay stereotypes. It shows up in an Almodovar movie, it's hilarious. Discuss. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nb3ZygFz-M
A closer look at the first promo image for Mad Max: Fury Road
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/dec/21/37268/ I dunno. I was just tickled by the juxtaposition of old (Mel Gibson) and new (Tom Hardy). And forget a new Lethal Weapon installment - this should be the franchise that brings back Mad Mel.
Free movies of the week, the Santa Claus edition
Is it wrong to lie to a child by telling them that once a year a sleigh led by 8 reindeer deposits a red-draped fatso bearing a sack of toys on your roof? Don't ask me. Who even knew from …
A closer look at Megan Fox's bosom - er, This is 40
The new mid-life movie This is 40 isn't just Judd Apatow getting to fantasize that he's Paul Rudd by casting him opposite Mrs. Judd Apatow, aka Leslie Mann. It's also a chance for him to introduce the world to Megan …
Opening this week - the rest of the story
Mr. Marks, having doled out the first batch of Christmas goodies, will no doubt be along again soon with an account of his time spent at Parental Guidance. Probably right after the bandages come off his eyes. In the meantime, …
When in doubt, Stooges!
When in Hollywood, as was the case during the recent Thanksgiving holiday, I feel it my duty to take in at least one 35mm revival. Since it was a holiday weekend, I didn't expect to find much in the way …
Opening this week
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/dec/20/37238/ I'm scared. If those zany Mayans are right and the world does come to an end tomorrow, that means the last movie I'll ever see will be Parental Guidance. Or maybe by "the end of the world," the Mayans …
They give us those nice bright colors!
Mr. Marks is just grumpy about Punch Drunks being the only Three Stooges joint in the National Film Registry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMnmyHVDRFY Otherwise, he would not have failed to post the gem of this year's additions to the Registry: Kodachrome Motion Picture …
National Film Registry adds another 25 titles
A Penny Marshall for your thoughts
Not only has 2012 meant a bad time at the movies, it appears as if the national Film Registry has taken the year off. If Holly Golightly's waiter was as slow on the uptake as these cats are at the …
No icky girls in Peter Jackson's Hobbit?
Well, as long as Mr. Marks is taking note of Big George's man-love, and as long as I'm accusing Big Pete of going Full Lucas, I suppose it's worth noting that, were it not for a brief appearance from Galadriel, …
No icky girls in George Lucas's Star Wars
Not that I have ever spent time contemplating George Lucas's on-screen treatment of women, but now that you mention it, Marty and John Woo are Jane Campion by comparison. Hell, the Three Stooges offered dames more diversity (and screen time). …