Entries
Dig a Hole: Dick Clark
Dick Clark, "America's oldest teenager," is floating high as a cloud on the heavenly bandstand. The game show host, shrewd TV mogul, blooper-wrangler, American Bandstand overlord, multifunctional celebrity, and master at ushering in the new year, died yesterday after suffering …
Reviews!
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/18/23121/ Unlike the print edition, this installment of the review revue will get the dross out of the way at the outset: Lockout was not very good. Writes Reader critic David Elliott, "Mainly this is more waste from the Blade …
Contrary to G-Rated Expectations, I Predict Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Movie Will Earn Its PG-13 Rating
So they're gonna make a movie out of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland. It was probably inevitable, even if the ride itself was based on a movie they'd already made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0-h2Hy_wvs (We will not mention the original book, which …
UCSD's ArtPower! Screens Winter Story as Part of Their 21st Century Chinese Film Series
It's a busy time for Asian Cinema in San Diego. In addition to next week's San Diego Asian Film Foundation's annual Spring Showcase, UCSD's ArtPower! screens director Zhu Chuanming’s Dongtian De Gushi (Winter Story) as part of their 21st Century …
San Diego Asian Film Foundation's Spring Showcase Kicks Off This Week
Last year, the San Diego Asian Film Foundation's inaugural Spring Showcase yielded a bountiful crop of movies many of which, most notably Jackie Chan's Little Big Soldier, never received a theatrical release in our fair, if not artistically controverted, city. …
Review: Blue Like Jazz
A Christian friend of mine is fond of saying that with regard to the church, he is willing to join a movement, but not a tribe. He likes the idea of an organization devoted to bearing the light of Christ …
Review: Detention
Detention is nightmare for anyone who believes that Google is making us stupid. It skips merrily along from Point A to Point Q to Point G, and hopes you will be distracted/entertained enough not to wonder what happened to things …
Blue Like Jazz Interview: Director Steve Taylor
Blue Like Jazz, which opens today, tells the story of a smart Southern Baptist kid who decides to attend Reed College, a place where his childhood (childish?) faith is not only not shared, but is viewed with open hostility. (“Every …
Review: L!fe Happens
Life happens but cinema doesn't in this fluffy chick flick destined to give the "genre" a worse reputation than it already has. Kim (Krysten Ritter) and Deena (Kate Bosworth) are a pair standard operating party girls sharing an apartment with …
Interview: Kristen Connolly, star of The Cabin in the Woods
Five teenagers alone in a remote location are systematically done away with by unstoppable evil. Normally I'd ask that you stop me if you've heard this one before, but The Cabin in the Woods, a new horror satire that opens …
That Was Close
I mean, they almost, almost made it through an entire trailer for a movie about a Canadian bank robber without a single "eh?" in it. Thank heaven for Brian Cox. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL936kF0p7s
Reviews!
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/12/22733/ This week, David Elliott goes down with the ship a second time, and the experience takes him back: "I sat alone in San Diego’s single-screen Cinema 21 in Mission Valley, surrounded by what seemed like 10,000 empty seats. The …
Cinematic Exercise: Damsels in Distress
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/12/22730/ Look, David Elliott has already reviewed Whit Stillman's latest effort, and I'm not in the business of gainsaying the critic. BUT, I suspect that there are some people out there who will see this film despite Mr. Elliott's review, …
Review: The Three Stooges
Credit Sean Hayes (Larry), Will Sasso (Curly), and especially Chris Diamantopoulos (Moe) for doing their homework. Their Xerography of the boys’ lowbrow antics perfectly captures the spirit and mayhem, if not the aesthetically-challenged look and feel of the shorts. The …
The Dark Knight Rises: Some Sensuality, Indeed
Word has just come down that The Dark Knight Rises has garnered a PG-13 rating for, among other things, "some sensuality." Hmmmm. Maybe we were right about Bane and Batman... "Hey Bane, this outdoor dance club is cool, but it's …
The Avengers Are Posers
And not just any pose. It's like they have their own Avengers signature move - call it the Superhero Squat, maybe. One knee down, one up; one hand down, one up; and five, six, seven, eight. Cases in point: Captain …
Bully for Me
Review duty for the much hyped-documentary Bully, opening this Friday at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas and AMC La Jolla, fell on Elliott's watch. Good luck, Dave. Rumor has it producer Harvey Weinstein -- already jockeying for a 2013 Best Documentary Oscar …
Eastwood Furniture: Only the Beginning
So Clint Eastwood is suing a furniture company for marketing stuff with his name attached. Get it? Eastwood? Oof. Chris Pine, call your agent. You too, James Woods. Elijah Wood - we'll get back to you. But I'm guessing the …
Ingmar Bergman's Video Collection: The Obvious Question
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/09/22485/ My oldest son has been pushing for me to replace the family's VHS copy (bought used) of Little Nemo in Slumberland with a DVD of same. That's right, at 14, he's already nostalgic for the films of his youth. …
Why the (Bleep) Am I Watching Jackass?
During dinner the other night, I got to pick the movie that a group of us would watch on the TV in the living room. The choices? Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, Frank Tashlin’s Bachelor Flat, Yasujiro Ozu’s Good Morning, and Jackass …