Entries
Day 2 of the San Diego Black Film Festival's Big 8
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 …
Does Your Film Have What It Takes to Play the SD Asian Film Festival?
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 …
Notes on Speedy Gonzales & Slowpoke Rodriguez, His Half-Baked Cousin
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 …
When a Problem Comes Along, Demi Moore Must Whip-It
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' …
Reviews!
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 …
Thanks for the 5:30 A.M. Wake-Up Call, Oscar!
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 …
Oscar Picks and Shovels
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 …
Black-Spotting the Oscars
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 …
Hugo Receives 11 Academy Award Nominations
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." …
Double Features From Hell: The Warrior and the Slave Girl and Louis Prima?!
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 …
Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: Local Wrote the Book (& Upcoming DVD Extras)
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 …
Review: Underworld: Awakening
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 …
Review: Red Tails
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. …
Update on Asian Film Festival Screening of The Viral Factor
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, …
SD Asian Film Festival Celebrates Lunar New Year With Dante Lam's The Viral Factor
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 …
Review: Haywire
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 …
More "Meet the New Hollywood, Same as the Old Hollywood"
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 …
SD Latino Film Festival and Nickelodeon Collaborate on Script-Review Competition
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 …
Bright British Moviegoers Demand a Refund Because The Artist Has No Dialog
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 …
Adult Film Performers Ordered to "Glove Up": It's the Law!
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 …