Entries
Oprah Winfrey to Receive Oscar's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Oscar periodically bestows the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award upon individuals "in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry." Furthermore, honorary statuettes are awarded for "extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state …
Never mind the Killer Elite, here's the Scorpions!
Okay, just one more and I'll lay off the snark. But the full trailer for Killer Elite just came over the wire, and I'll be dipped if they don't use the Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane" as the musical …
Anatomy of a Press Photo: Evolution of Superman
Remember Christopher Reeve? Bright colors, spandex, Truth, Justice, and the American Way? Dude owned it. So then they tried the reboot, and apparently, they decided the bright red "S" was a little too...what's the word...comic-booky. "Too much like a superhero …
Anatomy of a Press Photo: Immortals Armor
Oh, yeah - badASS. Though I'm not quite sure why we're going the whole "nipples on the batsuit" route... And I know that this Henry Cavill dude is going to be playing Superman soon... ...but the cape thing is a …
Jerry Lewis Out as MDA Chairman and Telethon Host
My favorite TV show of all-time was canceled. We all knew it couldn't last forever, but who would have thought Jerry Lewis' departure from the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Annual Labor Day Telethon that he created would get ugly. It was …
Reviews!
Set phasers to Ornery. Oh, my. David Elliott has a thing or two to say about Cowboys & Aliens -- none of 'em good, but all of 'em entertaining. Here is a sample: "Ah, [Harrison] Ford - the smoking brand …
Apes on the Brain
I pricked my finger and took a blood oath never to break an embargo by revealing my true feelings for a film before it opens. Something tells me 2oth Century Fox won't mind the following breach. Rise of the Planet …
Anatomy of a Press Photo: First Look at John Cusack in The Raven
A little peek behind the scenes at the studio... Okay, so here's the high concept, people. Edgar Allan Poe wrote detective stories with a gruesome twist, right? So we're gonna do a film with a serial killer acting out Poe's …
Why Movies Suck
Newsflash: humor is powerful stuff. Seriously, though: long before I'd ever heard of Rupert Murdoch or NewsCorp - heck, long before cell phones, hackable or otherwise, were even invented - I knew that the New York Post was a lousy …
The Dangers of Hanging Around White People, Illustrated (Yet Again)
Look, we've all heard that The Black Guy Dies First. It's all part of The Man's plan. But it was still pretty insane to see a film like X-Men: First Class, which was little more than a minority empowerment story …
$20 Million Persuades Jennifer Lopez to Stick With American Idol
Fran Leibowitz once said, "If you're going to watch TV, watch TV." It's amazing how a comment made in passing on Late Night with David Letterman had the power to change the way I look at things. These eight words, …
Locally Shot Transvestite Documentary on DVD
"We finished our sixth film, all shot in San Diego," says Scumbag Movies co-owner Leia Gadow. "We're doing a limited DVD release, available through our website [http://www.scumbagmovies.com] with four different covers, each hand silk screened by the filmmakers." The documentary, …
Review: The Smurfs
I remember re-writing the narration in my head the first time I saw the trailer: “From Raja Gosnell, the Academy Award-slighted ‘director’ of such box office (s)hits as Big Momma’s House, two steaming helpings of Scooby-Doo, and a movie in …
Cinematographer's Notebook: Deep Focus
You know, this whole essay about Orson Welles's groundbreaking work in cinematic composition during the making of Citizen Kane is very well done. But I think the image above, taken from the upcoming art-house entry Shark Night 3D, illustrates the …
Bane: the Baddies Weigh In [SPOILER?]
Your Summer of Superheroes may be winding to a close, but it's never too soon to start thinking about Your Next Summer of Superheroes! The Dark Knight Rises, July 20, 2012!
Annals of Product Placement: The Dark Knight Rises [SPOILER]
Poor Bane. Looks like the Batsuit can get a mite whiffy under the arm... On the one hand, we're a little surprised to see an auteur like Chris Nolan taking such a mercenary approach to merchandising. On the other, kudos …
Halo-Loving Marathon Xbox Player Now Wears One
My dad used to harp, "Instead of going to the movies, why don't you read a book?" Nowadays, a parent's battle cry is, "Why don't you stop playing video games and go to the movies?" If heeded, the latter admonition …
Free Outdoor Screening of Top Gun Tonight
Liberty Station’s third annual Summer Movie Mania continues tonight with a free 25th anniversary outdoor screening of Top Gun. A favorite of locals, we played to a capacity crowd when I screened the movie at the Oceanside Pier earlier this …
Dig a Hole: G.D. Spradlin
Gervase Duan Spradlin. With a handle like that, it's no wonder he grew up to be one tough hombre. G.D. Spradlin — attorney, independent oil producer, mayoral candidate, and one of the few men brazen enough to dare face down …
Feature: Steven-Charles Jaffe, Writer-Director of Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pffw5EUVt5o Look, every now and then, even a blog has to up the word count a bit. Hence the existence of longform.org, and also of posts like this one. I thought it was worth it; I hope you will, too. …