Entries
Anatomy Of An Ad Campaign: Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Having grown tired of the limitations a seven-minute cartoon placed on his artistry, Walt Disney couldn't wait to tackle long-form animation. With the success of The Three Little Pigs, Disney earmarked $250,000, ten times the cost of an average Silly …
Arnold & Maria's Son Hospitalized After Surfing Accident
Christopher Schwarzennegger, the 13-year-old son of the freshly split celebrity power couple, has been hospitalized after a surfing accident. According to TMZ, the young Terminator suffered multiple broken bones and a collapsed lung as a result of the Malibu accident. …
Review: Friends with Benefits
The perks are few and far between and no rewards to be gained by befriending Friends with Benefits. The only nugget of eternal wisdom to extract from the film is, as the lead in a romantic comedy, Justin Timberlake makes …
Nostalgia Is a Wound
My Captain America review, alas, won't show up until next week's print edition. But I will note that I totally geeked out when the bad German dude Schmitt found the Norse power thing he's looking for and muttered, "And the …
Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird Screening at Comic-Con
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HP2WdfG2v0 Longtime Reader readers may recall your humble correspondent's middling efforts at single-panel cartooning. (I still think Mudflap Girls was a solid comedic concept, but don't let that scare you off.) The apotheosis of the single-panel gag (with the possible …
DVD Review: The Music Man (1962)
Between the ages of seven and twenty-seven, I was pricked by my Uncle at least once a week. With one of his clinics located just blocks from our apartment on Chicago’s north side, it was seldom that we visited his …
Hey San Diego! See Captain America before the rest of America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdBO3uQcHgI Much has been made of the movie studios' decision to, um, pull back a bit from Comic-Con this year. (It turns out fanboys are not totally reliable PR machines. Sometimes, they don't like what you do to their heroes; …
Cinepolis: the Bar & Menu
Continuing our visit to San Diego's new luxury theater... Really, you can tell so much about a theater by its bar. Start by ordering something simple - say, a Maker's Mark Manhattan, on the dry side... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAHRJ8Sv0AM Voila! (Two drink …
Cinepolis Luxury Movie Theater Comes to S.D.
Well, Del Mar, anyway. http://vimeo.com/26708258 A word about those social spaces - they really are equipped with a delightful variety of chairs. Here are just a few: This one is tucked in next to the touch-screen ticket kiosks, which may …
SD International Children's Film Festival Starts Sunday at Comic-Con
In his own quiet, unassuming way, Dan Bennett is one of the major forces of cinema in San Diego County. His legion of readers know Dan as the film critic for the North County Times. Behind the scenes, Dan is …
Monkey Business, Part 2
The flip side of our earlier adventure - this time, we're captioning stills from the trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes using lines from the trailer for the documentary Project Nim. Whee! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8D2NIGEJW8
Monkey Business, Part 1
Because you demanded it... stills from the trailer for the documentary Project Nim captioned with lines from the trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxQap9AAPOs
Ten Things I Learned About Ryan O'Neal on The Piers Morgan Show
Forgive me for coming so late to the dance, but a friend just showed me Piers Morgan’s interview with 1970’s heartthrob turned 2011 reality-TV personality, Ryan O’Neal (What’s Up, Doc?, Paper Moon, Barry Lyndon). Out stumping Ryan & Tatum: The …
Lord Voldemort: A Retrospective
Well, given the fact that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 earned all the movie money ever for all time last weekend, it hardly seems right to let Monday past without making some mention of The Boy Who …
Midnight in Paris Woody Allen's Biggest Grosser to Date
It's like I've always said: give the folks in La Jolla what they want, and they'll turn out in droves every time. Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen's 42nd feature, has become his highest grossing film of all time in North …
John Waters Newbie Screens a Waters Marathon
Until recently, I'd only seen bits and pieces of two John Waters movies, and that was way back in 1981. I'm told that I should consider myself lucky, to have witnessed his early "masterworks" in their native environs, an all-night …
Possible Sequel? Harry Potter & the Shoot-Out in the Multiplex Parking Lot
Two cops, hot on the trail of a child pornographer using the opening of a Harry Potter movie as an occasion to test out his pick-up lines, were shot by fellow officers as they tried to arrest the unarmed man …
Thora Birch In Person for Saturday Night's Screening of Ghost World
Last week The Big Reel announced this Saturday night's screening of a 35mm print of Ghost World in conjunction with the San Diego Film Critic's Society, Reading Cinemas, and Fantagraphics Books. At the time, I hinted at the possibility of …
Blow Out the Pilot Light: JLo and Marc Anthony Kaput!
The Americans Idle judge and her singer/actor husband, Marc Anthony, tell People Magazine (the divorced celebrity tabloid of record), "We have decided to end our (seven-year) marriage. This was a very difficult decision. We have come to an amicable conclusion …
So, What Are You Doing Tonight?
I don't want to beat a dead horse, but if you haven't yet visited Cinema Under the Stars this summer, then perhaps tonight is your night. I mean, you already saw the midnight show of Harry Potter, right? And now …