Dig a hole: Nagisa Oshima
Director of "Cruel Story of Youth" and "In the Realm of the Senses" dead at 80
Japanese writer and director, Nagisa Oshima, died Tuesday afternoon at a hospital near Tokyo. He was 80. Having seen but a handful of the 52 features, shorts, and television movies Oshima signed, there is no way that I can write …
Landmark Theatres continues to provide that personal touch
I remember just last year when I would actually go to a movie theatre to watch a screening. Now I show up at the front door to pick up a DVD screener. The film in question is The Rabbi's Cat, …
Review: A Haunted House
The Wayans family withdrew from the Scary Movie franchise after the second installment. With SM5 just around the corner, series co-creator Marlon Wayans decided to beat the Weinsteins to the draw with a Paranormal parody of his own. His scheme …
Oscars overlook ornithological excellence
Doves snub Hawk(e)s
It's bad enough to slight a man in an iron lung, but what about someone trying to transition from skateboarding to acting? At least John Hawkes received a nomination in 2010 for Winter's Bone. Why no love for Tony Hawk's …
And the Oscar nominees are...
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/10/38197/ The only way San Diegans have had a chance to see the works of Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain (Tony Manero, Post Mortem) was at the San Diego Latino Film Festival. The Academy's nomination of Larrain's latest, No, for best …
New film by Sundance favorite (and San Diego's very own) Destin Cretton screens tomorrow
"I Am Not a Hipster" screens tomorrow night at 7pm at The Ken.
I do not know what the film is about, nor do I want to know what the film is about until after I see it. What I do know is San Diego filmmaker Destin Cretton has completed a new feature …
Forget about Globes and Oscars: It's Razzie time!
'Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part II' earns nominations in every category
Unlike their vaunted counterparts at the DGA, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the folks who dole out the annual Razzie Awards -- celebrating the worst cinema has to offer for 33 years …
National Crime Museum names their five favorite gangster films
Marty made the cut (of course!) but not for the film you think.
Mother of mercy, is this the end of civilization as we know it? Given the recent glut of mass murders, school shootings, etc., what better time in American history to stop and glorify criminals? To celebrate the release of Warner …
Pac-Arts launches Drive-By Cinema next month
It's been a year or two since Lee Ann Kim first ran the concept of Drive-By Cinema past me. After a few experimental outings, the San Diego Asian Film Festival's "mobile film experiment" (and self-proclaimed "very irregular project of Pac …
The Big Screen's live blogcast of the Golden Globes this Sunday
With Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as our hosts, what are the chances anyone is going to be able to stay awake throughout this Sunday night's entire Golden Globes broadcast? We here at The Big Screen will be gracious enough …
Afterimage: Killing Them Softly
I liked it more when we called it Blogfight! In response to Mr. Lickona's gauntlet-chucking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k80nW6AOhTs Special effects have become so much a part of the fabric of contemporary cinema that I began accepting them as a theorem years ago. …
Review: Texas Chainsaw 3D
Will the first picture of 2013 also be its worst?
Out with the mold, in with the spew. Will the first picture of 2013 also be its worst? The cast and crew of Texas Chainsaw 3D try their damnedest to make it so. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/06/37946/ With six Chainsaws to reflect upon, …
Reading Cinemas 40-Foot Film series goes DCP
'Twas shipping fees that killed the MoPA film series. With round-trip fees running as high as $150 per title (the 182 minute version of El Cid was a budget-crippler) the cost to deliver the print was almost as much as …
Fox 5's Josh 'Water' Board spits in reporter's eye during Zero Dark Thirty review
Josh Board has the best job in the world. Each week he gets to spend half an hour in the back seat of a convertible with Heather Ford. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/04/37876/ The warning call arrived after yesterday morning's taping causing an alarm …
The poster finalists are in for the 20th annual San Diego Latino Film Festival
The Media Arts Center San Diego -- home of the San Diego Latino Film Festival -- kicks off the New Year with a special pre-SDAFF reception announcing the winner of the 20th Anniversary poster competition. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/03/37822/ The tournament of posters …
All films viewed in 2012 by star rating
NOTE: This is by no means a list of every film that opened in San Diego last year. It's how I spent my 2012. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/02/37791/ THIS IS NOT A FILM THE DEEP BLUE SEA FINDING NEMO 3D http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/02/37803/ TOMBOY TAKE …
The best and worst movies of 2012
Marty took the year off. This is what passed for excellence in His absence. 1.) http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/dec/31/37671/ Jafar Panahi made this infuriating and intensely personal "fuck you" to the Iranian government while the director was placed under house arrest and banned …
The Big Screen earns 4 spots on Reader's Top 12 of 2012
In a jaw-dropping display of good taste on the part of our readers, The Big Screen scored 4, count 'em 4, spots on The Reader's list of the top 12 most popular blog entries of the last year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwpD3USKEKw With …
Dig a hole: Cliff Osmond
"Purkey" character actor appeared in several Billy Wilder films
Cliff Osmond, television screenwriter, acting teacher, and productive character actor, died on Saturday at his home in Pacific Palisades. He was 75. Osmond's TV credits read like a checklist of virtually every major (and some minor) series throughout the '60's …
The Movie Studio Logo Quiz V: What is hidden in the snow, comes forth in the thaw
When you're done telling me what movie is referenced in the title, why not try your hand at these ten (or so) studio logos unique to the films they represent? You've done it before. Well, at least a few of …