Review: Looper
In a dystopian universe that resembles any number of cramped, squalid depictions of a Hollywoodized future, the mob blindfolds finks and sends them 30 years into the past to be whacked by hitmen known as "loopers." There's a catch: when …
Be the first in your town to see Paranormal Activity 4
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/27/32338/ It's seldom you'll find me promoting a film sight unseen, but I must admit to being a fan of this arm rest-grabbing found-footage franchise. It helps that Paranormal 3 & 4 were placed in the hands of the talented …
Interview: David Spaltro brings Things I Don't Understand to the San Diego Film Festival
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/26/32293/ David Spaltro found me three years ago while Emulsion Compulsion was still alive and thriving. He had just finished work on his first feature, ...Around, and was looking for critics to review it. At the time I criticized the …
Betty Boop is back!
The jobless rate must be going down. Even Betty Boop is off the unemployment line! She starred in over 100 Paramount cartoons throughout the 1930's and with the exception of Poor Cinderella the animated cutie has never appeared in color. …
Horton Plaza 14: And then there were 7
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/24/32115/ The "Everything Must Go" signs draped across the windows confirmed the rumor. When Sam Goody's hits the wrecking ball in November, with it goes half of the screens at UA (or do you say Regal or Edwards?) Horton Plaza. …
Can you survive the Shutter Island room at the Haunted Hotel?
Hey, kids. Count Floyd here asking the bone-chilling question, "Baby, why are you wet?" Is it because you've been doused in torrential flop sweat after visiting the blood-spattered Shutter Island room at The Haunted Hotel in the Gaslamp? AAAAAAAAAAAAHH-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Nothing …
Review: House at the End of the Street
It's never a good sign when a major release is not shown to the press ahead of time. (There was a preview last night, but I figured I would wait a day and see it in the big Gaslamp.) Arriving …
Free movies of the week: Logomania
Given my penchant for posting hopelessly arcane logo quizzes, it's safe to say that I'm a sucker for studio "idents." Last night I cracked open a Big!Lots find that's been parked on the DVD shelf for months. Somewhere in the …
Movie fashion by Siobhan Braun, Jr.
Big Screen blogger and Reader film critic Scott Marks goes to the movies. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/20/31927/ Reader Hat: Freebie thrown to Marks during pre-show promotional giveaway at AMC Mission Valley. Jonas Bros. Sunglasses: 99 cents at the 99 Cent Only Store. Criterion …
Who would you cast to star in a Diana Vreeland biopic?
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/20/31909/ This morning's telephone call from England got me thinking. Lisa Immordino Vreeland, director of Diana Vreeland: The Eye has to Travel, was on the line. When asked who should star as Diana Vreeland, the former pace-setting editor of Harper's …
Interview: Nicholas Jarecki, the man behind Arbitrage
Nicholas Jarecki’s industry calling card was the 2001 book Breaking In: How 20 Film Directors Got Their Start. After several music videos and commercials, Jarecki collaborated with novelist Bret Easton Ellis on the screenplay to The Informers. Jarecki, 33, admits …
More subtitles for dummies
Last week's opening salvo was literally months in the making. As if a bolt from above, the following frames appeared to me over the past few days. This post is dedicated to those allergic to funny writing at the bottom …
Local filmmaker Rebecca Tolin knows how to market her documentary
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/18/31761/ When last we spoke, documentary filmmaker Rebecca Tolin was nursing her wounds after being a last minute shut out at the SDSU Filmmaker's Showcase. At the time, she was looking for a venue to showcase her latest 10 minute …
Meet The 3 Stooges, Peter Lorre, Bette Davis, and more in person!
My first meeting with Jerry Lewis should have been in 1963 when he made an opening-night appearance at Skokie's Old Orchard Theatre. My dumb-sock parents couldn't get their act together and instead carted me to see The Nutty Professor, sans-Jerry, …
Ken Cinema not 100 after all
My face is red, but I'm in good company. A 1990 University of San Diego graduate history survey on file with the San Diego Historical Society, word from a generally reliable source, and the dependable (as a rule) Cinema Treasures …
Opening This Week
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/14/31492/ Resident Evil: Retribution was not screened for the press. Being the admirer of the franchise that I am, I'll pick it up tomorrow and report back in a day or two. Mr. Matt has generally positive things to say …
Deceptive advertising practices used to promote MCASD La Jolla's On Screen gala
The headline reads "Monte Carlo On Screen" and their website features a photo of Cary Grant and Marlene Dietrich in Josef Von Sternberg's Blonde Venus. A double-bill of Blonde Venus and Ernst Lubitsch's dazzling Monte Carlo?! Name the date and …
British 'ninjas' silence disruptive theatre patrons
The movie has been on for less than 10 minutes when some punk with a short attention span decides that whatever he has to tell his friend back home can't wait until after the closing credits roll. The dumbbell powers-on …
Tung-Tied
Stop the presses! Did a certain writer new to The Big Screen with a name that rhymes with "Bobbin Stung" just post a piece asking readers to attend a screening of a spielbug sequel?! http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/12/31415/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/12/31416/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/12/31418/ She must not …
Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan
A washed-up actress abandons her career to ride the coattails of a powerful man. Has Jane Fonda lost her mind? Did the Oscar® -winning actress agree to star as herself in a made-for-cable biopic? Answering the second question first, no …