Cliff's Notes on Lickona & Marks' Joy to the Screen
It is a momentous day. Not only will Hugo be held over for another week, but today marks Marks' (with the estimable help of Lickona) first Reader cover story! It's one thing to see it on line and another to …
Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
For years, it has been my strict policy to never read a review until after I’ve seen the movie. Decades of tell-all trailers, disingenuous print plugs, and various other forms of advance hype have left me at a point where …
Disney Rakes in the Hanukkah Gelt
Disney and Hanukkah: the two go together like a pork loin roast and a glass of eggnog. I'm all for niche marketing, but this type of pandering hucksterism simply doesn't compute. Aside from staffing a board room, I question what …
San Diego Latino Film Festival Unveils Finalists for 2012 Poster Competition
The finalists for the 2012 San Diego Latino Film Festival poster competition are now on public display. The festival received over eighty submissions for its 3rd annual poster challenge. In addition to the local entries, graphics arrived from across the …
The Movie-Studio Logo Quiz: A New Beginning
I wanted so much to bring you a holiday edition of The Movie-Studio Logo Quiz, but alas, all I could unearth were two unique brands from Christmas movies. They lead off this installment which also includes a pair of Martys, …
Great Moments in Celebrity Broadloom
The Pie Wedge. The Malone aka Tufted Polypropylene. The Claudette Colbert. Shemp aka The Hooker Hitching Post. The Set-It-And-Forget-It aka The JCVD. Roman Helmet aka Friar's Club Brown No. 5 Hubbard Extensions aka The Little Dutch Boy. Shat. The Hymie …
We Need a Little Christmas Music
It's Christmas, so why not spread Yuletide cheer with a plug for my pal, former student turned eternal teacher, Rob Martinez. You may recognize Rob as "Colonna," the mad poster who ignites The Big Screen comments section with a blaze …
Support Your Local Film Festival and Art House: Give the Gift of Movies
Just a reminder that there is no better time than Christmas to give the gift of quality cinema. Why throw your money away on gift cards to mulitplexes whose staff can't differentiate between a focus knob and a mylar? What …
Great Moments in Celebrity Hair
Lickona's going to come through with some quality writing any minute now. In the meantime, I'm still off riding the curl of a permanent wave. The Cesarian Section aka Skunk, The Duke of Santos, and Lily Munster. The Agnes Moorehair …
A Dusting of Dandruff from The Reader Christmas Party
Wednesday night saw the first of what I hope will be many appearances at the annual Reader Christmas party. Once I remember what happened, I'll never forget it. The bartender must have seen Written on the Wind. He had the …
Golden Globe Nominations Spark "Scorsez" Snub!
Fighting off a hangover brought on by having too much fun at last night's Reader Christmas party, I awake to the soothing news that Marty hath received a Golden Globe nomination for His great and glorious holiday offering, Hugo. It …
A Chimp, a Kidpic, and a Technical Exercise Take Home San Diego Film Critics Society Top Honors
Any chance of Marty coming through town to accept the award He so richly deserves was dashed in favor of a middling technical exercise. The Artist, proof that Michel Hazanaviciuscan can trace, took home the San Diego Film Critics' best …
San Diego Asian Film Foundation Screens A Good Husband Tonight
The San Diego Asian Film Foundation holds its final quarterly screening of the year tonight. Isao Yukisada's ambrosial drama of marital discord, A Good Husband play for one night only at UltraStar's Mission Valley Hazard Center. The bad news is, …
Orson Welles's Oscar for Citizen Kane Back on the Auction Block
What a way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of what many consider the greatest motion picture of all time. The best screenplay Oscar awarded Orson Welles for Citizen Kane is once again up for sale. Welles misplaced the Oscar after …
Hope for the Holidays
What would Christmas be without Bob Hope? I'll have a lot more to say about Old Ski Noses' uncanny ability to transform war into house payments in the Lickona/Marks Christmas cover story, coming soon to a Reader near you. In …
San Diego Film Critics Society Announces 2011 Nominations
This year's "think lists" -- each member of the San Diego Film Critics Society submits a slate of suggested nominees in all the major categories -- were cause for alarm. Was I going to have to spell out for the …
Review: The Sitter
The Sitter opens with Jonah Hill performing oral sex on Ari Graynor. Talk about trying hard to establish a fantasy universe — I'd sooner believe Dumbo flew. If it wasn't for plot coincidence there would be no plot at all …
Texas Instruments Predicts All-Digital Projection by 2015
During my first ten years living in San Diego, I could count on two hands the number of times a visit had to be made to the box office to complain about projection problems. More and more it's been my …
Dig A Hole: Harry Morgan
Though they look nothing alike, it remained a major point of childhood consternation. Did Harry Morgan lend Cara Williams henpecked-support as Pete Porter on Pete and Gladys, or was that Henry Morgan, the droll, chain-smoking jokester who frequently sat with …
Spend Christmas Night With Three Men (Two Tramps, One King) in a Tub
Another day, another delightful holiday oddity from the imaginative animation stands at Van Beuren Studios Trust me on this -- you have never seen anything quite like James Tyler's Christmas Night aka Pals (1933). (The same can be said of …