Short Takes: Disorder
Wild hogs and a shirtless lunatic dot the boulevard, civilians discover a freezer filled with bear claws (not those you dunk in your morning coffee), and a police officer is more concerned with being assigned blame for a suicide than …
Short Takes: Paranormal Activity 3
The static, surveillance camera imagery that found you white-knuckling the armrest in Oren Peli's original, has been replaced by jump cuts and jiggly cinematography. Several of the jolts in this prequel, cleverly set in 1988 at the dawn of camcorders, …
Tonight at SDAFF: Meet Goh Nakamura, Musician & Star of Surrogate Valentine
Dave Boyle’s Surrogate Valentine was the first SDAFF screener to make its way to my DVD player. While it’s not the best film to play this year’s festival -- I’m hoping that honor will go to Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s A City …
Asian or German? Which Festival Are You Doing Tonight?
Either way, you can't go wrong. The two-day inaugural San Diego German Film Festival commences tonight with Yasemin Samdereli's debut feature, Almanya - Willkommen in Deutschland. Tickets for the opening night gala, held at the Museum of Photographic Arts in …
If You Like The Munsters, You're Gonna Love Watching Mussolini Hang!
Munsterlini! Don't you love it when a site offers suggestions based on past purchases or searchers? I was trawling YouTube in search of the Holy Grail of Mockingbird Heights, the Easter Special, Marineland Carnival with the Munsters, where America's kookiest …
Review: The Stool Pigeon
All roads lead to the San Diego Asian Film Festival! Before recommending that you run to see The Stool Pigeon when it plays SDAFF on October 23 and October 27, here's a nudge to remind you that the festival commences …
Interview: Margin Call Writer/Director, J.C. Chandor
J.C. Chandor's Margin Call, a "fresh as today's headlines" thriller that takes place inside the volatile word of investment banking on the eve of corporate meltdown, takes it lead from R.K.O.'s series of classic Val Lewton horror films. The offending …
The Title or Trailer Game
Before you are 15 sets of titles. Your mission is to tell me which of these comes from the finished product, and which one belongs to the coming attraction trailer. Here's a hint: don't let the logo art fool you. …
Son of What's Wrong with This Menu?
Carole Lombard and Clark Gable?! Last week I snagged this faux pas on the DVD menu for John Ford's They Were Expendable. I'm on a roll. Mitchell Leisen's Hands Across the Table is a sparkling Depression-era screwball comedy/melodrama that features …
German Currents San Diego Film Festival This Weekend at MoPA
Tom Tykwer's 3 makes it's San Diego premier this weekend. "Do you know San Diego has a German Film Festival?" I asked a friend over dinner. "Why, no," came her quizzical reply. "That's the name of the song," I said, …
Interview: Blackthorn Director, Mateo Gil
What becomes a legend most? When a fictional continuation of their true life story becomes an enormously entertaining western that is currently blazing across the screen of the Landmark La Jolla Village. What would have happened to famed outlaw Butch …
Dig a Hole: The 35mm Movie Camera (1888-2011)
My Facebook pal, his enlightenedness, Matt Zoller Seitz at Salon.com, is today's messenger of misfortune. The big three motion picture camera manufacturers — Aaton, ARRI, and Panavision — have all halted production on traditional 35mm cameras. It's been a tough …
What's Wrong With This Menu?
The only laugh to be had in John Ford's naval epic The Were Expendable, a gallant portrait of men facing almost certain defeat, can be found on the DVD menu. Would someone kindly tell the newbies at M.G.M. Home Entertainment …
Drive Sparks Fan to Toss Hot Dog at Tiger Woods
How is it that a film about a stunt-driver who picks up a little money on the side as a leadfoot getaway man for the mob can stir up so much controversy? First there was the meshugana from Michigan who …
Short Takes: Weekend
Sadly, this is not a remastered reissue of Godard's masterwork. A semi-closeted lifeguard and an art student meet in a bar and spend a weekend together having sex and swapping war wounds. One of writer, director Andrew Haigh’s characters bemoans …
SD Jewish Film Festival Screens The Human Resources Manager
Other than a press screening some time ago, Eran Riklis' The Human Resources never saw the light of a projector bulb in our town. Don't worry, folks. It's subtitled in American! That is soon to be amended. The San Diego …
Before They Were Critics: David Elliott
Not many people know this, but long before joining The Reader as staff film critic, a youthful David Elliott worked as a Senior Scientist at Boggs Biologics. So successful was he, Monogram Studios produced a two-reeler honoring his work in …
12th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival Promises Fresh Hou Hsiao-Hsien and More!
The phone rang two months ago and what to my wondering ears do appear, but none other than Ms. San Diego Asian Film Festival herself, Lee Ann Kim (pictured). I would like to think that she knew the answer before …
Michigan Woman Sues FilmDistrict Over Drive's Deceptive Trailer
Pictured: Ryan Gosling and Albert Brooks in Drive. While curating the film program at MoPA, there was an ultra-stingy board member, let's call her, "Johnnie," who owned a paper pass with strings attached. Johnnie would sit through an entire feature, …
Short Takes: 1911 Revolution
It’s being touted as his 100th starring role, but Jackie Chan’s heroics take a backseat to Winston Chao’s endless speech-making in this commemorative retelling of the birth of the Republic of China. Be they major figures or bit players in …