New comedy club inside Grauman's Chinese is no laughing matter
The once-mighty Grauman's Chinese Theatre has fallen on hard times. The big Chinese was closed for renovation when I paid a visit last week. They're installing an IMAX screen -- the first ever on Hollywood Boulevard -- in hope of …
Why Citizen Kane flopped in Canada
Folks in Victoria walked out after the short. Canuck-nyuck-nyuck! http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/01/48375/ What? It's Victoria, Texas? Never mind. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/01/48376/
The best corn in San Diego isn't popped in a movie theatre
George's was a small candy store located next to Chicago's Nortown Theatre. In addition to the homemade fudge, taffy apples, and wrapped candy bars that lined the shelves, George had a giant popcorn-popper strategically placed in the front window. It …
Check out the Blu-ray combo pack rack at Fry's Electronics
Three Scorseses for the price of one!
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/28/48281/ One can still expect to pay top dollar for some of the more obscure DVD releases from Criterion and Olive Films, but It was just a matter of time before the prices of Blu-rays began dropping. Last week while …
Drive-By Cinema brings 'art' to the masses tonight
Far be it from me to drop a movement in Pac-Arts Movement's swimming pool, but the word "art" appears 6 times in their one paragraph press release announcing tonight's Drive-By Cinema. Fun, camp, unique, kitsch, a night out, a way …
Hold that lion: a pictorial history of the MGM logo
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/27/48233/ How is it that MGM decided to put a lion on its payroll and act as studio mascot and corporate logo centerpiece? "Löwe" is German for "lion" and many are quick to credit studio co-founder Marcus Loew with the …
Brainy Q&A this Friday and Saturday evenings at Reading Town Square 14
New documentary "Free the Mind" opens this weekend
Emma Seppala, Ph.D. (Head Scientist of the Veteran Study, Associate Director at Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, Stanford University School of Medicine) and John Osborne (Project Welcome Home Troops) will be at Reading Town Square 14 this …
Dead movie theatres: Downtown Los Angeles edition
Sunday morning found me roaming the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Don't ask. Better 9:30am than 9:30pm, right? Here amidst the gold buyers, Quinceanera dressmakers, pawnshops, and Starbucks outlets stand the shells of what used to be some of the …
Bob Hope as Grand Marshal of the Chula Vista Azalea Parade?
Idn't that wild?
In an unending quest to catalog every scrap of film and video footage that contains the effigy of Hope, I recently stumbled across this rarity. Bob played golf with Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, but this was the first time he …
"Save the bulb!"
Save the bulb. Those three words spoken in that order haven’t passed my lips since the winter of ‘98. Or was it ‘97? Who in hell remembers? That was 6,000 films ago. I was managing a 5-screen art house for …
Chuck Heston explains the MPAA rating system
Now do you understand?
Chuck Heston took time away from his busy schedule of parting the Red Sea, fighting the Boxer Rebellion, and loading his gun to stop by a local tennis court and explain the ins and outs of the MPAA rating system. …
The funniest clip of Alfred Hitchcock you've never seen
Join Hitch as he promotes "The Six Million Dollar Man" and the Universal Studio Tour
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/24/48015/ The summer of 1977 saw my first road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. My buddy and I stayed at the Nomad, a little motel on Sunset, tucked away from the noise of the 405. Before VCRs came into …
On the street (named after me) where you live
Here we have the quiet little intersection of Scott & Jarvis. Located in Des Plaines, Illinois, the crossroads are tucked away off the main highway. As you see, it's perfectly harmless looking, when in fact, it is has come to …
DVD Rentals: Frank Sinatra, from Tony Rome with love
If Charles Bronson can pull the old Paul Kersey/Kimball switcheroo in the Death With series, I feel no remorse in referring to The Detective (1968), book-ended by Tony Rome (1967) and Lady in Cement (1968), as part of the unofficial …
4th row center: The 'movie hole'
The Parkway was the first movie theatre ever placed in my managerial care. It was a 700-seat single screen situated at the bustling intersection of Clark & Diversey on Chicago's near North side. Before Landmark took over the lease in …
**L@@K** RARE VINTAGE RETRO CLASSIC OZU WIFE-BEATER T-SHIRT - CHEAP **L@@K**
I can hear the t-shirt printer now: "Ozu wife-beaters? I thought you said O.J." It must have been all of the karate and flying people in Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story that brought this about. What next, the Mahatma Gandhi AK-47? …
Clean slate: A brief pictorial tribute to the clapboard
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Trailer Park: Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street
BRING IT OVER!
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/17/47605/ It's a beautiful day in Movieland, folks, what with the release of the first trailer for Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall St., coming to a cinder block multiplex near you on November 15. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/17/47610/ Hey, hey, look at …
Happy Flag Day!
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Meet skateboarder Ryan Sheckler at premiere screening of The Motivation on June 13
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/13/47435/ "A movie told through the eyes of the 8 best street-skateboarders in the world." As far at The Movement goes, that's pretty much all I have to work with. What makes this event special is an in-person appearance by …