http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/30/21904/ The sixth Road picture was the last to be produced by Paramount and the only one budgeted for color (Technicolor, no less!). Not unlike later-period Elvis vehicles, the writers assume that audiences knew exactly what to expect going in …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/30/21881/ What do you get when you combine High School Musical and Twilight? Not much, as demonstrated by this bargain-basement big-screen blow up of the popular iTunes webseries of the same name. Lucas Grabeel (High School Musical 1-3 inclusive), Drew …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/29/21845/ Will Ferrell made a surprise in-character appearance as the dim-witted fictional San Diego newsman Ron Burgundy on last night's installment of Conan, to announce that there will indeed be a sequel to his hit 2004 film, Anchorman. Having never …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/29/21833/ As you well know, David Elliott does much of the real work around here. I'm usually just the messenger, here to draw some attention to one of the few genuine stylists still working in movie criticism. FOR EXAMPLE: With …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgbH05rQx1s My humble review of Mirror Mirror won't be up until next week's printy-papery edition of the Reader, but I am happy to report the following: neither the "Snow White? Snow way!" gag nor the "Say hello to my little …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ka8gomr1B0 Yes, Barney, it's all happening again. Dante's Peak and Volcano, Armageddon and Deep Impact, 2012 and Melancholia (heh): moviemaking synchronicity. This time it's Seeking a Friend for the End of the World... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmJZmqflvoY and 4:44 Last Day on Earth. …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/28/21746/ With the media trial of George Zimmerman igniting social networking sites, Spike Lee decided that he gotta' have in. The director, whose name hasn't made headlines since last year's major dust-up with Clint Eastwood, tweeted the home address of …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/27/21725/ The Media Arts Center San Diego is turning its office on El Cajon Blvd. into a "Digital Gym" this April when they offer a series of hands-on spring film-making workshops. Here's your chance to learn how to make your …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/26/21606/ ArtPower! once again lives up to its promise of "an eclectic mix of interactive film experiences" by offering this unique dinner and a movie event. Acclaimed director Fatih Akın's boisterous "foodie comedy" Soul Kitchen will screen Thursday, April 12 …

In Light of Bully Movie Campaign for Rating Reduction and Expanded Audience, Project X Filmmakers Push for PG-13 Rating on High School Party Movie. "Kids Need to Learn Not to Throw Massive Parties, Do Lots of Drugs, and Then Burn …

Campaign to Reduce Bully Rating to PG-13 Intensifies in Light of Hunger Games' Success "Apparently, bullying is more shocking than outright murder." http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/26/21597/ Like a great many other American teenagers, high school junior Katy Butler saw The Hunger Games last …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/23/21466/ Box Office Mojo reports that The Hunger Games is the biggest money making sequel ever to have a midnight premier. In comparison, the first Twilight installment grossed $7 million. With an $19.74 million opening, The Hunger Games comes in …

So there's this movie coming out about a young man who can talk to dead people, and must use his powers to avert a catastrophe. I refer, of course, to Odd Thomas, the film version of the book by Dean …

Yes, The Hunger Games is like The Running Man meets The Truman Show...with a heart! No, that's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. It could have been a great thing. But sloppy direction undermines the smart story and …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/22/21354/ David Elliott begins and ends this week's review with fishy fantasies — first of fishing, then of serving. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is about salmon fishing in the Yemen. "In England and Scotland, the film reaches for the …

So The Avengers continues its bloated, lumbering stroll toward release, and yesterday, I ran across these scintillating publicity photos of...room interiors? Hello, and welcome to Fury Realty, the choice of discriminating superheroes everywhere. Well, except Bruce Wayne. He inherited. Let's …

The San Diego Latino Film Festival just called "cut" on its 19th season and with it comes their eternal gratitude to those who helped make is a success as well as awards time. The festival doesn't end here. Coming soon …

So when I got home from seeing The Lorax, The Wife asked, "Well? Did they rape your childhood?" "Not really," I admitted. "It was more of an aggressive, unwanted groping than a rape." But my people - the miserable, bitter …

He starred as The King of Comedy, but anyone who has seen We're No Angels or The Fockers films knows that telling jokes is not Robert De Niro's forte. With a decent script in his hands, Bobby D. is dynamite, …

Well, the Three Stooges have been getting a lot of play around these here parts of late, what with the 70th anniversary of Casablanca coming up and all. So I thought maybe I'd join in by posting video of a …

Back when I essayed at length on my problems with season one of this downbeat drama that so many people love to hate and hate to love ("Does the Walking Dead Stink, Or ???"), my POV landed pretty firmly on …

With Valerie Scher's superb Casablanca quiz still buzzing in our minds, why not complicate your lives even further with another round of the Title or Trailer Game? The rules are simple. Below are two title cards. One hails from the …

She ain't pretty no more. Pretty Woman took in more than $460 million at the box office and, along with those nasty gerbil rumors, helped to make Richard Gere a household name. In an interview with Woman's Day, Gere called …

The trailer for the upcoming Johnny Depp/Tim Burton reboot of the '60s/'70s gothic soap opera Dark Shadows is finally out (see Matthew Lickona's Big Screen blog post today for a look-see). I don't know WHAT to make of the trailer: …

Wow. Just wow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isjg9O7ifwM So Johnny Depp has adopted a bold, new eye-makeup routine for this one... Actually, that's not true. He's actually just doing a drag version of Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice... Seriously, though, remember when Gervais said that …

A police officer tries in vain to understand how a pair of questionable types, that just happen to hail from the same remote town, wind up working together on an out-of-town job. "Coincidence," she says, "is an excuse losers use …

While contemplating the universe's daily arrangement of signs and fate, a wrong number in search of Kevin causes Jeff (Jason Segel), a particularly philosophical slacker, to mumble aloud, "There are no wrong numbers." Yes there is. 1-800-Duplass. Jeff believes that …

I had a good time at Casa de Mi Padre, Will Ferrell's semi-send-up of Mexican telenovelas (filmed, we are told at the outset, in MexicoScope). By the end of this review, I think you'll have a pretty good idea if …

How will you celebrate the 70th anniversary of Casablanca? You’ve got three new options. You can see the cherished classic in a special presentation at movie theaters. You can buy a fresh edition to savor at home. And just for …

John Rubio piles on the John Carter Meh-Train this week, but first... 21 Jumpstreet? Did we learn nothing from the film version of The A Team? Namely: '80s TV shows had the self-parody built right in. Making a parody is …

It was all very last minute, but I'm delighted that comedian, author, actress, and singer Sandra Bernhard was able to spend a few minutes talking to The Big Screen. Simply put, Sandra Bernhard has one of the funniest minds on …

In Jack & Jill, Adam Sandler sought to work through some of the self-loathing that comes with becoming insanely wealthy and leaving your old world behind in a cloud of cocaine dust and Lambo fumes. He did this by creating …

Five days remain, and if you are looking for a movie to see at the San Diego Latino Film Festival, I think we have a couple of winners. Once upon a time in Argentina, a film opened with an Ennio …

My dad was big on Simonized shoes. Decades before Marty and Nick Pileggi popularized the term, Larry Marks had a wooden shinebox parked on the floor of his closet. I'm warning you: no cracks about Larry picking up a few …

Sometimes, a fellow can spend all day on the iTunes trailer page, you know? Especially when there are films like Turn Me On, Dammit!, with taglines like this one: Hee hee! I know the question is supposed to be rhetorical, …

Fascinating. Below is one trailer for the upcoming Clive Owen psychological thriller The Intruders. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy2vRMKa3kU Here's the description that accompanies that trailer, and it seems fitting enough: "The film tells parallel stories of two families whose lives are disrupted by …

First thought upon seeing poster for crummy-looking (seriously, some of the dialogue sounds like it belongs on local cable access) thriller Meeting Evil: "Man, the years have been rough on Crockett and Tubbs."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaU5GiAm1ws I mean, Mr. Marks got all the looks and even more of the hair, but still, the spiritual resemblance is uncanny. Especially because Pepitone is the sort of comedian that all the other comedians admire. A comedian's comedian. Sort …

The watered-down version of Jill Sprecher's The Convincer is currently playing at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas under the name Thin Ice. I suggest you hurry and see it if for no other reasons than cinematographer Dick Pope's exceptional night work and …

Were it not for the San Diego Latino Film Festival, I might never have been given a proper introduction to Tony Manero. No, not the disco-dancing Guido of Saturday Night Fever fame, but a John Travolta impersonator/serial killer who quietly …

"Oboy. Look, people, when Gore Verbinski said he wasn't going to give us a 'straight' version of The Lone Ranger, he didn't mean that it would therefore be gayer than a handbag full of rainbows. I don't even want to …

"Okay, for about 96% of the world, Depp is Captain Jack Sparrow, end of story. Apparently, the other 4% think he's Tim Burton. Sad, but understandable, given their rate of collaboration." "Moving on, then. The main thing is that we …

This one is a little scary to undertake, because Russell Crowe is a little scary. I'm not talking about thrown phones - good grief, people, actors don't get into acting because they're happy and well-adjusted - I'm talking about onscreen …

Get ready for 11 jam-packed days and over 150 films: the San Diego Latino Film Festival kicks off it 19th year tonight. Kudos to Ethan van Thillo and his staff for putting together another el supremo festival de cinema internacional. …

David Elliott is rested and ready following his post-Oscars period of mourning, and so here we go with Ralph "I Wasn't Always Voldemort" Fiennes' Coriolanus: "While never pleasurable, Coriolanus has austere power. It is a harsh warning about the price …

Robert B. Sherman, who along with his younger brother, Richard M. Sherman, was responsible for numerous cherished Disney classics, died Monday, March 5 in London. He was 86. Robert B. Sherman. Before answering his musical calling, Robert B. Sherman was …

Let the Bullets Fly begins its run this Friday at Reading Cinemas Gaslamp 15, and the San Diego Asian Film Festival wants you to attend. Directed by Jiang Wen (Devils on the Doorstep, The Sun Also Rises) and starring the …

How's this for a brilliant bit of joint promotion? What better than The Lorax to give its seal of approval to children's diapers? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Aren't parents and their children the ones to absorb the …

That's another line from the author Walker Percy, in answer to a question about why the South produced so many fine writers. And if it's true what John Gardner wrote in On Moral Fiction, that art begins in a wound, …

A security technician from Livonia, Michigan is taking AMC Theatres to court over the high price of popcorn. Joshua Thompson, fed up with being gouged at the concession stand, retained the services of an attorney and decided to send a …

"I know! Let's make a kids' movie where the villain is an economic overlord who doesn't care one whit about pollution, whose hold on the town's citizens is so complete that he owns the very air they breathe. Let's give …

He was the Prince of Darkness, the man who lowered the bar when it came to low-key lighting. Most cinematographers fear “losing the light” come sundown. Bruce Surtees’ motto was lose the light. Bruce Mohr Powell Surtees died on February …

Color Dr. Seuss’s “earth-friendly” children’s book gloomy-green and Illumination Entertainment’s animated counterpart a blinding shade of pestled-pastels. (Consider sporting two pair of 3D specs.) The environmental fable holds firm, only this time our young hero does it all to impress …

Here's my problem with the party-gone-wild movie Project X: someone took a perfectly good black comedy and grafted it onto an '80s-style fairy tale. Think, I dunno, Heathers mashed up with Risky Business. Or a ravenous, rabid Bengal tiger with …

Bad taste stalks me with a near John Warnock Hinckley-like intensity. I sat amongst the opening-nighters when Pink Flamingos premiered and was the first kid on the block to discover Jackass. Having never seen an episode of Tim and Eric …

Relax everybody: no review embargoes have been broken, no colleagues beaten to the punch. Civil War veteran-turned martian-hunter, John Carter, was born in 1912 when Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories first began appearing in the pages of the pulp magazine The …

A new day, a new trailer for Project X, the party-gone-wild movie opening Friday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj_ZNnehHAQ You wouldn't know it from the trailer, but Kirby Bliss Blanton plays a pretty big role in the story as Kirby, the hero's friend-who's-a-girl but …

...don't forget the Disney Gas Mask!