Starting tomorrow and running through Sunday, the 11th Annual San Diego Black Film Festival is one of the largest festivals of its type in the country. Dozes of films will be screened this year including comedies, dramas, documentaries, animation, GLBT, …

"Okay, I need Charlize's brow structure, lips, and nose. Gimme a little Reese Witherspoon on the chin. You know, I've always liked those little creases under Kristen Stewart's eyes - toss those in, too. Bingo!" http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/31/39340/

Wherever there's a man in need of a pole dance, I'll be there!

A man lives sorta' - well, in jerks, and that's why the appearance of the "Grapes of Wrath A-Go-Go Girls" must have caused quite a sensation back in 1967. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/31/39329/ No wonder Pappy went on so many long trips without …

The interesting thing is, the actual film is not nearly as cliched as the trailer.

Seriuosly, Scott liked it quite a bit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDiaXZiIJOQ But still. Let the cliched bodies hit the floor. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/30/39273/ "My partner was clipped." (I got yer complex motivation right here.) http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/30/39274/ "You gave me your word. You're getting out of that …

Studios, fearing a bad review will put a dent in the opening weekend take, frequently slap critics with embargoes that prohibit us from blogging our opinions prior to opening date. That goes double for Facebook and Twitter. Fox 5's Josh …

It's not often that I agree to an interview prior to viewing a movie. There is nothing quite as uncomfortable as having to speak with an actor or director whose latest work hit me harder than a general anesthetic. With …

Philadelphians remember Sally Starr as the cowgirl host of Popeye Theater, a daily after school outlet for Popeye and Clutch Cargo cartoons as well as Three Stooges shorts. The show ran from 1954 to 1971. According to the Philadelphia Enquirer, …

West coast premier March 16 at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/28/39108/ ­Andy Warhol filmed San Diego Surf on the shores of La Jolla in May 1968, though it was only partially edited and never released. 44 years later, in October 2012, the Andy Warhol Museum presented the first public screening …

If you survive through the closing credits, there's a special thank you to "everyone who ever had a dirty thought." You don't want to know the foul musings that crossed my mind once this thing had finished crawling to a …

Side Effects hits theaters February 8, and then it's Goodbye to All That

It's a fine interview, but it's awfully long for Interweb consumption. Here are a few highlights: On why he's quitting: It’s a combination of wanting a change personally and of feeling like I’ve hit a wall in my development that …

I mean, sure, it was awful. But Jeremy Renner is handsome and muscley, and there are steampunk crossbows, and everybody is tired of the Twilight trend of making monsters into loveable outcasts. Bring on the bad witches! Me, I'm looking …

If Abe Lincoln can trounce vampires (and Spielberg’s heavy hand) what’s to stop Hollywood from transforming a best-loved, 3,000 word children’s fairy tale into an 88 minute gorefest? Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as the fabled Teutonic twins. (He's …

I know, I know - there isn't much point to listing anything besides Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, is there? I mean, you're all going to go to that one, right? And we don't even have a review yet! Sigh. …

So the trailer for the Coen Bros. latest, Inside Llewyn Davis, just came out, and it features this wonderful shot of John Goodman: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/24/38961/ That magnificent haircut got me thinking fondly of the astonishing and insane range of characters that …

Oceanside's Peter Robbins allegedly threatened girlfriend, La Jolla plastic surgeon, and even his dog!

Yesterday, word hit the street that Peter Robbins, an Oceanside resident who in his youth was the voice actor of the animated version of Charlie Brown, had been arrested and charged with five felony counts. What a difference a day …

The New York Times calls the Human Rights Watch Film Festival the “cinematic conscience of the world.” The six film lineup covers "a wide range of current human rights issues, from the perils that reporters face on a regular basis …

Oceanside resident scheduled to be arraigned in court today

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/23/38906/ Peter Robbins, an Oceanside resident who in his youth gave voice to Charlie Brown's animated incarnation, has been arrested. AAUGH! The incident occurred Sunday night at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Robbins was arrested and charged with four …

BEHOLD THE NEW FACE OF TERROR!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwx1f0kyNwI If there's one thing the remake of Red Dawn taught us, it's that we cannot afford to underestimate the threat posed by NORTH KOREA. I know, I know - we've spent the past decade fighting wars in Iraq and …

More on this story as it develops

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/22/38809/

Where mirth meets mastery...give or take an 'e'

You were expecting maybe the corner of Carrot & Top? http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/22/38795/

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/21/38741/ I read the news today, oh boy. Death Wish(es) director Michael Winner kept his appointment with death. Michael Winner brought me more entertainment, albeit unintentional, than just about any living director. Death Wish 3 is oxygen to my lungs! …

WARNING: SORT-OF EXPLICIT MATERIAL AHEAD

The solemnity of the holiday aside, my colleague Mr. Marks has set the tone for today's material on The Big Screen, and I am obliged to follow suit. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/21/38723/ Let us begin, then, with the obvious: James Franco is enjoying …

It must be tough on celebrities looking for a career-bolstering cause to cozy up to, what with all the good foundations and diseases already spoken for. Jimmy Buffett wants you to help him save the manatees. Bill Shatner is big …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/18/38642/ Scott didn't care much for Mama - nor, for that matter, did he care much for Jessica Chastain in Mama. Me, I'm just fascinated by the "get nominated, make a horror flick" thing. Because everybody still remembers Jennifer Lawrence …

'Mamma Mia!' was scarier

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/18/38622/ The trailer made it look like an armrest-grabbing good time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZlY47eCdas But... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5RtlpXsl8k&list=PLE58FE403677EDD00 Boy kills girl and self thus forcing their young daughters, Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lilly (Isabelle Nélisse), to spend five years in a deserted cabin being …

Hoooo-boy. Lionsgate is going all in on this one. Here we are in the middle of the biggest gun-control debate this country has seen in ages, and what do they give us this weekend? The Last Stand, a film in …

No, seriously

Day late and a dollar short - story of my life. Just months after Ethan Hawke found some 8mm films belonging to the previous owners of his house that wound up depicting a series of horrific crimes in Sinister... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/17/38565/ …

The most iconic American cinema image you'll see this year? The most iconic American cinema image you'll see this year.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/17/38564/ Sigh. Full trailer here.

27-foot-long phallic fiberglass weenie coming this week to a supermarket near you

For those wondering what the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile has to do with The Big Screen movie blog, the phallic roadster has appeared in two features, Ladybugs with Rodney Dangerfield and the Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor "comedy," Another You. Happy? Now that …

When was the last time anyone was excited over the promise of a new Brian DePalma film? Carlito's Way celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. Just when the statute of limitations was about to run out comes word that DePalma …

Documentary features Paul McCartney, Mick Fleetwood, Trent Reznor, Tom Petty, and more

Rockumentary fans mark your calendars: the one chance to see Sound City, Dave Grohl's documentary on the fabled Van Nuys recording studio, is Thursday, January 31. Dave Grohl recorded the album Nevermind with the band Nirvana at Sound City Studios. …

Pictured: Conrad Bain at the 2003 TV Land Awards. The actor who helped Woody Allen test coffins in Bananas is now being fitted for one. Conrad Bain — Maude's nemesis, Arnold's dad, and Mr. President George C. Scott's Chief of …

Not so much a meditation as a nitpick, but still.

Hey, if Batman can hack every cell phone in Gotham... Okay, so you've all seen Zero Dark Thirty and then spent 15-20 hours online, debating the film's depiction of torture and its possible efficacy in obtaining information crucial to finding …

Guys, this is gonna be so awesome. Below, some just-released concept art from the studio. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38457/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38458/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38459/

The movie world is buzzing with news that Brad Pitt may star as Pontius Pilate. Herewith, a few possible titles and posters...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38453/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38454/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38455/

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38449/ We're kidding, of course. He's just signed up for Pirates 5.

...following her amazing Golden Globes speech.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38448/ (The relevant quote, for those of you who haven't read the whole thing yet: "I will continue to tell stories, to move people by being moved, the greatest job in the world. It’s just that from now on, I …

Director of "Cruel Story of Youth" and "In the Realm of the Senses" dead at 80

Japanese writer and director, Nagisa Oshima, died Tuesday afternoon at a hospital near Tokyo. He was 80. Having seen but a handful of the 52 features, shorts, and television movies Oshima signed, there is no way that I can write …

We missed a few on the first go-round!

Once again, full speech here. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38365/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38366/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38367/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38368/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38369/

I remember just last year when I would actually go to a movie theatre to watch a screening. Now I show up at the front door to pick up a DVD screener. The film in question is The Rabbi's Cat, …

The Wayans family withdrew from the Scary Movie franchise after the second installment. With SM5 just around the corner, series co-creator Marlon Wayans decided to beat the Weinsteins to the draw with a Paranormal parody of his own. His scheme …

As she said, "I have given everything, up there [on the screen], from the time that I was three years old."

The full speech is here... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38350/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38351/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38352/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38353/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38354/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38355/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38356/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/14/38357/

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An embarrassment of riches for animation fans, other sort of fans as well.

UPDATE - We should have mentioned: these are 35mm prints! Tonight, Friday, the festival opens with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSba9hwCaU Best crawly insect monster ever? Best crawly insect monster ever. Saturday, you get Princess Mononoke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ4pxURy5-I …

I hear that some movies got nominated for something or other this week. That's good news, because the new stuff? Not so much - well, except for Amour, the painful French story about old folks that Scott liked. I got …

What's in a handshake? And yes, spoilers!

Much has been made of director Quentin Tarantino's foot fetish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfnVbYKKQ_Y But after seeing Django Unchained, I'm beginning to think maybe he's got a thing for hands, too. Not necessarily a fetish, but a regard for the hand as a …

Doves snub Hawk(e)s

It's bad enough to slight a man in an iron lung, but what about someone trying to transition from skateboarding to acting? At least John Hawkes received a nomination in 2010 for Winter's Bone. Why no love for Tony Hawk's …

Dept. of No, Not Really

In Wake of Outcry Over Django Unchained Slave Action Figures, NOW Releases Statement Accusing Protest Industry of Double Standard http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/10/38221/ "How is this okay?"

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/10/38197/ The only way San Diegans have had a chance to see the works of Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain (Tony Manero, Post Mortem) was at the San Diego Latino Film Festival. The Academy's nomination of Larrain's latest, No, for best …

"I Am Not a Hipster" screens tomorrow night at 7pm at The Ken.

I do not know what the film is about, nor do I want to know what the film is about until after I see it. What I do know is San Diego filmmaker Destin Cretton has completed a new feature …

'Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part II' earns nominations in every category

Unlike their vaunted counterparts at the DGA, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the folks who dole out the annual Razzie Awards -- celebrating the worst cinema has to offer for 33 years …

Marty made the cut (of course!) but not for the film you think.

Mother of mercy, is this the end of civilization as we know it? Given the recent glut of mass murders, school shootings, etc., what better time in American history to stop and glorify criminals? To celebrate the release of Warner …

Why that ending?

Remember, this is supposed to be post-viewing chat. Spoilers abound. The other day, Samuel L. Jackson expressed a thought that I suspect has been rattling around in a lot of heads: why didn't Lincoln end after his butler handed him …

It's been a year or two since Lee Ann Kim first ran the concept of Drive-By Cinema past me. After a few experimental outings, the San Diego Asian Film Festival's "mobile film experiment" (and self-proclaimed "very irregular project of Pac …

With Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as our hosts, what are the chances anyone is going to be able to stay awake throughout this Sunday night's entire Golden Globes broadcast? We here at The Big Screen will be gracious enough …

Ooof. First, a word of warning: both of these earn that whole red-band thing. Nudity, foul language, and general rudeness abound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UGVWBSvxl98 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VneW1vtcWY Well now. Here we have a couple of "star-studded" ensemble sketch comedy flicks. The first leans harder …

I liked it more when we called it Blogfight! In response to Mr. Lickona's gauntlet-chucking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k80nW6AOhTs Special effects have become so much a part of the fabric of contemporary cinema that I began accepting them as a theorem years ago. …

Will the first picture of 2013 also be its worst?

Out with the mold, in with the spew. Will the first picture of 2013 also be its worst? The cast and crew of Texas Chainsaw 3D try their damnedest to make it so. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/06/37946/ With six Chainsaws to reflect upon, …

No, not the unchained version. The original. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEmErQjGptg SPECIAL VIEWING BONUS: Django Strikes Again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbzQxgE1ROM

'Twas shipping fees that killed the MoPA film series. With round-trip fees running as high as $150 per title (the 182 minute version of El Cid was a budget-crippler) the cost to deliver the print was almost as much as …

I know what you're thinking. Bodybuilders (Pain & Gain) have the edge, cuz they're got The Rock. But that dude in the wrestling outfit (Foxcatcher) with the really high forehead? That's the Hulk.

Well, of course, the big bad entry is Zero Dark Thirty, which I admired for the way it told the protagonist's story without letting that story distract from the overall mission. Solid tradecraft. But it wasn't mine to review: it …

Josh Board has the best job in the world. Each week he gets to spend half an hour in the back seat of a convertible with Heather Ford. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/04/37876/ The warning call arrived after yesterday morning's taping causing an alarm …

Not much to say, but please enjoy these screencaps of the Necronomicon.

Oh, and be forewarned, it's really, really gross and violent and nasty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pvDLWlxxcak I do love this opening shot: it's what Wes Anderson would do if he were a little less controlled and a little more interested in viscera. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/04/37865/ …

This time, they found The Most Interesting Villain in the World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=i2Y2PpY6fNo Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/03/37840/ They even included a reference to the chess bit in this wonderful spot. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/03/37841/ Stay hungry for world domination, my friends. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/03/37842/

A place to hash things out after you've seen the film.

Happy 2013, everybody. Let's get things started, shall we? First up: Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly - which may be a poor choice, since almost nobody saw it. But here at The Big Screen, we've always valued passion over popularity, …

The Media Arts Center San Diego -- home of the San Diego Latino Film Festival -- kicks off the New Year with a special pre-SDAFF reception announcing the winner of the 20th Anniversary poster competition. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/03/37822/ The tournament of posters …

In a more perfect world, supercuts would find their way into the screenwriting collective unconscious, so that cliches such as "we've got company," "no time to explain," and perhaps most importantly, "you just don't get it, do you?" would disappear …

NOTE: This is by no means a list of every film that opened in San Diego last year. It's how I spent my 2012. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/02/37791/ THIS IS NOT A FILM THE DEEP BLUE SEA FINDING NEMO 3D http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/02/37803/ TOMBOY TAKE …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqKnD-g9QhY ...otherwise known as Mulholland Falls? Or maybe The Untouchables? I dunno, it's all mixed up. Let's start with Mulholland Falls. Lessee, you got yer organized crime boss who comes West to Los Angeles at mid-century: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/02/37769/ You got yer …

Marty took the year off. This is what passed for excellence in His absence. 1.) http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/dec/31/37671/ Jafar Panahi made this infuriating and intensely personal "fuck you" to the Iranian government while the director was placed under house arrest and banned …