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 …

I turned 40 yesterday. These things happen. But as a result, this new release roundup is going to be somewhat terse. I've only got a few minutes before I head over to the LA County Museum of Art's Kubrick exhibit …

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 …

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 …

But who goes to church any more?

In the wake of the sad news that James Gandolfini had died of a heart attack at the age of 51, I wound up reading two articles, "An American Family" and "The Night Tony Soprano Disappeared". Both stories touch on …

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 …

Seriously, why not?

Man of Steel cost $225 million. It runs 2 hours and 23 minutes. It depicts the destruction of an entire city. The Bling Ring cost $8 million. It runs 1 hour and 30 minutes. It depicts some teens robbing fancy …

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 …

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. 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 …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/25/48120/ NEESON is lying in hospital bed, wearing a huge diaper-bandage. He is approached by CIA Operative RUSSELL CROWE. CROWE: How do you feel? NEESON: Like someone kicked me in the...hey, wait a second! CROWE: Settle down. I know how …

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. …

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 …

Okay, for starters, Scott was unable to complete his viewing of The Painting (trailer above) due to technical difficulties. (And no, I do not mean to suggest that one of his cyborg eyes shorted out, resulting in a lack of …

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 …

Joss Whedon shot his modern-day Much Ado About Nothing in his own home over 12 days with a cast composed largely of friends (who also happened to be actors). The project was a welcome change of pace after the super-sized …

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 …

Two sides of a fine line

So I black-spotted Monsters University, in part because of its hackneyed plot: lovable band of losers must rally via their particular skills to defeat the overbearing jerkball champions. (But only in part.) And a couple of weeks ago, I one-starred …

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 …

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? …

Dept. of No, Not Really

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/18/47725/ Zombie hordes fill the streets of New York City. Mindless, soulless, bent only on consumption, they prepare their assault on the lucky few with access to safety via the red carpet. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/18/47727/ Star Brad Pitt flashes a brief smile, …

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Because every trailer contains at least one image that could double as an ad for Durex condoms.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/17/47616/ Because "Playing games on the floor in the nursery" can mean two very different things. Durex.

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 …

Orson Welles and Henry Jaglom had lunch. Jaglom taped it.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/17/47591/ Okay, so My Lunches with Orson has just gone on the Big Screen Christmas wishlist. In the meantime, you can read an excerpt over at Vulture. It's mostly fantastic bitchy gossip about Old Hollywood, but it also contains the …

Did you hear the one about the two directors who bemoaned the state of the industry they helped destroy?

My partner Scott already handled this story about Lucas and Spielberg and the overloaded tent-pole, and you should totally read his take first. But I couldn't help myself here. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/14/47525/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/14/47527/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/14/47526/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/14/47528/

He's a sewer rat in overalls!

Look for him in the upcoming children's movie, World War Z! Movie on 6-14-13 at 1.49 PM from Matthew Lickona on Vimeo. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/14/47522/

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Could it be? Could it possibly be? Could Clive Owen finally be appearing in a good movie again? Yes, yes, it appears he is! Four stars for Shadow Dancer! Oh happy day! The only thing that could make today better, …

Because then, he won't have to suffer through photo-ops gone bad like this one.

Iron Man 3 was a film about a man who began to identify so completely with his creation that he used it as an avatar during physical affection with his girlfriend, asking her to smooch the armored faceplate while he …

(Review and showtimes are here. Opening interview with Marling's director and co-writer Zal Batmanglij is here.) Matthew Lickona: Tell me about Sarah's naivete. Brit Marling: I thought of her as a thoroughbred racehorse. She's very well trained, and she gets …

The East tells the story of Sarah (co-writer Brit Marling, interviewed here), a rising star at a private espionage agency who gets assigned to infiltrate the domestic organization that gives the film its name. The group does punishment-fits-the-crime work; during …

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 …

WAAAAAAAA! There's "eventually going to be an implosion in the film industry." WAAAAAAAA! Lincoln was 'this close' to going to HBO. WAAAAAAAA! We barely got (Red Tails) into theaters. I'm disgusted with the two of you's! Can we say chutzpah? …

Feature length theatrical releases were not the only films to get the royal ballyhoo treatment back in the day. Posters heralding the arrival of a new one-reel animated wonder -- frequently as colorful as the shorts they hyped -- were …

Sigh.

"Have fun with this!" read the email from my Jewish fellow critic. Good fellow that he is, he was leaving it up to his Christian counterpart to address the conversion of Superman from immigrant Jewish mensch to weird Christ figure. …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/12/47302/ Hold your tongues and rest your sphincters! Last week, the AFI Life Achievement Award went to Mel Brooks and Marty was on hand to present the trophy and suck face. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/12/47303/ The ceremony will air this Saturday night at …

Me like Tarzan movies!

Me like Tarzan. Too cheap to drop $40 retail on box set. Find Volume 2 in pawn shop. Cost five bucks. No resist. After M.G.M. shuttered their Tarzan unit, the King of the Jungle hopped a vine and swung across …

Five-star short debuts at America's Finest Film Festival

Quit your day job, Reader Andy; Hollywood is calling. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/11/47269/ Not since Werewolves on Wheels or Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese's What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? has a first film displayed a profound and …

Why rent when for the same money you can buy a copy at Big!Lots?

John Huston and cinematographer Aldo Tonti originally envisioned Carson McCuller's story of military base masochism as a golden-hued fairy tale of sexual repression, ""Rated Mature: FOR ADULTS ONLY!" Huston's design concept originally called for only one natural color per scene, …

Oysterfest Music and Food Festival this weekend!

In honor of this year's daylong Oysterfest Music and Food Festival, to be held Saturday at the Marina Embarcadero North, 849 W Harbor Dr., here's a shucking good tribute to bivalve mollusks on film. Click for more information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN1eNKGbbXY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln8-Y-fIbqM …

American cable subscribers suffer, why shouldn't our friends South of the border?

The Sundance Channel hit the airwaves in 2006 with a schedule that represented the finest in independent films, world cinema, and documentaries. This September, the Sundance Channel makes its debut in seven Latin American countries. In a recent interview, station …

Great career move for Shannon Guess!

Forget about the ricin. The bigger crime is referring to Shannon Richardson, aka Shannon Rogers and Shannon Guess, as an actress. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/08/47068/ The day worker who gained extra roles on shows like Madea's Big Happy Family, The Walking Dead, The …

You are not likely to find an all-black audience in lily white Bland Diego. The closest we get is Horton Plaza, a downtown mall known for playing, what's the p. c. buzzword...oh, yes "urban action" films. In the fourteen years …

Scott broke the news that Mr. Pitt may decide to grace those present at the fair with his fair presence (I see what I did there). But he failed to mention that there have been some hiccups in Mr. Pitt's …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/07/47031/ Let's start with the good stuff that is going, going...Scott really really really liked Julien Temple's historical documentary London: The Modern Babylon. (Hee hee - it's a quote from Benjamin Disraeli in 1847.) But while the documentary covers more …

Doesn't announcing a surprise appearance undercut the element of surprise? Be this as it may, the producers of World War Z want you to know there is a chance that Brad Pitt will make a cameo at the San Diego …

Hollywood never gives me what I really want. When the invite to the Violet and Daisy screening arrived, I thought for sure it was going to be a CG biopic of the Hilton sisters, America’s once loved and sadly forgotten …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/06/46993/ A must to avoid for those planning a trip to Southeast Asia, Wish You Were Here is bound to impact weekend getaways to Phnom Penh in much the same way Midnight Express put the kibosh on Turkish tourism. At …

Esther Williams was an odd footnote to movie history. The record-setting competitive swimmer found a place in Hollywood where, in the '40's and '50's, she left her watermark on a series of "aquamusicals". If you find today's movies lacking in …

Anders Wright moves to U-T, Glenn Heath assumes position with "City Beat"

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/06/46984/ Congratulations go out to my friends and colleagues, Glenn Heath and Anders, right? Both will soon be covering the same beat for different venues. After seven years with City Beat, Anders Wright has accepted the position of full-time film …

Seniors or gang-bangers: Who'd you rather share a row with?

An 11:30 screening of an art house picture on a Tuesday morning in Clairemont; I thought it would be just me and the screen. What’s worse: the six boisterous future jailbirds who smuggled Arrowhead water bottles filled with beer into …

Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead is either the name of a Japanese horror film or the perfect way to sum up my unpaid internship at KPBS. What's with you hipsters? Why must I hear about this paragon of poop …

Art can mean different things to different people.

Okay, so the people at The Verge didn't like The Internship much. Neither did the people at The Onion. Both critiques land a lot of solid blows, and I say that as a person who enjoyed the film more than …

I make a pledge to turn movies into Durex condom ads, and you send me a trailer about a girl setting out to lose her virginity? Seriously?

Yes, yes they did - here is the ever so naughty red-band trailer for The To-Do List. Aw, Aubrey Plaza. I liked you so much in Safety Not Guaranteed. But I said I'd do this, so here goes. Number one …

The night the Whoopee Cushions won

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/04/46896/ Q: "What did the audience member say when the Whoopie Cushion gag got old?" A: "This movie sucks. Let's get outta' here." It is easily the most memorable screening I ever walked out on. What lunatic PR drone at …

The release of a new Julien Temple film is generally cause for a cinematic High Holiday. London: The Modern Babylon, the latest work by the British film, documentary and music video director opens today and runs through June 9 at …

Universal studios is being sued by the estate of second generation movie monster, Lon Chaney, Jr., to the tune of over $1 million for alleged improper use of the actor’s likeness for merchandising. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/04/46867/ Hollywood is always looking for ways …

A little early in the morning, maybe, but I brought this on myself.

So I'm sitting here in a Toyota showroom while my car is getting an oil change down below in Service, and I'm sifting through the morning movie blog news. Film Drunk has yet another story about Michael Douglas blaming his …

The date stamped on the roadshow, reserved seat ticket for the opening week showing of Last Tango in Paris at Chicago’s magnificent McClurg Court Theatre -- think Mission Valley’s late Cinema 21 only grander -- just happened to coincide with …

Heath Ledger's Joker diary gives a few clues

I am sort of taken with the notion that Heath Ledger holed up in a hotel room and made a Joker diary in preparation for his role. And by diary, I mean full-on scrapbooked Can't believe I didn't catch the …

"Let's just slap the film into a commercial and be done with it."

Remember that Star Trek-based Esurance ad? It was cute, right? A little Trek riffing right before the real Trek? That split-second jolt of "Hey, it's the movie!" before you realized that it was a commercial? Apparently, that just wasn't commercial …