Entries
New releases opening this week: Rush, Don Jon, and much, much more!
In a hurry to have a good time? Rush to your local theater and see Rush, the new film from Ron Howard, director of such hits as The Da Vinci Code and The Da Vinci Code 2: Veni Vidi Vinci, …
4th row center: The Last Temptation of Christ
August 12, 1988. It was a sticky 91 in the shade as I stood in line at Chicago's Biograph Theatre waiting to see the first day, first show matinee presentation of The Last Temptation of Christ. The line snaked down …
When letterboxing fails: the Joe Besser edition
Maybe my editor, Ernie Grimm, is right. From Ann Miller's door frame splintering headdress to Joey Bishop's putting green coiffure, I do have a fascination with celebrity hairdos. With my birthday right around the corner, the Lickona youngins asked what …
Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street pushed back to 2014?
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/25/53731/ November 15th, opening day. That meant something. So it shall be written across the one sheet, so it shall be done. You promised, Marty, you promised! YeahbuthowlongIgottawait? At the rate Marty's going, it's see you next year time for …
The Frank Sinatra clock
Guaranteed to work or Jilly will break its hands. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/25/53722/
There are spoiler alerts and then there's...
Thanks to friend John Albert for slapping this on my Facebook wall. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/22/53558/ P.S.: In Safe Haven, Katie's new friend, Jo, is the ghost of her boyfriend's dead wife (I'm still crying), Teddy Daniels never left Shutter Island, and Rosebud …
Archivists unearth fresh Stooges!? Moe, Larry, the cheese!
It's the Holy Grail of Stoogedom. Forget about finding the flabby 10 hour cut of Greed or the missing reels of pinko Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons and say, Hello, Pop! For seven decades it remained the long-lost Stooge. A fire …
GYNO - opening scene
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/20/53498/ This is the first result when you Google Image search for "women." Well, the cocaine and the cash arrived just now in a satchel on my front doorstep, so I guess I'd better get to work. GYNO is the …
Art!Power presents Indian-flavored 'Foovie' in October
What do you get when you cross dinner and a movie? As portmanteaus go, 'Divey' lacks the selling power needed to get across the experience Art!Power's food and film pairing is aiming for. Fortunately, the folks over at UCSD came …
New releases opening this week: You Will Be My Son, A Single Shot and more
The big releases this week are Prisoners and Thanks for Sharing. Neither was dazzling. Prisoners did a hell of a job giving us cloudy skies with 100% chance of wincing, and Thanks for Sharing did a hell of a job …
Name That Logo: Deluxe Warner Bros. Edition
In other parts of town the lion roared, the tower beeped, and the world turned with machinelike regularity and precision. Of all the major Hollywood studios, Warner Bros. was the one most likely to allow graphic designers to let loose …
Dig a hole: Jerry G. Bishop, the architect of Svengoolie
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/19/53443/ He was Chicago television's answer to SCTV's 'Count' Floyd Robertson, a professional broadcaster picking up change on the side while dressed in a sub-Ben Cooper Halloween getup and telling jokes between commercial breaks on a low budget kid's horror-movie …
Gyno-Horror!
Ladies and gentlemen - but mostly gentlemen - I give you: the internal clitoris: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/19/53438/ "It's sole function – its singular, wonderful purpose – is to make a woman feel good!!" And now let's do a Google image search for …
Interview with Thanks for Sharing writer-director Stuart Blumberg
The publicist broke into my interview with Blumberg to let me know I had time for one more question. "Hm, got to choose," I said, scanning my notes. "Any questions about the movie?" asked Blumberg. It was a fair shot, …
Grate cinema: Munster, Go Home!
My first screening of Munster, Go Home! came -- as it did to many Mockingbird Heights maniacs my age -- on the top half of a double bill with the Don Knotts dud The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. MGH had …
Star Wars origin stories? Think of the possibilities!
All you haters just settle down and fire up the dream factory.
Some people weren't happy to hear the news that the upcoming slew of Star Wars films are going to include origin stories. And given George Lucas' idea of an origin story, I can understand that. [Language alert]. But Lucas is …
Bob Hope reviews The Iron Petticoat from the grave
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/18/53378/ Hey, hi, ladies and gentlemen, this is Bob ‘More Dangerous Dead Than He Ever Was Alive’ Hope acting as guest reviewer here on The Big Screen. Speaking of mortality, I wanna’ tell ya’, that Marks gives me more attention …
Grate cinema: The Spy Who Loved Me
When it comes to playing 007, everybody does it better than Roger Moore!
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/18/53371/ At the risk of alienating James Bond acolytes everywhere, with the exception of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the franchise pretty much ran out of steam after Thunderball. People who prefer Roger Moore to Sean Connery should not be …
DVD/Cable TV Roundup 1971-2011 – a 12-pack of mini movie reviews
Mostly old ‘n’ obscure stuff gracing my homescreen this month
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/17/53337/ The Manipulator (1971) - Directed by Yabo Yablonsky, starring Mickey Rooney, Luana Anders, Keenan Wynn. An insane Hollywood makeup man kidnaps a woman keeps her prisoner in his warehouse full of props. I've been awfully curious about the The …
Free parking returns to Horton Plaza!
Has it really been seven months since the #@$%&*!#$&@#s at Horton Plaza decided to replace 3 hours of free parking with the flat unreasonable rate of $8 an hour? Business must have taken a hit, for it was announced that …