http://blogs.kpbs.org/movies/ Movie reviews by KPBS film critic Beth Accomando en baccomando@kpbs.org Copyright 2008 2008-08-28T20:11:01-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/benefit_screening_of_iron_jawed_angels/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/benefit_screening_of_iron_jawed_angels/#When:20:11:01Z The San Diego Film Critics Society and the San Diego Women's History Museum present a special benefit screening of Iron Jawed Angels on Saturday August 30 at 5:00 pm at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. The event is part of an annual celebration of Women's Equality Day. The film, directed by Katja von Garnier, serves up a passionate tale of the amazing efforts of fierce young suffragettes fighting for a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The film stars Hilary Swank as Alice Paul, and Frances O'Connor Alice Burns - real-life women who challenged Congress. In 1912, Paul and Burns take the reins of the National American Women's Suffrage Association's (NAWSA) committee in Washington, D.C., where they organize a landmark parade on President Wilson's inauguration day. The march is violently disrupted by men on the sidelines. Anjelica Huston won a Golden Globe Award for Supporting Actress as one of the old guard in the women's movement. With the Democratic Convention concluding and a historic presidential election ahead, maybe this is exactly the kind of film we need to get people fired up about exercising their right to vote. There will also be a raffle to raise funds for the San Diego Women's Film Festival, whose event is coming up October 2-5 at Reading Gaslamp. The raffle basket will contain DVDs of films directed by women as well as books, t-shirts and other movie goodies. I hope you will come out and show your support for these three non-profit organizations. Tickets are a $10 tax deductible donation. You can check out the trailer above. You can reserve tickets by emailing me at filmclub@kpbs,org. Drama, Local Events 2008-08-28T20:11:01-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/altpictureshows_2008/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/altpictureshows_2008/#When:22:32:00Z Phillip Van's Come Wander with Me is one of the short works playing at this year's alt.pictureshows (Phillip Van) The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the Muse Chasers present the sixth annual alt.pictureshows. A diverse collection of short films curated by Neil Kendricks will play at Sherwood Auditorium and at locations throughout the MCASD's galleries. Kendricks has designed the event as a definitive experiment in "physical channel surfing." Short films screen on a loop throughout the Museum during the one-night event, with works from filmmakers such as David Lynch, Nash Edgerton, Ari Gold, Ken Wardrop, Rob Meyer, Mads Matthieson, Justin Nowell, David Michod, Amanda Micheli, Isabel Vega, and others. You'll be able to find dark comedy, twisted romance, offbeat dramas as well as personal and experimental documentaries. Kendricks, who's a local filmmaker and artist, has a knack for finding wonderful films and always invests the event with a sense of discovery. I did not have an opportunity to preview any of the new films for this year's event but I can heartily recommend Lynch Mob, a trio of films from David Lynch (Six Men Getting Sick, The Alphabet, The Grandmother). I can attest to the fact that in the past there have always been gems to delight and challenge. I hope you'll come out for this unique experience.  Please note some films contain adult and mature subject matter. Tickets are $5 general admission and free to MCASD Members. Festivals, Local Events 2008-08-27T22:32:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/trailer_tuesday_quantum_of_solace/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/trailer_tuesday_quantum_of_solace/#When:08:00:00Z In case you haven't heard, the latest Harry Potter film (The Half-Blood Prince) has been postponed until 2009. Since Harry vacated the highly coveted just-before-Thanksgiving November 21 open date, the eagerly anticipated vampire film Twilight moved up and so too has Bond 22. The latest Bond film will now bow on November 14. So with the change of release dates, I thought that was a perfect excuse to post up the trailer for Quantum of Solace. I can't tell you how excited I am about Quantum of Solace. I have been a Bond fan since I was a little kid. I played the Goldfinger soundtrack so many times that I drove my parents insane! But after Sean Connery left the franchise I have been sorely disappointed with the actors playing Bond -- until Daniel Craig. The 2006 Casino Royale kicked ass and Craig was a hot, sexy new Bond. Quantum of Solace supposedly picks up right where Casino Royale left off, and based on the trailer it looks to maintain the same high level of gritty action and intensity.  It's so great to once again eagerly look forward to 007's next adventure, something I couldn't do for the four decades when Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan were playing the role. So here's to Bond 22, may it be as good as it's predeccessor... or maybe even better. The only bummer is that I now have to wait an extra week to see it. The release date change also means they can't do the clever trick with the O's and 7 in the title at the end of the trailer for the release daye. Trailer is courtesy of Sony Pictures. Action, Adaptation, Entertainment News 2008-08-26T08:00:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/elegy_interview_with_isabel_coixet/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/elegy_interview_with_isabel_coixet/#When:06:30:00Z Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz star in Elegy, the adaptation of Philip Roth's The Dying Animal (Red Envelope Entertainment) Elegy (opened August 22 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) is based on Philip Roth's book The Dying Animal and focuses on aging academic David Kepesh and his affair with a student. The character of Kepesh has appeared in two other Roth works: The Breast and The Professor of Desire. As with most of Roth's books, the focus and the perspective are distinctly male. But what gives the new film adaptation of The Dying Animal a fresh spin is that it has been brought to the screen thanks mainly to a pair of women: actress Penelope Cruz and director Isabel Coixet. Adaptation, Drama, Interviews, Romance 2008-08-24T06:30:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/death_race/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/death_race/#When:05:15:00Z Jason Statham gets behind the wheel of the remake Death Race (Universal) For a moment it seemed like the off screen drama surrounding Death Race (opening August 22 throughout San Diego) might be more interesting than the onscreen action. The Hollywood remake of the 70s B-movie Death Race 2000 was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit from writer Adam Stone claiming that the upcoming redo of the 1975 Roger Corman production is based on a script he pitched to director Paul W.S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt. Stone was attempting to prevent the film's release only days before it was meant to hit theaters. The tension and build up around whether the film could open or not may prove more compelling than the story we end up with on the screen. But if I was Stone I might want to distance myself from this new Death Race and its lame script. Action, Adaptation, Drama 2008-08-23T05:15:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/a_man_named_pearl/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/a_man_named_pearl/#When:01:49:00Z A Man Named Pearl (Shadow Distribution) Last week I wrote about Reading Gaslamp wanting to bring more indie, foreign and art house films to San Diego on a regular basis. They continue to make good on their word with the opening of A Man Named Pearl on August 22. The documentary portrait of self-taught South Carolina topiary artist Pearl Fryar comes on the heels of Reading Gaslamp's engagement of another documentary portrait, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. A Man Named Pearl is a more lightweight film both in terms of its subject matter and its style. But while the Polanski doc left you frustrated by the legal system and angry at the media, A Man Named Pearl offers a thoroughly feel-good experience. Documentary 2008-08-23T01:49:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/boy_a/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/boy_a/#When:15:17:00Z Peter Mullan and Andrew Garfield in Boy A (The Weinstein Company) It's too bad Boy A (opening August 22 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) is opening with so little fanfare and no press screening. The film is the second feature by Irish-born John Crowley, his first being the darkly comic Intermission (with Colin Farrell). His sophomore feature, Boy A explores bleak territory but its insistence on not tying everything up in neat little bows is to be commended. It serves up a compelling story and asks viewers to connect all the dots rather than telling how it all fits together. Drama 2008-08-22T15:17:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/hamlet_2_interview_with_steve_coogan/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/hamlet_2_interview_with_steve_coogan/#When:19:59:00Z When a high school threatens to cut drama from the curriculum, a teacher puts on a show to save the department. Unfortunately, the play involves Shakespeare and a Jesus who dances like Elvis. If that sounds politically incorrect, it is in the new comedy Hamlet 2 (opening August 22 in select San Diego theaters). You can listen to my interview with British comedian Steve Coogan and director Andrew Fleming about pushing the envelope in comedy. I spoke with them right after they presented a panel on the film at Comic-Con. Comedy, Interviews 2008-08-21T19:59:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/ugly_me_pretendiendo/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/ugly_me_pretendiendo/#When:08:33:00Z Barbara Mori, before and after in Ugly Me (Arcangelo Entertainment) The Chilean comedy Ugly Me screened at this year's San Diego Latino Film Festival and now returns as part of the Festival's monthly film series Cinema Tu Idioma at the Ultrastar Mission Valley Theaters at Hazard Center. I passed on the film at the Festival because I had such a hefty list of titles I wanted to see that I let my bias against romantic comedies get the better of me and I crossed this one off to see something darker or more substantial. But I should have known that a romantic comedy from Chile would have more going on that the average Hollywood romantic comedy. NOTE: Filmmaker Claudio Dabed will be present at the opening night screening on Friday, August 22. Founder and executive director of Media Arts Center San Diego and San Diego Latino Film Festival, Ethan van Thillo, states, "It's an honor to bring back Mr. Dabed and his fun film after its very successful screening at the recent 15th anniversary San Diego Latino Film Festival. The film is a great date film and Barbara Mori puts in a not-to-be-missed performance." Comedy, Foreign Language, Romance 2008-08-21T08:33:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/9th_annual_san_diego_undersea_film_exhibition/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/9th_annual_san_diego_undersea_film_exhibition/#When:04:53:01Z The 9th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition Prepare for a breathtaking view of a submerged world with the 9th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. The Exhibition will be held at Qualcomm Hall's big screen auditorium in San Diego on Friday and Saturday evenings, August 22 and 23. The venue boasts state of the art digital projection (what else would you expect from Qualcomm) for its showcase of digital video, including many in high definition. There will be a different program of fifteen short films each night beginning at 7:00 PM. Each work clocks in at no longer than five minutes with subjects ranging from sharks to shipwrecks to colorful marine creatures, and each shot in exotic underwater locales across the globe and in our own backyard. The films celebrate the incredible beauty and visual splendor of life in the ocean. But the films also make us aware of how fragile this world is and how important it is to protect it. The clips made available in advance of the festival didn't identify the filmmakers or titles of the works, but one involving a playful seal and another involving a mesmerizing squid were particularly impressive. Tickets are $15 per evening and are available online at sdufex.com, and at various San Diego dive shops, dive clubs and organizations. Documentary, Festivals 2008-08-21T04:53:01-08:00