Cinema Junkie

Satisfy your celluloid addiction and mainline film 24/7 with Cinema Junkie’s Beth Accomando. So if you need a film fix, want to hear what filmmakers have to say about their work, feel like taking a deep dive into a genre, or just want to know what's worth seeing this weekend, then you've come to the right place. You can also find Beth's coverage of other arts and culture events here.
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Are you ready to binge on Fringe?

SD Fringe adds SDSU filmmaker showcase

'Park Opera' redefines opera in Balboa Park

Unpacking the virtues of Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners'
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Armando Iannucci, creator of "Thick of It" and "Veep," makes his feature film writing and directing debut with "The Death of Stalin." I talk with the comic genius about the challenges of doing political satire at a time when the real world is crazier than anything he can imagine. WARNING: This podcast contains explicit, Malcolm Tucker language.
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The 90th Academy Awards are Sunday and one of the most misunderstood and least appreciated of the craft categories is film editing. So here is a trio of brilliant film editors to talk about their work on this year's Oscar-nominated films and to provide insights into just what film editors do.
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My idea of a good date movie is "Shaun of the Dead." So maybe I'm not the best person to be making Valentine's Day recommendations. But there's one contemporary filmmaker who consistently tackles love with such lush romanticism that even I swoon at his movies. That filmmaker is Wong Kar-Wai. So as much as I hate Cupid's silly holiday, here's a Valentine to Wong Kar-Wai.
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Fifty-two years ago ABC launched the TV show "Batman" and forever changed the pop culture landscape.
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Noirchaelogist, Czar of noir, host of TCM's Noir Alley, founder and president of the Film Noir Foundation... whatever title you want to refer to him by, Eddie Muller is simply the man to go to when you want to know anything about film noir.
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The holidays are upon us so what better time to think about spirituality. For some, movie theaters are like churches and the movies they screen can teach about how to live life.
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For this podcast, Arts & Culture Reporter Beth Accomando turns to her archives for an interview with David Cronenberg about his 1996 film "Crash," adapted from J.G. Ballard's controversial 1973 novel revolving around people with symphorophilia, in this case, car-crash sexual fetishism.
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It's Thanksgiving and I have a pair of films that I am feeling very thankful for right now: "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and "The Shape of Water." Filmmaker Martin McDonagh talks about writing a film for Frances McDormand and Doug Jones talks about "suit acting" for Guillermo Del Toro.
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This year, the 67-year-old Romero delivers his fifth zombie film, “Diary of the Dead” (opening February 15 exclusively at the AMC Palm Promenade Theaters) so run, don’t “shamble,” over to catch the undead’s latest uprising.
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A Valentine To Hong Kong's Rapturously Romantic Filmmaker
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Irish playwright Martin McDonagh makes his feature film writing and directing debut with "In Bruges" (opening February 8 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas), a darkly comic tale of two hitmen on holiday in the idyllic European city that calls itself “the Venice of the North.” Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell play the Irish killers. McDonagh previously worked with Gleeson on his Oscar-winning short "Six-Shooter."
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“There Will Be Blood” (opening January 11 at AMC Mission Valley and on January 18 at Landmarks La Jolla Village Theaters) is not the film fans of Paul Thomas Anderson may be expecting but it's a film that should please them nonetheless. The filmmaker who gave us “Hard Eight,” “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia,” and “Punch Drunk Love” now turns to an 80-year-old Upton Sinclair novel called “Oil!” as inspiration for his epic tale of greed and ambition.
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Let me just say up front what a pleasure it is to watch a well-crafted film in which not a word or a gesture is wasted. The Coens' No Country for Old Men (opening November 16 throughout San Diego) is such a film. You feel that every word has been chosen with care and everything from the type of boots a man wears to the cut of his hair has been chosen for a distinct reason.
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Beth Accomando speaks with actor George Hamilton about his role as Billy Flynn
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Indie Asian American film charms with homage to movie musicals.
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Ten canoes, three wives, one hundred and fifty spears... trouble. That's how Palm Pictures teases its new film "Ten Canoes" (opening August 10 at Landmarks Hillcrest Cinemas), an Australian film that sets a precedent by being shot almost entirely in the Aboriginal language of Ganalbingu.
Beth Accomando is taking a short break from film reviews and arts coverage to create a six-part video podcast called Stripper Energy. Check it out!