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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"John Wick: Chapter 3 -- Parabellum" finally arrives and stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski delivers an exhausting, exhilarating film. I have a review of the new film and have a 2017 interview with Stahelski where he explains exactly why John Wick raises the bar on action films. And learn the difference between having a star do action versus doing stunts. -
J.R.R. Tolkien famously wrote "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" books that inspired Peter Jackson's recent films. Now a film biography about the author hits theaters. I'll discuss the allure of Tolkien's fellowship, have a review of the biopic "Tolkien" and speak with the film's director Dome Karukoski about making connections between the man and his books. -
Reel Science returns with the San Diego Natural History Museum and Digital Gym Cinema pairing sci-fi films with real scientists to put the movie science into a broader context. Whether you want preview of the film series or if you can't make the films but want to watch sci-fi films with some questions to ask you'll want to hear entomologist Michael Wall and cognitive scientist Eric Leonardis dissect "Damnation Alley" and David Cronenberg's "The Fly." -
I may hate the Academy for some of its Oscar choices but I have nothing but praise for the work it does to preserve film history. I speak with Josef Lindner, the preservation officer at the Academy Film Archive about the challenges of preserving and restoring films. As an example we discuss the pre-Code comedy naughtily titled Cock of the Air. -
In part one of my look at the 10th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival I spoke with TCM Film Festival programmer Charles Tabesh. Now for part two, I speak with Fox archivist Schawn Belston about the studio's past, future, and exactly what it is an archivist does. He also discusses some of the strange places he has discovered film elements. -
TCM Classic Film Festival is a four-day event held in Hollywood and showcasing films from the silents on up into the 1980s. In part one of this week's podcast I speak with TCM Film Festival programmer Charles Tabesh about what it takes to put on the festival and about the special Fox Appreciation presentation. In part two, I will speak with Fox archivist Schawn Belston about the studio's past and the challenges of restoring films. -
This spoiler-filled episode examines the hidden meanings of Jordan Peele's latest box office hit with the help of a UC Riverside professor of media and cultural studies. -
With Alfonso Cuaron’s recent multiple Oscar win and San Diego Latino Film Festival entering its second quarter century, I felt it was the perfect time to pull up an archive interview I did with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro.
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Earlier this week I highlighted the film "Immobilité" that's being touted as the first "feature-length foreign film shot entirely on a mobile phone." The film by artist Mark Amerikia is showing in The Project Room for New Media at Chelsea Art Museum in New York through May 9, with a remix version exhibited in the Streaming Museum that presents exhibitions in cyberspace. The unique nature of the project inspired me to seek Amerika out for an interview. Here's what he had to say about his provocative new film.
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Following on the heels of the animated "Monsters Vs. Aliens," "Alien Trespass" (opening April 3 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) covers somewhat similar ground. Both films present us with an alien who comes to earth and then the films try to use the trappings of 50s sci-fi movies to sell the premise. But unlike "Monsters Vs. Aliens," "Alien Trespass" is live action. It also comes from R. W. Goodwin who should know what he's doing since he worked on the cult TV show "The X-Files," which frequently dealt with aliens although usually in a more serious vein.
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Most films that deal with border issues focus on immigrants and immigration along the California or Texas state lines. But the new film "Sin Nombre" (opening April 3 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) shows us how people living deeper in Mexico and Central America get to that border. The film played last month at the San Diego Latino Film Festival and just about everyone I spoke to at the fest was recommending it. I spoke with first time feature filmmaker Cary Fukunaga at the festival just before he presented the film to a full house.
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Just a quick reminder that the San Diego Latino Film Festival is not the only festival in town screening films this week. The San Diego Italian Film Festival will screen Incantesimo Napoletano/A Neopolitan Spell on Thursday, March 12 at 7:00 pm at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. The tageline for the film asks: "In Naples, what could be worse than not being Neapolitan?" Written and directed by Paolo Genovese, "Incantesimo Napoletano" serves up a fanciful tale about the shock felt by a fifth-generation Neopolitan couple whose daughter's first words are in Milanese. Mama mia! This film features Chiara Papa, Gianni Aiello, Serena Improta and Clelia Bernacchi. Although it's nice to have choice it's too bad these festivals are up against each other.
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Here's a little twist on Trailer Tuesday: Instead of posting a preview of a big Hollywood movie or cool indie title you get to see an entire movie.
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The teen critics have spoken out on The Last House on the Left (opened March 13 throughout San Diego) and I was curious to hear what they had to say since they weren't even born when the original film came out (OK, that made me feel old). I was glad that at least one of them had seen the original and found it more disturbing than the remake. -
The 16th San Diego Latino Film Festival kicked off last night with films, music, and a gala party. Now we can get down to the business of seeing films. Here are a few suggestions for what you might want to seek out and mini-reviews of some of the films that I had a chance to screen in advance. All films are at the UltraStar Mission Valley Theaters at Hazard Center.
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Real life French teacher François Bégaudeau plays an on-screen version of himself in "The Class/Entre les murs" (held over at Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters), based on his book about his own classroom experiences. We discussed the film on last month's Film Club but I also wanted to highlight the film on my blog. Director Laurent Cantet (who also made "Time Out" and "Heading South") collaborated with Bégaudeau to bring his story to the screen. The ressult is a documentary style portrait of teaching in a contemporary French school. Cantet chose to shoot multiple improvised takes using real students and multiple cameras to chronicle what happens in a single classroom of middle school age students. The film was nominated this year for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and took home the Palm D'Or at Cannes. While there were definitely more worthy films to pick as the best of the year, the Cannes Award is telling because it reflects France's need and maybe desire to try and come to terms with its increasing multi-ethnice make-up, a fact that's been harder to ignore inlight of recent riots and protests.
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!