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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From the World of John Wick: You want action? Yeah.
SD Fringe top pick: 'Smile'
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SD Fringe adds SDSU filmmaker showcase
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Cinema Junkie travels to Egypt by way of an actor described as the "Egyptian Brad Pitt." In other words, he’s a big star even though most Americans don’t know his name, Khaled El Nabawy. -
Cinema Junkie serves up two archive interviews featuring Steve Martin and George Takai, both of whom have musicals currently on Broadway that premiered at the Old Globe Theatre. -
Cinema Junkie takes you on a pilgrimage to mecca, also known as the TCM Film Festival. -
Monsterpalooza, a convention celebrating the art of movie monsters, has grown so big that it has moved from the Burbank Marriott to the Pasadena Convention Center. Cinema Junkie checks in with some of the people at the convention. -
The 1922 murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor inspired playwright Joe DiPietro to write "Hollywood," which has its world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in May. Cinema Junkie gets an early behind the scenes look at the play in progress. -
Academy Award-winning film editor Alan Heim was at Groovy Like a Movie for a San Diego Filmmakers event on April 12. Cinema Junkie sits down with the veteran craftsman for a master class in how to cut a film. -
FilmOut San Diego is screening John Waters' 1977 film "Desperate Living" at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Museum of Photographic Arts. The perfect excuse to dust off a 1997 archive interview. -
Cinema Junkie speaks with a veteran filmmaker and a newcomer whose works were featured in this month's San Diego Latino Film Festival.
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The San Diego Italian Film Festival may be the new kid on the block but they have been actively bringing films to San Diego both at their festival and for single screening film events. These are films that have not played in San Diego before and are unlikely to receive any kind of release here. -
Seth Rogen has become an unlikely star through a series of projects with Judd Apatow beginning with the TV series "Freaks and Geeks" in 1999 and reaching a peak with the feature film "Knocked Up" in 2007. Those projects played on Rogen's slacker appeal. Now Rogen tries something a little different with "Observe and Report" (opened April 10 throughout San Diego). -
For last year's closing night, FilmOut San Diego presented the world premiere of James Vasquez' homegrown film "Ready? Okay!" This San Diego-based charmer concerns a young boy named Josh who wants to join his school's cheer squad. -
Sugar (opened April 10 at Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas) is a baseball movie in the same way that Eight Men Out was a baseball movie. You cannot conceive of either film without the baseball backdrop but neither film is a formula sports movie in the sense of putting primary importance on the winning or losing of games. -
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.
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!