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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Bringing 'The Heart' to life

'Batman Azteca' wows Comic-Con

Comic-Con Panel Highlight: Graphic India

Little Fish students get work reviewed at Comic-Con
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"Bone Tomahawk" gets a one-time screening in San Diego on Feb. 21 at the Digital Gym Cinema. Writer-director S. Craig Zahler talks about ramping up his slow-burn horror western.
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Film Struck is showcasing eight classics of Blaxploitation Cinema so it's time to revisit the Cinema Junkie Podcast featuring David Walker, writer of the "Shaft" comic books. Walker loves the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s and says we're due for Blaxploitation 2.0.
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With "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" reanimating on screens this weekend, the time seems ripe to speak with Doctor of the Dead Arnold T. Blumberg about a recent strain of the undead — the self-aware zombie.
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On the heels of Oscar snubbing black actors and filmmakers again, and on the eve of Black History Month, Cinema Junkie sits down with a pair of black San Diego independent filmmakers to talk about some under-appreciated African-American directors whose works are worth seeking out.
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The San Diego Black Film Festival reveals the diversity of contemporary black filmmaking.
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The screening of a documentary about the Black Panthers at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival this weekend seems oddly appropriate on the heels of the very white Academy Award nominations. Would the Black Panthers be boycotting the Oscars?
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Cinema Junkie Podcast is back from a holiday break with a three-part show all about the Oscars.
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Awards season is in full swing so it must be time to make a Ten Best List and hand out some awards.
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A text messaged Teen Critic review from Kimi Allen and Shelby Iacometti:
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Since Christian Bale's been making news for his outburst on the set of Terminator Salvation , I thought I'd load up the trailer for the film so you could see what's going on in front of the cameras rather than just the sensationalism behind the scenes.
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In "Yonkers Joe" (opening January 30 at the Reading Gaslamp Stadium Cinemas), writer-director Robert Celestin seems to know his way around a small neighborhood cash-stakes game of craps or poker. Watching the title character (played by Chazz Palminteri) work his magic - of inserting new cards in a deck or swapping out regular dice for weighted ones - is mesmerizing. Any time a filmmaker can give you an insider's look at a secretive world, it's a tantalizing point of view. Too bad Celestin wasn't content to stick to that world.
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The Uninvited (opening January 30 throughout San Diego), originating from the South Korean movie A Tale of Two Sisters, is about a young girl named Anna who goes through some odd experiences with her somewhat "mysterious and unsolved" past. The movie begins with Anna at a hospital and then she is released back home. She then finds out about her father's new girlfriend, Rachel. As Anna adjusts to her home, her sister Alex updates her about a few things regarding what's been going on, especially the relationship between Rachel and their father. Anna's memories of her late mother haunts her as she sees her mother's spirit back at the boathouse where she died. From the experiences that Anna goes though, Anna gathers the clues together and thinks that her mom has been trying to tell her something, a message pointing Rachel out as a "murderer." As the movie goes on, Anna finds out the truth of what truly caused the fire at the boathouse where Anna's mother passed away and what really is going on.
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The Sixth Annual San Diego Black Film Festival kicks off tonight, January 29, at the Regal United Artists Theatres at Horton Plaza with a mix of documentaries and short features. There's an opening night reception at 6:00 pm followed by an evening of films. Among them are Black Indians, a documentary narrated by James Earl Jones that looks to Indians of African descent, and Newark Street Preachers, about a group of New Jersey preachers who march where drug dealers and gangs rule in order to take back the streets. The festival will also be presenting their 2009 Award of Merit to actor Louis Gossett, Jr. (pictured left). Gossett can also be seen in the new film The Least Among Us on Saturday at 7:00 pm. Actor and martial arts expert Michael Jai White will be receiving the festival's Filmmaker's Choice Award.
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Katie, Adam, Joy and Destin on Main Street, Park City and celebrating Obama becoming president.
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Stripper Energy just received an Emmy for Journalistic Enterprise, you can watch the six-part video podcast now.