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

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Little Fish students get work reviewed at Comic-Con
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For some, "Star Wars" is a way of life and the arrival of a new movie set in a galaxy far, far away is cause for both great excitement and great concern. A group of "Star Wars" fans rent a van and drive up to Los Angeles for the opening night of "Episode VII: The Force Awakens."
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After much anticipation and build up, J.J. Abrams "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has finally screened and fans can breathe a big sigh of relief.
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Kent Jones dropped out of film school but then started working in Martin Scorsese's office. That led to a series of documentaries on movies. Now Jones talks about "Hitchcock/Truffaut" (opening at Landmark's Ken Cinema).
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This year is turning out to be a good one for older actresses. Cynthia Nixon talks about her role in the new independent film “James White” (opened Dec. 4 at Arclight La Jolla).
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John Waters – the self-proclaimed "Pope of Trash" and "People’s Pervert" – returns to San Diego (Nov. 30 at The Observatory North Park) for the John Waters Christmas Tour 2015.
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Italian film composer Fabio Frizzi made his first tour of the U.S. this year with a tribute concert to director Lucio Fulci called Frizzi 2 Fulci. I saw the concert in L.A. last month and caught up with Frizzi in Wales for my first overseas Cinema Junkie podcast.
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In a year when I was breathlessly awaiting a new Bond film and a promising "Star Wars" installment, "Trumbo" (opening Friday throughout San Diego) was the film that in some ways I was most excited about because it combined so many elements I love.
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The San Diego Asian Film Festival celebrates its sweet 16 this year. Artistic director Brian Hu talked about programming the festival and highlights some festival offerings.
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Coming of age films are filling the theaters these days. Recently we have seen coming of age tales play out in 1980s Pittsburgh ("Adventureland") and Northern Australia ("The Black Balloon"), and coming up we travel to 1970s New Jersey ("Lymelife").
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Earlier this month "Fast and Furious" scored a surprising hit at the box office bringing in $72 million in three days. What's also surprising is that at the helm of this $80 million dollar Hollywood sequel is one time indie film darling Justin Lin. Today, "17 Again" -- the new film with Disney star Zac Efron -- opens, and in the director's chair is another independent filmmaker, Burr Steers.
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In "17 Again" (opening April 17 throughout San Diego) Mike O'Donnell (Disney star Zac Efron of "High School Musical" fame) is a star on his high school basketball court with a college scout in the stands and a bright future in his grasp.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
Stripper Energy just received an Emmy for Journalistic Enterprise, you can watch the six-part video podcast now.