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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Death. No one likes to talk about it and no one likes to think about how he or she might actually exit this world. But the Hemlock Society of San Diego has some film suggestions that might change your mind.
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If you are a geek like I am, then the news that Comic-Con is going to open a museum was something to be excited about. Cinema Junkie sits down with executive director Adam Smith to discuss what the museum might be like and if the term is even appropriate to describe what's coming.
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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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In very French fashion "OSS 117" mixes politics and comedy. Director Michel Hazanavicius -- partnering with screenwriter Jean-Francois Halin and using Jean Bruce's original "OSS 117" novels as inspiration -- uses the spy genre to poke fun at Western and European attitudes about the Arab world. De la Bath symbolizes the general smug superiority of the colonizers toward their colonies and their general lack of insight into the middle east and Arab world. That's something that actually resonates quite potently today.
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Everything in the waning days of Nikolai Ceausescu's oppressive regime proves to be a negotiation, whether it's dealing with haughty hotel clerks, bartering for soap and cigarettes, or haggling over the price of an abortion. Each negotiation is further complicated by bureaucratic mix ups, black market scams, and incessant I.D. checks. All this plays out like a tense thriller as Otilia struggles to help her friend. Actress Anamaria Marinca plays Otilia. She says that when you live under Communist rule, you quickly learn how to navigate uncertain terrain.
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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.
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!