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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How FilmOut, San Diego's LGBTQ+ Film Festival, began

Bringing 'The Heart' to life

'Batman Azteca' wows Comic-Con

Comic-Con Panel Highlight: Graphic India
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In this two-part Cinema Junkie podcast I look to the female perspective in film. In this first part I speak with Heidi Honeycutt, director of programming for Etheria Film Night. Founded in 2014, Etheria Film Night is a showcase of horror, science fiction, fantasy, action, thriller, and dark comedy directed by women and for an audience that includes producers, managers, showrunners, distributors, and genre fans. Etheria says its goal is to put the women directors who want to make genre films and TV in front of the people who want to hire them. Etheria is hosted by American Cinematheque and takes place at its Egyptian Theater.
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African Americans and Hollywood have a long, troubled, and complicated past. I am going to explore that history with Donald Bogle author of the new book "Hollywood Black: The Stars, the Films, the Filmmakers" from Turner Classic Movies. His comprehensive exploration begins in the silent era and wraps up with 2018's "Black Panther." Bogle has been writing about blacks in Hollywood and on screen for decades and over a half dozen books.
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Shakespeare has been dead for four centuries but this summer there is a film about his life called "All is True," an adaptation of the book "Ophelia" that looks at "Hamlet" from Ophelia's point of view, and a pair of his plays and a lecture about his work at the Old Globe Theatre. Cinema Junkie looks to the two new films, and then speaks with Globe artistic director and Shakespeare scholar Barry Edelstein
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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A decade later, Arabella Benson's elaborate "Days of Future Past, Past" — reimagining the X-Men as 18th-century aristocrats — remains a fan favorite of the Comic-Con Masquerade stage.
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The Old Globe's summer Shakespeare lineup closes with a West Coast '90s take on "The Comedy of Errors." Here's how director James Vásquez brings new energy to the classic farce.
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This story originally ran in 2019. We're resurfacing it as a time capsule of standout cosplay and fan creativity (and because Dragpool still lives rent-free in our brains).
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Fast cars? Superheroes? Laugh-out-loud comedies? Here's what to watch at the cinemas this summer.
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First published in 2019, this story features Comic-Con spokesperson David Glanzer recalling his early days attending as a fan — including meeting Matt Groening before "The Simpsons."
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We're revisiting this 2024 feature on San Diego comics creators Chris Ryall and Scott Dunbier as Comic-Con season returns.
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WorldBeat Cultural Center's Juneteenth celebration features the unveiling of a community quilt and honors the artistry, history and deeper meaning behind African American quilting traditions.
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This story was first published in 2019, marking the 50th Comic-Con in San Diego. We're bringing it back in 2025 to celebrate the fans who helped shape the convention into what it is today.
Stripper Energy just received an Emmy for Journalistic Enterprise, you can watch the six-part video podcast now.