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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SD Fringe top pick: 'Smile'

Are you ready to binge on Fringe?

SD Fringe adds SDSU filmmaker showcase

'Park Opera' redefines opera in Balboa Park
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Sometimes there’s just too much good stuff to cover so this week I am going to talk with a pair of filmmakers from wildly divergent films but what makes them fun to combine into one podcast is that one is a real documentary — "For the Love of Spock" — and one is a fake documentary — "Operation Avalanche."
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The seventh annual Horrible Imaginings Film Festival wrapped this past Sunday. Here are interviews with filmmakers from around the globe who came.
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Something wicked this way comes! It is time for the seventh annual Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, which runs Sept. 7 through 11 at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.
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The comic-turned-playwright's latest work, "Meteor Shower," has its world premiere at the Old Globe.
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"Hell or High Water" is a throwback to 1970s indie films. Director David Mackenzie and actor Gil Birmingham talk about making a contemporary Western that delivers social commentary.
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There are less than three months until Halloween. Spirit stores are already posting signs looking for employees and I am still trying to track down tentacles for my Lovecraft haunt this year. So basically it’s panic mode. Fortunately, I spent this past weekend at ScareLA where my sense of panic was understood by fellow Halloween enthusiasts.
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Mike Birbiglia's new film "Don't Think Twice" looks to an improv group experiencing some growing pains.
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If Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were geeks, they would be putting on a "Hobbits" version of "Les Mis" or a "Star Wars" take on "The Phantom of the Opera." That's what Turning Tydes is doing at Comic-Con.
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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.
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Let me just say up front what a pleasure it is to watch a well-crafted film in which not a word or a gesture is wasted. The Coens' No Country for Old Men (opening November 16 throughout San Diego) is such a film. You feel that every word has been chosen with care and everything from the type of boots a man wears to the cut of his hair has been chosen for a distinct reason.
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Beth Accomando speaks with actor George Hamilton about his role as Billy Flynn
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!