The work of one of the area's more profilic filmmakers will be on display tonight at the Varsity Theater (616 Second St.) in Davis.
The UC Davis Film Festival will feature a new animation short by student Kevin Okulolo, who has made more than 40 animated films. Okulolo's short "Hooked" (which can be seen here) took honors for best animation and best sound design last year.
The 90-minute, all-shorts program starts at 8:30. Tickets are $5.
"A Place Called Sacramento," Access Sacramento filmmaking program that brings together screenwriters, actors and crew members to make 10-minute short films incorporating Sacramento-related themes, kicks into full gear this evening with a gathering of potential cast and crew members.
At the cast and crew call, which takes place from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. tonight at the Coloma Community Center (4623 T St.), the 12 winners of the "Place Called Sacramento" script-writing contest will meet people with whom they will be spending a lot of time this summer, as the film crews ready their films for an October premiere at the Crest Theatre.
In other words, here's a chance for people who have always wanted to work on film set to do exactly that. There's no pay, but the experience is invaluable and the sense of community created by the project truly inspiring. Last year, when I followed the filming of Eric Cotenas' PCS film "Remember Me," I was thorougly impressed by the commitment of the volunteer cast and crew.
For information on PCS, go to the Access Sacramento site. And for more news of community media, see the Bee's Community Media Blog.
When Sacramento filmmaker and entertainment impresario Deon Taylor named his new show "Up All Nite," he wasn't kidding. The "Entertainment Tonight"-style program will debut at 1:07 a.m. Thursday night (really Friday morning) on Channel 10.
Hosted by Craig Jackson from VH1's "I Love Money," "Up All Nite" will cover local celebrities and nightlife and also touch on national entertainment news. The debut half-hour will include footage from last month's "Up All Nite" launch party, an interview with singer Keri Hilson and a review of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" by a critic who goes by the handle Malvin Blackstone.
"Up All Nite" will air at the same time every week, said Mo Orozco, a producer on the show, and will be available on Comcast On Demand under the "Get Local" category.
Look for a story from the set of "Up All Nite" in The Bee in the coming weeks.
The future of the film industry lies in digital filmmaking, and no one recognizes that more than the young people embracing the medium. On Friday, the Tower of Youth filmmaking program will pay tribute to those young talents with its Teen Digital Showcase & Awards event at the Crest Theatre.
The event will include 28 digital shorts by area students, with awards -- and prizes of computer software and hardware -- handed out in several categories.
Representatives of technology companies and area colleges will be on hand, and Paul Debevic of the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies will kick off the event at 5:30 p.m. with a speech to students.
Doors open at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for ages 18 and younger. To see the event streamed live, go to the
Tower of Youth site.
A familiar figure stood in front of the Park Ultra Lounge on 15th Street Wednesday night, waiting for transportation to arrive. Indeed, the figure was so familiar that even limo drivers who weren't his limo driver couldn't resist a shout-out.
"Mr. Glover, I'm a big fan!" came a voice from a passing stretch as Danny Glover posed for cell-phone photos with fans.
Glover traveled to Sacramento from his home in San Francisco to support Deon Taylor, the Sacramento filmmaker and producer who, with a few hundred well-dressed friends, celebrated the launch of his new entertainment show "Up All Nite" at the Park Ultra Lounge Wednesday night.
"He's trying to make Sacramento a destination," Glover said of Taylor. "Any time I get a chance to support young men and young women who are doing things" he takes it, said Glover, who bowed out at around 9 p.m., just as most of the young-ish crowd was arriving.
Though the "Lethal Weapon" star was recognizable to anyone who looked his way, another party goer struck a chord with aficionados of film comedies where male characters try to disguise their identities by dressing in drag. OK, maybe that was just me.
Actor Miguel A. Nunez Jr might list the Martin Lawrence-Eddie Murphy comedy "Life" and the Matt LeBlanc sitcom "Joey" on his resume, but to me, he'll always be the disgraced NBA player posing as a WNBA player in the 2002 film "Juwanna Mann."
Nunez has been talking to Taylor about a possible role in a forthcoming film, he said. He shot part of "Life" in Sacramento, and would be happy to work here again.
"It's so clean and down-homey," Nunez said. "it reminds me of North Carolina, where I am from."
Taylor's "Up All Nite," which debuts April 24 on Channel 10, will incorporate reports about Sacramento nightlife and celebrities with national celebrity news, said Taylor, who describes the show as " 'Entertainment Tonight' meets 'TMZ.' "
The show will be hosted by Craig Jackson , host of the VH-1 reality show "I Love Money"
As for the reason Taylor is shooting an entertainment show in Sacramento rather than Los Angeles, it's pretty simple:
"Because I live here," Taylor said.
If you took a close look at the movies filling our local multiplexes, you would that regardless of genre, most of them share at least one trait: They were made by and star men.
But it's a different moviemaking universe this week in Davis. On Thursday and Friday, the Davis Feminist Film Festival will occupy the Veterans Memorial Center (203 E. 14th St.), showing films that meet the festival's mission to challenge "sexism, racism, homophobia, ablism and classism through film and digital media."
On Thursday, the festival will spotlight women who have broken barriers in Hollywood with the documentary "Shooting Women." The film by Alexis Krasilovsky includes interviews with cinematographers Ellen Kuras ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") and Sandi Sissel ("Salaam Bombay!").
Each evening starts with a reception at 7 p.m., with each night's film lineup beginning at 8 p.m.
Tickets for students are $10 per night or $15 for both nights. For non-students, the cost is $15 for one night or $25 for both nights.
For information, go the the festival's Web site or call (530) 752-8205.
At 4:40 p.m every Friday, I discuss movies with Kitty O'Neal and R.E. Graswich on KFBK 1530-AM.
Last Friday, we talked about "Observe & Report," my story on newspaper reporters in the movies, and a little-known independent film called "Gout."
If you want to hear what we had to say, click here.
Britney Spears gave a heartfelt shout-out to Sacramento fans during Sunday night's concert. Trouble was, she was in San Jose. Her Sacramento show was the night before, at Arco Arena.
But we appreciate the sentiment, anyway.
At 4:40 p.m every Friday, I discuss movies with Kitty O'Neal and R.E. Graswich on KFBK 1530-AM.
Last Friday, we talked about "Fast & Furious" and "Adventureland".
If you want to hear what I had to say, click here.
P.S. It's hard to believe "Fast & Furious" made more than $70 million at the box office over the weekend. I had no idea Vin Diesel and Paul Walker were still such draws.
But that's what I love about the 2009 movie audience. So hard to predict.
Michael Madsen often plays movie villains, but to me, he will always be Louise's gentle musician boyfriend from "Thelma & Louise." I mean, just look at that nice face.
On Saturday, Madsen will discuss his career during an on-stage interview with Dennis Willis of San Francisco's KGO radio station. Part of the Sacramento International Film Festival, the event starts at 10:30 a.m. at the 24th Street Theatre (2791 24th St., Sacramento).
For information on the festival, which continues through the weekend, click here.
A few months ago, I was doing my usual blog hopping when I saw a headline about a same-sex kiss on CBS' "Guiding Light." Since it involved Crystal Chappell (shown at right), who once played Carly on "Days of Our Lives" (my family watched only NBC soaps), I had to check it out.
Since "Guiding Light" doesn't air in Sacramento, I went to the CBS site to watch the video and discovered the beautifully acted story of Olivia (Chappell) and Natalia (Jessica Leccia), one-time romantic rivals who became friends after Olivia received Natalia's late husband's heart in a transplant operation. (Hey, these things happen -- in soap operas).
Their slow-building "romance" thus far has consisted mostly of ambiguous proclamations and smoldering looks. But Leccia and Chappell sell the pair's emotional intimacy and the struggle of these previously heterosexual women to reconcile their feelings for each other.
Chappell, alternately brassy and vulnerable as the hard-drinking, much-married Olivia, seems like she would have been at home headlining one of those 1940s "women's pictures" that starred Bette Davis or Joan Crawford.
She's got loads of chemistry with Leccia, who's effective in a quieter way as the religious, more reserved half of the pair dubbed "Otalia" by fans. She also sparks with Grant Aleksander, a fount of charisma as Olivia's ex-husband, Phillip. Phillip's return to the fictional town of Springfield worries Olivia, who has been raising Olivia's daughter (the super-cute Jacqueline Tsirkin) with Natalia.
Even more worrisome is Natalia's engagement to Frank (Frank Dicopoulos), local police detective and member of the bland yet self-celebrating Cooper clan. (That is, the Coopers are bland except for patriarch Buzz, played by Justin Deas, a firecracker like Chappell).
As you can see, I am into this show, even though I have watched it for only a few months, and only on the Internet. So it was with some dismay that I learned this week that CBS is canceling "Guiding Light" -- a show with a history stretching back to the days of radio -- due to poor ratings.
Really, CBS? I watch a show for two months of its 72-year run, and it's during those two months that you cancel it?
"Light" will remain on the air until September, and there's talk it might end up on another network or become an Internet-only program. Whatever happens, I am grateful to have discovered Leccia, Aleksander and Deas, and to have rediscovered Chappell, since I haven't seen these actors in movies or elsewhere on television.
After all, it's better to have watched and lost ...
Movie trailers so rarely excite me. Indeed, the last time one did was in 2006, when the studio behind "The Devil Wears Prada" showed a scene from the film as the picture's trailer.
But in the past week, two trailers have wowed me, the first of which is for "Where the Wild Things Are," opening in October.
Having never read the classic children's book by Maurice Sendak, my response to the preview is tied completely to the sense of visual wonder created by director Spike Jonze .
The trailer for July's "Public Enemies" (below) impresses for a different reason:
Though "Enemies" director Michael Mann also is known for his visual flair, the treat here is seeing Johnny Depp clean-shaven and looking so beautiful. Depp has spent so much time "Pirates of the Caribbean" and/or Tim Burton drag, that you almost forget he's a leading man rather than a character actor.
Or nearly a leading man, since anti-hero John Dillinger is probably as close as Depp will get to a conventional role these days.
Every year, strangers become friends and friends become filmmakers via Access Sacramento's "A Place Called Sacramento" program. The program brings together writers, directors, actors and crew members to make short films that touch on some aspect of life in our fair capital.
The program is now in the script phase, with submissions due by noon April 15.
To help along the screenwriting process, Access Sacramento will offer a workshop called "Writing a Do-able Script" from 9 a.m.-noon Saturday at the Coloma Community Center, 4623 T St., Sacramento.
To reserve a space, call (916) 456-8600, ext. 0. For information on the "Place Called Sacramento" program, got the Access Sacramento site.
If you plan every summer around the Sacramento French Film Festival -- and if you don't, you should, because it's great -- it is moving up from July to June this year.
"Many French people go on vacation (back to France) in July," Cecile Mouette Downs, the festival's executive and artistic director, said of the switch. Downs wanted to accommodate those people, as well as college students who might still be in town in June, she said.
The festival will run from June 19-21 and June 27-28 at the Crest Theatre. Though Downs will not announce the full program until May, she did reveal that this year's slate of classic films includes Jean Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast" and Jean Renoir 's "The Rules of the Game."
For information on the 2009 festival, see its Web site.
Deon Taylor Enterprises, a local filmmaking company I wrote about a few weeks ago, is looking for a potential host for "Up All Nite," an "Entertainment Tonight"-style show it has in the works. Open auditions will be held from noon-3 p.m. Saturday in front of Macy's at Downtown Plaza (547 L St.) in Sacramento.
According to a press release, the audition is open to men and women, ages 21 to 35, "with the right look, vibe, enthusiasm and confidence to co-host an entertainment show."
In other words, no unibrows.
Applicants should be prepared to deliver a 15- to 20-second bit showing his or her hosting skills. Each person should bring a head shot with contact information, and an entertainment resume or a written paragraph detailing his or her experience in the entertainment business.
The show also is looking for a fashion reporter and a movie critic, so hopefuls interested in those roles should come prepared. For fashion reporter, that means wearing something chic, and for movie critic, wearing a scowl and/or a superior look.
Every Friday at 4:40 p.m., I discuss movies with Kitty O'Neal and R.E. Graswich on KFBK 1530-AM.
Last Friday, we talked about "Monsters vs. Aliens" and "Sunshine Cleaning," and the Sacramento International Film Festival.
If you want to hear what I had to say, click here.
In 2007, several films about the war in Iraq hit theaters. Movie-goers, too weary of the real-life war to embrace fictionalized versions, mostly stayed away.
But the best of these films, Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," (trailer above) scored an Oscar nomination for Tommy Lee Jones' heart-wrenching lead performance as a former military man investigating the disappearance of his soldier son.
"Elah" is plays at 6:30 tonight at the Mondavi Center for the Arts as part of a four-movie Focus on Film series linked to a May 11 Mondavi appearance by Haggis, who also directed "Crash" and wrote the screenplay for "Million Dollar Baby."
The other three films in the series, chosen by Haggis, represent his strongest influences: Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon," (April 13), Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless," (1960), and Sidney Lumet's "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975).
As for "Elah" ... though movie viewers remain weary of war, the passage of time -- along with exposure to several Iraq-themed documentaries and true-life accounts such as the HBO film "Taking Chance" -- have allowed for greater audience perspective on the war. While "Elah" remains a challenging film -- and some of its anti-war symbolism too obvious -- its central questions about the meaning of family, honor and duty now seem almost timeless.
Tickets are $10 general, $5 for students and children (just FYI, "Elah" is rated R and contains disturbing content). For information on the Focus on Film series and the Haggis event, go to the Mondavi the Mondavi site.
I don't often promote film fund-raising projects, because if I had a nickel for every wonderful film that couldn't get funding, well, I'd have nearly enough for the catering budget on a short-film production.
But occasionally, there's a film fund-raiser that just tugs at the heartstrings, like the one at 10:30 tonight at the Crest Theatre (1013 K St.)
Those fine people behind Trash Film Orgy are trying to generate enough money so that they someday can gift the world with "Planet of the Vampire Women," a film that promises space pirates, a heist and -- this is just a guess -- a galaxy's worth of cleavage.
The fund-raiser centers on a showing of "Hard Rock Zombies," a 1984 film that combines the hair-band aesthetic and the walking, blood-thirsty dead.
Since tickets are only $9.50, the TFO folks probably aren't planning to shoot on location in space.
For information, go to the TFO site.
Sue Wilson, director "Broadcast Blues," a documentary lamenting the erosion of the contrasting-views concept in the wake of deregulation and media conglomerates, knows of what she speaks. An Emmy-winning former news producer, she worked at Los Angeles' KCBS back in the days of Jim Lampley, Keith Olbermann and even the Fairness Doctrine.
In the time since, she has seen many broadcast stations' "public interest obligation become a shareholder obligation," said Wilson, 50, who lives in Amador County and has worked locally at Channel 6 (KVIE) and KXJZ (90.9 FM)
"Broadcast Blues," which plays 2 p.m. Sunday at the Crest Theatre, maintains that corporate ownership of (overwhelmingly conservative) talk-radio stations hinders real political discourse and that fewer locally owned stations means less stewardship of decency standards and emergency broadcast systems and fewer opportunities for listeners to lodge complaints locally.
Wilson interviews several national figures in the film, including actor Danny Glover and talk-show host Phil Donahue. She also touches on the case of Jennifer Strange, the 28-year-old Rancho Cordova woman who died in 2007 after a water-drinking contest at KDND (107.9 The End). The FCC has not acted on the Strange family's request to revoke the station's license, Wilson says, and has instead issued 14 more licenses to its parent company, Entercom.
"If they can't keep their nose clean in Sacramento, why are we giving them more licenses?" asks Wilson.
Wilson made the film, she says, to remind people that broadcasters, through their licensing process, promise to uphold the public interest, and that the public can hold them -- and the FCC -- accountable.
"If people become aware of this, we can get the (broadcasters) to start paying attention to us once again," Wilson said.
During the four years she spent making the film, Wilson sought information from the FCC, which has yet to respond to her Freedom of Information Act request request. She also sought an interview with media giant Clear Channel, which declined comment.
If the documentary itself seems one-sided, that's not what Wilson intended.
"If they just won't call you back ... at some point, I have a story to tell and I have to tell it without them," Wilson said.
Tickets are $10 ($5 for students) and are available at the Crest box office at 1013 K St., and through Tickets.com.
Tickets.com. The filmmakers will share proceeds from the screening will Access Sacramento and media Watchdog groups Sacramento Media Group and California Common Cause. All proceeds from a noon fund-raising luncheon at the Crest Cafe (next to the theater) will benefit the same groups.
At 1:30 p.m., Wilson will lead a protest of Rush Limbaugh and "hate radio" in front of the Crest.
For information, call (916) 456-8600 or 443-1792. ext. 11 or visit the movie's Web site.
Every Friday at 4:40 p.m., I discuss movies with Kitty O'Neal and R.E. Graswich on KFBK 1530-AM.
Last Friday, we talked about 2008 Oscar-winning films available on DVD, including "Man on Wire," the excellent documentary about Philippe Petit, the Frenchman who walked a tight rope between the Twin Towers just after the World Trade Center was built.
If you want to hear what I had to say, click here.
Those skinny-jeaned sensations Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas will embark on a "surprise theater invasion" of select movie houses showing their rockumentary "Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience."
The personal appearances start Friday, the same day the movie officially opens (there are midnight screenings Thursday).
There's no word on whether the Jonases will be coming to Northern California. I guess that's why they call it a "surprise tour."
Speaking of surprises, parents should be aware, before piling the kids into the car on Friday, that tickets are $15 for everyone -- or about $5.50 more than the typical adult movie ticket.
Thank goodness for Sean Penn. Though his acceptance speech probably wasn't as exciting as Mickey Rourke's would have been, it was full of humor, fire and politics, and it enlivened a sluggish final hour and a half of the Academy Awards.
It started with Penn, named best actor for playing late gay rights activist Harvey Milk, greeting the Kodak audience with, "You Commie, homo-loving sons of guns."
But he was serious in chastising people who voted for the anti-gay marriage Prop. 8. That's a risky move even for the ultra-political Penn. A lot of people voted for Prop. 8, including people who might want to go Penn's films.
The wins for Danny Boyle (best director) and "Slumdog Millionaire" (best picture) were lovely, but also completely predictable, and the show sagged from too many songs (this isn't the Grammys!).
The Oscars' eventual bloat was even more frustrating given how well the show started. But the Academy indulged itself and dared viewers to keep watching. In the process, it might have alienated forever those viewers who haven't warmed much to the mostly arthouse films being honored, anyway.
Darn that Kate Winslet for being so terrific at such a young age. In the "Who's Overdue" stakes that was the best actress race, Winslet, 33, nominated five times previously without winning, triumphed over Meryl Streep , 59, who received her 15th total nomination for "Doubt," and has won twice in the past, once in the lead and once in the supporting category.
In accepting her Oscar for "The Reader," Winslet acknowledged Streep and the other "goddesses" in her category, and by extension, Sophia Loren , Shirley MacLaine and the other past acting winners who introduced the nominees.
Winslet so sincerely excited in delivering her acceptance speech that you had to be glad for her. Still, it doesn't seem fair that Winslet and Streep, 26 years apart in age, now stand exactly the same chance of overtaking Katharine Hepburn 's record four best-actress Oscars.
Even though the win was expected, the Ledger family's tribute to Heath Ledger still brought tears to the eyes of Ledger fans in the Kodak Theatre and everywhere else.
Talk of Ledger winning the supporting-actor statue this year so dominated the pre-Oscar conversation that I almost overlooked Philip Seymour Hoffman's presence in the same category. And that's strange, given the grudge I've held against Hoffman since he beat out Ledger, nominated for "Brokeback Mountain," with his performance in "Capote."
It wasn't Hoffman's fault, of course, but my attachment to Ledger's taciturn, emotionally wrecked Ennis Del Mar is so great that I couldn't help but blame Hoffman a little. Opinions about film are as emotional as they are intellectual, after all, and when it comes to certain performances, they even can be a touch irrational.
But seeing Ledger's work finally recognized over Hoffman's redefines "hollow victory." I'd much rather see Ledger alive and losing to Hoffman every year.
Does Beyonce have to be on everything?
They do seem to be dragging things out once again.
Otherwise, why the romantic-coupling montage that included films more Razzie- than Oscar-worthy? Don't we deserve a warning before they show a clip of "The Other Boleyn Girl"?
Clearly, the Academy included this whole montage to give "Twilight" dreamboat Robert Pattinson something to introduce.
At least the cinematography award was a bone, though, and certainly a well-deserved win for Anthony Dod Mantle. His vibrant cinematography is one of the reasons "Slumdog Millionaire" transfixes nearly everyone who sees it.
This new Oscar look is great! What with the blue, nightclubby set design, the multitalented Hugh Jackman singing, dancing and even bringing up the recession, it's as if the Oscars have figured out how to be relevant again.
It all seems so intimate and communal, with movie stars right at Jackman's feet, ready to be ribbed (even a suddenly de-iced Angelina Jolie!).
Also loved seeing all those past supporting-actress winners present the award to Penelope Cruz . And Cruz was so gracious and looked so
Audrey Hepburn-esque while accepting.
Dare I say it? I am very excited about this year's Oscars. Let's just hope they don't drag things out like they usually do, practically daring the audience to keep watching in between major awards.
Two great movie-related events that cost little to no money to attend are happening in Davis Monday, Feb. 23. The only hitch is, they're happening at virtually the same time.
At 6:30 p.m., the Mondavi Center's Focus on Film Series will show the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock film "Strangers on a Train" ($10/$5). At 7 p.m., John Cameron Mitchell, writer and star of the stage show and film "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," will speak on campus at the Technocultural Studies Building (formerly the Art Annex) in a free event open to the public (or at least those members of the public who are 18 or older).
Mitchell recently completed a three-day run at San Francisco's Victoria Theatre, where he sang songs from "Hedwig," a rock musical in which he starred as 1980s East German transsexual with relationship issues. If you haven't seen the 2001 film -- also directed by Mitchell -- go rent it. It's heartbreaking and hilarious, and features some great glitter rock-esque songs by composer Stephen Trask.
It also contains a wonderful running gag in which Hedwig, now in the United States and fronting a band, plays a series of gigs at a chain of seafood restaurants called "Bilgewater's." I've always found that Freecreditreport.com commercial where the guy sings about being stuck working in a pirate-themed restaurant to be a bit too reminiscent of the Bilgewater's bits.
For information about the "Strangers" screening, visit the Mondavi site.
To find out more about the Mitchell event, call (530) 752-9674.
Mark S. Allen and I live-blogged about the Oscars today from noon-1 p.m. Those who missed it can catch it here:
In anticipation of Sunday's Academy Awards, Mark S. Allen of "Good Day Sacramento" and I will blog live from noon-1 p.m. today at www.sacbee.com/live.
We will discuss our picks in the lead Oscar categories and field your questions and comments.
My predictions will run in Friday's Ticket section, and I will be blogging here at 21Q as the show happens Sunday night.
On Thursday, Mark S. Allen of CW 31's "Good Day Sacramento" and I will offer our Oscar predictions and field your questions during a live chat at www.sacbee.com/live that will last from noon-1 p.m.
We would love to hear your opinions about who'll take home Oscars during the ceremony Sunday night.
In the meantime, here are trailers for the films vying for best picture:
"Milk", "The Reader", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Slumdog Millionaire", "Frost/Nixon".
Those clips are not listed in order of where I think they might fall in the Oscar voting. I will discuss the real order with Mark on "Good Day Sacramento" at 8:10 a.m. and then, more extensively during the live chat.
My predictions in the lead categories also will appear in Friday's Ticket section, and I will also be blogging about the Oscars as they happen here on the 21Q blog Sunday night.
Who do you think will be named best actress at Sunday Academy Awards, Kate Winslet or Meryl Streep? And which is the best film of the year, "Slumdog Millionaire," "Milk" or "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"?
At noon on Thursday, Mark S. Allen of CW 31's "Good Day Sacramento" and I will offer our best guesses and field your questions and comments during a live chat. To participate, go to www.sacbee.com/live.
We also will discuss the Oscars at 8:10 a.m. Thursday on "Good Day Sacramento."
My Oscar predictions will appear in Friday's Ticket section.
Every Friday afternoon, I talk movies with with Kitty O'Neal and R.E. Graswich on KFBK (1530 AM).
Even when the movies are duds (as was the case with The International" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic"), the discussion still can be lively. If you want to take a listen, click here.
Aiming for those couples who like to celebrate with dinner and a movie, Hollywood likes to release at least one romantic comedy right around Valentine's Day. This year, it's "Confessions of a Shopaholic."
But this would-be light-as-air movie, based on the best-selling novel by Sophie Kinsella. depresses more than it entertains. Its attempts at physical comedy are leaden, and its message, which holds that overspending, though unwise, also can be adorable, plays as very dated.
Having the clothes-crazy lead character (Isla Fisher) learn her lesson at the end doesn't compensate for all the moments where she's lying to debt collectors while continuing to charge, charge, charge.
To be fair, "Shopaholic" was shot before the nation's economic nose-dive rendered anything tied to frivolous spending instantly inappropriate. But that doesn't make it less awkward to watch.
A better Valentine's Day bet is "He's Just Not That Into You," which has more to say about romance and life and says it better.
Good news for beleaguered state workers: On Friday, Feb. 27, the Movies on a Big Screen series in West Sacramento will show the comedy "Adventures of Power" (trailer above) free of charge to state workers and other viewers who flash their union cards.
"Adventures in Power" involves a mine worker named Power (Ari Gold, who also wrote and directed) who moonlights as an "air drummer" (as in, air guitar). When Power's union-leader father (Michael McKean) calls a strike at the mine, Power discovers a (figuratively) underground group of stickless compatriots.
McKean ("This Is Spinal Tap") is of course no stranger to musical parodies, and Jane Lynch, who plays Power's aunt, is, like McKean, a veteran of Christopher Guest's mockumentaries.
The wild card is Adrian Grenier, who appears to play an actual character -- a sleazy rock drummer -- instead of just standing around looking pretty, as he does on HBO's "Entourage."
Funny, but Ari Gold also is the name of Jeremy Piven's agent character on "Entourage." That coincidence probably provided seconds of laughter on the "Adventures of Power" set.
Non-union workers have to pay $5 to see the film, which will be show at 7 and 9:30 p.m. at 600 4th St, West Sacramento. But students get in for $2.50. Visit www.shiny-object.com for information.
Every Friday at 4:40 p.m., I discuss movies with Kitty O'Neal and R.E. Graswich on KFBK 1530-AM.
Last Friday, we discussed my review
of "New in Town" along with the DVD release of Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," for which Penélope Cruz nabbed a supporting-actress Oscar nomination.
If you want to hear what I had to say, click here.
Every Friday at 4:40 p.m., I discuss movies with Kitty O'Neal and R.E. Graswich on KFBK.
Last Friday, I discussed my review of "Stinkheart" "Inkheart" as well as Sunday's story about old movie theaters and Monday's story in which I picked my personal favorites among Oscar nominees.
If you want to hear what I had to say, click here.
If you want to read the stories, go to www.sacbee.com/meyer or just click here.
Academy Awards voters showed some welcome independent thinking in the nominations announced this morning, especially in the lead actor category, in which the wonderful Richard Jenkins was nominated for his performance in the small (and nearly perfect) character study "The Visitor." But what was left off Oscar's list is always more interesting than what was included.
Like Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino." Eastwood's borderline self-parodying yet immensely powerful performance in that film is truly something to behold. More people want to talk to me about "Gran Torino" than any other film released during the awards season. Yet the film was shut out completely.
Perhaps Oscar voters were put off by the film's racist language. But that seems an unlikely reason for the snub, given that Robert Downey Jr. received a supporting nod for his comedic performance as an actor who dyes his skin to play an African American character in "Tropic Thunder." And the Academy seems to love "The Reader," which presents a criminally bigoted character in a sympathetic light.
The other 2008 film directed by Eastwood, "Changeling," did receive three nominations, though, for cinematography and art direction (well deserved), and for its lead actress, Angelina Jolie (undeserved). Why Jolie's one-note performance as a grieving mother was recognized over Kristin Scott Thomas' transcendent performance as a woman just released from prison in "I've Loved You So Long" is a mystery.
It's also a real shame that the Academy didn't see fit to recognize Sally Hawkins' performance as a peppy schoolteacher with hidden depths in "Happy-Go-Lucky" (the trailer for which is posted above, just because).
Melissa Leo seemed to take the truly-independent-film spot in the lead actress category for her performance as people-smuggler in the tiny film "Frozen River." But her performance, though accomplished, can't compare to Hawkins' or Scott Thomas'.
The good news in the lead actress category is that Meryl Streep, who received her 15th total Academy Award nomination this morning for her role as a suspicious nun in "Doubt," could easily triumph. Streep goes a bit overboard in "Doubt," but nobody would be unhappy to see her win a third Academy Award.
The omission of "The Dark Knight" in the directing and best-picture categories also is viewed as a slight by some. But I never got on that particular bandwagon. The eight nominations it received were in categories where it merited them, such as cinematography, visual effects, and of course, supporting actor, for the late Heath Ledger 's mesmerizing, inventive performance as The Joker.
In Monday's newspaper, I will pick my personal favorites in all the lead categories.
Oscars will be handed out Feb. 22.
Click here to view a list of the 81st annual Oscar nominations
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association doesn't have the best track record in predicting the Oscar best picture. In 2007, for instance, it chose "Babel" over "The Departed" in the best drama category.
But this year, it seems to be on the money in choosing "Slumdog Millionaire." Grimly realistic yet life-affirming, gritty yet gorgeous, "Slumdog" is the most purely entertaining film to factor in this awards season.
It's not the best movie among the top awards contenders, though. That's "Milk," which the Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn't even see fit to nominate for best drama.
That crazy Hollywood Foreign Press Association: You can only love it for about a minute before you have second thoughts.
You gotta love a comeback story like Mickey Rourke's, especially when the character he's being honored for playing is also a struggling guy who used to be a big deal. ("The Wrestler" opens Friday in Sacramento.)
And the roughed-up mug, sunglasses and wallet chain couldn't conceal Rourke's vulnerability as he delivered his acceptance speech. I mean, the guy thanked his dogs.
He's heartbreaking, on screen and off.
And the sparkly scarf? AWESOME.
NBC/AP
The moment "30 Rock" was announced best comedy, Tina Fey, so brilliant, so multitalented, seemed primed to come to something else -- overexposed. And I'm not talking about her dress. Fey has been everywhere in the past several months.
But instead of calling more attention to herself, Fey had "30 Rock" co-star Tracy Morgan take the microphone. It was pact they made, Morgan said, after Barack Obama was elected president.
"I'm the face of post-racial America," Morgan told the audience. "Deal with it, Cate Blanchett!"
Why he chose Blanchett isn't clear. But it was funny.
Later, when making her way to the podium to accept the award for best actress in a comedy, Fey seemed embarrassed by the fuss.
"If you ever start to feel too good about yourself," she told the audience, "they have this thing called the Internet."
Charming, disarming, always a bit dorky, Fey is just the best celebrity going right now.
"Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan just spoke so eloquently in accepting the Golden Globe for Heath Ledger.
Though it was sad to see the clip of Ledger as the Joker, Nolan quickly put things into perspective by pointing out that Ledger will have a lasting impact on cinematic history.
It was a lovely speech. I hope Nolan will speak on Ledger's behalf again, at the Oscars.
The San Francisco Critics Circle voted "'Milk (trailer above), a biopic on Harvey Milk, the pioneering gay-rights activist and San Francisco supervisor assassinated in 1978, as the year's best film.
The group also honored Gus Van Sant as best director and recognized the film's writer, Dustin Lance Black, in the original-screenplay category
Sean Penn, who stars as Milk, was named best actor along with Mickey Rourke, recognized for his performance as a down-and-out professional wrestler in "The Wrestler" (opening in Sacramento in January). The vote in that category ended in a tie.
Though "Milk" is a very San Francisco story, it is winning plenty of acclaim elsewhere. The New York Film Critics Circle and Southeastern Film Critics Association both named it best picture.
Judging by critics' groups awards so far -- but not by the Golden Globe nominations, which (criminally) omitted "Milk" from its best drama list -- the film is shaping up as a leading Oscar best-picture contender, along with "Slumdog Millionaire" and that animated story of the rusty robot that could, "Wall-E."
Sally Hawkins , the previously little-known British actress who plays a perpetually upbeat schoolteacher in "Happy-Go-Lucky," continued her roll with best actress honors from the San Francisco critics. Hawkins previously was honored by the New York, Boston and Los Angeles film critics.
Like Penn in the lead-actor category, Hawkins looks to be an early favorite for the best actress Oscar, though Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married"), Kate Winslet ( "The Reader" and "Revolutionary Road," opening in Sacramento on Christmas Day and in January, respectively), and a little-heralded newcomer named Meryl Streep ("Doubt") certainly are in contention as well.
Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker in "The Dark Knight," by contrast, already appears to be a virtual lock for an Oscar. The San Francisco critics, like almost every other critics' group to weigh in so far, named Ledger best supporting actor of 2008.
The San Francisco critics recognized Marisa Tomei as best supporting actress for her performance as a stripper who may or may not have a heart of gold in "The Wrestler."
Peter Morgan took adapted-screenplay honors for transforming his own stage play into "Frost/Nixon." The Swedish vampire/coming-of-age story "Let the Right One In" was named best foreign-language film, and "My Winnipeg," director Guy Maddin's 's ("The Saddest Music in the World") artful tribute to his Canadian hometown, best documentary.
The San Francisco Film Critics Circle consists of 24 film writers, including me and the News & Review's Jonathan Kiefer .
So you're the world's greatest ABBA and "Mamma Mia!" fan, but some of those Swedish-to-English lyrics still puzzle. Why for instance, would anyone want to "feel the bean on the tambourine?" What's it doing there, anyway?
To clear up confusion, Universal is offering a sing-along version of its popular, Meryl Streep led movie musical, starting Friday. Fans can follow along to the lyrics on the screen and sing to their hearts' content at three local theaters: Century Stadium, Century Laguna and UA Roseville.
And yes, this will be your chance to show that you really can sing better than Pierce Brosnan!
It's midway through 2008, and therefore time to take a look back at the excellent films released so far this year in Sacramento. It shouldn't take long, since by my count, there have been two: "WALL-E" and "The Visitor."
Since everyone and their 3-year-old is aware of the charms of "WALL-E," I will focus on "The Visitor," my favorite film of the year so far.
The story of hemmed-in college professor (the superb Richard Jenkins) invigorated by unexpected relationships with an immigrant couple (Haaz Sleiman and Danai Gurira, both revelations) and the man's widowed mother (Hiam Abbass, stunning in every sense), "The Visitor" is the kind of carefully observed character study that reminds film lovers why they fell for this particular art form in the first place.
The characters are so well-rounded, and their behavior so emotionally authentic, that this quiet film engages the viewer more thoroughly than any pyrotechnics-filled summer action movie.
What's especially nice about "The Visitor" is that it's stuck around for two months -- an unusually long run for a small film.
Bryna Lovig, box-office manager at the Crest Theatre, where the film will play at least through the weekend, says film-goers are seeing "The Visitor" more than once. The movie's percussion-heavy soundtrack (Sleiman's character is a professional drummer), which the Crest features as its "walk-in," or pre-show, music, "is also getting rave reviews," Lovig says.
The film's trailer (shown above, via YouTube), should give you a sense of its loveliness and emotional power. But for the full impact, go see "The Visitor" this week at The Crest.
It's showing at 5:50 and 8:40 p.m. and is rated PG-13.
Given the advancements in digital filmmaking and editing technology, it's never too late - or too early - for filmmaking hopefuls to become actual filmmakers.
Organizers of the North American All Youth Film and Education Day, scheduled for Oct. 3 at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento, are encouraging filmmakers ages 13 to 20 to submit entries.
Virtually all types of entries are accepted - from live action to animation, from dramatic narrative to experimental - as long as they run between three and 40 minutes.
The deadline for submissions is July 9.
For information, call (916) 798-4000. For a complete list of guidelines for entries and to download an entry form, go to the Web site for the event.
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The Sacramento French Film Festival has confirmed the lineup for its 2008 event, to take place July 18-20 and July 26-27 at the Crest Theatre.
As always, the selections range from the humorous ("OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies," an espionage spoof opening the festival) to the scary (the psycho-horror midnight offering "High Tension"), and from the ground-breaking to the classic.
Put simply, this festival offers cinematic opportunities unavailable anywhere else in Sacramento, during any other time of year. Like the opportunity, at this year's festival, to see Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" on the big screen.
The festival still is a few weeks away, but the fun already has started with the promotional video shown above (via YouTube). It features key players from behind the scenes, including festival co-founders Cecile Downs -- and Connie Georgiou, as pals on their way to see a show.
(Spoiler alert: the stranger getting fresh with Downs actually is her husband, strong>John)
For the complete festival line-up, see festival's Web site
When you see as many movies as I do, you get a sense just from watching a film what it's going to be rated.
But my rating abilities have proved faulty lately. Certain that the innuendo-filled "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" and "The Love Guru" (opening Friday) were rated R, I was surprised to find each rated PG-13.
Now, PG-13 always has been amorphous, allowing all sorts of questionable material as long as certain body parts and curse words stay under wraps.
I often have lamented, in print and in person, the amount of violence the MPAA allows in PG-13 films. I then follow -- at least in person -- with a kicker about how Americans are prudes about sex and far too accepting of violence. (This observation usually leads my friends, gathered around me in a dark coffeehouse, to nod so vigorously in agreement that the berets nearly slip from their heads).
But "Zohan" and "Love Guru" suggest the MPAA is loosening up on the sex front - a development I'll file in the "careful what you wish for" category.
Because when I call the MPAA raters prudish, I am referring to their stance on sex scenes between attractive people, not their views on penis jokes delivered by comic characters.
Maybe it's not sexuality that discomfits the ratings board after all, but the sincere expression of it.
I think the MPAA has intimacy issues.
We don't usually cover books at 21Q, but this one has a movie tie-in: Mary Pols, former movie critic at the Contra Costa Times, has written a terrific memoir called "Accidentally on Purpose" (HarperCollins, 272 pages, $24.95).
Beginning on the night she got pregnant -- by a nice young man she didn't know very well -- "Accidentally on Purpose" details Pols' transition from 39-year-old single film critic to working mom trying to negotiate motherhood, a career and a tricky relationship with her child's father.
There's loads of insight along the way, punctuated by tremendously funny and achingly sad passages and related with a level of candor that's unusual even for a memoir. Reading "Accidentally on Purpose" is like entering someone's mind and heart.
I couldn't put it down. And I'm not saying this because I know her -- because I didn't really know her until I read the book.
Most of the times I have seen her -- at film screenings or at meetings of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, a group Mary founded -- we have talked almost exclusively about movies. And real life, as we all know, is far more interesting. "Accidentally on Purpose" testifies to that.
For information on the book, click here ...
The locally themed short films "Kindred" and "Being Lisa" have been honored with "Hometown" awards by the Alliance for Community Media in Washington, D.C. The films were made as part of Access Sacramento's 2007 "A Place Called Sacramento" program, which asks filmmakers to compose 10-minute shorts with local themes.
"Kindred" (shown below via YouTube) imagines a physician whose vivid dreams evoke the 1850 cholera epidemic in Sacramento. The film's director, Sacramento graphic designer Scott Howe, 43, arrived at the idea for the film while his father was in the hospital getting his kidney removed. He came up with a location while working at his former job at California State University, Sacramento.
"I noticed that the basement of the library building looked just like a hospital,"
says Howe, who now works for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
"Being Lisa" (below) involves a fledgling romance between and man and a transgender woman who meet over a business dinner.
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The experience of making "Being Lisa" convinced co-director/co-writer Becca Louisell, 34, who works for a local nonprofit, to apply to film school.
The project helped inspire her to "get work out there that has some kind of meaning," says Louisell, who co-wrote the film with Gene Hoisington, Steven Bourasa and the film's star, Amara Stefani, and directed it with Hoisington and Bourasa. She since has been accepted into the prestigious USC film program.
"Kindred" and "Being Lisa" will be honored in the "cultural perspectives" and "gay/lesbian" professional categories, respectively, at the ACM "Hometown" awards ceremony July 10 in Washington.
For information on the 2008 "A Place Called Sacramento" contest, now in the production stage, go to www.accesssacramento.org.
Last week I wrote a short news story that combined by favorite subject, movies, with one of my least favorite subjects, rodents. And I am still torn.
The closed theaters and snack bar at the Century Stadium 14 soon were up and running again, after being re-inspected. The county returned again Wednesday to make sure things remained up to snuff.
But as I said, I am torn. Having worked in food service in my youth, I know it takes constant vigilance to keep pests out, and that it's naive to think a place where customers routinely leave sodas, popcorn and candy on the floor wouldn't attract elements even less desirable than people who talk on cell phones during movies.
I just wish I had never seen behind this particular curtain. The Century Stadium 14 is one of my favorite places to see a movie in the Sacramento area. I especially love the smaller theaters, where the screens are big and the sound terrific.
Indeed, my love for these theaters is so great that I think it outweighs the creep-out factor. So ... I will heed the judgment of county inspectors and head back to the Century Stadium 14.
I just won't be wearing my flip-flops.
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" isn't the only movie game in town this weekend. Here are some of my other recommendations:
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
3 stars
In a series of touching montage-flashbacks in this decidedly naughty but big-hearted film, we see how Peter (Jason Segel), a composer for a TV crime drama starring Sarah (Kristen Bell), gladly took a back seat to his actress girlfriend. He happily wore the hideous shirts she bought him and generally thought everything was great until the moment she left.
Iron Man
3 stars
Scenes set in Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) workshop highlight his playful relationship with his assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Downey locks his eyes with Paltrow's in a way that tells us that Pepper might be the one to change Stark's playboy ways. Paltrow looks terrific here, playing her character with a constant hint of a smile that says Pepper is wise to Stark's ways but adores him anyway. Though it's odd to see Paltrow in a supporting role in a comic-book film, she does a lot with it.
Rated PG-13
The Visitor
4 stars
Director and screenwriter Tom McCarthy 's exceptional way with actors doesn't surprise: He recently played the fabulist newspaper reporter on HBO's "The Wire." But he's a marvelous storyteller altogether, injecting humor into his film while exploring the serious topic of the treatment of illegal immigrants.
Rated PG-13
The Trash Film Orgy Spring Break, an event whose title flirts with redundancy, will offer the 1976 film "Revenge of the Cheerleaders" as well as the TFO-made short film "Cheerleaders from Hell" on Saturday at the Crest Theatre.
"Revenge of the Cheerleaders" features the first big-screen appearance of David Hasselhoff. That's right: The Hoff was big in high school exploitation films even before he was big in Germany.
Doors open at 11 p.m. for the 18-and-over event. For more information, go here.
Every week in Friday's Weekend Ticket section, I review new movies and I recommend previously released ones. Can't wait to read it? Well, this feature now appears at 21Q each Thursday afternoon.
My picks among recently released movies:
American Gangster
3 stars
Steven Zaillian’s script contrasts cop Richie (Russell Crowe, pictured below)
and drug dealer Frank (Denzel Washington) in interesting ways. Richie is a womanizer and an inattentive father whose saving grace is his professional honesty. Frank, on the other hand, holds things together quite well in his criminal and personal lives until his affection for the one-time Miss Puerto Rico (Lymari Nadal) leads to an action that seems out of character and proves to be a mistake.
Rated R
Bee Movie
3 stars
This animated film really springs to life when the buff pollen jocks let puny Barry (voiced by Jerry Seinfeld) tag along for a flight through the park. An extended sequence in which Barry experiences city life from a bee’s-eye view offers an amazing display of animation. An interaction with a mosquito (a hilarious Chris Rock) teaches Barry a thing or two about survival in the big city.
Rated PG
Lars and the Real Girl
3 stars
This heartfelt film focuses on the sweetest romance ever to involve a blow-up doll. As a seriously shy young man whose efforts to fit in are a bit unorthodox, Ryan Gosling shows why he is one of today’s most sensitive and talented young actors.
Rated PG-13
Every week in Friday's Weekend Ticket section, I review new movies and I recommend previously released ones. Can't wait to read it? Well, this feature now appears at 21Q each Thursday afternoon.
My picks among recently released movies:
Eastern Promises
3 stars
Viggo Mortensen always has been magnetic, but never more so than in his role as Nikolai, the Russian-born driver for a mobster named Kirill (Vincent Cassel). Nikolai is not just great-looking (though in a decidedly been-to-prison way), but smart and decisive. Superior to Kirill in every way, he doesn't take guff from his boss but doesn't cross the line into disrespect.
Rated R
Into the Wild
4 stars
Penn's breathtaking, compassionate film seeks adventure while also trying to escape his past. That past intrudes when strangers inquire about his parents, gently urging him to contact his family. It's always clear that this is the type of single-minded journey that can be celebrated only when embarked upon by a young person. An older man, with more emotional attachments and fewer childhood-based resentments, would be less likely to take such a trip - and less sympathetic if he did.
Rated R
The Jane Austen Book Club
3 stars
It doesn't seem like a movie featuring such a large, accomplished cast would lend itself to scene-stealing. But Emily Blunt ("The Devil Wears Prada") stands out with her multilayered performance as Prudie, a high school French teacher who fancies herself more intellectual than everyone else.
Rated PG-13
Every week in Friday's Weekend Ticket section, I review new movies and I recommend previously released ones. Can't wait til Friday? Well, this feature now also appears at 21Q each Thursday afternoon.
My picks among recently released movies:
Across the Universe
2 1/2 stars
Julie Taymor’s Beatles musical goes on too long and lags in stretches, but some production numbers are truly magical. At its best moments, the film mixes great sophistication with goofy charm. (Check out Eddie Izzard, pictured, as Mr. Kite.)
Rated PG-13
Eastern Promises
3 stars
Anna (Naomi Watts), a midwife tangling with mobsters, isn’t a criminal, but that doesn’t mean she’s easily put off. Watts has played amateur sleuths and/or imperiled women for much of her career, yet she still lends a freshness to Anna’s determination and naivete. She also shows tremendous chemistry with Viggo Mortensen, who plays an enigmatic mob chauffeur.
Rated R
3:10 to Yuma
3 1/2 stars
As loyal second to criminal mastermind Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), Ben Foster looks like Billy the Kid as outfitted by the wardrobe person for Velvet Revolver. Foster goes big with his performance – a gambit that works surprisingly well as counterpoint to the more subtle work by Crowe and Christian Bale.
Rated R
A few months ago, I wrote in The Bee about the portrayal of journalists in movies. Inspired by "A Mighty Heart," I contrasted that film's depiction of journalists as resourceful and intelligent with most films' portrayals of news folks as ethically challenged and/or likely to sleep with their sources.
A quick glance at current films shows that journalism remains the go-to profession for screenwriters out to create morally murky characters. In "Interview," which I mentioned in July but which just reached Sacramento, a political reporter's (Steve Buscemi) transgressions while interviewing a starlet (Sienna Miller) start with being unprepared and then escalate.
In "The Hunting Party," opening Friday, a disgraced television correspondent played by Richard Gere oversteps journalistic bounds in about a hundred ways. But the worst has to be Jodie Foster (pictured above) in "The Brave One."
Foster's character guns down criminals, then shows up, microphone in hand, to interview a detective (Terrence Howard). At least her character is more radio host than reporter, which is some comfort.
Warner Bros.
You've probably heard about the "Oscar curse", the theory that the next step after an Academy Award is "Boat Trip" (Cuba Gooding Jr.) or "Aeon Flux" (Charlize Theron).
Missing from the Berrys and Benignis that inevitably get mentioned is one name, Nicole Kidman. Yet a glance at Kidman's resume since she won her Oscar for 2002's "The Hours" shows a string of box-office disappointments, the most recent of which is the clunker "The Invasion" (pictured).
I know, I know. That's partly because she chooses quirky and/or arty projects such as "Dogville," "Birth" and "Fur." But I'm pretty sure "Bewitched" and "The Stepford Wives" weren't just labors of love.
Kidman will star in two promising films in the coming months. They include "Margot at the Wedding," from Noah Baumbach, director of the indie gem "The Squid and the Whale," and "The Golden Compass," a potential monster hit of a fantasy film.
But the days of $17 million paychecks (Kidman's reported asking price) might be numbered.
Each week in Friday's Weekend Ticket, I review the weekend's new movies. I also list recommendations for recently released films in a feature called Meyer's Picks. Now, you can find this feature each Thursday afternoon here at 21Q.
Here are my recommendations:
The Bourne Ultimatum
4 stars
The handheld camera work might unsettle some viewers, but it adds tremendous immediacy to this nonstop-action film. Memory-challenged CIA-trained assassin Jason Bourne is an implausibly resourceful character, but he always compels, in large part because of Matt Damon's performance. Resembling a bullet in build and determination, Damon's Bourne will attempt to eradicate all obstacles. He was trained to do so. But the key to his character's appeal is that he doesn't want to be what he is.
Rated PG-13
Stardust
2 1/2 stars
Shopboy-turned-adventurer Tristan (Charlie Cox) is a fool for a beautiful young woman (Sienna Miller), but not a fool altogether. As played by the likable Cox, he's a wonderful, even ideal, fairy-tale hero. Tristan is handsome and adventurous but sensible as well. As much as he enjoys engaging in witty repartee with a fallen star (Claire Danes) in the crater she created, he insists that they keep moving.
Rated PG-13
Hairspray
3 1/2 stars
John Travolta plays a woman here, but his singing voice was higher, not to mention stronger, in "Grease." Yet his performance, though always a curio, is completely infectious, because Travolta emanates such warmth and delight at being able to put on a show. His scenes with Nikki Blonsky, an 18-year-old newcomer and dynamo, brim with affection.
Rated PG
That's my list. Now let's see what you think. Just click on the comments button below.
By Carla Meyer
- Bee Movie Critic
Associated Press
June might be designated as official GLBT pride month, but July is making a pretty good case for itself at local theaters. An unusual number of gay - or gayish-themed - movies open today in Sacramento.
These films range wildly in tone and content, from Sacramento French Film Festival opener "Les Temoins,", a moving drama set during the onset of the AIDs crisis in France, to the Hollywood comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry," in which Adam Sandler and Kevin James (pictured above) play firefighters posing as gay for the domestic-partner benefits.
Right. Because gay people get all the great benefits.
While "Chuck & Larry" seeks a broad audience, the unrated "Boy Culture" sounds happily niche. The independent drama, which focuses on a male hustler, will play for one week at the Crest Theatre.
The wild card is "Hairspray," about which there is nothing overtly gay, as star John Travolta has pointed out. But given that Travolta plays a drag role associated with Divine and Harvey Fierstein, and the musical's origins as a 1988 John Waters film, we'll call it an honorary gay film.
To read my review of "Hairspray," click here.
August tends to be a lackluster month for Hollywood movies, especially as it wears on. As parents' and kids' thoughts turn to the new school year, the studios' thoughts turn to burning off their non-starters.
The Sacramento film scene thankfully has taken compensatory measures. First and foremost is the Sacramento International Film & Music Festival Aug. 8-12 at the Crest Theatre. (Just
click here for more details.)
The event opens with "When a Man Falls in the Forest," a Sharon Stone-Timothy Hutton drama from Redwood Palms Pictures of Folsom. The festival also will feature an evening with homegrown director Joe Carnahan ("Narc"; "Smokin' Aces") on Aug. 10.
And for cinema lovers who prefer to bring their own seats, there's the free Screen on the Green outdoor film series on Saturday nights, presented by Councilman Steve Cohn. (All films start at sundown.)
On Aug. 4, Screen on the Green will offer "Ghost Busters" at East Portal Park, followed by "E.T." on Aug. 11 at Grant Park and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" on Aug. 18 at Babcock Park.
The series concludes Aug. 25 at Glen Hall Park with Alfred Hitchcocks's "The Birds." (Tippi Hedren pictured.) The outdoor setting should increase the talon-on-the-head, chill-down-the-spine effect of that last one.
