San Diego Jewish Film Festival eyes Phil Spector

An exploration of the music legend’s two sides tops our rundown of movies showing around town

The movie includes interviews with Spector, as well as trial footage. He’s a fascinating character who never fit in, and his descriptions of his childhood and his outsider status give a unique insight into a man who was responsible for turning music production into an art

Wednesday, February 8,2012
Film

Oscar-nominated shorts return to San Diego

The Ken Cinema will screen all 10 Academy Award hopefuls

By Anders Wright

With the Oscars less than three weeks away, lots of folks are scrambling to see every nominated film before the big day. Newsflash: It just isn’t possible.

Wednesday, February 1,2012
Film

You can see ‘Crying Woman’ because you don’t live in China

Film about a professional Chinese mourner tops our rundown of movies showing locally

By Anders Wright

A woman who’s down on her luck and desperate for money discovers that there’s a market for an unusual quality she has—enthusiastic crying.

Wednesday, February 1,2012
Film

Young couple faces every parent’s nightmare in ‘Declaration of War’

Though ultimately uplifting, this French film is hard to watch

By Anders Wright

Let’s clarify a few things: That’s a lousy title for this movie, but it’s an understandable one, because when people are faced with crises such as these, they feel like they’re gearing up for battle—with insurance companies, hospitals, doctors and their kid’s ill health

Wednesday, January 25,2012
Film

Happy 10th birthday, San Diego Black Film Festival

More than 100 movies about the black experience start on Jan. 26

By Anders Wright

This year, the festival will screen a collection of more than 100 shorts, documentaries and foreign and animated movies, focusing on the African-American experience and the African Diaspora

Wednesday, January 25,2012
Film

Albert Nobbs is a great idea that isn’t well-realized

Glenn Close plays a woman who’s played a man for many years in Rodrigo Garcia’s film

By Anders Wright

Sometimes it’s subtle; sometimes there’s a marked gap between who we pretend to be and who we actually are. This is the central theme in Rodrigo Garcia’s new film, Albert Nobbs, which stars Glenn Close as a 19th-century Irishwoman who’s served for three decades as a butler while pretending to be a man.

Wednesday, January 18,2012
Film

‘The Dead’ follows Romero’s Rules of Order

A new British zombie flick leads our list of movies showing around town

By Anders Wright

The Dead, helmed by British commercial directors Howard and Jon Ford, was shot in 35-millimeter film in Ghana and Burkina Faso and adheres strictly to George Romero’s rules of zombies.

Wednesday, January 18,2012
Film

‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ will polarize audiences

Some will find Stephen Daldry’s new 9/11 film incredibly cathartic, others incredibly exploitative

By Anders Wright

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is precisely the sort of movie I usually dislike. But I let myself be taken on the film’s emotional journey, and while I understand charges of exploitation, I didn’t experience that at all.

Wednesday, January 11,2012
Film

Meryl Streep makes ‘The Iron Lady’ a bit better

The Margaret Thatcher biopic heads our rundown of all the movies showing around town

By Anders Wright

Satire aside, The Onion pretty much nailed it recently when it summed up Meryl Streep with the one-line caption “Court Rules Meryl Streep Unable to be Tried by Jury as She Has No Peers.”

Wednesday, January 11,2012
Film

There’s a lot of talent in Roman Polanski’s new one-room picture

But even Jodie Foster’s, Kate Winslet’s, Christoph Waltz’s and the director’s Oscars can’t make it more of a play than a film

By Anders Wright

No one can hurt someone more than the people they love, and that’s what’s at the heart of Roman Polanski’s new film, Carnage.