You should listen to the ‘Sound of My Voice’

Actress Brit Marling, who co-wrote the twisty indie drama, talks about putting the story pieces together

The movie is about a young L.A. couple, Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius), who fancy themselves documentary filmmakers. And they have quite a story to tell.

Wednesday, April 25,2012
Film

Edgar Allan Poe: action star

‘The Raven’ opens this week—plus, two other Poe films and the rest of the movies screening around town

By Anders Wright

The summer movie season is upon us, which means it’s just about time to see all kinds of asses getting kicked by all kinds of heroes.

Wednesday, April 25,2012
Film

‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’ is a heartwarming tale of robbery and murder

New Aardman film is charming and funny without striving to be much more

By Anders Wright

Yes, Pirates! is a heartwarming tale of larceny and plundering, with the occasional all-in-good-fun stabbing tossed in for kicks. But don’t let that stop you from taking your kids.

Wednesday, April 18,2012
Film

Asian and autism film series on tap

Plus our weekly rundown of all the movies screening around town

By Anders Wright

The San Diego Asian Film Festival doesn’t return until November, but the folks at the San Diego Asian Film Foundation aren’t taking it easy.

Wednesday, April 18,2012
Film

‘The Island President’ is about a politician you’ll actually like

Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives gives filmmaker Jon Shenk amazing access

By Anders Wright

I’m under the impression that most reasonable people believe that humans have had a negative impact on the global climate.

Wednesday, April 11,2012
Film

Lee Hirsch’s ‘Bully’ humanizes the victims

Emotion-packed documentary tops our rundown of all the movies screening around town

By Anders Wright

Hirsch’s film is essentially a piece of anti-bullying advocacy, humanizing an unseemly part of life by following several families whose children have committed suicide or who are in the midst of being bullied.

Wednesday, April 11,2012
Film

Joss Whedon’s bloody fingerprints are all over 'The Cabin in the Woods'

This satirical deconstruction isn’t your typical horror film

By Anders Wright

I should probably start by saying that I’m not a fan of horror movies. I’ve never enjoyed getting scared for the sake of being scared. It’s not like I’ve written off the genre, but I generally take a pass when someone wants me to see a movie about a bunch of young people who head off to a cabin in the woods and run into something horrific that wants to dismember them in particularly gruesome ways.

Wednesday, April 4,2012
Film

Fridays with Gus Van Sant

Central Library’s director series starts with ‘Drugstore Cowboy’—plus, a rundown of all the movies screening around town

By Anders Wright

Each month, Friday Talking Pictures features the work of a single director. In the past, we’ve seen collections of films from Spike Lee, Sam Peckinpah and Akira Kurosawa, and in April, they’ll screen four different films by Gus Van Sant.

Wednesday, April 4,2012
Film

New hockey film ‘Goon’ has big skates to fill

‘American Pie’ vet Seann William Scott stars as a guy who’s very good at punching people in the face

By Anders Wright

The bar’s been set high for Goon, the hockey comedy opening Friday, April 6, at Hillcrest Cinemas, but the good news is that it adheres to the one-liner about going to see a fight and a hockey game breaks out.

Wednesday, March 28,2012
Film

‘Detachment’ is disappointing

Tony Kaye’s first film in almost 15 years is preachy and shoddy

By Anders Wright

It’s preachy, self-important, depressing and shoddy, almost never giving the high-school students the respect that the movie insists they deserve.

Arts & Culture Features

‘Warehouse 1425’ art show: creativity and controversy

Organizer of May 17 exhibition in East Village fends off criticism

If the event sounds familiar, there’s a reason. Unsolicited emails from people in the local art community have been sent to CityBeat blasting the show as a rip-off of Parachute Factory.

By Alex Zaragoza

Device adoption

Suddenly, I’m an Apple guy with no need for Glass

I liken Google Glass to Nintendo's "Virtual Boy," which was rolled out in 1995. We were promised the first 3-D, virtual-reality game system, but when I visited Blockbuster Video to try out a pair, I was unimpressed.

By Dave Maass

Simon Pegg goes where some have gone before in ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

Shaun of ‘Shaun of the Dead’ explains what it means to be on the Starship Enterprise

Star Trek Into Darkness is the latest movie to warp its way into the fray, and it's got big shoes to fill.

By Anders Wright

Canvassed

Latvian artist Jana Brike at Distinction, a fundraiser for Girls Think Tank in Balboa Park and more goings-on

Digable artJana Brike grew up in Latvia in the 1980s, during the Soviet occupation, the influence of which permeates her artwork. There's a subversiveness to her fairy-tale-like images, and th...

An oral history of Joseph Yamada

The Cultural Landscape Foundation schools folks on the modernist landscape architect

Many people might not know the name Joseph Yamada, but San Diegans definitely know his work. The famed modernist landscape architect is responsible for some of the city's most iconic landmarks, includ...