I saw about 75 movies in 2012, and while I saw a couple dozen that I liked a great deal, very few movies about LGBT people or queer themes were given a wide release. And that is disappointing in general, but particularly for a critic writing for a paper called San Diego LGBT Weekly. This…
Last week, the San Diego Film Critics Society, of which I am a member, chose Argo as the best film of the year. It also won best director (Ben Affleck), best adapted screenplay (Chris Terrio), and best editing (William Goldenberg). While that movie was released more than two months ago, many of the movies that…
While John Kennedy and Bill Clinton’s sexual shenanigans have been the butt of decades of jokes and one impeachment trial, compared to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his multiple long-term mistresses – one of whom was his cousin – Kennedy and Clinton were amateurs. FDR may be one of our greatest presidents, leading the country from…
Few directors have had a run of brilliance that Alfred Hitchcock had in between 1958 and 1963, when he directed in succession Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho and The Birds; four of the greatest films ever made. But surprisingly, Hitchcock was still racked by self-doubt during that period, terrified that he was not good enough;…
Re: ‘Conversations with Nicole’ issue 106 Dear Editor, I rise today to write to you, about this article that Nicole, who put pen to paper, and chose to expose the life of David Copley for your readers. I found this article distasteful, nasty and vindictive. Forty years ago David had reason to hide his gayness…
If you’ve been reading my reviews, you’ll know that I tend to dislike movies about people with disabilities, maladies or unfortunate circumstances overcoming their problems, usually with swells of mediocre music and a cheap plea for tears.It’s not that I don’t like seeing people succeed when the odds are more likely that they’ll fail; rather…
I find it interesting that so many in the San Diego political community seem to not understand the basic tenet: elections have consequences. After the trouncing that the conservatives in this town took on Election Day, be it ballot measures or elected candidates, I would think that there would be some self reflection. I have…
Normally, I balk when I’m confronted with film characters who are mentally ill, have odd neurological ticks or are addicted to some sort of chemical. Partly, this is because I spend so much time in the real world with such people, and the fictional versions are rarely convincing. For every virtuoso performance like Joaquin Phoenix’s…
also playing The last time Stephen Spielberg and Tony Kushner collaborated was Munich, the taut, emotionally devastating thriller about the Israeli agents who hunted down the perpetrators of the kidnapping and massacre of Israeli Olympians in 1972. So, I had high hopes for their latest. Lincoln stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president, Sally Field…
In 2006, Casino Royale saved the James Bond franchise, ending the redundant self-parody that had characterized the movies since Moonraker in early 1979. Two things happened. Following the amazing success of the grimy, naturalistic, and nearly effects-less Bourne Identity, director Martin Campbell made Casino Royale as gritty and physically possible as the previous film, Die…
