The first time I recall reading the name W.G. Snuffy Walden was in the fall of 1987, in the credits for the then-new ABC drama series thirtysomething, which followed a group of friends in their thirties coping with love, careers and parenthood in Philadelphia. I don’t recall now if I read the name because I […]
Film
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Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami Showcases the Amazonian Work of Art
The Normal classic “Warm Leatherette” from 1978 made it onto the mixtapes of many listeners of “The Rock of the Eighties” on KROQ. How could it not? Those siren-like instrumentals. Those monotone vocals by Daniel Miller. Those ultra-dark lyrics. A tear of petrol Is in your eye. Quick, let’s make love Before we die. “Warm […]
![Cleaning Up at This Parenting Thing [Special Screenings, April 26-May 3]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/screenings-like-arrows_courtesy-fathom-events-9-348x180.jpg)
Cleaning Up at This Parenting Thing [Special Screenings, April 26-May 3]
November. Rainer Sarnet’s award-winning surrealist fantasy drama is set in the 19th century in his home country of Estonia, where peasant girl Liina longs for village boy Hans, who has eyes for a visiting German baroness. Things grow ever more complicated—we’re talking spirits, plagues, thieves, werewolves and an appearance by the Devil himself—in this black-and-white […]
Newport Beach Film Festival Presents Its Funniest Lineup in 19 Years
I have sat through so many films while on the Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) beat. Because so many friends and family members know that, I am invariably asked to name my favorite NBFF film. It beats the hell out of me; that would be like choosing a favorite toe. However, to deal with the […]
Fantastic Films You Don’t Want to Miss at the 2018 Newport Beach Film Festival
A genre that has been skyrocketing in popularity in the past year is science fiction, evident in the steady rise of television shows, films and programs available through online-streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime: Blade Runner 2049, Bright, The Lure, The Void, Altered Carbon, Legion and The Handmaid’s Tale are just a number […]
Our Guide to the 2018 Newport Beach Film Festival’s Tasteful Culinary Film Series
For the first time in its epic 19-year history, the Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) will include a slate of documentaries and films revolving around the illustrious world of cuisine and the culinary industry. Many of the Culinary Film Series’ eight films are global and West Coast premieres, all of them scattered throughout other showcases […]
![Lasso of Hell Yeah [Special Screenings, April 19-26]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/screenings-wonder-woman_Warner-Bros-18-348x180.jpg)
Lasso of Hell Yeah [Special Screenings, April 19-26]
Borg vs McEnroe. Janus Metz Pedersen’s multilanguage, internationally co-produced, 2017 sports biopic is set during the 1980 Wimbledon Championships, at which Björn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason), the placid, No. 1 professional tennis player in the world, was challenged by John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf), a volatile, rising star. The Frida Cinema, 305 E. Fourth St., Santa Ana; […]
The Handmaid’s Tale Starts Season 2 Just as Intense; Plus, a Writer Comes to Town
Based on the intense first three episodes of the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu, it is obvious why Elisabeth Moss and Ann Dowd were Emmy winners for Outstanding Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series respectively. The Handmaid’s Tale was also the Emmy winner for Outstanding Dramatic Series, and among the […]
Did ’70s Sci-Fi Cinema Nail Our Looming Brave New World?
In the 1970s, Hollywood was hell-bent on scaring the bejesus out of audiences with futuristic dystopias, churning out iconic, outrageous, science-fiction stories that imagined—and warned of—horrific “things to come.” But just how accurate were these filmmakers’ visions, most of which were believed far too insane to ever come to pass? Hold our Moscow mule! ROLLERBALL […]
![Who Are You Really? [Special Screenings, April 12-19]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/screenings-imitation-girl_illium-pictures-7-348x180.jpg)
Who Are You Really? [Special Screenings, April 12-19]
Isle of Dogs. Wes Anderson’s latest animation has, by executive decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City exiled to a vast garbage dump called Trash Island. That sends 12-year-old Atari off alone in a miniature turbo prop to find his bodyguard dog, Spots. He is assisted on his epic journey by a pack of […]
A Look At the Most Memorable Music DJs in Film
In the roughly 112 years that Hollywood has been churning out feature-length films, radio disc jockeys have made for some interesting, if not iconic, cinematic characters. Record spinners really started appearing onscreen in the 1970s—back when DJs were still able to pick their own music—and here are some of the best. Stevie Wayne, The Fog […]
![No More Hammer Time [Special Screenings, April 5-12]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/screenings-basket-case_basket-case-productions-1-348x180.jpg)
No More Hammer Time [Special Screenings, April 5-12]
Psiconautas, los niños olvidados (Birdboy: The Forgotten Children). Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero’s darkly comic animated feature is based on Vázquez’s graphic novel and is not intended for children. Stranded on an island in a post-apocalyptic world, teenager Dinky and her friends hatch a dangerous plan to escape for a better life. Meanwhile, her old […]
Edie Falco and Jay Duplass Are Star-Crossed Lovers in Outside In
Brothers Jay and Mark Duplass have carved themselves an interesting niche of indie cinema that has consistently examined mid-30s age malaise as reflected in interpersonal relationships in the 21st century. Together—and separately—they’ve embarked on making character-driven films in which the main protagonists are flawed, uncertain individuals working through some type of anxiety and confusion during […]
![Wonderful You [Special Screenings, March 29-April 5]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/screenings-professor-marston-and-the-wonder-women_opposite-field-productions-10-348x180.jpg)
Wonderful You [Special Screenings, March 29-April 5]
Una Mujer Fantstica (A Fantastic Woman). Writer/director Sebastian Lelio’s 2018 Best Foreign Language Oscar winner has Marina (Daniela Vega), a transgender waitress who moonlights as a nightclub singer, facing persecution after the death of her older boyfriend (Francisco Reyes). The Frida Cinema, 305 E. Fourth St., Santa Ana; thefridacinema.org. Thurs., March 29, 12:30, 2:45, 5, […]
The Decline of Western Orange County, Starring Penelope Spheeris!
Penelope Spheeris’ three The Decline of Western Civilization documentaries are Los Angeles-based stories, although Orange County plays a major role. It’s fitting then that Angeleno (Angelena?) Spheeris returns to the region she grew up in to present 2K restorations of her trilogy. At the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana on Friday night, she introduces The […]
![Better Work It, Girl [Special Screenings, March 22-29]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/screenings-RuPaul-s_Drag-Race-Season-10_courtesy-Bravo-14-348x180.jpg)
Better Work It, Girl [Special Screenings, March 22-29]
Aliens. The director baton was handed from Alien’s Ridley Scott to James Cameron, and the 1986 sequel is now regarded as a sci-fi classic. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is awakened 57 years after being the lone survivor when her merchant space ship returned to Earth. At first skeptical about her claims regarding who wiped out her […]
This Film is Cursed: Zak Bagans Conjures Up a Spooky Doc with ‘Demon House’
It was like something out of a horror movie: a series of strange, unexplainable occurrences began happening to a family living in a small Indiana town, and the results of those happenings became their own supernatural legend. Back in 2014, Latoya Ammons and her three youngchildren started experiencing abnormal signs in their Gary, Indiana home […]
I Kill Giants Is a Coming-of-Age Tale With Surprises
Having never read Joe Kelly’s excellent graphic novel, I expected an earnest giant-killing fantasy film out of Anders Walter’s directorial feature I Kill Giants. What I got instead was a film that, albeit one that still contained elements of fantasy, was more a direct coming-of-age story about a young girl being the David to the […]
![Everyone Has Their Own Truth [Special Screenings, March 15-22]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/screenings-i-tonya_courtesy-neon-1-348x180.jpg)
Everyone Has Their Own Truth [Special Screenings, March 15-22]
Before We Vanish. In the sci-fi thriller from acclaimed Japanese horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse, Cure), three aliens travel to Earth on a reconnaissance mission before a mass invasion. Each takes possession of a human body, robs it of its essence and leaves it unrecognizable to family members. In Japanese with English subtitles. The Frida […]
The Young Karl Marx Paints a Humanizing Portrait of the Reviled, Revered Philosopher and His Friend
Young intellectuals smoking cigars, playing chess and trading philosophical barbs between moves in the mid-19th century may not seem like the makings of compelling cinema. But when situated in a European society newly transformed by the Industrial Revolution and centered on a 26-year-old protagonist destined to become the founding father of communism, The Young Karl […]
![You’re in Terrible Danger, Girl! [Special Screenings, March 8-15]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/screenings-coraline_focus-features-3-348x180.jpg)
You’re in Terrible Danger, Girl! [Special Screenings, March 8-15]
Oscar Nominated Short Films. The Oscars are over, but the screenings continue. Academy Award Best Live Action Short Film nominees: Reed Van Dyk’s DeKalb Elementary; Derin Seale and Josh Lawson’s The Eleven O’Clock; Kevin Wilson Jr.’s My Nephew Emmett; Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton’s The Silent Child; and Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen’s Watu Wote/All […]
