Clik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: HIGH FIVE, SILVER! AWAY! (THE LONE RANGER)
By Brian LaffertyJuly 3, 2013 (San Diego) – When I first learned of The Lone Ranger’s budget, I asked myself, “What studio in their right mind would spend a quarter of a billion dollars on a movie...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: MONSTERS BRAWL (PACIFIC RIM)
By Brian LaffertyJuly 12, 2013 (San Diego) – The scariest story I’ve ever read was Stephen King’s The Mist. Made into a 2007 Frank Darabont film I’m too frightened to see, it told of a band of New...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: ROCK THE BOAT (A HIJACKING)
By Brian LaffertyJuly 12, 2013 (San Diego) – A Hijacking is a straightforward hostage movie that is as simply constructed and acted as its title. Somali pirates take over a Danish cargo ship. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: I THINK IT'S GOING TO BE A LONG, LONG TIME (EUROPA REPORT)
By Brian LaffertyAugust 8, 2013 (San Diego) – Every time I think about Europa Report, I can’t help but think of Elton John’s hit song, Rocket Man. It tells about an astronaut who leaves his family...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: PLANET OF THE 99% (ELYSIUM)
By Brian LaffertyAugust 9, 2013 (San Diego) – Last August, I declared on Facebook that you will never see me post about politics and religion on social media. That’s an easy rule for me to follow on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT (THE SPECTACULAR NOW)
By Brian LaffertyAugust 15, 2013 (San Diego) – Sutter (Miles Teller) is like that friend who has certain annoying tendencies, but you nonetheless love hanging out with. He's a boisterous young man...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: THE LEAGUE OF ORDINARY SUPERMEN (KICK-ASS 2)
By Brian LaffertyAugust 16, 2013 (San Diego) – Scattered throughout Kick-Ass 2 are the same high-caliber flashes of genius of its predecessor. Only thing is Kick-Ass had a rich, fully developed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: TECHNOBABBLE (JOBS)
By Brian LaffertyAugust 16, 2013 (San Diego) – After Steve Jobs passed away in October 2011, Steve Breen - whose political cartoons are always as funny as they are spot-on - paid a more respectful and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: SERVE AND REFLECT (LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER)
By Brian LaffertyAugust 15, 2013 (San Diego) – Like Forrest Gump, Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) views American history from a distance, a bystander swept up in a relentless flurry of major historical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: DRUNKS VS. ROBOTS (THE WORLD'S END)
By Brian LaffertyAugust 23, 2013 (San Diego) – Up until The World’s End, Edgar Wright had only three feature films to his directorial credit: Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and Scott...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"THE ROOM" CELEBRATES TEN YEARS AT THE KEN CINEMA AT MIDNIGHT OCT. 11 AND 12
October 10, 2013 (Kensington) – The Ken Cinema in Kensington, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, is one of only two regularly operating single-screen theaters in San Diego (the other...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: AFTER COMMAND SCHOOL SPECIAL (ENDER'S GAME)
By Brian LaffertyNovember 1, 2013 (San Diego) – Ender’s Game views warfare, military training, and combat from a unique perspective: a child’s. The air is filled with an aura of childhood innocence....
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: SOUTHERN INHOSPITALITY (12 YEARS A SLAVE)
By Brian LaffertyNovember 1, 2013 (San Diego) -- If there are any contemporary filmmakers more daring than Steve McQueen, I'm hard pressed to name one. His first film, Hunger (2008), starred Michael...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: THUNDERSTRUCK (THOR: THE DARK WORLD)
By Brian LaffertyNovember 8, 2013 (San Diego) – For all the gripes I hear about Hollywood’s glut of sequels – particularly about its apparent unwilling to try something new – there exists an upside...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: A FINE SHADE (BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR)
By Brian LaffertyNovember 14, 2013 (San Diego) – Every time a stream of adjectives flows into my mind when describing Blue Is the Warmest Color, “unique” invariably pops up. That assessment, however,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: THE LYING GAME (THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE)
By Brian LaffertyNovember 22, 2013 (San Diego) – A few months ago I watched for the first time the infamous episode of the 1950s quiz show Twenty-One in which contestant Charles Van Doren “defeated”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: DUELING AVENGERS (OLDBOY)
November 27, 2013 (San Diego) – Justice is relative in Oldboy. The latest film from director Spike Lee is complex in many areas. Joe Doucett (Josh Brolin) and Adrian Pryce (Sharlto Copley) would...
View ArticleClik here to view.
SAN DIEGO FILM CRITICS NOMINATE TOP FILMS FOR 2013
December 10, 2013 (San Diego) – It’s that time of the year, where critics groups from all around the world honor the year’s best movies. The New York Film Critics Circle kicked off awards season last...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO NOWHERE (INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS)
By Brian LaffertyDecember 20, 2013 (San Diego) – The year is 1961, and the setting is Greenwich Village in New York City. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is an aspiring folk singer – and a darn good one –...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ON THE SILVER SCREEN: A SPOONFUL OF TREACLE (SAVING MR. BANKS)
By Brian LaffertyDecember 20, 2013 (San Diego) – What in the world were screenwriters Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith thinking as they wrote Saving Mr. Banks, a colossal misfire in tone? And director John...
View Article