Director S. R. Bindler and star-producer Matthew McConaughey on the pool deck at the San Diego Hard Rock Hotel (Beth Accomando)

Matthew McConaughey is sitting on the pool deck at the Hard Rock Hotel looking much like the character he plays in his new movie Surfer, Dude (opening September 12 at Reading Gaslamp, AMC Fashion Valley, Regal Rancho Del Rey, AMC Palm Promenade, and Edwards Mira Mesa). Casually attired in a surf tee and shorts and eager to conduct the interview out in the sun, McConaughey cuts a relaxed figure. He and director S. R. (Robb) Bindler came out to San Diego because Surfer, Dude is a personal film that they were eager to promote. The film marks the first project completely produced under McConaughey's company Just Keep Livin' and his enthusiasm was clearly evident.

Well here's one more thing to make me feel old. Big Wednesday, the John Milius surf film from 1978, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. I was in high school when the film came out, and the only surfer I knew was my cousin who had come down to San Diego one summer to try and learn. I remember watching him fall off his board more than he rode any waves. But I had seen Endless Summer and could understand the lure of the waves. But I have to admit that as a teenage girl back then the real appeal of Big Wednesday was not the surfing but rather the cast of three hunky young guys - Jan Michael Vincent, William Katt, and Gary Busey. As for the surfing, I remember the film having this mythic quality to it.  Surfing was not a sport or a hobby, it was a way of life. Much of that mythic quality came from director John Milius (who also wrote Apocalypse Now and directed Red Dawn) who endowed the character of Bear (Sam Melville) with both an autobiographical edge and a bit of Papa Hemingway.  But while the films does serve up some tasty waves, it also delivers a coming of age tale set against the backdrop of the turbulent 60s and the Vietnam War. It boasts a certain melancholy nostalgia as well as an appreciation for good friends and the challenge of some big waves.

Big Wednesday will have a 30th anniversary benefit screening on June 26 at 6pm at the La Paloma Theatre (471 S Coast Highway 101, Encinitas). In attendance will be Denny Aaberg who co-wrote the film with director John Milius. He will present the film and answer questions after the screening. I had a chance to shoot a few questions his way before the screening. Here's what he had to say about the film from the perspective of three decades later.

Filmmaker Chris Bell explores steroid use in America in Bigger Stronger Faster* (HD Net)

That asterisk is actually part of the title of the new documentary Bigger Stronger Faster* (opening June 13 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) and it references the film's subtitle - The Side Effects of Being American. Chris Bell makes his documentary feature debut with Bigger Stronger Faster* and he uses his own family as a starting point to explore the issue of steroids in America. He opens the film by explaining that he wanted to be ripped like Hulk Hogan or Sly Stallone or the Terminator but in reality he "was a fat pale kid from Poughkeepsie."

Speed Racer the anime (above) and the new movie (Warner Brothers)

There's nothing I love more than passionate fans, people who are so into something that know the nittiest, grittiest, nerdiest pieces of information. So when my friend Ramie Tateishi, who teaches at UCSD and who has written about Japanese pop culture, emailed me his thoughts about Speed Racer (opened May 9 thtoughout San Diego) and conveyed the perspective of a devoted fan of the 1960s anime TV series, well I just had to get him to post his own review. So I eagerly but only temporarily hand over my blog for a guest review by Speed Racer aficionado Ramie Tateishi. Go Ramie go!

Many years ago, there was a tame, innocent, fun little cartoon on TV called Speed Racer. This cartoon somehow spawned the gaudy spectacle of the same name which is currently in theaters, a film that assembles all the colors in the spectrum and leads them in a direct assault on your brain. While the film leaves you with the overwhelming impression of a visual stimulus overload, the old cartoon was nothing like that. In fact, the original 1967 Japanese animated series was produced with a muted, balanced color scheme that would still look good in monochrome, a common production practice of the time, as most television sets were still black and white. In light of this comparison, it's interesting to think of this film as a representation of how the filmmakers might possibly remember Speed Racer, bringing to life their childhood visions and nostalgic memories awash with blazing, vivid colors, rather than a direct referencing and rendering of the actual source material itself.

Bra Boys (Berkela Films)

Just in case the title confuses you -- Bra Boys (opening April 11 at the UltraStar Mission Valley Hazard Theaters, UltraStar Del Mar and UltraStar La Costa) is not about cross-dressing lads from Down Under. "Bra" comes from the abbreviated name of the Australian region Maroubra, and the title refers to the local gang/club/tribe that has come to be known as the Bra Boys. The new documentary bearing their name tries to serve up an Aussie version of Dogtown and Z Boys as it looks to the poor, drug infested housing commissions of Maroubra beach in the south of Sydney, and its notorious local surfers. Just as Dogtown used Hollywood bad boy Sean Penn as a narrator to reflect the outsider attitude of the Z Boys; Bra Boys employs Aussie bad boy Russell Crowe to deliver its narration and convey the rebellious spirit of its locals.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson serenades Madison Pettis in The Game Plan (Disney)

Since I missed reviewing The Game Plan (out on DVD and Blu-Ray January 22) when it opened in theaters, I thought I would catch up with it on DVD. After all we’re in the midst of a Super Bowl fever that just got deflated for San Diego this past weekend. If the Charger’s play-off game had been a Disney movie, LT would have leaped off the bench in the final reel to lead the team to victory in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter. So for any Charger fans licking their wounds, maybe a football movie with a guaranteed happy ending will serve as consolation.

Michael Madsen in Strength and Honor (Maron Pictures)

Michael Madsen is probably best known for torturing a cop when he played Mr. Blonde in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs back in 1992. But that role may have also prompted him to be typecast as a brooding tough guy, cool yet sometimes twisted. So as an actor, the role of a boxer and devoted single dad in Strength and Honor (opening December 7 in select San Diego theaters) was attractive as a change of pace.

"I've played a lot of dangerous, nefarious guys over the years," says actor Michael Madsen in the press materials, "and I guess I liked the idea of playing someone with heart. I want to finally play a guy who rides off into the sunset with the girl."

Amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst is the focus of Deep Water (Pathe)

I apologize for not getting to Deep Water (opening Sept. 7 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) sooner. Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell's riveting documentary chronicles a 1968 sailing race around the world with particular focus on amateur British yachtsman Donald Crowhurst.

What makes this documentary so remarkable is the material the filmmakers had to work with. First of all, because the sail around the globe was a big news event, there is an amazing amount of news footage and interviews from the era. But more startling are the original tape recordings and 16mm films made by the solitary competitors as they spent more than ten months alone trying to sail around the globe. This footage allows the filmmakers to make an intensely intimate portrait of both Crowhurst and the French sailor Bernard Moitessier. Both men, but in very different ways, provide for compelling content.

Moitessier is given the supporting role in the film as his journey leads him to soul searching and self-discovery. But Crowhurst takes center stage as the more troubled and complex character. Crowhurst is presented to us as something of a dreamer. He never found much success in life but felt he was capable of grand things. So when this challenge to sail the globe came up, he pursued it even though he had no real sailing skills. He was a good talker so he eventually convinced backers to fund his enterprise. He could be charming on camera and quickly won over the media and the public to become the dark horse candidate in the race. But once Crowhurst went to sea, his lack of sailing skills became painfully evident. He faced delays, mishaps and embarrassment before finally heading out to sea and away from the media's close scrutiny.

Once at sea, Crowhurst came to the bitter realization that he was making such poor time that he would be humiliated. Not only that but the contract he signed with his finacial backers stated that he had to finish or lose everything. So Crowhurst came up with a bold scam: break radio contact; hang off the coast of Argentina and just wait for his competitors to make their way around Cape Horn and New Zealand. Then he could slyly join them on the home stretch as though he had traveled the same course as them. Brilliant. Except for the fact that radio silence also meant he couldn't contact anyone for help when he was in distress. Plus, the complete isolation began to take a mental toll. The 16mm film he shot, the audio tape he recorded and the journals he kept serve up a drama as intense and spellbinding as any Hollywood film. You witness the mental deterioration of someone right before your eyes.

Osmond and Rothwell's film also includes recent interviews with people such as Crowhurst's wife and son. Moitessier's wife Francoise also provides commentary about the very different experiences of her husband. But both wives reveal the irresistible allure the sea can hold for people such as their husbands. The mix of talking heads and archival footage as well as the mix of perspectives from both the present and the past turn Deep Water into a mesmerizing documentary.

Deep Water (rated PG for thematic elements, mild language and incidental smoking) also boasts a strong narration by Tilda Swinton who weaves the story together like a tense psychological drama. Even if you don't like sailing or the open sea, give this finely crafted documentary a try. To use a sailing term I picked up from The Philadelphia Story -- she's yar.

There was also a book on this subject, The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst.

Companion viewing: The Dove, Touching the Void, Open Water

Extreme Ping Pong! Balls of Fury (Rogue Pictures)

Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant have been working together for more than a decade. They began creating sketch comedy in college as part of the comedy troupe The State. Then they went on to make the hit TV series Reno 911. I met met up with Lennon and Grant at the San Diego Comic-Con last month to discuss their new comedy feature, Balls of Fury. They sat in an Omni Hotel room oddly situated next to a Baptist gathering. Needless to say the little old lady who accidentally wandered into the Balls of Fury pressroom was taken aback. But then these guys always find themselves in funny situations. Last year at the Comic-Con Reno 911: Miami panel they staged an assault on a fan and stole his badge. Garant says that he and Lennon mixed Ping-Pong with martial arts to create Balls of Fury.

Josh Harnett and Samuel L. Jackson in Resurrecting the Champ (Yari Film Group)

It's not often that you'll find a tag line for a movie that actually sums up the story effectively. But Resurrecting the Champ (opening August 24 throughout San Diego) has such a tag line in its ads: "Based on a true story, that was based on a lie."

Resurrecting the Champ was inspired by a 1997 Los Angeles Times Magazine article by J.R. Moehringer. The film version stars Josh Hartnett as Moehringers on screen alter ego, Erik Kernan, an up and coming sports writer who's just aching for the kind of story that will put him on the journalistic map. Kernan has established himself as a dependable writing machine, able to crank out more stories than practically anyone else on staff. But his work is always buried on the back pages and that proves a bitter pill for him to swallow.