http://blogs.kpbs.org/movies/ Movie reviews by KPBS film critic Beth Accomando en baccomando@earthlink.net Copyright 2008 2008-10-06T19:49:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/teen_critic_says_blindness_has_vision/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/teen_critic_says_blindness_has_vision/#When:19:49:00Z Julianne Moore stars in Blindness (Miramax) By Janeane White The movie Blindness (opened October 3 throughout San Diego) is a sci-fi type film where almost everyone in the country goes blind with out any medical explanation. The government tries to keep the numbers down by creating a type of quarantine where the blind stay without any control or rules other than the fact that they are not to leave. From this they create their own rules and try to get by as best they can. One man's wife (Julianne Moore) doesn't want him to go into quarantine alone so she claims that she is blind just so she can go with him. Because of her, the different wards are able to get by and get what needs to be done, done. She is the one who holds everything together. She is the anomoly in this strange epidemic.. The movie had many twists and turns with unexpected outcomes. The nation is forced back to primal life as people fight to survive. People need to learn to not take life for granted. These people learned this important lesson the hard way unfortunately, but they eventualy did learn it. If you are into films such as The Happening, The Mist or other paranormal movies in which the life and future of humanity are threatened, and which teach us lessons, then this is a movie for you. There are a few graphic scenes but they are relating to the basic needs of people to survive in a world with no sight, and where all basic ground rules and guidelines crash. Blindness (rated R for violence including sexual assaults, language and sexuality/nudity) is a good example of how much we take for granted and how much our economy needs to change. --Janeane White is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She enjoys movies and spends all her time at the theater. She is also interested in special effects makeup done in the movies.She is an honors student and is currently working towards early graduation. Some of her favorite movies include Queen of the Damed, Hellboy, The Descent, the Underworld series, and the Saw series. Adaptation, Drama 2008-10-06T19:49:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/allah_made_me_funny/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/allah_made_me_funny/#When:17:06:00Z It can't be easy being a Muslim stand up comic in America. But Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert (opening October 3 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) documents three of the nation's top American Muslim comedians and reveals that they are finding success. Having Religulous and Allah Made Me Funny opening in the same week is oddly appropriate. In Religulous, Maher had footage of his early stand up days when he says he was poking "gentle" fun at religion. What Allah reveals is that we may all have more in common than we think as these three Muslim comedians use their own particular backgrounds to find humor in all the things stand ups have been mining for years - family, marriage, mothers-in-law, and odd family remedies (olive oil in this case, it works on everything). Humor, as we've seen in the past, can be a great tool in challenging stereotypes. Comedy, Documentary 2008-10-04T17:06:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/battle_in_seattle/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/battle_in_seattle/#When:23:53:00Z Andre Benjamin preaches turtle power at the 1999 WTO protests in Battle in Seattle (Redwood Palm Pictures) All right I might have to do a few lightening rounds to catch up on the nearly dozen films opening this week. Yikes! What's up with that? Partly contributing to the increase in numbers is the fact that Reading Gaslamp has essentially added a new art house venue into the mix - and that's a good thing because it means some films that might never have played in town are now getting an opportunity to open. One such film is Battle in Seattle (opening October 3 at Reading Gaslamp Cinemas) about the 1999 protests in Seattle against the World Trade Organization's millennial meeting. Drama 2008-10-03T23:53:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/religulous/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/religulous/#When:21:22:00Z Bill Maher interviews Christ at the Holy Land Experience in Religulous (Lionsgate) With nearly a dozen films and two festival to cover this week, I'll get to as much as I can today. Top of my list, though, is the Bill Maher-Larry Charles documentary Religulous (opening October 3 at Landmark's Hillcrest and La Jolla Village Theaters). Maher describes himself as a non-believer and he sets out to ask believers why they believe. Now this is not designed as a comprehensive, balanced exploration of faith and religion. It is a very personal take on faith and religion, and on the role they both take in American culture, society, and politics. Think of it like a humorous op ed piece, and as the funniest film so far this year. Comedy, Documentary 2008-10-03T21:22:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/how_to_lose_friends_and_alienate_people/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/how_to_lose_friends_and_alienate_people/#When:20:59:00Z Simon Pegg in his glory in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (MGM) I have made no secret of the fact that I love Simon Pegg. He won me over with Shaun of the Dead, a rom-zom-com that he wrote and starred in. Then secured that place in my heart with the Brit-com TV series Spaced (which was made before Shaun but was hard to track down in the U.S.), which is also wrote and starred in. His creative efforts reveal a fine attention to detail and a savvy sense of pop culture. But in the films where he's had less creative input, he's been less good (Mission Impossible 3, Run Fatboy Run). But now he has a project that seems a bit more worthy of his talents - How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (opening October 3 throughout San Diego), based on British journalist Toby Young's memoirs about his failed five-year attempt to make it as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine. Adaptation, Comedy, Romance 2008-10-03T20:59:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/sdiff_2008/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/sdiff_2008/#When:01:40:00Z The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio The second festival of the week, the San Diego Italian Film Festival, kicks off tonight at The Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla and then runs through October 19 at the Museum of Photographic Arts. The opening night film is Agostino Ferrente's The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio, a feel-good doc about two Italians who put together an orchestra of thirty foreign musicians living in Rome. The San Diego Italian Film Festival, now in its second year, "invites you to celebrate life in the social piazza of cinema with recent films that depict life in Italy." Plus the films are free. Although the festival will be screening their opening night attraction at the Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, all the rest of the subsequent two-dozen films will screen at the Museum of Photographic Arts. Festivals, Foreign Language, Local Events 2008-10-03T01:40:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/nick_and_norah_teencritic1/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/nick_and_norah_teencritic1/#When:15:57:00Z Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Columbia) By Rachel Landrum In the new film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (opening October 3 throughout San Diego), Michael Cera plays Nick and Kat Dennings is Norah. A month after his big break up with Tris, Nick has to go and play a show with his friends and their band The JerkOffs. At the show he sees his ex Tris with her new boy toy. While debating whether or not he should go and talk to her, Nora -- in an act of desperation -- asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend for five minutes. This is the start of one crazy night filled with music, drunken antics, and one really gross piece of gum. I found the movie very funny, cute and rather enjoyable. I really liked the friends how they care about Nick and want to help him get over Tris, his ex. It really captured the whole teen view of how we can sometimes get caught up in one thing or one person until they become all we see. As a teen I find we tend to do things in an all or nothing manner, with no real in between. The actors portraying the characters in this film did a really good job of showing this and how they went through a lot just to find where a band was playing and to have a good time. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is rated PG-13 for mature thematic material including teen drinking, sexuality, language and crude behavior. --Rachel Landrum is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She loves movies and thought being a KPBS Teen Critic would be a good learning experience. She's always eager for a good ghost story or period film. Among her favorite movies are Across the Universe, Pan's Labyrinth, and House of Flying Daggers. Comedy, Romance 2008-10-02T15:57:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/flash_of_genius/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/flash_of_genius/#When:13:27:00Z Greg Kinnear stars as Dr. Robert Kearns in Flash of Genius (Universal) After seeing the film Flash of Genius (opening October 2 throughout San Diego) you may never look at your windshield wipers in the same way. In the film, Greg Kinnear plays Dr. Robert Kearns, a Detroit engineer who invents the intermittent windshield wiper and then has the idea stolen by Ford. It's based on a true story and on a New Yorker magazine article by John Searbrook. It's a classic David versus Goliath as Kearns decides to take on Ford in their town of Detroit. Greg Kinnear says that the film is resonating with audiences. Adaptation, Drama, Interviews 2008-10-02T13:27:00-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/sixth_annual_san_diego_womens_film_festival/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/sixth_annual_san_diego_womens_film_festival/#When:02:22:01Z Rachel Getting Married is the opening night feature for this year's San Diego Women's Film Festival (Sony Pictures Classics) There's something of a festival bunch up this weekend as the San Diego Women's Film Festival and the San Diego Italian Film Festival (more on this later) compete for audiences this weekend. The San Diego Women's Film Festival kicks off its sixth season today with two youth outreach programs at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. Then the festival goes into full swing tomorrow at the Reading Gaslamp Theaters downtown with the San Diego premiere of Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married starring Anne Hathaway and written by Sidney Lumet's daughter Jenny. The festival is Southern California's longest running women film festival and this year plays host to fifty films including five features. The goal of the Festival is to empower young women through positive film media and promote women filmmakers and their films. This year the festival also boasts a new curator, Citizen Video's Holly Jones. You can also listen to this morning's These Days discussion of this year's festival with Holly Jones and I. Festivals, Local Events 2008-10-02T02:22:01-08:00 http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/trailer_tuesday_the_curious_case_of_benjamin_button/ http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/trailer_tuesday_the_curious_case_of_benjamin_button/#When:07:01:00Z The re-teaming of Fight Club collaborators David Fincher and his star Brad Pitt is definitely something to get excited about. Their latest effort is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a tale about a man who ages backwards. Fincher made a name for himself creating unease with films like Se7en, Fight Club and Panic Room. But his tone seems more dreamy and even a little romantic in this fantastical tale. Ading interest are Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton. The film looks to be one of the more intriuguing holiday releases. The trailer premiered last week on Apple and the film is set to open on Christmas day. The trailer is courtesy of Paramount. Drama, Science Fiction / Fantasy 2008-09-30T07:01:00-08:00