Hell Ride

Pistolero and his gang in Hell Ride (Dimension Extreme)

Hell Ride (opening August 8 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) feels like it could have been included in the Grindhouse movie package. Produced by Quentin Tarantino, the film works hard to recapture the feel of the 60s and 70s motorcycle films like The Wild Angels, Hells Angels on Wheels, The Rebel Rousers or even the seminal Easy Rider as it whips up a grindhouse style pastiche of the three b's in life: babes, booze, and bikers.

The Dark Knight

The Joker robs the mob while Heath Ledger steals the show in The Dark Knight (Warner Brothers)

There was a time when people thought it was crazy to try and have someone else take on the role of the Joker because no one could possibly fill Jack Nicholson's shoes. But after you see The Dark Knight (opening July 18 throughout San Diego and in IMAX at Edwards Mira Mesa Cinemas), you won't be able to think of anyone else besides Heath Ledger. Now Nicholson's Joker looks like a naughty clown while Ledger's Joker is downright nasty and disturbed (yet still oddly likable). Ledger's manically endearing performance as the unhinged psycho giving both cops and crooks nightmares is so riveting that it makes you sad for all the roles he'll never have a chance to tackle. Ledger died at the beginning of this year just after wrapping production on The Dark Knight. So this film offers his last completed performance.

War, Inc.

John Cusack, the star, co-writer and producer of War, Inc. (First Look)

If you ever wondered what might have happened to John Cusack's hit man from 1997's Grosse Pointe Blank, then check out War, Inc. (opening June 27 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas). The character Cusack plays presents a possible fate for Martin Q. Blank, or at least a logical trajectory his killer could have taken. War, Inc., as with Grosse Pointe Blank, is also co-written by Cusack, co-stars his sister Joan as his assistant Marsha (she was Marcella in Grosse Pointe Blank), and boasts an appearance by Dan Aykroyd. But unlike Grosse Point Blank, which knew exactly what kind of dark comedy it wanted to be, War, Inc. is all over the map.

Teen Producers Project June Screening

The Media Arts Center's Teen Producers Project will host a free screening of its' latest videos this Friday, June 27th at 6:30PM at Crawford High Educational Complex Auditorium (4191 Colts Way, SD, 92115). Student filmmakers from San Diego neighborhoods produced a trio of compelling short documentaries that examine immigration policy, community violence, and the experiences of refugees and immigrants pursuing the American Dream. Working with MACSD instructors, teen filmmakers interviewed, researched, and produced socially conscious works about issues that impact their lives and the lives of people in their communities. After the screening, youth filmmakers and MACSD artists will hold a Q&A with the audience about the making of these videos. Discussion to be facilitated by University of San Diego Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies, Jesse Mills.

The films to be screened are: Perspectives of the American Dream, in which teens compare and contrast the experiences of individuals from two San Diego communities; I Want My Parents Back, which focuses on the issue of immigration by highlighting the story of a local San Diego family; and Fighting Community Violence, which documents the effects gang violence has on former gang members, emphasizing the consequences of joining a gang as well as providing positive alternatives to participating in gang activity.

The MACSD press release states: "Youth who participated in the Teen Producers Project this past year and produced these three documentaries, were excited about the process of learning about their community and at the same time learning to be video producers." Steve Garcia, a Teen Producer who worked on Fighting Community Violence, says, "Video is a good way to tell a lot of people what's going on; at Teen Producers Project, I can make friends and see how people help each other." Argenis Herrera, Teen Producer who worked on I Want My Parents Back, adds, "I believe documentary films are a great way of getting a message to the world and have it seen and heard."

For more information about the Teen Producers Project and the upcoming screening, please call 619-230-1938 x 101 and/or visit www.mediaartscenter.org.

The Strangers

"Why are you doing this to us?" Liv Tyler -- and some people in the audience -- are asking this question of The Strangers (Rogue Pictures)

The Strangers (opening May 30 throughout San Diego) will feel all too familiar to horror fans. Here’s the premise: Take one young couple, place them in a lonely cabin out in the middle of nowhere, and then have some nameless, masked visitors ruthlessly attack. Been there, done that a few rimes. But the film does boast the lovely Liv Tyler and an occasional moment of good filmmaking.

United Artists Film Festival Kicks Off With The Good, the Bad and The Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (United Artists)

This Friday May 23, Landmark's Ken Cinema begins a week-long festival celebrating 90 years of United Artists films. New prints of films such as The Great Escape, The Apartment and Dr. No will be screened. But the film that kicks off the festival and gets my immediate attention is Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (listen to my radio feature to get your fix of the now famous music.)

No music has come to define a genre more vividly than Ennio Morricone's theme for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Just a few notes of this witty, epic score is all you need to conjure up images of western landscapes, weather-beaten faces and showdowns on dusty street.

Midnight Movies: Pulp Fiction

"I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?" John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction (Miramax)

What's great about these midnight movies and library screenings is that it afford me a chance to dig back into the archives and revisit films I love. This Friday and Saturday at midnight, Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters will present Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. In 1992, Quentin Tarantino burst onto the film scene with the brash, ultraviolent Reservoir Dogs. (I remembering being pregnant when the film was screened for the press and the publicist was concerned that I might go into early labor or something horrible if I saw such a violent film. I didn't but my son is now addicted to violent action films.) The film paid homage to Hollywood B movies and Hong Kong action films. It also signaled Tarantino as a talent to watch. His second film Pulp Fiction went on to win a prize at Cannes in 1994, and make clear that he was going to continue to make an impact on the film scene.

Jean Luc Godard once said that every film must have a beginning a middle and an end but not necessarily in that order. Tarantino's Pulp Fiction reaffirms that point. Pulp Fiction interlaces three stories inspired by the lurid, popular crime fiction of the 30s and 40s - but with a fresh, hip new sheen. The film opens with a couple (Amanda Plummer, Tim Roth) contemplating a career change, which involves giving up robbing liquor stores in favor of robbing coffee houses... But hold that thought... because the film abruptly cuts away from their story to a pair of hit men (Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta) who arrive early for a job and bide their time by arguing over the sexual implications of a foot massage. (Think back to a similar style of conversation in Reservoir Dogs in which a gang of crooks argue over tipping.) Next we meet a double crossing fighter (Bruce Willis), the hitmen's boss (a memorable Ving Rhames), and the boss's wife (Uma Thurman in a Louise Brooks bob). Then after a violent climax, the film doubles back to the opening scene with sly, satisfying elegance.

Midnight Movie: A Clockwork Orange

Malcolm McDowell looking for a bit of the ultra violence in A Clockwork Orange (Warner Bros.)

A friend of mine was saying that if he had to choose one decade for the movies he simply couldn't live without, that decade would be the 70s. I wasn't so sure (I don't think I could live with the Marx Brothers from the 30s or film noir from the 40s). But one film from the 70s that ranks as one of the most audacious is Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. This Friday and Saturday (May 2 and 3) at midnight, Kubrick's brilliant adaptation of Anthony Burgess' chilling futuristic novel will screen at Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters. It's hard to imagine a film like this being made today by a major, mainstream Hollywood studio, but in the 70s it was a possibility. One thing I remember about the film was that it was rated X on its initial release but the rating was reduced to an R after about 60 seconds were removed. The irony for me was that with all the violence, sex, a brutal rape and murder, the scene that was removed in order to get the MPAA to alter the rating was the sped up, energetically funny orgy scene edited to the William Tell Overture. Apparently enjoying sex is more offensive than beating up old men or raping women. Hmmm? Makes you think about those MPAA standards. Anyway, A Clockwork Orange is not only memorable for Kubrick's meticulous attention to every detail of his bizarre futuristic Britain but also for Malcolm McDowell's nasty and unnerving portrait of the sociopathic youth Alex. Just that photo above with him looking you right in the eye is unsettling. This film represents the way filmmakers were regularly pushing the envelope and raising social issues in the 70s. This one's a classic. If you've never seen it, don't miss it on the big screen.

Pan’s Labyrinth

Ofelia ventures into a nether world in Pan's Labyrinth

This awards season Guillermo Del Toro is one of three Mexican directors stirring Oscar buzz. Del Toro delivered the Hollywood hit Hellboy in 2004. But this year his film Pan's Labyrinth (opening January 12 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) is Mexico's official submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.

Guillermo Del Toro represents a new breed of Mexican filmmaker, one who straddles multiple cultures and works globally. Take his new film. Pan's Labyrinth is a co-production of Mexico, Spain and the United States. It's set after the Spanish Civil War, but Del Toro says it was inspired by the political climate in the U.S.

The Best and Worst of 2006

South Korea's A Bitter Sweet Life

As 2006 comes to an end, it's time to reflect back on the films that came out during the year to sort out the best from the worst. First of all, in determining the best of the year there are always a few films that have quirky releases, and I never know whether it's fair to include them or not. But two films that played for only a day each at the San Diego Asian Film Festival deserve mention even if they never received a theatrical release here.

Hou Hsiao Hsien is quite simply one of the world's premier filmmakers. For Three Times, the Taiwanese director serves up three segments involving a romance and each set in a different time period but with the same pair of actors (the lovely Shu Qi and Chang Chen) performing the leads. Hou's film explores how the culture and social limitations of each era affect the relationships of the characters. The film is ravishing to look at, with Hou crafting a dazzling and deceptively complex work. A film of a very different nature but equally worth checking out is Kim Ji Woon's A Bittersweet Life from South Korea. With A Bittersweet Life Kim delivers an action film with a dark soul and aching vulnerability buried at its heart. If you can find either of these on DVD, check them out. They would make my Ten Best in any year.