Lakewood, California is just north of Long Beach, and is best known for being the birthplace of the Denny’s restaurant chain.  It’s one of those post-WWII boom towns just blends into the rest of the towns …

When Steve Jobs passed a few weeks ago, a lot of the talk was about the man as co-founder and head of Apple Computers.  After all, for the last 16 years, he was the very …

by Richard von Busack
Pulling from a fifth of Overactor’s Choice blended whiskey and sobbing about the Pequod, Nick Nolte puts a third mortgage on his integrity to try to give the titanically overblown Warrior some …

You’re a wannabe filmmaker, interested in making as much money as humanly possible.  You have very little use for plot or characters, but you have a fetish for explosions and computer animation.  You want to …

by Richard von Busack
TAKASHI MIIKE’S 13 Assassins isn’t nearly as shocking as some of his films but does provide a novel take on the samurai film; it mulls over the terrible thought of being transfixed …

by Richard von Busack
Let me quote Brian Lee O’Malley on the hero of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: “Scott Pilgrim is 23 years old, living in the big city with his gay roommate, just trying …

SPOLIER WARNING:  If you haven’t seen these films, don’t read this article, because it contains spoilers.  You should have known that already from the title, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Movies are supposed to …

(Opening Friday at
the Sundance Kabuki, SF
AMC Metreon, SF
Aquarius Theatre, Palo Alto
CIneArts Santana Row, San Jose
Shattuck Cinemas, Berkeley
CineArts 5, Pleasant Hill
Regency 6 Cinemas, San Rafael
Summerfield Cinemas, Santa Rosa)
By Richard von Busack
Portola Valley producer/director Jim Kohlberg, a …

Happy New Year, dear readers!  Hope you had a great holiday season eating turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, candied yams…
Yeah, you’ve got some weight to lose.  But you’ve made the resolution.  You’re going to the …

by Richard von Busack
THE OPENING of the morose and oatmeal-colored Hereafter is an act few films could follow. It’s a flawlessly animated tsunami crashing into a tropical island. When a disaster strikes in a movie, …