Arts and Culture Newsletter: 'Women Work Together' in new exhibit By David L. Coddon June 20, 2024 at 6:01 a.m. Good morning, and welcome to the U-T Arts & Culture Newsletter. I’m David L. Coddon,...
Arts and Culture Newsletter: Local filmmaker brings award-winning film home By David L. Coddon June 13, 2024 at 2:02 p.m. Good morning, and welcome to the U-T Arts & Culture Newsletter. I’m David L. Coddon,...
Things to do | Drum giant Antonio Sanchez on ‘Birdman’ tour after album with Trent Reznor, Dave Matthews and Pat Metheny By George Varga April 12, 2024 at 1:01 p.m. How big an impact can a film that wins four Oscars have on someone who...
Things to do | San Diego Writers Festival to host film director Ed Zwick, whose new Hollywood memoir tells all By Rick Kogan March 31, 2024 at 1:01 p.m. On a recent Friday night, Jim Belushi walked into a high-rise apartment in Chicago and...
Things to do | Blue Water Film Festival washes ashore this weekend at theaters countywide By Ashley Mackin-Solomon March 22, 2024 at 1:01 p.m. The fifth annual Blue Water Film Festival has come ashore in San Diego this weekend,...
Things to do | World War II drama a poignant reminder of how far goodness can extend By Katie Walsh March 14, 2024 at 7:40 p.m. The cinematic image of children boarding trains in World War II is typically a traumatic...
Things to do | Oscars preview: Here’s what’s new and how to watch the 2024 Academy Awards By Associated Press March 8, 2024 at 2:03 a.m. After a winter barrage of award shows — the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the Grammys...
Things to do | Who will win at this year’s Oscars? Critics make their picks By Jake Coyle March 8, 2024 at 2:03 a.m. Ahead of the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, Associated Press film writers Jake Coyle...
Things to do | Fourth time is not the charm for Dreamworks’ animated martial arts franchise By Katie Walsh March 8, 2024 at 1:57 a.m. The “Kung Fu Panda” movies have always been a reliable name when it comes to...
Things to do | Animated docu-drama investigates life and mysterious death of famed Brazilian musician By Michael Phillips March 8, 2024 at 1:56 a.m. Attention, fans of samba, bossa nova and ambitious nonfiction/fiction hybrids, animated division: Here is a...
Things to do | Is this the best year ever for Best Picture nominees? We put it to the test By Glenn Whipp March 3, 2024 at 2:01 p.m. Ever since the motion picture academy super-sized the Oscars' best picture category up from five...
Entertainment | Australian film delicately explored harrowing story of domestic abuse and escape By Lindsey Bahr April 5, 2024 at 5:59 p.m. Noora Niasari’s delicately moving “Shayda” puts the viewer in the shoes of an Iranian woman...
Entertainment | Wildly absurdist ‘Problemista’ offers funny, original take on the immigrant experience By Mark Kennedy February 27, 2024 at 10:56 p.m. The hero of “Problemista” sees the world differently. He's an aspiring toy designer named Alejandro...
Things to do | Disney’s ‘Mandalorian & Grogu’ to shoot in California thanks to huge tax credit By Christi Carras February 27, 2024 at 2:35 p.m. This is the way to persuade Disney to shoot the next “Star Wars” movie in...
Things to do | Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr.: the secret weapon in ‘Oppenheimer’ By Robert Ito February 25, 2024 at 2:01 p.m. Christopher Nolan and Robert Downey Jr. have each worked on some of the most lucrative...
Things to do | Da’Vine Joy Randolph: Major prizes, major attention, major unease By Kyle Buchanan February 27, 2024 at 3:54 a.m. The “Holdovers” star Da’Vine Joy Randolph has had a charmed run through awards season so...
Things to do | 100 years of memories at the Balboa Theatre: Centennial gala set for late March By Pam Kragen February 28, 2024 at 4:58 p.m. At 6 p.m. March 28, 1924, the Balboa Theatre celebrated its grand opening at the...
Things to do | ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ trashy fun, but also exceedingly disposable By Katie Walsh February 23, 2024 at 2:01 p.m. It’s fascinating that Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, longtime filmmaking collaborators and spouses, and the...
Things to do | ‘Dune: Part Two’ sustains the dystopian dream of ‘Part One’ By Jake Coyle February 23, 2024 at 7:47 p.m. Three firm thumps into the Arrakis sand is all you need to summon a sandworm...
Things to do | This week’s Oceanside International Film Festival to feature La Jollan’s ‘cringey’ comedy movie By Ashley Mackin-Solomon February 18, 2024 at 2:01 p.m. La Jolla filmmaker Tony Olmos' latest film is part political satire, part dystopian adventure —...
Things to do | Movie Review: Dakota Johnson is fun enough, but ‘Madame Web’ is repetitive and messy By Lindsey Bahr February 13, 2024 at 7:35 p.m. There is a lot of pretty niche comic book mythology swirling around “Madame Web,” the...
Things to do | Hillman Grad studio aims to give marginalized TV and film artists their big break By J. Clara Chan February 11, 2024 at 2:01 p.m. At a time when studios are zeroing in on existing intellectual property and tried-and-true storylines...
Things to do | In ‘Dune: Part Two,’ filmmaker Denis Villeneuve realizes a lifetime dream By Lindsey Bahr February 16, 2024 at 11:03 p.m. LOS ANGELES — Denis Villeneuve doesn’t feel like he came back to Arrakis for “Dune: Part Two.”...
Things to do | Movie review: The flavors of love: ‘The Taste of Things’ a delectable blend of food, romance By Katie Walsh February 9, 2024 at 2:30 p.m. It starts humbly, a gnarled turnip emerging from the soil in the early morning light;...
Things to do | Dead on arrival: There’s nothing animated about corpse comedy ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ By Ann Hornaday February 9, 2024 at 2:01 p.m. The equal parts forgettable and regrettable teen comedy “Lisa Frankenstein” stars Kathryn Newton — best...
Things to do | ‘One Love’ doesn’t serve reggae icon’s legacy well By Jake Coyle February 8, 2024 at 10:42 p.m. Bob Marley was born in 1945, the son of an 18-year-old mother and a much...
Things to do | ‘The Promised Land’ a sweeping Nordic Western epic By Katie Walsh February 2, 2024 at 1:27 a.m. Nikolaj Arcel’s “The Promised Land” is aptly titled. Adapted from the novel “The Captain and...
Things to do | San Diego International Jewish Film Festival to kick off with film about one-hand pianist John Bayless By Wire Reports January 30, 2024 at 6:07 p.m. The 2024 San Diego International Jewish Film Festival gets under way this week with 30...
Things to do | ‘Miller’s Girl’ with Jenna Ortega is an airless, cold affair that fails to spark By Mark Kennedy January 25, 2024 at 9:40 p.m. Jenna Ortega's stark rise as Gen Z's goth-glam princess takes a pointless, awkward turn in...
Things to do | In ‘I.S.S.,’ war on Earth disrupts life aboard the International Space Station By Jake Coyle January 18, 2024 at 9:21 p.m. With war raging in Ukraine and U.S.-Russia relations below freezing, the Cold War movie may...
Things to do | Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin’ is a powerful, artful, interpretation of ‘Caste’ By Lindsey Bahr January 25, 2024 at 9:42 p.m. Words like “important” and “vital” are thrown around possibly a little too much in film...
Things to do | In the bonkers ‘The Beekeeper,’ Jason Statham has more than a bee in his bonnet By Jake Coyle January 11, 2024 at 9:42 p.m. Secret agents and murderous assassins seem to lurk in increasingly mundane places. Remember “The Accountant"...
Things to do | Still trying to make ‘fetch’ happen, now in song: ‘Mean Girls’ gets a musical update By Jocelyn Noveck January 11, 2024 at 9:45 p.m. The first “Mean Girls,” that compulsively watchable high-school based social satire by Tina Fey, came...
Things to do | In ‘The Teachers’ Lounge,’ one middle school as microcosm of a troubled world By Jocelyn Noveck January 25, 2024 at 9:45 p.m. What happens in the teachers’ lounge, anyway? When we were kids, that closed door seemed...
Things to do | Anthony Hopkins shines in ‘Freud’s Last Session’ By Jake Coyle January 11, 2024 at 9:41 p.m. “Freud's Last Session," starring Anthony Hopkins as Sigmund Freud, adds to a string of sterling...
Things to do | ‘The Color Purple’ is a stirring big-screen musical powered by its spectacular cast By Jake Coyle December 21, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. Exuberant performances from a cast led by Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks...
Things to do | If this is goodbye, ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ keeps its trident high By Mark Kennedy December 21, 2023 at 7:52 p.m. It's perhaps appropriate that the latest Aquaman movie is about a lost kingdom. In many...
Things to do | A transformed Zac Efron gives his all in tragic, true-life wrestling tale ‘Iron Claw’ By Jocelyn Noveck December 21, 2023 at 7:56 p.m. It doesn’t take long to understand the level of commitment Zac Efron brings to “The...
Things to do | Ghosts and longing and love in ‘All of Us Strangers’ By Lindsey Bahr January 4, 2024 at 9:31 p.m. Andrew Scott plays a writer trying to write something about his dead parents in Andrew...
Things to do | A helicopter father flies his duck family south in ‘Migration’ By Jake Coyle December 21, 2023 at 7:54 p.m. Illumination, maker of “Despicable Me,” “Sing” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” has built its...
Things to do | Auto pioneer Enzo Ferrari gets a solid biopic, but it doesn’t make the heart race By Mark Kennedy December 21, 2023 at 8:02 p.m. Napoleon Bonaparte. Leonard Bernstein. Willy Wonka. Aquaman — there are a ton of Guy Movie...
Things to do | In harrowing ‘Zone of Interest,’ the Holocaust’s evils are cloaked in mundanities By Jocelyn Noveck January 18, 2024 at 9:19 p.m. It’s just a woman trying on a fur coat alone in her room, and sampling...
Things to do | Jeffrey Wright is brilliant in the smart and funny satire ‘American Fiction’ By Lindsey Bahr January 4, 2024 at 9:33 p.m. Jeffrey Wright’s Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is at the end of his rope at the beginning...
Things to do | Timothee Chalamet waltzes through the whimsical ‘Wonka,’ but Roald Dahl’s daring is missing By Jake Coyle December 15, 2023 at 12:22 a.m. The original 1971 “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” may have been a delicious dream,...
Things to do | Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro’ leaves many notes of Bernstein unplayed By Jake Coyle December 7, 2023 at 8:09 p.m. Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” a high-wire act of a biopic, leaps constantly between on stage and...
Things to do | La Jolla-based Spike and Mike festivals are acquired by Skybound Entertainment with plans for a revival By Ashley Mackin-Solomon December 7, 2023 at 5:59 p.m. Two animation events — and the collection amassed from them — with deep roots in...
Things to do | In ‘Poor Things,’ Emma Stone takes an unusual path to enlightenment By Lindsey Bahr December 15, 2023 at 12:09 a.m. It is sickly hilarious to make a movie in which so much consensual sex is...
Things to do | Swan song or not, Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ is a master surveying his empire By Jake Coyle December 7, 2023 at 8:13 p.m. When Hayao Miyazaki's “The Boy and the Heron" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival...
Things to do | In concert film ‘Renaissance,’ Beyonce offers glimpse into personal life during world tour By Jonathan Landrum Jr. November 30, 2023 at 8:39 p.m. LOS ANGELES — In Beyoncé’s concert film, she described her recent Renaissance World Tour as being run...
Things to do | ‘Eileen,’ a wonderful novel about an ‘invisible’ young lady, becomes a oddball film By Mark Kennedy December 7, 2023 at 8:17 p.m. Something strange has happened to Eileen Dunlop, and we don't just mean the plot of...
Things to do | Spinal Tap film sequel will include guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Elton John and Garth Brooks By George Varga November 28, 2023 at 1:22 a.m. Paul McCartney, Elton John and Garth Brooks are set to appear in the sequel to...
Things to do | Emerald Fennell chronicles a promising young man in audacious, shock-filled ‘Saltburn’ By Jocelyn Noveck November 22, 2023 at 2:05 a.m. Two years ago Emerald Fennell stood on the Oscars stage hoisting her writing trophy for...
Entertainment | Think they’ve seen it all? Holiday gift ideas for the movie lover who wants more By Lindsey Bahr December 4, 2023 at 12:11 a.m. It’s been a wonderful year at the movies for cinephiles, but what do you get...
Things to do | Disney’s musical fairy tale ‘Wish’ is beautiful, but lacking magic By Lindsey Bahr November 22, 2023 at 2:08 a.m. Walt Disney Animation's "Wish" is stunning to look at with textured and rich watercolor-inspired animation...
Things to do | In ‘Napoleon,’ the emperor has no clothes but plenty of ego By Jake Coyle November 22, 2023 at 2:10 a.m. For such a famed historical figure, Napoleon has made only fleeting appearances in movies since...
Things to do | Taika Waititi’s ‘Next Goal Wins’ is a sweet, frothy diversion but no knee slide By Mark Kennedy November 16, 2023 at 8:11 p.m. In “Next Goal Wins,” a soccer coach comes from far away to lead a hapless...
Things to do | Nicolas Cage finds fame to be highly overrated in chillingly funny ‘Dream Scenario’ By Jocelyn Noveck November 30, 2023 at 8:36 p.m. Quick: What’s a good adjective for Nicolas Cage’s screen presence? Mercurial, perhaps? Volcanic? Volatile?How about...
Things to do | Iman Vellani is a scene-stealer in low-stakes ‘The Marvels’ By Lindsey Bahr November 9, 2023 at 6:53 p.m. The stakes feel immensely low in “ The Marvels,” and it’s not because this is...
Things to do | Matthew Broderick is the American everyman in La Jolla Playhouse’s ‘Babbitt’ By Pam Kragen November 5, 2023 at 2:01 p.m. Sometime after Donald Trump was elected in 2016 but before the pandemic arrived in 2020...
Things to do | In ‘Radical,’ an unorthodox teacher in a violent Mexican border town By Jake Coyle November 2, 2023 at 5:47 p.m. On their first day sixth grade, the students of Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary School in...
Things to do | A serene debut from Raven Jackson in ‘All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt’ By Lindsey Bahr December 29, 2023 at 2:31 a.m. Nature provides much of the soundtrack to “ All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” a...
Things to do | Locals shine at San Diego Asian Film Festival By David L. Coddon October 27, 2023 at 12:01 p.m. Local filmmaker Emory Chao Johnson’s history with the San Diego Asian Film Festival began a...
Things to do | Video game-to-horror flick ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ misfires badly By Mark Kennedy October 26, 2023 at 6:31 p.m. Just in time for Halloween comes “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” a video game adaptation with...
Things to do | Teen dreams and adult nightmares in Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla’ By Jake Coyle November 2, 2023 at 5:47 p.m. Dreamily gazing at the album covers of Elvis Presley was not, statistically speaking, a rare...
Things to do | ‘Persian Version’ finds laughter, tears in Iranian American tale of resilient women By Jocelyn Noveck October 26, 2023 at 6:38 p.m. Let nobody say writer-director Maryam Keshavarz doesn’t know how to start a movie.The first time...
Things to do | A holiday movie with some bite in Alexander Payne’s ‘The Holdovers’ By Lindsey Bahr November 9, 2023 at 6:48 p.m. Alexander Payne brings audiences to a New England boarding school in 1970 in “ The...
Things to do | Scorsese’s epic ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is sweeping tale of greed, richly told By Jocelyn Noveck October 19, 2023 at 7:34 p.m. There tends to be lots of fast talking and fast moving in Martin Scorsese films,...
Things to do | Familiar faces star in ‘To Fall in Love’ at San Diego International Film Festival By David L. Coddon October 13, 2023 at 12:01 p.m. In “Celebrating the Power of Film” (its 2023 theme), the 22nd San Diego International Film...
Things to do | Cinema Society of San Diego celebrates 40 years of movie magic By David L. Coddon October 13, 2023 at 1:19 p.m. As Andy Friedenberg, founder of the Cinema Society of San Diego, reflects on the organization’s...
Entertainment | The Lot movie theaters in San Diego reopen following an abrupt closure a week ago By Lori Weisberg October 13, 2023 at 6:39 p.m. The Lot movie theaters, which abruptly closed all four of their California locations nearly a...
Things to do | In the elated ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,’ every seat is the best seat in the house By Maria Sherman October 12, 2023 at 9:15 p.m. It opens with a clock counting down until show time — the dropped stomach, rollercoaster...
Things to do | New documentary recounts the ‘experimental’ early history of San Diego’s Patrick Henry High By Pam Kragen October 12, 2023 at 8:54 p.m. When Patrick Henry High School opened its doors in the Del Cerro neighborhood 55 years...
Things to do | In ‘Anatomy of a Fall,’ a sharp courtroom drama that will end relationships By Lindsey Bahr October 26, 2023 at 6:37 p.m. Of all the ways that a relationship can end, a fundamental disagreement about a work...
Things to do | ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ doesn’t desecrate the original but it won’t compel you By Jake Coyle October 5, 2023 at 6:27 p.m. There may be no holier ground in horror than “The Exorcist." As endlessly as William...
Things to do | Check out ‘The Royal Hotel’ but don’t linger in this subtle horror flick By Mark Kennedy October 5, 2023 at 6:24 p.m. “The Royal Hotel” is a horror movie but don't expect any jump-cuts, scary masks or...
Things to do | Her voice is lower, but Joan Baez has songs to sing and secrets to tell in new doc By Jocelyn Noveck October 12, 2023 at 6:32 p.m. Bob Dylan called it her “heart-stopping soprano,” and it’s true that when Joan Baez unleashed...
Things to do | Humans take a back seat in the stunning AI, sci-fi epic ‘The Creator’ By Lindsey Bahr September 28, 2023 at 7:54 p.m. The artificial intelligence in Gareth Edwards’ “ The Creator,” a visually magnificent if by-the-books epic,...
Things to do | Documentary ‘Carlos’ is a loving, respectful portrait of guitar god Santana By Mark Kennedy September 28, 2023 at 7:50 p.m. A new documentary on rock icon Carlos Santana begins with the legendary philosopher-guitarist asking a...
Things to do | Talking Heads’ 1984 ‘Stop Making Sense’ returns: ‘It’s a specialized film,’ David Byrne told us at the time By George Varga September 26, 2023 at 8:37 p.m. Same as it ever was?In 1983, Talking Heads filmed three concerts and a rehearsal at...
Things to do | St4llone, St4tham are back in ‘Expend4bles,’ yet another expend4ble sequel By Jocelyn Noveck September 22, 2023 at 1:05 a.m. It’s a throwaway line, but maybe a bit too meaningful, under the circumstances. “Gravity is...
Things to do | A star-making turn for Eve Hewson in the feel-good ‘Flora and Son’ By Jake Coyle September 28, 2023 at 7:46 p.m. John Carney, the Irish filmmaker of “Once,” “Sing Street” and “Begin Again,” makes the movie...
Things to do | An immigrant teen who wants to fit in enters a nightmare in ‘It Lives Inside’ By Lindsey Bahr September 21, 2023 at 9:08 p.m. A beautiful Indian American teen, Samidha (Megan Suri), just wants to fit in with her...
Things to do | Talking Heads on the once-in-a-lifetime ‘Stop Making Sense,’ now back in theaters By Jake Coyle September 21, 2023 at 9:07 p.m. TORONTO — You may find yourself in a movie theater with “Stop Making Sense” playing and the...
Things to do | ‘Cassandro,’ with Gael Garcia Bernal as a liberated luchador, is a winner By Jake Coyle September 14, 2023 at 5:31 p.m. Anyone who has eagerly followed Gael Garcia Bernal since his breakthrough roles in “Amores Perros”...
Things to do | Kenneth Branagh crafts a sumptuously spooky ‘A Haunting in Venice’ By Lindsey Bahr September 14, 2023 at 6:15 p.m. Kenneth Branagh indulges in the kind of macabre theatricality that only a crumbling Venetian palazzo...
Things to do | Fall arts preview 2023: The movies we’re most excited about this fall, from Scorsese’s latest drama to the promising return of Willy Wonka By Los Angeles Times September 10, 2023 at 12:01 p.m. As we head into fall’s smart season, things are noticeably quieter: a sad circumstance of...
Things to do | Movie Review: In ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,’ the wedding’s in Greece and the formula feels ancient By Jocelyn Noveck September 7, 2023 at 11:22 p.m. “We’re getting married!” This rather inevitable line crops up early in “My Big Fat Greek...
Things to do | Movie Review: Oh, sister, what happened? ‘The Nun II’ is a face-plant horror splat By Mark Kennedy September 7, 2023 at 6:14 p.m. “The Conjuring” Universe celebrates 10 years in business this fall with the dull “The Nun...
Things to do | Pinochet as a vampire in surreal, frightening ‘El Conde’ By Lindsey Bahr September 14, 2023 at 5:37 p.m. The Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is not dead in Pablo Larraín’s “El Conde.” He is...
Things to do | Examining gay culture at the San Diego LGBTQ Film Festival By David L. Coddon September 1, 2023 at 12:01 p.m. A documentary tribute to the cult favorite “Chasing Amy,” a retrospective on Hollywood’s bygone Studio...
Things to do | Movie Review: Denzel Washington’s vigilante battles the Italian mafia in ‘Equalizer 3’ By Jake Coyle September 1, 2023 at 12:40 a.m. There's an awful lot of talk about the end of movie stars considering Denzel Washington...
Entertainment | ENVZN23: More than an arts festival, a collaboration between communities By Lucía Serrano August 29, 2023 at 11:28 p.m. A play inside a barber shop? A film festival at a gym? A journey around...
Things to do | Movie Review: ‘Bottoms’ is a gonzo gay high-school comedy that comes out on top By Jake Coyle September 1, 2023 at 12:42 a.m. The rites and rituals of the raunchy high-school comedy can be as prescribed as a...
Things to do | Filmmakers behind biopic ‘Golda,’ starring Helen Mirren, get lost in a swirl of smoke By Mark Kennedy August 24, 2023 at 6:05 p.m. Golda Meir was many things — modern Israel’s first and only female head of government...
Things to do | ‘Blue Beetle’ takes DC in refreshing new direction By Katie Walsh August 18, 2023 at 1:01 p.m. For Jaime Reyes — the Blue Beetle — being a superhero is a family affair....
Things to do | Dogs go hunting for laughs on comedy’s mean streets with only moderate success By Michael Phillips August 17, 2023 at 4:38 p.m. You know how raunchy comedies go. Hit and miss. One person’s laff riot is another...
Things to do | Documentary ‘The Eternal Memory’ shows that love is stronger than dementia By Mark Kennedy September 14, 2023 at 6:18 p.m. “The Eternal Memory” begins with a confused Augusto Góngora waking up one morning as his...
Things to do | ‘Gran Turismo’ movie drifts into cliches and video game aesthetics By Lindsey Bahr August 24, 2023 at 6:08 p.m. In 2006, a Nissan marketing executive had a truly insane idea to create a competition...
Things to do | Passion and love get messy in Ira Sachs’ smoldering ‘Passages’ By Lindsey Bahr August 9, 2023 at 6:03 p.m. If you’ve been wondering where all the sex has gone from the movies, you’re in...
Entertainment | Comic-Con 2023: Immersive experiences take over downtown San Diego. Here are 7 you can’t miss By Natallie Rocha July 22, 2023 at 5:21 p.m. Major Hollywood studios might not be at San Diego Comic-Con International with actors, but they...