Santa Monica Observer - Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words

ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS is an extraordinary visual wonder from beginning to end, exhilarating the senses with eye-dropping kaleidoscopic imagery and a sweet sensitivity between Alice and the...

Let's just set the tone right now and say, quirky Greta Gerwig goodness. Written and directed by Rebecca Miller, MAGGIE'S PLAN is fun and light, unfolding with inherent humor fueled by Gerwig's...

British director Ben Wheatley first caught the attention of many when he threw his hat into the feature film ring with "Kill List". Already known for his episodic television work across the pond,...

I always knew "green rooms" could be dangerous places - especially back in the 70's and 80's at the height of metal and then with 90's punk and free-flowing drugs and alcohol, but Jeremy Saulnier take...

To the horror of my colleagues in the press and evoking a chorus of gasps and boos from them at the recent press junket for CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (although Paul Rudd cheered and Kevin Feige lit...

You've seen the pictures. I've seen the pictures. The whole world has seen the pictures. And "the pictures" remain to this day the most requested images in the National Archives. What pictures, you...

Lots of good stuff opening in theatres this week, as well as on a concurrent digital/VOD platform, including the much anticipated Disney's THE JUNGLE BOOK. Normally, I would devote full coverage to th...

Leave it to Jean-Marc Vallee to deliver yet another emotionally intense and introspective character driven film. Leave it to Jake Gyllenhaal to once again put his chameleonic skill set to use to deliv...

Anyone who seen writer/director Deon Taylor's freshman film, "Supremacy", has been awed by the power and strength of the heavy dramatic themes rising from the a racially motivated true story. Many,...

Clive Owen is always a welcome presence in any film, but particularly in one as smartly subtle and engaging as Bob Nelson's THE CONFIRMATION, and in which Owen shares the screen with (and is often...

Still in the midst of spring break and with baseball season fast upon us, it's a moviegoing grand slam this week with everything from a biopic on an American institution, Hank Williams, to a...

Pixar Animation Studios has done it again. Not only have they delivered what should prove to be the indisputable Best Animated Feature Academy Award winner come February 28, 2016, but a hot contender...

As you stroll through Downtown Culver City you might notice a new face on the block - ArcLight Cinemas. While maybe not a completely new face, it's definitely a 21st century upgrade. As related by...

Christina Noble is a name many may not know but after seeing NOBLE, thanks to not only the subject of the film, but the well crafted storytelling of writer/director Stephen Bradley and indelible...

While my love and admiration for Joss Whedon and the World of Whedon (not to mention the "Avengers" and that irascible Tony Stark aka Robert Downey, Jr.) knows no bounds, when it comes to AVENGERS:...

Seems that not just Spring has sprung, but so has the movie box office which is jam-packed with a multiplicity of new releases in limited and wide release this month. This week I turn your attention...

Let's just get it out there now so there's no mistaking. Nicholas Sparks is Nicholas Sparks is Nicholas Sparks. You know what you're going to get (for the most part) when you pick up a Sparks novel or...

I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or Al Pacino us just getting better, but between his recent tour de force in "The Humbling" and now DANNY COLLINS, I have fallen in love with him as an...

A thoughtful film that places the past and its lingering effects on the present as told through feuding Appalachian families who can't or don't want to move forward in a 1970's backwoods North Carolin...

Delving into somewhat rare territory with bringing a true life story and real life individuals to the big screen (the last time being "Ed Wood"), one of whom is very much alive and very much a part...

Fans of the stage musical, and those who have heard of but never seen the wonder that is Stephen Sondheim, are in for a special holiday treat come Christmas Day as all tied up with a big red bow, er,...

I was one of the lucky few press who, several months ago, was treated to some early clips of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB. My appetite for more was quickly whetted on seeing just brief...

The finger of God seems to have descended on Hollywood the past few years with a resurgence in the spectacle of the Old Testament and teaching of the New, on both the big and small screens. Perhaps a...

As you are reading this very column, be it online or in print, one of the people responsible for this luxury is the very man celebrated in THE IMITATION GAME - Alan Turing. Although director Morten...

As has become crystal clear over the past several years, DreamWorks Animation more than gives Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar a run for their money when it comes to animated features. With...