We film critics and viewers “of a certain age” who came to cinema-blockbuster awareness 30 or so years ago will likely recall that 1978’s Superman and 1981’s Superman II were initially shot as one movie. However, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind — sensing not one but two potential hits on their hands — decided to split their 3-hour+ opus into two films (they had taken a similar road with their earlier 1970’s productions The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, with considerable success). But in order to pad the shorter sequel into a fuller feature length, they replaced original ...

It is said that good things can come in small packages, and that is the case with many of the mini-movies that will be screened during the 19th annual Palm Springs International ShortFest & Film Market. Running at the Camelot Theatres in downtown Palm Springs from June 18th-24th, more than 300 short films from around the world will be screened. A good ten percent of them feature GLBT storylines.According to Darryl Macdonald, Festival Director for the last ten years, the fest "is now the largest and most prestigious short film festival in North America and the only ...

The 2013 LA Film Fest (LAFF), once again presented by venerable Film Independent, kicks off tonight with the Los Angeles premiere of I’m SoExcited, Pedro Almodóvar’s slight but delightful return to early, campy form (it will open in US theaters beginning June 28.)  The Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker is obviously using the Airport disaster movie series of the 1970’s as his template, but instead of singing nuns, little old lady stowaways and George Kennedy he employs flamingly-gay flight attendants, bisexual pilots, horny newlyweds, a virgin psychic, and Almodovar regular Cecilia Roth as a middle-aged ...