Anyone who had even a passing acquaintance with the world of marijuana has met a Saul Silver, the ditzy, burn-out pot dealer James Franco embodies so perfectly in the hysterically funny “Pineapple Express.” Read the rest of this entry »

This March I left my job as a film critic for the Bay Area-based Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune and San Jose Mercury News. Along with 101 colleagues, I took a buyout. It was a clear and obvious choice. If I hadn’t leapt then, with at least a small landing pad of cash, I have little doubt I would have been pushed this month, when Media News laid off 29 of my former newsroom colleagues, all of them deemed unnecessary by the company. Read the rest of this entry »

“Superbad,” a simple tale of a daylong teenage odyssey to obtain alcohol, is the best comedy about youthful friendship since “Dazed and Confused.” Read more

Kasi Lemmons, Zoe Cassavetes, Laurie Collyer, Julie Delpy, Hillary Brougher and other fem helmers talk skill sets, set decorum and mothering with Mary F. Pols. Read more

Of course your brother hated Nancy Drew. The boys always had her pegged as the kind of girl who would someday make them feel small, a know-it-all, goodie-two-shoes. Meanwhile, you loved her. For many of us, this was the first battle of the sexes. read more