2013 OCR Movies Archive Stories

To play a mother torn from her husband and sons by the 2004 tsunami, Naomi Watts sure wasn't going Method. The British actress took her partner Liev Schreiber and two sons to the Thailand set of "The Impossible," where Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona recreated the jaw-dropping destruction in a resort area. She talked through

Based on the true story of a family swept away by the deadly 2004 tsunami that pummeled Southeast Asia, "The Impossible" is about as subtle as a wall of water. The depiction of the natural disaster itself, which killed 230,000 people, is visceral and horrifying. Director Juan Antonio Bayona has crafted an event that's impeccable

Until the very end, she is described as "The Girl." Even after a relentless, decade-long pursuit that leads to the daring midnight raid of Osama bin Laden's compound, even as she unzips the body bag to verify that the bloody corpse inside is indeed that of the slain al-Qaida leader, Jessica Chastain's CIA officer character is defined pri

NEWPORT BEACH The Island Cinema at Fashion Island could serve alcohol at all showings — including those with children in the audience — if the city's Zoning Administrator approves changes proposed by the theater at a Thursday hearing. The theater wants to add two patio dining areas totaling approximately 800 square feet, modi

The Civil War saga "Lincoln" leads the Academy Awards with 12 nominations, including best picture, director for Steven Spielberg and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. Also among the nine nominees for best picture Thursday: the old-age love story "Amour"; the Iran hostage thriller "Argo"; the independent

Complete list of 85th Annual Academy Award nominations announced Thursday: Best Picture: "Amour," "Argo," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Django Unchained," "Les Misérables," "Life of Pi," "Lincoln," "Silver Linings Playbook," "Zero Dark Thirty." Actor: Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"; Daniel Day-Le

"Gangster Squad" may be loosely based on the truth – the takedown of notorious Los Angeles crime lord Mickey Cohen 60 years ago – but it feels about as real as a mob-themed costume party. At least there's a certain sport in counting how many neo-noir clichés director Ruben Fleischer ("Zombieland," "30 Minutes or Less") can get

Winners at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards:MOTION PICTURESPicture, Drama: "Argo"Picture, Musical or Comedy: "Les Misérables" Actor, Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"Actress, Drama: Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"Director: Ben Affleck, "Argo"

Anne and Georges are elderly Parisians taking life's victory lap. Their child is grown and married. Pianists and piano teachers, they can attend concerts and listen to CDs of their famous former students. Their routines are set and comfortable. – he knows which books she likes and recommends them, she knows how he takes his eggs. A

It's a filthy place, this "Broken City." Even the people called "good guys" have their dark side, their dirty secrets and tragic flaws. And the "bad guys?" They're all over the New York papers, all over New York cable news – a mayor who plays hardball, a guy running against him who's not above crawling in the mud, a police commissi

"Mama" breaks a lot of horror movie rules, right off the proverbial bat. It gives us a long back-story opening and brings up much more back story as the tale progresses. It over-explains. It reveals its supernatural menace, not just in glimpses, but full on, and early on. There's never any doubt that this might all be in somebody

If Michael Chiklis scares you, blame his wife. Seriously, if the intensity of his Emmy-winning portrayal of Detective Vic Mackey on the long-running TV series "The Shield" was too much to bear, it's his wife's fault. If you find his portrayal of 1960s mobster Vincent Savino on the current CBS drama "Vegas" a bit unsettling, it's

In a town of spoiled directors, Fisher Stevens just became the most spoiled director in Hollywood. The 49-year-old actor ("Short Circuit") and Oscar-winning documentarian ("The Cove") got the opportunity of a lifetime when he was hired to direct three screen legends in the film "Stand Up Guys," which opens Friday. Oscar-winners A

Steven Soderbergh, rightly considered one of Hollywood's smartest movie makers, is at his cleverest in "Side Effects," a canny, cunning big-idea thriller in a minor key, an engrossing zeitgeist whodunit about Wall Street, Big Pharma, prescription drugs and the power we give psychiatry and psychologists. Put simply, it's about a death, pe

A sport that seemed reserved for river banks and shallow waters is making its way to the ocean.Saltwater fly-fishing isn't a new trend, but it's gaining in popularity among anglers in coastal cities across the country, including Orange County."It's been around about 50 years," said Capt. Vaughn Podmore, a Huntington Beach resident

Young love, so sorely tested by vampirism and zombification in "Twilight" and "Warm Bodies," finds the road to romance sunnier in "Beautiful Creatures," in which two teens pair up even though one of them is a witch in training. The one-liners drawl from the lips of the South Carolina characters like Spanish moss dripping from the oaks in

It's supposed to be a parody of itself, right? That's the only way to explain the ridiculously over-the-top, repetitively numbing fifth film in the "Die Hard" franchise, the clunkily titled "A Good Day to Die Hard." John McClane used to be a cowboy. Now, he's a cartoon character – specifically, Wile E. Coyote, given how man

The movies based on the novels of Nicholas Sparks always emphasize the simple pleasures. A quiet locale, a leisurely stroll down the beach, a romance that doesn't begin in a bar and end in bed that same night. Those simple pleasures are in the forefront of "Safe Haven," another sweetly treacly tale from the "beach book" author who gave u

Keri Russell's "comeback year" has the feel of a reinvention, a re-branding of the dainty young lovely who burst on the scene with "Felicity" back in the last century. But as different as her flinty mom in the new film "Dark Skies" might seem, as dangerous and "out there" as her Born Again Bolshevik sleeper spy is in TV's "The Americans,

Edward Patrick Alva never thought a summer internship would lead to an Oscar nomination.In 2010, the UC Irvine graduate started his internship at Chain Camera Pictures, an independent, Silver Lake-based film company. He started doing administrative tasks and getting coffee, but his strong work ethic and technical skills caught the attenti

Handicapping the Oscars is not an exact science. It's more of a parlor game, played by amateurs trying to win their office pools, and by professionals trying to convince you that they have inside information on who will win the coveted gold statuettes on Feb. 24. Here's a little secret – nobody knows for sure what's going to happen

IRVINE – A director's third film about violence in Juarez, Mexico, will open in Irvine Feb. 22. "The New Juarez" is directed by Charlie Minn, who also made two other films about the violence that has faced Juarez, "8 Murders a Day" and "Murder Capital of the World." "The violence has diminished in Juarez, from 10 murders a

We asked a panel of Orange County beauty and fashion experts to tell us their favorite and least favorite looks on the Academy Awards' red carpet: The Hair James Morrison, Morrison Hair, Laguna Beach/co-founder of TIGI for Bedhead. Best: The hairstyles at the Oscars added a modern twist to

If one word could describe the Oscars red carpet style it would be "expected". Unlike the carpet-changing appearance of Gwyneth Paltrow in a white Tom Ford dress and cape last year, there were no style-defining moments on the 85th Academy Awards red carpet. But there were many pretty moments: Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta

It's easy to be drunk. It's much harder to act drunk. Dudley Moore did it to perfection in "Arthur," but countless actors have stumbled when trying to pull it off in movies. Justin Chon, a 31-year-old Irvine-based actor, gets his shot at mastering the art of playing drunk in the film "21 & Over," which opens Friday. D