Scarlett Johansson has a very distinctive voice. Some might call it smoky, sexy or sultry. I think she sounds like she needs a glass of milk to wash down the peanut butter lodged in her throat, but that's just me.

Apparently the Rome Film Festival doesn't care about my opinion. Last night they awarded her the Best Actress prize for Her, the new Spike Jonze film also starring Joaquin Phoenix. Johansson plays Samantha, the voice of an artificial operating system that Phoenix falls in love with. Paul Reubens, Kevin Spacey and Peter Saarsgard could not be reached for comment.

Risky Business, the 1983 film that skyrocketed Tom Cruise to stardom and made everybody rush out to purchase Ray-Ban Wayfarers, is playing at Cinemark El Con tomorrow afternoon and evening. It’s part of Cinemark’s Classic Series, a weekly series of digitally cleaned up versions of your favorite older films.

This was the first film I remember my mom renting at the local video store. When I was supposed to be asleep, I sneaked out to living room where she was watching the flick with friends, and I lingered around as long as I could without being caught. Because…Rebecca De Mornay.

A Teacher is one of the many incredible films playing at the Loft Cinema Film Fest this week, and I've written about it in this week's TW issue. Out of all the festival films I previewed, this one stuck with me the longest. A Teacher stars newcomers Lindsay Burdge and Will Brittain as a teacher and a student who are in the midst of an illicit affair. What could have been mere sensational, tabloid fodder is instead a moving film about love under disastrous circumstances. It's one of the best debut films I've ever seen.

What's your film-making background?

I didn't go to film school. I did, however, study film theory and cultural anthropology in undergrad as well as media theory in grad school. In a way, I feel like that gives me a leg up to explore more non-traditional types of narratives than someone with formal filmmaking training.

UK Yahoo Movies released the second RoboCop trailer today. The director José Padilha starts off the clip admitting how much he loved the original 1984 movie, and how the remake relates to the cult classic.

I'm not a big fan of long trailers, but The Hobbit trilogy will get a pass.

I love J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. I wore out my VHS copy of the 1977 animated Hobbit film, but I wasn't too crazy about latest adaptation. I think the whole story can fit in one three-hour movie, but I can't resist how beautiful these movies look. The second installment of the Peter Jackson's vision for the series will hit theaters Dec. 13, but this three minute trailer should hold you over.

The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St., presents Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, at
8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2. Admission is $6.

Sophie Huber, 2012, Switzerland, 80 min.
A documentary about laconic, chain-smoking Harry Dean Stanton, beloved and iconic actor of more than 200 films. This captivating, beautifully composed tribute, stunningly lensed in color and in black and white, reveals, often in song, glimmers of Stanton's fascinating life. The film explores the actor's enigmatic outlook on his life, his unexploited talents as a musician, and includes candid scenes with directors David Lynch and Wim Wenders and actors Sam Shepard, Kris Kristofferson and Debbie Harry.

Today 20th Century Fox released the first full trailer for the latest instalment in the X-Men franchise. I'm excited for X-Men: Days of Future Past despite my sad, fanboy rambling. It's been 13 years since the first movie was released, and a lot has changed since the first movie. The 2011 X-Men: First Class might have been a prequel but who knows. The X-Men universe has been riddled with continuity issues ever since the comic book series started in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

The Border Action Network, Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, and Humane Borders is screening The Undocumented at 7 p.m. tonight at The Loft Cinema, 1103 N. Camilla Blvd.

The good folks over at Maker House are playing the film noir classic Sunset Boulevard tonight 7 p.m. According to their Facebook page, they've built a 20-foot movie screen for the occasion! The film stars Gloria Swanson as a washed-up, delusional actress and William Holden as an eager screenwriter/gigolo, and in my opinion, is one of the greatest films ever made. I'm obviously not alone on this.

Tonight is your chance to watch it with a bonafide movie critic. Joe Morella, formerly of Variety, will be in attendance and will be providing some sort of commentary after the film I'd imagine. Morella's written a fair share of books covering Hollywood's Golden Age, including biographies on Mia Farrow, Judy Garland, and Rita Hayworth.

The event tonight kicks off a four-part series Morella will be presenting on classic films at Maker House. Up next on the schedule is Shakespeare in Love on Nov. 22. I'd love to hear Morella's take on why that won Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line.

Maker House is located at 283 N. Stone Ave. Admission is free, but you should probably RSVP at the event's Eventbrite page here.

Marvel/Disney finally released the Captain America trailers today, and I'm going to start camping out right now.

I caught most of the comic book references because I read the Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting Winter Soldier comics. Chris Evans is decked out in the Secret Agent Steve Rogers uniform from the Marvel Heroic Age era two years ago (I may be wrong about my dates). The trailer teases Falcon (Anthony Mackie) dodging fighter planes, and I'm glad he isn't wearing that dumb red latex suit.


The only Issue I have with the trailers is there isn't enough Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). She's a kick ass character and I feel like they don't utilize Johansson like they should. There's a ton of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) in these trailers and he should have his own movie as well, or at least give him a cool fight scene. He's the old grumpy ass of the Avengers when he could kick ass and take names once in a while. I'm glad they picked Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) as the villain in this film. The biggest problem with Captain America is his rogues gallery. For the last 70 years he has been fighting Nazis and Hydra.