Jonathan Kim

The "Magic Negro" and "White Savior" film genres say a lot about race in America as we inch towards a truly post-racial age (and no, it didn't start with the election of Barack Obama). In case you haven't heard of them, Magic Negro movies (The Green...

It's been 15 years since the first Men In Black film debuted in 1997, beginning Will Smith's march to becoming the biggest star on the planet. Men In Black 2 received a critical drubbing, but it was still a hit at the box office, albeit a smaller one than the...

Sacha Baron Cohen originally became famous because no one knew who he was, allowing him to play outrageous caricatures that unsuspecting people took seriously. Perhaps his best character and film was Borat, a racist, sexist, incestuous anti-Semite from Kazakhstan who was so naïve and seemingly good-hearted that people he interviewed...

When I was in film school, someone told me a great quote that went something like, "If it looks bad and sounds good, it's artsy. If it looks good and sounds bad, it's amateur." I've generally found this to be true, especially when I've sat in theaters where viewers either...

Bobcat Goldthwait is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore. At least, the two main characters of his dark comedy God Bless America won't, as they drive across the country mercilessly gunning down all the people they feel are responsible for making America an uglier, meaner,...

Last weekend, America's movie theaters were rightly dominated by The Avengers, which Hulk-smashed box office records and will surely continue its domination this weekend. But if you're an adult over a certain age, or maybe want to find something to take mom or grandma to for Mother's Day...

Oscar-winning director Jessica Yu and I both grew up in Northern California, so we know a little bit about conserving water. As a kid, I always took baths, but I remember the day when my mother told me that we would be taking showers from now on because it had...

With a movie as big and anticipated as The Avengers, it's hard to imagine it being anything other than a disappointment. After all, the hype has been building since the Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk movies in 2008 and has grown even louder and more frenzied with Iron Man...

Ondi Timoner knows a lot about documentaries, which you'd expect from the director of five award-winning documentaries, two of which earned her the distinction of being the only director to ever win the prestigious Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival twice. Having spent countless hours at festivals with...

The poster for Richard Linklater's dark comedy Bernie claims it tells "a story so unbelievable it must be true." That's because Bernie is the true story of Bernie Tiede (played in the film by Jack Black), an assistant funeral home director who befriended and later murdered a wealthy, ornery widow...

If 4/20 is the international day for celebrating marijuana, songs by Bob Marley and the Wailers would be the day's equivalent of carols on Christmas (with the works of Snoop Dogg a distant second). As a member of the Rastafari movement, which sees smoking cannabis as a spiritual act that...

When we encounter Wall Street criminals like Bernie Madoff, it's easier and more comfortable to condemn them as monsters and comic book-style supervillains. That way, not only do they warrant our harshest demonization, but we can morally separate ourselves from them by seeing them as lacking a fundamental humanity that...

I was in high school in the early '90s just as alternative, grunge, and gangster rap were hitting, a time I feel is one of the most exciting and influential periods of music since the late '60s. One of my favorite bands was Nirvana, who I feel proud and lucky...

Haven't you been curious about what the crew from American Pie have been up to since American Wedding? Me neither, which makes the arrival of American Reunion that much more baffling. I know that for many people who were teenagers in 1999, American Pie was a revelation since R-rated sex...

I met Lee Hirsch -- the director of the shocking, often heartbreaking, but ultimately hopeful documentary Bully (watch the trailer here) -- on a pretty bad day for him. Bully follows three kids who are the victims of bullying and two sets of parents whose children committed suicide...

I've never followed hockey, and I have only a rudimentary knowledge of its rules. But I do know that hockey means fistfights, which are technically illegal, but are integral to how the game is played, whether it's protecting teammates, intimidating opponents, or removing them from games by drawing them into...

The Hunger Games is based on the first installment of the young adult book series whose popularity rivals that of the Twilight and perhaps even the Harry Potter franchises. The books follow Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old played in the film by Jennifer Lawrence, who volunteers to compete in a deadly...

If you enjoy sushi, consider yourself to be a foodie, like food/cooking shows, or are simply fascinated by people who have mastered their craft, David Gelb's documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi should top your list of movies to see next. It follows 85-year-old Jiro Ono, who is widely considered to...

There are two ugly truths about new parents that no one wants to talk about. The first is that having a baby often makes once-fun couples boring. Assuming they actually have enough time to meet up with you between work, errands, and constant parenting duties, the child that dominates all...

The film Being Flynn (my review here) is based on the celebrated memoir, "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City" by Nick Flynn. The screenplay was adapted by writer/director Paul Weitz and tells the true story of when Nick (played by Paul Dano) was an aspiring writer...