Another blow to the hopes that first arose during the great Egyptian uprising of 2011 was delivered on Monday when a corrupt court sentenced a group of Al Jazeera journalists to seven to 10 years in prison. Their crime was making the new military dictatorship look bad while reporting on the aftermath of the July 2013 coup against the elected...

“Jersey Boys”, a film adaptation of the original 2005 Broadway hit of the same name, could possibly be one of the greatest movies to see with your grandparents this year. Essentially, it's a “Dreamgirls”-“Goodfellas” combo with the well-known Clint Eastwood grayscale and curious morbidity. Perhaps it was Eastwood’s lack of understanding for musical flare or the use of every showbiz...

It would be hard to argue that anyone can fall in love quite like Eric Clapton. While some love rock ballads like Journey’s “Faithfully” and Bon Jovi’s “I’ll Be There For You” succeed at belting out lyrics of loyalty, love, and passion, few songs can bring the grit to a love song that Eric Clapton’s “Layla” can. Known for one...

As a summertime silence descended over the Santa Monica College campus over the weekend, the first floor of the Letters & Arts building was turned into a living movie set on Saturday. Film 33, the SMC class which immerses students in the full experience of producing a professional short film, had turned the hallways of the building into one of...

Relatives of Carlos and Marcela Franco, the Santa Monica College grounds keeper and his daughter who were tragically gunned down by John Zawahri on June 7, 2013 took some time away from the masses, vigils and memorials on Saturday to hold a private memorial by the parking lot on Pearl Street, the scene of Carlos and Marcela's death. Since the...

The Santa Monica College Film Department’s upcoming film, “Hurt” written and directed by Brandon Chang is a “Paradise Lost” expedition. Currently in the post-production phase, the film will be released to the public in fall of 2014 and shortly after, will be submitted to major film festivals. There is a fear however, that some in the SMC community may not...

“If the world is where we hide from ourselves, what do we do when the world is no longer accessible? We invent a false name, invent a destiny, purchase a firearm through the mail." - Don DeLillo, "Libra."On the morning of June 7, 2013 I walked up the steps of the campus library and came across my friend, former Film...

Like a cool Summer breeze Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" pulsates with a real sense of style and nostalgia. It defines that period between the late 1980s and early 2000s when movie soundtracks would produce the defining hits of the times. It was an epoch when dual classics on the big screen and radio dial."Take My Breath Away" was featured...

The ultimate X-Men ensemble is back again to fight the same war of survival, but this time across two time periods. In one dimension, the actions of the past have wrought the chaos and violent end of the mutant existence in the future. The past holds the key to saving the mutant species and creating a sustainable harmony and peace...

As most of France prepared for the European Union elections, others gathered by the glistening shore of the Riviera for the 67th annual Cannes Film Festival. Cannes is the world's most famous and notable gathering of the cinema world. It was there that classics like "Apocalypse Now" and "E. T." made their thunderous premieres. This year the festival featured a...