More than 120,000 people in the Sacramento community do not know where their next meal will be coming from, says Eileen Thomas, Executive Director at River City Food Bank. The Sacramento Hunger Coalition aims to remedy this situation, and they will be presenting the inaugural Hunger Action Week from May 20th to May 24th. The organization will hold an event on each day of the week to bring attention to the hunger issues on local and statewide levels. Monday, May 20th River City Food Bank will host a Senior Hunger Panel at their facility from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Senior hunger experts will discuss the food insecurity crisis for senior citizens in California. Tuesday, May 21st The Sacra

On Sunday, May 12, at 7 p.m., 15 local women writers will perform in the Sacramento premiere of “Listen to Your Mother” at the Crest Theatre. A portion of all proceeds will benefit 916 Ink, a local nonprofit organization that is dedicated to increasing the literacy rate of youth in Sacramento. Bring your mother, sister, daughter or friend and spend a Sunday evening listening to stories of motherhood. It’s certain that one of the stories presented by these women, who are professional writers or bloggers, artists, homemakers, teachers or office workers, is sure to tickle your funny bone and perhaps moisten your eyes, while each will certainly celebrate the complexities of motherhood. Since

It's the time of year to honor your Mom and celebrate all she does for you. What better way to do so than to take her out for a fun day on the town? We've compiled some suggestions for you below, but you can always find even more in Sacramento365.com's Holiday Events section. Treat her to eats: Mother's Day Brunch at the Hyatt: Hyatt Regency Sacramento; Sun 9:30am-3pm: Treat your mother to a scrumptious buffet featuring omelets made-to-order, a carving station, fresh seafood, and a bountiful dessert selection. Mother's Day Brunch with Sacramento RiverTrain: Sacramento RiverTrain - West Sacramento; Sun 10am-1pm: Bring Mom, Grandma, Aunt, and friends aboard the RiverTrain for a three-co

Iron Man 3 Directed by Shane Black Malcolm Maclachlan: It’s often that I’ll think more of a flick the day after I see it than when I’m actually watching it. In this case, I like it less. “Iron Man 3” starts out with some compelling ideas and snappy dialogue, but ends up as a typical overstuffed…well, let’s just say towards the end when Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow argue about which one of them is more of a “hot mess,” my answer is “you’re both soaking in it.” Tony Sheppard: I think we had opposite reactions, or at least opposite post-reaction reactions. I had gone into the film with some fairly specific concerns regarding the storyline and enjoyed the film more than I had expect

Small press focus: Akashic Books Akashic Books is this edgy press that you may or may not have heard of. Akashic published one of my favorite books of all time, “Ruins,” by Achy Obejas. Their noir series is sure to please fans of noir, and I recommend picking up one of the many titles, perhaps beginning with “Boston Noir 2: The Classics” or delving even deeper into the drug noir series, perhaps with “The Heroin Chronicles.” You might be asking just how good these books are. Well, with contributors like David Foster Wallace, Joyce Carol Oates and Andre Dubus, how can you go wrong with “Boston Noir 2: The Classics?” This collection is divided into three sections: Broken Families where you’

Another busy week at the Crest Theatre A little over 100 years ago, in January 1913, what we now know as the Crest Theatre first opened its doors as the Empress, a vaudeville theater - soon to be renamed the Hippodrome. In 1946 it closed for extensive remodeling, re-opening in 1949 as the Crest with an interior much as you can still enjoy it today, thanks to extensive renovation and care from the current ownership team and staff. A couple of months ago, news leaked out that the Crest would no longer routinely schedule films on its two smaller screens, disappointing many who feared that Sacramento would lose its only truly independent movie theater (The Tower Theatre being part of a small

Courage, brains, and a heart … and a movie about Oz Dead Man Down Directed by Niels Arden Oplev Oz the Great and Powerful Directed by Sam Raimi In an odd coincidence this week, after a screening of “Dead Man Down,” I was pondering its release alongside “Oz the Great and Powerful” and also recalling the “The Wizard of Oz” and its three characters in search of courage, brains, and a heart. Much to my surprise, “Dead man Down” which had looked like a fairly run of the mill action film in previews, actually has all three. Having said that, it’s not a fantastic film, and it has some problems, but it’s far more interesting than I was expecting. It’s directed by Niels Arden Oplev who directed

A more upbeat week at the movies After a relatively disappointing month of new releases, and no great expectation of that changing anytime soon, I was pleasantly surprised by two of this week’s new movies. Not that they’re especially wonderful, but they’re both quite a bit better than their previews might suggest.   Jack the Giant Slayer Directed by Bryan Singer Bryan Singer (“The Usual Suspects,” “X-Men,” “Superman Returns”) brings his B-game to this mashup of the traditional English fairy tales of “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Jack the Giant Killer.” And for anyone who is offended that the movie takes generous liberties in blending and adapting these two stories into a new form, real

Snitch Co-Written and Directed by Ric Roman Waugh There are some aspects of “Snitch” that I admire and that aren’t immediately apparent in the lowest common denominator style of previews that tend to get made to promote films. On its face, it’s a story about a father who goes undercover to assist in the capture of drug dealers in return for a reduced sentence for his son. That’s the kind of action film one might expect from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and would probably be enough to draw a respectable action-oriented audience. But there’s more to “Snitch” than that and the action story is essentially a cover for an indictment of mandatory sentencing laws as they apply to drug offenses. In

This Weekend Only: Oscar Documentary Shorts Nominees Two weeks ago, in my regular column, I described the process through which the Oscar-nominated short films are selected. At that time, I reviewed the five animated narrative shorts and the five live action narrative shorts. Those two programs continue in regular release at Sacramento’s historic Crest Theatre. Additionally, this weekend, for two days only, the Crest will screen the five documentary shorts nominees. Shorts, in Academy terms, are shorter than feature films but can still reach 40 minutes in length. This year’s nominees are collectively long enough that the Crest will screen them in two programs this weekend, on Saturday an

Oscar Shorts Even for most dedicated film goers, the shorts categories at the Academy Awards are often some of the most obscure, with short films that have primarily been seen in various Academy sanctioned film festivals (with one or two exceptions, typically among big name animated films that sometimes play in support of a mainstream feature film). However, despite their relative obscurity, the shorts are subject to some of the fairest final voting in the entire competition. (And I make that distinction between final voting and nominations, because there are always wonderful short films out there that weren’t seen in regular theaters and which might have won in festival competitions, b

More January-esque Film Openings The January pattern of film openings I was discussing last week continues this week with an award season drama, a straightforward action film that feels at home at this time of year, and a flashier popcorn actioner that feels like a refugee from the summer. There’s also the opening of “Movie 43” which wasn’t made available for press review – and you can draw your own conclusions on that.   “Sister” and “Parker” Interestingly, while very different, two of the new films share a Robin Hood-like sentiment towards stealing. In “Sister,” Switzerland’s official entry in the foreign language category for the Academy Awards, a young boy lives in the town at the

The 15th State of Downtown Breakfast took place last Tuesday morning at the Sacramento Convention Center, with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom as keynote speaker. Michael Ault, executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, opened the event and ran through a plethora of topics and issues. Public safety, K Street, the sale of Downtown Plaza and parks are just a few of the many that were highlighted. “Personal connection makes a difference,” Ault said, regarding the 26 new businesses that opened up in the district last year. Ault cited the executive committee’s efforts to get to know brokers, owners and storefronts as the difference. He was optimistic about the strides that have been

3 Gifts of Entertainment If you’re still trying to figure out gift options, here are three recommendations that are easy to purchase without dealing with crowded shopping malls. And tickets have the added advantage of being easy to wrap. How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular Mix the storyline and production company behind the excellent animated film “How to Train Your Dragon” with the animatronic masterminds behind “Walking with Dinosaurs” and you get this amazing show that’s touring arenas around the country. Not only are the dragons awesome enough to thrill ‘children of all ages’ (myself included) but the show incorporates some really cool mixed-media techniques that put the char

The Sacramento Press, and other local news sources, have a habit of focusing on Downtown’s stretch of K Street – or is it “The Kay” now? And most of that focus goes towards what club, bar, or restaurant has most recently opened, closed, been remodeled, or gone on the market. But one of the few long-term survival stories in the annals of K Street business is the Crest Theatre. A theater in some form or other has been in that location for 100 years and the Crest, operating under that name but different management entities, has been there for more than 60. Which, in this author’s opinion at least, is more noteworthy on that street than whether or not cars can drive past a mermaid this year.

Hitchcock Directed by Sacha Gervasi There’s a similarity between the new film “Hitchcock” and “Lincoln,” which opened and was reviewed three weeks ago. Both are films about strong, well regarded men at the top of their respective professions, who had impressive and broad-ranging careers and life stories that could be adapted into  films of epic proportions. But, instead, both films tackle a very specific time period and project, relatively late in their respective careers, in an attempt to illustrate the men and their temperaments and achievements through those specific chapters in their lives. In “Lincoln,” the focus is on the passage of what would become the 13th Amendment to the US Co

The Waiting Room Directed by Peter Nicks If you’ve ever visited a hospital emergency room, in any other than a life threatening emergency involving arriving by ambulance, you’ve probably sat for a long period getting frustrated by the wait, compounded by the pain or infirmity of the condition (or companion) that caused the visit. One of several  things “The Waiting Room” does well is to convey the sense that the frustration exists on both sides of the big swing doors, with doctors and nurses having to deal with an overwhelming supply of both emergency patients and those seeking very basic interventions or prescription refills. This documentary, shot during a 24 hour period in 2010, follo

It's a holiday week and so we have have multiple midweek openings, reviewed briefly below. Also opening in wide release today is the animated "Rise of the Guardians." And Friday will mark the limited release of "A Royal Affair" at the Crest (Denmark's official Academy Awards submission).   Red Dawn Directed by Dan Bradley It’s been 28 years since the original “Red Dawn” was made and approximately 4 since the remake was made and then shelved pending solutions to studio problems. And if the two films are representative of their times, in the intervening 24 years, apparently we got more interested in gritty realistic action scenes and less interested decent storytelling – and it’s now hipp

Flight Directed by Robert Zemeckis I’ll probably be bucking a trend here, but I’m not especially fond of “Flight” – a movie that stars Denzel Washington as a skilled but flawed airline pilot – which is fitting because it also feels like a skilled but flawed film. The previews focus on the action scenes – which are well done – but they’re also over fairly quickly at the start of a movie that focuses primarily on the aftermath of those scenes rather than on them directly. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you enjoy where that focus takes you – and I enjoyed it until about 10-15 minutes before the end of the movie. Part of that aftermath is really quite interesting, as we see the proces

Bill W. Directed by Dan Carracino & Kevin Hanlon A few weeks ago, the powers that be at the Crest Theatre decided to try a single day’s programming for this film – and the result was so overwhelmingly positive that they brought it back for a regular engagement. And it’s easy to see why so many people would be affected strongly by the story of Bill Wilson, the Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, a man who’s a hero to so many struggling and recovering addicts – although he would most likely have scoffed at such an idea and described himself as a drunk trying to get through his life. One day at a time. His story is likely familiar to many, not because they know it but because they’ve lived thr