TEMBLORES Juan Pablo Olyslager will participate in a Q&A following the 7:20 pm show on Friday, 12/6.
TEMBLORES Juan Pablo Olyslager will participate in a Q&A following the 7:20 pm show on Friday, 12/6.
Begin the new year and the new decade by taking in some of the esoteric cinema of our Culture Vulture series, now entering its seventh year.
January 13 & 14 ~ THE PRADO MUSEUM: A COLLECTION OF WONDERS celebrates the 200th anniversary of the storied Prado Museum — one of the most-visited museums in the world. Hosted by Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons, this cinematic journey offers viewers a spell-binding experience, telling the story of Spain and beyond, through the works of Vélazquez, Rubens, Titian, Mantegna, Bosch, Goya, El Greco, and more.
AFTERWARD January 20 & 21 ~ Jerusalem-born trauma expert Ofra Bloch forces herself to confront her demons in a journey that takes her to Germany, Israel and Palestine. Set against the current wave of fascism and anti-Semitism sweeping the globe, AFTERWARD delves into the secret wounds carried by victims as well as victimizers, through testimonies ranging from the horrifying to the hopeful.
GAUGUIN FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON January 27 & 28 ~ This fascinating new cinema event, Gauguin from the National Gallery, London, opens with a brand-new documentary about the life and work of Paul Gauguin, one of the world’s most popular and important artists. Filmed in Tahiti, France, the Marquesas Islands and the UK, this cinematic film explores Gauguin’s extraordinary – and at times controversial – artistic achievement, with commentary from his descendants, artists and world experts. It is followed by an exclusive private view of the National Gallery exhibition, The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Gauguin Portraits.
IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN February 3 & 4 ~ The makers of IN SEARCH OF MOZART return with a new feature-length bio-doc about Beethoven. Director Phil Grabsky brings together the world’s leading performers and experts on Beethoven to reveal new insights into the legendary composer.
February 10 & 11 ~ EARTH was filmed at seven locations that humans have transformed on a grand scale: Entire mountains being moved in California; a tunnel being sliced through rock at the Brenner Pass; an open-cast mine in Hungary; a marble quarry in Italy; a copper mine in Spain; the salt mine used to store radioactive waste in Wolfenbüttel; and a tar sands landscape in Canada. Initially shown from above as abstract paintings, these terrains are subsequently explored on the ground: The film weaves together observational footage of machines in operation with conversations with the workers.
February 1 & 18 ~ MATTHEW BOURNE’S ROMEO + JULIET has been hailed as ‘the single most eagerly awaited dance show for 2019’ by The Daily Telegraph. This passionate and contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic story of love and conflict is set in the not-too-distant future in ‘The Verona Institute.’ Here ‘difficult’ young people are mysteriously confined by a society that seeks to divide and crush their youthful spirit and individuality. Our two young lovers must follow their hearts as they risk everything to be together.
February 24 & 25 ~ GISELLE touches upon great and universal romantic themes. In this brand new production, renowned choreographer Alexei Ratmansky brings a fresh perspective to one of the oldest and greatest works of classical dance, giving the audience an opportunity to discover this iconic ballet anew.
As a special moviegoing treat for the holiday season, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the movie that is generally regarded as the best in the spectacularly successful 007 franchise, GOLDFINGER (1964).
When it opened in December 1964, the third James Bond film scored an instant success that insured the durability of the series. It is now the longest-running franchise in cinema history, with a new entry coming in the spring of 2020, almost 60 years after Bond made his first screen appearance. Even with a lot of spectacular followup films, GOLDFINGER remains—shall we say—the gold standard.
Roger Ebert called it his favorite Bond film, and in 2006 Entertainment Weekly also named it as the best of the Bonds. It remains the highest rated Bond movie on Rotten Tomatoes, with a score of 97 per cent positive.
This film includes all the elements that Bond fans adore—thrilling action sequences, drily witty dialogue, nefarious and memorable villains, a bevy of Bond girls headed by Honor Blackman’s Pussy Galore, and a title song that may be the best loved of all Bond theme songs, written by John Barry, Anthony Newley, and Leslie Bricusse and sizzlingly performed by the inimitable Shirley Bassey.
Sean Connery exudes charisma, and the cast includes Gert Frobe as the greedy Goldfinger, Harold Sakata as his sadistic henchman Oddjob, Shirley Eaton as one of Bond’s paramours who meets a dire fate, and series regulars Bernard Lee as M, Desmond Llewelyn as Q, and Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny. Guy Hamilton (who went on to direct three more Bond films) directed the screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn, from the Ian Fleming novel.
The story centers around Goldfinger’s plot to rob Fort Knox, and since U.S. authorities would not allow anyone inside the national mint, even for research purposes, the brilliant production designer Ken Adam (who designed several of the Bond pictures and won two Oscars, including one for Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon) used pure imagination to build the set at Pinewood Studios outside London.
The film was also the first Bond movie to introduce a series of elaborate gadgets, including an Aston Martin DB5, that helped Bond to foil his adversaries. Stunt coordinator Bob Simmons played a crucial role in orchestrating the spectacular fight scenes, and the movie was the first Bond film to win an Oscar—for sound effects editing.
The film’s budget was $3 million, which was the cost of the first two Bond movies (Dr. No and From Russia With Love) combined, and it made back its cost after just two weeks in release. Interest was so high in December 1964 that the DeMille Cinema in New York stayed open for 24 hours straight to accommodate the crowds.
Reviews were also enthusiastic. In London Derek Prouse of the Sunday Times called it “superbly engineered…most entertainingly preposterous,” and the Guardian hailed “the most exciting, the most extravagant of the Bond films.”
Donald Zec of the Daily Mirror added, “Ken Adam’s set designs are brilliant.”
In the United States, Boxoffice Magazine praised the film as “so cleverly directed at breakneck speed by Guy Hamilton that patrons scarcely have time to catch their breath.”
For this special screening, enjoy a Bond trivia contest and other fun extras. And you might want to have a martini before the show. “Shaken, not stirred,” of course.
Our 55th anniversary screening of GOLDFINGER begins at 7pm on Monday, December 30th at the Laemmle Royal in West L.A. Click here for tickets.
Format: DCP
CODE 8 Q&A’s following the 7:20 pm show on Friday (12/6) and Saturday (12/7) with director Jeff Chan who will be joined by actors Stephen Amell and Robbie Amell on Friday and joined by actor Robbie Amell on Saturday.
A NEW CHRISTMAS filmmakers Travis Hodgkins (writer/producer), Rashaana Shah (producer), Anil Mohin (associate producer) and Heather Maggi (editor) will participate in a Q&A following the 7:50 pm show on Friday, 12/6.
A message from the new proprietors of the Music Hall in Beverly Hills!
Dear Laemmle friends,
We are very excited to announce that the Laemmle tradition will be kept alive at the Music Hall. We are three Laemmle Theatre employees (two former and one current) and we are opening a new company, Lumiere Cinema, at the Music Hall starting this Friday, November 29th. It is our intention to honor the Laemmle family’s commitment of bringing the best of independent cinema to the big screen in Los Angeles. Each of us has worked at the Music Hall and we are proud to be able to grant it a new lease on life. We would like to thank Greg Laemmle and the entire Laemmle team for enabling us to make this dream a reality.
We hope you to see you all soon at the movies!
Sincerely,
Luis Orellana, Lauren Brown, and Peter Ambrosio
PS: Please excuse us as we develop our website and social media. Here is everything you need to keep track of what’s playing:
www.lumierecinemala.com
Twitter: @musichall3
Facebook: www.facebook.com/musichall3
Instagram: lumierecinemala
And feel free to e-mail any of us with any questions you might have:
luis@lumierecinemala.com
lauren@lumierecinemala.com
peter@lumierecinemala.com
With a wistful acknowledgement that all things must pass, Laemmle Theatres announces that Thursday, November 21, 2019 will be our last day screening movies at the Music Hall. We began operating the theater in 1974 and have shown literally thousands of movies from all over the planet. Bergman’s SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE was one of the first films we played there. LA CAGE AUX FOLLES and MY LIFE AS A DOG were hits at the Music Hall. One tiny highlight of countless funny highlights was Jason Schwartzman standing on the desk in the tiny office behind the box office in 1999 to autograph the RUSHMORE poster on the wall with “Rock on, Music Hall! Jason Schwartzman.”
Laemmle Theatres President Greg Laemmle said, “It has been my family’s privilege to operate the Music Hall for 45 years but it’s time to end our stewardship. For the sake of efficiency, we plan to use the other screens in our circuit to provide a platform for the types of films we’ve been showing in Beverly Hills.”
There is a distinct possibility of a renaissance, and movies and moviegoers will return to 9036 Wilshire Boulevard, but if it happens it will be after a hiatus and with different operators.
Check out CinemaTreasures.org for some history of the Music Hall.
Can you believe it’s the 12th year of our Christmas Eve FIDDLER SING-ALONG!? Join us in coming together as a community to celebrate the song, shtick, and shenanigans of Laemmle’s legendary Christmas Eve experience.
For 2019, this ever-popular event will be occurring in several of our neighborhood venues (see below for full listing and ticket links). PLUS, due to the convergence of Xmas and Chanukah (3rd night!), we’ll be celebrating the Festival of Lights with candle lighting and song.
(Jump down to watch the Sing-A-Long trailer. For tickets, visit Laemmle.com/Fiddler).
In addition to movie and song, the evening will feature TRIVIA with PRIZES being awarded to Fiddler buffs with the quickest recall. Dressing in COSTUME is not required, but highly encouraged! Who knows, perhaps the best costume will garner a prize? Or perhaps this is the year you’ll be given an opportunity to do your best Tevye or Golde impression? That will be up to the emcee. Indeed, each location will feature its own host (to be announced).
As Greg Laemmle is fond of saying “Christmas Eve isn’t just Chinese food!” He elaborates, “This is your once-a-year chance to be the star of the shtetl. Join with friends and neighbors and sing your heart out alongside Fiddler’s screen legends. And it’s okay if you haven’t memorized all the songs. We provide the lyrics.”
Song highlights include the iconic “TRADITION”, “IF I WERE A RICH MAN”, “TO LIFE”, “SUNRISE SUNSET”, “DO YOU LOVE ME?” and “ANATEVKA”, among many, many more.
Don’t be late! Those who wish to attend the program are advised to purchase tickets in advance as the program has traditionally sold to capacity. We welcome all those in the community who are looking for an alternative Christmas Eve.
See you in the shtetl…
DATE: Tuesday, December 24th
TIME: 7:30pm
PRICING:
General – $18
Senior 62 & Over / Child 11 & Under – $15
Premiere Card General – $15
Premiere Card Senior 62 & Over / Child 11 & Under – $12
Note: Premiere Card pricing not available at the Fine Arts Theatre.
LOCATIONS:
Claremont – Get Tickets
The Fine Arts in Beverly Hills – Get Tickets
North Hollywood – Get Tickets
Playhouse in Pasadena – Get Tickets
Royal in West L.A. – Get Tickets
Town Center in Encino – Get Tickets