Film Reviews & Previews
One of the world’s great film festivals is ongoing in Toronto right now, featuring many films you’ll be able to see on Laemmle screens in the months ahead. We’re looking forward to opening director-actor Ralph Fiennes’ Charles Dickens picture THE INVISIBLE WOMAN on Christmas Day and Roger Michell’s LE WEEK-END, starring Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan, in early 2014. You can see clips from both at the Guardian website.
Once again, Laemmle will be at the famed Santa Monica Pier taking part in the city’s beach-side summer festivities.
Join us tonight (Thurs, Sept. 5) starting at 7pm, as we co-sponsor the Pier’s free Twilight Concert series. Stop by our booth near the entrance and say hello. We’ll be there giving out popcorn samples and free raffle tickets to win a Movie 5-Pak!
Tonight’s program features atmospheric indie rock courtesy of Gardens & Villa as well as Norwegian singing sensation Monica Birkenes, a.k.a. Mr. Little Jeans.
If you haven’t been down to the Pier the summer, here’s your excuse. The music series is, excuse the pun, a whale of a time! Locals and tourists come together in a spirit of festive celebration, and the musical program rarely disappoints. Not to mention just the sheer glory of spending a summer evening at the beach. Speaking of, if you want to avoid the clutter near the stage, you can pack a picnic and watch the show on a big screen from the sand below.
As mentioned festivities begin at 7pm and last to about 10pm. Accessing the Pier can be done via public or private transport. For all you cyclists out there, the City of Santa Monica offers free and convenient bike valet which can be found beach level a few steps south of the Pier. Motorists, click here for directions and parking info.
See ya’ down there!
While the doc Zipper: Coney Island’s Last Wide Ride comes to Laemmle this Friday, Laemmle is coming to … well not Coney Island exactly …. but our local seaside fun park, the Santa Monica Pier!
Join us tonight (Thurs, Aug. 29) starting at 7pm, as we co-sponsor the Pier’s free Twilight Concert series. Stop by our booth near the entrance and say hello. We’ll be there giving out popcorn samples and free raffle tickets to win a Movie 5-Pak!
Tonight’s program includes Grammy-nominated Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave, known for their exciting brew of old school jazz, laced with funk, soul. Venice, CA collective Dustbowl Revival also comes to the stage, bringing an eclectic sound that includes fiddle, mandolin, trumpet, banjo, accordion, tuba, steel drums and more.
If you haven’t been down to the Pier the summer, here’s your excuse. The music series is, excuse the pun, a whale of a time! Locals and tourists come together in a spirit of festive celebration, and the musical program rarely disappoints. Not to mention just the sheer glory of spending a summer evening at the beach. Speaking of, if you want to avoid the clutter near the stage, you can pack a picnic and watch the show on a big screen from the sand below.
As mentioned festivities begin at 7pm and last to about 10pm. Accessing the Pier can be done via public or private transport. For all you cyclists out there, the City of Santa Monica offers free and convenient bike valet which can be found beach level a few steps south of the Pier. Motorists, click here for directions and parking info.
See ya’ down there!
El Gusto Orchestra of Algiers, a group compromised of Jewish and Muslim musicians, perform a free concert this Saturday night, August 10 at 8pm in downtown L.A. as part of the stellar Grand Performances summer music and performing arts series. Grand Performances events take place at the festive water court at California Plaza between Grand and Olive, just a few steps from MOCA. Also on the line-up that evening will be the unique Cantonese Opera Orchestra.
Program notes from a recent June, 2013 performance at the Barbican Centre in London had this to say about El Gusto Orchestra:
“Algeria, 1950s. A blend of Berber sounds, Andalusian melodies, jazz and chanson rises amongst the walls of the historic Casbah in Algiers. The music is called chaâbi – meaning ‘of the people’; and it’s played by groups of Jewish and Muslim musicians. Algeria’s war of independence a decade later breaks these two communities apart, burying the memory of a part of the Franco-Algerian history which is still not fully known today.
Separated by history for fifty years, the 25-piece orchestra of Jewish and Muslim musicians returns … to share the passion that never left them, standing as a proof that music’s universality transcends prejudices. To witness a performance of El Gusto, is to live a moment of sharing, emotions, and pleasure both for eyes and ears.”
For more info on Saturday’s concert visit the Grand Performances website — www.grandperformances.org
One classic way to endure the summer heat is catch a movie and enjoy the excellent air conditioning. You can do that any day, however, while the Drenched 5K Race in Exposition Park happens but once a year and it’s that time again: this Saturday, July 27th the park will be the site of a big water party/race with water balloons, 100-foot-long Slip-n-Slides, water pistols, super soakers, misting tunnels and, if the video below is to be believed, non-injurious hosing down by the L.A. Fire Department. Looks very fun, there will be music, food and beverages, and the money raised goes to Children’s Hospital L.A.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31DENY18c58&list=PLCF8D989C989C2AE5
Beginning July 19 we’ll be screening NICKY’S FAMILY, the acclaimed documentary about Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II: He was a big part of what we now know as the Kindertransport. This hero is still alive and in May CNN marked the occasion of his 104th birthday by broadcasting this piece about him and the new film.
This Sunday from 9 AM to 4 PM the increasingly popular CicLAvia relocates to Wilshire Boulevard, turning what began as a path Henry Gaylord Wilshire cut through his barley field about 120 years ago into a car-free zone from Downtown to Fairfax Avenue for walking, biking, skating, loafing, shopping, goofing off and people watching. It’s a free event, no registration needed, and there is no starting or finish line. The forecast is lovely — partly cloudy, low 70’s — so give it a try!
We at Laemmle Theatres are big fans of bicycles — three of the ten people in the Laemmle office commute to work by bicycle — and so are also big supporters of the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition. (Laemmle Theatres President Greg Laemmle serves on the LACBC Board as Treasurer.) This Sunday, June 9th is one of the LACBC’s big annual events, the 13th Annual Los Angeles River Ride. It’s super fun, open to all ages and abilities and features live music and great food. If you’ve never done it before, check it out!
