The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

blog.laemmle.com

The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

Home » Featured Post » Page 10

Laemmle Moviegoers’ Top Ten Films of 2023 Revealed!

by

And the Top Ten Customer-Chosen films of 2023, ranked in order from 1 to 10 are (drum roll, please…):

  1. Oppenheimer
  2. Past Lives
  3. Killers of the Flower Moon
  4. Anatomy of a Fall
  5. The Holdovers
  6. Barbie
  7. May December
  8. Poor Things
  9. The Zone of Interest
  10. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
What a terrific list! Especially gratifying to see an excellent popular entertainment like Spider-Verse instead of pretentious Oscar bait whose titles shall go unmentioned. Half of these are still in theaters, in case you missed them or want to see them one more time as they were intended. The Zone of Interest, in particular, must be seen cinematically for its Oscar-nominated sound design alone. We’ll send gift cards to our randomly chosen winners Ted Bronson, Eve Fowler and Josh Messite. Thanks to everyone for playing!

Town Center lease extended!

by

Good news on Ventura Boulevard: Laemmle Theatres and our landlord in Encino have agreed to a lease extension for our Town Center theater. We expect to be operating there until at least the end of January 2025 and hope to extend beyond that. Valley cinephiles: If you have been waiting to come back to the venue, now is the time to show support! We will bring the best of world cinema to your neighborhood year round. Come see one, some or all of the films we’re proud to open at the Town Center in just the next few weeks: The brilliant, chilling The Zone of Interest, Mads Mikkelsen’s The Promised Land, Ava Duvernay’s Origin, The Monk and the Gun from Bhutan, a re-release of Amelie, The Taste of Things with Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel, and so much more. Happy moviegoing!

More Oscar Shortlisted Documentaries this Weekend! BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT + 32 SOUNDS.

by

Good news: we’re bringing back even more feature documentaries shortlisted for the 2024 Oscars: Bobi Wine: The People’s President at the Monica Film Center and 32 Sounds in Santa Monica and Glendale.
*
The riveting Bobi Wine charts the inspiring activism of the pop star-turned-politician as he seeks to end Uganda’s brutal dictatorship. Rising from the ghetto slums of Kampala to be one of the country’s most beloved superstars, Bobi begins to use his music to call out corruption, then becomes an Independent Member of Parliament to defend the rights of his people. “It’s a gripping piece of film-making: a propulsive, kinetic account of a grassroots campaign captured at what would seem to be considerable personal risk to both the subject and directors.” ~ Wendy Ide, The Guardian
*
A worried Bobi Wine. (Southern Films)
32 Sounds is immersive feature documentary and sensory film experience that explores the elemental phenomenon of sound and its power to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us. “The sounds are finite, yet the benefits of tuning in to the film’s wavelengths are endless. It’s the greatest documentary you’ve ever heard.” ~ David Fear, Rolling Stone
*
32 Sounds.
Also, we’re continuing to screen four other fantastic documentaries from the shortlist: Saturday, Sunday and Monday you can catch Beyond Utopia, The Eternal Memory, To Kill a Tiger and A Still Small Voice in Santa Monica and Glendale. Enjoy and Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
*

Q1 2024 Culture Vulture Films Announced!

by

Happy New Year! Laemmle Theatres President Greg Laemmle just finished putting the finishing touches on our Q1 films for Culture Vulture, our long-running weekly film series of fine art, theater, opera, music and more. Have a look! The screenings are every Monday evening and Tuesday matinee at the Laemmle Claremont, Glendale, Monica Film Center and, expanding the map to the San Fernando Valley, the Town Center in Encino.
01/22 – 01/23   MENUS-PLAISIRS: LES TROISGROS
01/29 – 01/30   DEAR ENGLAND
02/05 – 02/06   CALL ME DANCER
02/12 – 02/13   ROMEO & JULIET
02/26 – 02/27   THE IMMORTALS: THE WONDERS OF THE MUSEO EGIZIO
03/04 – 03/05   SKYLIGHT
03/11 – 03/12   PAINTING THE MODERN GARDEN: MONET TO MATISSE
03/18 – 03/19   VANYA
03/25 – 03/26   AMERICAN SOCIALIST: THE LIFE & TIMES OF EUGENE VICTOR DEBS

See the Academy Shortlisted Foreign Films and Feature Documentaries at Laemmle.

by

As a gifted filmmaker told the New Yorker last year, seeing a movie at home rather than in a movie theater is “like reading a novel where you read one word out of two.” With that in mind, check out the Academy’s just-announced list of feature documentaries and international films that they have shortlisted for nominations. We’ll be playing a number of them:

SOCIETY OF SNOW (Spain) is now playing at the NoHo for two-week run.

THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE (Germany) opened Christmas Day at the Royal and is expanding in January.

Aki Kaurismäki’s FALLEN LEAVES (Finland) is on screen at the Monica Film Center and set to return to Glendale.

THE PROMISED LAND from Denmark (with Mads Mikkelsen!), THE MONK AND THE GUN from Bhutan and TOTEM from Mexico are all set to open on February 2. And THE TASTE OF THINGS from France (with Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel!) will be back starting February 9.

And finally, we expect to be opening Jonathan Glazer’s THE ZONE OF INTEREST (United Kingdom) and Wim Wenders’ PERFECT DAYS (Japan)!

On the Doc side, we will be playing BEYOND UTOPIA, A STILL SMALL VOICE, THE ETERNAL MEMORY and TO KILL A TIGER for weekend morning shows at Glendale and the Monica starting on January 6.  And we expect to have a couple of the other shortlisted docs come back as well.
Twelve of the 15 shortlisted docs played on our screens earlier this year. Not bad!

Make plans to enjoy the cinematic feast of the holiday season well into 2024!

Now more than ever: Greg Laemmle on singing along to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF in times like these.

by

From Greg Laemmle: “I started this as a Christmas Eve event (tradition!) specifically because I wanted to celebrate that as Jews in America, we did not need to hide in our homes. My grandmother hated this time of year because she had memories of her childhood in Tsarist Russia and the frequent episodes of violence (pogroms) against the Jewish communities there around the holiday. The America that I grew up in was open enough that it could accept the diversity of our society, recognizing that Americans of all religious (or non-religious) backgrounds were free to celebrate the end of year period in their own fashion. I’m not sure America is as accepting right now, but I’m not prepared to cede this ground to those pushing for a more restrictive vision of what America is. Now, more than ever, it is important that we not hide.  And now, as much as ever, we need to feel the joy of the free association that is a Constitutional right of living in America. Fiddler on the Roof tells a complicated tale about the fragility of living as a minority in an oppressive state. But it also shows the joy and beauty of life, and hints at the potential of modernity to provide a freer world that does not discriminate based on race, religion or gender. LOVE is the force that truly shakes the foundations of Tevye’s world. And LOVE, not HATE, will save us from our current predicaments.”

JOIN US on DEC. 24th for our umpteenth annual alternative Christmas Eve, the Fiddler on the Roof Sing-a-Long! Screening at 7 o’clock at our Claremont, Glendale, Newhall, NoHo, West L.A. and Encino theaters.

Belt out your holiday spirit … or your holiday frustrations. Either way, you’ll feel better as you croon along to all-time favorites like “TRADITION,” “IF I WERE A RICH MAN,” “TO LIFE,” “SUNRISE SUNSET,” “DO YOU LOVE ME?” and “ANATEVKA,” among many others.

We encourage you to come in costume! Guaranteed fun for all. Children are welcome (Fiddler is rated “G”) though some themes may be challenging for young children.

Prices this year start at $16 for General Admission and $13 for Premiere Card holders. Typically, Fiddler sells out … so don’t miss the buggy!

Originally based on Sholem Aleichem’s short story “Tevye and His Daughters,” Norman Jewison’s adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical is set in a Russian village at the beginning of the twentieth century. Israeli actor Topol repeats his legendary London stage performance as Tevye the milkman, whose equilibrium is constantly being challenged by his poverty, the prejudice of non-Jews, and the romantic entanglements of his five daughters. Fiddler was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Director and Actor, and won three, for Cinematography, Sound and Score (John Williams).

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “staggeringly heartbreaking” MONSTER opens Friday.

by

Gently devastating in its compassion, Monster, the latest from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda (After Life, Shoplifters, Broker), is a masterpiece of shifting perspectives that defies expectations. It begins with a mother who confronts a teacher about her child’s behavioral changes. This is the first time Kore-eda has directed a film he did not write in almost 20 years. (The film was the last scoring project by Ryuichi Sakamoto.) We open Monster this Friday at the Laemmle Monica Film Center, Glendale, Town Center/Encino and Claremont 5.

Leading film critics have weighed in:

“Monster is one of the finest films of the year, and its structure — like its circle of characters — carries secrets that can only be unraveled through patience and empathy.” ~ Natalia Winkelman, New York Times

“If possible, watch Monster more than once.” ~ Anthony Lane, New Yorker
*
“It poetically shows the power of perspective. So well-observed, nuanced, and compassionately told.” ~ Claudia Puig, FilmWeek (KPCC – NPR Los Angeles)
*
“As you’d expect from Kore-eda, it’s all told with the utmost detail and care, and a gentle score from the late Ryuichi Sakamoto only adds to the overarching air of thoughtfulness and empathy.” ~ Dave Calhoun, Time Out
*

“There is so much beauty in Monster, and so much sadness.” ~ Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

“What Monster most comes to resemble is a reminder of the rich inner and emotional worlds of children — of their autonomy, even, in the context of a culture reluctant to acknowledge it. ~ Zachary Barnes, Wall Street Journal

“Monster’s three perspectives are not so much in argument with one another as they are pieces of the same puzzle. And once they are locked together, the final portrait is staggeringly heartbreaking.” ~ Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail

“While Monster depends on dramatic irony and revelatory twists, it’s also a showcase for director Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose knack for collaboration brings out the best in his actors, especially his younger cast members.” ~ Simon Abrams, RogerEbert.com

“One of the director’s finest, its thematic scope and emotional power growing with each new revelation.” ~ Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“Across the film, you can feel the push and pull between a master technician who built his career on the patient, delicate plucking at our heartstrings and his newfound desire to please a wide audience with the broadest of affective strokes.” ~ Kyle Turner, Slant Magazine

“Monster is another striking piece of work from a master, a movie that’s so carefully calibrated that you get lost in these characters, forgetting they’re performers and not people caught up in a genuinely traumatic chapter of life.” ~ Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“Monster keeps its secrets until its final moments, leaving us with the feeling that we have earned its trust and are worthy of the precious, beautiful truths that lie at its heart.” ~ Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, AWFJ.org

“A case of Kore-eda’s incredible felicity in handling child actors, or perhaps the kids challenging and inspiring Kore-eda yet again.” ~ Namrata Joshi, The New Indian Express

“Kore-eda is a master of directing children’s performances, so it’s no wonder that Monster is at its best when there are no adults on screen, the children living in their own world of fantasy and adventure and emotion.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

FANNY AND ALEXANDER 40th Anniversary Holiday Season Screenings of Bergman’s Final Masterpiece December 13.

by

The Anniversary Classics Series and Laemmle Theatres present 40th anniversary screenings of Ingmar Bergman’s semi-autobiographical masterpiece FANNY AND ALEXANDER (1983) on Wednesday, December 13 at 7:00 PM at four Laemmle locations: the Royal, Newhall, Glendale, and Claremont. The Academy Award-winning film is the last entry of the year of the popular Anniversary Classics Abroad series, and a timely program for the holiday season.

Bergman, one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, was a towering figure in international cinema who came to prominence in the mid-twentieth century “golden age of the arthouse” era, with such meditative classics exploring the psyche and soul as ‘The Seventh Seal,’ ‘The Virgin Spring,’ ‘Through a Glass Darkly’ (the latter two winning consecutive Foreign Film Oscars in 1960-61), ‘Persona,’ and expanding into the 1970s with ‘Cries and Whispers,’ a best picture Oscar nominee in 1973, and ‘Scenes from a Marriage’ among others. In the 1980s the Swedish auteur originally planned his memory piece FANNY AND ALEXANDER as his cinematic swan song, with a six-part version for television along with a shortened theatrical release, which premiered internationally first. The theatrical version went onto global acclaim and is widely considered one of Bergman’s finest films.

Set in the first decade of the twentieth century, the film opens with the Ekdahl family’s Christmas celebration, with extended family members and servants gathering for a merry holiday in the town of Uppsala (Bergman’s birthplace). The film unfolds principally through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander Ekdahl (Bertil Guve) and his younger sister Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) who are soon separated from this warm family after the death of their actor-manager father, and the subsequent marriage of their mother (Ewa Froeling) to a strict, cold bishop (Jan Malmsjo). Familiar themes of religious zealotry, which Bergman explored throughout his career, are reexamined with a ghostly supernatural touch in Bergman’s haunted memories of his own clergyman father.

Plaudits for the film ranged from Variety’s “a sumptuously produced period piece (with) elegance and simplicity,” to Vincent Canby in The New York Times, “a big, dark, beautiful, generous family chronicle,” as a prelude to both the New York Film Critics and L.A. Film Critics naming it the best foreign film of the year. Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Examiner described it as “an epic family film that revisits Bergman’s favorite subjects—marriage, passion, infidelity, death, God—and yet in ways more generous and less austere than in his other films.” Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian praised “the glorious acting ensemble, an amazing collection of pure performing intelligence,” and summarized the film as “a brilliant—in fact maybe unique—fusion of Shakespeare and Dickens.”

The film went on to garner a record six Academy Award nominations, with directing and writing nods for Bergman, along with four wins: Foreign Language Film (Bergman’s third), Cinematography (Sven Nykvist, his consummate collaborator over two decades and his second win, both with Bergman), Art Direction (Anna Asp), and Costume Design (Marik Vos-Lundh). The four Oscars were the most for an international film in the twentieth century, and a fitting tribute to the legacy of a master filmmaker. Experience FANNY AND ALEXANDER back on the big screen this holiday season for one showing only on December 13.