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Sci-Fi Weekend Returns March 16 – 18 at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills with Special Guests Elliott Gould, Ann Robinson, Peter Hyams, and James Brolin

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series showcase a three-day festival of vintage science fiction and fantasy films at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills!

WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953), 65th Anniversary

In Person: Actress Ann Robinson
Friday, March 16th at Ahrya Fine Arts at 7:30 PM

This science fiction movie classic was best described in the original Variety review for the movie’s opening in August, 1953: “a socko science-fiction feature, as fearsome a film as was the Orson Welles 1938 radio interpretation of the H.G. Wells novel.” Brought to the screen by producer and animator George Pal (When Worlds Collide, The Time Machine), directed by Byron Haskin and written by Barre Lyndon (Alfred Edgar), who transposed the setting of Wells’ novel from Victorian England to contemporary Los Angeles. Gene Barry was cast as the scientist who leads the battle against a Martian invasion, with support from Les Tremayne and our special guest, Ann Robinson, who will appear at the 65th anniversary screening on opening night of the Anniversary Classics’ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Weekend, March 16-18 at the Ahrya Fine Arts theatre in Beverly Hills. Nominated for three Academy Awards and winner for Best Visual Effects. Inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2011. As noted by the New York Times reviewer, “the cast and even Sir Cedric Hardwicke and his voice of doom narration play second fiddle to the intricate and ominous Martian craft. Mind those heat rays!” Format: DCP. (March 16 at 7:30 PM).

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958) in 4K, 60th Anniversary

Saturday, March 17th, at Ahrya Fine Arts at 2:30 PM

Sci-Fi Weekend expands to the realm of fantasy with this high-spirited and popular adventure that opened for the holiday season at the end of 1958. Produced by Charles Schneer (20 Million Miles to Earth, Jason and the Argonauts), written by Ken Kolb, and directed by Nathan Juran, a previous Oscar winner (art direction, How Green Was My Valley), who also helmed the camp classic, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. This fun-for-all ages, princess-in-peril tale features Kerwin Matthews as Sinbad, Kathryn Grant as the imperiled princess, plus Torin Thatcher and Richard Eyer. But the real star of the movie is special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, who was uncredited in also writing and producing the picture. The result is mid-century movie magic, and is a showcase for Harryhausen’s array of creatures that steal every scene. The New York Times reported that the game cast “haven’t got a chance. The odds are in favor of the Cyclops, the Roc, the dragon and company.” The memorable music is by Bernard Herrmann. Added to the National Film Registry in 2008. Format: 4K DCP. (March 17 at 2:30 PM).

THE FLY (1958), 60th Anniversary

Saturday, March 17, at Ahrya Fine Arts at 4:45 PM

Twentieth Century Fox advertised this sci-fi fantasy thriller as the “absolute end in horror” when it opened in the summer of 1958. This hair-raising tale of a scientist, whose experiments with teleportation go awry when his atomic pattern is inadvertently mixed with a fly, was written by author James Clavell (The Great Escape, To Sir, With Love) adapting a short story by George Langelaan. Directed by Kurt Neumann (Kronos), with rich color cinematography by Karl Struss (Oscar winner for Sunrise in 1927). Starring David Hedison as the ill-fated scientist, Vincent Price in one of his rare benevolent roles, Herbert Marshall, Patricia Owens and Kathleen Freeman. Aside from the macabre effects (“Help Me! Help Me!”), the movie plays effectively as a mystery suspense story. Remade by David Cronenberg in 1986. Format: DCP. (March 17 at 4:45 PM).

PLANET OF THE APES (1968), 50th Anniversary

In Person: Oscar-nominated makeup artist Daniel Striepeke
Saturday, March 17th, 2018 at Ahrya Fine Arts at 7:30 PM

This landmark sci-fi movie opens with a spacecraft landing on a distant planet, some 2000 years in the future. Charlton Heston and two surviving astronauts discover that the planet is ruled by intelligent apes who consider humans to be an inferior species. The movie was a box office and critical success, spawned four sequels, a TV series, and several reboots (the most recent just last year). In addition to Heston, the cast includes Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, and James Whitmore as the apes and Linda Harrison as one of the mute humans on the planet. Franklin J. Schaffner (later an Oscar winner for Patton) directed the screenplay by Rod Serling (the creator of The Twilight Zone) and Michael Wilson (A Place in the Sun, Lawrence of Arabia), from a novel by Pierre Boulle, who also wrote The Bridge on the River Kwai. John Chambers earned a special Oscar for his ingenious makeup, and the film was also nominated for costume design and for Jerry Goldsmith’s avant garde score. Pauline Kael wrote, “Planet of the Apes is one of the best science-fiction fantasies ever to come out of Hollywood,” and she added, “Leon Shamroy’s excellent color photography helps to make the vast exteriors (shot in Utah and Arizona) an integral part of the meaning.” The climax, in which Heston finally discovers his “destiny,” is one of the most memorable in all of science fiction. The film entered the National Film Registry in 2011. Oscar-nominated makeup artist Daniel Striepeke will join us at the screening. His many credits in addition to the original Planet of the Apes movies include Patton, The Deer Hunter, My Favorite Year, Wag the Dog, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and Apollo 13. Format: DCP. (March 17 at 7:30 PM).

SOYLENT GREEN (1973), 45th Anniversary

Sunday March 18 at Ahrya Fine Arts at 1 PM

Charlton Heston, who had become the go-to star of science fiction after Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man (1971), returned to the genre in this dark dystopian look at New York in 2022. This prescient film was one of the first to address issues of pollution, global warming, overpopulation, and an epidemic of homelessness. In many ways it predicted the dark future imagined in Blade Runner, made a decade later. The script was adapted by Stanley R. Greenberg from an acclaimed novel, Make Room! Make Room!, by Harry Harrison. The director, Richard Fleischer, was no stranger to science fiction, having made hit movies 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Fantastic Voyage. Heston portrays a police detective trying to solve the murder of an executive at the mysterious Soylent Corporation, which leads him to uncover a diabolical conspiracy. The supporting cast includes Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors, Joseph Cotten, Brock Peters, and Paula Kelly but the most memorable performance is given by Edward G. Robinson in his final screen appearance. Playing Heston’s wise colleague, Robinson gives a performance that the Hollywood Reporter called “witty, cultivated and endlessly appealing.” The trade publication added that the film “conjures a terrifying vision of the future.” Soylent Green won the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film of the year. Later Saturday Night Live skits helped to keep the film in the public consciousness. Format: DCP. (March 18 at 1:00 PM).

CAPRICORN ONE (1978), 40th Anniversary

In Person: Director Peter Hyams, Actors Elliott Gould and James Brolin
Sunday, March 18th at Ahrya Fine Arts at 3:15 PM

In the paranoia-soaked atmosphere of the 1970s, more than a few cynics wondered if the celebrated moon landing of 1969 could have been faked. This ingenious sci-fi thriller written and directed by Peter Hyams plays with that premise, imagining a journey to Mars that is fabricated for the TV cameras in order to stir up patriotic fervor. But then an intrepid journalist (Elliott Gould) begins to investigate, and he and the three hapless astronauts find themselves in jeopardy as government bigwigs try to prevent them from exposing the truth. In addition to Gould, the cast includes James Brolin, Sam Waterston, Karen Black, Telly Savalas, and Brenda Vaccaro, with Hal Holbrook as the conniving villain. Leonard Maltin praised the film: “Lots of great chases punctuated by Hyams’ witty dialogue.” This screening will be followed by a Q & A with Hyams, the director of other sci-fi movies Outland, 2010, and Timecop, and Elliott Gould, the Oscar-nominated star of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, MASH, and The Long Goodbye. Just added to the Q&A: James Brolin, whose storied career includes roles in films such as Westworld, Gas Food Lodging, Traffic, Catch Me If You Can and Emmy-winning turns in his breakthrough series, Marcus Welby M.D., and the series Hotel, The West Wing, the TV movie The Reagans, and the current series Life in Pieces. Format: Blu-ray, unavailable on DCP or 35mm. (March 18 at 3:15 PM).

Tickets are $13 for each screening. Premiere card holders pay $10 per screening.

TEHRAN TABOO Q&A with the Filmmaker Opening Night at the Fine Arts.

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TEHRAN TABOO director Ali Soozandeh will participate in a Q&A after the 7:30 PM screening at the Ahrya Fine Arts on Friday, March 9. Journalist and film critic Carlos Aguilar will moderate.

ART IN THE ARTHOUSE presents: DAVE FOX: A TALE OF TWO CITIES

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RSVP HERE
This is a Free Event

ART IN THE ARTHOUSE proudly presents DAVE FOX: A TALE OF TWO CITIES featuring the works of artist Dave Fox. Laemmle Theatres invites the community to join Rabbi Karen Fox for an artist talk, a slideshow on the big screen and refreshments on March 7 at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre. The artwork is for sale at this free exhibit, which runs through June 2018.

About the exhibit:

Born in 1920 in Vienna, Dave Fox was a storyteller in paint, ink and clay. His art, captured in his sketchbook, his constant companion throughout his life, reflected what he saw every day wandering the Austrian countryside and what would become his new home in California. Shortly after the Nazi Annexation, Fox left Vienna because he had to choose between staying and risking his life, or escaping to freedom. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1939, served in the U.S. Army and then attended art school, a defining moment. He subsequently dedicated his life to perfecting his printmaking, drawing, painting, and ceramic skills.

Fox focused on landscapes, people and abstracts, from the Pacific Ocean to the mountains and all the streets in between. His works captured the ever-changing vistas of Los Angeles and his memories of Vienna. His body of work weaves together all the pieces of his life. His early works from the late 1940s and early 1950s captured the ever-changing vistas of Los Angeles. His body of work weaves together all the pieces of his life. Fox wanted people to stop for more than a moment to take a close look at his art and enter his life as it played out in California, oceans away from his beginnings in Vienna. Fox’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is collected by museums and private collectors. Fox passed away in 2011 at age 90 and created art until the last weeks of his life.

– Georgia Freedman-Harvey, CURATOR

Laemmle’s Royal Theatre
11523 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Wednesday, March 7, 7 pm

Refreshments  provided

RSVP HERE
This is a Free Event

 

 

 

Double Feature: THE WAY WE WERE and SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE on February 13th in NoHo, Pasadena, and West LA

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Twofer Tuesdays return just in time for Valentine’s Day. Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a double feature of two all-time romantic favorites, THE WAY WE WERE and SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE.

Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford demonstrate matchless chemistry in THE WAY WE WERE, which received six Oscar nominations in 1973, including a nod for Streisand as Best Actress. The picture won two Oscars, for Marvin Hamlisch’s memorable score and Best Song, written by Hamlisch, Marilyn and Alan Bergman.

Streisand plays a college radical who falls in love with the apolitical campus jock, who also happens to be a gifted writer. The film follows their tumultuous romance over two decades from the 1930s to the 1950s and reaches its climax in the era of the Hollywood blacklist, which destroyed families and careers. Arthur Laurents (West Side Story, Gypsy, The Turning Point) provided the screenplay, and Sydney Pollack, a master of movie romance, directed. The supporting cast includes Bradford Dillman, Viveca Lindfors, Patrick O’Neal, and Lois Chiles.

Pauline Kael wrote of the film, “It’s hit entertainment, and maybe even memorable entertainment…The movie is about two people who are wrong for each other, and Streisand and Redford are an ideal match to play this mismatch.” The finale, in which the lovers meet several years after their divorce and contemplate what might have been, has had audiences weeping for decades.

SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE from 1993 also boasts a tearjerking finale that packs a wallop. In the Oscar-nominated screenplay by director Nora Ephron, David S. Ward, and Jeff Arch, geography is the main obstacle keeping the star-crossed lovers apart. Tom Hanks plays an architect from Seattle who is still grieving over his dead wife. His son (Ross Malinger) decides that he needs to find a new mate and helps to orchestrate a radio confessional that attracts the attention of Meg Ryan, a journalist living in Baltimore.

Ephron, a celebrated journalist, novelist, and screenwriter, came into her own as a director when this rom-com became a surprise summertime smash. Ryan, who had starred in Ephron’s screenplay for When Harry Met Sally, demonstrated perfect rapport with Hanks, and they reteamed in Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail five years later. Rosie O’Donnell, Bill Pullman, Rob Reiner (the director of When Harry Met Sally), Rita Wilson, and Gaby Hoffmann as Malinger’s pint-sized co-conspirator contribute delicious cameos. Despite all the prodding and plotting, the potential lovers keep missing each other until a meeting atop the Empire State Building offers them a last chance at connection.

The New York Times’ Vincent Canby wrote, “Not since Love Story has there been a movie that so shrewdly and predictably manipulated the emotions for such entertaining effect.” The rousing soundtrack, which included a series of romantic standards performed by unexpected singers (including two numbers by Jimmy Durante), rose to the top of the pop charts and contributed to the movie’s success.

The double feature screens Tuesday, February 13th at our North Hollywood, Pasadena, and West LA venues.

Click here to purchase tickets for the 5pm screening of SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE with admission the the 7:10pm THE WAY WERE included.

Click here to purchase tickets for the 7:10pm THE WAY WE WERE with admission to 9:30pm SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE included.

Format: Both films on DCP

THE GREAT ESCAPE 55th Anniversary Screening Saturday, February 10 at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 55th anniversary screening of one of the best loved adventure movies of all time, John Sturges’ all-star production of THE GREAT ESCAPE.

Adapted from a nonfiction book by Paul Brickhill, the film told the mainly true story of the successful escape from one of the Nazis’ top-security POW camps during World War II. The screenplay was written by James Clavell (King Rat, To Sir, With Love, Shogun) and W. R. Burnett (High Sierra, This Gun For Hire, The Asphalt Jungle).

In reality the prisoners were almost all British, but the producers decided to add some American characters to beef up the film’s box-office potential. This decision was shrewd since it allowed for the casting of up-and-coming American actors Steve McQueen (who became a superstar largely as a result of this film), James Garner, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson. They were joined by British actors Richard Attenborough, Donald Pleasence, James Donald, and David McCallum. Because of his love of motorcycles, McQueen asked that a spectacular motorcycle jump be added to the escape sequence, and it became one of the iconic scenes in the film, even though it never really happened.

Released in the summer of 1963, the film emerged as one of the year’s biggest box-office hits, and most reviews were ecstatic. Time magazine wrote, “Producer-director John Sturges has created classic cinema of action… The Great Escape is simply great escapism.” Leonard Maltin called it “Rip-roaring excitement with marvelous international cast.” Sturges was known for his direction of other action classics, including Bad Day at Black Rock and The Magnificent Seven, the latter of which also featured McQueen. Oscar winning cinematographer Daniel Fapp shot on location in Germany, and Elmer Bernstein provided the memorable score. Ferris Webster was nominated for an Academy Award for his taut editing.

The film’s reputation has not dimmed over the years. In 2001 Esquire magazine called The Great Escape “the greatest boys’ movie of all time.” Writing in the Los Angeles Times to celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary in 2003, Michael Sragow declared, “It is an escape, and it is great: It renders vividly and fully an experience that encompasses a panorama of emotions—fear, audacity, loyalty, panic, giddiness, intransigence, and fortitude.”

THE GREAT ESCAPE screens Saturday, February 10th at 7:30pm at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP

February in NoHo: The Highly Curated Throwback Thursday Series in Honor of Marijuana Awareness Month

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In celebration of Marijuana Awareness Month, we proudly present ‘The Highly Curated‘ film series every Throwback Thursday in February at the Laemmle NoHo 7! Our crop of films includes WAYNE’S WORLD, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, FANTASTIC PLANET, and HALF BAKED. Help us spread the word and tell your buds! Many people enjoy the effects of marijuana through its various forms, like hemp-derived oils, especially when it helps them to overcome various ailments like anxiety. Do you use CBD oil to combat your anxiety? If so, you might want to make the most of a cbdistillery coupon to help you cut the costs! It is no secret that there are also people who love to smoke marijuana recreationally too. Some friends of mine even like to smoke cannabis by using cool bongs. However, that being said, smoking cannabis is not without its risks. For example, sometimes you might find yourself in a situation where you have to prove that your body is free of any substances and there might even be consequences to face if your test comes back positive. In some cases, failing a drug test can even cost you your job. Nonetheless, something that people do to combat this is to look into detox pills, like the ones found here, in order to pass such a test. So, words of warning to one side, let us now get on to our marijuana-themed movie marathon…

February 1: Wayne’s World

A wacky, irreverent pop-culture comedy about the adventures of two amiable, aimless metal-head friends, Wayne and Garth. Starring Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, Robert Patrick, and Tia Carrere. Format: DCP. Click here for tickets.

February 8: The Big Lebowski

Way out west there was this fella… fella I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least that was the handle his loving parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. Mr. Lebowski, he called himself “The Dude”… Format: DCP. Click here for tickets.

February 15: Fantastic Planet

Based on the 1957 novel Oms en série by French writer Stefan Wul Fantastic Planet is an utterly trippy French/Czech allegorical animation about humans living on a strange planet dominated by giant humanoid aliens who consider them pets. Format: DCP. Click here for tickets.

February 22: Half Baked

The story of three not so bright men who come up with a series of crazy schemes to get a friend out of jail. Starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, and Guillermo Díaz. Format: DCP. Click here for tickets.

Our weekly #TBT series is a joint production with Eat|See|Hear. Visit www.laemmle.com/tbt for details.

ART IN THE ARTHOUSE presents: BENNY FERDMAN: COOK-UP A SOUP AND OTHER TALES in Encino January 28

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ART IN THE ARTHOUSE proudly presents COOK UP A SOUP AND OTHER TALES, featuring the works of visual artist and educator BENNY FERDMAN. Laemmle Theatres invites the community to join Ferdman for an artist talk, slide show on the big screen and refreshments on January 28, 11 am at Laemmle’s Town Center 5. Most artwork is for sale at this free exhibit, which runs through May 2018.

About the Exhibit:
As a collector of materials and stories from human, natural and cultural landscapes, BENNY FERDMAN’s artwork juxtaposes and reinterprets these images and tales to reclaim wonder in everyday life. Cook-Up a Soup And Other Tales is a collection of Ferdman’s adventurous reclamation and reworking of Jewish iconography, folk motifs and works drawn from diverse narratives and East European Jewish culture, that once expressed itself in Yiddish. Raised in Los Angeles by Polish-Jewish immigrants, Yiddish was Ferdman’s first language. He has lived, studied and worked in Boston, New York, New Mexico, France, California and Israel.

As a visual artist and educator, Ferdman’s art has brought him art residencies, commissions of large scale sculptures, museum exhibitions and installations, redesigns of synagogues, design and fabrication of stage sets, and the distribution of arts-based curricula throughout North America and Israel. “Opkochen a Zup!” is about the big soup or as Ferdman says, “the soup of life into which we’ve all been tossed-and-rolled around on boiling waves, sometimes grabbing hold of a bleeding beet, riding on the back of a big bean, caressing a carrot, or poked in the eye by a prankster parsnip. In this very crowded pot, we meet and gather and then scatter, as the pot gets stirred and spilled into a bowl and consumed with a satisfying slurp!”

– Fern Wallach, Curator

ART IN THE ARTHOUSE delivers a unique, alternative art-viewing experience. At Laemmle venues around town, we give our patrons opportunities to bond with notable and emerging visual artists. We focus on local talent and the robust L.A. arts scene, and apply high curatorial standards to exhibits lasting three to four months. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Laemmle Foundation which supports a variety of environmental and humanitarian non-profits doing inspired, essential work in our community.

Artist Reception:
Encino Town Center 
Sunday, January 28 11-1pm
RSVP here
This is a Free Event

Refreshments will be provided

 

 

 

55th Anniversary Screening of Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ on January 17th in Pasadena, Encino, and West LA

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series launch our Anniversary Classics Abroad program for 2018 with one of the most influential and highly acclaimed of all foreign films: Federico Fellini’s autobiographical masterpiece, 8 ½.

8 ½ screens Wednesday, January 17 at 7pm in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA. Click here for tickets.

Fellini had already won two Oscars in the 1950s, and in 1963, 8 ½ scored the most Oscar nominations of any foreign film up to that time, with a total of five, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli and Brunello Rondi). It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and Piero Gherardi won for his stunning black-and-white costume design.

Marcello Mastroianni, who had starred in Fellini’s international smash, La Dolce Vita, three years earlier, plays Guido Anselmi, a film director struggling to complete his newest film while also juggling a wife, a mistress, and several other women as he meditates on sexuality, religion, and mortality.

The film is set primarily at a lavish spa, where Guido’s personal and professional turmoil is continually interrupted by poignant childhood memories and wickedly witty fantasies. Esteemed Italian novelist Alberto Moravia compared the film to James Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness novel, Ulysses, and the film’s visual flourishes changed the entire language of cinema.

The New Republic’s Stanley Kauffmann wrote, “In terms of execution I cannot remember a more brilliant film… We see a wizard at the height of his wizardry.”

Writing in Esquire, Dwight Macdonald called 8 ½ “the most brilliant, varied, and entertaining movie since Citizen Kane.”

In addition to Mastroianni, the cast includes Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Claudia Cardinale, Rossella Falk, and Barbara Steele. Other important collaborators include cinematographer Gianni di Venanzo and composer Nino Rota, whose jaunty circus melodies help to propel the movie.

8 ½ had a major influence on directors all over the world, including Mike Nichols, Paul Mazursky, Woody Allen, Francois Truffaut, and recent Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino.

Presented digitally.