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Laemmle Moviegoers’ Top Ten Films of 2023 Revealed!

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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!

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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!

Greg Laemmle’s Top Ten Movies of 2023.

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What were your favorite films of 2023, an excellent movie year? Click here to tell us and we’ll enter you in a raffle to win Laemmle gift cards! Here’s Greg Laemmle on the year just past and his top ten films:
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While we are still in the process of getting all the numbers together, early projections are that we finally got back into the black in 2023. I know that this post isn’t supposed to be about the economic state of things, but let’s at least take a moment to express thanks that the financial picture for the exhibition business is looking better after three years of less-than-stellar ticket sales.
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Leaving aside the numbers, the following are the films that I found to be the most memorable of 2023. A few are still playing in theatres, so I encourage you to check them out while you can.
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#1 – AFIRE – This summer release from director Christian Petzold may have suffered commercially because it was so hard to define. Was it a drama? Or a comedy? And a comedy from Germany? Whoever heard of such a thing. But while it may be hard to pigeonhole this picture, it should be easy to enjoy and appreciate the complete command the filmmaker has working with a superb cast of actors.
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#2 – ANATOMY OF A FALL – This October release is still playing in theatres. And if there is any justice, it will be recognized on Tuesday with Oscar nominations for writer director Justine Triet, lead performer Sandra Huller, and that rarest of things, a nomination for a foreign language film as Best Picture.
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#3 – SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE – While I appreciated the daring animation style of the preceding film SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, I was truly wowed by what this film delivered both in terms of further stylistic daring, and a real emotional pull in the storytelling. I believe the film is being brought back this week so if you can, go see it.
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#4 – THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE – Another terrific film from Germany. And this one is the German entry for the Best International Feature category at the Oscars. Look for it to receive a nomination on Tuesday, and make sure to see it when it goes into wider release following the nominations.
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#5 – PAST LIVES – A word-of-mouth hit that played all summer, this wistful romance is a terrific debut for filmmaker Celine Song, and a superb showcase for actress Greta Lee.
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#6 – THE HOLDOVERS – Writer-director Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti re-team nearly 20 years after their success with SIDEWAYS, and the result is a film of deep maturity and thoughtfulness. With a story and visual style (and soundtrack) that beautifully evokes some of now-classic films and filmmakers of the early ’70s, this is one to see.
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#7 – THE TASTE OF THINGS – The pacing in Tran Anh Hung’s film is deliberate. But also perfectly matched to a time period where the world was not in such a rush. So relax and enjoy the exquisite scenes of food preparation, not to mention the pleasure of seeing the luminous Juliette Binoche.
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#8 – THE ZONE OF INTEREST – A monster movie. But a monster movie where the monsters have spouses, children, pressure at work, and all the other things that we can relate to in our everyday lives. Director Jonathan Glazer takes Hannah Arendt’s idea of “the banality of evil” and it is both terrifying and serene.
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#9 – BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT – I didn’t see as many of this year’s documentaries as I would like. But of the one’s I did see, this is the best.
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#10 – AIR – I love it when Hollywood makes a thoughtful movie for adults. And I especially love it when it makes such a movie without overly stressing the “importance” of the movie. While the Oscar nominations may end up going to other pictures, for my money, this is the best put-together studio film of the year. Kudos to director Ben Affleck, screenwriter Alex Convery, star Matt Damon, and the always fabulous Viola Davis for their work here. Please, Hollywood, send us lots more like this one in the years to come.
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The business is still in the process of recovering from the pandemic closure. But it is recovering. So another request Please keep coming out to see stuff in theatres, and be a part of rebuilding a vibrant moviegoing scene that has something for everyone.

In-Person Wim Wenders Q&A for ANSELM 3D Saturday in Glendale; 2D runs this week at other venues; MUST END SOON!

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If you haven’t yet seen Wim Wenders’ 3D documentary Anselm in Glendale, there’s still time! We’ll have this fascinating portrait of painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer in 3D for at least one more week in the Jewell City and we’ll open 2D engagements this Friday in Santa Monica, Encino, Claremont and Newhall. What’s more the director will participate in an in-person Q&A following the Saturday, January 13 1 pm screening in Glendale. Matt Carey will moderate.

“Anselm offers both a thrilling portrait of the artist at work and, with the aid of terrific archival footage, lets us see what infuses his work with such intensity.” ~ John Powers, NPR

“The director [Wim Wenders] has fashioned a mesmerizing engagement with Kiefer’s art, including just enough face time with the subject to elevate the work’s immersive, bleak majesty, rather than give it an aggrandizing spin.” ~ Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

“This is a superbly controlled and expressed film and its high seriousness about the nature and purpose of art really is invigorating.” Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“The meditative experience is heightened by Wenders’s innovative use of sound: indistinct whispers flutter like bats through the cavernous spaces.” ~ Wendy Ide, Guardian

Contest! Submit your Top Ten Films of 2023 for a chance to win gift cards.

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Have you caught up on all the 2023 movies you wanted to see? Regardless, it’s time to submit your Top Ten lists! Tell us which films you liked best here and you’ll be entered into a raffle for one of three $25 Laemmle gift cards. If you need inspiration, here’s my highly subjective alphabetical list. (Greg Laemmle will announce his list when we announce the winners of this contest, at which point he should have caught up to May December, Anatomy of a Fall and a couple others.)

Anatomy of a Fall: Sandra Hüller, formidable in court and dominating one of the gnarliest, most riveting marital arguments in cinema history.

Asteroid City: Wes Anderson gives us another melancholy, gorgeous, sui generis movie. “The notion of a perfect movie is absurd, but some movies attain an ideal synthesis of the director’s body of work. Wes Anderson’s latest, Asteroid City, is one such film.” ~ Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Fallen Leaves: Like Asteroid City, it’s a melancholy but funny and silver-lined one-of-a-kind work from a one-of-a-kind filmmaker.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: A wise man (U.C. Berkeley English Professor Stephen Booth) told his students: never be ashamed of what you like. This movie made me laugh out loud, it was so entertaining. Pass the popcorn!

Oppenheimer: Chilling, masterfully done, and awesome, in the original sense of the word.

Past Lives: Celine Song and Greta Lee! Deeply romantic and moving.

Showing Up: Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams! “A serene, pulse-lowering charmer.” ~ Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

You Hurt My Feelings: Nicole Holofcener and Julia Louis-Dreyfus! “Warm-hearted and rueful and hilarious in all the best ways.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

The Zone of Interest: The terrifying banality of evil. Sandra Hüller again, this time paired with an equally scary Christian Friedel as Rudolf Höss, as the Macbeth and Lady Macbeth of Auschwitz.

One caveat: I still haven’t seen Barbie, All of Us Strangers, Poor Things or Afire and based one what others have said about them, my list might look different had I seen them. I did see Killers of the Flower Moon with two people who adored it and maybe I caught it on a bad night because, you know what? — I kept checking my watch.

Q1 2024 Culture Vulture Films Announced!

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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

ONLY IN THEATERS wins award from Film Threat. DVDs now on sale at all venues.

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Only in Theaters, the documentary about the history and future of Laemmle Theatres that includes interviews with Allison Anders, Cameron Crowe, Ava DuVernay, Nicole Holofcener, James Ivory, Kenneth Turan, Leonard Maltin and more, just won the Film Threat’s Award This! award in the Film About Movies or Filmmaking category. The ceremony was last Sunday at The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana. In his acceptance speech, which you can watch below, director Raphael Sbarge spoke about the century-long story he sought to tell and said “there’s been a Laemmle in the movie business since there’s been a movie business.”

The just-released Only in Theaters DVD is now available for sale at all seven of our theaters. In his recent Film Factual review of the release, Brent Simon described the film as “a rich and fortifying watch, and it thankfully isn’t fanciful enough to peddle easy solutions, or clear skies on the horizon. It’s funny and sad and at times emotionally piercing, but most of all it’s honest — a quality we should all want more of in movies, big and small.”

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

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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
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“It poetically shows the power of perspective. So well-observed, nuanced, and compassionately told.” ~ Claudia Puig, FilmWeek (KPCC – NPR Los Angeles)
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“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
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“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