The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

Laemmle Theatres

Film Reviews & Previews

You are here: Home / Q&A's

Sundance Documentary WEB JUNKIE at the Music Hall this Weekend

by Leave a Comment

 

WEB JUNKIE screenings are sponsored by Unplug  — limited number of free two-week passes given away at the Saturday-Monday evening screenings.  Also, we will do a Web Junkie Movie poster giveaway Sunday night. 

Dr. Elisha Goldstein will host a Q&A after Sunday night’s 7:30pm screening – psychologist, speaker and author whose work includes the bestselling books The Now Effect: How This Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life and A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn.  Dr. Goldstein will discuss ways to harness our relationship with technology (see his recent blog http://blogs.psychcentral.com/mindfulness/2014/09/the-horse-is-technology-but-the-rider-is-on-auto-pilot/

Bring Your Ticket Stub From WEB JUNKIE and Get A FREE Rental from Vidiots Foundation
302 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405

310-392-8508

www.vidiotsfoundation.org

Sundance documentary Web Junkie screens in LA ONE WEEK ONLY
Oct. 3-9  Laemmle Music Hall Theater   Watch the trailer:  http://webjunkiedoc.com/
“Electronic heroin” and “web addiction”: that’s how Chinese authorities refer to internet activity of more than six hours a day, not related to work or studying. WEB JUNKIE takes audiences inside a Beijing treatment center and follows three teenagers as they endure boot-camp style rehab over three months. 

Many of the boys were tricked, drugged or physically coerced by their desperate parents, and deny they overuse the internet — although one claims to have gamed for 300 hours straight, and we hear that some wear diapers, to prevent bathroom breaks that would lower gaming scores.  China was a world leader in classifying internet addiction as a clinical disorder, and there are over 400 intensive treatment centers for web & gaming addiction.

Is internet addiction real? Professor Rao, the center head, claims a 70% ‘cure rate.’ In following these teens, Web Junkie explores the loneliness, social disconnection, depression, and family pressure to achieve that drive these kids to use the ‘net more than 10 hours a day.  While the film takes place in China, it explores the universal 24/7 lure of the internet, technology, and our devices.
We’ll be posting updates on the boys through the theatrical run, Oct. 3-9.
New Yorker Article:
Daily Beast: The film China Doesn’t Want You to See:

WAITING FOR AUGUST Filmmaker Teodora Ana Mihai at the Royal Opening Weekend

by Leave a Comment

Teodora Ana Mihai, the filmmaker of the wonderful new documentary WAITING FOR AUGUST, will participate in Q&A’s at the Royal after the 7:50 PM screening on Friday, October 3 and after the 5:30 PM screening on Saturday, October 4.

http://vimeo.com/88946425
WAITING FOR AUGUST Filmmaker Teodora Ana Mihai at the Royal Opening Weekend
Teodora Ana Mihai; photo by Miguel Bueno

BORN TO FLY Q&A’s at the NoHo with Elizabeth Streb in Person

by Leave a Comment

BORN TO FLY: ELIZABETH STREB VS. GRAVITY filmmaker Catherine Gund and acclaimed choreographer/aerialist Elizabeth Streb will participate in Q&A’s at the NoHo after the 7:30 PM screening on Friday, September 26 and after the 1 PM screening on Saturday, September 27.

http://www.vimeo.com/84998946
BORN TO FLY Q&A's at the NoHo with Elizabeth Streb in Person
Elizabeth Streb

 

BORN TO FLY Q&A's at the NoHo with Elizabeth Streb in Person
Catherine Gund

SMILING THROUGH THE APOCALYPSE Q&A’s Opening Weekend at the Music Hall

by Leave a Comment

Tom Hayes, filmmaker of the fascinating new documentary SMILING THROUGH THE APOCALYPSE: ESQUIRE IN THE SIXTIES, will participate in Q&A’s at the Music Hall after the 7:30 PM screenings on Friday and Saturday, September 26 and 27, and after the 4:50 PM screening on Sunday, September 28.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-DMm-ha4OI

SMILING THROUGH THE APOCALYPSE Q&A's Opening Weekend at the Music Hall

 

The L.A. Times’ Kenneth Turan Commentary: “Hollywood’s hedgehog mentality threatens its survival.”

by Leave a Comment

The Los Angeles Times’ chief film critic Kenneth Turan has a good piece on the state of Hollywood in today’s L.A. Times citing the fox-versus-hedgehog mentality. He makes a very compelling and convincing case that the industry endangers itself and the film culture we all value by focussing on superhero/action-adventure movies with gargantuan budgets rather than more interesting and smaller budgeted films that appeal to adults.