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Watch Laemmle Theatres’ Isaac Wade on Spectrum News 1 for National Cinema Day + a Cinema Day poll!

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     Saturday’s National Cinema Day was such a success, drawing more than eight million moviegoers for the best moviegoing weekend of 2022, that it might become an annual event. Laemmle Royal and Monica Film Center General Manager Isaac Wade and a theater customer even got interviewed by journalist Nathalie Basha of local station Spectrum News 1. Isaac spoke about the experience of welcoming big crowds back to his theater: “To see people back and in line and excited to be here and wanting to support the industry, I think…that’s incredible. It’s exciting, it’s moving.”
     We are so pleased about the day’s results that we want to learn more, so here’s a poll. Did you take advantage of National Cinema Day? What movie did you see? Was Saturday your first return to the movies since before the pandemic? Inquiring minds want to know! Thank you and see you at the movies!

Vincent D’Onofrio in Person for FULL METAL JACKET 35th Anniversary Screening Sept. 13

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 35th anniversary screening of Stanley Kubrick’s savage anti-war drama Full Metal Jacket, which scored a box office success in 1987 and also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Kubrick, celebrated Vietnam author Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford adapted Hasford’s 1979 novel, The Short-Timers. The acclaimed cast includes Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, Dorian Harewood, and R. Lee Ermey. D’Onofrio will join for a Q&A after the 7 PM screening at the Royal on Tuesday, September 13.

Kubrick came late to the Vietnam war movie cycle, after such Oscar-winning films as Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, and Platoon. But he added his own sardonic and biting slant to his dissection of the terrible war. One of Kubrick’s early celebrated movies was his 1957 drama Paths of Glory, set during World War I. And his 1964 Oscar nominee, Dr. Strangelove, took a unique black comic approach to the terrifying subject of nuclear annihilation. Some of the same dark humor freshens Full Metal Jacket, though it also contains deadly serious depictions of brutal basic training as well as the horrors of a misguided, doomed war.

The first section of the film dramatizes the basic training of a platoon of Marine recruits at Parris Island, South Carolina. Former real-life drill instructor R. Lee Ermey portrays the savage sergeant in charge of the soldiers’ training. Ermey improvised much of the scathing and scatological dialogue, based on his own personal experience as a sergeant during the Vietnam War. He bullies and brutalizes all of the recruits but takes special pleasure in tormenting the overweight soldier played by D’Onofrio, whom he nicknames Gomer Pyle. Modine tries to protect D’Onofrio, with little success.

When the action shifts to Vietnam during the Tet offensive, it retains its hard-edged, nihilistic spirit. The entire film was actually shot in England, but Kubrick and his technical crew did an extraordinary job of recreating an American military base and the cities and jungles of Southeast Asia without ever leaving the English countryside.

Critical reactions to the film were very strong. Gene Siskel called Full Metal Jacket “a great piece of filmmaking.” The Los Angeles Times’ Sheila Benson wrote, “Aiming for minds as well as hearts, Kubrick hits his target squarely.” The Chicago Reader’s Jonathan Rosenbaum raved, “This is the most tightly crafted Kubrick film since Dr. Strangelove, as well as the most horrific.” The New York Times’ Vincent Canby called it “a film of immense and very rare imagination.” Canby’s Times colleague Janet Maslin added, “No one who sees Full Metal Jacket will easily put the film’s last glimpse of D’Onofrio, or a great many other things about Kubrick’s latest and most sobering vision, out of mind.”

After his breakthrough performance in Full Metal Jacket, D’Onofrio went on to co-star in such films as Mystic Pizza, JFK, The Player, Ed Wood, The Whole Wide World, Men in Black, Jurassic World, and Steal This Movie, in which he played Abbie Hoffman. He had a ten-year run in Law and Order: Criminal Intent. More recently he has appeared in the series Daredevil, Godfather of Harlem, and Ratched. Last year he had a major role as Jerry Falwell in the Oscar-winning The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

THE STORY OF FILM: A NEW GENERATION, an epic, hopeful tour of today’s most innovative world cinema, opens September 9 at the Royal.

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A decade after The Story of Film: An Odyssey, an expansive and influential inquiry into the state of  moviemaking in the 20th century, filmmaker Mark Cousins returns with an epic and hopeful tale of  cinematic innovation from around the globe. In The Story of Film: A New Generation, Cousins turns his  sharp, meticulously honed gaze on world cinema from 2010 to 2021, using a surprising range of works —  including Frozen, The Babadook, and Cemetery of Splendour — as launchpads to explore recurring themes  and emerging motifs, from the evolution of film language, to technology’s role in moviemaking today, to  shifting identities in 21st-century world cinema. Touching on everything from Parasite and The Farewell to Black Panther and Lovers Rock, Cousins seeks out films, filmmakers and communities under represented in traditional film histories, with a particular emphasis on Asian and Middle Eastern works, as  well as boundary-pushing documentaries and films that see gender in new ways. And as the recent  pandemic recedes, Cousins ponders what comes next in the streaming age: how have we changed as  cinephiles, and how moviegoing will continue to transform in the digital century, to our collective joy and  wonder.

“Cousins is an omnivore extraordinaire, sharing choice morsels from the far corners of the form. And for those who appreciate the director’s wide-eyed and open-hearted way of looking at cinema, the documentary is brimming with clips sure to expand their horizons.” – Peter Debruge, Variety

“A discursive love letter to cinema. Restless and impassioned. A welcome voice in cacophonous times.” – Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

“Another engaging documentary [from Mark Cousins], a journey around the cinematic world over 160 minutes that’s clever and informative.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“Ferociously eclectic, Cousins makes connections as he singles out films we’ve seen and ones we haven’t … He possesses an idiosyncratic cinematic imagination” – Steve Pond, The Wrap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYlPJWcDc2w

Celebrate moviegoing this Saturday, National Cinema Day: $3 tickets for all films, all day.

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Celebrate moviegoing and enjoy some monetary time travel this Saturday, September 3 by participating in National Cinema Day when movie theaters across the nation will charge prices circa 1980 — three bucks per ticket! This applies to any film at any time on Saturday, from François Ozon’s latest, Peter Von Kant, to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: No Way Home – The More Fun Stuff Version, from the new A24 comedy about the underground comics scene, Funny Pages, to Javier Bardem’s Goya-winning The Good Boss. Catch the summer sleepers Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Fire of Love, RRR or Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song while they’re still on big screens.

They say you can’t get something for nothing, but National Cinema Day is close! Super cheap movie tickets and, oh, did we mention the air conditioning?

 

Greg Laemmle on summer 2022 word-of-mouth success stories: RRR, MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS, HALLELUJAH, FIRE OF LOVE and more.

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From Greg Laemmle:
     After an amazing start to the summer box office season, things are going out with more of a whimper than a bang. And I’m OK with that. Ticket sales are only going to be as strong as the films that are in release at any given time. And to borrow the joke from the Catskills, the food isn’t so good …and such small portions. But that joke is only half right. Right now, there is a shortage of new films entering the marketplace. It’s largely another example of the supply chain being interrupted because of how the pandemic impacted the production schedule. Also, some of the films hitting the marketplace aren’t the most “commercial” titles. There are, however, some very worthy films that are currently in theatres. And I want to focus in on these films because they demonstrate one of the silver linings in the current marketplace, and that’s the power of WORD-OF-MOUTH.
     Word-of-mouth publicity is the thing that gets people to see a film that they might not otherwise see. Maybe the reviews aren’t through the roof. Or maybe the marketing didn’t make it seem like it was a film that they would enjoy.  Or maybe there wasn’t enough advertising support to bring a film to your attention. Whatever the case, we are talking about a film that you were initially not going to see. And then you hear something about the film.  Someone tells you how much they enjoyed it. Or perhaps you start seeing posts about the film on your social media feed.  Or maybe you talk to an employee at your local theatre and they tell you how much people are enjoying the film. However it gets started, enthusiasm and awareness begins to build. And in an environment (like now) where we theatre operators are searching for films that can draw ticket buyers, the ground is more fertile to allow a word-of-mouth success to grow.
     This phenomenon is not limited to arthouse films. This summer alone, we have three legit word-of-mouth winners. Number one in the bunch is TOP GUN: MAVERICK, which has been playing in theatres since Memorial Day weekend. Everyone knew about the film. Everyone knew it would be a hit. But in this day and age, it is amazing for a film to still be in theatres over Labor Day weekend after opening in May. Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS has also outperformed based on the initial opening numbers. The film started off well enough, with about $30M over the opening weekend. Based on that opening, pundits figured the film would top out well under $100M in total. And yet, the film, now just shy of $150M, showing that word-of-mouth around Luhrmann’s fine direction and Austin Butler’s star-making performance overcame the early focus on Tom Hanks’ less-than-successful supporting turn. Not to be left out is the adaptation of WHERE THE CRAWDAD’S SING, which also looks like it will end up grossing five times its opening weekend, well in excess of the usual multiple.
     But this is Laemmle Theatres, and what we care about are the arthouse word-of-mouth successes. And we have several to mention. The most commercial of the bunch is MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS, starring Lesley Manville in a fairy tale story. I’m not saying the film deserves to be part of the Oscar discussion, but it is an utterly charming film. And if you don’t want to take my word for that, consider that this semi-wide release is going to gross five to six times its opening weekend business. So clearly, I’m not the only one who had something nice to say about the film after seeing it.
     We also have a couple of long-running documentaries that have been hanging around in theatres for a while. FIRE OF LOVE is perhaps the higher profile film, given its acquisition at the Sundance Film Festival, which set the film up with some early Oscar buzz. But there is another doc which opened even before FIRE OF LOVE, and is now heading into its third month of release. That’s HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG. I’ll admit to being a huge fan of Leonard Cohen’s music. But this story about his most famous (and most covered) song is something more. It’s a film about the search for meaning in our lives, and how this song seems to capture that searching by Mr. Cohen, by the artists who recorded this song, and by extension, by all of us. HALLELUJAH is just playing one show a day at the Monicas this week, but it is absolutely worth seeking out. And, again, if you don’t want to take my word for that, consider the “votes” of random ticket buyers who keep coming out to see the film, now in its ninth week of consecutive release in L.A.!
     Last, but definitely not least, is the word-of-mouth surprise hit of the first half of 2022. This is a film that wasn’t even reviewed by the L.A. Times when it first came out (no surprise there), but ended up at the top of Justin Chang’s list of the best films of the first half of the year. And it absolutely deserved to be there. RRR is a Telegu-language film that has taken the entire film world by storm. It started out playing in theatres that cater to the Southeast Asian expatriate audience. But from there, word spread about the amazing special effects, the incredible stunt work, and the overall fun of the experience of seeing the film. That led to the film coming back into theatres on June 1 for a one-night event cinema #EncoRRRe screening. But that didn’t sate audience demand, so we extended our run for several weeks. And now, with students back from summer break, we want to give you one more chance to see this film in theatres. Yes, it is a bit of a commitment to see a three-hour film. But that’s only 20 minutes longer than ELVIS (which we already established as “worth it”), and I can assure that you’ll love every one of those extra minutes. Maybe you heard about this film, and you started watching a bit on some random streaming service. Sorry, but that’s just not the way to see RRR. This film demands to be seen with an audience so you can share in all the oohing, awwing, and laughter. Who knows, you may even need to get up and dance along during the big dance number.
     Yes, we are at the end of a long summer of movies. And there are plenty of stories about the box office being down, and the impact that this may have on certain exhibition companies. But don’t believe that there isn’t anything worth seeing at the movies. If you haven’t already seen these pictures, find a theatre that is playing MRS. HARRIS, FIRE OF LOVE, HALLELUJAH or RRR, and make plans to see them. And don’t just take my word for it. Trust the ticket buyers like you that have made them in word-of-mouth winners.
     See you at the movies!
~ GL

DELICATESSEN 30th Anniversary screenings at three Laemmle locations August 31.

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the latest installment of the popular Anniversary Classics Abroad series, the 30th anniversary of the U.S. release of the international cult classic, DELICATESSEN. The surrealist black comedy about the inhabitants of a post-Apocalypse French city was the collaboration of tyro feature filmmakers Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who co-directed and co-wrote, with a writing assist by Gilles Adrien.

The story centers on three characters, the owner of an apartment building with a ground floor delicatessen (Jean-Claude Dreyfus); his daughter (Marie-Laure Dougnac); and a former clown hired to be the dilapidated building’s maintenance man (Dominique Pinon). They inhabit a world in which food is scarce and lentils are used as currency. The landlord/butcher lures job seekers, murders them, and then prepares “delicacies” to sell to his odd tenants. His daughter falls in love with the latest victim and tries to foil her father’s scheme with the aid of the “lentil-men,” underground rebels.

The film’s hybrid mix of genres had critics and audiences somewhat bewildered and equally delighted amidst generally favorable reviews. Critic Emmanuel Levy provided appropriate praise: “Part macabre humor, part romantic drama, part childlike fable, this ingeniously original French farce defies categorization, but is successful on all these levels.” Janet Maslin of the New York Times cited its “fun-house atmosphere,” calling it “weirdly hilarious” and “lightweight but a sometimes subversively stylish farce.” Stephen Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer found it “indescribably wild,” and Michael Wilmington in the Los Angeles Times noted “the whole movie has been conceived in grandiose, garishly witty comic book images,” along with the advisory, “out-shocks and outplays the American horror comedies at their own game…a nasty, childlike, murderously funny show.”

Jeunet handled directing the actors, while Caro was responsible for design and effects, and the two would tap into their fervid imaginations again for THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, another provocative fantasy, in 1995. Their talents were recognized by Hollywood when they were hired as the director (Jeunet) and design supervisor (Caro) for ALIEN: RESURRECTION in 1997. Jeunet went onto international acclaim for the more conventional romantic comedy AMELIE (2001), nominated for five Academy Awards, including best foreign language film and a screenplay nod for Jeunet. But all this success started with DELICATESSEN, which will be presented for one night only Wednesday, August 31 at 7:00 pm at three Laemmle locations: Glendale, Newhall, and the Royal in West Los Angeles.

A parable of power, the slickly entertaining Javier Bardem film THE GOOD BOSS opens August 26.

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One of the most magnetic movie stars in cinema, Javier Bardem’s new workplace comedy-drama The Good Boss starts August 26 at the Royal. We’ll expand it to our other theaters in the subsequent weeks. The film is about Básculas Blanco, a Spanish company producing industrial scales in a provincial Spanish town, as it awaits the imminent visit from a committee which holds the firm’s fate in their hands: will they honor Básculas with a local Business Excellence award? Everything has to be perfect for the visit. Working against the clock, the company’s proprietor, Blanco (Bardem) pulls out all the stops to address and resolve issues with his employees, crossing every imaginable line in the process.

“Reminiscent of the Coen brothers’ trademark cinematic sarcasm… slickly entertaining.” ~ Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter

“It’s Javier Bardem’s show as he reunites with Fernando Leon de Aranoa for this parable of power.” ~ Jonathan Holland, Screen International

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“Javier Bardem gives a powerhouse performance.” ~ David Stratton, The Australian

Here’s a clip from the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmdsIHGhiL8&feature=youtu.be

“This movie is great on whatever-sized screen you watch, but it’s next-level in a full theater with a rabid audience.” The spectacular RRR, back in theaters by popular demand.

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If you haven’t experienced the Indian blockbuster RRR in a theater, good news, we are bringing it back! The movie is an exhilarating, action-packed spectacular mythologizing two real-life freedom fighters who helped lead India’s fight for independence from the British Raj, Komaram Bheem (N.T Rama Rao Jr., aka Jr NTR) and Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan). Set in the 1920s, before their fight for India’s independence began, RRR imagines a fictional meeting between the two, set into motion when a young Gond girl is stolen from her village by British soldiers. With a powerful message, staggeringly choreographed action sequences, and an all-timer of a musical number, RRR is sheer big-screen joy from start to finish, and it is something best experienced with an audience to fully appreciate big and loud, as intended.

Catch RRR starting August 26 at the Monica Film Center and Town Center and a week or two after that at the Claremont and Newhall. All are venues where we have not previously screened the film.

The New York Times recently published a story about the RRR phenomenon headlined “How the Indian Action Spectacular RRR Became a Smash in America.” Among the U.S. exhibitors quoted about helping making the film a cross-over hit is Laemmle Theatres president Greg Laemmle:
“Gregory Laemmle, the president of the West Coast theater chain that bears his name, attended the Seattle screening after booking RRR at three of the Laemmle Theaters’ California locations. (RRR has since gone on to play at five Laemmle theaters.) Laemmle was already a believer, sight unseen, thanks partly to Marchetti’s recommendation and partly to enthusiastic social media responses from the initial release. Ticket sales at Laemmle theaters were high enough to warrant a weeklong engagement, which began June 3. “But after seeing the movie, I knew that I would need to clear space for that run to play” longer, Laemmle said.

“Cristina Cacioppo programmed RRR at the Nitehawk Prospect Park in Brooklyn, where it drew enthusiastic moviegoers in the 20-to-30 age range, most from outside the Indian diaspora. “There was an overall wave of joy throughout,” Cacioppo said by email, adding later. “You could feel the room smiling, the jaws dropping.”

“Jake Isgar at the Alamo Drafthouse chain said there were at least 10 rounds of spontaneous applause from a packed screening in San Francisco. “This movie is great on whatever-sized screen you watch, but it’s next-level in a full theater with a rabid audience,” he added.”
L.A. Times lead film critic Justin Chang included RRR on his list of 10 best films for the first half of 2022:

“The longest feature on my list runs more than three hours and earns every supercharged minute. Already the second-highest-grossing Indian film of all time in America (it’s grossed more than $140 million worldwide), S.S. Rajamouli’s Telugu-language sensation is a hellaciously entertaining mash-up of history and legend, politics and romance, hyperviolent action and song-and-dance musical, venomous snakes and throat-mauling tigers. As the two mighty warriors whose tender bromance becomes a truly infernal affair, N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan are forces of nature.”

(Side note: even though Justin included the film in his Top 10, the film still hasn’t actually had a full review in the Times. Yet another example of good films not getting reviewed by the tragically thin Times film section.)

Finally, Variety just published a story headlined “How India’s Action Epic RRR Could Bring the Country’s First Oscar Nom in 21 Years.”

“A movie with the action sensibilities of James Cameron and the ambitious scope of George Miller has to be considered a definitive Oscar contender, right? Not without the proper backing by a studio or, in this case, a country that will submit your film for the Academy’s best international feature award.

“Enter RRR, a film directed by S. S. Rajamouli, who wrote the script with V. Vijayendra Prasad. The three-hour action epic follows two patriotic but philosophically opposed men (Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr.), who team up to rescue a girl from British colonial officials in 1920s Delhi.

“When the 94th Oscar nominations were announced back in January 2022, India’s official submission “Pebbles” was not among the films recognized for international feature. It marked exactly 20 years since India’s last nom in the category.

“In fact, only three Indian films in total —Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Lagaan (2001) — have been nominated for the award. The last of which lost to No Man’s Land from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The skyrocketing success of RRR has been the undercover Cinderella story of the year. A global smash with huge box office receipts, the film found a pathway to the American cultural zeitgeist with consumers discovering it on Netflix. It was distributed theatrically by Variance Films in the U.S., and a current trend by the Academy to embrace non-English language features in the last few years offers an alternative pathway to awards recognition if India decides to look elsewhere. But why would they?”

Read the rest of the piece here.

https://vimeo.com/709590385/a79303822a