Santa Monica Archives - Page 2 of 65

Laemmle Theatres joining the second National Cinema Day, bringing America’s day at the movies to L.A. this Sunday, August 27.

August 23, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Laemmle Theatres is excited to partner with the Cinema Foundation to celebrate the second annual National Cinema Day this Sunday, August 27th.

All seven Laemmle venues will be participating in the one-day event, which celebrates the power of movies to bring us all together, and discounted admissions for all movies in all formats (including Premium Large Format screens) will be no more than $4. What’s more, we’re discounting our fresh popcorn: $2 small, $4 medium and $6 large.

To celebrate the day, choose from any of our movies, including new films opening this weekend like Golda, The Owners, Love Life, Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House, Mutt, or King Coal. Or catch a newly restored modern classic like Oldboy. Haven’t yet seen box office phenomena Barbie or Oppenheimer? Now you can see them as they were meant to be seen, on a big screen, and for cheap!

For more details, visit NationalCinemaDay.org. Join friends, families, and communities of moviegoers at a Laemmle theater near you.

WITH THIS LIGHT Q&As Friday and Saturday at the Monica Film Center.

August 8, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

With this Light Q&A schedule at the Monica Film Center:

Friday, August 11
We will have a Q&A featuring: NICOLE BERNARDI-REIS (Director/Producer)
BONNIE GREENBERG (Executive Music Producer), NORA KROLL-
ROSENBAUM (Composer) & FATHER TOM GIBBONS
Opening remarks by BONNIE ABAUNZA (Impact Producer)

Saturday, August 12
We will have a Q&A featuring: NICOLE BERNARDI-REIS (Director/Producer) in conversation with actress/producer JULIE CARMEN
Julie Carmen, Actress/ Producer is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the OSCAR committee of judges for the Best International Films. Julie is extremely grateful to have co-starred in films for John Cassavetes, Michael Mann, Robert Redford, John Carpenter, Nicolas Roeg, Tommy Lee Wallace, Michael Olmos, Franc Reyes, Tom Dolby, Reinhard Hauff, Christel Buschmann and on television for Karen Arthur, Betty Thomas, David Milch, Paris Barclay, Debbie Allen, Deborah Kampmeier and Quentin Tarantino. Julie can currently be seen on Grey’s Anatomy and playing La Doña in the AMC anthology Tales of the Walking Dead.

“A Deeply Human Experience You’ll Never Have on Your Couch” ~ The New York Times on BARBENHEIMER and the power and importance of the theatrical experience.

August 2, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Seeing a movie from your sofa is convenient and pleasant but watching the same film in public takes it from passive consumption to active experience. Funny, frightening, sexy, exciting, awesome movies are 100 times funnier, scarier, sexier and more exciting when seen in public. Being in a theater with strangers allow a frisson that you just do not get at home. The laughter that Barbie elicits and the awe, fear and terror that Oppenheimer elicits make this perfectly clear.

The New York Times just posted a terrific piece about this that articulates this beautifully. It’s by the writer Mark Jacobson.

“For a moment, at least, the Barbenheimer phenomenon brought back the sensation of the movie theater as a semi-sacred public place, a space where we congregate to have an experience, made all the more transcendent by having it together.”

Here’s how it starts:

“It seemed like a miracle. The Cobble Hill Cinemas, a neighborhood joint that opened in the 1920s as the Lido and that served for decades as a venue for B-movie action films, was packed on what would ordinarily be a dead Monday night — and without a single La-Z-Boy recliner, goat cheese pizza or other modern enticement in sight. I was there with 200 or so other patrons, a gloriously mixed crowd, to see Oppenheimer, one-half of the Barbenheimer cultural moment. When the bomb finally went off in the New Mexico desert — this fulcrumatic moment in our species’ history — it was beheld simultaneously, an exhilarating common experience, which is exactly what the movie house is supposed to deliver. In the end, it didn’t matter if you liked the picture or not. What mattered is that we’d seen it together.

“After a few years in which the pandemic and streaming platforms combined to break Americans of their movie theatergoing habits, we’d surged back joyfully, triumphantly, to theaters, producing the fourth biggest domestic weekend of all time. For a moment, it was possible to forget the grim realities that still linger for the cinema business, circling like vultures. The actors’ and writers’ unions (I am a member of the latter) are still on strike with no end in sight. With far fewer products in the pipeline, there won’t be many Barbenheimer-shaped rabbits to pull out of the hat anytime soon. AMC is in trouble. So is Regal, which narrowly avoided having to close its theater in Union Square. On the day before the blockbuster weekend, the Regal UA in Staten Island, one of the last remaining theaters in that borough, closed its doors for good. The 2016 demise of the Ziegfeld means that the largest single-screen theater in Manhattan is now the relatively diminutive 571-seat Paris — which tellingly was saved by and is run by Netflix.

“In the time of streaming and 146-inch TV screens, the simple act of going out to the movies feels contrarian, even subversive. It also feels endangered. That’s grim news, because the beauty of going to the movies was never just about the films on the screens; it was about the way we all gathered to watch them.”

Click here to read the full piece.

The “fresh-faced, funny” SHORTCOMINGS opens at the NoHo, Town Center and Monica Film Center August 4.

July 26, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

For his directorial debut, actor Randall Park chose the screenplay Adrian Tomine based on his graphic novel of the same name, Shortcomings. It follows Ben, a struggling filmmaker who lives in Berkeley with his girlfriend, Miko, who works for a local Asian American film festival. When he’s not managing an arthouse movie theater as his day job, Ben spends his time obsessing over unavailable blonde women, watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice, a queer grad student with a serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben is left to his own devices, and begins to explore what he thinks he might want.

“A fresh-faced, funny directorial debut from the ever-engaging Park.” ~ Jessica Kiang, Variety

“Shortcomings takes some bruising blows at cultural expectations… it’s also about growing up a little too late and having to reckon with your own rotten self. Oh, and it’s hilarious.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

The triumphant return of New Deal Tuesdays: $7 tickets all day long.

July 19, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Coinciding with the liberation of the term “Taco Tuesdays” from the clutches of Big Taco, Laemmle Theatres is pleased to bring back our weekly discount program New Deal Tuesdays. We first introduced it during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and although economists are now saying we will probably avoid another economic downturn any time soon, it is always a good time to encourage people to see movies as they were meant to be seen, where they are scientifically proven (research pending) to be 1000% better: in theaters.

For a limited time, we will sell all tickets for all Tuesday afternoon and evening screenings for only seven dollars. (Fine print: the discount only applies to movies we’re screening as part of regular engagements, so that excludes operas and film festivals. But those represent a fraction of the films we show.) This means that if one were to bring six friends or family members to a Laemmle movie on any given Tuesday, said person and their party could all enjoy the flick for only [7 x 7, checks calculator] $49!

What’s more, we are planning Tuesday concessions discounts. Stay tuned to our socials to keep abreast of the developing New Deal Tuesdays tidings. Use laemmle.com/connect as a way to stay connected and get further announcements. And consider enjoying tacos before or after the movies! Tacos, too, are wonderful and affordable.

Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox star in Catherine Hardwicke’s PRISONER’S DAUGHTER, opening June 30.

June 21, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Next week we’ll be opening the new indie thriller Prisoner’s Daughter. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Thirteen, many more), Brian Cox (Succession and many more) stars as Max, an ex-con trying to reconcile with his estranged daughter, Maxine, played by Kate Beckinsale (Cold Comfort Farm and many more). Here’s a clip:

Max is terminally ill and granted a compassionate release with the condition he live with his daughter. She’d much rather say no but desperate for money to support herself and her son, Ezra (Christopher Convery), she grudgingly agrees. As Max seeks one final chance to redeem himself in her eyes, Maxine’s abusive, drug addict ex-husband turns up. Max’s history of violence reappears too, with explosive consequences. Tyson Ritter and Ernie Hudson co-star.

We open Prisoner’s Daughter June 30 at the Monica Film Center and Town Center/Encino and are hosting a free advance sneak preview screening on June 28 at the NoHo where Ms. Hardwicke will participate in a post-screening Q&A.

Join Laemmle Theatres in supporting TreePeople’s new monthly giving program, The Canopy.

June 14, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

A few words from Laemmle Theatres’ partners, TreePeople!

Dear friends,

TreePeople is delighted to announce our partnership with Laemmle Theatres, one of Los Angeles’ most iconic independent cinema groups. As an organization committed to protecting and expanding our local ecosystems, we are grateful for their support and shared passion for environmental sustainability.

At TreePeople, we believe trees are not just a source of beauty but are also vital to the health and well-being of our communities. Trees provide shade, improve air quality, absorb carbon, and prevent erosion.

As you may know, TreePeople has a long and storied history. We were founded in 1973 by a concerned teenager who saw the need to address the environmental challenges facing Los Angeles. Since then, we’ve planted over three million trees, and engaged over three million volunteers. Our work has been recognized locally and nationally, and we’re proud to be part of the movement to create a more sustainable future.

TreePeople has made significant strides in supporting communities that suffer from pollution exposure and extreme heat, creating change to improve both environmental and human health. These impacts are further explored through our programming in wildfire restoration and prevention, school greening, eco-tours, residential tree distributions, community engagement, tribal relations, and a focus on our “bright spots”; areas across Southern California that are the most affected by extreme heat, pollution, seasonal flooding, and low tree canopy cover.

However, our work is far from done. The climate crisis is becoming increasingly urgent, and the need to protect and expand our urban forest is more important than ever. That’s why we would like to invite you to join our monthly giving program, The Canopy. By joining The Canopy, you will help us continue our critical work of building a greener, more resilient, and sustainable Southern California.

The Canopy is an excellent way to support TreePeople because it allows us to plan for the future with confidence. Your ongoing support will enable us to take on ambitious projects, such as planting new trees, restoring watersheds, and maintaining community green spaces.

We are so grateful for this opportunity to tell you more about our work, and we hope that you will join our movement! Your contributions, no matter how small, will help us continue our work and build a better future for generations to come.

Trees need People. People need Trees.

Sincerely,

TreePeople Team

ONLY IN THEATERS screening with Q&A this Saturday, July 8 at Vidiots in Eagle Rock.

June 14, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

July 5 Update: Tickets are now on sale for this Saturday’s Vidiots screening of Only in Theaters. In addition to the film, this is one more, possibly last chance to catch an in-person Q&A with subjects Greg and Tish Laemmle and filmmaker Raphael Sbarge.

Original post from June 14: Vidiots, welcome to the L.A. exhibition scene! ONLY IN THEATERS screening w/Q&A July 8.

Los Angeles’ world class movie theater culture just got classier. By reopening the 271-seat Eagle Theatre in Eagle Rock, Vidiots has joined major venues of film exhibition like the Academy Museum, the American Cinematheque, the Alamo Drafthouse, the New Beverly, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (in 2025), and REDCAT, to grassroots sites like Braindead Studios, Secret Movie Club, and Cinespia, plus, ahem, yours truly, Laemmle Theatres to further get Angelenos off their lonesome sofas and out into our one-of-a-kind megalopolis. We are in Hollywood, after all, the movie capital of the world, and it’s only fitting we have a plethora of ways to see movies the way they are meant to be seen: in public, with an audience, on big screens. Yes, home viewing is convenient. And for episodic stuff that is meant to be seen on TV, we are all for it. But comparing the experience of watching a “movie” via VOD with the act of actually seeing the same film in a movie theatre is like the debate between masturbation and sex …or a frozen meal versus a meal at your favorite restaurant. In the immortal words of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, “ain’t nothin’ like the real thing, Baby.”

We’re pleased the documentary about Laemmle, Only in Theaters, is among Vidiot’s first screenings. Join filmmaker Raphael Sbarge and subjects Greg and Tish Laemmle for a post-screening Q&A on July 8.

Mark Olsen of the L.A. Times has been covering Vidiot’s long road from funky, adored Santa Monica video store to Eagle Rock movie theater/cafe/video store/event space. Here’s the beginning of his latest dispatch:

When the Santa Monica video store Vidiots, which had become a local cultural institution, closed in February 2017, founders Patty Polinger and Cathy Tauber had their doubts as to whether the store would ever rebound. Opened in 1985, the beloved rental shop had a collection of more than 50,000 titles on various media formats that was put into storage, potentially never to be publicly available again.

“I didn’t really think it would,” said Tauber, reflecting on whether the store could bounce back after years of financial struggle with the rise of emerging streaming services. “I know that was the plan from the beginning, but I think by the time we shut down, I was so worn out and exhausted from trying to keep the business going and all the negativity and struggle. It was really hard to imagine this was really going to happen. Of course I hoped it would, but we were just way burnt out by the time we were closing down.”

Tauber sat recently with Polinger in the comfy and inviting theater space of the revived Vidiots, which just reopened. Besides a video store, the newly renovated complex at the Eagle Theatre in Eagle Rock includes a 271-seat movie theater, a beer and wine bar, and a smaller micro-cinema space that can also be used for community and educational programs.

“It has been such a transformation and such a huge endeavor, with so many obstacles along the way,” said Polinger. “It’s really a miracle that we’re here.”

Click here to read Olsen’s full article.

Laemmle Theatres

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