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Hungry? We’ve Got You Covered with the Food Doc CITY OF GOLD and Local Restaurant Pairings!

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city-of-goldUpdate: Q&A with Pulitzer Prize-Winning Food Critic Jonathan Gold Sunday, March 27 in Pasadena. Click here for tickets.

You’re going to be hungry after watching CITY OF GOLD, the new doc about L.A. food critic extraordinaire JONATHAN GOLD. But that’s not going to be a problem. Just hop on over to one of the restaurants listed below — all found on Gold’s list of 101 best — conveniently located near your local Laemmle theater.

Don’t forget to share your favorite spots in the comments. We’d love to highlight a few of your more budget-friendly picks!

Restaurants looking to make the leap from the mediocre to the great will find that the impact the implementation of professional restaurant supply equipment is absolutely integral to achieving this.

CITY OF GOLD opens Friday, March 18th in Pasadena and Encino, and March 25th in NoHo and Santa Monica.

Pasadena:

Bulgarini Gelato in Alta Dena was #93 on Gold’s list in 2014 but we’re including it because it’s available at our concession stand! We’ve been serving select flavors of Leo’s famous gelato for years and customers love it.

About a mile west of out theater you’ll find two spots on Gold’s latest list. Numer 101 is Union, serving minimal, California cuisine. But if Basque-style tapas is more your speed, Ración is definely worth a visit.

Union. $$$. 37 E. Union St, Pasadena. map
Ración. $$$. 119 W. Green St, Pasadena. map

Encino:

This is awkward. West Valley eateries are conspicuously absent from Gold’s list. No Valley jokes here. Instead, here are few of our favorites.

Batterfish is a small fish and chips shop where you can choose the type of fish, batter, and chips. Choose from traditional, chili, curry, lemon basil, or garlic ginger batters. I usually go with Cod, Chili batter, and traditional chips.

Sushi Yotsuya on Ventura Blvd in Tarzana serves traditional style sushi. The sign at the front says, “No! California Roll! Spicy Tuna! Trust the Chef!” Sit at the bar for an excellent omakase (chef’s choice) meal. And whatever you do, don’t stir wasabi or ginger into your soy sauce!

Vinh Loi Tofu is over in Reseda but their vegan dishes with homemade tofu are delicious and deserving of a special trip. It’s one of Greg Laemmle’s favorites!

Batterfish. $. 16200 Ventura Blvd, Encino. map
Sushi Yotsuya. $$$. 18760 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana. map
Vinh Loi Tofu. $. 18625 Sherman Way, Reseda. map

Santa Monica:

Ranking high at number five is Rustic Canyon. Gold says, “Rustic Canyon is a wonderful place… you’re going to see the produce you were browsing this morning at the Santa Monica farmers market presented in the nicest possible way: fried Weiser Family Farms peewee potatoes with chicken gravy…”

After reading Gold’s description of Cassia, number 17, it’s moving to the top of my own Must Eat List. “Plum salad with wild arugula, egg custard with uni, a mayonnaisey jellyfish salad you could imagine encountering on the Left Bank and what is undoubtedly the best Singapore-style white pepper Dungeness crab in town.”

Rustic Canyon. $$$. 1119 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica. map
Cassia. $$$. 1314 7th St, Santa Monica. map

North Hollywood:

Two more of Gold’s favorites are in nearby Studio City. Coincidentally, both are run by former Top Chef contestants. Chris “CJ” Jacobson operates Girasol, #53, a New American bistro with farmers market vegetables and sustainably raised meats.

Number 79 on the list is Phillip Frankland Lee’s The Gadarene Swine, a purely vegan bistro opened by a carnivorous chef.

As with Pasadena, select flavors of Bulgarini Gelato are available at the concession stand!

Girasol. $$$. 11334 Moorpark St, Studio City. map
The Gadarene Swine. $$$. 11266 Ventura Blvd, Studio City. map

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__2uT1cZWkY

HAIL, CAESAR Opens Friday in Encino! Get a Free Poster and Enter to Win a T-Shirt, Coasters, and a Keychain

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The latest Coen brothers film finally makes its way to Encino this Friday, March 11th! The first 30 people to attend the 7:20PM show of HAIL, CAESAR on Saturday, March 12th will receive a free movie poster!

Fans can also enter to win a HAIL, CAESAR prize package that includes a T-Shirt, keychain, and four coasters. Earn contest entries by completing the tasks below. The more tasks you complete, the more chances you have to win! Don’t wait, the contest ends Thursday, March 17th!

Click here to buy tickets for HAIL, CAESAR in Encino. Enter the contest below.

Win a HAIL, CAESAR Prize Package

Francophiles, allez voir ces films! A plethora of new French movies coming to Laemmle Theatres in March and April

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Francophiles and French expats, in the coming weeks we will have a wealth of French movies on our screens for you. Valérie Donzelli’s Marguerite & Julien opens at the Royal on March 4 and the Playhouse and Town Center on March 11. The film is based on the true story of Julien and Marguerite de Ravalet, son and daughter of the Lord of Tourlaville, whose childhood bond veered into a voracious, scandalous passion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDlwcOgZga8

Julie Delpy stars in the comedy Lolo, which she also directed and co-wrote. She plays Violette, a 40-year-old workaholic with a career in the fashion industry who falls for a provincial computer geek, Jean-Rene (Dany Boon). But Jean-Rene faces a major challenge: he must win the trust and respect of Violette’s teenage son, Lolo (Vincent Lacoste), who is determined to wreak havoc on the couple’s fledgling relationship and remain his mother’s favorite. We open Lolo on March 25 at the NoHo, Playhouse and Monica Film Center.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpQiWG5O-zw

Another comedy is Xavier Giannoli’s Marguerite, starring the delightful Catherine Frot. Set in 1920’s Paris, Frot plays Marguerite Dumont, a wealthy music lover who loves to sing for her friends, although she’s a ghastly singer. Both her friends and husband humor her and perpetuate her fantasy that she has talent. The problem begins when she decides to perform for a real audience. We open Marguerite on March 18 at the Playhouse and Town Center and March 25 at the Fine Arts, Monica Film Center and Claremont 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XB3bB7ktMI

On March 25 at the Playhouse and Town Center we’ll open My Golden Days, writer/director Arnaud Desplechin’s rich and extraordinary new feature. An epic yet intimate portrait of youth in all its terrifying beauty, Mathieu Amalric reprises the role of Paul Dédalus from Desplechin’s My Sex Life…or How I Got into an Argument in My Golden Days, the character’s origin story. Paul, now an anthropologist, prepares to leave Tajikistan and reflects on his life. He has a series of flashbacks that unfold in three episodes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4D7XhKZoTg

On April 1 at the Royal we’ll open Guillaume Nicloux’s Valley of Love, a mysterious and beautiful examination of a broken family starring acclaimed actors Isabelle Huppert and Gerard Depardieu. They play thinly disguised versions of themselves as a separated couple who journey to Death Valley after receiving a mysterious letter from their dead son in the expectations that he will appear to them at a certain place and time in the desert. An official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, Valley of Love opens this year’s Rendezvous in French Cinema Film Festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9xHh1nCDLc

Also opening April 1 at the Royal: Emmanuelle Bercot’s Standing Tall, starring Catherine Deneuve. Abandoned by his mother (Sara Forestier) at the age of 6, Malony (Rod Paradot) is constantly in and out of juvenile court. An adoptive family grows around this young delinquent: Florence (Deneuve), a children’s magistrate nearing retirement, and Yann (Benoît Magimel), a caseworker and himself the survivor of a very difficult childhood. Together they follow the boy’s journey and try unfailingly to save him. Then Malony is sent to a stricter educational center, where he meets a young girl who gives him hope. Here’s the French (un-subtitled) trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGUN70CSpdc

Dazzling Japanese Animation THE BOY AND THE BEAST Comes to Five Laemmle Venues in Early March

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THE BOY AND THE BEAST, which we’ll open March 4 at the Playhouse, Town Center and Fine Arts and March 11 at the Monica Film Center and Claremont 5, is the latest feature film from award-winning Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children, both of which we will soon be screening at the Fine Arts): When Kyuta, a young orphan living on the streets of Shibuya, stumbles into a fantastic world of beasts, he’s taken in by Kumatetsu, a gruff, rough-around-the-edges warrior beast who’s been searching for the perfect apprentice. Despite their constant bickering, Kyuta and Kumatetsu begin training together and slowly form a bond as surrogate father and son. But when a deep darkness threatens to throw the human and beast worlds into chaos, the strong bond between this unlikely family will be put to the ultimate test—a final showdown that will only be won if the two can finally work together using all of their combined strength and courage.

https://vimeo.com/147398376

Writing in the L.A. Times, animation expert Charles Solomon called the film “a dazzling blend of drawn and CG animation” and Hosada “one of the most interesting writer-directors working in Japanese animation.” In Variety Peter Debruge declared the film “an action-packed buddy movie that strategically combines several of Japanese fans’ favorite ingredients: conflicted teens, supernatural creatures and epic battles.”

 

Laemmle’s Umpteenth Annual Oscar Contest

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UPDATE: Winners Announced!

oscars-bgIt’s that time again! The person who most accurately predicts the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s choices in all 24 categories, from the shorts to Best Motion Picture, will win fabulous prizes (free movies and concessions at Laemmle)!

First place wins a Laemmle Premiere Card worth $150. Second place wins a Laemmle Premiere Card worth $100. Third place wins a Laemmle Premiere Card worth $50. Entries are due by 10AM the morning of the awards ceremony on February 28th.

Not sure what a Laemmle Premiere Card is? Think of it like a prepaid gift card for yourself! Use it to pay for movie tickets and concessions. Plus, Premiere Card holders receive $2 off movie tickets and 20% off concessions. To find out more, visit www.laemmle.com/premiere-cards.

We’ve got some smart cookies for customers so we have a tie-breaker question: you also have to guess the show’s running time. HINT: Take the tie-breaker seriously!

Take a crack at it! Good luck!

Enter Here

Photo Gallery: The All New Laemmle Monica Film Center

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If you haven’t had a chance to visit our newly opened Monica Film Center, you’re missing out! It looks fantastic and fellow movie nerds have already said it feels like home.

But what’s a movie theater without movies, right? Well, we’re off to a great start on that front as well! The latest Coen brothers film HAIL, CAESAR! opens this Friday. TROUBLEMAKERS: THE STORY OF LAND ART also starts Friday and the film’s director will participate in a Q&A following the 7:20PM show opening night. ANOMALISA, THE LADY IN THE VAN, and THE 2016 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT DOCS will continue through next week. Thursday is the last day to catch the Oscar-nominated foreign films, THEEB and MUSTANG.

We invite you stop by if you’re in the neighborhood, even if you don’t have time to see a movie. Need more convincing? Take a look at these photos!

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Starburst Lights Mezzanine

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A rare chance to see all five Oscar-nominated foreign language films before the Academy Awards.

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embraceThe Academy Awards are many things: entertaining, infuriating, moving, boring. For foreign films, our bread and butter, the Oscars can be quite effective at bringing attention to worthy movies from abroad. That done, the next challenge for cinephiles in the general public is to find a way to see them as they were meant to be seen: on a big screen with an audience in a movie theater. In a typical year, the five nominees for the Foreign Language Film Oscar include one or two that hit theaters months earlier, one or two that are currently in theaters, and one or two that may come out after the big night. This year, that night is February 28 and as luck would have it all five films have or will have Laemmle engagements between now and the Academy Awards ceremony.

The nominees are:

EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT ~ from Colombia, with its first nomination. We open the film February 26th at the Monica Film Center, Playhouse 7 and Town Center 5 and March 5 as a weekend morning show at the Claremont.

MUSTANG ~ from France, with its 37th nomination, its first since A Prophet in 2009. France hasn’t won this award since Indochine in 1992. Now showing at the Playhouse; opening Friday at the Music Hall and February 5th at the NoHo 7 and Claremont 5.

SON OF SAUL ~ from Hungary, with its ninth nomination in this category. It has won once, in 1981 for Mephisto. It’s now playing at the Playhouse and Town Center and opening January 29th at the Monica Film Center and February 12th at the Claremont 5 and NoHo 7.

THEEB ~ from Jordan, with its first nomination. Opens Friday at the Music Hall with weekend morning shows at the Playhouse and Claremont.

A WAR ~ from Denmark, with its 11th nomination. Denmark has taken this prize three times, including for Babette’s Feast in 1987. We open it February 12th at the Royal, Playhouse and Town Center.

Avail yourself of these terrific films before the Oscar ceremony!

Back by Popular Demand: Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet! What’s more, Orson Welles as Falstaff in CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT

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Last month the thought of seeing Benedict Cumberbatch, one of the most exciting British actors of his generation, starring in the new West End production of Hamlet, crowded our theaters with people eager to see him take on the ultimate role in English-language drama. Thus, some encore screenings are in order. We’ll screen it again at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, January 27 at our Fine Arts, Claremont, Playhouse and Town Center venues. Click here to purchase tickets.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet.

Writing in the New York Times, theater critic Ben Brantley wrote of Cumberbatch, “For the monologues…he is superb, meticulously tracing lines of thought into revelations that stun, elate, exasperate and sadden him. There’s not a single soliloquy that doesn’t shed fresh insight into how Hamlet thinks.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5JZbeFvTZA

Equally exciting news for fans of the Bard: on February 3rd at those same theaters we’ll have Janus Films’ beautifully restored version of Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight.  The crowning achievement of his later film career, Chimes has been unavailable for decades. This brilliantly crafted Shakespeare adaptation was the culmination of Welles’s lifelong obsession with Shakespeare’s ultimate rapscallion, Sir John Falstaff, the loyal, often soused childhood friend to King Henry IV’s wayward son Prince Hal. Appearing in several plays as a comic supporting figure, Falstaff is here the main event: a robustly funny and ultimately tragic screen antihero played by Welles with towering, lumbering grace. Integrating elements from both Henry IV plays as well as Richard II, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor, Welles created an unorthodox Shakespeare film that is also a gritty period piece, which he called “a lament . . . for the death of Merrie England.” Poetic, philosophical, and visceral—with a kinetic centerpiece battle sequence as impressive as anything Welles ever directed—Chimes at Midnight is as monumental as the figure at its center.

Jeanne Moreau as Doll Tearsheet and Orson Welles as Falstaff. Courtesy of Janus Films.
Jeanne Moreau as Doll Tearsheet and Orson Welles as Falstaff. Courtesy of Janus Films.

Dean of film criticism Pauline Kael wrote of the film, “[Welles] has directed a sequence, the Battle of Shrewsbury, which is unlike anything he has ever done, indeed unlike any battle ever done on the screen before. It ranks with the best of Griffith, John Ford, Eisenstein, Kurosawa—that is, with the best ever done.” And Welles was very proud of Chimes, saying, “If I wanted to get into heaven on the basis of one movie, that’s the one I would offer up. I think it’s because it is, to me, the least flawed . . . I succeeded more completely, in my view, with that than with anything else.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAs2bL4Sasw