The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

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The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

Azusa City Council to RECONSIDER the Laemmle Theatre Mixed-Use project for Block 36 on Monday, June 6th at 7PM!

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UPDATE (6/6/16 at 11PM): The Azusa City Council voted 5-0 in favor of moving forward with our proposal for Block 36 in Downtown Azusa at the southeast corner of Azusa Avenue and Foothill Boulevard! We couldn’t have done it without the support of Azusa’s passionate and determined residents. Thank you!

Follow Laemmle Azusa on Facebook and on Twitter @LaemmleAzusa!

Amazing news everyone! The Azusa City Council is reconsidering the Laemmle Theatre Mixed-Use project for Block 36 at the upcoming Council meeting on Monday, June 6th at 7 pm!

The amount of support we’ve received from Azusa’s passionate arthouse audience is humbling. Thank you.

We also want to thank the council members. It takes courage and strength to reconsider a previous decision.  We applaud the council for taking these steps.

We still need community support at the meeting! All speakers should arrive before 7PM to sign the blue speaker card.

Location: 213 E. Foothill Blvd., Azusa, CA 91702 (map)
Date: Monday, June 6th, 2016
Time: 7PM

The City Council will vote on an action to “CONSIDER AMENDMENT TO PRIOR DIRECTION REGARDING DEVELOPMENT ON BLOCK 36 LOCATED AT SOUTHEAST CORNER OF AZUSA AVENUE AND FOOTHILL BOULEVARD TO DIRECT STAFF TO NEGOTIATE EXCLUSIVE NEGOTIATING AGREEMENTS WITH BOTH CHARLES COMPANY AND SERRANO DEVELOPMENT GROUP FOR BLOCK 36 AND OTHER CITY OWNED PROPERTIES”. Refer to the Agenda Item D http://www.ci.azusa.ca.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4157

Oh, and look for Greg Laemmle at the meeting. He wants to personally thank people for their efforts!

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If music be the food of love, play on! Iggy Pop, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Yo-Yo Ma and Unlocking the Truth coming soon.

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We’ve got four very cool music films coming up: On June 16 we’ll screen Iggy Pop: Live in Basel 2015 at five of our venues, the Fine Arts, Claremont 5, NoHo 7, Playhouse 7 and Monica Film Center. We’ll open The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble for week-long engagements on June 17th at the Playhouse and Town Center and a week later at Monica Film Center and Claremont. On July 1 we open the rock doc Breaking a Monster at the Monica Film Center. And finally we’ll feature Nick Cave and Bad Seeds’ One More Time with Feeling at the Fine Arts, Claremont, NoHo, Playhouse and Monica Film Center on September 8.

Iggy Pop: Live in Basel 2015 features this outstanding artist known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics as he performs at the Baloise Session in Basel, Switzerland, where he was honored with a 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award. This fantastic October 2015 show features all of Iggy’s classics, including “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” “The Passenger,” “Lust for Life” and many more.

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

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble is by the director of the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom and the critically acclaimed Best of Enemies. It tells the extraordinary story of the renowned international musical collective created by legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, the diverse group of instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they explore the power of music to preserve tradition, shape cultural evolution and inspire hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SShFP7QfSCg&nohtml5=False&nohtml5=False#t=150.03675

For something quite different but no less inspiring, Breaking a Monster begins as the three members of band Unlocking the Truth are all in 7th grade, spending their weekends playing a blend of heavy metal and speed punk in Times Square, often drawing substantial crowds. They take on a manager: a 70-year-old industry veteran. With his guidance they are soon on their way to a 1.8 million dollar record deal and a precarious initiation into the music industry.

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A scene from BREAKING A MONSTER courtesy of Abramorama Entertainment.

A unique one night only cinema event directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly), One More Time With Feeling will be the first ever opportunity anyone will have to hear Skeleton Tree, the sixteenth studio album from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. The film will screen in cinemas across the world on 8th September 2016, immediately prior to the release of Skeleton Tree the following day.

Originally a performance based concept, One More Time With Feeling evolved into something much more significant as Dominik delved into the tragic backdrop of the writing and recording of the album. Interwoven throughout the Bad Seeds’ filmed performance of the new album are interviews and footage shot by Dominik, accompanied by Cave’s narration and improvised rumination.

Filmed in black-and-white and color, in both 3D and 2D, the result is fragile, raw and a true testament to an artist trying to find his way through the darkness.

Image courtesy of Picturehouse Entertainment.
A scene from ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING. Image courtesy of Picturehouse Entertainment.

 

Join us this Thursday Night at the Playhouse for the Opening of the PASADENA ART SHOW 2016

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ArtHouse_Logo_08mhART IN THE ARTHOUSE invites you to experience The Pasadena Art Show 2016 featuring stunning and diverse works from 23 talented, local artists.

RSVP BELOW to the opening reception this Thursday, June 2, 6-9pm at Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 Theatre in Pasadena. The celebration includes the exhibit, curator talk, and artist presentation/slide show on the big screen!

Curator’s Statement:
We are honored to feature a spirited array of local artists in this, our second annual Pasadena community show. The cord that binds these diverse talents is more lyrical than stylistic. In a time when reason, logic, and subtlety fall prey to spectacle this group leads with clarity of vision and purpose, through stories that are often poetic in the telling. Shifting fields of Pasadena mise-en-scenes, ranging from the containment of the Metro to the expansiveness of the cosmos, usher us through our everyday journeys and refocus us to the present moment. We are delighted by a magnificent bloom, intrigued by a photo offering serenity in the face of divergent paths, moved by the elegance of a classic face, and charmed by visits to ‘the pastoral.’ Laemmle’s Art in the Arthouse was created to build community through artistic dialogue. This skillful collective fulfills that objective with panache, talent, and grace.

– Joshua Elias

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About The Pasadena Art Show:
The Pasadena Art Show is produced by artist, author, and local impresario Lynn Chang. The multi-faceted Chang has enlisted Laemmle and specifically its “Art in the Arthouse” program to act as venue and host for the now annual exhibit.

Art in the Arthouse arose in early 2014 out of a desire by Laemmle president Greg Laemmle to engage the fine arts community and bring quality works to the movie-going public. Since then, Laemmle has created unique gallery spaces within its venues by reclaiming wall space vacated by printed movie posters, like the ones found on the Fine Art America posters website (since replaced by rotating digital displays). With visionary input from curator Joshua Elias, Art in the Arthouse has bridged the worlds of fine art and fine cinema through over 20 exhibits, featuring mostly local and emerging talent. Proceeds from the sale of art benefit the activities of the Laemmle Charitable Foundation.

RSVP

RSVPs are now closed for this event. Catch you at the next one!

Contest: Win Tickets to See TOP GUN with L.A. Conservancy’s Last Remaining Seats!

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latheaterLast Remaining Seats presents a contest straight outta 1986! Enter for a chance to win a pair of tickets to see TOP GUN June 4th at the beautiful Los Angeles Theater in Downtown LA!

Last Remaining Seats is the Los Angeles Conservancy’s annual program that combines classic film with L.A.’s historic theatres. Top Gun  is this year’s opening film. Visit the L.A. Conservancy’s website for the full schedule of screenings.

Top Gun was the highest-grossing film of 1986, due in part to the action-packed aerial scenes that were a huge hit with audiences. It earned both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song, the unforgettable “Take My Breath Away” performed by Berlin. Top Gun was released thirty years ago in 1986. Not coincidentally, this is the thirtieth annual season of Last Remaining Seats!

Entering the contest is easy. Just fill out the form below to signup for Laemmle’s weekly email newsletter. The deadline to enter is 5PM on Thursday, June 2nd. Two winners will be selected and announced Friday morning at 11AM.  Already a newsletter subscriber? Go ahead and re-enter your email address (don’t worry, you won’t get extra email).

Prizes:
– Two VIP Tickets (reserved seating) to the 2pm screening of Top Gun (June 4)
– Two General Admission Tickets to the 8pm screening of Top Gun (June 4).

This contest is now closed!  Good luck to all entrants.

Summer Camp: Every Throwback Thursday in June at the NoHo 7

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mommie-dearestJoin Laemmle and  Eat|See|Hear for Summer Camp at the NoHo 7 in North Hollywood! Every Thursday in June our Throwback Thursday (#TBT) series presents some of our favorite intentionally (and unintentionally) campy films from the last sixty years! It all starts Thursday, June 2nd with VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. Check out the full schedule below. For tickets and our full #TBT schedule, visit laemmle.com/tbt!

June 2: Valley of the Dolls

A cinematic take on a 1960s best-seller, VALLEY OF THE DOLLS traces the ups and downs of three young women as fame, booze, pills, and men consume their lives. Well-bred, small-town Anne Welles (Peyton Place star Barbara Parkins) arrives in New York eager for fame but settles for a job assisting theatrical attorney Henry Bellamy (Robert H. Harris). The job leads her to cross paths with Helen Lawson (Hollywood veteran Susan Hayward), the grand dame of Broadway musicals, and Neely O’Hara (Patty Duke), an up-and-coming performer whom Lawson unceremoniously boots from her latest show. As the pressures of fame and failed romance take their toll on all three women, they take refuge in food, sex, liquor, and pills — especially Neely, who becomes downright monstrous (the titular “dolls” are the uppers and downers to which she becomes hopelessly addicted). BUY TICKETS.

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June 9: Female Trouble

A riotously funny bad-taste epic from director John Waters, Baltimore’s “Prince of Puke,” FEMALE TROUBLE tells the depraved life story of obese criminal Dawn Davenport (Divine), from her bad-girl youth as a go-go dancer on Baltimore’s infamous Block to her death in the electric chair. Mink Stole is terrific as Dawn’s bratty daughter Taffy, conceived following a romp on a junkyard mattress with a fat derelict in soiled underpants (also played by Divine). Mary Vivian Pearce and David Lochary co-star as crazed owners of a beauty-parlor who are convinced that “crime equals beauty,” and they take Dawn under their wings, forcing her to mainline liquid eyeliner to enhance her appeal. Edith Massey steals the film as Dawn’s obsessive neighbor, Ida, who wants her nephew to be gay because heterosexuals lead “sick and boring lives.” A hilariously appalling film, Female Trouble is just as disgusting and far funnier than Waters’ previous Pink Flamingos, if not as notorious. BUY TICKETS.

June 16: Mommie Dearest

MOMMIE DEAREST, best-selling memoir turned motion picture, depicts the abusive and traumatic adoptive upbringing of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, movie star Joan Crawford. One thing is certain: You’ll never look at a wire hanger the same way again! BUY TICKETS.

priscilla-posterJune 23: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

In THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, the usually menacing British actor Terence Stamp does a complete turnaround as Bernadette, an aging transsexual who tours the backwaters of Australia with her stage partners, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce). Their act, well-known in Sydney, involves wearing lots of makeup and gowns and lip-synching to records, but Bernadette is getting a bit tired of it all and is also haunted by the bizarre death of an old loved one. Nevertheless, when Mitzi and Felicia get an offer to perform in the remote town of Alice Springs at a casino, Bernadette decides to tag along. The threesome ventures into the outback with Priscilla, a lavender-colored school bus that doubles as dressing room and home on the road. Along the way, the act encounters any number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, while Bernadette becomes increasingly concerned about the path her life has taken. BUY TICKETS.

June 30: Auntie Mame

AUNTIE MAME began as a novel by Patrick Dennis (AKA Ed Fitzgerald), then was adapted into a long-running Broadway play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. In this 1958 film version, Rosalind Russell recreates her stage role as Mame Dennis, the flamboyant, devil-may-care aunt of young, impressionable Patrick Dennis. Left in Mame’s care when his millionaire father dies, young Patrick (Jan Handzlik) is quickly indoctrinated into his aunt’s philosophy that “life is a banquet–and some poor suckers are starving to death.” Social-climbing executor Dwight Babcock (Fred Clark) does his best to raise Patrick as a stuffy American aristocrat, but Mame battles Babcock to allow the boy to be as free-spirited as she is. In 1974, Auntie Mame was remade as the musical Mame starring Lucille Ball. BUY TICKETS.

“What are you doing in my closet, Jeffrey Beaumont?” David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET, Restored for Thirtieth Anniversary Screenings.

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BVposterThere’s something going on behind the white picket fences of Lumberton, North Carolina. And after stumbling upon a severed human ear in a field, mystery loving college student Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) is determined to find out what. Teaming up with the daughter (Laura Dern) of a local police detective, Jeffrey’s investigation leads him into a strange world of sensuality and violence, with the intrigue of the missing ear seemingly stemming from the relationship between a troubled nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini) and a sociopathic sadomasochist (Dennis Hopper).

See BLUE VELVET on the big screen June 1st at the Claremont, Playhouse, NoHo or Monica Film Center to celebrate the 30th anniversary of David Lynch’s masterpiece of a sleepy small-town caught in the grips of the American nightmare.

“Still enraptures and confounds. Three decades after its initial release, David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET has lost none of its power to derange, terrify, and exhilarate.” – Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

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Beginning Friday, Take the Completed Expo Line to the Monica Film Center!

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Friday, May 20, 2016 is a special day in Los Angeles history. For the first time in 60 years, Angelenos can take a take a train from points east right into lovely downtown Santa Monica. No traffic, no stress about finding and paying for parking, etc. And for the first couple days, free rides and parties! 

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“As part of the celebrations for the opening of the Expo Line to Santa Monica on Friday, May 20, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) will offer free rides on Friday and Saturday and will hold station celebrations on Saturday, May 21.

“The free rides will be on the entire Expo Line, from 7th St/Metro Center to Downtown Santa Monica. On Friday, free rides will begin at noon and will continue until the close of service. On Saturday, May 21, the free rides will start at 4:42 a.m. in Downtown Santa Monica and at 4:45 a.m. at 7th/Metro Center and will last until the end of service around 2 a.m.

“‘We invite the public to join us on Friday and Saturday to celebrate the historic opening of the Metro Expo Line to Santa Monica,’ said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. ‘We encourage the community to enjoy this new light-rail line service and see for themselves how close to the beach Metro can get you.’

“The station celebrations will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the following new stations: Downtown Santa Monica, 17th St/SMC, 26th St/Bergamot, Expo/Bundy and Palms. The Culver City Station that has been open since 2012 will be joining the celebrations. Entertainment, children’s activities, food trucks, bike valet and bike-pit stops and information booths are among the activities.”

The western-most Expo Line station at Colorado and Fourth is a leisurely ten-minute walk from our recently rebuilt Monica Film Center. This week we shot this time-lapse video of the walk, which ends with the smiling, welcoming faces of Monicas managers Caitlyn and Tom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVg1pCmsZ-I

Come catch a flick!

Also, Supervisor Sheila Kuhl posted this cute video extolling the Expo Line’s virtues:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNgl8YjbLpA

Oscar-Nominated director of THE IDOL in Person for Q&A’s in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills.

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hany-2190-3THE IDOL director Hany Abu-Assad will participate in Q&As following the 5:00 and 7:40 PM shows and introduce the 10:15 PM show on Friday, May 27 at the Monica Film Center. He will also do Q&As following the 4:30 and 7:10 PM shows in at the Fine Arts on Saturday, May 28th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF0Fh3WU5LI