The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

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The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

Acclaimed Drama RUNOFF Opens July 24: Q&A’s with Filmmakers Scheduled

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RUNOFFdirector
RUNOFF writer-director Kimberly Levin

In the new drama Runoff, which we’ll open at the Town Center and Claremont on July 24, the beauty of the land cannot mask the brutality of a farm town. As harvest draws near, Betty confronts a terrifying new reality and will go to desperate lengths to save her family when they are threatened with being forced from their land.

An old friend, struggling to keep his own farm profitable by any means necessary, offers Betty a way out. She refuses to get involved, but as the pressures on her family mount and they are on the brink of eviction, her husband, Frank, reveals that he is seriously ill.

How far will one to go to take care of one’s own? Recalling all that is heartland Americana, this film combines an ecological urgency with a compelling yet sensitive story.

Three-and-a-half [out of four] stars. As an experience, it’s amazing. If you want to be able to say you were there when a great American filmmaker’s career kicked off, you need to see Runoff.

– Matthew Zoller Seitz, Roger Ebert.com

Riveting… inexorably powerful… impressive… Joanne Kelly sparkles.

– Bill Edelstein, Variety

The filmmakers will participate in Q&A’s on the following schedule:

Claremont 5:

  • Saturday July 25th following the 1:20pm show: Q&A with producer Kurt Pitzer
  • Saturday July 25th following the 7:10pm show: Q&A with Kurt Pitzer
  • Sunday July 26th  following the 1:20pm show: Q&A with writer-director Kimberly Levin & Kurt Pitzer
  • Sunday July 26th following the 7:10pm show: Q&A with Kimberly Levin & Kurt Pitzer

Town Center 5:

  • Friday July 24th following the 7:10pm show: Q&A with Kurt Pitzer
  • Saturday July 25th following the 1:20pm show: Q&A with Kimberly Levin
  • Saturday July 25th following the 7:10pm show: Q&A with Kimberly Levin
  • Wednesday July 29th following the 7:10pm show: Q&A with Kimberly Levin & Kurt Pitzer
  • Thursday July 30th following the 7:10pm show: Q&A with Kimberly Levin & Kurt Pitzer

Calling All Santa Clarita Laemmle Fans!

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For years we’ve been fielding calls from loyal patrons begging us to open a Laemmle in the Santa Clarita Valley. As reported by The Signal, we are in the very early stages of a real project in Old Town Newhall. In fact, the project is on the agenda at Tuesday’s Santa Clarita City Council meeting.

Here’s your chance to be heard! Join us at the meeting to lend your voice in support! Your local elected officials need to hear that there is a real demand for Laemmle Theatres in the SCV.

The Santa Clarita City Council meeting is scheduled for 6pm on Tuesday, July 14 at City Hall, 23920 Valencia Blvd. Hang around afterwards to chat with Laemmle President, Greg Laemmle and Laemmle Vice President, Jay Reisbaum. Hope so see you there!

UPDATE: The vote was unanimous.  3-0.  Two council members had to recuse themselves because of conflict of interest.  However, one of the council members who had to recuse herself was allowed to speak from the floor as a public citizen, and she spoke in favor of the project.

The next step in the process is to negotiate a detailed Purchase and Sale Agreement with city staff.  This document will provide detailed information on how the project would proceed, and will provide the legal framework for what each party is required to deliver in order for the project to proceed. We’ll keep you updated! And thank you!

Photo by Dan Watson Courtesy of The SIgnal
Photo by Dan Watson Courtesy of The SIgnal

Q&A with FELT co-writer/star Amy Everson and director Jason Banker Friday in West LA

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FELT co-writer/star Amy Everson and director Jason Banker will participate in a Q&A following the 9:55pm screening on Friday, July 17th at our Royal Theatre in West LA. Tickets: http://www.laemmle.com/films/39600

felt

Amy is hanging on by a thread. Struggling to cope with past sexual trauma and the daily aggressions of a male-dominated society, she creates grotesquely-costumed alter egos that reappropriate the male form. While giving her the sense of power she craves, acting as these characters pushes her further into a world of her own making. When she begins a new relationship with a seemingly good guy, she opens herself up to him – but that vulnerability comes at a dangerous cost, and her alter egos threaten to lash out in explosive violence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNOsmf5bi1Y

THE OUTRAGEOUS SOPHIE TUCKER Opens July 24th, Exclusively at Laemmle Theatres

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THE OUTRAGEOUS SOPHIE TUCKER is the rags to riches story of one of old time showbiz’s biggest personalities. From 1906 through the beginning of television, Sophie Tucker and her bawdy, brash, and risqué songs paved the way for performers such as Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Midler, Cher, Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé.

Diego 18- 1934- Amsterdam, w Ted at piano1After eight years spent reading hundreds of Tucker’s personal scrapbooks, visiting fourteen archives, and interviewing dozens of family, friends, and fellow icons of stage and screen, producers Susan and Lloyd Ecker completed their comprehensive documentary about the Last of the Red Hot Mamas.

“Sophie was like the Forrest Gump of the first half of the 1900s,” says co-producer Susan Ecker. “She was close friends with seven U.S. presidents, King George VI, young Queen Elizabeth, Charlie Chaplin, J. Edgar Hoover, Al Capone, Judy Garland, Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra and every other notable of her era.”

The documentary includes many delicious bits of show business dirt, arrests, romance, murder, gangsters, and more. You’ll learn all about it when THE OUTRAGEOUS SOPHIE TUCKER opens July 24th in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA, and on July 25th in Claremont.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyUlZm4O4yE

A LEGO BRICKUMENTARY opens July 31st in West LA! Do you remember your favorite LEGO set?

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Show of hands– How many of you still play with LEGO as adults? Yeah, me too. There’s no shame in being an Adult Fan of Lego. Other AFOLs include NBA star Dwight Howard, South Park co-creator Trey Parker, and musician Ed Sheeran.

The new documentary A LEGO BRICKUMENTARY explores the extraordinary impact of the LEGO® brick, its massive global fan base, the LEGO® master builders who create human scale (and larger) structures, and the innovative uses for LEGO® that have sprung up around the world.

6890A LEGO BRICKUMENTARY opens Friday, July 24th July 31st at our Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles.

If you’re in the mood for a trip down memory lane (or a distraction from writing blog posts), spend a few hours browsing brickset.com‘s LEGO set database. I found my favorite set– 1982’s Cosmic Cruiser! Share your favorite set, new or old, in the comments!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XlsKXif85c

THROWBACK THURSDAY Screenings in July

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tbacktdayWe’ve joined forces with EAT|SEE|HEAR for a special THROWBACK THURSDAY film series with movies, music, and food trucks every Thursday night at one of our venues!

The current slate of films are hand-picked classics that are paired to upcoming major Hollywood releases.  Think 2001: A Space Odyssey vs. Terminator; Innerspace vs. Ant-Man; Raging Bull vs. Southpaw.

Not only do you get to see these gems on the big screen and listen to a curated music playlist while you wait, but you can also bring your gourmet Food Truck grub inside the theatre!  How cool is that?

The latest schedule is:

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
Thursday, July 2
@ NoHo 7
Food Truck Arrives 6:30pm
Film Begins 7:30pm
Why? For those who can’t get enough of killer machines, there’s TERMINATOR GENISYS. And then there’s the iconic Kubrick film that started it all. All we can say is ‘Do you read us H.A.L.? Open the theatre doors…’

THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (2003)
Thursday, July 9
@ Royal
Food Truck Arrives 6:30pm
Film Begins 7:30pm
Why? Taking the kids to see Universal’s MINIONS? Consider adding a delicious French appetizer to the summer animation menu. When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters–an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire–to rescue him.

INNERSPACE (1987)

Thursday, July 16

@ Playhouse

Food Truck Arrives 6:30pm
Film Begins 7:30pm
Why? Paul Rudd’s ANT-MAN is the latest Marvel hero to save the universe, using the ability to shrink to the size of ant while gaining the proportional strength, but Dennis Quaid was there first. Martin Short plays a hapless store clerk who must foil criminals to save the life of a man (Quaid) who, miniaturized in a secret experiment, was accidentally injected into him. Winner of the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Directed by Joe Dante (GREMLINS).

RAGING BULL (1980)

Thursday, July 23

@ NoHo

Food Truck Arrives 6:30pm
Film Begins 7:30pm
Why? SOUTHPAW looks to be the latest good boxing movie, but there’s little doubt that the champion of the genre is Martin Scorcese’s RAGING BULL. The story of Jake LaMotta, a former middleweight boxing champion, whose violence and anger brought him success in the ring but destruction outside it. “Though RAGING BULL has only three principal characters, it is a big film, its territory being the landscape of the soul.” (Vincent Canby, New York Times)

RISKY BUSINESS (1983)

Thursday, July 30

@ NoHo

Food Truck Arrives 6:30pm
Film Begins 7:30pm
Why? Sometimes “star-making turn” is not a cliché. In RISKY BUSINESS plays a Chicago teenager looking for fun at home while his parents are away, but the situation quickly gets out of hand. Before seeing the latest iteration of the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise, see where it all began.

Each night will feature a themed FOOD TRUCK for patrons to grab dinner and a movie! For instance, a truck serving French cuisine (frog legs) may accompany a screening of The Triplets of Belleville. All movie-goers (not just those attending Throwback Thursday) will be allowed to bring food truck items inside the venue.

With respect to the “Hear” aspect, patrons will relax inside the auditorium to playlists specifically curated for each event as they wait for the program to start. What’s more, on certain occasions, celebrities connected to the film will be on hand to make a special presentation or stay afterward for a Q&A.

Tickets and more info will be available at http:/EatSeeHear.com/TBT

Tickets are $12 and may be purchased online at http://www.laemmle.com or at the theater. As with regular screenings, discounts are available for children, seniors, and Laemmle Premiere Card holders.

*Venues and movies subject to change – check http://www.eatseehear.com/tbt or www.laemmle.com for possible updates to the schedule.

Typical Event Schedule
· 6:30pm – Food Truck Arrives
· 7:30pm – Movie begins

For more information about the #TBT series, guests are encouraged to visit the Eat|See|Hear website or Laemmle website as well as the Eat|See|Hear Facebook page, Twitter feed (@EatSeeHear) and Instagram for the latest updates.

REDISCOVER SAUTET July 24 – 30 at the Royal

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FIVE SAUTET CLASSICS TO PREMIERE IN NEW DCP VERSIONS
JULY 24 TO JULY 30 AT LAEMMLE’S ROYAL
FIRST TIME ON DCP

UPDATE: REDISCOVERING SAUTET is Kenneth Turan’s “Critic’s Pick” in today’s L.A. Times!

Claude Sautet (1924-2000), who began his filmmaking career in the early 1950s assisting such directors as Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face) and Jacques Becker (Touchez Pas Au Grisbi), first tasted success with the crime thriller Classe Tous Risques (1960), but was unfairly overlooked as the New Wave directors dominated French cinema.

Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli in Claude Sautet’s LES CHOSES DE LA VIE (1970). Courtesy: Rialto Pictures / Studiocanal; Photo by Claude Mathieu
Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli in Claude Sautet’s LES CHOSES DE LA VIE (1970). Courtesy: Rialto Pictures / Studiocanal; Photo by Claude Mathieu

After spending much of the 1960s as a screenwriter – and earning a reputation as a master “script doctor” – Sautet re-emerged as a director to watch. His collaborations with Austrian-born actress Romy Schneider, leading men Michel Piccoli and Yves Montand, screenwriter Jean-Loup Dabadie, and cinematographer Jean Boffety, yielded romantic, yet haunting films that embodied the privileges and struggles of the French bourgeoisie following the political upheavals of the 1960s. The series features three of his collaborations with Schneider – Les Choses De La Vie (1970), the policier Max et Les Ferrailleurs (1971), and César and Rosalie (1972) – along with the rarely-seen Vincent, François, Paul and the Others (1974), starring Yves Montand, Michel Piccoli, and Gérard Depardieu, and Sautet’s final film, Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud (1995).

According to Bob Laemmle, Laemmle Theatres hosted the Los Angeles premieres of all five of these films — his favorite is César and Rosalie — at the Royal. We are proud to host their DCP premieres next month. (Note: none is available on Blu-ray or DVD.)

For more info and tickets, visit REDISCOVERING SAUTET.

FULL SCHEDULE:

Friday 7/24
12:00 – MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS
02:35 – NELLY AND MONSIEUR ARNAUD
05:10 – LES CHOSES DE LA VIE
07:45 – CESAR AND ROSALIE
10:15 – VINCENT, FRANCOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS

Saturday 7/25
12:00 – VINCENT, FRANCOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS
02:35 – MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS
05:10 – NELLY AND MONSIEUR ARNAUD
07:45 – LES CHOSES DE LA VIE
10:15 – CESAR AND ROSALIE

Sunday 7/26
12:00 – CESAR AND ROSALIE
02:35 – VINCENT, FRANCOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS
05:10 – MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS
07:45 – NELLY AND MONSIEUR ARNAUD
10:15 – LES CHOSES DE LA VIE

Monday 7/27
12:00 – LES CHOSES DE LA VIE
02:35 – CESAR AND ROSALIE
05:10 – VINCENT, FRANCOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS
07:45 – MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS
10:15 – NELLY AND MONSIEUR ARNAUD

Tuesday 7/28
12:00 – NELLY AND MONSIEUR ARNAUD
02:35 – LES CHOSES DE LA VIE
05:10 – CESAR AND ROSALIE
07:45 – VINCENT, FRANCOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS
10:15 – MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS

Wednesday 7/29
12:00 – MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS
02:35 – NELLY AND MONSIEUR ARNAUD
05:10 – LES CHOSES DE LA VIE
07:45 – CESAR AND ROSALIE
10:15 – VINCENT, FRANCOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS

Thursday 7/30
12:00 – VINCENT, FRANCOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS
02:35 – MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS
05:10 – NELLY AND MONSIEUR ARNAUD
07:45 – LES CHOSES DE LA VIE
10:15 – CESAR AND ROSALIE

GABRIEL Filmmaker Lou Howe in Person for Q&A’s this Weekend at the Music Hall

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GABRIEL (Rory Culkin), a troubled young man, is convinced that reuniting with his first love will bring him the stability and happiness he craves. Against his family’s wishes, he sets out to find her, but as the obstacles mount, his grip on reality begins to slip and his behavior becomes more erratic. In the end, he risks everything in an increasingly obsessive and desperate pursuit.

GABRIEL filmmaker Lou Howe will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:40 PM screenings at the Music Hall on Friday and Saturday, June 26 and 27.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAGQ8CumFYQ