Film Reviews & Previews
This Friday we are pleased to open Anne Fontaine’s latest film, ADORE, at our Royal, Playhouse and Town Center theaters. Originally titled TWO MOTHERS and based on a Doris Lessing novella, it’s about two life-long friends (Naomi Watts and Robin Wright) who fall in heated love with each other’s young adult sons. As Watts says more than once in this recent interview, “there’s nothing illegal going on here.”
Dr. Alisa Wolf of Actors for Autism will introduce the 5:10 PM screening of BEST KEPT SECRETat the Playhouse on Saturday, September 7.
The filmmakers will participate in a Q&A after the 5:10 PM screening on Sunday, September 8. The Q&A will be moderated by Leigh Ann Tipton of the SEARCH Family Resource Center.
ZIPPER: CONEY ISLAND’S LAST WILD RIDE filmmaker Amy Nicholson will participate in Q&A’s at the Music Hall this Friday and Saturday, August 30 and 31 after the 7:10 screenings.
While the doc Zipper: Coney Island’s Last Wide Ride comes to Laemmle this Friday, Laemmle is coming to … well not Coney Island exactly …. but our local seaside fun park, the Santa Monica Pier!
Join us tonight (Thurs, Aug. 29) starting at 7pm, as we co-sponsor the Pier’s free Twilight Concert series. Stop by our booth near the entrance and say hello. We’ll be there giving out popcorn samples and free raffle tickets to win a Movie 5-Pak!
Tonight’s program includes Grammy-nominated Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave, known for their exciting brew of old school jazz, laced with funk, soul. Venice, CA collective Dustbowl Revival also comes to the stage, bringing an eclectic sound that includes fiddle, mandolin, trumpet, banjo, accordion, tuba, steel drums and more.
If you haven’t been down to the Pier the summer, here’s your excuse. The music series is, excuse the pun, a whale of a time! Locals and tourists come together in a spirit of festive celebration, and the musical program rarely disappoints. Not to mention just the sheer glory of spending a summer evening at the beach. Speaking of, if you want to avoid the clutter near the stage, you can pack a picnic and watch the show on a big screen from the sand below.
As mentioned festivities begin at 7pm and last to about 10pm. Accessing the Pier can be done via public or private transport. For all you cyclists out there, the City of Santa Monica offers free and convenient bike valet which can be found beach level a few steps south of the Pier. Motorists, click here for directions and parking info.
See ya’ down there!
WHEN COMEDY WENT TO SCHOOL co-director Ron Frank will participate in Q&A’s at the Town Center in Encino on after the 7:40 screenings on Friday and Saturday, August 30 and 31 and after the 5:30 screening on Monday, September 2.
RED OBSESSION filmmakers David Roach and Warwick Davis will participate in a Q&A after the 7:20 PM screening at the Music Hall on Friday, September 13.
To mark the opening of PASSION, his latest film, a treat for Brian De Palma fans: he met with Nicolas Rapold of the New York Times “to watch and discuss sequences from his own oeuvre that informed” his new film. Scenes discussed include ones from DRESSED TO KILL and SISTERS.
(Rapold dutifully mentions that the film is also available on VOD, but watching a movie by a director as visually gifted as De Palma on anything but a movie theater screen would be akin to eating a delicious meal and rinsing with mouthwash between each bite.)
LIVE CONCERT, FILMMAKER-HOSTED SCREENING AND Q&A at the Music Hall for MY FATHER AND THE MAN IN BLACK, Friday, September 6th before and the 7:15 show.
Join award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Holiff for an intimate Q&A this month–the 10th anniversary of the passing of the legendary Johnny Cash! See why this film has played 30 film festivals, in 15 countries, winning 8 competitions–and discover why it is not just a “Johnny Cash film” but a personal memoir that every father and son should see!
Before the screening, beginning at 6:30 PM, The Mighty Cash Cats will perform their Tribute to Johnny Cash with June Carter that the Salt Lake City Tribune described as being “As close as you can get to the real thing.”
The Mighty Cash Cats have toured from L.A. to Las Vegas, Ireland to Israel. Their show covers six decades of Cash’s career including fun Johnny Cash and June Carter duets. The L.A. Weekly wrote “Michael J. embodies Johnny Cash.” A Jerusalem Post review stated that “If the audience closed their eyes during Michael J’s show they, no doubt, thought that the country-rockabilly crooner, Johnny Cash, had managed to find his way back to the terrestrial bandstand.” And the Los Angeles Music Connection wrote “Michael J. Smith leads the performance playing a black acoustic guitar. It is impossible not to be drawn to the bass texture of his voice–and his physical and aural resemblance to Johnny Cash is practically eerie.”