Travelin' Local » Film

Joaquin Phoenix’s Movie “I’m Still Here” is a Hoax

D. J. Schwartz — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:24:01 +0000

Gee, as if that’s a real shocker. And frankly, if anybody really cares, well that’s their problem.

For anyone not familiar with the latest antics of these two Dynamic Duo morons, producer Casey Affleck and actor Joaquin Phoenix—Affleck “pretended” to film Phoenix pretending that he “lost his mind”.

Phoenix decried that he’s “giving up acting;”’ he grew a shaggy beard and his hair was unkempt; he didn’t bathe, only wore sunglasses and announced to the world that he was “going to be a rapper.” And squeezed into a virtual non-stop portrayal of Phoenix’ panic attacks, there were scenes of someone defecating on his face, Phoenix entertaining himself with drugs and prostitutes. And, oh yeah, he is supposed to now be a “rapper.” But there wasn’t much of that. Not much at all.

Frankly, since the entire movie had Phoenix in the eye of the Camera—how could anybody have thought it was real. He’s an egomaniac and as far as this critic is concerned, don’t bother watching the movie as it’s a colossal waste of time.

For me, there was a smorgasbord of give-aways that the movie was bunk. Like when he announced to the audience:

“Hey world, I’m Joaquin Phoenix and I can do whatever I want and I don’t care what you think.”

Errr. sure, Joaquin, whatever………………..

During a so-called rap performance he did in South Beach, Miami, he got into a verbal altercation then a physical brawl with someone in the audience. But why was Phoenix screaming that he “has a million dollars in the bank and what does the other guy have?”

Nuts don’t make those kinds of statements—egomaniacs do.

Phoenix,grew a ratty beard, embarked on a hip-hop career and fumbled his way through awkward interviews, such as his infamous 2009 sit-down with David Letterman.

“It’s a terrific performance, it’s the performance of his career,” director Casey Affleck told The New York Times–self-aggrandizement at it’s best–but in all reality, probably at it’s worst.

After much speculation (and mostly negative reviews), Affleck owned up to the ruse and revealed that most of the film was fake. The filmmaker described how footage of Phoenix and his siblings frolicking in Panama were actually actors swimming in Hawaii, with the film later doctored to look aged.

Affleck also revealed that disturbing moments in the movie in which Phoenix appears to live it up with prostitutes and drugs were created with the help of actors. (Again, does anyone even care).

Affleck revealed that the actor’s agent was even in on the stunt and agreed to cooperate after the director detailed his plan to show the world Phoenix “has lost his mind,” noting, “You would think he would have me killed immediately.”

Many moviegoers will perhaps question why Affleck and Phoenixwent to the trouble of staging what appeared to be a meltdown of an Oscar-winning A-lister instead of just openly shooting a “mockumentary” and calling it a day. Affleck explained that the duo wanted viewers to believe they were indeed witnessing the fall of a great star.

“We wanted to create a space,” he said. “You believe what’s happening is real.”

Spoken by a true, Hollywood elite moron—We, the movie-going public, want to watch movies that have stories, good plots, great acting, unique scenes and special effects.

As movie goers, and film lovers, we go to movies because we want to be scared, we want to be in on the action, we want to see the good guys win and the bad guys lose , we want to escape into the world of cinema for precisely the opposite reasons that Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix produced and filmed “I’m not Here”.

We want to dream, escape into new worlds, meet new characters with interesting personalities, we want to see drama, protagonists in love, interesting locales, and some film aficionados, of course, love all of the different genres that cinephiles definitely are drawn too.

As far as Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix’ “mockumentary” is concerned—we don’t like to be mocked and toyed with to massage atrophied abilities of the afflicted who are unable to properly practice the craft of true movie making.

Tom Cruise has taken over Beverly Hills – Literally!

D. J. Schwartz — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:54:42 +0000

A New Top Ten List for Tom Cruise Movies. Hands down, his take-down of the City of Beverly Hills has now taken the Number One Spot:

10. Tom’s bartending scene from “Cocktail”: Tom played an ex-soldier that tries to get a marketing job, but when he realizes he needs a college degree, he finds work as a bartender, an alternative career in which he successfully executes one of the most famous bartending scenes in the history of film. Not only did Tom Cruise flip bottles and entertain bar-goers in the movie “Cocktail” with flair, but his role as Brian Flanagan also earned him a nomination for the Razzie Award for Worst Actor. But hey, we still loved it!

9. Tom’s casino scene from “Rain Man”: Wanna learn how to master blackjack by counting cards and nearly bankrupting a casino? It’s exactly what Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman did in the movie “Rain Man.” In this classic scene, Tom and Dustin cheated their way Vegas-style to a large sum of winnings. We all know cheating is wrong, but it never looked like so much fun!

8. Tom’s motivational speech from “Magnolia”: Tom Cruise may be an actor, but he proved in “Magnolia” that he could deliver one heck of a compelling motivational speech on the big screen. It might not have been the exact “motivation” the audience would have expected from a typically clean-cut boy like Tom, but with his now famous “seduce and destroy” pitch, he taught male audience members exactly how to seduce women. So, remember to, “respect it… and tame it.”

7. Tom jumps car-to-car in “Minority Report”: From dramas to comedies, Tom Cruise has starred in numerous genres of movies and has pulled off many different types of characters. His most beloved roles, however, may just be those from his action movies. In “Minority Report,” he pulled off an intense car chase scene as he jumped from vehicle to vehicle, capturing a memorable movie moment.

6. “You Can’t Handle the Truth” from “A Few Good Men”: Some lines make scenes memorable, and some scenes become the heart of a film. This is particularly true with the now infamous line, “You can’t handle the truth!” from the movie “A Few Good Men.” Even though Jack Nicholson delivered the line, the courtroom scene with Tom Cruise goes down in history as a legendary moment. The line is listed at #29 on American Film Institute’s Top 100 movie quotes.

5. Tom hangs upside down while breaking in from “Mission: Impossible”: The “Mission Impossible” movies are known for their intense action scenes and Tom Cruise is known for entertaining audiences by performing the majority of the stunts himself. In the first “Mission: Impossible,” Tom showed off his athleticism in one particularly memorable scene when he hung upside down on a wire while trying to break into a CIA computer. 4. “Show Me The Money” from “Jerry Maguire”: Sometimes, a movie’s most famous line is more memorable than the plot, and in 1996, Tom Cruise delivered a line that would go on to stand the test of time. Still best known for the line, “Show me the money!” “Jerry Maguire” would go on to score an Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actor, Cuba Gooding, Jr. Although Cuba originated the line, Tom called and repeated it along with him. The line is listed at #25 on American Film Institute’s top 100 movie quotes and #80 on Premiere’s “The 100 Greatest Movie Lines” list.

3. Tom Cruise as Les Grossman in “Tropic Thunder”: He was hairy, vulgar, and a killer hip-hop dancer. In a role that would go on to become a hilarious alter ego, Tom Cruise caught audiences by surprise with his cameo as media mogul Les Grossman in “Tropic Thunder.” One of his most memorable scenes involved showing off his dance skills and doing what Les does best while jamming to a hip-hop beat. Les Grossman even made a return to the small screen by “producing” the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and has since landed his very own movie at Paramount. We wish nothing but success for Les as he continues to, “achieve greatness against the odds.”

2. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” in “Top Gun”: In all of Tom Cruise’s movies, he gets the girl, but in “Top Gun,” he delivered one of the best pick-up lines of all-time. Not only is, “She’s lost that lovin’ feeling” a memorable line from the movie, but his character, Maverick, swept Charlie (played by Kelly McGillis) off her feet with his (and 20 of his fellow cadets’) rendition of the actual song “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” by The Righteous Brothers. Of course, Charlie was probably slightly embarrassed by Maverick’s approach, but deep down inside, what lady doesn’t want to be serenaded to by a group of complete strangers?

1. In what initially looked like an embarrassing mistake on the part of Beverly Hills, a sign in front of City Hall has been exposed as a movie prop, and for a Tom Cruise film, according to a comment left by Mayor Barry Brucker at the Beverly Hills Patch. Beverly Hills’s ornate 1931 City Hall is playing the part of LA’s government center during the course of a one-day shoot, reports the Patch, which initially thought the sign was an amusing screw-up.

It’s not clear what the movie’s about (could it possibly be alien genocide flick Horizons?), but the crew couldn’t have shot the real thing 11 miles east?

· Update: City of…What? [BH Patch]

The 84th Annual 2012 Oscars Nominees

D. J. Schwartz — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:57:21 +0000

Oscar Week Events

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences paid homage Tuesday morning to the early days of cinema by bestowing the lion’s share of Oscar nominations on two films that are valentines to the early days of cinema. “Hugo,” Martin Scorsese’s heartfelt love letter to filmmaking, earned the most nominations with 11, including best picture, best director and best screenplay as well as several technical Oscars. “The Artist,” the low-budget black-and-white silent movie that offers a glimpse of Hollywood during its transition to the “talkies,” earned 10 nominations, including nods for best picture, best director, screenplay, actor and supporting actress.

BEST PICTURE

“The Artist,” Thomas Langmann, producer
“The Descendants,” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” Scott Rudin, producer
“The Help,” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, producers
“Hugo,” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, producers
“Midnight in Paris,” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, producers
“Moneyball,” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, producers
“The Tree of Life,” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse,” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, producers

LEAD ACTOR

Demián Bichir, “A Better Life”
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

LEAD ACTRESS

Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

BEST DIRECTOR

Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Max von Sydow, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

“The Descendants,” Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo,” John Logan
“The Ides of March,” George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball,” Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

“The Artist,” Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids,” Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call,” J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen
“A Separation,” Asghar Farhadi

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

“A Cat in Paris,” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita,” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2,” Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots,” Chris Miller
“Rango,” Gore Verbinski

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

“Bullhead,” Belgium
“Footnote,” Israel
“In Darkness,” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar,” Canada
“A Separation,” Iran

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

“Hell and Back Again,” Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front,” Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
“Pina,” Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated,” TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement,” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis,” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad,” James Spione
“Saving Face,” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom,” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

“Dimanche/Sunday,” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna,” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll,” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life,” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

“Pentecost,” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju,” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore,” Terry George and Oorlagh George
“Time Freak,” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic,” Hallvar Witzø

ART DIRECTION

“The Artist,” production design: Laurence Bennett; set decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” production design: Stuart Craig; set decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo,” production design: Dante Ferretti; set decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris,” production design: Anne Seibel; set decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse,” production design: Rick Carter; set decoration: Lee Sandales

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Guillaume Schiffman, “The Artist”
Jeff Cronenweth, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Robert Richardson, “Hugo”
Emmanuel Lubezki, “The Tree of Life”
Janusz Kaminski, “War Horse”

COSTUME DESIGN

Lisy Christl, “Anonymous”
Mark Bridges, “The Artist”
Sandy Powell, “Hugo”
Michael O’Connor, “Jane Eyre”
Arianne Phillips, “W.E”

FILM EDITING

“The Artist,” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants,” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball,” Christopher Tellefsen

MAKEUP

“Albert Nobbs,” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
“The Iron Lady,” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

“The Adventures of Tintin,” John Williams
“The Artist,” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo,” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets,” music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio,” from “Rio,” music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown; lyrics by Siedah Garrett

SOUND EDITING

“Drive,” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Ren Klyce
“Hugo,” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse,” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

SOUND MIXING

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo,” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball,” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse,” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo,” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel,” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

100 Years of Paramount Pictures sponsored by Film Independent & LACMA

D. J. Schwartz — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:07:10 +0000

100 Years of Paramount Pictures

January 26

For the next five months, on the last Thursday of each month, Film Independent at LACMA invites you to a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Paramount Pictures that will include a double feature of movies chosen from the studio’s archives. To kick off the Paramount Pictures’ centenary, the focus is on a pair of comedies created by the films’ female stars—women whose unique timing and specific approach to sexuality in film is groundbreaking for very different reasons. The first film is the unique and rarely revived A New Leaf, the 1971 directorial debut of Elaine May. In this odd and defiantly sweet take on a comedy of manners, Walter Matthau stars as Henry, a high-living player who has run through his entire fortune. This rake’s idea of progress is to seduce and marry the peculiar botanist and heiress, Henrietta (May). May’s film garnered her a WGA award for its script. In the second half of this bill, the seduction is on the other foot—that is, the slipper. In the 1933 comedy She Done Him Wrong, Mae West helped adapt the successful Broadway sex farce, “Diamond Lil” (which she wrote) that made her infamous. Speedy and hilarious, the 1890-set Wrong follows Lou (West) as she cuts a swath of larceny and lasciviousness through the Bowery, and her targets include a younger actor in his second role with his new stage name: Cary Grant.

7:30pm

A New Leaf

1971/color/102 min./digital

Scr / Dir. Elaine May; with Elaine May, Walter Matthau, George Rose and James Coco

9:15 (approximate start time)

She Done Him Wrong

1933/black & white/ 66 min.

Scr. Mae West / dir. Lowell Sherman; with Mae West, Cary Grant and Owen Moore

$7 for LACMA members

$5 for Film Independent, LACMA Film Club, and New York Times Film Club members.
Members of these groups will be required to show proof of membership when retrieving their tickets.

Tickets available to members Thursday, December 15 at 5 pm | Tickets available to the public Thursday, December 22 at 5 pm

Film Independent – History – About

The seeds for what would grow to be Film Independent were planted in 1981 when Gregory Nava and a small band of directors, writers, and producers began gathering regularly to share creative ideas and discuss ways to increase resources for independent filmmakers.

The non-profit member driven organization Independent Feature Project (IFP)/West soon emerged from these meetings with the mission to cultivate the careers of independent filmmakers, build larger audiences for independent film, and champion diversity in the entertainment industry. National recognition quickly followed when the organization took on production of the Independent Spirit Awards in the late 1980s and assumed ownership of the Los Angeles Film Festival in the year 2000. In time, IFP/West would become IFP/Los Angeles and in 2005 it took on the name Film Independent—a more accurate banner for the spectrum of services the organization had expanded to include.

Today, Film Independent remains a collective of filmmakers, industry professionals, and film lovers, but encompasses a broad community of individuals who appreciate and sustain artist-driven filmmaking. Film independent empowers filmmakers to tell their own stories, in their own voices and provides a support system in which their work can be appreciated.

Be independent. Not alone. Click here or call 310.432.1231 for information on becoming part of the Film Independent community.

The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award Nominations

D. J. Schwartz — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:18:07 +0000

The Screen Actor Guild (SAG)Awards is the only Awards show that exclusively honors performers, and it presents thirteen awards for acting in film and television, including both individual performances as well as on the work of the entire ensemble of a drama series and comedy series, and the cast of a motion picture.

The SAG Awards also nominate and vote for outstanding performances by film and television stunt ensembles.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards include the Life Achievement Award is given annually to an established performer for nurturing the highest ideals of the acting profession and tributes to the varied talents within the Guild’s membership.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards are also distinctive in the size of its voting body. Two randomly selected panels of 2,100 SAG members each from across the United States choose the nominees for television and motion pictures.

The final ballot then goes out to the full guild membership — approximately 100,000 members — who select the outstanding performances of the year.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards is the only national network television show to recognize the work of union members; affiliated with the AFL-CIO through the Associated Actors and Artistes of America.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards also benefits the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, which provides a meaningful way for SAG members to contribute to the literacy of children in their respective communities via BookPals (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools), its online component, Storyline, and the We the Children family-heritage book-writing project.

Interestingly, the SAG Foundation programs provide emergency relief to members in economic distress, video and audio preservation of the creative legacy of SAG members, scholarships for performers and their children and emergency funds for members with catastrophic illnesses.

The 18^th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominees were announced on December 14, 2011 from the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, CA at 9am EST.

The awards season’s premier events, 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be simulcast live coast to-coast on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, at 8 p.m. (ET), 7 p.m. (CT), 6 p.m. (MT) and 5 p.m. (PT)from the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles. It will also air internationally as well.

Some incisive comments about the SAG 2012 Nominees, indicate that the SAG awards are timely and veritably interconnected with the Academy Award nominee process, along with the Golden Globe Nominees, The Los Angeles Film Critics choices, The New York Art Critics picks, The Foreign Press Association’s choices, The AFI Awards, The Spirit Awards, and the Emmy, Tony, and the Guild Awards:

“The ensemble prize at the SAG Awards is one of the most reliable prophets of Academy Award glory, and while Wednesday’s Screen Actors Guild nominations clarified the front-runners for the best picture Oscar race, they may have muddied the outlook for the second tier of movies.

The 2,100 nominating voters in the actors union picked "The Help," "The Artist," "The Descendants," "Midnight in Paris" and "Bridesmaids" for its cast award, SAG’s honor for the year’s top production. While "Bridesmaids," a raunchy comedy, was a mild surprise, the other four selections were favorites.

"I think actors understand how hard comedy is, and that’s why we were acknowledged," said Judd Apatow, who produced "Bridesmaids."

The civil rights drama "The Help" collected the most nominations, with four, while "The Artist" — a black-and-white silent film — was second with three. In including "Bridesmaids," SAG voters bypassed some year-end releases that have strong pedigrees and critical buzz. Not one cast member from Stephen Daldry’s 9/11 story "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," Steven Spielberg’s World War I drama "War Horse" or Martin Scorsese’s 3-D family film "Hugo" received a nomination. Two of December’s most acclaimed performances — Michael Fassbender playing a sex addict in "Shame" and Gary Oldman as a master spy in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" — also were not nominated.

Awards-watchers are now waiting to see how those films fare with Golden Globes nominations, which were announced on Thursday morning, December 15 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. A number of those movies, including "Extremely Loud," as well as David Fincher’s "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," are not in theaters yet and only recently started screening for critics and awards voters. It’s unclear how many people on SAG’s nominating panel saw those movies before ballots were due.

Last season, all five of SAG’s ensemble nominees earned nominations in the best picture Oscar race, with both SAG and the academy choosing "The King’s Speech" as the year’s top film. But while SAG selects five nominees for its ensemble award, there can be up to 10 nominees for the best picture Academy Award.

The nominating process creates a coalescing of varied interests and makes the political component of picking Motion Picture Film Awards along with Television Show winners more predictable and palpable for both our Industry Town and the general public throughout the world.

That being the case, the following is a list of nominees for the 18^th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards:

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES
Outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role

DEMIÁN BICHIR / Carlos Galindo – "A BETTER LIFE"
GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King – "THE DESCENDANTS"
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO / J. Edgar Hoover – "J. EDGAR"
JEAN DUJARDIN / George – "THE ARTIST"
BRAD PITT / Billy Beane – "MONEYBALL"
Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role

GLENN CLOSE / Albert Nobbs – "ALBERT NOBBS"
VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark – "THE HELP"
MERYL STREEP / Margaret Thatcher – "THE IRON LADY"
TILDA SWINTON / Eva – "WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN"
MICHELLE WILLIAMS / Marilyn Monroe – "MY WEEK WITH MARILYN"
Outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role

KENNETH BRANAGH / Sir Laurence Olivier – "MY WEEK WITH MARILYN"
ARMIE HAMMER / Clyde Tolson – "J. EDGAR"
JONAH HILL / Peter Brand – "MONEYBALL"
NICK NOLTE / Paddy Conlon – "WARRIOR"
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER / Hal – "BEGINNERS"
Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role

BÉRÉNICE BEJO / Peppy – "THE ARTIST"
JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote – "THE HELP"
MELISSA McCARTHY / Megan – "BRIDESMAIDS"
JANET McTEER / Hubert Page – "ALBERT NOBBS"
OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson – "THE HELP"
Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture
"THE ARTIST"
"BRIDESMAIDS"
"THE DESCENDANTS"
"THE HELP"
"MIDNIGHT IN PARIS"
TELEVISION
Outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series

PATRICK J. ADAMS / Mike Ross – "SUITS"
STEVE BUSCEMI / Enoch "Nucky" Thomson – "BOARDWALK EMPIRE"
KYLE CHANDLER / Eric Taylor – "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS"
BRYAN CRANSTON / Walter White – "BREAKING BAD"
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan – "DEXTER"
Outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series

KATHY BATES / Harriet Korn – "HARRY’S LAW"
GLENN CLOSE / Patty Hewes – "DAMAGES"
JESSICA LANGE / Constance – "AMERICAN HORROR STORY"
JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick – "THE GOOD WIFE"
KYRA SEDGWICK / Dept. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson – "THE CLOSER"
Outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series

ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – "30 ROCK"
TY BURRELL / Phil Dunphy – "MODERN FAMILY"
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott – "THE OFFICE"
JON CRYER / Alan Harper – "TWO AND A HALF MEN"
ERIC STONESTREET / Cameron Tucker – "MODERN FAMILY"
Outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series

JULIE BOWEN / Claire Dunphy – "MODERN FAMILY"
EDIE FALCO / Jackie Peyton – "NURSE JACKIE"
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – "30 ROCK"
SOFIA VERGARA / Gloria Delgado-Pritchett – "MODERN FAMILY"
BETTY WHITE / Elka Ostrovsky – "HOT IN CLEVELAND"
Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series

"BOARDWALK EMPIRE"
"BREAKING BAD"
"DEXTER"
"GAME OF THRONES"
"THE GOOD WIFE"
Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series
"30 ROCK"
"THE BIG BANG THEORY"
"GLEE"
"MODERN FAMILY"
"THE OFFICE"
Outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or miniseries

LAURENCE FISHBURNE / Thurgood Marshall – "THURGOOD"
PAUL GIAMATTI / Ben Bernanke – "TOO BIG TO FAIL"
GREG KINNEAR / Jack Kennedy – "THE KENNEDYS"
GUY PEARCE / Monty Beragon – "MILDRED PIERCE"
JAMES WOODS / Richard Fuld – "TOO BIG TO FAIL"
Outstanding performance by a female actor in a television movie or Miniseries

DIANE LANE / Pat Loud – "CINEMA VERITE"
MAGGIE SMITH / Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham – "DOWNTON ABBEY"
EMILY WATSON / Janet Leach – "APPROPRIATE ADULT"
BETTY WHITE / Caroline Thomas – "HALLMARK HALL OF FAME: THE LOST VALENTINE"
KATE WINSLET / Mildred Pierce – "MILDRED PIERCE"
HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU
COWBOYS & ALIENS
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

DEXTER
GAME OF THRONES
SOUTHLAND
SPARTACUS: GODS OF THE ARENA
TRUE BLOOD
48TH LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
MARY TYLER MOORE

Orange County’s Movie History

Sandy Schroeder — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:05:39 +0000

Can we rewind and fast forward? That seems to be the movie question in Orange County. Right now Orange County has a small core of historic movie theaters that we recently explored, and a fresh crop of the newest movie multiplexes like Newport’s Island Cinema.

What will happen next?

In an age of instant communication with more electronic choices than we ever dreamed of, I think we are fortunate to still be able to “go to the movies.” Perhaps the message is to stay involved and support them all.

Not surprising, many of us also get excited when we spot a film crew and see a new movie being shot.

So let’s look at Orange County’s landscape of movie locations. Like me, I’m sure you will find a few memories lurking there. A lot of magic has happened in Orange County. Perhaps even more has originated in Los Angeles. But either way, when we troop off to the movies, the screen often reflects us.

Orange County beaches from Seal to Laguna and beyond have always played a part in the movies. Going way back, the 1923 silent film version of the Ten Commandments was shot in Seal Beach. Cecil B. DeMille used local extras to shoot the film and melting jello to create the effect of the parting of the water! Much later George Clooney turned up in Dana Point to shoot ocean shots that were depicted as Gloucester, Massachusetts in The Perfect Storm.

The Crystal Cove State Park and the Balboa Fun Zone near the Balboa Pavilion provided a playground for Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey in Beaches. Last fall, Oliver Stone was on the sand in Laguna Beach filming Savages with John Travolta and Uma Thurman.

Newport Beach was the opening scene of Gilligan’s Island as the S.S. Minnow leaves the harbor. Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown used a Newport apartment setting for the main character. Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise are in the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center in the closing scene of Rain Man.

The University of California, Irvine, which also houses the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, has hosted a whole string of movies. Check the UCI at the Movies site for more details. Ocean’s Eleven was filmed there in 2001 with most of it shot at night and over weekends. During the shooting, Clooney and his cohorts snacked at The Anteatery, the local campus restaurant.

Poltergeist was also done at UCI with the Main Library serving as a scary backdrop. Silent Movie, director Mel Brooks’ comic tribute to the silent screen, was shot at the UC Irvine Main Library, Aldrich Park, and the Gateway Plaza.

John Wayne/Santa Ana Airport doubled as the Las Vegas airport in the Rat Race which was a remake of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World. Clear and Present Danger with Harrison Ford and Jerry McGuire with Tom Cruise also used the John Wayne/Santa Ana Airport.

Legally Blonde was shot on the steps of the Old County Courthouse in Santa Ana. Palm trees wrapped with fir trees turned the steps into those of the Harvard Law School. Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon film was done in Los Angeles, but Nixon’s Western White House in San Clemente and the parking lot of the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda were used for garden and helicopter lift off scenes. Some of the scenes in Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan happened at The Block at Orange in Orange.

The Park Place corporate complex in Irvine, became a view of the future in the Demolition Man with Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. The 2006 movie, A Scanner Darkly was shot in Anaheim with freeway scenes taken along the I-5 in Tustin. Little Saigon in Westminster was one of the locations for The Fast and the Furious when Johnny Tran and his gang blow up Vin Diesel and Paul Walker’s car.

The Main Place Mall in Santa Ana became the opening chase scene in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Kindergarten Cop. The 2009 shuttle bay scenes for the Star Trek movie were done in the Tustin blimp hangars.

The Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley was the staging ground for Starship Troopers. Will Smith’s movie Hancock opened with a scene in Costa Mesa. The Coen Brothers’ The Man Who Wasn’t There, Martin Lawrence’s Big Momma’s House and Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do all used Orange County for some of their filming.

The 2005 neo-noir film, Brick, might be one of the best examples of local work. It was written and directed by Rian Johnson, who won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. He was influenced by Dashiell Hammett’s detective novels, shooting the film in 20 days in San Clemente, where he grew up.

The list is hypnotizing, one film memory after another forms a continuous loop of celluloid history that runs all around the County. Other places with other inducements have lured projects away, but the hope is that we will wake up to the losses, recognize what we have, and push for the future in movie theaters and movie projects so that our kids and their kids can continue to share the magic.

UCI at the Movies and Wikipedia were used as references for location research.

Orange County’s Historic Movie Theaters

Sandy Schroeder — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:24:57 +0000

Step closer. Remember when the lights dimmed, the red velvet curtains parted, and the organist played the first notes in these historic keepers of movie magic.

As I stood in front of the historic Bay Theater in Seal Beach, that some say Steven Spielberg frequented when he attended California State Long Beach, I wondered where will this story go as we fast forward to the future?

Will Orange County’s core of historic movie theaters be renovated, preserved, and carefully handed over from one generation to the next?

Or will their historic presence and unique voice be swept away in a stream of laptop movies, Netflix fixation, home entertainment hideaways and real estate pairings of cinema multiplexes with sleek restaurants and shops?

In researching this story and series about Orange County’s Historic Movie Theaters, I found celluloid footprints all over Orange County.

In this article, I will focus on some of the treasured movie houses that date back to the thirties. Some are showing movies daily. Others have been torn down or converted to other uses. A few stand silent, waiting for the next screening, as loyal residents create foundations to reopen them.

Beyond the movie theaters there is a whole separate landscape of legendary locations where movies have been shot in Orange County. Everywhere you look a new film is about to shoot, or has already been used as a backdrop. And finally, there is the sizzle that Hollywood’s brightest bring as they continue to live and play in Orange County.

But now let’s look at Orange County’s Historic Movie Houses

For starters, the Bay Theater in Seal Beach, The Lido in Newport, and the Laguna South Coast Cinemas in Laguna Beach are all up and currently operating and showing movies. But there are footnotes to their stories, as we shall see. Meanwhile, the Yost Theater in Santa Ana, has been reinvented, and many others are regrouping.

The Bay Theater in Seal Beach, at 340 Main Street, is a single screen theater currently showing independent, foreign and classic movies. But its future has been up for discussion in recent meetings of the Seal Beach Planning Commission. The original owner passed away and the Bay has been listed officially and unofficially for sale by the owner’s daughter. The Bay Theater was built in 1947 and purchased by Richard Loderhose in 1975. For many years a Wurlitzer organ was a magnificent part of this theater and the movie going experiences. Now, it’s since been sold.

Local officials and residents are calling for new strategies and re-thinking about these historic and cultural Orange County Historic movie theater landmarks, hoping to keep them remaining as officially designated historic landmarks or be given tax break subsidies to stay in business. Movie theater fans here are looking for ways to promote it, hoping to build support before they are all gone and have disappeared.

When I was there The Wizard of Oz, was playing.

Positioned in the third block of the popular Main Street Old Town area here, there are fun restaurants, Irish taverns, and little shops within easy walking distance. Parking is just around the corner. Could be a good date night or Sunday outing fare, capped with a stroll on the pier.

The Lido in Newport at 3459 Via Lido, opened in 1938. The story goes that Bette Davis, lived nearby in Corona Del Mar and insisted her movie, Jezebel be the opening night film. Her wishes were granted, along with requests for a smoking parlor in the ladies’ room. The mens’ room was subsequently moved upstairs to make space for the parlor.

The tile throughout the theatre is original and gorgeous, installed in the 30’s by a local Italian family. Real tickets are issued in the small matching tiled box office out front. The sound system and Grand Marquee are first rate. True signatures of the best! Free parking is available behind the theater and independent and foreign films reign here.

Restaurants like the Blue Water Grill and the Cannery are just around the corner, and Woody’s is right next door.

The Lido is also a film hub for the whole Southern California surf, skateboarding and winter sport culture, screening all of their biggest and best films. The Lido also serves as a leader for the Newport Beach Film Festival in the spring.

In a word, in my opinion, the Lido, could be a template for what every historic movie theater should and could be with enough support!

The Laguna South Coast Cinemas located at 162 South Coast Highway, first opened in 1923. Sitting right in the midst of a beautiful old brick complex with shops on either side, the theater faces Main Beach across Coast Highway, and has an inviting courtyard accented with original tiles.

It’s Just right for a day in Laguna with a shop, lunch, movie excursion or an early show and dinner at one of many nearby restaurants. There’s a public parking lot about a block up from the theater.

This historic theater is the only surviving movie theater in this flourishing art community. In the eighties the auditorium was divided to create two screens and two smaller areas. What the future holds is hard to predict. With a surge of promotion and some upgrading and polishing it could become even more of an ode to the past with modern features, along with its prime location and charming setting. When I was there, a banner was promoting New Year’s Eve. First run movies are shown with art films on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

The Yost Theater in Santa Ana located at 307 N. Spurgeon, was a home for Mexican vaudeville. Built in 1912, it’s nationally recognized as a historic place where silent films, the talkies, and Mexican cinema all played here. Over the years it was also used for religious services and had its ups and downs in maintenance. In 2007 and 2008 it was restored and recast as a live theater for club nights, live concerts, and private banquets and parties.

Fullerton’s Fox on Harbor Blvd. opened in 1925 and closed in 1987. But now as you can see on their fundraising/development site, they are working to create a commercial complex that will allow this historic theater to re-open and reign again. As an official landmark of the City of Fullerton since 1990, the Fox Theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places in October 2006. In 2005 the city started showing movies in the rear parking lot to raise funds for its restoration!

The Balboa Theater, at 3630 Balboa Blvd. in Newport Beach, has an equally rich history with ties to the nearby Lido Theater. It started business in the twenties and was named the Balboa Theater in 1939. It closed in 1992. Now it’s also on the restoration track hoping to revive those famed midnight showings of the campy The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a once beloved, but controversial staple.

Orange County’s historic movie theater tale continues in communities throughout Orange County with many final chapters still in limbo.

Recently I saw J Edgar, at The District in Tustin. In cushioned, upscale surroundings, I watched as Clint Eastwood continued to hone his craft, and Leonardo DiCaprio forged new ground in a fascinating movie.

But, not too long ago, I watched Capote at the Lido in Newport, as Philip Seymour Hoffman receiving an acclaimed Oscar for his role, in this complex historical movie. The show was beautifully complemented by the Lido’s classic surroundings. If we’re really lucky, we’ll ensure our native Southern Californian culture by ensuring the survival and thriving of both Orange County’s Historic Movie Theaters, as well as ones throughout the Southland, to pay homage to our past while keeping an eye to the future.

You may remember being a wide eyed kid watching Saturday morning cartoons at the local movie house. Later you may have watched Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront“>/em>, or James Dean in “East of Eden“.

Or you might want to salute the seventieth anniversary of Orson Welles’ masterpiece, “Citizen Kane<“/a>.

Whatever your favorite, now may be the time to share it with a friend, your kids, your mom or dad, or grandparents as you head for your nearest historic movie theater.

Photos courtesy of Cinelog, Quiksilver, and Wikipedia.

Sundance Film Festival Entrees Announced

D. J. Schwartz — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 05:04:29 +0000

Between all the Hollywood scmhoozing, partying, sex, booze and Rock’n'Roll serious distribution and acquisition deals are taking place at this years’ annual Sundance Film Festival.

“Storytellers broaden our minds: engage, provoke, inspire, and ultimately, connect us.” —Robert Redford, President and Founder”

And the Nominees for Dramatic Films are:

“2 Days in New York”: Marion has broken up with Jack and now lives in New York with their child. A visit from her family, the different cultural background of her new boyfriend, her sister’s ex-boyfriend, and her upcoming photo exhibition make for an explosive mix. Director: Julie Delpy. Screenwriters: Julie Delpy, Alexia Landeau. Cast: Julie Delpy, Chris Rock, Albert Delpy, Alexia Landeau, Alex Nahon.

“Arbitrage”: A hedge-fund magnate is in over his head, desperately trying to complete the sale of his trading empire before the depths of his fraud are revealed. An unexpected, bloody error forces him to turn to the most unlikely corner for help. Director and screenwriter: Nicholas Jarecki. Cast: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta.

“Bachelorette”: Unresolved issues between four high school friends come roaring back to life when the least popular of them gets engaged to one of the most eligible bachelors in New York City and asks the others to be bridesmaids in her wedding. Director and screenwriter: Leslye Headland. Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, James Marsden, Adam Scott, Kyle Bornheimer.

“California Solo”: A former Britpop rocker has long settled for an unfettered life working on a farm outside of L.A. When he’s caught driving drunk and faces deportation, he must confront past and current demons in his life to stay in the country. Director and screenwriter: Marshall Lewy. Cast: Robert Carlyle, Alexia Rasmussen, Kathleen Wilhoite, A Martinez, Danny Masterson.

“Celeste and Jesse Forever”: Celeste and Jesse met in high school, married young, and at 30, decide to get divorced but remain best friends while pursuing other relationships. Director: Lee Toland Krieger. Screenwriters: Rashida Jones, Will McCormack. Cast: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Ari Graynor, Chris Messina, Elijah Wood, Emma Roberts.

“For A Good Time, Call…” Lauren and Katie move in together after a loss of a relationship and a loss of a rent-controlled home, respectively. When Lauren learns what Katie does for a living, the two enter into a wildly unconventional business venture. Director: Jamie Travis. Screenwriters: Katie Anne Naylon & Lauren Anne Miller. Cast: Ari Graynor, Lauren Anne Miller, Justin Long, Mark Webber, James Wolk.

“Goats”: Ellis leaves his unconventional desert home to attend the disciplined and structured Gates Academy. There, he reconnects with his estranged father and for the first time questions the family dynamics. Director: Christopher Neil. Screenwriter: Mark Jude Poirier. Cast: David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, Graham Phillips, Justin Kirk, Ty Burrell.

“Lay the Favorite”: An adventurous young woman gets involved with a group of geeky older men who have found a way to work the sports book system in Las Vegas to their advantage. Director: Stephen Frears. Screenwriter: D.V. DeVincentis. Cast: Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rebecca Hall.

“Liberal Arts”: When thirtysomething Jesse is invited back to his alma mater, he falls for a 19-year-old college student and is faced with the powerful attraction that springs up between them. Director and screenwriter: Josh Radnor. Cast: Josh Radnor, Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins, Allison Janney, John Magaro, Elizabeth Reaser.

“Price Check”: Pete is having trouble resolving a happy marriage and family life with rising debt and a job he hates. When his new boss pulls him into the maelstrom that is her life, money and opportunities come his way, but at what price? Director and screenwriter: Michael Walker. Cast: Parker Posey, Eric Mabius, Annie Parisse, Josh Pais, Cheyenne Jackson.

“Red Hook Summer”: A young Atlanta boy spends his summer in Brooklyn with his grandfather, who he’s never seen before. Director: Spike Lee. Screenwriters: James McBride, Spike Lee. Cast: Clarke Peters, Jules Brown, Toni Lysaith, James Ransone, Thomas Jefferson Byrd.

“Red Lights”: Psychologist Margaret Matheson and her assistant study paranormal activity, which leads them to investigate a world-renowned psychic. Director and screenwriter: Rodrigo Cortés. Cast: Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, Elizabeth Olsen, Toby Jones.

“Robot and Frank”: A curmudgeonly older dad’s grown kids install a robot as his caretaker. Director: Jake Schreier. Screenwriter: Christopher Ford. Cast: Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Liv Tyler.

“Shadow Dancer”: When a widowed mother is arrested in an aborted bomb plot she must make hard choices to protect her son in this heart-wrenching thriller. Director: James Marsh. Screenwriter: Tom Bradby. Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Aidan Gillen, Domhnall Gleeson, with Gillian Anderson and Clive Owen.

“The Words”: Aspiring writer Rory Jansen finds another man’s haunting memories in a collection of lost stories and claims them as his own, propelling him to literary stardom. Directors and screenwriters: Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal. Cast: Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde with Zoe Saldana.

And this year’s nominees for Documentary films are

“About Face”: An exploration of beauty and aging through the stories of the original supermodels. Participants including Isabella Rossellini, Christie Brinkley, Beverly Johnson, Carmen Dell’Orefice, Paulina Porizkova, Jerry Hall and Christy Turlington weigh in on the fashion industry and how they reassess and redefine their own sense of beauty as their careers progress. Director: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

“A Fierce Green Fire”: A definitive history of one of the most important movements of the 20th century, “A Fierce Green Fire” chronicles the environmental movement’s fascinating evolution from the 1960s to the present. Director: Mark Kitchell.

“Bones Brigade: An Autobiography”: When six teenage boys came together as a skateboarding team in the 1980s, they reinvented not only their chosen sport but themselves too — as they evolved from insecure outsiders to the most influential athletes in the field. Director: Stacy Peralta.

“The D Word: Understanding Dyslexia”: While following a dyslexic high school senior struggling to achieve his dream of getting into a competitive college, “The D Word” exposes myths about dyslexia and reveals cutting-edge research to elucidate this widely misunderstood condition. Director: James Redford.

“Ethel”: This intimate, surprising portrait of Ethel Kennedy provides an insider’s view of a political dynasty, including Ethel’s life with Robert F. Kennedy and the years following his death when she raised their 11 children on her own. Director: Rory Kennedy.

“Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap”: Through conversations with rap’s most influential artists — among them Chuck D, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, MC Lyte, Mos Def and Kanye West — Ice-T explores the roots and history of rap and reveals the creative process behind this now dominant art form. Director: Ice-T. Co-director: Andy Baybutt.

“Untitled Paul Simon Project”: Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible journey of his historic “Graceland” album, including the political backlash he sparked for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa, designed to end apartheid. Director: Joe Berlinger.

“West of Memphis”: Three teenage boys are incarcerated for the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Ark. Nineteen years later, new evidence calls into question the convictions and raises issues of judicial, prosecutorial and jury misconduct — showing that the first casualty of a corrupt justice system is the truth. Director: Amy Berg.

For all information about this year’s Sundance Film Festival, you can find it at their official site.

Henry’s Crime

D. J. Schwartz — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:19:40 +0000

The movie, Henry’s Crime, is a sardonic and idiosyncratic movie that masquerades as an illusion of comedy; but is really a cover for life’s perpetual misfortune and subsequent redemption, by being in the wrong place at both the wrong and right times.

Its main themes include all of the characters multi-faceted collective ennui, selfishness, selflessness, altruism, and hope.

That being said, the 3 main leading characters as played by Keaunu Reeves, Vera Faringa, and James Caan, all have a dry wit, along with a combined air of irreverence.

What makes Henry’s Crime insidiously interesting is the main protagonists cleverly say and act witty and provide the viewer with distinct and unique personalities–as they complicate and interact with each others lives.

The movie’s central motif is simple—although Henry is innocent and falsely arrested for something he didn’t do; he’s constantly reminded that if you do the time, you might as well have done the crime.

Keanu Reeves plays the character Henry, whose life’s ambition is nothing more than having a freeway pike booth job to collect drivers’ tokens, “loving” his wife, Debbie, (Judy Greer), and to hang around with his slacker friends–Eddie, played by Fisher Stevens, and Joe, (Danny Hoch).

One day, using the ruse of telling Henry that they are going to a baseball game, Eddie and Joe say they have to stop first at an ATM at the local bank.

However, their real intent is to rob the bank, and unknowingly, Henry waits in the car, only to be collared for a crime he didn’t commit.

Caan plays the loquacious con-man, Max Saltzman, Henry’s talkative and friendly inmate buddy.

Reeve’s leading lady, Vera Faringa, plays the character, Julie Ivanova–and rounding out the movie’s main cast is Frank, (Bill Duke), the Bank’s security guard.

His wife, played by Judy Greene, is a non-descript woman who projects an uneasy and strange, urbane love for Henry; but that’s only a mirage, and neither Keanu Reeves nor the viewer are surprised when she dumps him for one of his slacker friends while he’s in prison.

Typical in his film roles, Keanu Reeves’ character is a man who speaks little—Henry’s a middle aged man, whose life’s dreams are that he has none.

In a remarkable turn-a-bout of events, Reeves’ Henry, takes the central motif of the film completely literally and decides to rob the bank that he was falsely accused of robbing in the first place as his new dream and purpose—irony at its best.

Refreshingly, Reeves’ character Henry, is a blank slate, therein providing fodder for the viewer into believing that whatever he says or does that at times ranges from quirky to ridiculous—he acts the part laconically and with a straight face–that provides us with a character that’s not as funny as he is silly.

The reason for Henry’s change of heart is because he’s been inculcated that for a man to find his purpose he must first have a dream that’s continuously drummed into him by Caan’s likeable character, Max.

Again, silly but believable enough, Max feels most at home in prison—for no other apparent reason other than that’s where he feels the most comfortable.

When Henry is released from prison, he does intend to follow through with his life’s new purpose:

Having done the time, Henry has made his goal to actually do the crime.

As a bank robber, Henry like all Bank Robbers needs accomplices to help him rob the bank.

As Henry hesitatingly reconnoiters the bank, he’s hit by a car driven by Vera Faringa, (Julie Ivanova).

Although not hurt, Max is barraged by Farringa’s yelling at him for being “stupid;” followed by her asking Max if he needs to go to a hospital—which she repeats the scene’s lines with several iterations with a surreal detachment, as she’s talking on her cell phone as she’s berating Max. (Later they become involved romantically).

As quickly as she hit Max, she drives off but not before thanking Max for not suing her.

Julie is an actress in the Theatre next door to the bank, in the Chekhov play, “The Cherry Orchard.” So for Henry to gain access to the tunnel that starts in the lead’s dressing room, Max decides to act as the lead replacing the other actor who falls ill.

Next, he works to recruit Caan’s character, Max, who is both incredulous and skeptical as to Henry’s new-found ambition.

But as blithely as Max is conclusively cynical about Henry’s change of heart, and makes no bones about it; Henry boomerangs his now canned answer to Max’s doubtfulness–‘I’ve done the time; I might as well do the crime.”

Funny stuff and logical too.

As Henry informs Max, with a deadpan straight face and benign temperament, it’s not hard to see how Caan slowly but surely warms to the idea. Their crew is completed when Henry’s slacker friends join in as well as the Security Guard Frank, (Bill Duke), who first pinched Henry, but decides to get in on the action because he’s set to retire; but he has no savings to account for during his entire tenure working for the bank.

In the end, as fate and serendipity enter Henry’s world, he has to choose between taking the money and running; or staying to act opposite Vera Faringa, (Julie Ivanova), in the Chekov play, so she can break out of her acting slump and move to Hollywood.

Henry’s Crime is an allegory and fable. You have to change your life if you’re not happy, and wake up if things aren’t going the way you want.

Wednesday Night Films are Coming to the Million Dollar Theater

D. J. Schwartz — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:13:46 +0000

Beginning on October 5^th, and running every Wednesday–except on November 2^nd until December 21^st, UCLA Film & Television Archive will be hosting a unique motion picture entertainment in Downtown Los Angeles.

The venue of the classic and popular film series (PDF) shall be hosted and featured at the famous and classic Million Dollar Theater.

For $10.00 per night ($9.00 for students and seniors), everyone will be able to enjoy a main feature film or a double feature highlighting the work from such famed directors as David Cronenberg and William Friedkin, as but an example.

Tickets will be available at the Million Dollar Theater box office only.

The Theater box office opens an hour before the start time on the each day that the movie is playing.

Here’s the list of films along with a short clip:

October 5^th: Belushi/Ackroyd Double Feature!

The Blues Brothers: 1980 Directed by John Landis

Neighbors: 1981 Directed by John G. Avildsen

October 12^th: Cronenberg Double Feature!

25th anniversary of The Fly: 1986 Directed by David Cronenberg

Videodrome: 1983 Directed by David Cronenberg

October 19^th: On the Road Double Feature!

Easy Rider: 1969 Directed by Dennis Hopper

Two-Lane Blacktop: 1971 Directed by Monte Hellman

October 26^th: Funny Fright Night!

Young Frankenstein: 1974 Directed by Mel Brooks

Love at First Bite: 1979 Directed by Stan Dragoti

November 9^th: Friedkin Double Feature!

To Live & Die in LA: 1985 Directed by William Friedkin

The French Connection: 1971 Directed by William Friedkin

November 16^th

Lawrence of Arabia: 1962 Directed by David Lean

November 23^rd: Writers in Los Angeles Double Feature!

Barton Fink: 1991 Directed by Joel Coen

Barfly: 1987 Directed by Barbet Schroeder

November 30^th: Nicholson/Rafelson Double Feature!

Five Easy Pieces: 1970 Directed by Bob Rafelson

The King of Marvin Gardens: 1972 Directed by Bob Rafelson

December 7^th

Superman: 1978 Directed by Richard Donner

December 14^th: Sci Fi Double Feature!

The Day the Earth Stood Still: 1951 Directed by Robert Wise

This Island Earth: 1955 Directed by Joseph Newman

December 21^st: Rock Opera Double feature!

Tommy: 1975 Directed by Ken Russell

Jesus Christ Superstar: 1973 Directed by Norman Jewison

Which one will you be attending? Let us know your feedback!

They’re all look great films to boot.

“Soul Surfer”; The Bethany Hamilton Saga

D. J. Schwartz — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:57:09 +0000

This movie is based on the life and subsequent tragedy which befell upon a young, gifted and quite beautiful surfer, Bethany Hamilton, whose left arm was bitten off by a shark—a surfer’s worst nightmare—or for that matter anyone’s worst nightmare.

Lucky for her, she was surfing with her family on Kauai, Hawaii, when tragedy struck.
Her farther immediately took off his shirt and tied a tourniquet around her arm to ameliorate or to help stop the huge bleeding; r farther immediately took off his shirt and tied a tourniquet around her arm to ameliorate or to help stop the huge bleeding.

Honestly, it wasn’t so much that the shark bit her (that was enough of a tragedy); but what she had to emotionally, psychologically, mentally, and physically deal with afterward—you see–Bethany’s goal was to be a professional surfer, and most people would think that you can’t surf big waves with only one arm. (And they’d probably be correct.)

But, then came Bethany, with her huge heart, soul, and desire of a young woman to let nothing get in the way of her dreams.

Bethany proved them all wrong.

Although rare, a shark attack happens a lot more than people perhaps realize.

We do know a few basics about them—they love the scent of blood, do not like things bobbing on top of the waters surface—and they are utterly and completely deadly—unless one is very, very lucky.

Bethany, (played by AnnaSophia Robb) was born to surf. A natural talent who took to the waves at a young age, she was leading an idyllic life on Kauai, participating in national surf competitions with her best friend Alana (Lorraine Nicholson), when everything changed.

The supporting actors—played by Tom Hamilton, Bethany’s father, (Dennis Quaid), Bethany’s best friend, Alana Blanchard, Lorraine Nicholson, and her mom as played by Helen Hunt.

The heart of Soul Surfer offers a personal perspective about the true story and life,–a promising young surfer who discovers her main purpose in life–as she overcomes the loss of her arm to a 14-foot tiger shark off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii on October 31^st, 2003.

This often laden, at times, overly faith-based documentary provides viewers Bethany’s heart in trying to tackle the difficult universal oft asked question:

Why does God allow bad things and tragedy often happen in our lives to good people?

Dealing with topics from self-consciousness and courage to faith in God, the film, Heart of a Soul Surfer, presents a good message in a fun, exciting way; told from the heart of a young woman with great passion and dedication to God.

Alas no good story will be taken for granted in Hollywood without some unnecessary sentimentality. In the case with Soul Surfer-god spirituality and miracles are at times intertwined with the plot as Bethany’s best friend is a Christian fanatic and that theme, at times is brought into the plot at different times, by different characters. OK, once; TWICE –your pushing your luck; after that we just want to watch the incredible ordeal, determination and ultimate success of Bethany becoming a one armed pro surfer (And she is nothing but spectacular.)

When all is said and done, I recommend it for some inspiration, a semi-decent plot, and of course to learn more about the remarkable Bethany Hamilton.

The Long and Winding History of the Viper Room

D. J. Schwartz — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 14:59:16 +0000

In the 1940s it was called the Melody Room (a jazz club frequented by gangster Bugsy Siegel), in the 1970s, it was called Flithy McNasty (a Hell’s Angel hangout), by the 80s, it was known as the Central, and in 1993, its name is the name it’s known by today, the Viper Room.

Opened in 1993, The Viper Room is considered to be among the more unique and hip clubs in Los Angeles, was originally partly owned by actor, Johnny Depp. The club is infamous in Hollywood lore, as the site where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on Halloween morning in 1993. Even after Phoenix’s death, the club remained a hangout for Hollywood’s most popular young actors.

But, it also has was infamous where because it was the place that helped to create many a taleto tell:

In March 1994, TV star Nicole Eggert of Baywatch fame got into a malicious fight with another girl over a mutual boyfriend.

After the overnight multi-platinum success of the Counting Crows debut album, August and Everything After, their lead-singer Adam Duritz decided to find a real job for a “reality check,” so he bartended at the The Viper Room.

On Oct. 1, 1996, a possible photo of Mick Jagger embracing actress Uma Thurman, netted the photographer $600,000 in damages when Jagger’s bodyguard wrested him to the ground, after which club employees’ destroyed the film. Of course, the photographer sued. Jagger settled out of court, but the jury gave the photographer the award mentioned above.

In September 1996, again a photographer was pushed when he tried to videotape rocker Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe, and his wife, actress Pamela Anderson. Lee was convicted of battery and was fined and sentenced to a 24-month summary probation and 200 hours of community service.

Today, under the ownership of Harry Morton, President and CEO of Pink Taco and the son of Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton, the Viper Room retains an aura and reality of Rock and Roll-cum-Celebrity-cum-Hipster icon status–it has and is one of our city’s more well known and famous musical venues–celebrated and shared with only only a few others. Among the vaulted VIP list of musical legend The Viper Room venue shares its iconic crown with such notable clubs including The Roxy, The Whiskey a Go-Go, and the Troubadour—all legendary music clubs in West Hollywood and host to many a famous band, musician and legendary performances.

But, mystery still sounds the Viper Room via Johnny Depp. In a lawsuit involving the disappearance of a Viper co-owner, Anthony Fox, in 2001, (The details of which are currently unknown). Depp’s quietly by signing over all of his interests in the Viper Room to Anthony Fox’s daughter.

Who knows what will happen next at the Viper Room, but it still remains Los Angeles’ infamous and famous Rock N Roll club, and will forever be “the place” to see and be seen.

A TASCHEN Publication Exclusive: Dennis Hopper Photographs 1961-1967

D. J. Schwartz — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:23:24 +0000

Dennis Hopper chose to take pictures of the world of his making and that he chose to live—movie star, arts benefactor and creator of innovative art of topics, content and the people whom he felt comfortable with in all these contexts; but his subject matter and compositional images also consisted of pictures of his sojourns that he enjoyed taking to Mexico–the country, culture and people he loved—and that is revealed in each one of his iconic images that he took there. (Essentially, Hopper created both a new realism and artistic paradigm shift, that he most likely crafted subconsciously; but one that stands the test of time). Also Hopper’s photographs are permanent records of his immediate, intimate and personally luministic environment

Among Hopper’s images and pictures, included are Los Angeles’ vast urban landscape as well as photographs of movie sets, gallery openings, and his co-stars including Paul Newman, and a myriad of co-artists that he considered part of his peer network.

Hopper came as a pioneering free spirit to live in Los Angeles, because he moved here from Kansas, making him part of Hollywood lore as a gifted actor that led to his storied life–one that blessed Dennis with boundless enthusiasm, dynamism and energy–and most importantly—one that embraced him as much as he embraced it.
Therefore, we come to see Hopper’s ongoing veduta motif–that he instinctively viewed LA as larger than life (both literally and psychologically); and because of that we also come to understand Hopper’s artistic and stylistic leanings–he saw Los Angeles as a living atavistic organism to be remembered on his camera’s film silver gelatin; making it transparent–so that we can easily see Hopper’s benevolent and warm heart toward his surroundings—art imitating life.

Interestingly, his friend, Painter Ed Ruscha’s images, are reflective of Hopper’s emotional interpretation of our urban landscape here.

From the beginning, Hopper took an early and in-depth interest in California art and artists—giving credence and impetus to his incredibly adept mind and eye—and as testimony to his innate knowledge to what was going on in his own backyard; ultimately with him, becoming its elder statesman and icon.

When you could count on the fingers of one hand Hollywood figures who bought modern art, Hopper completely committed himself across the boards without question to the work of the Pop artists. New; chilling; and as efficient as the electric chair; it was so contemporary hardly anybody could see it. Tony Shafrazi, Modern Art Collector and Gallery Owner

It’s obvious that Dennis Hopper was comfortable in his skin in all 3 worlds that he played such a pronounced impact and influence in—the Cinematic, the artistic, and being the artist.

Hopper’s eye level “found object” form of composition, was, at that time, practically non-existent.

In TASCHEN’s Dennis Hopper Photographs 1961-1967, we’re a witness to the historic preservation and perseverance of Hopper’s tremendous talent and body of work; including many images that hereto had never been published.

Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) was an acclaimed artist, actor, screenwriter, and director who first impressed audiences with his performances in Rebel Without A Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). He changed the face of American cinema with Easy Rider (1969), which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in.

Hopper went on to act in hundreds of memorable films and television shows, including Apocalypse Now (1979), Blue Velvet (1986), Hoosiers (1986), True Romance (1993), Elegy (2008), and the TV series Crash (2008). Hopper began painting as a child and started taking photos in 1961, after his then wife Brooke Hayward gave him a 35mm Nikon camera for his birthday. His paintings and photography have been exhibited all over the world, including the recent retrospective, "Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood" in Paris. Dennis Hopper tragically and heart-wrenchingly passed away in an inordinate amount of personal suffering on May 29, 2010 in Venice, CA, shortly before the publications of both his signed TASCHEN compilation of the private book edition of his photographs, and shortly before the release of this TASCHEN Trade Edition publication.

Equal parts biography, curriculum vitae and a striking and vast archive of Hopper’s artistic photographs–partly an iconographic narrative–this book of Dennis Hopper’s photographic intimism, instantly infuses the reader into an immediate enthusiast of Hopper’s oeuvre during his exciting heyday as a Hollywood up-and coming enigmatic movie star—as well as a viewer of Hopper’s passionate contribution to California art and his dedication and participation to its art scene–which he gave freely and devoid of self-consciousness of ego but rather his boundless energy-cum-vision as if his life was one giant set-take which Dennis altruistically poured his heart and soul into; borne from his love of art, and his photographs were then shot by him as art for art’s sake.

For most of us—simply put– we call it genius. Hopper had an insatiable lust to carry his camera with him at all times and record everything and everyone that he encountered creating a form and content both avant-garde and as his automatism of the same.

An auto-didactic genius, Hopper’s photographs featured in this dynamic book, are a record of Hopper’s contagious and boundless talent and energy–which he put to movies as well as to his acting career.

His early dedication to both art and his art–and his association with many contemporary artists and art dealers and critics of his time, including—Andy Warhol, Billy Al Bengsten, Marcel Duchamp, Ed Moses, Ed Kienholz, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, Walter Hopps, David Stewart, Roy Lichenstein and Ed Ruscha—are emblematically striking in that we come to understand and appreciate Hopper both as an artist and a free thinking photographer–creating modern art through his photographs that comprise a compositional methodology of his use of both forms and subjects-objects that were incorporating trends far ahead of his time.

His continuous representation of what he saw he immediately photographed.

Interestingly, Dennis Hopper first started taking photographs at the urging of his friend, James Dean. They had met and worked together in 1955 on the movie set of Rebel Without a Cause—Dean was 24 and Dennis, 18, forming a deep teacher-pupil friendship to the set of Giant in the plains of Marfa, Texas. Dennis’ roles in both pictures were small, but his ambitions were as big as the Texas sky. Jimmy Dean’s angelic looks, meteoric talent, a spellbinding method of acting had an undeniable impact on everyone who worked with him. Dennis was quick to recognize the sheer genius and power of this new style of acting—one without preconceived ideas, living in the moment, and performing as a “way of being.” aka “method acting.”

From this—it’s not a huge leap of faith to understand on a deeper level how and why Hopper’s natural photographic genius emerged from this genesis.

Dennis Hopper – A reluctant icon captures a decade of cultural transformation.

During the 1960s, Dennis Hopper carried a camera everywhere—on film sets and locations, at parties, in diners, bars and galleries, driving on freeways and walking on political marches. He photographed movie idols, pop stars, writers, artists, girlfriends, and complete strangers. Along the way he captured some of the most intriguing moments of his generation with a keen and intuitive eye.

A reluctant icon at the epicenter of that decade’s cultural upheaval, Hopper documented the likes of Tina Turner in the studio, Andy Warhol at his first West Coast show, Paul Newman on set, and Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
From a selection of photographs compiled by Hopper and gallerist Tony Shafrazi—more than a third of them previously unpublished—this extensive volume distills the essence of Hopper’s brilliantly prodigious photographic career. Also included are introductory essays by Tony Shafrazi and legendary West Coast art pioneer Walter Hopps, and an extensive biography by journalist Jessica Hundley. With excerpts from Victor Bockris’s interviews of Hopper’s famous subjects, friends, and family

This TASCHEN volume is an unprecedented exploration of the life and mind of one of America’s most fascinating personalities.

Two Stone Gates Guard Hollywoodland

D. J. Schwartz — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:16:38 +0000

You might drive by it and not even see it, just as I did the first two times I passed them by, unless you already know that they’re there and happen to be looking for them–or perhaps you walk past them and notice their majestic grandeur–these two famous stone gates that guard the Hollywood Sign, are both a memento of a time gone by and remain as a reminder of our unassuming Los Angeles iconic heritage. Naturally, they are included in the City of Los Angeles’ Historical-Cultural Monument list as our historical cultural monument #20.

Built in the early 1920s and located on and just below 2690 West Beachwood Drive are a keepsake of the early historic remnants of the beginning and history of Hollywoodland: Two Stone Gates

What started out only as an idea and concept in the minds of railway magnates Eli P. Clark, and M. H. Sherman, when they acquired 640 acres to create an exclusive hillside community–aptly named Hollywoodland.

And to make their dreams come true, Clark and Sherman partnered with LA Times publisher Harry Chandler, and real estate developers Tracy E. Shoults, and S. H. Woodruff.

Thus, Hollywoodland was born.

Over the years, many famous people have passed by the Two Stone Gates on their way home. Mary Mallory, who serves on the Hollywood Heritage Board of Directors and wrote Hollywoodland, describes the early residents of the area including Graphics designer Romain di Tirtoff, also known as Erte, was the first celebrity resident of the neighborhood.

Also ensconced into the history books of the area’s famous residents include such stars as Bela Lugosi, Robert Montgomery, Gale Sondergaard, Ned Beatty, Jon Cryer, and Kathy Bates have all lived here and called the place home. Included are such artists as writers James M. Cain, and Aldous Huxley, screenwriter/director Herbert Biberman, film director Norman Z. McLeod, and composers Max Steiner, and Miklos Rozsa whom have all also called it home.

Musicians including Benny Carter, Stan Kenton, Peter Tork, Madonna, and Moby, have all resided in the Hollywood Hills vicinity.

So, what started as crop land in the 1880s subsequently became an artist’s retreat. As time remains the great equalizer–it’s amazing what a little promotion can do.

Old time Hollywood–Paramount Ranch, a local Film Backlot and Hiking spot

Lisa Newton — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:16:33 +0000

Although a little off the beaten path, Paramount Ranch is total Hollywood in a natural setting. However, that may sound like a little bit of an oxymoron.

I know, when you think about Hollywood, getting into the great outdoors isn’t the first thing to come to mind. But, if you dig a little deeper–all Western movies need a wide open expanse, an old town, and maybe a house or two.

That’s how, why, and where Paramount Ranch becomes important to our indigenous film locations for Los Angeles.

Paramount Pictures needed such a place, so in 1927 they purchased 2,700 acres of the old Rancho Las Virgenes to use as a “movie ranch.” For the next 25 years, a genuine Who’s Who of Hollywood spent time at the Ranch including Cecil B. Demille, Bob Hope, Gary Cooper, and Claudette Colbert.

Therefore, Paramount Ranch became colonial Massachusetts for the movie The Maid of Salem, ancient China in The Adventures of Marco Polo, a South Seas island in Ebb Tide a movie lot for numerous western locations including San Francisco in Wells Fargo.

Who knew Malibu could be so versatile.

Subsequently in 1953, William Hertz, a big fan of Western movies and a former chairman of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, bought the southeast portion of the Ranch.

Using Paramount’s old prop storage sheds, Hertz built a Western Town, which television companies started using. Such productions as The Cisco Kid, and Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater started filming on the property.

Afterwards, Hertz sold the property in 1955–subsequently its ownership changed hands many times until 1980 when the National Parks Service bought it, however filming never stopped.

In fact, if you remember a series from the 1990s entitled Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, you might feel right at home at the Paramount Ranch.

From 1992 to 1997, most of the filming for the series was located here; plus, one of the current hiking trails, the Hacienda Trail, takes you past the homestead that was built for main character of the series.

If you’re curious what and why the cracked and decaying roadway that traverses the Park is, it used to be the famous Paramount Racetrack.

Only open for 18 months, it became world famous due to its unique design, which ultimately caused its demise. Just short of two miles in length, the race track was featured in The Devil’s Hairpin, filmed in 1957.

Today, if you’re into hiking, Paramount Ranch is a wonderful out of the way spot to visit. They have several picnic tables just waiting for you to use. Its Western Town is open from 8:00am until sunset every day. As I was walking around, I thought about Debi over at Go Explore Nature, and how much her boys would love this place.

So, if you’re a lover of fresh mountain air, head to Paramount Ranch. It’s located in the Santa Monica Mountains at 2903 Cornell Road, in Agoura Hills.

See you on the trails! (Click for a PDF featuring a trails map.)

Free Los Angeles 2011 Summertime Movies

Lisa Newton — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:07:14 +0000

Los Angeles is home to many free summertime concerts, as well as a plethora of venues to see them also.

Although some venues haven’t announced their complete schedule and line-up yet, many have so Travelin’ Local is pleased to announce the Free Los Angeles 2011 movies that are available now, and as the itinerary changes, we will include each and every one a time they become available.

So let’s break a leg and get right to it:

For starters, the W Hotel in Westwood is hosting the following Free 2011 Summertime Movies.

On Fridays at sunset, from today through September 3^rd, you can experience movie magic under the stars at the W Los Angeles WET pool, where they’re hosting several films on multiple 50" plasmas, along with a totally cool 8′ x 8′ projection screen, providing everybody with an excellent viewing experience from any location by the pool. (In case you’ve never been to the W, it’s a cool, chic and laid-back hotel that you just might want to stay and and enjoy this great venue).

Here’s this year’s line-up:

June 10 – Twilight Saga: Eclipse
June 17 – Despicable Me
June 24 – Life as We Know It
July 1 – The Kids are All Right
July 8 – Shrek Forever After
July 15 – Going the Distance
July 22 – Eat Pray Love
July 29 – Due Date
August 5 – Charlie St. Cloud
August 12 – Little Fockers
August 19 – The King’s Speech
August 26 – No Strings Attached
September 2 – The Social Network

If you live in Long Beach, at the Moonlight Movies on the Beach, you have choose three free films at three different venues:

On Tuesday nights, it’s Granada Beach, located at 5101 E Ocean Blvd Long Beach, CA 90803; Wednesday nights means it’s Cherry Beach at Junipero Ave at E Ocean Blvd.; and Thursday nights brings the free summertime movies continue at the Marina Green Park, located at 500 E Shoreline Dr at Linden Ave:

Tuesday, July 5 – Despicable Me
Wednesday, July 6 – Incredible Hulk
Thursday, July 7 – Iron Man 2
Tuesday, July 12 – Rango
Wednesday, July 13 – ET
Thursday, July 14 – Close Encounters
Tuesday, July 19 – Megamind
Wednesday, July 20 – Yogi Bear
Thursday, July 21 – Tale of Desperaux
Tuesday, July 26 – Footloose
Wednesday, July 27 – Alice in Wonderland
Thursday, July 28 – Indiana Jones
Tuesday, August 2 – How to Train Your Dragon
Wednesday, August 3 – Legends of the Guardian
Thursday, August 4 – Back to the Future
Tuesday, August 9 – Toy Story
Wednesday, August 10 – Toy Story 2
Thursday, August 11 – Toy Story 3
Tuesday, August 16 – Little Fockers
Wednesday, August 17 – Tremors
Thursday, August 18 – Grease
Tuesday, August 23 – Jaws
Wednesday, August 24 – Jaws

Wait, there’s more:

The Westwood Shopping Center is hosting Movies on the Terrace every Wednesday at sunset:

June 15 – TBD Sing-Along
June 22 – How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
June 29 – Big Daddy
July 6 – Star Trek
July 13 – Zoolander
July 20 – Happy Gilmore
July 27 – Ferris Beuller’s Day Off
August 3 – TBD
August 10 – TBD
August 17 – Footloose

Remember this free movie schedule doesn’t include the entire series which have yet to be announced, but as soon as they are, we’’ll add them to the calendar.

So do you know which places and what movies you’ll want to see for this year’s Free LA 2011 Summertime movies?

So get ready as pretty soon it will be time to have fun under the stars in LA!

Film “Presumed Guilty” causes Furor in Mexico

D. J. Schwartz — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:35:00 +0000

At last year’s Los Angeles Film Festival, I reviewed the documentary film, Presumed Guilty, which also was last season’s LAFF Audience Award for Best International Feature.

In Mexico, where 92% of convictions are not based on any physical evidence, two lawyers used the documentary lens to expose Mexico’s abominable justice system and helped free an innocent man.

Presciently, we warned that in different countries around the world, people often accused of a crime are not automatically innocent until proven guilty. Indeed, In Mexico, the law is that if you’re arrested, you’re assumed guilty and you have to prove your innocence.

The resulting 90-minute documentary provides a rare-and-chilling glimpse of Mexico’s dysfunctional legal system. No matter how slow the “wheels of justice” may turn in the U.S., it still makes us feel lucky to live in a free society where we’re innocent until proven guilty.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

On March 2^nd, a Mexican Federal Judge banned “Presunto Culpable” (Presumed Guilty), after the directors were sued for filming one person without permission.

But 3 days ago, the stay was lifted and the film was allowed to legally keep showing in Mexico.

This might very well become a landmark case on freedom of speech and censorship in Mexico,” said Pablo Jimenez, a lawyer for the film distributor Cinepolis, which pledged to donate film profits toward legal defense clinics here. Source: Christian Science Monitor

For even more ways to join their cause for justice in Mexico visit the Presumed Guilty Website.

As we usually say as a cliché in the USA, freedom is never free.

Hattie McDaniel – A Hollywood Pioneer

Lisa Newton — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:11:05 +0000

When I’m doing research for an article, I learn.

Take yesterday.

Now, I know everyone isn’t into cemeteries, but I gained my interest honestly, from my Mother. She liked to poke around old cemeteries, read the headstones. Feeling sad when we found children, and happy when we saw long lives.

So, I wanted to visit Rosedale Cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles County, but first I wanted to find out a little about it.

That’s when I met Hattie McDaniel.

Well, I didn’t really meet her, as she died in 1952, but I came to learn about her incredible life. If you’ve ever seen Gone with the Wind, you’ll know her better as the feisty Mammy.

Born in Kansas in 1895, to former slaves, McDaniel was the youngest of 13 children.

Her Father was a Civil War veteran and her Mother sang religious songs, which is where McDaniel was able to obtain her singing talent.

After a few years of working with a touring black ensemble and a gig in radio, in 1931, she made her way to Los Angeles, joining her brother Sam and sisters Etta and Orlena.

Over the next few years, she worked with many of the top actors and directors of the time, Shirley Temple, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lionel Barrymore, Will Rogers, John Ford, Jean Harlow, Irene Dunne, Mae West, Bette Davis, and of course, Clark Gable.

In 1939, when the premiere of Gone with the Wind took place in Atlanta, Georgia, all of the Black actors were banned from the event, due to the Jim Crow laws.

However, by February 1940, McDaniel won the 1939 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first African American to win an Oscar.

Amazingly, McDaniel and other African American actors were criticized by the groups like the NAACP for taking roles of servants, to which she replied,

I’d rather play a maid and make $700 a week than be one for $7.

In 1945, living in the West Adams area of LA, a few of her White neighbors didn’t like the idea that a few African Americans were moving into their neighborhood, so they took the families to court.

McDaniel organized the residents and fought to keep their homes. After visiting the area, Superior Judge Thurmond Clarke, threw the case out of court, saying:

It is time that members of the Negro race are accorded, without reservations or evasions, the full rights guaranteed them under the 14th Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Judges have been avoiding the real issue too long.

All her life, McDaniel knocked down the walls of segregation in Hollywood and made her presence known. However, even in death, she was denied. It was her wish to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery, on Santa Monica Boulevard, but the owner refused because, in 1952, they didn’t take Black people.

Which leads me back to Rosedale Cemetery, the final resting place for Hattie McDaniel.

Although she received screen credits for around 80 films, McDaniel appeared in over 300. Through her elegance, wit, charm, and generosity, she gained the respect of the show business community and will forever be remembered as a trailblazer.

Plus, she has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for for her contributions to radio. and the other one for motion pictures.

Now, that I’ve told Hattie McDaniel’s story, I’ll do the same about Rosedale Cemetery tomorrow.

A Film Review of A Crime – a Movie about Violence, Obsession, and a Fall Guy

Tom Jones — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:12:05 +0000

A Crime, staring Harvey Keitel as Roger Culkin, Emmanuelle Béart as Alice Parker, and Norman Reedus as the character, Vincent Harris, deals with matters of the heart and head in which the characters are all blinded to due to their non-connectedness.

The film was directed by Manuel Pradal, and was written by Tonino Benacquista and Manuel Pradal. The full cast and crew are listed here.

Norman Reedus’ character, Vincent, wife is brutally killed one evening right before he returns home. As he approaches his countryside home, he notices a passing taxi as he gets closer to his house, where he discovers his wife’s dead body.

Afterward, he can’t move on with his life until he catches the killer, whom he remembers had several distinct characteristics from the passing cab that evening which Vincent recalls.

3 years later, we find that he’s moved and now lives in Brooklyn, New York City, where across from his building, there lives a mysterious yet dysfunctional woman named Alice, played by Béart, whose persona exhumes a stagnant world-weariness that’s curiously attractive, where they’re her character, Alice and Vincent are friends and can also literally see each other in their respective apartments.

She is obsessed with and wants to be with Norman (Reedus), but knows that’s not possible until he’s able to solve the murder of his wife.

Soon, the machinations start–Béart needs a fall guy to satisfy Vincent’s character’s vengeance. So she picks a random cab driver, played by Harvey Keitel, as Roger, and proceeds methodically to recreate the symbols and physical affects which Vincent remembers about both the taxi driver, and the car that he passed before he found his wife murdered in cold blood.

It was a Taxi with a blue scratch on the side, and the driver was wearing a ring with a large stone on his finger along with a red jacket. .

Although Vincent has had a detective’s help him to solve the crime, nothing comes to pass, and the case becomes cold.

So Vincent, (Norman Reedus), passes his time training his dog for dog betting racing on the beach, which occupies the majority of his days.

Norman Reedus’ character, Vincent, is played with a distinct and particular manner of what one would expect a victim of a violent crime would behave–with a detachment from both himself and the world. So true to his part, Reedus’, (Vincent), is true to form and does not disappoint the viewer with his role.

Because he lives in the building directly across from Alice, (Emmanuelle Béart), they communicate by phone and talk to each other a lot , as Alice frequently takes care of his dog so their physical and emotional contact is constant.

Then the plot spins and twists–Alice finds a cabbie, Roger, played by Harvey Keitel–who projects danger–and pursues him so he thinks that she’s fallen for him.

Hence, the thriller aspect of the movie is thrown into the mix, because the viewer is never quite sure if he is indeed the culprit of the murder–ergo:–”The Crime.”

So Alice makes love to him, plies him full of liquor although he’s sworn off alcohol, puts a dent into the exact side of his cab that Vincent saw, and she also buys him a red jacket and ring that match the objects and things which Vincent remembers the evening his wife was murdered,

After Emmanuelle Béart (Alice), was able to get Roger passed out in the cab after they’ve made love, she makes sure that the cab is found near where Vincent hangs out, and he, of course notices everything that Alice wants him to notice, to think he’s found the killer of his wife.

Then, Vincent subsequently pushes Roger’s (Keite’sl) car into the Hudson, with the hope that Roger, (Keite)l, drowns, not before having his friends beat Roger to a pulp and dumping him in the car’s trunk before rolling it into the River.

By forcing Vincent to encounter Roger, Alice through inventing and then framing a culprit, releases Vincent from his past so she can stay and be with him.

After she, Vincent, and the cop, all think that Keitel’s character, Roger, has drowned—he has not.

In the meantime, Norman feels attached to the world again, and takes renewed enthusiasm for having Alice as his girlfriend and vice-verse.

Except for one minor detail.

Roger, Keitel’s character didn’t die during Alice’s escapades and dangerous set-up. As viewers, we do constantly wonder if Roger is the culprit, or the fool, or both–because he projects mystery, danger and darkness–generally speaking he’s a messed up loner.

I thought Keitel’s performance was good, because he was who he was, a man living in a world that long had passed him by. His character seemed authentic, as he escorted Alice from one strange club to another.

Vincent’s role was subdued but emotionally believable, as he portrayed a life not of his choice; but of a choice that was put upon him by circumstance, and his character never seemed uncomfortable or out-of-place.

It’s Emmanuelle Béart’s portrayal of Alice, that was the much more complicated role, and her acting was suited enough for the role because of how the script was written–more so than probably her acting–although, her ability to convincingly exist in a duality–caught between Vincent and Norman–was handled by her with passing finesse; where another actress might be more squeamish caught in such a dangerous bind.

Nonetheless, when Norman returns to confront Alice, she confesses the Crime to him, and we expect him to kill her, but he just wants to run away with her and start a new life, because as he says in the movie, “Hey what’s better than having a fresh start, especially when everyone thinks your dead.”

Well, soon enough, he’ll get his wish as Alice still sees him and feels trapped between 2 worlds–Keitel’s character, (Roger’s), and the object of her affection, Reedus’, Vincent.

Sooner or later, we know the end will either be bad for Alice or good–and in the end, as Roger and Alice were parked in a cab after an evening making love and drinking, Alice’s character, Emmanuelle Béart, impales Roger in the back seat of the car with a steel pipe that she grabbed from a nearby fence, while Roger was sleeping in the back and murders him.

The movie’s methodical rhythm, the characters’ ability to interact with one another with a modicum of emotive feeling, and the undertow of danger, make the movie worth watching.

Although the movie takes place in Brooklyn, New York, the setting and the characters–especially Emmanuelle Béart’s portrayal of the doe eyed girl with the far away look–make the location, the lives, and the ways in which the characters live, often resemble a cathartic impression and glimpse into a group of people with collective ennui–who are all now involved, in one way or another, in “A Crime.”

But in the end, we come away somewhat satiated with a closure that we don’t see coming, and a plot that’s highly original, but as well, highly saturated in fiction more so than in real life.

22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Opens on January 6th

Lisa Newton — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:06:10 +0000

Although the only excuse you need to go to Palm Springs is to just sit back and relax for a weekend–as if you ever needed another–try this one:

22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival

With almost 200 films from over 60 countries, the Festival showcases films featuring Monica Bellucci, Pierce Brosnan, Catherine Deneuve, Edie Falco, Colin Farrell, James Gandolfini, Terrence Howard, Isabelle Huppert, Angelina Jolie, Melissa Leo, Jack Nicholson, Noomi Rapace, Vanessa Redgrave, Uma Thurman and Rachel Weisz.

This year’s Palm Springs Festival includes 9 World Premiers, 17 North American Premiers, and 33 US Premieres.

Commenting about the process for selecting its films, Darryl Macdonald, the Palm Springs International Festival Director said:

Our film line-up is particularly strong this year, highlighting a bracing blend of established and newly emerging talents, as well as a wealth of provocative new work springing from nascent international film production hubs. There’s a notable emphasis on personal vision, rather than films that utilize genre conventions or stereotyped characters. I’m particularly delighted that we have the opportunity to launch the Festival with a broadly accessible comedy directed by Francois Ozon and starring established French talents Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu.

The Opening Night Gala for this sensational 12 day event, is on Thursday, January 6^th, from 6:30 – 9:30pm, with the screening of Potiche –the stylish French farce, which is an irresistible romp through 1970s kitsch, politics and female emancipation, followed by a spirited reception at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

While the annual Palm Springs Film Festival is among the largest film festivals in North America–welcoming 130,000 attendees–it’s also highly esteemed for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries.

The Festival is also known for its annual Black Tie Awards Gala, honoring the best achievements of the film year, who in recent years have included Clint Eastwood, Kate Winslet, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ron Howard, Anne Hathaway, Jeff Bridges, Danny Elfman and many others.

This year’s Festival wrap will be on Sunday, January 16^th, featuring the award winning cinematic achievement, The First Grader, which is a highly emotional and uplifting drama about a 84-year-old Kimani, a former Mau Mau freedom fighter, who eventually takes advantage of a new Kenyan law to attend school.

For additional information to attend the Palm Springs International Film Festival, including its schedule, submissions, tickets, events and highlights, click here, for obtain additional information you need to plan your attendance.

This article is sponsored by Posh Palm Springs, a luxurious and beautiful boutique bed and breakfast, where you’ll enjoy your stay–because of its close proximity to the Film Festival and the Palm Springs Museum, and of course, to indulge yourself at this superlative get-a-way.

Travelin' Local » Film

Joaquin Phoenix’s Movie “I’m Still Here” is a Hoax

Tom Cruise has taken over Beverly Hills – Literally!

The 84th Annual 2012 Oscars Nominees

100 Years of Paramount Pictures sponsored by Film Independent & LACMA

January 26

The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award Nominations

Orange County’s Movie History

Orange County’s Historic Movie Theaters

Sundance Film Festival Entrees Announced

Henry’s Crime

Wednesday Night Films are Coming to the Million Dollar Theater

October 5th: Belushi/Ackroyd Double Feature!

October 12th: Cronenberg Double Feature!

October 19th: On the Road Double Feature!

October 26th: Funny Fright Night!

November 9th: Friedkin Double Feature!

November 16th

November 23rd: Writers in Los Angeles Double Feature!

November 30th: Nicholson/Rafelson Double Feature!

December 7th

December 14th: Sci Fi Double Feature!

December 21st: Rock Opera Double feature!

“Soul Surfer”; The Bethany Hamilton Saga

The Long and Winding History of the Viper Room

A TASCHEN Publication Exclusive: Dennis Hopper Photographs 1961-1967

Two Stone Gates Guard Hollywoodland

Old time Hollywood–Paramount Ranch, a local Film Backlot and Hiking spot

Free Los Angeles 2011 Summertime Movies

Film “Presumed Guilty” causes Furor in Mexico

Hattie McDaniel – A Hollywood Pioneer

A Film Review of A Crime – a Movie about Violence, Obsession, and a Fall Guy

22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Opens on January 6th

October 5^th: Belushi/Ackroyd Double Feature!

October 12^th: Cronenberg Double Feature!

October 19^th: On the Road Double Feature!

October 26^th: Funny Fright Night!

November 9^th: Friedkin Double Feature!

November 16^th

November 23^rd: Writers in Los Angeles Double Feature!

November 30^th: Nicholson/Rafelson Double Feature!

December 7^th

December 14^th: Sci Fi Double Feature!

December 21^st: Rock Opera Double feature!