Hollywood Gothique

You are browsing the archives of 2009 December.

[ January 3, 2010; 7:30 pm; ] Two films from Roger Moore’s stint as James Bond appear on a double bill, wrapping up the American Cinematheque’s three-day festival featuring the exploits of Ian Fleming’s famous superspy.
MOONRAKER, 1979, MGM Repertory, 126 min. Dir. Lewis Gilbert. James Bond goes to space in his 11th outing, which stars Roger Moore as Bond and the gorgeous [...]

[ January 2, 2010; 7:30 pm; ] Two of the best James Bond adventures appear on a double bill as part of the American Cinematheque’s three-day festival featuring the exploits of Ian Fleming’s famous superspy. 007 expert Steve Rubin will introduce the screenings and hold a trivia contest.
GOLDFINGER, 1964, MGM Repertory, 111 min. Dir. Guy Hamilton. “Do you expect me to talk, Goldfinger?” “No, Mr. [...]

[ January 1, 2010; 11:59 pm; ] The disappointing theatrical version of Joss Whedon’s cancelled television series FIREFLY screens at midnight. For fans only. What a way to start the New Year!

Title: Serenity
Location: Nuart Theatre, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd, West Los Angeles 90025
Link out: Click here
Date: 2010–01-01 at midnight

The American Cinematheque presents this screening of the 1962 TV special, an animated musical version of Dickens’ tale, featuring the near-sighted Mr. Magoo as Scrooge. Following the screening, a panel including animator Darrell Van Citters, author of the new book “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, the Making of the First Animated Christmas Special” from Oxberry Press [...]

Beginning on Tuesday, December 22, the Relevant Stage continues its annual tradition of offering The Christmas Carol, a stage adaptation of Dickens’s classic story “A Christmas Carol” to families in December. Written during a time of decline in the old Christmas traditions, Dickens’s original book played a critical role in redefining the importance of Christmas [...]

The San Pedro Ballet gives two performances of Tchaikovsky’s famous Christmas ballet, about toys coming to life: December 12 at 7pm and December 13 at 2pm.
Title: The Nutcracker by the San Pedro City Ballet
Location: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 West 6th Street, San Pedro
Website: Click here
Dates: December 12 at 7pm and December 13 at 2pm

[ December 15, 2009; 7:30 pm; ] A pair of horror films exploiting the yuletide season for terror combine to provide this month’s Grindhouse Double Bill. The 1974 BLACK CHRISTMAS inspired John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN, and should not be judged by the disastrous remake.

Title: Christmas Evil & Black Christmas
Location: New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Blvd in LosAngeles
Link out: Click here
Date: December 15 at [...]

Celebrate the holiday season at Universal Studios with their recreation of Who-ville as seen in HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS. Play in real snow, sing along with the Whos (NOT The Who), and gather round for the spectacular tree-lighting ceremony.
Park hours are usually 10am-5pm. Some days have extended hours, beginning at 9am and ending at [...]

As part of their series “1939 Redux: Digging Deeper into Hollywood’s Greatest Year,” the UCLA Film & Television Archive presents this double bill of classic scary films. THE OLD DARK HOUSE is a classic combo of thrills and comedy, with Bob Hope wise-cracking his way through the prototypical old dark house tale. SON OF FRANKENSTEIN is the third in Universal Studios’ classic series; it’s an all-star affair with Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff as the Monster.

Frank Capra’s perennial Christmas classic screens for four days at the Bay Theatre: Saturday at 3pm, Sunday at 6pm, Monday at 8pm, and Wednesday at 8pm (no screening Tuesday). It’s all about what happens to George Bailey (James Stewart) when his life turns out so bad that he wishes he had never been born, and [...]

Finally, after an unforgivably long delay, we are back to wrap up this year’s edition of our annual Halloween Haunt Odyssey. Atypically, our final stop was at not an amateur yard haunt but a professional Halloween haunted house: the Vampyr Inn’s Bloody Ball, a new Halloween attraction in West Hollywood.

[ December 27, 2009; 7:30 pm; ] The American Cinematheque presents a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1958 thriller, starring James Stewart as a private eye (with a fear of heights) who falls for a woman he is tailing (Kim Novak) who claims to be the reincarnation of a dead woman.

Title: Vertigo
Location: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
Link out: Click here
Date: December [...]

[ December 19, 2009; 7:30 pm; ]  The American Cinematheque presents two screenings of Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas classic, starring James Stewart as a frustrated man who finds out how much worse life would have been for his friends and neighbors if he had never been born.

Title: It’s a Wonderful Life
Location: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
Link out: Click here
Date: December 19 [...]

The American Cinematheque presents this three-day festival featuring the exploits of Ian Fleming’s famous superspy. Titles include DR NO, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL, MOONRAKER, and FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. 007 expert Steve Rubin will appear at two of the screenings, to introduce the films and hold a trivia contest.
Title: The Best of Jams [...]

Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
 The American Cinematheque presents “Terry Gilliam’s Imagnariums,” a tribute to the visionary director of BRASIL, TIME BANDITS, THE FISHER KING, and THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN. Spread over two weekends, the fest launches with a sneak preview of Gilliam’s latest film THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS, starring Christopher [...]

[ December 20, 2009; 4:00 pm to 7:30 pm. ] The American Cinematheque presents two screenings of Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas classic, starring James Stewart as a frustrated man who finds out how much worse life would have been for his friends and neighbors if he had never been born.

Title: It’s a Wonderful Life
Location: Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA
Link out: Click here
Date: [...]

The American Cinematheque presents a screening of the odd-ball 2004 cult spoof, with live commentary from writer-director Larry Bamire and members of the cast.
From the website:
In this lovingly deadpan recreation of those ultra-cheap ’50s sci-fi/horror films, a gaggle of cherished B-movie stereotypes descend upon Bronson Canyon in search of the mysterious element “atmosphereum” – most [...]

The American Cinematheque presents a 50th anniversary screening of MGM’s classic post-nuclear war movie, directed by Stanley Kramer, with an all-star cast (Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Anthony Perkins, Fred Astaire, etc). Actor and Activist Ed Begley Jr. will introduce the screening. Discussion following with Stanley Kramer’s widow, Karen Kramer and actress Donna Anderson.
Title: On the [...]

[ December 5, 2009; 7:30 pm; ] The American Cinematheque presents STAR TREK: II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, and STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME. Nicolas Meyer, who directed Part II and co-wrote Part IV, will appear in between the first and second screenings to discuss his contribution to the series.

Title: Star Trek Triple Bill
Location: [...]

This double bill launches a two-day tribute by the American Cinematheque to the famous TREK franchise. The cast and crew of FREE ENTERPRISE (including director Robert Burnett and producer Mark Altman) will appear for a Q&A.
From the website:
STAR TREK, 2009, Paramount, 130 min. Director JJ Abrams successfully rebooted the STAR TREK franchise with this rousing, [...]

John Larroquett (as Max the Dog!) narrates this stage adaptation of the classic Dr. Suess tale, about the evil Grinch (Stefan Karl) who tries to destroy Christmas for the town of Whoville. Included are the songs “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome to Christmas” from the well-loved animated television special.
From the official website:
Max [...]

Disney and Cmaeron Mackintosh present Broadway’s “perfectly magical musical” stage production of the classic film. Co-director and co-choreographer Matthew Bourne previously brought Tim Burtn’s EDWARD SCISSORHANDS to life on stage, so Los Angeles audiences should be interested in seeing his Broadway treatment of the Disney material.
Performances are at 8:00pm Tuesday through Friday; at 2:00pm and 8:00pm on Saturday; and [...]

[ December 18, 2009; 11:59 pm; ] As part of their Mondo Fridays series of cult and horror movies, the Art Theatre of Long Beach presents the original 1974 version of BLACK CHRISTMAS, a seminal slasher that inspired HALLOWEEN.

From the official website: Horror lovers and cinema insomniacs everywhere – have we got a Christmas present for you! Bob Clark’s original 1974 slasher [...]