Hollywood Gothique

The New Year is getting off to a slow start when it comes to fantasy film, mystery movies, horror-thrillers, and sci-fi cinema events in the Los Angeles area. Fortunately, the dry spell comes to an end on Friday, with a midnight screening of ALIEN (1979) and the latest installment of After Dark’s “8 Films to Die For” [...]

BOLT is coming to the end of its run at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood - it’s final day is Sunday, January 4.  Overshadowed by the awesome WALL-E, BOLT is an overlooked and under-rated film that is quite a worthy animated effort in its own right - an exciting and action-packed film filled with drama, [...]

A double bill of Paul Verhoeven science-fiction films, TOTAL RECALL and STARSHIP TROOPERS, continues its three-day run at the New Beverly Cinema. For some reason, these films are not as well-respected as Verhoeven’s earlier ROBOCOP, but RECALL has its virtues, and I think TROOPERS is rather under-rated. The remaining showtimes are on Monday and Tuesday, December [...]

With Christmas fast approaching, several local theatres are scheduling holiday classics. The American Cinematheque screens our personal favorite, Tim Burton’s stop-motion masterpiece THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica on Friday, December 19 at 7:30pm. For those of you who think of this as a Halloween film, here is a chance [...]

Lots of interesting screenings this week: a quartet of films from David Fincher, the director’s cut of a classic anime film, and a Christmas-themed classic about a man who unwittingly false under a witch’s romantic spell.
Topping our list is the American Cinematheque’s three-day tribute to Fincher, which takes place at the Egyptian Theatre - [...]

SUNSET BOULEVARD plays at 8pm on Thursday as part of the American Cinematheque’s 10th anniversary celebration of reopening the Egyptian Theatre. No one but me seems to realize that this is indeed a horror film. Literally, the story is about a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who becomes the boy-toy of a former silent movie star, but metaphorically, all of [...]

Happy first of December and welcome to what should be the beginning of the Christmas season! I say “should” because we all know that Jolly Old St. Nick starts making appearances as early as October. Personally, I think he should be outlawed from showing his face until at least after Thanksgiving. Give the poor old [...]

Falling in between Halloween and Christmas, the Thanksgiving holiday is a real low-point for fantasy films, mystery movies, horror-thrillers, and science-fiction cinema in Los Angeles; consequently, we have no recommendations for this week. (If you’re really desperate to get out of the house after Turkey Day, you might check out the midnight screening of BIG TROUBLE IN [...]

I don’t have any strong recommendations for fantasy films, mystery movies, and sci-fi cinema events in Los Angeles this week, but there is a nice opportunity to revisit eXistenZ, David Cronenberg’s off-beat entry into the virtual reality sweepstakes, on the big screen, courtesy of the New Beverly Cinema. Unfortunately, THE MATRIX, pretty much wiped Cronenberg’s [...]

This week, Daniel Craig is back as James Bond in QUANTUUM OF SOLACE. Gearing up for the release of the new 007 film, the Arclight is presenting a reprise screening of CASINO ROYALE, the 2006 film that introduced Craig in the role. Even more exciting, the Landmark theatre in West Los Angeles is throwing a [...]

Gearing up for the release of the new James Bond film, QUANTUUM OF SOLACE, the Arclight presents a reprise screening of CASINO ROYALE, the film that introduced Daniel Craig as the new 007.
Location: Arclight Cinemas Hollywood - 6360 W. Sunset Blvd in Hollywood
Website: www.arclightcinemas.com
Date: November 13 at 9:00pm

The final week of October is here. It’s do-or-die time - time to squeeze in your last blood-curdling screams of fright before the season ends. There are so many Halloween events in Los Angeles that you intended to attend - haunted houses, harvest festivals, costumes parties - but

Most of the major professional and theme park Halloween Haunts in Los Angeles are open for business by now, but some of the smaller venues - including a handful of amateur yard haunts will be opening their tombs this week. A few month-long film festivals continue with frightening flicks to keep you screaming throughout October.
In Hollywood, [...]