| Special One Night Events in
April:
THE GEEK MONTHLY SCREENING SERIES
PRESENTS
The Geek Monthly Screening Series is sponsored by Geek Monthly
(geekmonthly.com), the leading magazine devoted to pop culture, lifestyle, entertainment
and obsession. Each month Geek will screen significant films in conjunction with the
American CInematheque in a variety of genres featuring the creative team involved in
making them live and in-person. This inaugural entry features a Sneak Preview of HOT FUZZ,
the wild new crime action comedy from director Edgar Wright (SHAUN OF THE DEAD) who will
be appearing In-Person with actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost!
This event is SOLD OUT.
Saturday, April 7 – 6:00 PM
Hotfuzztival! Edgar Wright In
Person:
Sneak Preview! HOT FUZZ, 2007, Focus
Features, 121 min. The action-packed new comedy from the makers of the hit movie SHAUN OF
THE DEAD. With the same razor-sharp combination of humor and attention to detail they used
to breathe new life into the undead, Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright have set their
sights on action movies for their next uniquely funny vision. Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg)
is the finest cop London has to offer, with an arrest record 400% higher than any other
officer on the force. He’s so good, he makes everyone else look bad. As a result,
Angel’s superiors send him to a place where his talents won’t be quite so
embarrassing – the sleepy and seemingly crime-free village of Sandford. Once
there, he is partnered with the well-meaning but overeager police officer Danny Butterman
(Nick Frost). The son of amiable Police Chief Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent), Danny is a
huge action movie fan and believes his new big-city partner might just be a real-life
"bad boy." This is his chance to experience the life of gunfights and car chases
he so longs for. Angel is quick to dismiss this as childish fantasy, and Danny’s
puppy-like enthusiasm only adds to Angel’s growing frustration. However, as a series
of grisly accidents rocks the village, Angel is convinced that Sandford is not what it
seems and as the intrigue deepens, Danny’s dreams of explosive, high-octane,
car-chasing, gunfighting and all-out action seem more and more like a reality. It’s
time for these small-town cops to break out some big-city justice. In addition to Oscar
winner Jim Broadbent, the stellar lineup of talent includes Paddy Considine (IN AMERICA),
Steve Coogan (NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM), Timothy Dalton (THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS), Martin Freeman
(THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY), Paul Freeman (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK),
Bill Nighy (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST), Edward Woodward ("The
Equalizer," the original THE WICKER MAN), and plenty of surprises!
HARD BOILED, 1992, The Weinstein Company, 126 min. Dir. John
Woo. Cop Chow Yun-Fat and enigmatic killer Tony Leung join forces to take down a
bloodthirsty gang of arms dealers in Woo’s over-the-top, expertly orchestrated
follow-up to THE KILLER. The nail-bitingly suspenseful hospital-full-of-hostages third act
manages to coax warmth and humor out of one of the most hypnotically violent climaxes in
cinema history.
POINT BREAK, 1991, 20th Century Fox,
120 min. Dir. Katheryn Bigelow. 100% Pure Adrenaline from Director Kathryn Bigelow with
Keanu Reeves as an undercover FBI in the surf community trying to infiltrate a gang of
bank robbers wearing masks of ex-presidents Reagan, Carter, Nixon and Johnson. The LA
surf/crime action movie! Discussion in between the first two films with director Edgar
Wright and actors Nick Frost and Simon Pegg.
Thursday, April 12 – 7:30 PM
Actress/Director Rosanna Arquette In-Person!
SEARCHING FOR DEBRA WINGER, 2002, 100
min. Struck by the fact that Debra Winger, who earned three Oscar nominations, had
left the profession while still in her thirties, actress Rosanna Arquette got
behind the camera to direct this documentary about how actresses cope with being a female
in the entertainment industry. An intelligent, moving and inspiring documentary which
demystifies the work of actresses and their everyday lives. Featuring interviews with Emmanuelle
Beart, Julie Delpy, Laura Dern, Jane Fonda, Terri Garr, Whoopi Goldberg, Melanie Griffith,
Salma Hayek, Diane Lane, Holly Hunter, Martha Plimpton, Meg Ryan, Ally Sheedy, Debra
Winger, Sharon Stone and more. Discussion following with
director/actress Rosanna Arquette and other actresses (TBA).
Wednesday, April 25 – 7:30 PM
Melville Shavelson In
Person! 90th Birthday Celebration!
Melville Shavelson is one of Hollywood's triple-threat writers-directors-producers,
and a two-time Academy Award Nominee for his original screenplays with Jack Rose for
HOUSEBOAT and THE SEVEN LITTLE FOYS, which he also directed. He served three terms as
President of the Writers Guild of America West and is the recipient of its highest honor,
the Laurel Award for Screenwriting. He has written, alone or in collaboration, over
thirty-five feature motion pictures, directed twelve of them, and created for television
two Emmy Award-winning series. Among the films he both wrote and directed are HOUSEBOAT,
THE SEVEN LITTLE FOYS, THE FIVE PENNIES, IT STARTED IN NAPLES, ON THE DOUBLE, A NEW KIND
OF LOVE, CAST A GIANT SHADOW, THE WAR BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN, and YOURS, MINE AND OURS.
Melville Shavelson’s autobiography How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really
Trying, P.S. – You Can’t! will be published by BearManor Media in late April
YOURS, MINE AND OURS, 1968, MGM Repertory,
111 min. Dir. Melville Shavelson. A surprise smash hit comedy in the CHEAPER BY THE
DOZEN tradition with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball as a newlywed widower
couple with twenty children between them from their previous marriages. Can they ever
become a big happy family? Would a house be big enough for all of them? "Lucy is a
master of the sight gag, and no one can be quite so helpless in the face of confusion...
Her methods of supervising breakfast for 20 people are a reminder of her hilarious attempt
to fry an egg in "The Long, Long Trailer." Fonda is an appropriately wise,
patient, bewildered father. And young Eric Shea, who plays Phillip, steals more than one
scene as he gets squeezed out in the rush. Ignored at breakfast, he invents the oatmeal
sandwich in desperation." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times Discussion following with Writer/Director Melville Shavelson.
Thursday, April 26 – 7:30 PM
LA Premiere! Tim Hunter In Person!
THE FAR SIDE OF JERICHO, 2007, First Look
Pictures, 99 min. The opposite of recent "dark" westerns, this low-budget femme
oater/homage to John Wayne and Randolph Scott movies just wants to have a good time. Both
director Tim Hunter (RIVER’S EDGE), and hard-boiled cult writer James Crumley
(THE LAST GOOD KISS), who co-wrote the script, like their westerns straight-up and
action-packed with lots of dark humor. The result is a pistol-packing, great-looking,
widescreen entertainment shot in spectacular New Mexico locations – a treat for those
who like their westerns short on symbolism and tall in the saddle. Three widows of outlaw
gang members are forced to flee a posse and villains who think the women know where their
dead husbands’ loot is buried. On the perilous journey that includes run-ins with
Indians, Pinkerton agents, and even a few surly ghosts, they have the opportunity to
become better friends – if they manage to survive. The three "character
actress" leads, Judith Burnett, Suzanne Andrews and Lissa Negrin are
best friends in real life, and the salty supporting cast includes Patrick Bergin as
a corrupt sheriff and James Gammon as a decidedly homicidal preacher. Co-starring John
Diehl, C. Thomas Howell. Discussion following with director Tim Hunter and
actresses Judith Burnett, Suzanne Andrews and Lissa Negrin.
[Also playing at the Egyptian’s Spielberg Theatre: April 27 –
May 3]
GUILD HALL OF FAME - A TRIBUTE TO JOHN BOX
Presented in collaboration with the Art Directors Guild. www.artdirectors.org
Sunday, April 29 – 7:30 PM
AERO THEATRE - Santa Monica
Art director, John Box (1920-2005) was nicknamed "the magician" and
received an Academy Award after he created a snowy Russia while on location in scorching
Spain for DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. For INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS (1958) he built a Chinese wall in
Wales, and for ROLLERBALL (1975) he designed the arena and devised the game. Box is known
for his collaborations with director David Lean, beginning with the film LAWRENCE OF
ARABIA (1962), for which he also won an Oscar. Other Academy Awards came for OLIVER!
(1968) and NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRIA (1971). He was inducted into the Art Directors Guild
Hall of Fame in 2006.
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, 1965, Warner Bros., 193 min. Dir. David
Lean. "If this man were my father, I should want to know," says General
Yevgraf Zhivago (Alec Guinness) to his wary niece (Rita Tushingham) –
and the story that he narrates, of decadent Tsarists, anguished revolutionaries, two
beautiful women in love with the same man, a nation and a people in upheaval, and above
all, the poet and physician (Omar Sharif) who witnesses and remembers it all –
is one of the most lyrical and visually breathtaking stories in the history of film. From
the bloodstained march through the Moscow streets, to the snowbound train ride through the
Ural Mountains, to the haunted ice palace at Varykino, this is the essence of pure cinema.
Brilliantly scripted by Robert Bolt (from Boris Pasternak’s novel), and
photographed by Freddie Young (who replaced Nicolas Roeg soon into shooting). Co-starring Julie
Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Tom Courtenay, Ralph Richardson and Siobhan
McKenna, with sublime music by Maurice Jarre. Guests
TBA. |
