Results tagged “clinteastwood”

       

I was a big fan of Gran Torino when it originally dropped in theaters last year. The one complaint I constantly heard from those who didn't like it was that the young Asian actors weren't very good. My reply to them was that within the universe of the film, these kids had a less than perfect grasp of English so naturally they would struggle to speak. At any rate, Gran Torino was a great flick that you should definitely catch now if you missed it last year. The International and Crossing Over belong on the endangered species list of "Expensive adult dramas that don't make much money." The future of these movies is on DVD, I think. Too bad.

By Gareen Darakjian, Special to LAist

How is it that I 100% get the appeal of the Twilight books, but am completely mystified by the massive success of High School Musical 3? As far as I can see, HSM3 has only one thing going for it. Strange that an essentially clunky film like Gran Torino worked so well, while a seemingly fascinating film like Changeling fell flat. Speaking of movies not working, Body of Lies was about as disappointing as they get, huh? How on earth do you so badly waste the brilliant Russell Crowe? Choke was good, dirty fun. It's worth a rental.

By now, everyone's sick of hearing about how the economy's in the toilet. But hey, sometimes it nets you cheap dinner and a free movie. If you're unemployed, that is. Then you'll want to be heading over to the old Aero, for the uncanny Boris Karloff's spookiest performances, the highly flappable combination of Laurel & Hardy & Fields, and more Ginger than a Shirley Temple - all on their dime (simply present your ID & EDD). For more current freebies, you could always set aside some time to learn something - how about the plight of women in Iran at The Hammer? Or the plight of our descendants stalked by cannibalistic humanoids at The Skirball? Suddenly the recession's a tad easier to bear.

REDCAT screens Brigitte Cornand’s 1995 documentary on artist Chère Louise tonight at 8:30 pm. “Documentarian Brigitte Cornand first met Louise Bourgeois in 1994 and over the next dozen years made a trilogy of intimate videos about the iconic artist, now 97, through an idiosyncratic form of collaboration between filmmaker and subject. The first installment of the trilogy, Chère Louise (Dear Louise), traces the inspirations, autobiographical sources and everyday routines that shape Bourgeois’ powerful art.” Cornand will appear in person at the screening.

After a month in limited release, Gran Torino finally rolled out nationwide and easily won the weekend box office crown ($29M/$40M). The sexist Bride Wars finished a distant second ($21.5M) followed by yet another dull PG-13 horror flick, The Unborn ($21M). Marley & Me slipped from the top spot but still had a decent weekend ($11.3M/$123.7M) as did Oscar favorite The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ($9.4M/$94.3M).

With the Golden Globes just days away, now's your last chance to catch up. Best Picture contenders duke it out with directors in tow and--in the red corner--Best Supporting Actress nominee Marisa Tomeiiiii! The Best Foreign Language noms continue their rounds of the American Cinematheque; the films at the Aero and the filmmakers at the Egyptian. Swedish director Jan Troell is particularly vigilant, blazing a one-man invasion through these events and LACMA. After the awards, feed your jingoism with all-American auteurs Dennis Hopper, Stan Brakhage and Clint Eastwood.

Christmas darling ($7M/$43.7M).

While 2008 was no 1999 in terms of truly amazing films, it was better than most may think. Last year, I went with a top 10 that was headed by the wondrous and magical . Accordingly, I've put them at the very top of my list. The rest are in alphabetical order. See each one of them and I promise you will have lived a better life once you're done.

In Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood has finally fused his many previous cinema personas into something both grand and elegant. It belongs in the Oscar conversation (plus Clint sings!). Doubt was timelier when it opened onstage years back, but how do you miss anything featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep ( excepted)? The Day the Earth Stood Still might be worth watching if virtually anyone other than Keanu Reeves inhabited the central role. He's a likable schlumpf in a role that demands an actor with a quiet and menacing charisma. Michael Shannon anyone?

The moronic ($6M).

Disney's decision to move the ($6.9M/$78.1M) which continues to perform well despite my most fervent prayers.

Will? Please make Anchorman 2 while you still can! | Photo courtesy of New Line Cinemas

The Flat Stanley project was started in 1995 by Dale Hubert, a Canadian schoolteacher. The project is based on the title character in Flat Stanley, a 1964 children's book. In the book, Stanley Lambchop is squished flat, which gives him unique abilities, like being able to slide under doors and travel in envelopes. The project is intended to increase literacy and educate children about geography.

Welcome to a two-part review of the year’s best cookbooks. In part one, I’ll list five new books that inspired me in the kitchen in 2007…part 2 will include five rediscoveries that you might want to add to your shelf.

He plays the part on TV but Drew Carey is not all games all the time. The host of both The Price is Right and Power of 10, Carey moonlights as one of Hollywood's most visible Libertarians (see also: Clint Eastwood, Trey Parker, Jason Reitman). Starting today, he's taking it broadband via the Reason Foundation's new online video channel "for free minds and free markets," Reason.tv. "We need Reason to help fight the stupid drug...

A couple more days of this visual and mental assault. I've discovered that drinking really helps though. 7:30pm Where Eagles Dare TCM - Here's your chance to bypass most of the new and quite possibly very mediocre offerings this evening by watching this classic. Richard Burton is wooden and robotic in this good guys vs. the Nazis flick, Clint Eastwood is fantastic and there's lots of cool explosions and Nazis getting shot and stuff. 8:00pm...

The TelePromTer-readers and out-of-touch-hate-mongers of the mainstream media thought that they were being super-cool by discussing/bitching about the presidential candidate debates that were posted on YouTube. So since that new, interesting, and youth-vote promoting aspect of the next election has been talked to death by the talking-heads, I have found these candidate related webpages to occupy me during my early in the ante meridian down-time: At SuperBook.com, you can go to their "Exotic Lines"...

Though my allegiance has switched over to the Landmark, many film lovers in Los Angeles regard the Arclight as the best multiplex in town. It programs studio pictures right alongside esoteric indies, it offers great concessions, its screenings are commercial-free and it schedules cool events with celebrated films and filmmakers. This Wednesday, tickets go on sale for one of those very events. In fact, this one may be the coolest in awhile. To celebrate...

Just when you think we'd be done with our Oscar coverage, we get this in our email box, an open letter from a documentary film nominee who is upset at how Jerry Seinfeld introduced the category. Which we thought was odd since after Jerry was done with his bit we were thinking, "why the heck hasn't Seinfeld been the host of the Oscars?" Our pals Seattlest are also pro-Jerry. Although we're not in the...

Most vanilla Oscars ever. Ellen DeGeneres wasn't a bad host. But she wasn't a good one. Her mildly funny jokes and conversational good nature made it feel like we were watching a daytime talk show host wallowing in the oversized britches of a big-time awards ceremony. Oh wait, we were. Thank you, Ellen DeGeneres, for proving that queers can be as bland and conventional as breeders. Jerry Seinfeld's presentation of the feature documentary award was...

What if... Jennifer Hudson doesn't win? Sometimes the one sure thing turns out not to be the one sure thing. Then who wins? The ten year-old. None of the others are in the running, and I say that thinking that Rinko Kikuchi should win, even though I had tons of problems with Babel. Everyone likes the ten year-old. Don't count out the ten year-old. What if... Eddie Murphy doesn't win? Then the theory that...

Recommended After Innocence - Jessica Sanders directs this documentary detailing the stories of seven men who were wrongfully imprisoned for decades (some of them on death row) before finally being exonerated by DNA evidence. The Amazing Screw-On Head - This animated 30-minute pilot (I can only hope there will be more episodes) based on the comic book by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is full of awesome animation (it closely mimics Mignola's style), witty dialogue,...

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A Word or 108: Superbowl Redux: I found myself wandering over to the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet a couple times yesterday, and that isn't a bad thing -- the kitten halftime show was excellent. Almost all the Superbowl commercials had been leaked onto the web a week ago so there was nothing new there. I still can't understand why, with all those professionals there, that it would take almost Prince's entire (fantastic) set...

Special Screenings & Limited Releases Jean-Luc Godard's Two or Three Things I Know About Her opens for a week-long run at the Nuart in West L.A. Saturday at 7:30pm The American Cinematheque screens a real, live 70mm print of Lawrence of Arabia at the Aero in Santa Monica. See this movie on the big screen the way it was meant to be seen! Major Releases The Good Shepherd & The Good German -- I...

Tonight - Monday "Breakheart Pass" (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) Charles Bronson starts off Crime/Mystery night on TCM. This is followed by "Murder On the Orient Express", "Sherlock Holmes in Terror By Night", and "The Narrow Margin" "Monday Night Football" (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.) da Bears @ Rams "NBA Basketball" (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Spurs @ Clippers "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) Xmas episode followed by new episodes of everything else on CBS Monday night....

This morning on the Howard Stern Show the king of all media read a statement written by a former Clear Channel radio personality who is now on a mission to get Stern a star on Hollywood Blvd.

WEDNESDAY

Heather at Dancing Brave thinks the Oscars are going ghetto. We think they are going interesting. First, a confession: we're not a fan of awards shows. We find them boring so the idea of Chris Rock harassing stuffy Hollywood types who are believing their own hype at the Academy Awards is amusing to us. We're pretty sure that there's only so far you can go with sanitizing Chris Rock at a live event with a live mic so the banter between him and attendees should be 4 parts hilarious and 6 parts uncomfortable most of the time.