Photo by kimbrough-photo via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr. INDULGE IN LOBSTER SEASON The Original Long Beach Lobster Festival closes up today. Every day of the festival, fresh lobster is flown in straight from Maine to feed the hungry masses. Enjoy live music, tons of vendors, and if lobster isn't enough for you, there will be plenty of food stalls to satisfy your massive hunger. Plus watch all the lobster be cooked......

There's a Druid film fest in Echo Park tonight. / Photo by Lush.i.ous via LAist's flickr pool. FILM : The Zócolo Public Square Lecture Series is holding a special screening of the upcoming film Elegy, starring Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley. Based on The Dying Animal by Philip Roth, the movie is a “meditation on the power of beauty to bind, to reveal and to transform.” A college professor becomes enamored with and destabilized......

The Batmobile gets a spit shine before the crowds descend on the Arclight theater in Hollywood......

Iron Man - Man on the Street Reviews on FunnyOrDie.com You think Iron Man is all that hype? See what "average folks" think (I felt superior almost immediately, but then again I am that insecure).......

"11.1.07," by edenjet via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr There is more information about the Wilmington shooting Thursday night that left one suspect dead and another in critical condition. "He just came out and decided, 'This is what I'm going to do today,'" one of the officers said. I think someone needed a hobby. Are you tired of the current crop of movies at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks? Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel,......

Barbarella plays at the Arclight tonight. / Photo by atomicshakespeares via LAist's flickr pool. SPOKEN WORD The NYC-based nonprofit organization The Moth brings its StorySLAM to LA every first Tuesday of the month. If you’re good a spinning yarns, then StorySLAM is for you. They provide the theme and the mic – you put your name in the hat and if you’re picked, you have 5-minutes to tell your story – no papers allowed.......

Unlike the rather tired and off-handed assessment of the LA food scene that the SF Chronicle tossed off about six months back, the New York Times has been showing how it's done: their recent piece on "36 Hours in Hollywood" and last week's survey of Sunset Junction. Okay, yes, some of their picks are probably geared to the curious tourist rather than the traveler interested in a more gritty L.A. experience -- Teddy's nightclub......

Rainy days and Mondays may get you down, so check out these events tonight to make the first night of the workweek no so ho-hum. FILM As part of the LA Phil's Concrete Frequency series, the Arclight Hollywood gets into the game with screenings of films that are "designed to examine and celebrate the elements that define a city, and how they are affected by, and reflected in, music." On tap tonight is Fritz......

I certainly can't speak for anyone else, but There Will Be Blood is my most anticipated film of the year, and it finally starts today at the Arclight. Part of me doesn't want to even mention this since it will only spur more people to crowd the theater tonight. The better half, though, thinks it's worth announcing since Blood is sure to go down as one of the best films in what has already......

KITSCH: The Charles Phoenix Holiday Jubilee returns to REDCAT for the next four evenings. LA kitsch expert Charles Phoenix brings together an evening of live comedy, including the Bob Baker Marionettes, roller rink organist Dominic Cangelosi and a few other surprises. The entertainment's all in combination with his "Retro Holiday Slide Show," comprised of slides he found at area thrift shops and flea markets. 8 pm // REDCAT at Walt Disney Concert Hall //......

After a short hiatus of movie theater experiences at the Sherman Oaks Galleria this summer, Pacific Theatres reopened their doors as an ArcLight yesterday in a soft launch, preparing for the official December 14 grand opening. This will be the second Arclight in Los Angeles, the first being in Hollywood. In addition to the ArcLight's standards of reserved seating, no lines, large seats, 21 and over screenings (what will all those teens do now?!)......

The best of LA’s theatre scene is celebrated with the 2007 LA Stage Alliance’s Ovation Awards on Monday night at the Orpheum Theater downtown. The ceremony honor Annette Bening and will be hosted by Neil—wait for it—Patrick Harris (fans of How I Met Your Mother might appreciate that one). Tickets ($40, $80 and $150) to the show are available to the general public. If those ticket prices are too steep, then check out our......

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......

Update: tonight's screening at the Arclight is a special presentation with a Q&A with the director Seth Gordon afterwards. The film will then show tomorrow at the Nuart thru the 23rd. If you walk through the arcades these days you will see three different games. Driving games where you speed through various versions of Hell. Shooting games where you shoot and kill as many people places and things that you can. And walking down......

Guest Day Editor Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout the day. Read his introductory interview here and check out his site. Your mission: to get there, from anywhere, without a car. LAist sure does love the Arclight. It's not really my cuppa' tea... a little too flashy, way too pricey, and I don't appreciate a patronizing little speechy-poo before my movie. I prefer my Vista, Laemmle Grand 4......

Photo by idealterna via Flickr I had wanted to see the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose ever since I first saw a poster. My mom used to blast The Voice of The Sparrow: The Very Best of Edith Piaf around the house when I was kid, and I always remembered how strong her voice was, and how great the vibrato in it sounded, as well as the playfulness and sarcasm that came......

My inner 10-year-old just had an amazing time at "Transformers", while my 26-year-old self took a break from worrying about plot-holes and decent acting. All said, it was everything I wanted it to be. Give reality a break for 2 hours and go enjoy yourself. But if alien robots aren't your thing, there are a few other options opening Friday. Transformers - It isn't even the weekend and this movie has already brought in......

Last week I went to five concerts in five nights. It was a strange and unusual experience. I will review each of the shows in a second. But first I would like to dedicate the reviews to two people. The first would be the to the guy who put those dollar bills into the urinal at the Troubadour during the Menomena show. Dear guy, I appreciate you challenging my values in regards to wealth.......

Either he learned a few tricks from the Invisible Woman or the Silver Surfer was swiped from out in front of the Cinerama Dome at the Arclight. Hollywood resident Peggy Archer tagged the photo above on the LAist Featured Photos group on flickr and asks the question "Isn't there supposed to be a guy on there, or is the character a disembodied foot?" Hopefully (we always try to stay optimistic) the statue was not......

Let’s face it—with a few notable exceptions (Arclight, Grove, Bridge, Landmark), movie theaters in Los Angeles sort of suck. The seats are often stiff and cramped; the over-priced food is no great shakes; and every feature is front-loaded with a solid ten to fifteen minutes of commercials. And this is coming from someone who loves going to the movies! I wallow through this crap two or three times a week! There has to be......

Could it be? Did someone finally out ArcLight the ArcLight? If one of The Standard hotels built a theater, it would look like the new Landmark. The most accurate way of describing it is “boutique”. The Landmark is all about the visual angles; sloping fixtures light the theaters and give a completely different feeling of space than you would expect for a “mall theater”. Angled walls line the hallways, and an angled ceiling compliments......

Written and photographed for LAist by Eric Reyers. In a city of movie lovers as picky about projection as they are snarky about snacks, elevating the theater-going experience is no easy feat. The redesigned Landmark Theater at the Westside Pavilion has made a bold gambit by transforming a small, typically janky mall theater into a high-end mecca for indie film. When it opens this Friday, June 1, Landmark's flagship venue in the Los Angeles......

Out here in Tinseltown, movies are part of our livelihood. They are meant to be an event, an experience, a true artform to be appreciated. It is ironic then, that the one of the great moviegoing traditions of yesteryear, the drive-in theater, has been nearly wiped out from the Southern California landscape. But this past weekend marked a comeback of sorts with the grand opening of the Star-Vu Drive-In in Costa Mesa. Located at the......

For at least one major Hollywood hotspot last night, it was all smoke and no fire. And ironically enough, that molten mecca rockstar restaurant wanna-be of radness is named “Charcoal”. El Ocho de Mayo marked the much bally-hooed opening of the latest Place to be Scene, in the bare-ass belly of the underused ArcLight Cinema Center, a location screaming of great late-night possibilities. If you’re still wondering what the hell kind of place “Charcoal”......

Grindhouse Monday and Tuesday it's The Muthers, a combination blaxploitation and women-in-prison flick that stars Janine Bell and Rosanne Katon as a pirate duo who must rescue Bells sister from the private jail of an evil coffee plantation owner, followed by Fight for Your Life, a revenge thriller about a pacifist black minister whose family is taken hostage and tortured by a trio of convicts, until he finally snaps and wreaks his vengeance. Wednesday and......

The Indian Film Festival celebrates its fifth anniversary this year and is now six days long. The festival takes place at the incredible ArcLight Hollywood, get tickets HERE. There will be at least 40 showings of films, both short as well as feature length. Events include an Opening Night Gala on Tuesday, April 17th, with the Los Angeles premiere of Provoked followed by a reception at the Ivar with a DJ set from the Bombay......

- Mike Tyson spotted at the Arclight? - Defamer - That's a sweet iPod-ish desk, but it doesn't look very ergo-friendly - Gizmodo - Tina Fey on Aaron Sorkin at the WGA's: "I hear Aaron Sorkin is in Los Angeles wearing the same dress - but longer, and not funny." - Jossip - No Cal has the biggest drain hole in the world - Fogonazos - We approve of Britney's new friends - Superficial......

Can we go a week without licking the taint of our favorite local behemoth record store? Maybe. But it won't be this week. In the last year, The Shins have played Hollywood Bowl, Lollapalooza, Letterman (see above), Conan (see below, after the jump) and this spring will - allegedly - play Coachella. Hard to listen to The Shins without smiling, so if you end up at the record store next to the Arclight tonight......

A number of architecturally historic buildings reside along Wilshire Boulevard, many of which don't serve their original purposes anymore, having been converted into restaurants, boutiques, or office supply stores. One such example is the newly remodeled Metro Customer Center on Wilshire. Housed in an understated yet elegant building originally designed by Welton Beckett's firm, Metro Customer Center functions as an information and pass distribution center as well as the Lost and Found for the......

That film the Beastie Boys adoringly spoofed for this video is the campy 1968 Euro spy movie Danger Diabolik, and it's playing at The New Beverly tonight and tomorrow. Danger Diabolik - If being a super villain really was all about dashing around the globe in the coolest mod clothes and sleekest sports cars while staging elaborate jewel heists before returning to your posh, super-secret lair to shag your blonde accomplice, this movie is......