Marilyn Monroe fans, ready your wallets (and your savings accounts, and your retirement accounts, and your children's college funds) -- never-before-seen photos of the actress will be sold at the end of the month at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills. more ›

Before they won Oscars, the team behind The Artist made two 60s spy comedies, playing this weekend at the New Beverly. Plus, Cinefamily restores Chaplin & the Aero boasts a Silent House of its own. more ›

Inspired by the popularity of the Academy Award-nominated film "The Artist," the Associated Press takes a look at the remnants of the Silent Screen Era in Los Angeles. more ›

A few pieces from the extensive collection of Hollywood memorabilia put up for auction by actress Debbie Reynolds has already been sold off, bringing in big bucks. Pieces sold already include two dresses worn in films by Marilyn Monroe, one worn by Judy Garland in one of her most famous roles, and the hat right from Charlie Chaplin's head. more ›

Some people think of silent film screenings as novelties, but when you add live music to the mix—like the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) will do tomorrow—the passive screenings turn into performance. LACO's 22nd Annual Silent Film Gala will feature two 1918 Charlie Chaplin films, with the original Chaplin scores, restored, adapted and conducted by Timothy Brock and performed by the orchestra. more ›

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889. Though the beloved icon of the silver screen's silent era has been gone since 1977, his legacy endures. If you check Google today, the search engine has gone silent...via their doodle tribute in black and white to the Little Tramp's comic genius. Your video lunch today is a hearty serving of Charlie Chaplin, from his first on-screen speaking moment, to some ever-entertaining moments, and the Google Doodle tribute. more ›

Silent Wednesdays at Cinefamily is focusing on Charlie Chaplin tonight with a screening of The Kid (1921) along with A Dog's Life (1918) both via new 35mm prints. 8PM. $10. more ›

The films of horror maestro Dario Argento put the gore in gorgeous! This weekend, the New Beverly plays his two best-known features, Suspiria and Deep Red. For the uninitiated, Suspiria concerns a boarding school that may be a coven, while Deep Red is a textbook giallo (an Italian genre of sleazy, violent murder-mysteries). Argento augments both films with a psychedelic palette and delirious prog-rock score by Italian band Goblin. If you're already down with the Dario, you may want to especially note the Saturday evening show, as actress Barbara Magnolfi (Olga, the roommate from Suspiria) will make an appearance. It's a real treat to see these films in 35mm, and because they're horror films someone has heard of, remakes of both are in the works. Catch the originals while you can! more ›

This week, the real world marks the closing arguments in the court case against Prop. 8. Fittingly, the reel world responds with the premiere of documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition, at Laemmle's Sunset. Produced by former Mormons, and narrated by Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black, the film follows the money and the movement that pushed the legislation into being. To put the struggle in a historical perspective, the Nuart features Stonewall Uprising. The doc is the first to share the stories of Stonewall rioters, and in this spirit, the Nuart hosts Stonewall participant John O'Brien at Friday's evening show. We've come a long way, but there's still quite a ways to go. more ›

Look to the skies! The flying saucers will always be there! Not even your local cinematheque is safe when evil extraterrestrials & suave spacemen invade Santa Monica. Should our valiant heroes survive these "Far Out" encounters, they must still contend with a Martian militia, led by none other than our governor himself! I heard it through my magick Tesla Coil! more ›

“This is the picture that I want to be remembered by," Charlie Chaplin said of his film, "The Gold Rush," when it opened. Subtitled “A Dramatic Comedy,” the film finds Chaplin portraying a lone prospector who searches for love and acceptance in the frenzy of the great Klondike gold rush. The flick contains many of Chaplin’s most celebrated comedy sequences, including the boiling and eating of his shoe, the dance of the dinner rolls, and the teetering cabin. more ›

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There are so many events going on tonight, it must be Thursday – the unofficial start of the weekend. more ›

FILM* more ›

There are a lot of places you can go to feel "LA." For most people, it’s a surface thing--to see the glitz and the glamour, maybe eat alongside some celebrities. You can go to Mozza, Katsuya, Geisha House and see the stars and eat great (well, except at Geisha House), but for some of us, Hollywood is a past as well as a present. And for us, Musso & Frank’s perseveres. more ›

We know lots of people are heading out of town for a jumpstart on the Labor Day holiday. But if you’re sticking around -- maybe check out one of LAist’s theatre picks this week: 365 Days/365 Plays: Week 42 The staging of Suzan-Lori Parks’s massive experiment of writing a play a day continues this week in the hands of the Angry Bubble Productions. Audience members will be taken in 20 at a time for... more ›

In an era of comedic atrocities like "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" it is important to go to the source of film comedy for a refresher on the fundamentals of on-screen hilarity. Hands down, the best place to get a taste of where comedy came from is the Silent Movie Theater. With screenings featuring film greats like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton it is a wellspring for classic cinema. more ›

Last night at the El Rey, The Hold Steady did just that -- Not playing the coy, indie-nerd wallflowers and never crossing into absolute rock and roll mayhem, Craig Finn and the boys held the line, well, steady. Looking like a more-hip Paul Giamatti and gesturing feverishly like a less-nebbishy Woody Allen, Finn led the charge with flails and jolts, hand claps for miles, and his frighteningly accurate, wholly incongruous, Springsteen voice. Mesmerizing. The... more ›

+ Apple to staff Best Buy? The electronics giant has a lot of things going for it -- decent prices, good selection, excellent extended warranties -- so imagine if the computer sales staff was trained and managed by Apple? more ›