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LAist Film Calendar: Billy Wilder & Dennis Hopper: Tough as Nails & Black as Night
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Photo courtesy of MGM
Every week, dozens of classic Hollywood films grace our marquees and monitors. So many, in fact, that I often take them for granted. Not this week! For when the Aero goes Billy Wilder, I go even wilder! The perfect combination of bitter and romantic, cynic and humanistic, Wilder's films master a pitch-black sentiment that celebrates glamor, myth and the girl next door -- and then skewers it sans mercy. Two personal favorites are defining noir films Double Indemnity (also screening outdoors in the streets of Glendale) and Sunset Boulevard (which is still big - it's these other pictures that got small!), but what red-blooded-American-male wouldn't cross-dress for Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, or drink along with Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole? Be it Stalag 17, The Apartment, or even lesser known works Avanti! and Irma La Douce, anything with Billy Wilder credited as writer or director is well worth watching.
Elsewhere, our cinematic community continues to court another troubadour, the late Dennis Hopper. Have fun running with (and from) sharp objects, courtesy of the New Beverly's Saturday screening of Hopper in Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. If that clown is too candy-colored, pack up the Pabst and hit the town for a double-dose of Hopper's iconic boogeyman Frank Booth. Blue Velvet screens once on Friday at the Nuart, then again on Sunday to lead off a tribute BBQ at the Cinefamily. The triple feature joins David Lynch's eerie mystery with Hoosiers (which sports Gene Hackman alongside Hopper's only Oscar-nominated role) and River's Edge (with Hopper flanking Crispin Glover and Keanu Reeves). Since only the Not-So-Silent-Theatre would counter-program against themselves, the Hopper hoopla follows a "No Boys Allowed" Saturday night pajama party hosted by Drew Barrymore.
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Full list appears below. See you at the movies!
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Photo courtesy of Paramount
All Week
Beautiful Islands (2010) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
Chen Chieh-jen: Empire's Borders II - Western Enterprises, Inc. (2010) (Free Event) (REDCAT - Roy & Edna Disney/Calarts Theater)
Farewell (2009) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5) (The Landmark)
I Am Love (2010) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
Khatta Meetha (2010) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
The Kids Are All Right (2010) (Laemmle's Claremont 5) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
Kisses (2010) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
Mademoiselle Chambon (2009) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Royal Theatre) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
Monica & David (2009) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
New Original Works Festival (REDCAT - Roy & Edna Disney/Calarts Theater)
Orlando (1992) (Nuart Theatre)
The Poodle Trainer (2010) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
Racing Dreams (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Restrepo (2010) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
Valhala Rising (2010) (Exclusive Engagement) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Winter's Bone (2010) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
Wishes (2010) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
Thursday 7/22
12th Annual LA Shorts Festival (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
An Academy Centennial Celebration with Gloria Stuart (w/ Leonard Maltin & Gloria Stuart) (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)
Cyrus (2010) (Arclight Hollywood) (21+ screening)
Georgy Girl (1966) / The National Health (1973) (New Beverly Cinema)
The Happy Life (2007) (free event) (Korean Cultural Center)
Inception (2010) (Arclight Pasadena) (21+ screening)
The Kids Are All Right (2010) (Arclight Sherman Oaks) (21+ screening)
Krazy Kinks Fanklub Night: Do It Again (2010) / Mondo Kinks Video Mix (w/ movie subject Geoff Edgers) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (Don't Knock the Rock 2010)
My Favorite Year (1982) / History of the World, Part I (1981) (w/ director Richard Benjamin) (Egyptian Theatre) (Your Show of Shows: A Laugh-Out-Loud Weekend with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner)
Predators (2010) (Arclight Pasadena) (21+ screening)
Sunset Boulevard (1950) / Stalag 17 (1953) (Aero Theatre) (Ace on the Screen: A Weekend Tribute to Billy Wilder)
Friday 7/23
10 From Your Show of Shows (1973) / Enter Laughing (1967) (w/ Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner) (Egyptian Theatre) (Your Show of Shows: A Laugh-Out-Loud Weekend with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner)
Blue Velvet (1986) (Nuart Theatre) (Cine-Insomnia Midnight Movie)
Christmas in July (1940) / Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) (New Beverly Cinema)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) (Regency Westwood Village Theater) (Insomniac Cinema Midnight Movie)
It's Love I'm After (1937) / The Strawberry Blonde (1943) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Rarities from the Warner Archive Collection)
Night Ride (1961) / Tracks (1976) (w/ director Henry Jaglom and co-star Zack Norman) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (Dennis Hopper: Wasn't Born to Follow co-presented by MOCA and Cinespia)
One Hour With You (1932) / The Merry Widow (1934) (LACMA) (The American Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch)
Some Like It Hot (1959) / Avanti! (1972) (Aero Theatre) (Ace on the Screen: A Weekend Tribute to Billy Wilder)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) (Old Town Music Hall)
Saturday 7/24
The Apartment (1960) / Irma La Douce (1963) (Aero Theatre) (Ace on the Screen: A Weekend Tribute to Billy Wilder)
Christmas in July (1940) / Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) (New Beverly Cinema)
Cinefamily Pajama Party (NO BOYS ALLOWED!): Foxes (1980) / Valley Girl (1983) (w/ Drew Barrymore) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (Dumber in the Summer) (Co-presented by Bear Flag Wine and Paciugo Gelato)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) (Weekend Morning Show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
The Hard Way (1943) / Juke Girl (1942) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Rarities from the Warner Archive Collection)
High Noon (1952) (Hollywood Forever Cemetery) (Cinespia Screenings) (Summer Series)
The Jerk (1979) / Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) (w/ director Carl Reiner) (Egyptian Theatre) (Your Show of Shows: A Laugh-Out-Loud Weekend with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner)
Jurassic Park (1993) (Regency Academy) (Insomniac Cinema Midnight Movie)
Lavanderia (2010) (World Premiere Morning Show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
Pulp Fiction (1994) (Devil's Night Drive In)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Sins O' The Flesh Midnight Show) (Nuart Theatre)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Midnight Insanity Midnight Show) (South Coast Village Regency Theaters)
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) (Weekend Morning Show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
South of the Border (2010) (Weekend Morning Show) (Laemmle's Claremont 5)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) / Don't Deport Me, Scotty (2009) (70MM Midnight Show w/ actor George Takei) (Laemmle's Royal Theatre) (Simply 70 (mm) Star Trek Spectacular-Spectacular Saturdays)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) (w/ actress Caroline Williams) (New Beverly Cinema) (New Beverly Midnights) (co-presented by Horror Movie A Day)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) (Old Town Music Hall)
To Be Or Not to Be (1942) / A Royal Scandal (1945) (LACMA) (The American Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch)
Tocar y Luchar (To Play and to Fight) (1996) (free event) (Skirball Cultural Center)
Winter's Bone (2010) (Weekend Morning Show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
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Sunday 7/25
Blazing Saddles (1974) / Silent Movie (1976) (w/ director Mel Brooks) (Egyptian Theatre) (Your Show of Shows: A Laugh-Out-Loud Weekend with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner)
Dennis Hopper Triple Feature & BBQ: Blue Velvet (1986) / Hoosiers (1986) / River's Edge (1986) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (Dennis Hopper: Wasn't Born to Follow co-presented by MOCA and Cinespia)
Double Indemnity (1944) / Ace in the Hole (1951) (Aero Theatre) (Ace on the Screen: A Weekend Tribute to Billy Wilder)
Double Indemnity (1944) (Free Outdoor Screening) (Brand Park) (Glendale Historical Society)
The Lost Skeleton Returns Again (2009) / Dark and Stormy Night (2009) (New Beverly Cinema)
Saratoga Trunk (1946) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Rarities from the Warner Archive Collection)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) (Old Town Music Hall)
Views of Montana: Six Year Country (w/ director Joseph Aguirre) (Los Angeles Filmforum) (Egyptian Theatre)
Where's Poppa? (1970) (The Bay Theatre)
Winter's Bone (2010) (Weekend Morning Show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
That's all for this week. I didn't get the money, but I did get the girl.
Compiled, as always, by the amazing and diligent Edward Yerke-Robins (and family!)
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