Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Movies Are The Real World
This weekend sees the opening of at least four new movies hitting theaters all across the Southland, and in surveying them LAist can't help but think how Angelenos could experience the same events in said movies around Los Angeles without ever having to pay a cent.
After The Sunset, stars Pierce Brosnan as a thief who, along with his girlfriend Salma Hayek, tries their best to take part in illegal activities and avoid getting caught by the law. Such criminal outsmarting-ness can, of course, be spotted on any weekend night inside of any clubs across this great land, as boyfriends and girlfriends pop some "E", smoke some dope or inject a variety of illegal substances via their forearms, toes and feet. Of course, some might say that any illegal activity that doesn't involve Woody Harrelson (which this movie does) is worth the consequences.
Support for LAist comes from
The Polar Express involves young children, trains, bums and eerie little elves, which really, isn't all that different from a night at any of Los Angeles' Metrolink stations. There you can be sure to be asked to buy popcorn or magazine subscriptions from parentless children with oily hands, be asked for change from bums and small people, but fortunately never have to be stuck with an eerie image of Tom Hanks as a CGI Santa Claus -- which, in our mind, makes a night at a train station far better and less psychologically-scarring.
Seed of Chucky tells the story of Chucky and Tiffany (both puppets) who set out to wreck the shoot of a movie. Hmm. Although the Entertainment Industry is indeed filled with puppets who indirectly set out to wreck movies each and every day, LAist is pretty adamant about preferring to sit through a piece of tongue-in-cheek/steaming pile of doo-doo like this than spending any time with L.A. puppets who suck the creative inspiration out of anything and everything.
Finally opening this weekend is Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason which tells the story of a fat girl with a boyfriend whose old lover shows up to tell her that, yes, he still loves her even though she is fat and no matter how fat she is, he still wants to be with her. Yes, it's a scene you could catch on a daily basis at the Fox Hills Mall, the Beverly Center, or out at the La Brea Tarpits...but with a subtitle of "The Edge of Reason", LAist is somewhat curious to see if it surpasses the cheesiness of such movie subtitle classics as Speed 2: Cruise Control and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.
In the end, movies are the lifeblood of Los Angeles -- but they are also...Los Angeles itself. So the next time you're trying to decide about renting Shrek 2 or viewing the green nauseous post-Botox laides of Rodeo drive -- know that one will cost you money to see, and the other will simply require opening the door and walking outside.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
If approved, the more than 62-acre project would include 50 housing lots and a marina less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow's famous nest overlooking the lake. -
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance.
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
Best of LAist