Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s new movie releases. We also discuss favorite space movies and the accuracy of space exploration in Hollywood.
FilmWeek: ‘First Man,’ ‘Bad Times at the El Royale,’ ‘The Oath’ and more
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s new movie releases.
- "
First Man
" in wide release
- The Frame's John Horn interviewed "First Man" director Damien Chazelle earlier this week, you can listen to the interview here
- " Bad Times at the El Royale " in wide release
- " The Oath " in select theaters (check your local listings)
- " Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween " in wide release
- " Sadie " at Arena Cinelounge Sunset
- " Beautiful Boy " at ArcLight Hollywood & The Landmark
- " After Everything " at Vintage Los Feliz
- " Moynihan " at Laemmle's Music Hall
- "
22 July
" at Laemmle's Playhouse, Laemmle's NoHo, Laemmle's Town Center, Laemmle's Claremont, Laemmle's Glendale, The Landmark, IPic Theaters Pasadena & Netflix
- John Horn interviewed "22 July" director Paul Greengrass earlier this week on The Frame, listen to that interview here
- " Apostle " at Laemmle's NoHo & Netflix
- " The Sentence " at Laemmle's Playhouse (debuting on HBO next week)
- " The Kindergarten Teacher " at Landmark's Regent Theatre in Westwood & Netflix
- " Studio 54 " at Nuart Theatre
Critics' Hits:
Tim: "Beautiful Boy", "The Kindergarten Teacher" & "The Sentence"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NR8w8s9zWA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n1NP6w5lXs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_BDAiN7oe8
Amy: "After Everything", "The Oath" & "Sadie"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feOPCrORwdw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I8x79pgqok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO8_CNvwp_Q
Mixed Feelings:
Tim: "Bad Times at the El Royale" & "22 July"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7wzBVARwaU&t=45s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVpUZGmHJB8
Amy: "Apsotle" & "First Man"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1JdWOqc9Q8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSoRx87OO6k
Misses:
Tim: "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQeOzfm-lps
Guests:
Amy Nicholson , film critic for KPCC, film writer for The Guardian and host of the podcasts ‘ The Canon ’ and ‘ Unspooled ’; she tweets
Tim Cogshell , film critic for KPCC, Alt-Film Guide and CineGods.com ; he tweets
The Final (Film) Frontier: Talking favorite space movies, and why a real-life rocket scientist says ‘First Man’ tops her list
“First Man” the biographical drama about Neil Armstrong and the legendary space mission that led him to walk on the moon opens in theaters this weekend.
In the past few years it’s fairly common to see a big-budget Hollywood movie about space exploration. Whether it was 2015’s “The Martian”, 2014’s Interstellar, or 2013’s “Gravity” Hollywood seems to love sending celebrities into space.
But Hollywood’s love of space isn’t just limited to the past decade. Movies like “The Right Stuff”, “Apollo 13”, The Star Wars, Star Trek, and Alien franchises, and even “2001: A Space Odyssey” (which was released in theaters 16 months before Armstrong stepped foot on the moon) have shown that audiences love movies about humans, and other life forms, in space.
Earlier this week on AirTalk, we aired a segment about Los Angeles' role in the future of human space travel and spoke with rocket scientist and USC professor Anita Sengupta, who mentioned to Larry Mantle in passing that "First Man" is the best space movie she's ever seen, so we brought her back to explain why. We’ll also discuss and ask the question “Just how accurate are these movies in their depiction of space and space travel?”
If you’ve got any questions for Dr. Sengupta regarding the accuracy of space exploration in movies, or have a favorite or all-time great space movie to share, give us call at 866-893-5722.
Guests:
Anita Sengupta , rocket scientist, aerospace engineer who formerly worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, adjunct research associate professor of astronautics at USC, and senior vice president of systems engineering at Virgin Hyperloop One , the L.A.-based tech company that built the first operational Hyperloop in Las Vegas; she tweets
Amy Nicholson , film critic for KPCC, film writer for The Guardian and host of the podcasts ‘ The Canon ’ and ‘Unspooled’; she tweets
Tim Cogshell , film critic for KPCC, Alt-Film Guide and CineGods.com; he tweets