FilmWeek

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Lael Loewenstein of Variety, Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com, and Charles Solomon, animation critic and historian for amazon.com discuss the week’s new film releases including 2012, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Pirate Radio, Endgame, TEN9EIGHT: Shoot For The Moon, and Women In Trouble, among others. The documentary "No Subtitles Necessary: László and Vilmos" follows the lives of two renowned cinematographers. In 1967, film students László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond escaped to Hollywood from war-torn Hungary. Starting with work on low-budget movies, the two each would go on to shoot the films that defined American New Wave, including "Easy Rider", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Five Easy Pieces", "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", and "Paper Moon."

Larry Mantle and film critics Claudia Puig of USA Today, Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor and Charles Solomon, animation critic and historian for amazon.com discuss several of the week’s new releases including Disney’s A Christmas Carol, The Men Who Stare At Goats, The Box, Precious, The Fourth Kind, The Yes Men Fix The World, Turning Green, The Wedding Song, Died Young Stayed Pretty, and Araya. Why do we need another book on Elizabeth Taylor? Author William Mann says that Taylor created the culture of celebrity that we have today and that everyone from Madonna to Britney to Miley Cyrus has taken a page from her book. In his new biography of the famed film star, Mann reveals how Liz Taylor “did it,” how her on-and off-screen passions ignited the sexual revolution and how she helped kick down the studio system by taking control of her own career.

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Lael Lowenstein of Variety and Peter Rainer of Christian Science Monitor discuss the week’s new film releases, including This Is It, Gentlemen Broncos, Skin, The House of the Devil, The Fall, and Jump. Then, the AFI Fest presents movies by emerging and established filmmakers. For this year’s festival, from October 30-November 7, tickets are free to all movie screenings. Larry Mantle talks with AFI Fest’s artistic director about this year’s lineup. Author Mitchell Zuckoff joins Larry Mantle to talk about legendary Hollywood movie maker Robert Altman who burst onto the Hollywood scene in 1970 with the movie M*A*S*H.

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Wade Major of boxoffice.com, Andy Klein of Brand X, and Charles Solomon, animation critic and historian for amazon.com discuss the week’s new film releases including Amelia, Antichrist, Astro Boy, Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, Ong Bak 2, Motherhood, Untitled, The Maid, The Canyon, and Meeting Andrei Tarkovsky. And, Mitch Albom is here. The author of Tuesdays with Morrie has written a new book that profiles a Jewish rabbi preparing for his own death and a Christian pastor who works with Detroit's homeless.

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Claudia Puig of USA Today, Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com, and Charles Solomon of amazon.com discuss the week’s new film releases, including Where the Wild Things Are; Law Abiding Citizen, Black Dynamite; New York, I Love You; Visual Acoustics; Trucker; and Bronson.

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com and Andy Klein of Brand X discuss the week’s new film releases, including Couples Retreat; An Education; Bliss; 35 Shots of Rum; The Damned United; Good Hair; The Horse Boy; Paranormal Activity; and Peter and Vandy. And, a look at films of 1939. Marking the 70th anniversary of its theatrical release, The Wizard of Oz will be available on Blu Ray this week. Larry and FilmWeek critics Henry Sheehan and Andy Klein discuss Oz and the other great films of 1939, including Gone With the Wind, Stagecoach and Dark Victory.

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com and Wade Major of boxoffice.com discuss the week’s new film releases including The Invention of Lying, Zombieland, Whip It!, A Serious Man, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, A Beautiful Life, My Fuhrer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler, More Than A Game, In Search of Beethoven, and The Providence Effect. The critics will also weigh in on the arrest of filmmaker Roman Polanski. Then Larry talks with Emmy award-winning filmmaker, Peter Jones about his new documentary, “Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times” that takes a look at the influential family behind the L.A. Times and the birth of Los Angeles.

Larry Mantle talks with KPCC film critics Jean Oppenheimer of Village Voice Media and Wade Major of boxoffice.com about the week’s new film releases, including Surrogates, Fame, The Boys Are Back, Capitalism: A Love Story, Coco Before Chanel, Disgrace, The Most Dangerous Man In America, We Live In Public, and Lord, Save Us From Your Followers. Plus, acclaimed actress Annette Bening has played some spectacularly scheming and deeply deluded women in films such as Bugsy, American Beauty and Being Julia. Now she’s tackling Euripides' famed anti-heroine, Medea, in UCLA Live’s world premier production. Bening talk with Larry about her enduring stage and film career.

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com, Andy Klein of Brand X and Charles Solomon of amazon.com discuss the week’s new releases, including Love Happens, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, The Informant, Bright Star, The Burning Plain, American Casino, Laila’s Birthday, Crude, Paris, and You, the Living. Larry will also talk with KPCC film critic Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor about the Montreal and Toronto film festivals, and talk with our critics about the deaths this week of Larry Gelbart, Henry Gibson, and Patrick Swayze.

Guest host David Lazarus and KPCC film critics Claudia Puig of USA Today, Wade Major of boxoffice.com, and Charles Solomon of amazon.com discuss the week’s new film releases including Whiteout, 9, Walt and El Grupo, The Other Man, Beyond A Reasonable Doubt, Big Fan, Loren Cass, White on Rice, Art and Copy, No Impact Man, and The September Issue. The critics will also discuss the career of Entertainment writer, Army Archerd of Variety who died this week. And, David will talk with KPCC film critic Jean Oppenheimer of Village Voice Media who has just returned from the Telluride Film Festival.