FilmWeek

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Jean Oppenheimer, Andy Klein of Brand X and Charles Solomon animation critic and historian for amazon.com, discuss the week’s new film releases including Shrek Forever After, MacGruber, Solitary Man, Holy Rollers, Kites, Looking For Eric, The Best Worst Movie, The Oath, and The Father Of My Children among others. Later, this year's Cannes Film Festival.

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 Robin Hood, Letters to Juliet, Just Wright, Princess Kaiulani, The Complete Metropolis, and The Thorn in the Heart. Later, the business backstage at Cannes, and the fine art of preserving classic films.

Larry talks with KPCC film critics Jean Oppenheimer and Henry Sheehan about the week’s new movie releases including Iron Man 2, Mother And Child, Babies, The Human Centipede, Casino Jack And The United States of Money, Behind The Burly Q, OSS 117: Lost In Rio, Mercy, and The Lightkeepers. When DreamWorks was founded in 1994, it was the first new Hollywood studio in 60 years. Headed by director Steven Spielberg, music mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, and ex-Disney executive David Geffen, the company set out to build a media empire dedicated to talent and where employees didn't have titles. DreamWorks had its share of successes – American Beauty, Gladiator, Shrek. But it also had numerous, costly failures, and by 2005 the studio was sold to Paramount. In The Men Who Would Be King, reporter Nicole LaPorte tells the story of the company's flare-ups and failed ambitions.

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Wade Major of boxoffice.com and Lael Loewenstein of Variety discuss the films opening this week including A Nightmare on Elm Street, Furry Vengeance, Please Give, Harry Brown, The Good Heart, The Good, The Bad, And The Weird, Dirty Hands, and Timer. TGI-FilmWeek! Later, he’s worked with Elvis and Sinatra and been counselor and confidante to celebrities and politicians. Now, the veteran Hollywood film producer and deal maker Jerry Weintraub has a new memoir, co-written with Vanity Fair Editor Rich Cohen. Part how-to guide, When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man, is packed with entertaining stories Weintraub’s probably been telling at cocktail parties for years. The book chronicles his rise from the Bronx, to the hills of Hollywood, and his crowning hits as movie producer, from Robert Altman’s Nashville, to Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen. Larry talks with Weintraub about his remarkable life and career, marked by luck, love and improvisation.

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Jean Oppenheimer, Andy Klein of Brand X and Charles Solomon, animation historian and critic for amazon.com discuss the week’s new releases including The Losers, The Back-Up Plan, Oceans, The City Of Your Final Destination, Paper Man, No One Knows About Persian Cats, and Sita Sings The Blues. TGI-FilmWeek! You might know her best as Norma Desmond, Starlett O’Hara or Eunice Higgins, but those ladies have long since left the stage. Their creator, Carol Burnett, pulls back the curtain on the hilarious and frustrating moments in her acting career, and some of the personal trials and triumphs she encountered along the way in her book This Time Together. Burnett joins fellow Hollywood High School alum Larry to reminisce.

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Jean Oppenheimer and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com discuss the week’s new film releases including The Joneses, Death At A Funeral, Kick Ass, Handsome Harry, The Secret In Their Eyes, Who Do You Love, The Perfect Game, Dancing Across Borders and The Cartel. Later, Larry talks with Mike Kaplan about classic movie poster art and the free exhibition The More the Merrier: Posters from the Ten Best Picture Nominees, 1936–1943, which runs through April 25 in the Grand Lobby Gallery of the Academy's headquarters in Beverly Hills.

Guest host David Lazarus and KPCC film critics Wade Major of boxoffice.com and Claudia Puig of USA Today discuss the week’s new film releases including Date Night, After.Life, La Mission, Mid-August Lunch, Phyllis and Harold, The Square, When You’re Strange, Godspeed, and Women Without Men, among others. Later, with releases in the past few months including Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, How to Train Your Dragon, and Clash of the Titans, Hollywood has increased its output of 3-D movies- as well as the ticket prices to go with them. What does this trend mean for moviegoers and the film industry? Is it a profit-driven gimmick that puts style over substance? Or does the 3-D treatment enhance the viewing experience?

What started with a political turf battle between the Department of Water & Power, Mayor Villaraigosa and the L.A. City Council over a proposed carbon surcharge has now escalated into a possible paralysis of city services and a full-blown budget crisis. It’s difficult to trace the steps between the City Council’s refusal to implement higher rates on DWP electrical bills and the Mayor’s call to shut down city offices for two days a week. The Mayor called for non-essential services, such as libraries, parks and seniors centers, to be closed twice a week, arguing that the DWP’s denial of a $73.5 million injection into the city’s general fund has forced his hand. The City Council and city unions are calling the Mayor’s threat a bluff, questioning how the DWP controversy is connected with this sudden budget crisis. Who will blink first in L.A.’s high-stakes game of brinkmanship?

Larry and the critics review the week's new movies, including Clash of the Titans, The Last Song, The Greatest, and The Secret of Kells. Later, Mystery Science Theater 3000's Mike Nelson is back to poke fun at Hollywood blockbusters, and Peter Rainer reviews the Bermuda Film Fest.

Guest host David Lazarus and KPCC film critics Andy Klein of Brand X, Wade Major of boxoffice.com, and Charles Solomon, animation critic and historian for amazon.com discuss the week’s new film releases, including How to Train Your Dragon, How Tub Time Machine, Chloe, and Waking Sleeping Beauty, Vincere, Eclipse, and The Harimaya Bridge. Then, Larry's back with the Dragon filmmakers.