In 2007, Alex Gibney and Eliot Spitzer were at the top of their respective worlds.Gibney’s latest documentary, “Taxi to the Dark Side,” about the use of torture by American interrogators, would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Author Archives: Alex Goodman
Concert Review: After six-year hiatus, A Perfect Circle performs at Avalon Hollywood, and it feels like no time has passed
Six years had passed between A Perfect Circle’s reunion performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Oct. 27 and the last one before it. It finally felt, apparently, what much of the rock world has felt for some time, that we could use a bit more from the masters of the art of darkness.
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I wasn’t there, but I hear the ’60s were great for music.
The Good pick: 'Blazing Saddles,' 'Spaceballs' offer good old-fashioned parody
A still from “Blazing Saddles” Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
If the “Scary Movie” series, or its offshoots ““ “Dance Movie,” “Epic Movie,” etc. ““ are any indication, parody in Hollywood has died a cruel, absurd death.
There is something nostalgic, then, about watching “Blazing Saddles” or “Spaceballs,” which is probably not the response Mel Brooks originally had in mind. The former is Brooks’ brilliant send-up of the Western genre, featuring his typically nonsensical wordplay, a man punching a horse, an Oscar-nominated theme song, Nazis, far too many people named Johnson and a legendary farting scene. The latter gives the same treatment to “Star Wars,” pitting Captain Lone Starr, his half-man half-dog sidekick Barfolomew and the power of the Schwartz against Pizza the Hutt and Dark Helmet, all for the love of one Princess Vespa. If you make it more than a few minutes through either of them without laughing, you’re thinking too hard.
“Blazing Saddles” plays at 8 p.m. and “Spaceball” at 10 p.m. at the Downtown Independent Theater on Friday, Nov. 12.
Q&A with Dan Harmon
On Monday, the Campus Events Commission screened an upcoming episode of the NBC comedy “Community,” followed by a question-and-answer session with creator Dan Harmon; actors Yvette Nicole Brown, Donald Glover and Alison Brie; and executive producers Russ Krasnoff, Joe Russo, Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan.
Q&A with Yvette Nicole Brown
Actress Yvette Nicole Brown, who plays Shirley Bennett on the NBC sitcom “Community,” appeared at Ackerman Grand Ballroom on Monday along with show creator Dan Harmon, castmates Donald Glover and Alison Brie, and four of the show’s executive producers, for a screening of an upcoming episode and a question-and-answer session.
Bruins win Samuel Goldwyn Writing awards for scripts
UCLA graduate student Meg Gifford received the $15,000 first place prize in the 55th annual Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards for her script “Paint it Black” at a ceremony at the James West Alumni Center on Monday.