It was the 1970s, and Los Angeles was a metropolis of sleaze, a veritable wonderland of all things deemed disreputable. Just miles from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley was (and still is ) the adult-film capital of the world. With shades discreetly pulled down over windows, hundreds of these so-called […]
Category Archives: Film & TV
Movie Review: ‘300: Rise of an Empire’
“300” did an excellent job of porting the graphic side of Frank Miller’s graphic novel to the big screen, compensating for a surprising amount of flaws in its novel side. It’s hard to ignore the impact that “300” has had since, diving headfirst into cult film status with slow-motion sword fights and quotable dialogue aplenty. […]
Movie Review: ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Directed by Wes Anderson Fox Searchlight Pictures 4.0 Paws Two idiosyncratic protagonists must contend with murder, a prison break and a ski chase, among other predicaments in the thrilling, stylish, madcap adventure that is Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” The film recounts how Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), who was once […]
Out of Focus: “Je t’aime, je t’aime” combines science fiction, romance
You close your eyes and the past comes flooding back to you: the bitter recollection of some bygone afternoon, the sight of the scene and the scent of your lover. You seek to grasp it, but it’s intangible. In the film “Je t’aime, je t’aime,” master filmmaker Alain Resnais explores this very real human desire […]
Costume design panel shares experiences in the industry
In the last year, filmmakers have lit Katniss Everdeen’s dress on fire, shown us the lavish jeweled outfits worn to Gatsby’s parties and ensured the clothing of the ’70s be portrayed accurately in “American Hustle.” However, in the words of Deborah Landis, chair and founding director of the David C. Copley Center for the Study […]
Movie Review: ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’
“Jodorowsky’s Dune” Directed by Frank Pavich Sony Pictures Classics 4.5/5.0 paws David Lynch’s “Dune,” the most well-known adaptation of the famous Frank Herbert science fiction novel of the same name, is a fairly insignificant, messy, incoherent film. It only truly succeeds in its imagery of a world as aspiring as it could have been circa […]
2014 Oscar music nominees celebrated in concert at UCLA
The lights dim, the audience quiets down and the brilliant stage at Royce Hall is lit up with giant, golden Oscar statuettes at each corner. In walks the Academy Symphony Orchestra, and the audience roars with excitement. It was the first time the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had ever hosted a concert […]