Did'ja know that a strong title from the '70s cinema canon, OLD BOYFRIENDS (1979), was directed by a woman, Joan Tewkesbury? The underrated Talia Shire and the lovely late actor, Richard Jordan, star in a life-retracing journey of one woman's romances. Is she nostalgic or just nuts? Film kicked off UCLA Film & Television Archive's "Liberating Hollywood" female-director series with Ms. Tewkesbury in the house.
Tony Curtis, pouty-faced here, leads a bandwagon of fun in a film I had never seen, FORTY POUNDS OF TROUBLE (1962). Reminding us why he was such a big movie star, Curtis hits every note as a playboy with a soft touch for a foundling left at his doorstep -- who weighs 40 pounds. Shot at Lake Tahoe and at length, on location in Disneyland, this delicious flick screened at the Hollywood Heritage Museum.
Even though this New Yorker magazine image of Esa-Pekka Salonen portrays him in San Francisco, where he is artistic director-designate of the local symphony, we all know where E-P left his heart. Come on! At Disney Hall on Bunker Hill! I will see the Great Esa bring his artistry to conducting The Colburn Symphony Jan 31 at The Soraya.
A modern master of tenor saxophone seen Jan 24 in the intimate 'jazz club' setting at The Soraya. Branford Marsalis headed his own quartet with stellar pianist, Joey Calderazzo and a monster drummer Jeff Watts. Blasting off with a quirky avant-garde number, the playlist ambled into a conventional territory for my taste and closed a tad lackluster. But still!
A "Baroque Masters" concert by the Pasadena Symphony Jan 26 at the stalwart Ambassador Auditorium was revelatory for one reason: Nicholas McGegan. The maestro knit together a program of golden Bach/Vivaldi oldies with sparkle and panache, most memorably in a Correlli concerto that smoothed every jagged edge Donald Trump and his shutdown (there I go again) installed in my brain.