French music hall revisited with “Monsieur Chocolat” @ COLCOA
“Monsieur Chocolat,” a biopic set in the fin-de-siècle world of French circus and music hall opened the 20th anniversary edition of COLCOA French Film Festival in Los Angeles last night, bringing exotica and rich visual zing to the big screen of the Director’s Guild of America. The film’s talented director Roschy Zem and its star, ...
French swashbuckling powers “On Guard” @ COLCOA Classics
Apr
18
2016
The yummy goodies that add piquancy to the jam-packed opening-night reception of COLCOA, Los Angeles’s premier French film festival celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2016, carry forth to a rich movie-menu of new releases. There’s even an ‘evergreen’ mini-festival, COLCOA Classics which provides a second look at great movies reprised on the big screen. Romance ...
Brothers Witkin, twins reunited at Newport Beach Film Festival
Jerome Witkin and Joel-Peter Witkin have shocked and stirred the art world for decades. Both men enjoy passionate cult followings, yet few in the arts community had any idea they were related, let alone that they were identical twins who had been estranged for half a century. The gallery show that inspired the film’s title, ...
Conductor Carlo Ponti, son of Sophia, conjures “Movie Magic”
He’s got his father’s name and his mother’s looks. But the richly credentialed classical-music resume is all Carlo Ponti, Jr.‘s. The conductor will lead the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra in an evening of compositions drawn from the industry from whence he came. The aptly titled “Movie Magic” program slated for the charming Theatre Raymond Kabbaz ...
Wake-up call for “Sleeper” modernist auditorium
In the screenshot above, red-headed comic Woody Allen saunters alongside a daring curvelinear-roof’ed structure in SLEEPER (1973). A decade prior, the great Los Angeles architectural photographer Julius Shulman (1910-2009) captured the eggy update on a civic auditorium (below). The building’s bold shape fit aptly with Southern California’s persistent modernist trend when it opened in 1964. ...
Want to be a movie star? Line up here.
Mar
31
2016
A super interesting evening upcoming at the Academy that examines a critical backstage process in film making — casting. Acclaimed casting directors Lynn Stalmaster, Juliet Taylor and Mike Fenton will sit down with the governors of the Academy’s Casting Directors Branch to discuss the evolution of their profession and the essential role the casting director ...
Fred of our dreams
From our friends at Julien’s Auctions, a pair of black-and-white silver gelatin prints of Fred Astaire taken by Andre de Dienes circa 1938. Both hand printed by de Dienes on double-weight paper and stamped by the photographer on verso. Sold at auction March 28, 2016.
Pre-tax pleasure: ‘Starring George Chakiris’ April 14
We’re fans and we’re friends. That’s why we are so pleased that Turner Classic Movies is showcasing the creative output of actor/dancer/singer George Chakiris, whose triple-threat talent and smoldering good looks were made for the movies. Though a huge teen heartthrob in the sixties, Chakiris was often cast as a dark figure, famously in WEST ...
This diamond ring … needs you 2
From Shirley Temple, to you, with love. Price tag $35-45 mil The Shirley Temple Blue Diamond ring is seeking a new owner. Weighing an impressive 9.54 carats, the charming cushion-cut Fancy Blue Diamond ring was purchased by the child star’s father George Temple for $7,210 in 1940 as the film The Blue Bird was completed. Just in ...
arts·meme’s TCM Fest coverage announced 1
Mar
24
2016
The dream team debuted last year — and hit a home run. So… three strong film writers are set to do it again! The strategy remains the same: Divide and conquer the densely programmed, movie-studded long weekend of the seventh annual TCM Classic Film Festival. Pounding the (once-glittering, still star-studded) sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard and ...