John Garfield, glimpsed twice by his daughter’s oil paints

Film
The Postman Always Rings Twice: Portrait of John Garfield (2020)artist: Julie Garfield Haunted by the father she lost at a young age (he died at 39 in 1952 when she was just six) artist Julie Garfield paints her way to the essence of a great American actor via frozen cinematic moments from two of his ...

Memorial Day 2020: Los Angeles theaters we miss 1

Architecture & Design · Dance · Film · Music · Theater
coveted during covid quarantine – the egyptian theatrethis spectacular photo of the egyptian’s balcony by morgan glier for the ucla daily bruin It all feels surreal — but my essential problem during the theater shutdown of the Covid-19 pandemic is that for me, art happens at night. Rarely during the day, sometimes at matinees, and ...

Marvelous new ‘Folies Bergere’ poster punctuates Dave Gould dance number

Dance · Film
To commemorate the first-ever Oscar for Dance Direction, awarded to Dave Gould at the Eighth Academy Awards for his spectacular “Straw Hat” number from FOLIES BERGERE (1935), dance-movie-poster maven Mike Kaplan in tandem with the National Museum of Dance has introduced a new poster. The poster, created by a young artist, was part of the ...

Raconteur remembered: Orson Bean

Film · Theater
In celebration of a life fully lived, memorial services will be held on March 14, 2020 for Orson Bean (1928 – 2020). A consummate raconteur, actor, voice artist, writer, and undisputed triple threat on stage, Orson Bean has been a familiar name to people across the country for decades.  On February 7, Mr. Bean was ...

On Super Tuesday: ‘For the People’ movie marathon

Film · Ideas & Opinion
Heck, we go to the movies all year round. We go on Tuesday, bluesday; we go any day. But a special free-to-the-people invitation to activist/feminist/film director-producer Ava DuVernay‘s cool screening room and production digs in Echo Park gets our interest. Ms. DuVernay is offering, free to the public (ahem, after you vote, guys!), a “For ...

Toni Basil ‘does the Pony, does the James Brown’ on CBS

Dance · Film
We loved seeing Toni Basil, 76, doing the pony and the James Brown on CBS Sunday morning on Oscar Day 2020.

Bravo, Angie Dickinson!

Film
When Howard Hawks’ 1959 action romp, Rio Bravo, was released, it wasn’t really taken seriously. But the film is now regarded as an American classic. John Wayne led the cast, but the director also cast veterans Walter Brennan and Ward Bond, singer Dean Martin, pop singer Ricky Nelson, and Angie Dickinson in a vivid, star-making turn. ...

Merle Oberon’s terpsichorean trepidation 4

Dance · Film
For those who recently watched THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1934) on Turner Classic Movies, a special Jack Cole connection has come to mind from 86 years ago. Our story involves the film’s glamorous stars, Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon. The duo, co-stars of “Pimpernel” were on a touring junket tied to the movie’s release on December ...

And then … ‘And Then We Danced’ at Scandinavian Film Festival

Dance · Film
A coming-of-age tale straight out of Tbilisi, the film follows Merab (Levan Gelbakhiani), a competitive dancer who is thrown off balance by the arrival of Irakli (Bachi Valisvili), a fellow male dancer with a rebellious streak. “And Then …,” directed by Levan Akin, was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2019 Cannes Film ...

Best movie of decade: “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” 1

Film
Our vote is perhaps suspect given a window of ten years — and the selected film dating allll the way back to 2018. Nevertheless, I just love this movie, and don’t feel enough has been made of it. It holds up well at second viewing (I just did that) and recommend it as such. In ...