Kung fu collateral still kicking @ AMPAS
In 2011, producer and screenwriter Stephen Chin donated his collection of more than 800 kung fu film posters and related materials to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. An exhibition featuring selections from Chin’s exceptional poster collection hangs now through in the lobby of the Academy’s Wilshire Boulevard headquarters. If you are cruising ...
Cruising “Corsaire”s 1
Jul
4
2013
Preparing for four “Le Corsaire” (1856-restaged) performances by American Ballet Theatre next weekend at the Music Center. I’ve not seen anything beyond the warhorse pas de deux of this pirate-themed full-evening ballet. The PDD’s a beloved ballet chestnut, an old and familiar friend, bearing the slight tinge of mothballs. My only-middling enthusiasm for a full-length ...
Gene Kelly’s witty number in “It’s Always Fair Weather” 5
We enjoyed watching “It’s Always Fair Weather” (MGM, 1955, co-dir: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen) recently on Turner Classic Movies. The song-and-dance number in the video above, Thanks a Lot, But No Thanks, bears much influence of Jack Cole (he, too, worked with Gray, coaching the non-dancer in “Kismet” and “Designing Woman,” both at MGM). So ...
Double Grammy whammy @ Levitt Pavilion 1
Jul
1
2013
You already live in paradise*, so why leave Los Angeles on Fourth of July weekend? For stay-in-towners Friday July 5 has a great offering at the Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles, right on the westward edge of downtown. It’s a live (and free) performance by Karla Bonoff and Wendy Waldman, both Grammy-winning singer/song writers. Bonoff has ...
Remembering Rudi
July’s onset has us excited about a special event taking place in the City of Lights in a week. A new documentary “La Passion Noureev,” directed by Fabrice Herrault, will have its premiere in Paris. The venue is the Cinéma le Balzac on the Champs-Élysées. Herrault clarifies, via email, that “La Passion Noureev” is not ...
Jonathan Lynn rules comedy
“Laughter is the sound of recognition,” says the author of the book Comedy Rules, Jonathan Lynn. The veteran filmmaker, novelist, screenwriter, and director co-wrote, along with Sir Antony Jay, Yes, Prime Minister, the former hit BBC television series now restaged as theater at the Geffen Playhouse. “When people recognize the truth of something they have ...
Herb Alpert, Los Angeles bus driver, puts on the Ritz 1
Choreography by Tabitha and Napoleon … with a nod to Irving Berlin (1929), Fred Astaire (1946) Like this? Read more: Herb & Lani at Vibrato A royal Hollywood evening with Fred Astaire, John Travolta Paula Abdul, Choreographer’s Carnival honoree
“Un Flic,” c’est fantastique
Jun
25
2013
A cool flick … concerns un flic. Alain Delon plays a French cop (“un flic”) who spends his days and nights chasing criminals, but doesn’t see the crook right under his nose. Simon (Richard Crenna) a smooth nightclub owner, works with a small crew to execute daring heists with big payoffs, while the la belle ...
Fred & Cyd march on tippy toe in “The Band Wagon”
In this publicity still for “The Band Wagon” (MGM, 1953), Cyd Charisse marches on gorgeous gams while her partner Fred Astaire embodies a human exclamation point. In the movie, Cyd dons a different frock. Costumes were by Mary Ann Nyberg, who has a wonderful film-costume portfolio. Nyberg ran into problems dressing Judy Garland in “A ...
Koehler on Cinema: “Between Us”
As Roman Polanski’s decidedly awkward “Carnage,” his 2011 adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage” reminded, faithfully transferring plays to the screen more often than not fails. Dan Mirvish’s “Between Us,” his not-so-obeisant screen version of Joe Hortua’s play (commissioned but never produced by Costa Mesa-based South Coast Repertory), also deals with two married couples ...