L.A. is the greatest city on earth to watch movies. Here are this week’s best picks.
1. Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons at The Egyptian (FRIDAY 1/11, 7:30PM)
The American Cinematheque is running a program called Motion Picturesque: Cinema At Its Most Beautiful, and tonight just might be the crown jewel of the series: a double feature of Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. Orson Welles double-header! This beauty will be screening at 7:30pm at the world-famous Egyptian Theater in Hollywood for one night only. Kane will be screened in 4K digital restoration (a gorgeous, overwhelming, lustrous, shimmering restoration) and Ambersons will be screened in good ol’ 35mm. Buy your tickets here.
2. Holy Motors at The Cinefamily (FRIDAY 1/11 9:40PM)
Perhaps your last chance to catch Leos Carax’s crazy, beautiful, baffling film in Los Angeles, this screening marks the end of Holy Motors‘ encore run at Cinefamily. Topping many critics’ best of 2012 lists, Holy Motors is a film about cinema itself, about acting and actors, about absurd comedy, bizarre role-play and heart-wrenching drama. And accordion musical numbers. And talking limousines. It’s a film you really need to see to believe. In 35mm. Buy your tickets here.
3. 8 1/2 at The Egyptian (SATURDAY 1/12 7:30PM)
Another entry in the American Cinematheque‘s celebration745 of movies that must be seen on the big screen, Federico Fellini’s masterpiece celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2013. Screened in gorgeous 35mm, 8 1/2 boasts some of the most stunningly fluid and dream-like black-and-white photography ever committed to film. Even if you’ve seen it a dozen times on TV and DVD, you won’t want to miss 8 1/2 on the silver screen. Buy your tickets here.
4. The Red Shoes at The Cinefamily (Thursday 1/17 MIDNIGHT)
Typically, fans of mid-century, British arthouse films and fans of midnight movies don’t generally overlap. But The Cinefamily ain’t your typical movie theater, dig? The Red Shoes, Powell & Pressburger’s masterpiece (and Scorsese favorite), will screen Thursday, 1/17 at midnight as part of Cinefamily’s “Video Nasties” series. A very unconventional winner for the horror movie series, but what the heck! Any reason to screen The Red Shoes, right? In 35mm. Buy your tickets here.
5. Django Unchained at The New Beverly Cinema (ALL WEEK LONG)
Already seen Django Unchained? Chances are you haven’t seen it in 35mm–which means you haven’t seen it the way it was meant to be seen! The New Beverly Cinema is here to remedy that. Co-owned by Django director and unrepentant cinephile Quentin Tarantino, The New Bev is taking a break from its regular repertory schedule to screen Django all month-long. Which means if you can’t make the 4:30pm matinée or 8:45pm screening on Saturday, 1/12, you can catch QT’s Spaghetti Western-cum-Black History lesson any time before February. The New Bev is well-known for its staunch commitment to the 35mm format, why not skip the digital conversion of the multiplex and support real film? Buy your tickets here.
If you make it out to any of these screenings, let us know how it went in the comments section. Happy viewing, Los Angeles!
8 thoughts on “Los Angeles Top 5 (1/11/13–1/18/13)”
That is some line-up of film here in my hometown!
You live in LA Leopard? I didn’t know that.
🙂
I will take that smile as a “yes, I do.”
Ooohhh, I’m super tempted to go out to see 8 1/2 on the big screen. Thanks for pointing it out, Sales!
My pleasure!
I would love to see 8 1/2 on the big screen. That said, I need more Fellini.
I left a comment yesterday, but it seems to have been eaten up by the Internet nasties. Anyway, I just wanted to say that these are all great picks! I also wanted to say that Cinefamily is running an unprecedented month-long series of 35mm prints of Shaw Brothers films, many of which only have one remaining print in existence. They are incredibly rare to find in theaters and they’re showing them all throughout the month, with many as double features. It figures this would happen after I moved away from LA!