LA is the greatest place on earth to watch movies. Here are this week’s best picks.
1. Like Someone in Love at the Laemmle Royal (STARTS FRIDAY 2/15, RUNS ALL WEEK)
Abbas Kiarostami, director of Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us, Ten, and Certified Copy, presents his newest film for the first time to American audiences this weekend at the Royal. Though its reception at Cannes was for the most part relatively lukewarm, if most of you readers are like me, you are absolutely thirsty for a new film to hit theaters worthy of your hard-earned dollar. A past winner of the Palme D’Or and the Silver Lion, Kiarostami presents your best bet. Sit back, relax, ignore the chatter of the ninety-year-olds seated around you (unless you are ninety, in which case you go to the Royal all the time and are used to this), and enjoy.
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World at the NuArt (FRIDAY 2/15, MIDNIGHT)
This Edgar Wright film was criminally overlooked the year of its release (though certain critics put it in their top ten of the year lists). Now, it has turned cult classic, and the NuArt is putting it up Friday night as part of its Midnight series. I would hope for lots of ridiculous cosplay and tossing of coins at death scenes, but one can never predict exactly how these midnight screenings will play out.
3. Chuck Jones Centennial Celebration at Cinefamily (SATURDAY 2/16, 4 PM)
Chuck Jones was responsible for many of the greatest cartoon shorts ever created. “What’s Opera, Doc?” is my personal favorite, though “Duck Amuck” and “One Froggy Evening” are certifiable classics as well. On this, the weekend of his 100th birthday, Cinefamily is airing his shorts the way they deserve to be seen: on the big screen. (They are also showing his rendition of The Phantom Tollbooth on Sunday at 4.) So bring your baby, your honey, and your ragtime gal down to Cinefamily to check these out.
4. Cat Ballou and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance at the Egyptian (SATURDAY 2/16, 7:30 PM)
Lee Marvin is the greatest drunk in film history. This is not up for debate. The Egyptian is wise enough to present to us as much Lee Marvin as possible in one sitting, and while they aren’t serving all-you-can-guzzle sarsparilla, maybe you can sneak your own in your boot.* Cat Ballou, for which he won the Oscar, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, one of the all-time great Westerns, make for a marvelous Marvinlous double feature. Enjoy, and bottoms up.
*- do not sneak sarsparilla into the theatre in your boot.
5. Primer at the Cinefamily (WEDNESDAY 2/20, 7:30 PM)
Do you love time travel? Of course you do. Primer is one of the headiest, most thought-provoking time travel films ever made, and it unfolds itself beautifully over multiple viewings. (I get angry when watching it, because I spend $7,000 on stupid things like gas and food, but Shane Carruth spends it on making a brilliant film.) Confused the first, second, or fifth time watching it? No worries! The Cinefamily is bringing you Shane Carruth IN PERSON to answer your questions, along with a physicist from USC to answer the nerdiest of your time travel practicality queries. It’s going to be a nerd paradise. Don’t miss it.
Click on the title of the film in the list if you’d like to be directed to each theater’s site where you can buy tickets. If you make it out to any of these screenings, let us know how it went in the comments section. Happy viewing, Los Angeles!
