The Cinefamily

In anticipation of our 4th of July party...

2008-07-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our country's 232nd anniversary, here's a peak behind the curtain at one of our national institutions: "At The Movies". Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert hosted the show together for 17 years, from 1982 until Siskel's death in 1999. The two's pointed jabs at each other on the show always hinted at their off-screen feelings for each other -- after watching the clip below, we feel we have a better understanding of their dynamic: Siskel was a drunk, Ebert was kind of a douche, and neither of them had any idea that their off-the-cuff behind-the-scenes behavior would ever been seen outside of their own studio.

Make sure to watch this clip all the way to the end!

Hadrian's on TV!

2008-06-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Our head programmer, Hadrian Belove, was recently the subject of two separate late-night 3AM basic cable TV profiles, on "Secret's Out...With Leonard Maltin", and "The Florence Henderson Show". Hey, Byron Allen...you takin' notes?

The "Secret's Out" segment focuses on Hadrian's involvement with the Cinefamily, and the "Florence Henderson Show" segment focuses more on the history of our home (the Silent Movie Theatre), and also includes a brief interview with silent film accompanist Bob Mitchell, whom you can catch a performance by most Wednesday nights at the Cinefamily.

"Secret's Out...With Leonard Maltin"

"The Florence Henderson Show"

"Imagine" our night...

2008-06-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

We all had a blast last week at our night called Psychedelic Healing Visions: A Celebration of Lavender Diamond's film "Imagine Our Love". Lavender Diamond performed live on our stage, and we got to see clips from their work-in-progress visual album (that takes its music from the LP of the same name). Upstairs, we had a photo booth going, and one of the members of our ever-growing Cinefamily posted all the photos in an on-line photo gallery, which you can view here.

A/V Geeks in the mix!

2008-06-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

Great new news! We've been in contact with the good folks over at A/V Geeks, a collection of 20,000 industrial, ephemeral and educational 16mm shorts -- and each month, they'll be sending us a package of 5-10 films to screen that are thematically linked to our programming. In short, we're stoked.

To see a wide array of the kind of stuff they're gonna be providing, check out the A/V Geeks channel on Veoh, or, check out the cool videos below --

Ballet Robotique (1982)

Why Do You Buy? (1971)

Soopergoop (1976)

Dennis Hopper/John Philip Law Q&A excerpt

2008-05-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

We were saddened to hear of John Philip Law's recent passing on May 13th; the eternally young actor had just been a guest of our theatre in April, to watch a film he'd had a small role in, Dennis Hopper's "The Last Movie" (1971).

Cinefamily friend Howard Berger was also in attendance that night, and managed to film part of Hopper's Q&A session, catching Law calling out from the audience to ask a question (and their subsequent reunion after the screening) in what might be Law's last public appearance.

Double-Barrelled Dose of Dynamite Directors!

2008-05-15T01:08:00.000-07:00

Here's Quentin Tarantino's Q&A with his honored guest Italian cult movie director Enzo Castellari from our May 6th screenings of Enzo's rarely seen BATTLE SQUADRON and his groundbreaking poliziotteschi HIGH CRIMES. A rockin good time!

CALLING ALL MOVIE MANIACS!

2008-05-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ain't It Cool Newsflash:

LA Area AICN Readers! Rest Up This Weekend, Because Monday Night’s An All-Night Movie Party!

Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.

You guys know who Nicky Katt is?

You do, even if you’re not sure you do. He’s an omnipresent character actor whose deadly sense of timing has been well-utilized by directors like Robert Rodriguez (SIN CITY, GRINDHOUSE), Steven Soderbergh (THE LIMEY) and Richard Linklater (DAZED & CONFUSED).

He’s also a full-blown film freak like many of us, and he’s recently started programming a regular line-up at the Silent Movie Theater, one of two great venues here in Los Angeles to recently embrace the revival scene. He does a regular trailer festival, but on this coming Monday night, May 12, it’s Nicky’s birthday, and he’s inviting you to come help him celebrate.

How? Oh, man, this is gonna be good.

Here’s the description from the official website:

Nicky Katt's Mug Melter Monday

Nicky Katt’s been in over 40 movies, and counting. He’s also a movie maniac. Here at the Cinefamily, we’re movie maniacs. So this Monday, we’re sending out an all-points bulletin — calling all movie maniacs! — we’re getting together to watch movies, all night long. And not just any movies, we got some flicks that's melt your ugly mug off, they're so nuclear. The back patio will be open, and we’ll have our grill fired up (BYOHD: Bring Your Own Hot Dogs),so join us as while we kick back a few beers, eat some meat and watch movies one after another after another after another. We’ll be showing a mixture of 35mm and 16mm prints, bootleg videos and whatever else we feel like throwing on the screen. Some teasers? How about a beautiful 35mm print of BABY, THE RAIN MUST FALL? Or the melted mug of Mickey Rourke in the underrated Walter Hill thriller JOHNNY HANDSOME? That's just a taste. If you came out for Nicky’s “Trailer Park Tuesday,” you know it’s good shit.

I think JOHNNY HANDSOME is the very definition of an underrated movie, and although I’m a big fan of Steve McQueen, BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL has so far eluded me, so I’m thrilled that my frist viewing of it will be on the bigscreen.

When Nicky called me about this and asked me if I’d invite all the LA area readers to join him for his birthday party, he told me that he’d even bring a Shiner Bock for each of you. All you have to do is say “Ain’t It Cool” when you arrive, and you qualify for that beer.

So seriously... what else are you going to find on a Monday night to compare to this? And before you start whining about work on Tuesday, this is more important than work. This is a chance to hang out with the hardest of the hardcore film fans in Los Angeles, celebrate the birthday of another film fan, and support the revival community in LA, all at the same time.

Sounds pretty damn good to me. See you there!

This monster will be rearing it's head too:

Yes, it is cool.

THIS SUN: The Man Who Laughs (with live accompaniment by Plastic Crimewave, Ariel Pink and Jimi Hey)

2008-05-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

Co-Presented by Arthur Magazine

Arthur proudly presents live scores to both the classic 1928 German expressionist film The Man Who Laughs and Georges Méliès’ classic turn-of-the-century silent short A Trip To The Moon. Based on the Victor Hugo novel, The Man Who Laughs is a moody masterpiece by director Paul Leni, a tragic melodrama starring Conrad Veidt (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) as an abandoned 17th-century British aristocrat disfigured at a young age by gypsies to have a freakish eternal grin. Performing the soundtrack will be an ensemble of Chicago’s own Plastic Crimewave aka Steve Krakow (who also writes and draws the Galactic Zoo Dossier magazine for the Drag City label), and locals Jimi Hey (former drummer for Beachwood Sparks) and Ariel Pink, the lo-fi pop wunderkind behind Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. Also DJing before and after the films will be Frankie Delmane of the Teenage Frames.
The Man Who Laughs Dir. Paul Leni, 1928, DVD, 110 min.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members

Plastic Crimewave Sound
Ariel Pink
arthur magazine

SOLID GOULD!

2008-05-06T04:17:00.000-07:00

Our Gould-a-thon continues this Fri @ 7:30 with the wife-swap classic BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE.

Elliott discusses shooting the film's foursome scene among other topics...

The Folk Art Films of Phil Chambliss

2008-05-06T03:57:00.000-07:00

There is only one Phil Chambliss, and The Cinefamily was very proud to present the first Los Angeles presentation of his singular work. A lively Q&A ensued...

Phil Chambliss is America's first folk-art filmmaker. He's lived his entire life in Calhoun County, Arkansas. He never went to film school or college, never took a class or read a book on filmmaking. The films he managed to see - Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More, the entire Peyton Place television special, and a particular episode of The Rifleman in which Lee Van Cleef plays Johnny Drago - led him to take the 95 bucks his then-wife had saved for a new icebox, and spend it instead on a movie camera. With camera in tow, he wrangled some friends into acting, and went on to create a body of work that includes dozens of bizarre, brilliant, idiosyncratic films, shot over the course of several decades. Phil's films are a revelation, full of unexpected humor, complex social commentary, and a strong, almost suspended, sense of time and place.

Dark Hand & Lamplight

2008-05-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

Enjoy these snaps that capture just a fraction of last week's beautific event at The Cinefamily...

Toronto-based visual artist Shary Boyle aka Dark Hand and musician Doug Paisley aka Lamplight first came together as an opening act for Will Oldham's 2006 tour of California (under his Bonnie “Prince” Billie moniker.) For the project, Lamplight wrote a collection of new songs, which Dark Hand used as the basis for a new series of artwork. Then, Dark Hand created artwork that Lamplight next used as the basis for new instrumental compositions and improvisations. In a live setting, the duo’s collaborative performance features Lamplight singing and playing guitar while Dark Hand creates live drawings and animates pre-drawn images on an overhead projector. Choreographed to the lyrics and music, Dark Hand projects her artwork onto a screen, the wall, Lamplight, and other available surfaces.

http://www.sharyboyle.com/

This Tues: Enzo Castellari in Person!

2008-05-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

Enzo Castellari Double Feature: Battle Squadron & High Crime

One of the the kings of Italian action movies, Enzo G. Castellari, who ruled ‘70s drive-ins with his amped-up spins on futuristic sci-fi, spaghetti westerns and war epics, will be here in person to introduce two of his testoserone-drenched pictures, both unavailable on DVD and making a rare big-screen U.S. showing. First up, Enzo shows off one of his biggest budgets in the aerial combat spectacular Battle Squadron, a feisty film with Van Johnson (post-MGM), square-jawed Frederick Stafford, and Francisco Rabal (Viridiana) in the story of German saboteurs trying to infiltrate Merry Olde England and kicking off World War II’s Battle of Britain. Next, Franco Nero’s a tough cop who discovers High Crime thanks to a ring of vicious Continental drug dealers. Generally acknowledged as the first poliziottesco (a violent and popular type of Italian cop thriller), the film also features a rip-roaring soundtrack from the incredible Guido & Maurizio De Angelis.

Battle Squadron Dir. Enzo Castellari, 1969, 35mm, 100 min.
High Crime Dir. Enzo Castellari, 1973, 35mm, 100 min.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members

Don't sleep on this, as Enzo will be doing a Q&A after screenings! Will no doubt be a blast. The action gets in gear at 8pm.

Harmony Korine Q&A for MISTER LONELY screening

2008-05-05T08:37:00.001-07:00

Harmony Korine answers questions after the west coast premiere screening of his new film MISTER LONELY at The Cinefamily.

Sunday Matinee- STEAMBOAT BILL, JR.

2008-03-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

Just a quick program note. The 4pm screening of Chaplin's The Circus on Sunday has been canceled. In its place, we're showing the Buster Keaton classic Steamboat Bill, Jr.

The feature will be preceded by a shorts program and will feature live musical accompaniment by the legendary Bob Mitchell. Buy advance tickets here!

Tonight! Les Blank in person & Charles Bronson in THE MECHANIC

2008-03-21T17:53:00.001-07:00

At 7:30pm

Les Blank Program Three

Yum, Yum, Yum! A Taste of Cajun and Creole Cooking

Blank’s talent for making our mouths water hits another high point with this spicy whirlwind tour of Cajun and Creole culture. Once again, the marriage of sensory pleasures takes center stage—music and food are depicted with equal reverence as Blank delves deeper into the heart of French-speaking Louisiana.

Always for Pleasure

"One critic said about Always for Pleasure that it looked like it was shot by a guy wandering through New Orleans with a bottle of beer in one hand and a camera in the other," says Blank. What the camera captures is glorious and trance-inducing. The filmmaker’s loose, intimate style comes through wonderfully in this document of New Orleans' singular celebrations: Second-line parades, Mardi Gras, and Jazz Fest. Features live music from Professor Longhair, the Wild Tchoupitoulas, the Neville Brothers and more.

We'll be serving red beans & rice and hosting Les Blank in person!

At 10:30pm

Charles Bronson in THE MECHANIC

The Mechanic

Among hard-core Bronson fans, many feel this is one of his best. Directed by Michael Winner (who also helmed all three of the Death Wish films, as well as Chato’s Land and other Bronson flicks), this gritty crime thriller has Bronson as an aging hitman “The Mechanic” who fixes things for an all-powerful “Organization.” His specialty is doing every job differently and always making his kill look like an accident. The film has a terrific 16-minute opening where there is no dialogue as Bronson patiently plans a hit. Jan-Michael Vincent also stars as a young apprentice and Keenan Wynn and Jill Ireland (married to Bronson) add terrific supporting work. The script was written by Lewis John Carlino – who went on to write and direct the underrated Robert Duvall drama, The Great Santini. See Bronson in all his 70s squinting glory as The Mechanic!

Darktown Strutters tomorrow night. 10:30 PM

2008-03-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

What you see is what you get.

Darktown Strutters

2008-03-03T14:40:00.000-08:00

Cinefamilia!

Our March calendar is now online for your perusal. Aside from the festivals I already told you about, we got a kick-ass Bronson fest, some Les Blank food-films, Busby Berkeley dreams, and America’s sweetheart—Mary Pickford. But I must digress:

I’ve been trying to tell people how almost exhaustingly weird Darktown Strutters (playing this Saturday) is. Written by George Armitage (cult director of Miami Blues & Grosse Pointe Blank), directed by William Witney (a 70-something year old former studio man who worked on Tex Ritter Westerns in the 40’s), and cartoonishly production designed by Jack Fisk (you know, the guy who did Phantom of the Paradise & Mulholland Drive), this is easily the most jaw-dropping thing I’ve ever seen. I mean your jaw will drop. I’m personally gonna stand near the front of the theatre, so I can watch a whole crowd full of jaws collectively drop. But I can’t possibly communicate it to you in text. You know the cliché a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, I could try and describe an evil Colonel Sanders in a bunny suit, but what’s the point? So we put together this little “trailer”.

And I promise you: what you see is what you get:

Cinefamily Oscar Night Contest Winners!

2008-02-27T19:23:00.001-08:00

While the Hollywood elite were busy counting their Oscars on Sunday night, we at The Cinefamily were doing our own balloting. Attendees at our standing-room-only Oscar blowout participated in a contest to guess the outcome of the Oscar awards. In the end, we had a three way tie for first place! Each of the contestants guessed a whopping 15 categories. To break the tie, we sent out a quiz to each of the winners. They were asked to identify photos from ten films that had been nominated for best picture in the past, without winning.

And the winner of the runoff is...

Olivia Widjaya

Olivia successfully guessed all ten of the films in the quiz! Her prize is a year's membership to The Cinefamily. Congratulations, Olivia!

The two runners-up are...

Laura Jansen

&

Ryck Schmidt

They've each won a month's membership to The Cinefamily.

How many can you guess?

2008-02-23T14:04:00.000-08:00

Tonight, it's a Black Impostor double bill...

First up, SUTURE at 6pm

Then at 8pm, Wendell B. Harris' CHAMELEON STREET

Finally, at 10:30pm

Christopher Walken in COMMUNION

Director Philippe Mora will be bringing his own personal answer print of the film and will be in attendance for a Q&A.

Buy tickets for SUTURE and CHAMELEON STREET here!

Buy tickets for COMMUNION here!

This weekend-walken, wendell and little wings!

2008-02-21T11:13:00.000-08:00

Howdy guys,

First off, Oscar party is on. BYOB (that's "bring your own buffalo wings", of course). We'll open up the patio out back, and generally hang loose with our very big screen TV. And just to make things interesting, we're gonna have a little contest-- whoever picks the most winners gets a free year's membership.

As for movies this week, it looks like we've got some kind of critical mass of goodness this Saturday. Here's how the day breaks down:

First up, a Suture/Chameleon Street double feature. Chameleon Street is a legendary, true life, con-man comedy that took top prize at Sundance in '89 before its writer/director/star Wendell Harris seemingly vanished into thin air. We've got the digitally restored master, plus exclusive previews of Harris' UFO conspiracy movie. Chameleon Street is one of co-programmer Matt's favorite movies-- it was literally his first suggestion to me when we started working together, his dream pick you could say-- and it hasn't been screened in years.

THEN, for our HFS Actors fest: Communion...I'm reserving myself a seat for this Christopher Walken movie, possibly the most insane movie in his whole insane career. His performance, like the rest of the movie, is simultaneously scary and hilarious, and, well, alien. And how often do you hear Chris Walken talk about "rectal probes". Maybe I'm a sick man, but this is my idea of a good time. It's director Philippe Mora's 35mm print, and he'll be there to answer all of your questions, as long as you don't ask about Howling 3: The Marsupials. Then he goes crazy.

Oh, I almost forgot. After Communion is over, the night's not. We're having a not-so-secret-as-of-this-minute music show by LITTLE WINGS at one in the morning. That's 1 AM. Admission is free, but they might put out a donation bucket.

Takashi Miike Yakuza Double Bill!

2008-02-10T14:53:00.000-08:00

Tonight at 7pm!

A Takashi Miike double bill...

ICHI THE KILLER

“There’s no love in your violence.”—Kakihara in Ichi the Killer

When a film's title is spelled out in a splash of semen, you know it's going to be unique. One of the most disgusting and sadistic movies ever made, it's filled with blood, gore, rape, torture, and self-mutilation. But Ichi the Killer is also a love story. Clad in a padded superhero suit emblazoned with the number one, Ichi (Nao Omori) is being manipulated by the mysterious Jijii (Tetsuo the Iron Man director Shinya Tsukamoto) into taking down a Yakuza gang. Our hero kills the sadistic lover of Kakihara (Tadonobu Asano), whose subsequent search for Ichi is more about his own desire to experience pain than revenge. It's a familiar story, that of a soldier trying to hunt down his boss' killer, except that our hero is an uber-masochist and his prey is a childlike patsy. Ichi is the Killer is so extreme in its gore that they passed out barf-bags to the audience at the Toronto Film Fest. You have been warned.

FUDOH: THE NEW GENERATION

Widely regarded as his first crossover hit, this Yakuza revenge/high school melodrama was made for video but landed in less reputable theatres throughout Japan. Riki Fudoh (Shosuke Tanihara) is a high school student by day and Yakuza boss by night. Out to avenge his brother’s murder, Riki starts a war with the adult world mafia—with his father as the ultimate target. His rag tag team of young enforcers, includes handgun-toting tots and a comely young teen who shoots deadly blowdarts from her vagina. When the mob sends a tough fixer named Nohma (Riki Takeuchi) to snuff Riki out, the conflict gets lethal. Fudoh is bloody, surreal and booby-trapped with moments of perverse comedy. An audacious, adrenalized genre film about Oedipal rage, backed up with lots of ammo.

Buy advance tickets here!

The Silent Movie Theatre is at 611 N Fairfax Ave. (one block south of Melrose.)

Don't forget to park for free across the street at the Fairfax High School Parking lot!

Tonight- ORNETTE: MADE IN AMERICA

2008-02-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight at 8pm!

Shirley Clarke's ORNETTE: MADE IN AMERICA

Shirley Clarke cemented her place as one of the key figures of the American independent film movement with her films The Connection (1961) and The Cool World (1963), both of which had strong jazz elements. Before retiring from filmmaking in the '80s, Clarke returned to the jazz scene for her final work, making this brilliant documentary on the decades-spanning career of multi-instrumentalist Ornette Coleman, a towering yet humble figure whose "free jazz" innovations rocked the world upon the release of his album "The Shape Of Jazz To Come" in 1959. Highlights include Coleman's homecoming performance of his "Skies Of America" symphony in Fort Worth, Texas (a town whose segregated past Coleman longed to escape as a child), and footage of Coleman's fusion group Prime Time overlayed with 8-bit video game effects!

Buy advance tickets here!

The Silent Movie Theatre is at 611 N Fairfax Ave. (one block south of Melrose.)

Don't forget to park for free across the street at the Fairfax High School Parking lot!

Tonight- John Barrymore in DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE

2008-02-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

Tonight at 8pm!

DR. JEKYLL AND MR HYDE
Accompanied by Bob Mitchell on the organ

Though Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale has seen countless incarnations, Barrymore's version is accepted as unmatched, nearly a century after its release. No surprise that history's consummate split-personality archetype would be so expertly manifested by a man famously torn between his overwhelming successes and the carnal proclivities that would eventually kill him. Impressively creepy prosthetics enhance the unsettling performance, and Barrymore's convulsive scenery-chewing is at its most potent during Jeckyll's grotesque transformations-- they're masterful slices of silent cinema that fortunately forego subtlety in favor of atomic theatrics. Nita Naldi, then known as the female Valentino, makes a notable appearance as a dance-hall temptress whose delicious wardrobe malfunctions still have the power to summon the Hyde in us all.

Buy advance tickets here

Don't forget to park for free across the street at the Fairfax High School Parking lot!

Pat O' Neill- THE DECAY OF FICTION

2008-02-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

Tonight, at the Silent Movie Theatre...

LA Film Forum and The Cinefamily present Pat O' Neill's The Decay of Fiction & Squirt Gun Step Print

Pat O’Neill is Los Angeles’s true avant-garde master, creating beautiful, moody films with floating mattes, variable film speeds, ghostly layering, wry wit, and masterful soundtracks, all working together to form a fractured almost-narrative, a reflection on the lost spaces and times of our city.

Rarely seen in Los Angeles since its premiere several years ago is Pat O’Neill’s brilliant, haunting film noir set in the decaying remains of the now-demolished Ambassador Hotel.

“While depicting the relentless passage of time with a power that few other films have captured, The Decay of Fiction sustains a mood of almost gothic sadness….The Decay of Fiction is so infatuated with vintage film lore that it leaves you with a disturbing sense of the power that the Dream Factory exerts on the historical imagination.” – Stephen Holden, NY Times

The show starts at 8pm.

Buy advance tickets!

Tonight- IMITATION OF LIFE and WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER

2008-02-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight at 7:30pm,

Douglas Sirk's IMITATION OF LIFE

And, at 10:30pm,

Timothy Carey's THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER

Buy advance tickets for IMITATION OF LIFE

Buy advance tickets for WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER

The Silent Movie Theatre is at 611 N Fairfax Ave. (one block south of Melrose.)

Don't forget to park for free across the street at the Fairfax High School Parking lot!