Found footage cults of the Internet age remind us how much fun we can have with the reuse of old, obsolete media. The consistent mashing up of previously lost, obscure videos and their uploading on sites like YouTube or Vimeo isn’t too far removed from the VHS nostalgia craze we’re familiar with now. The difference […]
Film and TV
![Sharon and Sharon Alike [Special Screenings, Sept. 20-27]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/screenings-sharon-1-2-3_epic-pictures-12-348x180.jpg)
Sharon and Sharon Alike [Special Screenings, Sept. 20-27]
Mandy. In Panos Cosmatos’ agonizing thriller, a broken and haunted man (Nicolas Cage, channeling Nicolas Cage) hunts in the Pacific Northwest wilderness for a religious sect that slaughtered the love of his life, Mandy (Andrea Riseborough). The Frida Cinema, 305 E. Fourth St., Santa Ana; thefridacinema.org. Thurs., Sept. 20, 1:30, 4:30 & 8 p.m. $7-$10. […]
Love, Gilda Reminds Us of Its Subject’s Brilliance and Compassion
One of life’s great disappointments happened when a then-girlfriend told of trying to surprise me with a phone call from Gilda Radner. This was when I was in college but before cellphones, so the Queen of Saturday Night Live would have been calling on the landline of the two-bedroom apartment I shared with three other […]
Now See This: Joan Jett Bad Reputation Doc @Frida and Regency South Coast Village
Since January, one of the most hyped movies of the year has been Bad Reputation, a documentary looking back on the career of Joan Jett, fittingly named after one of her biggest hits. After taking the screen at Sundance, the film was met by soaring praise, and with good reason. This is an extensive and […]
Surgeon/Reality TV Dater and Girlfriend Allegedly Drugged and Raped Women
A Newport Beach orthopaedic surgeon, who appeared on the Bravo reality show Online Dating Rituals of the American Male, had a dating ritual with his girlfriend that involved finding a second woman and drugging and raping her, according to authorities with fears there may be 1,000 victims. Dr. Grant William Robicheaux, 38, of Newport Beach, is charged […]
Chapman’s Brian Robau is the First Two-Time Student Academy Awards Winner
A Chapman University student has won his second Student Academy Award in three years, a first-ever feat in the 45 years of the ceremonies that in the past honored the young Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis, among many others. At the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills on Oct. 11, Brian Robau will […]
Now See This: Bombshell @Laguna Art Museum
Known as “the Blonde Bombshell” and “the Laughing Vamp,” Jean Harlow became an international screen sensation in Howard Hughes’ 1930 aviation adventure Hell’s Angels. Although untrained and only 19, Harlow continued her winning streak throughout the 1930s, playing sassy, vampy dames alongside the likes of James Cagney, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. In 1933, Harlow […]
![You’ve Got to Have Faith [Special Screenings, Sept. 13-20]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/screenings-moses_fathom-events-2-348x180.jpg)
You’ve Got to Have Faith [Special Screenings, Sept. 13-20]
Madeline’s Madeline. A theater director’s latest project takes on a life of its own when her young star (newcomer Helena Howard) takes her performance too seriously. Molly Parker and Miranda July also star for writer/director Josephine Baker. The Frida Cinema, 305 E. Fourth St., Santa Ana; thefridacinema.org. Thurs., Sept. 13, 12:30, 5:30 & 7:30 p.m. […]
Cambodia Town Film Festival Returns for a Sixth Year of Amazing Programming
Over the past six years, the Cambodia Town Film Festival has established itself as a celebration of Khmer culture by sharing a wide scope of films either made in Cambodia, focused on Cambodian issues or made by Cambodian filmmakers. Set in Long Beach, the hub for the Cambodian community, this year’s cinematic span offers indie, […]
5 Films for These Times Document Hate, Injustice, Sick Leave and More
One silver lining to these whacked out times is the new art that hopefully helps us cope. That includes cinema and, more specifically, provocative documentaries. Five docs playing regionally over the next week and a half address hate, injustice, sick leave, gentrification and the death penalty. Each screening is followed by discussions with filmmakers and/or […]
Mapplethorpe and Wild Nights with Emily are Big QFilm Award Winners
Mapplethorpe, an eye-opening look at the life of controversial gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and Wild Nights with Emily, an irreverent exploration of the famous poet Emily Dickinson, were multiple award winners at last weekend’s 25th anniversary QFilm Festival in Long Beach. The narrative features, documentaries and short films presented at Qfilms aim to embody the […]
At the 25-Year Mark, QFilm Fest Is as Relevant as Ever
UPDATE: Mapplethorpe and Wild Nights with Emily are Big QFilm Award Winners As my colleague Aimee Murillo mentioned in her Horrible Imaginings Film Festival preview last week, September is when the fall film festival season kicks off, so it is fitting that the 25th anniversary of Long Beach’s longest-running film fest happens in the beginning […]
![Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog [Special Screenings, Sept. 6-13]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/screenings-lilo-and-stitch-disney-8-348x180.jpg)
Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog [Special Screenings, Sept. 6-13]
2001: A Space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece, which was spun out of Arthur C. Clarke’s short sci-fi story, is about a spaceship’s onboard computer system squaring off in a death match with its human master. The Frida Cinema, 305 E. Fourth St., Santa Ana; thefridacinema.org. Thurs., Sept. 6, 2, 5 & 8 p.m. $7-$10. […]
Long Beach Indie International Film Fest Honors Female Stories and Filmmakers
Films about girls and women in peril were big award winners at Sunday’s culmination of the 2018 Long Beach Indie International Film Festival (LBIIFF). The Broken Rose, which tells the story of human trafficking in Oakland through the eyes of a girl who grew up abused in foster care, received the Best Narrative Feature honor […]
Newport Beach Mojo Works: Trailer is Out for Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind
The release of a trailer for The Other Side of the Wind, which had been lost to time, money and the death of its creator, shows that much has changed since the Weekly began tracking the local connections to what will go down as Orson Welles’ final completed motion picture when it premieres at the […]
Horrible Imaginings Film Festival Celebrates Classic and Indie Horror Films
The fall film festival season starts in September, so expect to see more coverage of local events that champion indie films across various genres and cultures in these pages. This weekend, the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival takes over the Frida Cinema to present bizarre, fantastic and exceptional horror, thriller and sci-fi films, shorts and special […]
![Just Super [Aug. 30-Sept. 6]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/screenings-justice-league_warner-bros-5-348x180.jpg)
Just Super [Aug. 30-Sept. 6]
Long Beach Indie International Film Festival. For the fifth year, more than 150 diverse features, shorts, music videos, TV pilots and web series from across the globe are presented. Since its inception in 2014, the indie fest has drawn entries that have gone on to gain national or international distribution as well as Oscar, Golden […]
Now See This: Phantom Thread @Fullerton Public Library
Every month, Fullerton Public Library hosts its own art-house night with a different contemporary flick for local cinephiles. This month, it’s running the latest Paul Thomas Anderson/Daniel Day-Lewis vehicle, Phantom Thread. The Oscar-nominated , critically lauded film follows Reynolds Woodcock, a mercurial-albeit-accomplished couture designer living in 1950s London who meets his match in a young, […]
The Real Inmates of Orange County Jail, Starring Alexa Curtin
Alexa Curtin is known for three things: 1) Being the daughter of ex-Real Housewives of Orange County cast member and certified hot mess Lynne Curtin. 2) Once being a “barely legal” porn star (under the name Jayden Taylors). 3) Being awarded $2.25 million in a lawsuit against the County of Orange and sheriff’s deputy Nicholas […]
ScreenX Marks the Spot at Irvine Spectrum
The summer blockbuster The Meg continues a string of recent movies that are joint American and Chinese productions, but the Asian influence extends beyond what is onscreen to the actual screen itself. With a 7 p.m. Aug. 16 showing of The Meg, Regal’s Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 became the fifth American moviehouse to host ScreenX, […]
![Not as Charming as You Think You Are [Special Screenings, Aug. 23-30]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/screenings-last-vegas_cbs-films-3-348x180.jpg)
Not as Charming as You Think You Are [Special Screenings, Aug. 23-30]
Eighth Grade. Standup comic Bo Burnham’s writing and directing feature debut is about an introverted girl (Elsie Fisher) trying to survive her disastrous eighth-grade year before she is off to high school. Directors Cut Cinema at Regency Rancho Niguel, 25471 Rancho Niguel Rd., Laguna Niguel, (949) 831-0446. Thurs., Aug. 23, 11:50 a.m., 4:50 & 10 […]
