The best things to do this week in Los Angeles
Concerts, food festivals, movie screenings, art exhibits and more of our critics' picks of the best events and things to do in Los Angeles this week
If we could write the rules of living in Los Angeles this would be our No. 1, always at the top of our list: When you live in this city, there's no excuse for boredom just because it's a weeknight. Any given week, there are hundreds of things to do and see, from concerts and comedy, art and performances, sample sales and food events, and that's really only scratching the surface. Well, we don't make the rules, but we will provide you with plenty of ideas for your next free weeknight right here. Now put down that TV remote. There you go. Now get out of the house.
Jazz at LACMA
One of LA's best free live music offerings, Jazz at LACMA has featured such legends as Wayne Shorter, John Clayton, Kenny Burrell, Les McCann, Billy Childs, Arturo Sandoval, Cannonball-Coltrane Project and Ernie Watts. Celebrating over twenty years at the museum, the program continues to be one of the museum’s most recognizable (and beloved) programs. It's a celebration of LA’s finest jazz musicians, and more than 42,000 visitors attend the program annually from April through November, making it a true LA rite of passage.
Read more
San Gabriel Dumpling & Beer Fest
Swap out your pretzels with dumplings for the second annual Dumpling & Beer Fest at San Gabriel Mission Playhouse (320 S Mission Drive, San Gabriel). For $30 ($20 for limited tastings), your beer wristband will get you unlimited craft beer from 6-9pm, and you'll also be able to enjoy live entertainment, wine tastings and food trucks. Dumpling vendors will be on hand to sell their food separately. Find out more information here.
Read more
Regina Spektor
The Moscow-born, Bronx-raised piano prodigy, singer and anti-folk queen makes a welcome return with two intimate shows at the El Rey. Spektor will be playing in davance of the release of Remember Us to Life, here first album in four years.
Read more
NOMO FOMO: An Art Show about Broads in the City
Wait out Broad City's 2017 return with this tribute art show from Jane Dope, Hussy Whipped, and Sleazy Bake Oven. The trio behind Eat Your Art Out will transform NerdMelt into the streets of Broad City with more than 75 pieces of the show's most impressive fan art. The free show runs through October 7, including an opening night "Narnia of Party-as" on September 30 with DJs, bucket drummers, food, drinks, a photo booth and more.
Read more
Rooftop Film Club
The masters of al fresco rooftop movie viewing are returning for their second season of screenings on the Montálban's rooftop, and we have the exclusive details. Known for excellent film choices and a steady supply of snacks and booze, Rooftop Film Club is your snazzy, comfortable and less stressful alternative to other outdoor movie screenings. Taking full advantage of the Montálban rooftop's beautiful city view, RFC promises to offer some of the most unique and incredible movie-going opportunities for film lovers throughout April. You don't even need to bring your own blanket or camping chair—Rooftop Film Club provides you with your very own comfy lawn chair, as well as blankets on request for the ultimate cozy experience. And instead of listening to the movie over loudspeakers, you'll get a set of wireless headphones so you never have to miss a word. The series is packed with a wide selection of audience favorites, kicking things off in April with Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening night, and hitting up everything from teen movie favorites like Clueless and Dirty Dancing to classics like Casablanca and Sunset Boulevard in the weeks that follow. The first batch of general admission tickets is on sale now—click the film title below to purchase general admission tickets for $17 (plus a $2 booking fee). Doors open at 6pm each night and all screenings begin at 8pm. See you on the rooftop!
Read more
Amber Rose Slut Walk
Model Amber Rose leads this impassioned walk from Pershing Square in the name of ending sexual injustice, victim blaming, derogatory labeling and gender inequality.
Read more
Noon to Midnight
Kick off the LA Phil's Green Umbrella series with an entire day of performances throughout the Walt Disney Concert Hall. You'll find pop-up performances from local ensembles in the performance center's entrance hall, garden and main auditorium, followed by the "Four World Premieres" program in the evening. The afternoon takes place in a decidedly festival-like atmosphere that includes food trucks and beer. Noon to Midnight also marks the beginning of Yuval Sharon's (the man behind Hopscotch) three-year residency as Artist-Collaborator with the unveiling of the cloud-like multimedia installation Nimbus.
Read more
Eastside Food Festival
The Eastside Food Festival is back for its third year of celebrating the Eastside's food culture. More than 25 hand-selected vendors will be serving their best bites, including Little Beast, Homestate, Jeni's Ice Cream, Sticky Rice, Starry Kitchen, Buttonmash, Knuckle and Claw, Pok Pok, Lord Jones and more. Between noshing on food, attendees will be entertained with popular LA musicians and DJs, discussion panels, demos and tastings. There will also be a raffle to benefit PATH, an organization working to end homelessness.
Read more
LA Beer Hop
LA's craft beer scene has grown exponentially in the past few years, leaving beer fiends to wonder not if there's a brewery they want to check out, but when and how many. That's where LA Beer Hop comes in. Started by husband and wife Hal and Cindy Mooney, Beer Hop offers brewery tours on the weekends, offering three tours that focus on different LA neighborhoods: East/Central LA, South Bay and Long Beach. Tours last for 4-5 hours and are led by a knowledge Beer Hop guide, driving each group to three breweries while providing fantastic information along the way. No two tours are alike: on a South Bay excursion, you may be taken to Monkish, Three Weavers and Phantom Carriage one weekend, and King Harbor, The Dudes and Absolution Brewing on another. East/Central LA tours traverse the city from Mumford to MacLeod to Eagle Rock Brewery, while the Long Beach tour might include Beachwood Brewing, Timeless Pints and Smog City Brewing. And at $65, the tours are a steal—not only do you have a built-in designated driver, but each brewery includes a sizeable flight, letting you try a wide variety and leaving you thoroughly tipsy (at the bare minimum). The Beer Hop bus arranges for pick-up at metro stops to ensure as little driving on your part as possible. And your fellow tour members? Well, that can all depend, but after a flight or two we're sure you'll all be singing together on the bus in no time.
Read more
Front Porch Cinema
With summer movie season behind us, get your outdoor film fix at an equally alluring venue: the Santa Monica Pier. Every Friday night in October, this Eat|See|Hear-curated series unfolds a chair on the Pacific's front porch. Enjoy a combination of music and films in the ocean breeze—ranging from fun family flicks to throught-provoking docs. Plus, you can show up early for the "Cinema Lounge," which pairs movie-themed cocktails and food vendors with each film.
Read more
Rooftop Film Club
The masters of al fresco rooftop movie viewing are returning for their second season of screenings on the Montálban's rooftop, and we have the exclusive details. Known for excellent film choices and a steady supply of snacks and booze, Rooftop Film Club is your snazzy, comfortable and less stressful alternative to other outdoor movie screenings. Taking full advantage of the Montálban rooftop's beautiful city view, RFC promises to offer some of the most unique and incredible movie-going opportunities for film lovers throughout April. You don't even need to bring your own blanket or camping chair—Rooftop Film Club provides you with your very own comfy lawn chair, as well as blankets on request for the ultimate cozy experience. And instead of listening to the movie over loudspeakers, you'll get a set of wireless headphones so you never have to miss a word. The series is packed with a wide selection of audience favorites, kicking things off in April with Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening night, and hitting up everything from teen movie favorites like Clueless and Dirty Dancing to classics like Casablanca and Sunset Boulevard in the weeks that follow. The first batch of general admission tickets is on sale now—click the film title below to purchase general admission tickets for $17 (plus a $2 booking fee). Doors open at 6pm each night and all screenings begin at 8pm. See you on the rooftop!
Read more
School Night
Stay out late on a school night with this series of free Monday night concerts in Bardot's sumptuous courtyard lounge. Though the sets are short, the price is certainly right, as is the lineup curated by resident DJ and KCRW tastemaker Chris Douridas; expect a mix of local bands and touring acts like Miguel, Eleanor Friedberger, Odesza and Father John Misty.
Read more
Monday night residencies at the Satellite
Silver Lake's legit little music venue offers up some of the best local music in the city every Monday night... for free. Check out LA bands that are about to make it big (acts like Fitz & the Tantrums, Superhumanoids and even Local Natives have graced the residency stage) without spending a dime—well, except on maybe a beer, or a round for the folks onstage. Check the Satellite calendar to see who's on the bill each month. Acts often have a rotating cast of openers, so you can see different bands each week while watching the main act work on material, become more comfortable onstage and find their rhythm as the month goes on. Then a few years from now, you can say "I saw them when...."
Read more
Street Food Cinema
For your one-stop-shop in LA summer entertainment, follow the food trucks. Saturday evenings throughout the summer and fall, Street Food Cinema throws together an epic outdoor party, complete with live music, tasty street fare and a screening of your favorite movie. The screenings are held in parks throughout LA, which vary from week to week, so make sure to check the schedule for deats before schlepping your dog, friends and picnic supplies all over the city.
Read more
BFD (Big Fat Dick)
It’s been called the best raunch-fest in the City of Angels and it’s held weekly at Fubar, West Hollywood’s most alternative outpost. Every Thursday, moustached alt-nightlife-maestro Mario Diaz brings out boystown’s sexiest players for a night that kicks off the weekend with a healthy dose of testerone, a scantily clad, tattooed brigade of go-go boys and a contest that dares patrons to have their “members” photographed and judged at the climax of the party. Add in vintage gay porn playing on screens around the bar and you’ve got yet another one of those nights that helps Fubar live up to its reputation as “not your father’s gay bar.”
Read more
Beauty and the Beast
Disney animation enters the ’90s and embraces the stunning technical advances of computer-generated imagery — the sequence in the Beast’s ballroom is breathtaking — and updates the traditional dependent heroine. This Beauty, Belle, besides representing a move away from the usual Barbie Doll looks, is resourceful, bookish and vigorous in resisting the chauvinist advances of the conceited Gaston, the character who turns out to bear the true mark of the beast. Gaston was based on LA’s Medallion Man narcissists, and is well and truly lampooned in the bar-room waltz. Beast, based on a menagerie of brooding buffalo, bear, boar and gorilla, learns to master his temper, and his growing relationship with Belle is infinitely touching. His bewitched castle is enlivened by an antic household including a candelabra with the panache of a French maître d’, a neurotic clock and a mother-and-son teapot and cup. The six musical numbers from Howard Ashman and Alan Menken either reveal character or push the action, with ‘Be Our Guest’ an outstanding example of cartoon choreography. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise directed. Dazzlingly good and a treat for all the family.
Read more
Jazz at LACMA
One of LA's best free live music offerings, Jazz at LACMA has featured such legends as Wayne Shorter, John Clayton, Kenny Burrell, Les McCann, Billy Childs, Arturo Sandoval, Cannonball-Coltrane Project and Ernie Watts. Celebrating over twenty years at the museum, the program continues to be one of the museum’s most recognizable (and beloved) programs. It's a celebration of LA’s finest jazz musicians, and more than 42,000 visitors attend the program annually from April through November, making it a true LA rite of passage.
Read more
Mad Max: Fury Road
The fourth installment of George Miller’s rambunctious postapocalyptic saga arrives in theaters like a tornado tearing through a tea party. In an age of weightless spectacles that studios whittle down from visions to products, here’s a movie that feels like it was made by kidnapping $150 million of Warner Bros.’ money, absconding with it to the Namibian desert, and sending footage back to Hollywood like the amputated body parts of a ransomed hostage. It’s been 30 years since we last watched Max Rockatansky drift into the horizon, but the road warrior hasn’t aged a day. Instead, he’s been transformed from a reluctantly charismatic Mel Gibson into a terse Tom Hardy, the franchise shedding its skin with the serialized ease of the James Bond films. Much has changed to the wasteland that Max wanders, however. While previous episodes were set amidst the rubble of a ruined world, Fury Road finds us having faded much further into the rear-view mirror, the colorful hypersaturated landscapes locating this story closer to the dawn of a new civilization than the twilight of an old one. Things begin inside the immense mountain stronghold ruled by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a ghoulishly inbred monster who lords over a society that guzzles its citizens like fuel. Women are drained for their breast milk, girls are farmed for their wombs, and men like Max are used as human hood ornaments called “bloodbags.” Unsurprisingly, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), Joe’s one-armed lieutena
Read more
LA Beer Hop
LA's craft beer scene has grown exponentially in the past few years, leaving beer fiends to wonder not if there's a brewery they want to check out, but when and how many. That's where LA Beer Hop comes in. Started by husband and wife Hal and Cindy Mooney, Beer Hop offers brewery tours on the weekends, offering three tours that focus on different LA neighborhoods: East/Central LA, South Bay and Long Beach. Tours last for 4-5 hours and are led by a knowledge Beer Hop guide, driving each group to three breweries while providing fantastic information along the way. No two tours are alike: on a South Bay excursion, you may be taken to Monkish, Three Weavers and Phantom Carriage one weekend, and King Harbor, The Dudes and Absolution Brewing on another. East/Central LA tours traverse the city from Mumford to MacLeod to Eagle Rock Brewery, while the Long Beach tour might include Beachwood Brewing, Timeless Pints and Smog City Brewing. And at $65, the tours are a steal—not only do you have a built-in designated driver, but each brewery includes a sizeable flight, letting you try a wide variety and leaving you thoroughly tipsy (at the bare minimum). The Beer Hop bus arranges for pick-up at metro stops to ensure as little driving on your part as possible. And your fellow tour members? Well, that can all depend, but after a flight or two we're sure you'll all be singing together on the bus in no time.
Read more
Paramount After Dark Tour: Tales From the Other Side
Take a two-and-a-half-hour guided tour of the Paramount Studios, as well as the neighboring Hollywood Forever Cemetery, during this after-hours experience. The tour digs up the dirt on Hollywood's dearly departed and comes with a personalized souvenir photo and remembrance rose, as well as complimentary champagne and candy and popcorn hosted in an eerie location.
Read more
Jazz at LACMA
One of LA's best free live music offerings, Jazz at LACMA has featured such legends as Wayne Shorter, John Clayton, Kenny Burrell, Les McCann, Billy Childs, Arturo Sandoval, Cannonball-Coltrane Project and Ernie Watts. Celebrating over twenty years at the museum, the program continues to be one of the museum’s most recognizable (and beloved) programs. It's a celebration of LA’s finest jazz musicians, and more than 42,000 visitors attend the program annually from April through November, making it a true LA rite of passage.
Read more
NOMO FOMO: An Art Show about Broads in the City
Wait out Broad City's 2017 return with this tribute art show from Jane Dope, Hussy Whipped, and Sleazy Bake Oven. The trio behind Eat Your Art Out will transform NerdMelt into the streets of Broad City with more than 75 pieces of the show's most impressive fan art. The free show runs through October 7, including an opening night "Narnia of Party-as" on September 30 with DJs, bucket drummers, food, drinks, a photo booth and more.
Read more
School Night
Stay out late on a school night with this series of free Monday night concerts in Bardot's sumptuous courtyard lounge. Though the sets are short, the price is certainly right, as is the lineup curated by resident DJ and KCRW tastemaker Chris Douridas; expect a mix of local bands and touring acts like Miguel, Eleanor Friedberger, Odesza and Father John Misty.
Read more
Front Porch Cinema
With summer movie season behind us, get your outdoor film fix at an equally alluring venue: the Santa Monica Pier. Every Friday night in October, this Eat|See|Hear-curated series unfolds a chair on the Pacific's front porch. Enjoy a combination of music and films in the ocean breeze—ranging from fun family flicks to throught-provoking docs. Plus, you can show up early for the "Cinema Lounge," which pairs movie-themed cocktails and food vendors with each film.
Read more
Comedy Palace
This weekly comedy showcase in Los Feliz hosts one of the most stacked lineups of stand-ups this side of the 101. Located above a Chinese restaurant, the free Comedy Palace attracts a steady stable of late night show regulars every Thursday as well as surprise guests—you never know when Patton Oswalt will drop in or Maria Bamford will mount a month-long residency. It's worth every penny... if it actually cost you any to begin with.
Read more
Grand Central Market Summer Nights
Summer Nights at Grand Central Market launches this summer by expanding their hours every evening until 10pm. Along with special programming, visitors can expect live music, evening menu specials, a massive happy hour and free shuttle service to destinations like Disney Hall, the Music Center, Orpheum Theatre, the Theatre at Ace Hotel and other entertainment venues. Under ambient evening lighting—whatever that means, though we're guessing there will be a blue hue permeating throughout the space—most of the market's vendors will remain open until the very end, with some spots like Belcampo Meat Co., Knead & Co. Pasta Bar, DTLA Cheese and McConnell's Fine Ice Creams offering exclusive nighttime menu items. Various programs will occur throughout the week: Trivia Tuesdays,Horse Thief Movie Wednesdays, Drag Queen Bingo on the first and third Thursday of the month, and DJs and live music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Read more
Spring Street Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest is the unofficial and un-American holiday that we so eagerly await—and desperately try to remember after the fact. Start the month of October on a good note by heading to DTLA for the Spring Street Oktoberfest. Beelman's Pub and Spring St Bar will be offering eight German beers on tap, plus meaty eats like the sausage gouda sandwich and Spring St Brat. The festivities run throughout the day, with a very special cask of Paulaner Ceremonial Beer to be hand-tapped at 3pm. The coveted barrel hails from an official Oktoberfest brewery in Germany and is one of the only four Ceremonial casks distributed to California.
Read more
Monday night residencies at the Satellite
Silver Lake's legit little music venue offers up some of the best local music in the city every Monday night... for free. Check out LA bands that are about to make it big (acts like Fitz & the Tantrums, Superhumanoids and even Local Natives have graced the residency stage) without spending a dime—well, except on maybe a beer, or a round for the folks onstage. Check the Satellite calendar to see who's on the bill each month. Acts often have a rotating cast of openers, so you can see different bands each week while watching the main act work on material, become more comfortable onstage and find their rhythm as the month goes on. Then a few years from now, you can say "I saw them when...."
Read more
Artists & Fleas Venice
The newest flea market on the block, the Venice outpost of this artisan/craft-focused flea market mini-empire is bringing records, vintage and vintage-inspired clothing, cosmetics, jewelry and more to the Westminster Avenue Elementary School. A handful of small batch confectioners provide sweet treats to snack on or take home, while food trucks and nearby restaurants provide heartier bites. Though relatively small in size, owing perhaps to its prime location bookending the neighborhood’s famed Abbot Kinney stretch, vendors hawk a diverse range of hand-made and expertly curated wares that seems to simultaneously fit in and stand out in one of the nation’s most unusual neighborhoods.
Read more
Smorgasburg LA
Indulge your inner foodie and shopaholic at this weekly market. The Brooklyn export has landed in the Arts District and it's a hotbed of fantastic food and retail vendors, some coming from the original Brooklyn iteration of Smorgasburg and others that have been focusing on pop-ups and catering events in Los Angeles.
Read more
Rooftop Film Club
The masters of al fresco rooftop movie viewing are returning for their second season of screenings on the Montálban's rooftop, and we have the exclusive details. Known for excellent film choices and a steady supply of snacks and booze, Rooftop Film Club is your snazzy, comfortable and less stressful alternative to other outdoor movie screenings. Taking full advantage of the Montálban rooftop's beautiful city view, RFC promises to offer some of the most unique and incredible movie-going opportunities for film lovers throughout April. You don't even need to bring your own blanket or camping chair—Rooftop Film Club provides you with your very own comfy lawn chair, as well as blankets on request for the ultimate cozy experience. And instead of listening to the movie over loudspeakers, you'll get a set of wireless headphones so you never have to miss a word. The series is packed with a wide selection of audience favorites, kicking things off in April with Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening night, and hitting up everything from teen movie favorites like Clueless and Dirty Dancing to classics like Casablanca and Sunset Boulevard in the weeks that follow. The first batch of general admission tickets is on sale now—click the film title below to purchase general admission tickets for $17 (plus a $2 booking fee). Doors open at 6pm each night and all screenings begin at 8pm. See you on the rooftop!
Read more
Mad Max: Fury Road
The fourth installment of George Miller’s rambunctious postapocalyptic saga arrives in theaters like a tornado tearing through a tea party. In an age of weightless spectacles that studios whittle down from visions to products, here’s a movie that feels like it was made by kidnapping $150 million of Warner Bros.’ money, absconding with it to the Namibian desert, and sending footage back to Hollywood like the amputated body parts of a ransomed hostage. It’s been 30 years since we last watched Max Rockatansky drift into the horizon, but the road warrior hasn’t aged a day. Instead, he’s been transformed from a reluctantly charismatic Mel Gibson into a terse Tom Hardy, the franchise shedding its skin with the serialized ease of the James Bond films. Much has changed to the wasteland that Max wanders, however. While previous episodes were set amidst the rubble of a ruined world, Fury Road finds us having faded much further into the rear-view mirror, the colorful hypersaturated landscapes locating this story closer to the dawn of a new civilization than the twilight of an old one. Things begin inside the immense mountain stronghold ruled by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a ghoulishly inbred monster who lords over a society that guzzles its citizens like fuel. Women are drained for their breast milk, girls are farmed for their wombs, and men like Max are used as human hood ornaments called “bloodbags.” Unsurprisingly, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), Joe’s one-armed lieutena
Read more
The Magnificent Seven
If you wanted to point to the perfect Hollywood Western—not necessarily the most complex or delicately shaded, but tallest in the saddle—John Sturges’s iconic 1960 oater would be hard to outgun. It sweeps you up in manly camaraderie, has a killer cast of rising action stars (Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn) and gallops along to the most exhilarating opening theme ever composed for a movie. Don’t blame Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua for wanting to remake it. His sturdy new version, starring a flint-eyed Denzel Washington as bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (a role once filled by Yul Brynner, passing for “Cajun”), plays closer to the original’s source material, Akira Kurosawa’s smoky Seven Samurai. Like the best Westerns, it's also timely: A tale about a black hero and his six men who clean up a besieged town from rapacious businessmen, it feels like an unambiguously fond farewell to the Obama years. And if Peter Sarsgaard’s villain isn’t in the same league as the first film’s Eli Wallach, he brings some serious scowl to the proceedings. Today’s Magnificent Seven is a vehicle for wall-to-wall action, including one devastating sequence with a hand-cranked Gatling gun that calls to mind Sam Peckinpah’s gory The Wild Bunch. If Fuqua and his screenwriters (including True Detective’s Nic Pizzolatto) slightly botch the underlying theme of redemption—Ethan Hawke’s haunted ex-Confederate sharpshooter could have been more developed—it still makes good on its ideas of community pri
Read more
Kubo and the Two Strings
For impeccably crafted tearjerkers, leave yourself in the capable hands of Pixar. For something a few notches darker—like this dazzling Edo-period–set animated movie concerning a Japanese fable of devotion and bravery—the wildly inventive stop-motion group Laika has you covered. Its visual stunner Kubo and the Two Strings—directed by Travis Knight, the lead animator of Laika’s The Boxtrolls and ParaNorman—follows our hero Kubo (Art Parkinson), a resourceful, one-eyed 12-year-old with unrefined powers he inherited from his mother, a god. Carrying the mantle of his deceased samurai father, Kubo draws on his exceptional storytelling gifts, aided by an abundance of colorful origami figures that magically materialize and gracefully fold themselves into his tales. He also scrapes together funds from townspeople to care for his loving, somberly depressed mom, a lonely widow. Still furious about her marriage to a mere mortal (over though it is), Kubo’s relatives vow vengeance. There are his creepy, immortal twin aunts (Rooney Mara), whose every appearance rivals the unsettling sisters from The Shining, as well as a malicious maternal grandfather (Ralph Fiennes). They decide to track down our young hero to steal his remaining eye and make him “as blind to humanity as they are.” But joined by a quick-witted, protective monkey (Charlize Theron) and a friendly warrior cursed with an erased memory (Matthew McConaughey), Kubo embarks on a journey to retrieve a suit of armor that could sa
Read more
Rosemary's Baby: movie review
The movie has a fearsome reputation, so let’s go in through the side door. Ignore that creepy la-la-la music over the opening credits, along with the ominous facade of the Dakota—it’s only an apartment building, a touch more Gothic than most. Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy (John Cassavetes) eat dinner out of takeout cartons, sitting on the floor of their furniture-free space. You hear the traffic outside, an airplane flies by, the couple have Wednesday sex; nothing could be more mundane. They talk about typical young-married stuff: jobs, money, haircuts. A nosy next-door neighbor, Minnie (Ruth Gordon), isn’t anything out of the norm either. We’re not quite in a documentary—Roman Polanski is too careful with his camera—but it might as well be one, or a drama, a contemporary slice of cosmopolitan anxiety set on the same wing as the Draper residence. Modern is exactly what Rosemary’s Baby is, and why it’s still so major, the supernatural elements seeping in via the cracks. Could all of our heroine’s nerves be just a bad dream? Suddenly, she’s pregnant, and in come the doctors, including a bearded, close-to-parody obstetrician cutting off her guff and recommending a daily milkshake. The brilliance here—a fair amount of it due to novelist Ira Levin, also of The Stepford Wives—is diversion: Who actually expects the devil in the details? Hollywood trembled after this film came out—they couldn’t go back to Transylvania anymore. Fear was all around us, and the better thrillers have ke
Read more
Florence Foster Jenkins
Meryl Streep continues her screw-the-Oscars, life-affirming run of movies with this ridiculously watchable comedy, playing filthy-rich socialite Florence Foster Jenkins. In the 1930s and ’40s, the real-life deluded diva sang at private recitals in New York, warbling opera, blissfully unaware that her hilariously awful singing voice might shatter the chandeliers at any moment. (David Bowie put one of her records on his list of favorite albums.) Wearing comically vile dresses that look like they’re made out of cushion covers and doilies, Streep is clearly having a blast. To sing this badly must stretch as many acting muscles as all that Oscar-winning emoting. When tone-deaf Florence opens her mouth, it’s like opening the door on a barn full of cows in heat. Protecting her from the truth is Florence’s younger second husband, St. Clair Bayfield (played by Hugh Grant, who has transformed into a silver fox overnight). His mission in life is to keep the “mockers and scoffers” at bay, bribing audiences and paying off critics. He pampers and fusses over Florence, indulging her every whim (we all need a St. Clair in our lives), but comes unraveled when Florence dreams big, renting out Carnegie Hall in 1944. Think about it too hard and you could go sour on Florence Foster Jenkins. What would her modern-day equivalent look like? A spoiled Floridian princess recording a noxious song that goes viral? But director Stephen Frears (The Queen) sketches out her tragic backstory, and Streep,
Read more
Bridget Jones's Baby
Clever old Bridget (Renée Zellweger). There’s been a hell of a lot criticism of her for crimes against feminism, but here she is, triumphantly returning in her forties, funnier, wittier, and—perhaps most importantly—happier with herself. And unlike the last film in the series, 2004’s The Edge of Reason, you don’t need to knock back several large glasses of chardonnay for this one to make you laugh. Bridget Jones’s Baby picks up a few years after her relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) went south. Bridge is now 43 and single. But instead of crying into her cardigan about dying alone, she has thrown herself into her brilliant career as a top TV news producer. (Honestly, she can even pronounce the names of obscure genocidal dictators.) Her friends have all settled down and babied-up, so she’s got a new bestie, hard-partying millennial Miranda (Sarah Solemani). After declaring that she’s past her sexual sell-by date, Bridget has two drunken one-night stands and finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. Is the dad emotionally constipated Mark? Or sexy American billionaire Jack (Patrick Dempsey)? The screenplay is a team effort by Dan Mazer (who’s worked with Sacha Baron Cohen), Helen Fielding and Emma Thompson, who writes herself a hilarious role as a sharp-tongued doctor and gives herself the best line in the movie: Kicking men out of the delivery room, she tells them: “My ex said it was like watching his favorite pub burn down.” Smartly, and without harping on about it, th
Read more
Queen of Katwe
The irresistible message of Mira Nair’s big-hearted Disney feel-good film Queen of Katwe is that when kids grow up in poverty, the world misses out on some of its best and brightest talents. Set in one of Uganda's poorest slums, Katwe (pronounced Kah-tway), this English-language film is based on the story of real-life chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi, who overcame two impossible hurdles—being poor and being a girl—to become a teenage champion. We meet Phiona (Madina Nalwanga) at age nine selling corn from a bowl on her head to help her mom (Lupita Nyong’o), a widow raising five kids on her own. What lures Phiona into a chess club for slum children run by a volunteer (Selma's David Oyelowo) is a free cup of porridge. She can’t read or write, but she’s transfixed by the pieces on wooden boards painted with black and white squares. It’s impossible to watch the young cast that Nair (Monsoon Wedding) has assembled without a big smile creeping on to your face. Wisecracking and charismatic, they light up the screen with their natural, full-of-life performances. If the uplifting underdog story of Phiona Mutesi didn't exist, Disney might have had to invent it. There are no surprises here. What you expect to happen does happens (and you wonder why the filmmakers chose not to mention that Phiona’s dad died from AIDS?). When the kids travel to a tournament at a fancy boarding school, the rich snobs sneer at them. One little shit wipes his hand on the tablecloth after a handshake with Phiona
Read more
Blair Witch
If there were any film whose lightning would seem impossible to recapture in a bottle, it’s The Blair Witch Project. The you-are-there vérité techniques that gave the 1999 horror movie such a frightening immediacy have passed into cliché, and there’s no way today’s audiences would fall for the original marketing campaign’s “It really happened!” pitch. So it’s something of a small miracle that the 17-years-later Blair Witch, essentially a sequel-as-remake (ignore 2000’s Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2), emerges as satisfying in its own right and pretty damn scary. Director Adam Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett, the accomplished team behind You’re Next and The Guest, reference the pervasiveness of homemade footage by opening on a website: Newly discovered video—apparently of original victim Heather—has been posted. Her brother, James (James Allen McCune), is inspired to head back into Maryland’s Black Hills Forest in search of his long-lost sibling, and he’s joined by film student Lisa (Callie Hernandez) and friends Peter (Brandon Scott) and Ashley (Corbin Reid). They’re outfitted with high-tech cameras including GoPros and even a drone. With all this technology in their hands, there’s no way they can get lost, right? (Right?) Wingard and Barrett briefly acknowledge the prior movie’s legacy, but they mostly devote themselves to rerunning its scenario with the dial turned up to 11. With a few new wrinkles worked into the mythology, particularly a nasty, literal twist on t
Read more
Goat
A young mugging victim finds his masculinity further tested by a fraternity rush process in Goat, a narrowly focused but unsettling indictment of campus culture. Thousands of pledges will relate to the gross hazing inflicted upon Brad (Ben Schnetzer), whose torture extends to an unspeakably vulgar prank involving the movie’s titular mammal. Goat, “based on actual events” from Brad Land’s memoir, depicts the toxic machismo that dominates university Greek life. Director Andrew Neel treats these appalling rituals with an unyielding self-seriousness that brands the Phi Sigma Mu brothers as dangerously juvenile. “They just do this to weed out the weak ones,” assures Brett (pop star Nick Jonas), Brad’s older brother, but the homogeneous sea of skinny white torsos aggressively cheering together during the movie’s eerie slow-motion opening shot tells a different story. It’s unnatural selection: like-minded young men given free reign to develop their own unsavory traditions outside of the gaze of others. James Franco makes a brief, charged-up appearance as Mitch, an alum of the fraternity, who laments that his wife and baby keep him away from booze. Schnetzer delivers a quietly devastating performance in the lead role, averting his eyes while stubbornly holding onto his resolve to prove his toughness. Though Brad is put through hell, it’s often his sibling whose guilt is the most apparent; Jonas illustrates that internal conflict commendably. The duo’s natural charisma lends Goat it
Read more
Great info