Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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Rock star Meat Loaf collapsed in front of an audience as he performed in Canada Thursday night Update: According to a statement released by his publicist, the 68-year-old singer collapsed "due to severe dehydration" and was admitted to a nearby hospital to "undergo routine tests." Meatloaf is "responsive and recovering well," the statement continued. Concert postponements and rescheduled dates will be announced "at a later time." Guests at the singer's concert in Edmonton, Alberta, said that...
June 14, 2016- Evening visitors to Santa Monica will bear witness to hundreds of Walrus lounging in the parking lot. That's not all. Whales the size of a building, fish as big as cars, waves that reach three stories and video of marine life will be cast upon a 100 foot wall in Santa Monica for the next three weeks. The ad-free endeavor is one in a series of immersive ocean experiences from explore.org, the philanthropic media organization and division of the Annenberg Foundation. The captivating...
The Santa Monica Observer was privileged to interview Remy Auberjonois, his wife, Kate Nowlin, and his father, Rene Auberjonois, on June 3, 2016, to discuss their award-winning drama, "Blood Stripe". "Blood Stripe" follows a female U.S. Marine Sergeant after she returns home from her third tour of duty in Afghanistan, wracked by crippling Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Disconnected from her home life and no longer able to cope in an urban setting, she escapes to a picturesque summer camp she...
"Worlds Apart" (Enas Allos Kosmos), Greece's highest grossing movie since 2009, made its North American debut on June 5, 2016, at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, closing out the tenth annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival. The film was so successful in Greece that its gross revenue even surpassed "Star Wars: The Force Awakens". "Worlds Apart" stars Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons, as well as internationally acclaimed actors Christopher Papakaliatis, Andrea Osvart, Maria Kavoyianni, Minas...
The Santa Monica Observer met up with Jackson Stewart, Director of the retro horror film, "Beyond The Gates", which had its sold out World Premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 2 at the ArcLight in Culver City. A second screening has been added by popular demand on June 6 at 8:45 PM, also at the ArcLight in Culver City. "Beyond The Gates" tells the story of two estranged brothers who reunite to liquidate the contents of their father's video store after his mysterious disappearance....
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS is an extraordinary visual wonder from beginning to end, exhilarating the senses with eye-dropping kaleidoscopic imagery and a sweet sensitivity between Alice and the Hatter that touches the heart and the tear ducts. The magnificence and magic of ALICE comes not only from a cleverly written script by Linda Woolverton, but from the meticulous attention to detail by director James Bobin on both the technical and creative levels, melding the "Carrollian" world and...
The 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival made waves in Hollywood this year with stars, classic film restorations, celebrity interviews, gala parties, and huge crowds. Held at venues throughout Hollywood, the festival kicked off with a red carpet screening of "All the President's Men" at the historic TCL Chinese Theater. Celebrity guests included Alec Baldwin, Gina Lollobrigida, Lou Gossett Jr., Roger Corman, Carl Bernstein, Anna Karina, Illeana Douglas, Lee Meriwether, Katherine Houghton, Margaret...
Let's just set the tone right now and say, quirky Greta Gerwig goodness. Written and directed by Rebecca Miller, MAGGIE'S PLAN is fun and light, unfolding with inherent humor fueled by Gerwig's Maggie and her relationships with Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore. Nothing is ever forced. Rebecca Miller has not only written a strong script with well-developed characters, but has constructed a visual grammar that matches the story and the characters beat for beat, delivering an emotional satisfying...
British director Ben Wheatley first caught the attention of many when he threw his hat into the feature film ring with "Kill List". Already known for his episodic television work across the pond, "Kill List" made one sit up and take notice of Wheatley's directorial storytelling skill. Now, with HIGH-RISE, Wheatley firmly solidifies himself as a visionary thanks to his stylized interpretation of Amy Jump's adaptation of the 1975 J.G. Ballard sci-fi novel of the same name which, in the hands of...
In the wake of Prince's shocking and untimely death, Steve Ferlazzo, the keyboardist and musical director for both Avril Lavigne and Soundcheck Live, produced a Special Prince Tribute Concert to honor the musical genius by bringing together a host of artists to perform Prince's songs. The concert was held on April 27th at Soundcheck Live, the new weekly Wednesday night live music event at Lucky Strike Live, a trendy bowling alley/gastropub/concert venue located in Hollywood. There were over 70...
I always knew "green rooms" could be dangerous places - especially back in the 70's and 80's at the height of metal and then with 90's punk and free-flowing drugs and alcohol, but Jeremy Saulnier takes the idea of a green room to a whole new deliciously twisted level with GREEN ROOM. As we know from "Blue Ruin", Saulnier is adept at carefully placed and judiciously utilized tongue-in-cheek double entendres, and GREEN ROOM is no different; most notably with the band's name - "The Ain't Rights" -...
It was with a deep and heavy heart that I heard a few days ago that the legendary Prince was dying, I shared the news with a few friends but didn't write it much the despair of my editor. Today I wrote what I had been told http://www.smobserved.com/story/2016/04/18/news/breaking-prince-dead-from-aids/1258.html and what a day it turned out to be! Holy Jehovah! The nasty comments, emails, calls, tweets, was more than I could have hoped for! I was trending.... What amazes me is that not one...
To the horror of my colleagues in the press and evoking a chorus of gasps and boos from them at the recent press junket for CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (although Paul Rudd cheered and Kevin Feige lit up like a Christmas tree), I dared to say that which apparently should not be said: CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR is BETTER than "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." I said it then, I've said it since and I say it again now. While "The Force Awakens" is a global phenomena filled with touchstones of the past...
You've seen the pictures. I've seen the pictures. The whole world has seen the pictures. And "the pictures" remain to this day the most requested images in the National Archives. What pictures, you may ask? Those taken on December 21, 1970, by White House photographer Ollie Atkins; when Elvis Presley met President Richard Nixon. Now, thanks to director Liza Johnson and screenwriters Hanala Sagal, Joey Sagal and Cary Elwes, culling from personal notes, recollections and interviews of the few...
Santa Monica College (SMC) is pleased to announce that CORA-a short film written and directed by SMC student Kevin Maxwell-has been accepted into The 19th American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. SMC is one of only 4 U.S. film schools in competition in the "Student Short Films" category along with NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Chapman University and The School of Visual Arts. 23 short films and documentaries by emerging filmmakers from around the world...
The 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival, hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, will open at the historic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood on Thursday, April 28, with a red carpet screening of "All the President's Men". Carl Bernstein, author of the book by the same name, will be there to meet with invited guests. A gala meet-and-greet for guests will follow the screening. At least fifty-five actors, producers, directors, cinematographers, writers and musicians are scheduled to attend the opening night gala,...
Lots of good stuff opening in theatres this week, as well as on a concurrent digital/VOD platform, including the much anticipated Disney's THE JUNGLE BOOK. Normally, I would devote full coverage to this Disney film, but given the review embargos were lifted some time ago and reviews have been flooding the marketplace leading up to the April 15th release, we're going to look at some of the unsung winners of the week in this column today. But, suffice to say, when it comes to THE JUNGLE BOOK, it i...
Leave it to Jean-Marc Vallee to deliver yet another emotionally intense and introspective character driven film. Leave it to Jake Gyllenhaal to once again put his chameleonic skill set to use to deliver yet another indelible and unforgettable performance. A film that goes against the emotional grain, toying with our own unspoken fears about "what if" and "waiting for the other shoe to drop", DEMOLITION manipulates, shocks and examines in a tapestry of unpredictability that is unusual, funny, emo...
Anyone who seen writer/director Deon Taylor's freshman film, "Supremacy", has been awed by the power and strength of the heavy dramatic themes rising from the a racially motivated true story. Many, including myself, have anxiously awaited his follow-up film curious to see what Taylor would deliver next. That wait is now over. And I am here to tell you, MEET THE BLACKS is nothing at all like "Supremacy". Going from the darkest depths of the souls of men, Taylor reaches the opposite extreme with...
Clive Owen is always a welcome presence in any film, but particularly in one as smartly subtle and engaging as Bob Nelson's THE CONFIRMATION, and in which Owen shares the screen with (and is often upstaged by) one of the greatest young talents of the next generation, Jaeden Lieberher. THE CONFIRMATION is quietly moving, laced with the humor and pain inherent to life. A beautiful character study in the dynamics of a father and son, the chemistry between Owen and Lieberher is magical - and...
Still in the midst of spring break and with baseball season fast upon us, it's a moviegoing grand slam this week with everything from a biopic on an American institution, Hank Williams, to a foul-mouthed, hard talking, stuck-in-the-past Olympic bronze medalist comedy to the tenderness of a young woman with Asperger's looking for love to a look at one aspect of the greatest American pastimes, baseball. First up to the plate. . . FASTBALL Justin Verlander. Sandy Koufax. Bob Gibson. Bob Feller....
(From our March 3, 2014 issue, with an update at the end.) Olaf Pooley is a very special man. He turns 100 years old on March 13. This man has seen many changes throughout the years he's been alive. Having lived through both World War I and World War 2 and countless other wars, this man has seen it all. He was born in Parkstone, Dorset, England on March 13, 1914. His father was English and his mother was Danish. Olaf was a student of architecture at the Architectural Association, London, and of...
In a year during which the Academy Awards were mired in protests and boycotts over the lack of diversity of Oscar nominees, the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards, America's most prestigious award ceremony for independent filmmakers, celebrated diversity. Held on February 27 in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, the Spirit Awards honored non-white and transgender performers in a wide range of movies including Spotlight, Beasts of No Nation, Room, and Tangerine. Spotlight, a film about a...
Pixar Animation Studios has done it again. Not only have they delivered what should prove to be the indisputable Best Animated Feature Academy Award winner come February 28, 2016, but a hot contender as an overall Best Picture nominee with INSIDE OUT. Breaking new ground with storytelling and technology, while retaining the hallmarks of what makes Pixar great, director Pete Docter and the Pixar team boldly go where no one has gone before - into the mind of an 11-year old girl. To say that...
Christina Noble is a name many may not know but after seeing NOBLE, thanks to not only the subject of the film, but the well crafted storytelling of writer/director Stephen Bradley and indelible life-affirming performances by Dierdre O'Kane, Sarah Greene and Gloria Cramer Curtis as Christina Noble at various points in time, you will not only want to know the name, but the woman. An amazing woman. An inspiring story. A powerful and moving film. Christina Noble was born in the slums of Dublin,...
