It says a lot that the grandest French movie theaters are designed by famous architects. (Renzo Piano designed the Pathé Palace in Paris.) Over the weekend, the New York Times published a fascinating glimpse into cinema's profound place in French culture and how that strength has led to a renaissance of moviegoing. "France was one of the few countries that saw an increase in movie theater attendance last year over 2023, with more than 181 million attendees, an uptick of nearly a million. Brazil, Britain and Turkey also saw an increase."One reason is the French version of American exceptionalism: The French people believe their culture is superb
Perhaps no other sport lends itself as well to cinema as baseball, and there have been some memorable ones over the years. The Natural, Moneyball, 42, Field of Dreams and Bull Durham spring to mind. Well, we have a funny, soul-soothing treat for you this week at our Glendale and Santa Monica theaters. "Modest and moving, it’s a new sports-movie classic, as sneakily effective as the pitch which gives it its title." ~ Nick Schager, The Daily BeastThe filmmakers will participate in Q&A's in Glendale after the 7:10 PM screenings on 3/13 with writer-director Carson Lund and actor Keith William Richards and moderator Amber A'Lee Frost (Chapo Trap House)
The 2025 Oscars are in the history books. It was a good night, with a funny, skilled host in Conan O'Brien and a fairly equitable distribution of statuettes for some terrific movies. It was also a good night for theatrical exhibition, better known as good, old-fashioned moviegoing. As he did during his speech accepting the Palme d'Or last year in Cannes, Anora filmmaker Sean Baker gave a passionate, trenchant speech in favor of seeing movies as filmmakers have always intended them to be seen, in theaters. After accepting the Oscar for Best Director from filmmaker (and movie theater owner) Quentin Tarantino, Baker said the following to almost 20
If you still haven't seen some of the films honored at the Academy Awards on Sunday, you can still see all of the following this week: Anora (winner for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing, and Actress), The Brutalist (Best Actor, Score, and Cinematography), Flow (Best Animated Feature), I'm Still Here (Best International Film), and No Other Land (Best Feature Documentary). All are fantastic and, as one social media user posted after listening to Sean Baker's speech extolling the virtues of seeing movies in movie theaters, "movies just hit different at the cinema."And if you've already seen these films, check out The Fishing Place
Forty years after starring in Martin Scorsese's After Hours, Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette are back, their days of all-night Manhattan romantic misadventures given way to the sober realities of late middle age. Writer-director Noah Pritzker's dramedy Ex-Husbands beautifully captures the low-key new milieu, in which Dunne plays a father whose faltering marriage coincides with his adult sons' romantic troubles. (Both Pritzker and Dunne speak about the film in a recent episode of Inside the Arthouse.) Richard Benjamin, James Norton, and Miles Heizer, all terrific, costar. We open Ex-Husbands this Friday at the Monica Film Center in Santa Monica
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 20th anniversary screening of one of the most acclaimed movies of the 21st century: Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning 'Sideways.' The March 20 screening at the Monica Film Center is held in conjunction with the publication of the new book, 'Sideways Uncorked: The Perfect Pairing of Film and Wine,' written by critic and journalist Kirk Honeycutt and his wife, Mira Advani Honeycutt. Mira comes to the project with 25 years of experience as a wine journalist. They will be joined by the Oscar-nominated producer of 'Sideways,' Michael London.'Sideways,' based on a novel by Rex Pickett, was
The Way, My Way, which we open March 7 at our Claremont, Santa Monica, and Encino theaters, is the charming and captivating true story of a stubborn, self-centered Australian man who decides to walk the 800 kilometer-long Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through Spain. He doesn’t know why he’s doing it… but one step at a time, it will change him and his outlook on life forever. Based on Bill Bennett’s best-selling memoir of the same name.Bennett penned the following about The Way, My Way:"I really didn't want to make this film. I didn't want to make a film about myself; about my failings and vulnerabilities, and hardships which took me right to
Our movie-loving customers have votes for their favorite films of 2024! The top ten customer-chosen films are, in order from 1 to 10: Anora Conclave The Brutalist Dune: Part Two A Complete Unknown Emilia Pérez Wicked A Real Pain Challengers The SubstanceThe lucky randomly chosen winners for free passes (soon to be mailed) are:1) Jeff W.2) Mia S.3) Riley K.Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone for playing!
Laemmle Theatres and Cinema Parallel are proud to present the U.S. theatrical release of Rob Tregenza’s latest feature film, The Fishing Place. The film had its North American theatrical premiere at MoMA in New York City on February 6 and will open at the Monica Film Center on March 7.*In this formally inventive historical drama, acclaimed American filmmaker Rob Tregenza explores the moral complexities of World War II and the permutations of history and its representation. Set in occupied Norway, the drama follows Anna (Ellen Dorrit Petersen), a housekeeper who arrives to work for a German priest in rural Telemark. As the priest grapples with his
The Oscar nominations are out and it was another excellent cinematic year. As always, some categories will be more unpredictable than others. Last year, most contestants 59.5% thought Lily Gladstone would win Best Actress for Killers of the Flower Moon, while only 29.7% correctly divined that Emma Stone would win for Poor Things. This year, Best Picture may be the most challenging category; there are at least six real possibilities. That's where you come in because it’s time for our Umpteenth Annual Laemmle Oscar Contest! If you, dear cinephile, can accurately predict how the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will vote in
Can you name your five favorite films released last year? Enter our contest here, use our handy-dandy drop-down menus to quickly choose five, and you'll automatically be entered into a raffle to win a gift card! Also, we'll create an overall customer top ten list from all the entries. In case you need your memory jogged, Greg Laemmle composed the following:*"I'm actually kind of glad that we are only asking for everyone's five favorite films this year. Yes, we will compile all the submissions and ultimately turn it into a Laemmle Patron Top 10 list, so maybe that's a cheat. But as I sit here looking at my top films from 2024, it's actually kind of
To honor our one-of-a-kind city and its amazing communities, we're giving you the gift of FREE MOVIES! Thanks to our amazing friends at NEON, catch any film at the Monica Film Center and Royal tonight and tomorrow absolutely free. Come take a much-deserved break and experience the joy of an arthouse film. The offer only applies in-person at the theater box offices. Take the money you would have spent on tickets and donate it to fire relief.
When is a documentary about hummingbirds more than just another educational nature documentary? In the case of Sally Aitken’s new movie Every Little Thing, we discover that small things are very big things— and you will be more than a little surprised. Hummingbirds’ wings beat fifty times per second, and with astounding high speed photography, they float like gossamer on the screen, captured like tiny, magical sprites. Terry Masear, the film's subject, runs a hummingbird rescue and she, too, is magical and surprising. These remarkable birds, no bigger than your little finger, become bigger than life as we discover Terry’s care, attention, wisdom
Monica Film CenterFri (1/03) 4pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening with Q&A with director Michael Schwartz and star Eros de la PuenteFri (1/03) 7pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening with Q&A with director Michael Schwartz and star Eros de la PuenteSat (1/04) 4pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening with Q&A with director Michael SchwartzSat (1/04) 7pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening with Q&A with director Michael Schwartz Laemmle NoHo 7Fri (1/03) 4:10 pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening followed by Q&A with director Tyler NilsonFri (1/03) 7:10 pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening followed by Q&A with director Tyler NilsonSat (1/04) 4:10 pm - Los Frikis
Acclaimed filmmakers Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck, three-time Sundance honorees who previously took audiences to the secret corners of the Italian countryside in search of white truffles with The Truffle Hunters, recently sat down with Inside the Arthouse hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge to talk about their latest striking nonfiction work. Gaucho Gaucho paints an Argentinian western with images and sounds of operatic beauty, building on their earlier success with The Last Race, a film that explored the last stock car racetrack on Long Island.Kershaw and Dweck’s focus is now on the vast mountains of Argentina, expressed in stunning black
Palestine's Official Submission for the 2025 Academy Awards, From Ground Zero is a powerful collection of short films by 22 Palestinian filmmakers living through war in Gaza. Through a unique blend of animation, documentary, and fiction, these stories capture the unyielding steadfastness of the human spirit and enduring creativity that thrives even in the face of relentless devastation. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has short-listed the film in its Best International Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards.From Ground Zero was created by filmmaker Rashid Masharawi and designed to give a voice to the people of Gaza and to
In Paul Schrader's new film Oh, Canada, which we open Friday at the Monica Film Center, NoHo, and Town Center, Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi play a man at opposite ends of his life, deciding how to live it. Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, and Victoria Hill co-star.Schrader said this about his film:"When friend and author Russell Banks (Affliction) took ill I was weighing other story possibilities. I realized that mortality should be the subject. Russell had researched and written a book about dying when he was healthy titled, Foregone. He'd wanted to call it Oh, Canada (there was a conflict with Richard Ford’s Canada), and asked if I would use his
Our eclectic Culture Vulture series returns this weekend. After ten years of screening filmed theater, opera, ballet/dance, gallery/art, and much more at our Town Center/Encino, Glendale, Monica Film Center/Santa Monica, and Claremont 5 theaters, we are now adding our Newhall theater. What's more, we will now show the films on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:00 A.M. and Mondays at 7:00 P.M. Tickets are now on sale for the first nine films of the new year:*February 1-3: Art and Life: The Story of Jim Phillips ~ Embark on the epic ride of Jim Phillips, the genius behind skateboarding and rock culture's electrifying art. Drawing inspiration from his life
IndieCollect’s first-ever RescueFest — December 6-9 — features 10 glorious new Indie Cinema restorations. Q&A's with Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner (moderated by Jane Fonda), Mario Van Peebles, Chaz Ebert, Rosalind Chao, Jan Oxenberg and more. Plus “Reel Resistance” Roundtable with indie luminaries Ted Hope & Gregory Nava on Dec 8. The full schedule is here. A terrific recent Indiewire piece on the festival and its centerpiece, the Search for Intelligent Life restoration, is here. Watch the trailer!
The newest episode of Inside the Arthouse just dropped and it's a fascinating one. Hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge discuss the centenary of arthouse film with professor, historian, author and Academy Film Scholar Ross Melnick. It's a lively conversation about the amazing history of arthouse film -- Where it started, how far it's come, and where is it today. Laemmle, third generation arthouse theater owner, adds his perspective, as the trio explores the last century considers the future of arthouse.Here's a taste from the beginning of their conversation:ROSS MELNICK: The history of arthouse theaters is about a hundred years old. It really
Perhaps no other sport lends itself as well to cinema as baseball, and there have been some memorable ones over the years. The Natural, Moneyball, 42, Field of Dreams and Bull Durham spring to mind. Well, we have a funny, soul-soothing treat for you this week at our Glendale and Santa Monica theaters. "Modest and moving, it’s a new sports-movie classic, as sneakily effective as the pitch which gives it its title." ~ Nick Schager, The Daily BeastThe filmmakers will participate in Q&A's in Glendale after the 7:10 PM screenings on 3/13 with writer-director Carson Lund and actor Keith William Richards and moderator Amber A'Lee Frost (Chapo Trap House)
The 2025 Oscars are in the history books. It was a good night, with a funny, skilled host in Conan O'Brien and a fairly equitable distribution of statuettes for some terrific movies. It was also a good night for theatrical exhibition, better known as good, old-fashioned moviegoing. As he did during his speech accepting the Palme d'Or last year in Cannes, Anora filmmaker Sean Baker gave a passionate, trenchant speech in favor of seeing movies as filmmakers have always intended them to be seen, in theaters. After accepting the Oscar for Best Director from filmmaker (and movie theater owner) Quentin Tarantino, Baker said the following to almost 20
If you still haven't seen some of the films honored at the Academy Awards on Sunday, you can still see all of the following this week: Anora (winner for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing, and Actress), The Brutalist (Best Actor, Score, and Cinematography), Flow (Best Animated Feature), I'm Still Here (Best International Film), and No Other Land (Best Feature Documentary). All are fantastic and, as one social media user posted after listening to Sean Baker's speech extolling the virtues of seeing movies in movie theaters, "movies just hit different at the cinema."And if you've already seen these films, check out The Fishing Place
Forty years after starring in Martin Scorsese's After Hours, Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette are back, their days of all-night Manhattan romantic misadventures given way to the sober realities of late middle age. Writer-director Noah Pritzker's dramedy Ex-Husbands beautifully captures the low-key new milieu, in which Dunne plays a father whose faltering marriage coincides with his adult sons' romantic troubles. (Both Pritzker and Dunne speak about the film in a recent episode of Inside the Arthouse.) Richard Benjamin, James Norton, and Miles Heizer, all terrific, costar. We open Ex-Husbands this Friday at the Monica Film Center in Santa Monica
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 20th anniversary screening of one of the most acclaimed movies of the 21st century: Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning 'Sideways.' The March 20 screening at the Monica Film Center is held in conjunction with the publication of the new book, 'Sideways Uncorked: The Perfect Pairing of Film and Wine,' written by critic and journalist Kirk Honeycutt and his wife, Mira Advani Honeycutt. Mira comes to the project with 25 years of experience as a wine journalist. They will be joined by the Oscar-nominated producer of 'Sideways,' Michael London.'Sideways,' based on a novel by Rex Pickett, was
The Way, My Way, which we open March 7 at our Claremont, Santa Monica, and Encino theaters, is the charming and captivating true story of a stubborn, self-centered Australian man who decides to walk the 800 kilometer-long Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through Spain. He doesn’t know why he’s doing it… but one step at a time, it will change him and his outlook on life forever. Based on Bill Bennett’s best-selling memoir of the same name.Bennett penned the following about The Way, My Way:"I really didn't want to make this film. I didn't want to make a film about myself; about my failings and vulnerabilities, and hardships which took me right to
Laemmle Theatres and Cinema Parallel are proud to present the U.S. theatrical release of Rob Tregenza’s latest feature film, The Fishing Place. The film had its North American theatrical premiere at MoMA in New York City on February 6 and will open at the Monica Film Center on March 7.*In this formally inventive historical drama, acclaimed American filmmaker Rob Tregenza explores the moral complexities of World War II and the permutations of history and its representation. Set in occupied Norway, the drama follows Anna (Ellen Dorrit Petersen), a housekeeper who arrives to work for a German priest in rural Telemark. As the priest grapples with his
The Oscar nominations are out and it was another excellent cinematic year. As always, some categories will be more unpredictable than others. Last year, most contestants 59.5% thought Lily Gladstone would win Best Actress for Killers of the Flower Moon, while only 29.7% correctly divined that Emma Stone would win for Poor Things. This year, Best Picture may be the most challenging category; there are at least six real possibilities. That's where you come in because it’s time for our Umpteenth Annual Laemmle Oscar Contest! If you, dear cinephile, can accurately predict how the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will vote in
To honor our one-of-a-kind city and its amazing communities, we're giving you the gift of FREE MOVIES! Thanks to our amazing friends at NEON, catch any film at the Monica Film Center and Royal tonight and tomorrow absolutely free. Come take a much-deserved break and experience the joy of an arthouse film. The offer only applies in-person at the theater box offices. Take the money you would have spent on tickets and donate it to fire relief.
When is a documentary about hummingbirds more than just another educational nature documentary? In the case of Sally Aitken’s new movie Every Little Thing, we discover that small things are very big things— and you will be more than a little surprised. Hummingbirds’ wings beat fifty times per second, and with astounding high speed photography, they float like gossamer on the screen, captured like tiny, magical sprites. Terry Masear, the film's subject, runs a hummingbird rescue and she, too, is magical and surprising. These remarkable birds, no bigger than your little finger, become bigger than life as we discover Terry’s care, attention, wisdom
Monica Film CenterFri (1/03) 4pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening with Q&A with director Michael Schwartz and star Eros de la PuenteFri (1/03) 7pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening with Q&A with director Michael Schwartz and star Eros de la PuenteSat (1/04) 4pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening with Q&A with director Michael SchwartzSat (1/04) 7pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening with Q&A with director Michael Schwartz Laemmle NoHo 7Fri (1/03) 4:10 pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening followed by Q&A with director Tyler NilsonFri (1/03) 7:10 pm - Los Frikis - Special Screening followed by Q&A with director Tyler NilsonSat (1/04) 4:10 pm - Los Frikis
Acclaimed filmmakers Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck, three-time Sundance honorees who previously took audiences to the secret corners of the Italian countryside in search of white truffles with The Truffle Hunters, recently sat down with Inside the Arthouse hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge to talk about their latest striking nonfiction work. Gaucho Gaucho paints an Argentinian western with images and sounds of operatic beauty, building on their earlier success with The Last Race, a film that explored the last stock car racetrack on Long Island.Kershaw and Dweck’s focus is now on the vast mountains of Argentina, expressed in stunning black
Palestine's Official Submission for the 2025 Academy Awards, From Ground Zero is a powerful collection of short films by 22 Palestinian filmmakers living through war in Gaza. Through a unique blend of animation, documentary, and fiction, these stories capture the unyielding steadfastness of the human spirit and enduring creativity that thrives even in the face of relentless devastation. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has short-listed the film in its Best International Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards.From Ground Zero was created by filmmaker Rashid Masharawi and designed to give a voice to the people of Gaza and to
In Paul Schrader's new film Oh, Canada, which we open Friday at the Monica Film Center, NoHo, and Town Center, Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi play a man at opposite ends of his life, deciding how to live it. Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, and Victoria Hill co-star.Schrader said this about his film:"When friend and author Russell Banks (Affliction) took ill I was weighing other story possibilities. I realized that mortality should be the subject. Russell had researched and written a book about dying when he was healthy titled, Foregone. He'd wanted to call it Oh, Canada (there was a conflict with Richard Ford’s Canada), and asked if I would use his
Our eclectic Culture Vulture series returns this weekend. After ten years of screening filmed theater, opera, ballet/dance, gallery/art, and much more at our Town Center/Encino, Glendale, Monica Film Center/Santa Monica, and Claremont 5 theaters, we are now adding our Newhall theater. What's more, we will now show the films on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:00 A.M. and Mondays at 7:00 P.M. Tickets are now on sale for the first nine films of the new year:*February 1-3: Art and Life: The Story of Jim Phillips ~ Embark on the epic ride of Jim Phillips, the genius behind skateboarding and rock culture's electrifying art. Drawing inspiration from his life