The LA Beat

TCM Film Festival Returns to Hollywood After 3-Year Hiatus

Posted on February 11, 2022 by Karin E. Baker

TCM Film Festival at the classic TCL Chinese Theatre. Photo credit: Turner Classic Movies.

Savor classic movies the way they were meant to be seen – on the big screen – when the TCM Film Festival returns to Hollywood on April 21-24.

The 2022 edition of Turner Classic Movies‘ beloved film festival is the first in three years. The global pandemic prevented the 2020 and 2021 editions of the festival that attracts fans of all ages from all over the US and all around the world.

As always, the center of the festivities will be the classic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. This historic Spanish Colonial Revival venue, dating back to 1927, was the site of the very first Academy Awards.

Screenings will take place at the TCL Chinese Theater IMAX, the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, and the Hollywood Legion Theater at Post 43.

Steven Spielberg will attend the opening-night festivities, featuring a screening in honor of the 40th anniversary of his “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.” Lily Tomlin will be honored with a hand and footprint ceremony in the courtyard of the TCL Chinese Theater.

Mink Stole, star of “Pink Flamingos,” “Polyester,” “Hairspray” and every other John Waters feature film, will discuss her work at a screening of “Polyester,” while Richard Benjamin will be on hand to discuss “The Last of Sheila,” a 1973 crime film he appeared in with Raquel Welch, James Coburn, and James Mason. Continue reading →

Posted in Attractions, Events, Movies, Upcoming Events | Tagged Karin E. Baker, lily tomlin footprint ceremony, mink stole tcm film festival, tcm film festival, tcm film festival 2022, Turner Classic Movies | Leave a comment

Super Bowl 2022: 18 Great Food Specials You Won’t Want to Miss

Posted on February 8, 2022 by Karin E. Baker

The Game Day Tray at San Pedro Fish Market. Image courtesy of San Pedro Fish Market.

The Super Bowl is always a good reason to converge and indulge. This year, the Super Bowl is even more exciting than usual for Angelenos, as the Big Game returns to LA after a nearly 30-year absence. Watch the Los Angeles Rams take on the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, with a halftime show featuring Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.

Whether you want to experience the game out with a crowd or you’d rather watch from home, see below for suggestions of where to get your fill of chicken wings, tacos, pizza, and much more.

On Super Bowl Sunday, San Pedro Fish Market takes their World-Famous Shrimp Tray to a whole new level. Their Game Day Tray is loaded with large shrimp, pastrami, sausage, pork belly, corn, seasoned potatoes, and mixed vegetables, along with a loaf of crusty, house-made garlic bread. The Game Day Tray feeds four to six, is $84.99, and can be ordered for in-person dining or pickup through February 13. More info can be found here.

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Posted in Cocktails, Beer, Wine & Weed, Food, News & Sports | Tagged Akasha, black angus, byrdie's rotisserie, cafe gratitude, chef suzanne tracht, el granjero cantina, godfrey hotel hollywood, gracias madre, I|O rooftop, JAR restaurant, Karin E. Baker, mas veggies vegan taqueria, massis kabob, san pedro fish market, shoreslax, sugar palm santa monica, tacos AF, urban plates, viceroy santa monica | Leave a comment

Movies Till Dawn: Crime and Punishment USA 2022

Posted on February 3, 2022 by Paul Gaita

“The Long Goodbye” (1973, Kino Lorber) A slovenly, muttering Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) navigates two disappearances – a close friend and a Hemingway-style author –but finds his efforts thwarted at every turn by something worse than organized crime: an incestuous, moral-free web of the Malibu scene, cure-all doctors, and hamfisted cops on both sides of the border. Robert Altman’s jaundiced take on Raymond Chandler’s 1953 detective novel won’t please its fans, but offers an honest and at times uncomfortably real look at the schizophrenia induced by living in an allegedly free-thinking and liberal city like Los Angeles (much of which remains accurate today). Gould’s sotto voce performance is among its chief appeals, as is John Williams’ clever score, which is echoed in nearly every diegetic sound; the eccentric cast, which includes baseball pitcher/scribe Jim Bouton, a (genuinely added) Sterling Hayden, Nina van Pallandt, director Mark Rydell, and a cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger, adds to the electric circus vibe, while LA Plays Itself in glimpses of Gerald Ford-era Malibu (especially the Colony), Wilshire/Westwood, and the Hollywood Hills (Marlowe’s incredible digs in the High Tower Apartments). Kino’s Blu-ray balances a new 4K master and vintage material – interviews with Altman, Gould, and DP Vilmos Zsigmond, testimony on Altman, Chandler, and hard-boiled fiction – with a new commentary by Tim Lucas, among other extras.

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Posted in Movies | Tagged Kino Lorber, RLJE Films, Severin Films, The Film Detective, Warner Film Archives | Leave a comment

Celebrate Lunar New Year all Month Long!

Posted on February 1, 2022 by Elise Thompson

Photo by Mike Watt

Gung hay fat choy! Happy lunar new year! Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Tiger. We miss the annual Golden Dragon Parade in Chinatown, which is canceled again this year due to the pandemic surge. Don’t fret–there are still lots of other ways to welcome the Year of the Tiger.

Santa Monica Place at 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica is commemorating the Lunar New Year for the entire week, starting today, February 1st. The Center Plaza is all decked out with red and gold lanterns, and visitors are invited to hang their wishes on cherry blossom wishing trees. Traditionally, money is given in red envelopes at this time of year. Santa Monica Place merchants will offer red envelopes with special offers and discounts at the local shops and restaurants.

February 4, 2022 “The Gourmandise School will offer a Date Night: Lunar New Year Celebration class where Chef Katie Chin will teach participants how to make a tiger lily martini, chicken potstickers symbolizing prosperity, long life veggie noodles symbolizing longevity, a whole steamed fish symbolizing abundance and banana spring rolls with caramel sauce symbolizing prosperity.” Get 15% off with a red envelope.

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Posted in Art, Attractions, Food, Music, Theater, Upcoming Events | Leave a comment

LA Through a Cracked Lens: Halle Berry Charms at Moonfall Premiere

Posted on February 1, 2022 by Brian Donnelly

Posted in Attractions, Movies, Photo Essays | Leave a comment

Howard Hessman Dies AT 81: Some Friendly Memories With ‘Dr. Johnny Fever’

Posted on January 31, 2022 by Ed Simon

“WKRP in Cincinatti Dr. Johnny Fever” by dcnerd is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Howard Hesseman passed away Saturday, due to complications from a surgery. He was 81. His career spanned many decades, but he’s probably known vest for his role as Dr. Johnny Fever, the counter-culture DJ on WKRP in Cincinnati which ran from 1978 through 1982. Howard Hesseman received two Emmy nominations for his work as Dr. Johnny Fever, playing what appeared to be an constantly inebriated crazy DJ, who nonetheless transformed into an amazingly competent and interesting DJ when he got in front of the mike.

In the late 70’s, I had a good friend who knew a lot of people in the music and movie production fields. At that time, I had just got my BA degree in Film Production and was trying to break into post production sound in Hollywood. I had known plenty of industry people for several years and so I was comfortable treating them as I did any of my other friends rather than fawning over them. Through my good friend Buddy, I wound up in a circle that included at times, David L. Lander (Squiggy on Laverne and Shirley, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Donald Sutherland (Dirty Dozen, M*A*S*H*, Animal House, The Hunger Games); and Garry Goodrow (Escape from Alcatraz, Dirty Dancing and many writing and TV guest appearance credits).

At that time, Howard was riding high as Dr. Johnny Fever. Among us, though, he was just a nice, unassuming guy who enjoyed relaxing with friends. Many times our get togethers were at Howard’s house in the Hollywood Hills, a nice smaller home that was certainly not ostentatious. He was a very down to earth, friendly guy; and interesting to talk to. Sometimes we’d talk about work, or some of the guest spots on shows like Head of the Class and One Day at a Time and even Dragnet. Howard also had some choice movie roles in productions like Dr. Detroit and This Is Spinal Tap.

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Posted in Miscellanious, Movies, News & Sports, Television | Tagged Howard Hesseman, WKRP in Cincinnati | Leave a comment

PTSD: The Next Pandemic; A New Story From Author Jason Lee Morrison

Posted on January 29, 2022 by Ed Simon

Ed note: Jason Lee Morrison released this short story in conjunction with the new release of his first book, The Perfect Fucking Life; now at Amazon Books; and this week at Barnes and Noble. A full interview with Jason is coming up in the next week in The Los Angeles Beat. In my talks with him, this young writer has done a lot of stuff most of us (including me) can’t even imagine–and he writes about it. Think Hemingway, Bukowski–even Neal Cassady.

When the dark doom of COVID first settled on the minds of people across the earth I found myself strangely at ease. As if I were in a familiar place. Many other veterans had the same feeling. It’s because we’ve been there before. When you go to war you get that same ominous sensation. As if death could happen at any minute. And you don’t know how much of it to expect. But you know it is coming. Most people, especially in the United States and the Western world were not familiar with it. But we all seem to be now. That pervasive weight of doom is the first tell of traumatic stress. I think it’s safe to say that by now the strain of this global pandemic has caused severe post-traumatic stress, writ large. Depression, suicide, anger, and other signatures are beginning to reveal themselves. The most insidious part of PTSD is that you don’t know that it’s happening to you. You don’t know what it is. So, you don’t know how to combat it. You just suddenly begin to struggle in ways that you have never struggled before. You start to slip. Very slowly and almost indiscernibly, but you are slipping nonetheless. It’s just too smooth to notice.

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Posted in Books, News & Sports | Tagged COVID, Jason Lee Morrison, PTSD, stress | Leave a comment

watt’s picture of the week – tuesday, january 25, 2022

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Mike Watt

“you lookin at me?”

photo by mike watt

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mike watt’s hoot page

Posted in Photo Essays | Tagged Berth 73, black-crowned night heron, ghost fish, ghost fish 107, Mike Watt, port of l.a., port of los angeles, San Pedro, SP Slip | Leave a comment

Movies Till Dawn: The People Next Door

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Paul Gaita

“All Or Nothing” (2002, Severin Films) Studies in quiet (and not so quiet) desperation via three working class families in London, who respond to the millstone of daily life around their necks with a mix of heartbreak, defeat, and carelessness. Your appreciation for writer/director Mike Leigh‘s feature depends on your ability to navigate its unrelentingly downbeat atmosphere; Leigh does not sentimentalize their lives, as many American slice-of-life dramas do (“it sure is tough, this life, but we got each other!”) nor does he take the torture-as-drama approach (see: “Six Feet Under,” “Succession,” etc.). Leigh’s three families follow realistic paths to escape (or dig deeper into) their situations, which ultimately make the material palatable. His cast handles the emotional load with skill, with top-billed Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville earning excellent support from, among others, James Corden, Sally Hawkins, Ruth Sheen, and Helen Coker. Severin’s Blu-ray features a new master presentation as well as new interviews with Leigh, Manville, Corden, and cinematographer Dick Pope, among others.