Michael Nordine

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Utamaro and His Five Women

Michael Nordine
As part of its ongoing Kenji Mizoguchi retrospective, UCLA screens the late, great filmmaker’s Utamaro and His Five Women at 7:30. The director drew on his own experience of having his artistic vision compromised — first by Japan’s wartime government, then by the occupying U.S. military — in crafting this......
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Norte, the End of History

Michael Nordine
Not to be missed is the first (and possibly last) Los Angeles screening of Lav Diaz’s Norte, the End of History, in USC’s Ray Stark Family Theatre at 1 p.m. Past is prologue in the Crime and Punishment–inspired film, whose long philosophical discussions about the Philippines’ troubled history inadvertently inspire......
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Just One of the Guys

Michael Nordine
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Just One of the Guys, Cinefamily screens the film at 10:30 with director Lisa Gottlieb and several cast members ,including star Joyce Hyser. The loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night belongs to a bygone era of teen comedies that were both racier and more......
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Duel, The Car

Michael Nordine
The Egyptian’s Hit the Gas! The Golden Age of Car Chases series continues with Duel and The Car at 7:30. Spielberg’s first feature is also his simplest and most economical, a surprisingly effective thriller about a man in his car (Dennis Weaver) being terrorized by a big rig whose driver......
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All That Jazz, Phantom of the Paradise

Michael Nordine
Meanwhile, two even more deranged musicals screen at LACMA: Bob Fosse’s autobiographical All That Jazz (at 7:30 p.m.) and Brian De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise (at 9:50 p.m.). Roy Scheider received his second Oscar nomination for starring in what turned out to be Fosse’s swan song, an intense self-eulogy......
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A Star Is Born; New York, New York

Michael Nordine
The New Beverly screens two musicals from the late 1970s: Frank Pierson’s remake of A Star Is Born at 7:30 and Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York at 10:15. Scorsese’s first film post–Taxi Driver stars frequent collaborator Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli in what was intended as a refreshing......
Bob Fosse's All That Jazz

Two Films About Evil Cars Trying to Kill Someone

Michael Nordine
This week's Weekly Movie to-Do List ranges from car chase classics to All That Jazz. Friday, Jan. 23 The New Beverly screens two musicals from the late 1970s: Frank Pierson’s remake of A Star Is Born at 7:30 and Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York at 10:15. Scorsese’s first film post–Taxi......
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Cradle Will Rock, With Tim Robbins in Person

Michael Nordine
Tim Robbins probably will always be best known for his work in front of the camera, but his work behind it is impressive as well. In 1999’s Cradle Will Rock — screening at the Aero Theatre at 7:30 with the writer-director in person — he goes back to 1937, when......
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Bella Vista

Michael Nordine
The Los Angeles premiere of Bella Vista, Vera Brunner-Sung’s first narrative feature, is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Spielberg at the Egyptian Theatre. Brunner-Sung, whose Common Ground screened at Filmforum in 2009, is best known for her experimental nonfiction. That makes Bella Vista a departure for the filmmaker now......