Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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“Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful” is an important documentary chronicling the funny, eccentric, and fascinating life of the late Helmut Newton -- one of the most iconic and controversial photographers of the 20th century. Helmut Newton was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1920, the son of a Jewish button factory owner. In 1936, he worked for the established, forward-thinking Jewish photographer, Yva (Else Neulander-Simon), who was known for her avant-garde fashion, nude, and portrait pho...
On Saturday, February 8, 2020, the 35th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards was hosted just steps away from the pier in Santa Monica. The Independent Spirit Awards recognizes the best artist-driven films produced outside the major studio system – movies that embody a commitment to create diverse, innovative, and unique independent cinema. The films honored this year include: "The Farewell", "Uncut Gems", "Judy", "The Lighthouse", "Parasite", "Booksmart", "Give Me Liberty", "See You Y...
Once again, classic film lovers descended on Hollywood to attend the 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival, which celebrated its tenth consecutive year in Hollywood, as well as the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Turner Classic Movies channel. This year, the festival's theme was "Follow Your Heart: Love At The Movies". The festival showcased classic films, spanning numerous generations and genres, many of which reveled in the multi-faceted triad of love, romance, and obsession. TCM Primetime host, Ben...
On Saturday, February 23, 2019, the 34th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards lit up the beach in Santa Monica. The Independent Spirit Awards recognizes the best low budget, artist-driven, independent films – movies that embody a commitment to create diverse, innovative, and unique independent cinema. The films honored this year include: "If Beale Street Could Talk", "First Reformed", "The Wife", "Can You Ever Forgive Me?", "Suspiria", "Roma", "Sorry To Bother You", "You Were Never Really H...
"Making Montgomery Clift" is a feature-length documentary focusing on the life and death of critically-acclaimed American film actor, Montgomery Clift, who had a major feature film and stage career spanning more than two decades. Clift was known for his diverse film personas, method acting, and striking good looks. Clift was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Actor in "The Search" (1948), "A Place in the Sun" (1951), and "From Here To Eternity" (1953), and Best Supporting Actor in "Judgment...
The TCM Classic Film Festival celebrated its ninth consecutive year in Hollywood. This year, the festival’s theme was “Powerful Words: The Page Onscreen”, showcasing a wide variety of classic films in a multitude of genres. The festival featured original screenplays, unique adaptations, and portrayals of writers, real and imagined. TCM Primetime host, Ben Mankiewicz, served as the official host of the festival; other hosts included Illeana Douglas, Alicia Malone, and Dave Karger. The festi...
"Welcome to the Men's Group" is a dramady chronicling one day in a monthly Sunday morning meeting of an all-male support group. The film is co-written, co-produced, directed, and co-stars Joseph Culp, the son of actor Robert Culp (who co-starred with Bill Cosby in the hit 1960s TV series, "I, Spy"). "Welcome to the Men's Group" also stars Timothy Bottoms, Stephen Tobolowsky, David Clennon, Mackenzie Astin, Terence Rotolo, Ali Saam, and Phil Abrams. The premise of the film is fairly...
Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Grammy award-winning super star, Cher, whose career in music, theater, television, and films has spanned well over fifty years, purportedly retired in 2005 after her three-year world-wide tour, "Living Proof: The Farewell Tour". During that time, she appeared in three hundred and twenty-five shows before an estimated three million fans. In 2008, Cher came out of retirement, first to perform a concert residency at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas ("Cher at the...
On Saturday, March 3, 2018, in a large tent just steps from the Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood's most accomplished and up-and-coming independent filmmakers gathered together for the 2018 Independent Spirit Awards. Now in its thirty-third year, the Independent Spirit Awards annually recognizes the best low budget, artist-driven, independent films – films that embody an unfailing commitment to creativity, diversity, innovation, and a uniqueness of vision. Many films that were honored with an I...
Wednesday morning, January 31, 2018, marked the first time in over 150 years that a "Super Blue Blood Moon" traversed North American skies. A "Super Blue Blood Moon" is an extremely rare celestial phenomenon that consists of three lunar events occurring simultaneously: a "Blue Moon", a "Blood Moon", and a "Super Moon". There are differing definitions of a "Blue Moon", but the most widely accepted today is that when two full moons fall within one calendar month, the second of the two full moons...
Not even a month after the United States was united in darkness for reasons other than the Trump Administration (i.e., the Great American Coast-To-Coast Total Eclipse), North America appears to be headed toward a cataclysmic demise. First, there was Hurricane Harvey, which basically swallowed Houston. Then came Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm that was so powerful it sucked up all the water from the ocean in parts of the Bahamas and turned Richard Branson's once luxurious paradise island into...
Last year, the historic classic rock music festival, "Desert Trip", sold out – twice. And this year, on June 29 and 30 at the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood, so did the Buzzcocks. The Buzzcocks are one of Britain's ground breaking and most influential punk bands. Formed in 1976, the Buzzcocks rose to almost instant fame due to their fusion of pop, funk, and punk rock, their heavy guitar riffs, odd chords with catchy melodies, avant-guard elements, emphasis on the human condition, unbridled e...
The TCM Classic Film Festival returned to Hollywood for its eighth consecutive year on Thursday, April 6, 2017. This year, the four-day film festival celebrated the Golden Age of Comedy. From low-brow to high-brow, from slapstick to sophisticated, and from lone clowns to comedic duos to madcap ensembles, the festival celebrated a broad array of comedic gems, many of which haven't been screened in movie theaters for decades. This year's festival celebrated the life and memory of Robert Osborne...
The 2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which annually honors the best character-driven, low budget, non-studio financed independent films, were awarded on February 25th in Santa Monica. Now in its thirty-second year, Film Independent seeks to recognize the highest achievements of filmmakers and actors who create films that embody creativity, originality, diversity, and innovation. This year, the groundbreaking black, gay, coming-of-age drama, "Moonlight", took the top honors with six Spirit...
On or about 5:45 a.m. on Wednesday, October 25th, a man dressed as a construction worker used a sledgehammer and a pickax to destroy Donald Trump's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a California State Landmark. Trump was awarded the 2,327th Star on the Walk of Fame in January 2007 to honor his work as a producer of the television show, The Apprentice, and of the Miss America pageant. A man identified as James Otis, 52, claimed responsibility for vandalizing Trump's Star, and has since been...
The Santa Monica Observer was privileged to interview seventeen-year-old filmmaker, Emily Robinson (known for her role as Young Rose on the Amazon TV series, "Transparent"), to discuss her new short film, "Virgin Territory". The film premiered to wide acclaim on June 2, 2016, at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and will also be screened at Outfest LA as part of the "Girl Shorts" short-film series, on Friday, July 15, 2016, at 9:30 PM, and Sunday, July 17, 2016, at 3:30 PM, at the Director's Guild...
The Santa Monica Observer was privileged to interview Dorie Barton, writer and director of the new hit comedy, "Girl Flu.", which premiered on June 6 at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and was so successful that the festival added a second screening. "Girl Flu." is a female-driven coming-of-age film about a 12-year-old girl named Bird who is forced to confront adulthood when she unexpectedly has her first period. While the film is, in many respects, a lighthearted comedy, it also delves into the...
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 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...
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...
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,...
This year's Los Angeles County Air Show was held on March 19-20th at General William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster, California. It featured the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, along with world-class aerobatics, parachute demonstrations, wing-walking, pyrotechnics, and interactive displays. The biggest draw was, of course, the Blue Angels, who are world renowned for flying their planes, F/A-18C and F/A-18D Hornets, in death defying formations, and the "Fat Albert," the...
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...
