Movie Week II, Day 1

July 30th, 2009 · No Comments

Though it was only a few months ago that I took on my first Movie Week here in L.A., there are plenty of theaters to go around, so I thought I’d tackle it again, with an all-new set of cinemas, while Aimee is back in Boston. I’d better hurry, though, as we learned this week that LACMA is shuttering its film program this fall, and the Mann Festival in Westwood closed today.

music_hall

The Linwood Dunn Theater The Gay Divorcee / Lady & the Tramp Thurs. 7/30/09, 7:00 pm

Price: Free, staff screening. Concessions: Pizza, pasta, and salad beforehand. Audience: Around 30 colleagues and their friends, out of 286 seats. Trailers/advertising: Nothing official, though a few of us were upstairs watching trailers Tron Legacy and The Fantastic Mr. Fox on my office computer beforehand. Projection: 35mm changeover, excellent as always.

The most convenient theater location possible, the Dunn is located downstairs from my office. We have a staff screening there every other month or so, as well as occasional special Sci-Tech or documentary presentations. It’s often rented out by studios or production companies for events, as well. The theater is a good place to watch a film, though the seats aren’t especially comfortable. They’re new, and they’re nice, but there’s something a little off in the way they’re set up and oriented. That said, it’s a nice, intimate space, a great place to see a movie and feel a part of the panel discussion afterward. Just don’t try to walk up one of the aisles on the sides; they don’t lead anywhere.

I’d never seen The Gay Divorcee, which struck me as a fun but somewhat unremarkable Astaire & Rogers pairing. I hadn’t seen Lady and the Tramp in who knows how many years – at least 25 – so it was fun to see again, especially in glorious Technicolor and CinemaScope. The rat is still unnerving, after all those years.

Tags: Film · Los Angeles ·