This is hard to explain, but here goes: as much as I love the fact that slightly grubby sub-run theatres like Lyndon Golin‘s Regency Fairfax and the Silent Movie theatre a block or two south are doing pretty well, I never really feel like actually driving over and plunking down five or six bucks for a cheap seat at either establishment.
That sounds shitty and unhelpful, but most of us are fairly passionate about seeing movies only at deluxe, blue-chip locations or at home on DVD, and no in-betweens. Call them high-thread-count venues….I don’t care…but I just don’t want to schlub it when I’m out seeing a film. Same deal with the New Beverly Cinema…wait, they’ve put in new seating and have cleaned up the sticky floors?
And yet I love the fact that others in the Fairfax disrict (i.e., the nearby retirement-age community, under-30s with not much money, etc.) love the Fairfax and the Silent Movie theatre. The Fairfax district would be immeasurably harmed if either one of these theatres were to shutter. I mean that. Is this coming out right?

“I couldn’t let it just hang. Eight years of my life, and a fucking artsy cut to black? It was eating me up inside. I just had to tie up the loose ends. I’m positive this is exactly how [creator and executive producer] David Chase wanted fans to interpret the ending.” — Sopranos fan Louis Bowen explaining to an Onion staffer why he felt compelled to murder James Gandolfini last Tuesday at an Italian Greenwich Village restauant called Occhiuto’s.

“Whatever else they may be, movies are stories people tell us; and a review is a conversation the critic has with both the filmmaker and the audience about the power and plausibility of the tale. No one has done as much as Roger Ebert to connect the creators of movies with their consumers. He has immense power, and he’s used it for good, as an apostle of cinema. Reading his work, or listening to him parse the shots of some notable film, the movie lover is also engaged with an alert mind constantly discovering things — discovering them to share them.” –from a Time tribute piece by Richard Corliss.

Shortly before Strangers on a Train was released, Farley Granger (i.e., Guy Haines) ran into Robert Walker (i.e., Bruno Antony) at a party in Hollywood. “He said, ‘Farley, we have to get together…I miss you…We should not let the friendship slip away,'” Granger tells L.A. Times staffer Susan Granger. “I took his number and he took mine, and the next thing I knew he died.”
On Wednesday, 6.27, Granger will be signing copies of his co-written autobiography, “Include Me Out: My Life From Goldwyn to Broadway” at the Santa Monica branch of Every Picture Tells a Story (at 1311 Montana) , and will then do a q & a after a screening of Strangers on a Train at the Aero.

At 64, Werner Herzog is our filmmaking god of dark adventure, a willful but adventuresome artist whose characters — both in his features and documentaries — test the boundaries of human madness and quixotic folly.” — from Patrick Goldstein‘s 6.24.07 L.A. Times profile, titled “Werner Herzog’s Night Vision.”

Arnold Jones, brother of the late Anderson Jones, informs that a memorial is being planned for Saturday, 6.30.07 at 1 pm at a small church all the way the fuck down in Long Beach (location yet to be disclosed). Flowers and condolences can be sent to Andy’s parents, Anna and Arnold L. Jones, at 1471 E. Fairifield Ct. Ontario, CA 91761.

The Straight Time gang — Dustin Hoffman, director Ulu Grosbard, Theresa Russell (looking pretty hot for having just turned 50), Harry Dean Stanton, cinematographer Owen Roizman — took the stage last night at the Billy Wilder theatre, following a 6:30 pm screening of the 1978 noir classic.

(l. to. r.) Theresa Russell, Ulu Grosbard, Dustin Hoffman, Harry Dean Stanton and producer Tim Zinneman — Saturday, 6.23.07, 8:55 pm; Grosbard, Hoffman, Stanton; best wide shot

L.A. Weekly critic Scott Foundas asked the questions, but he didn’t have to work very hard at keeping the ball in the air. Hoffman and Grosbard, in particular, just let it roll and roll and roll. Here’s an mp3 of a portion of what was said (i.e., a recording of a videotape that I took that was way too big to upload — 1.6 gigs). You’ll hear Grosbard first, and then Stanton and Russell (or the other way around) and then Hoffman comes in with a longish riff about his research, including an interesting observation about how criminals and actors aren’t all that dissimilar.

As expected, Evan Almighty was flat on Saturday. Sequels don’t usually increase business from Friday to Saturday, and this one’s coping with mixed word-of-mouth so the adjusted projection is now $32,112,000. 1408 was down also (horror peaks on Friday night with the young), but the projection went up — it’s now expected to hit just over $20 million. The John Cusack-er may even overtake Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer for the #2 slot…maybe.

“It’s being run like a war. I mean, we’re in a battle with these corporations who want to maintain their position. They don’t want to give an inch on this, and we’re out to upset the apple cart.” — Michael Moore quoted in Kevin Sack‘s 6.24 N.Y. Times piece about the Sicko director making a big media splash in Washington, D.C. in order to keep the health-care ball in the air.

A YouTube clip of the finale of the final Sopranos episode. I’m suddenly ambivalent about the bullet in the back of the head due to the last shot being a close-up of Tony from the front. If “Members Only” was about to pop him, why didn’t Tony turn his head to the right just a split second before? Wouldn’t he spot aggressive movement out of the corner of his right eye? This National Lampoon Scarface parody clip is pretty funny.

A friend suspects that Evan Almighty‘s numbers may drop today (“word of mouth isn’t good, sequels always drop Friday to Saturday”), meaning it may not even do $33 million for the weekend. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer will end up in second place with almost $21 million, down 54% from last weekend. And 1408 is doing okay with a projected Sunday- night tally of $19,295,000.
Ocean’s 13 will make $11,300,000 or the weekend, down 43%. (It’ll just make $100 million, over and out.) Knocked Up will do $10,532,000 this weekend, off 25%, for a total of $108 million. Pirates 3 is projecting $6,828,000 for the weekend, down 45%…it’s ending up with $300 million, give or take. Surf’s Up will make $6,500,000 by Sunday evening. Shrek the Third will hit $5,535,000 — it’s crossing the $307 million mark. Nancy Drew will end up with $4,596,000.
A Mighty Heart wil make $3,652,000, or just under 2700 a print…a disaster. I guess it’s the subject matter plus a bad call to open it in the summer. Doesn’t make sense; this a very strong film.
Sicko made $24,000 yesterday at the Leows Lincoln Plaza — $79,000 projected for the weekend.
La Vie en Rose expanded very well…from 70 to 116 theatres…654,000…5700 a print….pretty good. Once will make $509,000 in 121 theatres this weekend for a $3.8 million (or is it $3.2 million?) tally. It could end up with $8 to $10 million at the end of the road, especially with the possibility of an awards-season bump. You Kill Me will make $233,000 in 67 theatres, estimating 6300 a print…soft.