ENTERTAINMENT
July 19, 2012 | By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times Film Critic
Potent, persuasive and hypnotic, "The Dark Knight Rises"has us at its mercy. A disturbing experience we live through as much as a film we watch, this dazzling conclusion to director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is more than an exceptional superhero movie, it is masterful filmmaking by any standard. So much so that, its considerable 2-hour, 44-minute length notwithstanding, as soon as it's over, all you want to do is see it all over again. That desire comes despite - or perhaps because of - the fact that "The Dark Knight Rises" might be the bleakest, most despairing superhero film ever made.
ENTERTAINMENT
June 14, 2012 | Nicole Sperling
Night flatters the Sunset Strip. At sunrise, dead cockroaches line the sidewalk outside the famed Whisky a Go Go. Bus exhaust fills the air. The sound of crunching metal echoes off the buildings as deliverymen roll up the back panels of their trucks, making their morning drops. Filmmaker Adam Shankman is posing for a photographer on the corner of San Vicente and Sunset at 10 a.m., trying to give his best rock 'n' roll face, though he readily admits his edge is as sharp as a butter knife.
ENTERTAINMENT
July 28, 2011 | By Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times
One year ago, after putting in a full day of work at her local department store, Betsy DelValley got home and pulled out her video camera. It was July 24, 2010, the day that YouTube launched an experimental project asking users of the social media site worldwide to submit videos about what transpired in their lives over 24 hours. The best submissions would later be culled together for a documentary film. DelValley, then 19, was intrigued by the undertaking. The problem was, nothing all that exciting had transpired on the day she was meant to film.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 11, 2011 | By Susan King, Los Angeles Times
Two legends of French cinema, — Oscar-winning director Bertrand Blier ("Get Out Your Handkerchiefs") and César-winning actress Nathalie Baye ("Day for Night," "La Balance"), will be appearing with their latest films at the 15th annual City of Lights, City of Angels festival, which opens Monday and continues through April 18 at the Directors Guild of America Theater. It is the first time either has appeared at the festival, which features an eclectic array of the latest in contemporary French cinema — and includes two world premieres among the 34 features.
ENTERTAINMENT
January 23, 2011 | John Horn
Some spent years fighting to bring their movies to the screen. Others had the great fortune of seeing the pieces fall into place almost overnight. A few of the directors work so closely with their actors they almost become their therapists. One simply turns on the camera and lets his performers fly. The six filmmakers who recently came together at the Los Angeles Times to talk about their craft have dramatically different work and directing habits. And their films could hardly be more diverse: David Fincher's Facebook film "The Social Network," Ben Affleck's crime story "The Town," Tom Hooper's historical drama "The King's Speech," Darren Aronofsky's ballet tale "Black Swan," Lisa Cholodenko's family comedy "The Kids Are All Right" and Ethan Coen's western "True Grit" (directed with brother Joel)
BUSINESS
November 10, 2010 | By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times
In the late 1990s, the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division was caught up in the worst corruption scandal in the department's history. It didn't take long for Hollywood to mine the subject matter. The scandal, in which dozens of officers in Rampart's anti-gang unit were accused of serious misconduct, including perjury and evidence tampering, heavily influenced the FX TV series "The Shield" and the 2001 movie "Training Day," starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke.