Noise Movie

Screenwriter Henry Bean made a big splash in 2001 with his feature directorial debut "The Believer," starring Ryan Gosling as a young Orthodox Jew who becomes a Neo-Nazi. Now Bean is back in the director's chair with the satire "Noise," opening Friday. Tim Robbins stars as David Owen, a New York attorney who can't bear the noise of car and building alarms. His anger causes him to vandalize cars -- letting the air out of tires and cutting the cables in the engine -- for which he is arrested several times.

Screenwriter Henry Bean made a big splash in 2001 with his feature directorial debut "The Believer," starring Ryan Gosling as a young Orthodox Jew who becomes a Neo-Nazi. Now Bean is back in the director's chair with the satire "Noise," opening Friday. Tim Robbins stars as David Owen, a New York attorney who can't bear the noise of car and building alarms. His anger causes him to vandalize cars -- letting the air out of tires and cutting the cables in the engine -- for which he is arrested several times.

After years being tied up in red tape over music rights, the 1981 animated rocker "Heavy Metal" finally returns to theaters across the nation this weekend, a prelude to its long-awaited video release. The R-rated cult favorite, a midnight movie perennial, is being screened in 39 cities in the United States and Canada. In an ad line that echoes one used by Warner Bros.

After years being tied up in red tape over music rights, the 1981 animated rocker "Heavy Metal" finally returns to theaters across the nation this weekend, a prelude to its long-awaited video release. The R-rated cult favorite, a midnight movie perennial, is being screened in 39 cities in the United States and Canada. In an ad line that echoes one used by Warner Bros.

A second Studio Cafe restaurant and nightclub, modeled after its predecessor in Newport Beach, will open July 1 in downtown Huntington Beach. The new restaurant, at 300 Pacific Coast Highway, will feature live jazz and pop and is in the same complex that housed Peppers Golden Bear, a live music club that closed in 1991 after creating too much noise for movie theater in the same complex. The Studio Cafe does not share any walls, ceiling or floor space with the theater, as Peppers did.

Anyone who has paid up to $7.50 to go to a movie only to have it spoiled by crying babies or adults who cannot keep their comments to themselves appreciates the idea behind recent efforts by theater chains to quiet movie audiences. AMC, which has theaters in Fullerton and Orange, and other theater chains have tried to address noise problems in various ways, from film shorts admonishing the audience to be quiet to announcements by ushers before a film begins.

In the days before Madonna and CD's and Federal Express, port cities were the places where intriguing musical juxtapositions were usually forged, since the local musicians there were constantly exposed to music from far-flung locales. Now, technology enables musicians all over the world to keep abreast of the latest sounds and styles, and those juxtapositions--particularly those rising from contact between traditional styles and Western pop sounds--take more varied forms.

With all the concern and media fretting about the Y2K dangers now staring us in the face, it's not strange that Orange Coast College's student-run Repertory Theatre has come up with a program of short original plays on the subject. In the group's "Y2K Festival," five one-act plays approach the millennium with vastly different outlooks and emotions. The diversity is enlightening and entertaining. The balance of the plays generally approach the subject with a sense of humor.

Have you ever been totally engrossed in a movie on the big screen when all of sudden the guy sitting right next to you starts glowing? He decided to write an opus in text messages on his hand-held small screen. Well, you might need to get used to it. A debate has begun to brew among theater owners and CEOs at the annual industry convention in Las Vegas about whether to allow texting during movies, according to the Company Town blog . At a recent panel at CinemaCon, Regal Entertainment Chief Executive Amy Miles suggested that exhibitors consider allowing younger customers to use their cellphones during certain types of movies such as "21 Jump Street," the blog reported.

With work on the Hollywood Boulevard stretch of Metro Rail scheduled to start in just two months, City Councilman Michael Woo has rejected the Rail Construction Corp.'s plan for dealing with the work's impact on the area as weak, vague and out of touch with the needs of the economically fragile community.

As the world gets noisier, hearing experts are trying to educate people so their ears will keep working into old age. Education about noise exposure is crucial, they say, because although it's regulated in the workplace, environmental noise--in movie theaters, streets, homes and elsewhere--is not. What's more, people in certain professions (musicians, for instance, and sound engineers) often work independently and are not protected--or only loosely protected--by workplace safety regulations.

Nine out of 10 Hollywood blockbusters end with the same three words: "Filmed in Panavision." In the 40 years since Panavision lenses were first affixed to movie cameras, the Woodland Hills-based company has become the tool of choice for top filmmakers worldwide. Its inventory of precision equipment is unrivaled. Its brand strength remains essentially unchallenged. But over the last year, Panavision Inc. hasn't performed like an industry leader. Quarter by quarter, it continues to lose money.