It’s still not listing an official, final running time, but Baz Luhrmann’s Australia will be done in time for its November 26 theatrical release… and even a little bit earlier, since it seems like the writer-director’s sweeping new romantic adventure drama, set in the continent down under on the explosive brink of World War II, will screen at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica on Saturday, November 22 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a moderated discussion with the filmmaker. The following evening, Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge will also screen, as a double-feature.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Pending availability, tickets for these movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

On Thursday, October 30, Tony Todd will appear at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles to introduce the classic 1992 horror film Candyman, and field questions from fans prior to the screening. The film will be shown as part of a double feature with Clive Barker’s The Midnight Meat Train, and presenting host IGN will give away DVDs and other goodies to the crowd as door prizes. As with all shows at the New Beverly, the films are being shown as a $7 double feature, with additional discounts for students and seniors.

It’s a rare treat for silent film lovers in Southern California, as Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc will screen at the Silent Movie Theatre on Monday, November 10 at 8 p.m.

Utilizing
a unique symphonic style, twin brothers Klive and Nigel Humberstone —
who have been providing original electronic/industrial scores for
silent films since their band In The Nursery began their acclaimed
Optical Music Series in 1996 — will provide a live score for The Passion of Joan of Arc,
a mixture of classical film music over military rhythms, to capture the
film’s dramatic highs and lows. Widely considered one of the best European silents, Dreyer’s film details the 15th-century trial and execution of the title
character (brilliantly played by Rene Falconetti), a young maiden who died for France and her God. Tickets for the screening are $12; for more information on the event, and the Silent Movie Theatre in general, click here.

For those in the SoCal area, the biggest hit of the summer, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, gets a special screening at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre on Monday, October 27 at 8 p.m., when Oscar-winning supervising sound editor/sound designer Richard King presents his process of creating the film’s soundscape. Excerpts of the movie will be presented with special “pre-dubb” mixes to illustrate the variety of elements used to create an environment of serious sound. Also in the mix: music editor Alex Gibson and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, who will reveal the way the musical score was shaped to fit the dark narrative of good and evil.

The historic Egyptian Theatre is located at 6712
Hollywood Boulevard,
between Highland
and Las Palmas,
in Hollywood.
Tickets for this and all events at the Egyptian are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on screenings,
directions and other matters, phone (323) 466-FILM, or visit the Cinematheque’s eponymous
Web site. For more information on this event, meanwhile, click here.

Given how royally screwed he and production company Lakeshore Entertainment were by Lionsgate’s air-quote distribution of The Midnight Meat Train, it’s not too terribly surprising that noted horror author Clive Barker would want to talk about it some, and probably drop a few sharply worded H-bombs. Los Angeles audiences will have the chance to reap the benefits of his discontent then, when, on October 29 and 30, under the “IGN Presents” banner, a double feature of the aforementioned film and Candyman, both written Barker, will screen at the New Beverly Cinema.

Barker himself will appear in person on October 29 to introduce the films and conduct a Q&A in between shows. Additional special guests may also appear, and door prizes and other giveaways will also be on hand. As with all shows at the New Beverly, the films are being shown as a $7 double feature, with additional discounts for students and seniors.

Rounds, the feature film writing and directing debut of Mark Atienza, will make its world premiere at the Hollywood Film Festival on October 25 at 2 p.m. The independent drama from Freelance Filmworks follows three Los Angeles twentysomethings as they lean on each other to make it through jobs, relationships and the next day.

Multi-hyphenate Atienza, who also stars in the film, began his acting career as “Young Roy Hobbs” in The Natural, carving “Wonderboy” onto his bat. (Tenacious D would be so stoked, don’t you know.) Atienza continued his on-camera career in several movies (he was a “stoned surfer” in Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break, which I believe comprised a full eight percent of that film’s audience) and also produced a couple critically acclaimed short films, including You Always Stalk the Ones You Love, with Scott Caan. Along with Atienza, Rounds stars Meredith Zealy (The Notebook), Natalie Denise Sperl, Kelli Nordhus, Eric Shepherd (Unscripted), Pamela Warren, Nina Kaczorowski and veteran actors Billy Drago and James Handy. For more information on the film, and to view its trailer, click here.

The Aero Theatre plays host to an eclectic slate of 11 European-produced documentaries, providing Los Angelenos a unique opportunity to journey into unfamiliar cultures and subcultures as viewed through a contemporary European lens. At the core of these films — 10 of which are Los Angeles premieres — are stories of citizens of the world making their way in the 21st century, following or breaking tradition in human experiences that by far supersede geographic borders. Wine and cheese receptions are held in between films each night; for a full roster of the movies, click here.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for all of these movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

Filling one of its tent-pole slots in customary fashion with a big studio film set for impending release, AFI Fest 2008 will screen Edward Zwick’s Defiance as its closing night selection on November 9, it was announced today. Starring Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell and Liev Schreiber, the movie tells the story of three Jewish brothers who struggle to stay alive during World War II, escaping Nazi-occupied Poland and joining Russian resistance fighters. The film is tentatively slated for release, via Paramount Vantage, on December 19.

Following Christopher Nolan’s announced West Coast appearance at a special Q&A for Following, his first film, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh will submit to similar navel-gazing at a special benefit screening of his already very inward-looking 1997 Slamdance entry, Schizopolis. The event will take place in New York City at the IFC Center on Tuesday, September 16 at 8 p.m. Tickets will be $20, and are available through IFC’s web site, or by clicking here. Following the screening there will be a Q&A with Soderbergh moderated by author Anthony Kaufman, and a hosted reception for ticket holders at The Post Factory.

Barbet Schroeder’s 1976 film Maitresse, about a burglar (Gérard
Depardieu) who falls for a dominatrix (Bulle Ogier) when he breaks into
her apartment, kicks off a special “Fetish Film Series” when it screens at the Egyptian Theatre at the American Cinematheque on Friday, September 12 at 7:30 p.m.

The once-monthly series will take place at the Egyptian’s Spielberg Theatre, and will be hosted by Rick
Castro of Antebellum Gallery. All screenings will have fetish as the main theme and subject matter, and each film will be followed by an
informal discussion and debate with the audience. Slated for October is Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1975 film Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom. The historic Egyptian Theatre is located at 6712
Hollywood Boulevard,
between Highland
and Las Palmas,
in Hollywood.
Tickets for this and all events at the Egyptian are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on screenings,
directions and other matters, phone (323) 466-FILM, or visit the Cinematheque’s eponymous
Web site.

Just about two weeks prior to its DVD bow, director Jon Favreau will be providing live audio commentary at a special screening of Iron Man, on Saturday, September 6 at 7:30 p.m. The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for this movie, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

Fresh off the crazy success of The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan will appear at a special Los Angeles screening of his first feature, Following, on September 5. Screening at 8 p.m. at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Bing Theater, Following is a rare insight to the earliest sparks of his directorial talent, and its 1999 Slamdance screening put Nolan on the map. Tickets for the event are $20, and available only through Slamdance’s web site, or by clicking here; no tickets will be available for purchase at the door. A hosted reception for ticket holders and a Q&A with Nolan, moderated by the Los Angeles Times‘ Kenneth Turan, will follow the screening.

In advance of its August theatrical release from Overture Films, Mark Pellington’s Henry Poole is Here, starring Luke Wilson as a disillusioned man who attempts to hide from life in a rundown, suburban tract home only to
discover that he cannot, and I quote press notes, escape “the forces of hope,” will have an advance screening at the Aero Theatre
on Thursday, August 14, at 7:30 p.m. After the film, a Q&A with Pellington — and possibly other guests, yet to be confirmed — will take place. The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for the movie, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

David Gordon Green’s Pineapple Express, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as two on-the-lam stoners trying to stay a step ahead of the henchmen of a drug boss after witnessing a murder, will screen in advance of its theatrical opening, on August 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Aero Theatre. No free doobies will be passed out, but Green will sit for a discussion after the screening.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Specially priced tickets for the movie are $15 for general admission, $12 for students and senior citizens, and $10 for American Cinematheque members, and are available through Fandango. For 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

The fourth annual HollyShorts Film Festival kicks off on Thursday, August 7, with a marquee opening night celebration featuring a number of high profile short film projects. The opening night event, which takes place at the Egyptian Theatre in conjunction with the American Cinematheque, will feature director Bill Purple’s Hole in the Paper Sky, which stars Jessica Biel and Gary Marshall; WireImage co-founder Jeff Vespa’s Nosebleed, which stars David Arquette; director Alex Ferrari’s Red Princess Blues Animated: The Book of Violence, voiced by Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay‘s Paula Garcés; radio personality Marty Keegan’s award-winning Verboten; and, as previously mentioned, the Hollywood premieres of directorial debuts from two actors — Josh Brolin‘s X and Larry Hankin’s The Outlaw Emmett Deemus.

Friday, August 8, will mark the festival’s inaugural HollyShorts Music Video celebration, showcasing clips from some of the industry’s hottest new music video directors. The festival’s core screenings and industry panels take place at the Laemmle Sunset 5 on Saturday, August 9 and Sunday, August 10. “We’re stepping up our Hollywood presence in a major way this year, with a marquee opening night celebration in conjunction with the American Cinematheque, a new music video category and a lineup of high profile films,” said HollyShorts Film Festival director and co-founder Daniel Sol. For tickets and more information, click here.

In a career that has spanned over 50 years as a writer, producer and director, Blake Edwards has delivered classics in nearly every genre. To that end, his varied body of work will be celebrated at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica during the month of July, with screenings of his wild comedies as well as thrillers and musicals.

Though known primarily for comedies such as The Party and The Pink Panther, Edwards exhibited mastery of the domestic melodrama (the beautiful and tragic Days of Wine and Roses), the thriller (Experiment in Terror) and the musical (Darling Lili). In the best tradition of studio-era auteurs like Howard Hawks, Edwards managed to inject distinctly personal ideas and styles into popular forms. Regardless of genre, almost all of his films share a profound interest in the complexities and difficulties of close relationships (whether between friends, lovers or colleagues) and the wide range of the human experience. In fact, Edwards’ best films often veer from humiliation and anxiety to giddy romance and celebration, all within the space of a couple of hours. I reviewed some of these movies when they hit DVD for the first time a couple years ago, as part of a collection of Edwards’ work, so I may try to slap up a couple of those reviews later next month.

Regardless, the Aero’s special retrospective kicks off on July 10 with an evening screening of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, followed the next night by a double feature of 1964’s The Pink Panther and 1975’s Return of the Pink Panther, starring Peter Sellers. The series concludes with a celebratory screening of The Great Race on Edwards’ 86th birthday, July 26. The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for all the movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

Director Terry Kinney’s poignant and bittersweet comedy Diminished Capacity poses the query: How much is a
good memory worth? That’s the question that faces newspaper editor
Cooper (Matthew Broderick) after a debilitating concussion takes him
from the political pages to comic strip detail. Looking for answers,
he travels home to Missouri, where his senile uncle (Alan
Alda) is on the verge of losing his home. When a valuable baseball
card is thrown into the mix, these two men, along with a motley group
of hometown friends — including Cooper’s high school sweetheart, played by Virginia Madsen — head to a memorabilia expo to make the
deal of the century. The movie screens this coming Thursday, June 26 at 7:30 p.m., in advance of its limited theatrical release in early July. Also, this Sunday, June 22, director Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe screens at 7:30 p.m., with a special post-screening appearance and discussion by choreographer Daniel Ezralow.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for these movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

Director Giuseppe Tornatore reunites
with composer Ennio Morricone and actress Kseniya (aka Xenia) Rappoport for the suspenseful film noir The Unknown Woman, which screens at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica on Saturday, June 21, in tandem with a 20th anniversary print of the Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso. The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for this movie, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

Director John Carpenter gets honored with an in-person tribute June 13 through 18, at the Aero Theatre
in Los Angeles. The esteemed genre maestro will sit for Q&A discussions between sets of double-features, kicking off on Friday, June 13 with The Thing and The Fog. The next two evenings will feature Escape from New York and Escape from L.A., and Halloween and Christine, respectively. Wrapping up the series, on Wednesday, June 18, will be Big Trouble in Little China and Assault on Precinct 13. The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for these movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

For those in the Los Angeles area, a restored and uncut version of Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate will screen at the Aero Theatre
on Thursday, May 22, at 7:30 p.m., as part of the venue’s ongoing series of the favorite films of quasi-retired Los Angeles Times film critic Kevin Thomas, who will introduce the screening — presumably not raving in foaming-mouth fashion about how he needs production notes before it can begin. Cimino’s sprawling, epic anti-Western, from 1980, was one of the most hotly debated films of its time, a blockbuster whose budget spiraled out of control, nearly bankrupting United Artists and hastening the embattled company’s sale to MGM. Did that color its reception? Sure, you bet. Is it still a hot mess? Yes, indeed. The uncut version, by the way? Three hours and 39 minutes, for those counting.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for this movie, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

A new feature-length documentary and a hearty helping of double-feature retrospective screenings celebrate Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood‘s life in film June 5 through 11 at the Aero Theatre
in Santa Monica. Using the post-production of Eastwood’s World War II diptych as a springboard, director Michael Henry Wilson’s Clint Eastwood: A Life in Film engages the notoriously reticent multi-hyphenate in a surprisingly easygoing and intimate dialogue about art and life, illuminating his human side as well as his untamed creativity. In addition to obvious fare like 1971’s Dirty Harry, High Plains Drifter and the Oscar-winning Unforgiven, meanwhile, other films screening during the Aero’s week-long retrospective include The Beguiled, A Perfect World, Breezy and Honkytonk Man. Wilson and editor Joel Cox will also appear in person at select screenings for Q&A sessions about their work.

The Aero Theatre
is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for its screenings, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded
information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule,
phone (323) 466-FILM.

A friend clued me into Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, a shot-by-shot, Son of Rambow-style recreation (or “sweding,” if you will) which three
Mississippi 12-year-olds began filming in their backyards shortly after the release of the original Indiana Jones movie in 1981. Seven years later their film was in the can, and this Wednesday, it’s screening at the Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood, at 8 p.m. For the diehards this is old news, I guess, but somehow this had all escaped my attention up until now, even though producer Scott Rudin purchased the trio’s life rights years ago, and Daniel Clowes is at work on a script for a big screen adaptation about their pubescent odyssey. By the way, shouldn’t Paramount have pushed that into production, and have it locked and loaded to come out at least around the same time as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Or shall it eventually suffer the same ill-timed fate as the Weinstein Company’s Fanboys, which I think finished filming eight years ago?

A hearty slice of pre-code cinema screens at the Egyptian Theatre Thursday, May 22 and Friday, May 23, with double- and triple-features of films not yet released to DVD, alongside documentaries that cast an illuminating light on movies that flagrantly flaunted their vice-laden pedigree.

Harnessing the wilder impulses of Hollywood cinema at the end of the silent era was one of the prime items on the agenda of every politician and crusading do-gooder in America. A production code was actually drawn up circa 1930, supposedly severely limiting some of the sexy, saucy and ultra-violent antics cropping up in the movies. But things still continued apace, with little real censorship beyond nod-and-a-wink lip service to the new standards. In the wake of Prohibition in the early 1930s, though, public and political outcry forced the appointment of Joseph Breen to preside over enforcement of the code in 1934, finally putting some teeth into the new criteria.

As numerous films from the era have been restored, most notably by Sony
Repertory’s Preservation Department, Warner Bros. (in conjunction with
their recent “Forbidden Hollywood” pre-code DVD releases) and the UCLA
Archive (in conjunction with Universal Pictures), a fascination has evolved among current movie fans for the pre-code Hollywood phenomenon, especially for the talkies from the early 1930s. Several excellent documentaries on the subject have been made, including Why Be Good? Sexuality and Censorship in Early Cinema, executive produced by Hugh Hefner and directed by Elaina Archer.

That film, as well as a handful of some of the rarest yet most fascinating pre-code movies available, including Frank Capra’s Forbidden, Cecil B. DeMille’s Madam Satan and Charles Brabin’s Beast of the City (none of which have yet been released to DVD) will screen May 22 and 23 at the historic
Egyptian Theatre, which is located at 6712
Hollywood Boulevard,
between Highland
and Las Palmas,
in Hollywood.
Tickets for all events are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on screenings,
directions and other matters, phone (323) 466-FILM, or visit the Cinematheque’s eponymous
Web site by clicking here.

Wanted, the big shoot ’em up from Universal opening nationwide on June 27, will kick off this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival on June 19, it was announced yesterday. Giving things a further Universal flavor, Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army, opening July 11, will serve as the festival’s closing night film, on June 29.