Hello! I’m not Mark Olsen but Joshua Rothkopf, stepping in for an abbreviated taste of the best movies coming to your favorite L.A. repertory theaters this week.
Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies. John Carpenter’s career will always be a subject of fascination for me, particularly his habit during the 1980s of taking big swings once he had gained — or, more accurately, regained — enough clout. After 1984’s “Starman” netted Jeff Bridges an acting Oscar nomination (rare for sci-fi), the director mounted a huge-hearted fantasy, inflected by his love of John Wayne westerns and martial arts movies.
Fine, so it wasn’t the next “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” “Big Trouble in Little China” represents one of the decade’s more exhilarating dares. Plus, you can speculate on the alternate history of Kim Catrall, Action Hero.
It screens on Saturday at midnight at the New Beverly in 35mm (of course), and while online tickets have sold out, there will be some added availability on the night. I recently moved from an apartment that was a five-minute walk (I walk!) from the Academy Museum. Already I’m having withdrawal symptoms.
Sunday’s midday screening of Thom Andersen’s “Los Angeles Plays Itself” would have been a perfect excuse for a stroll. A critical examination of L.A.
’s onscreen history — evolving as office towers rise, neighborhoods recede and corporate interests expand — the film is both a recor.
