Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis following passholder admission. Schedule subject to change. MAESTRO Thursday, February 8 – 2:00 PM – Arlington Theatre OPPENHEIMER + Q&A WITH CILLIAN MURPHY Friday, February 9 – 2:00 PM –...
Dear Cinephiles, “What happened, happened. It’s an expression of faith in the mechanics of the world. It’s not an excuse for doing nothing.” Kudos to Christopher Nolan for being adamant about having his film “Tenet” (2020) get a theatrical release — and...
Dear Cinephiles, “All my life, I’ve stayed at parties too long because I didn’t know when to go.” In David Lean’s “Summertime” (1955), there’s a moment that captures for those who’ve been there, and for those who haven’t yet experienced it, the exhilaration of the...
Dear Cinephiles, “You must have heard surely of movie magic. You should be a stunt man, who is an actor, who is a character in a movie, who is an enemy soldier. Who’ll look for you amongst all those? People like to believe in things, and policemen are just...
Dear Cinephiles, “I cry a lot too. I’m a big crier…I cry all the time. Any little thing. All my brothers, my brothers-in-law – they’re – they’re always telling me what a good-hearted guy I am. You don’t get to be good-hearted...
Dear Cinephiles, Jerome : “This is too much madness to explain in one text!” Talk about not judging a book by its cover. When the movie starts you’re in modern day south London in a council state (housing projects) on “Guy Fawkes” night, a shower of fireworks lighting...
Dear Cinephiles, “And maybe just for tonight we can escape our troubles and hear the great changes that are happening out there.” I’ve mentioned to you before, back when I recommended it, that I’m obsessed with John Ford’s “The Searchers” (1954). I have taught it now...
Dear Cinephiles, Gaz : “So, uh, Horse… What can you do?” Horse : “I dunno, really… Let’s see, there’s the, uh… the bump, the stomp, the bus stop… My breakdancing days are probably over, but there’s always the funky chicken.”...
Dear Cinephiles, “The boy needs a female figure. Someone who commands respect.” Lola, the trans prostitute stops in to visit her son Babu who’s being looked after by 86-year old Mama Rosa, as she’s known to everyone. Rosa doesn’t get paid much for the favor, so Lola’s...
Dear Cinephiles, Palmer: “I know what it feels like to be left alone.” One of my dearest friends is a top chef, and a few days ago I was surprised to hear that he was making mac and cheese for dinner. “Roger, once in a while we need some well-made comfort food,” he...
Dear Cinephiles, Julian Marsh: “Sawyer, you listen to me, and you listen hard. Two hundred people, two hundred jobs, two hundred thousand dollars, five weeks of grind and blood and sweat depend upon you. It’s the lives of all these people who’ve worked...
Dear Cinephiles, “Things that hide are more dangerous and scary,” says grandma to the unruly seven-year old David as they come across a snake in Lee Isaac Chung’s kindhearted and far-reaching “Minari” (2020). She’s recently arrived from Korea with seeds in her pockets...
Dear Cinephiles, Dr. Alec Harvey : “I do love you, so very much. I love you with all my heart and soul.” Laura Jesson : “I want to die. If only I could die…” Dr. Alec Harvey : “If you’d die, you’d forget me. I want to be remembered.” “Brief...
Dear Cinephiles, “Everybody has a mother.” One of Hollywood’s legendary actresses, Joan Crawford campaigned to get the role that would ultimately yield her Best Actress Oscar, for “Mildred Pierce” (1945). She hadn’t worked in two years. Her 18-year career at Metro...
Dear Cinephiles, “I just want something for myself.” Those words are expressed by Turquoise Jones in Channing Godfrey Peoples’ phenomenal debut – “Miss Juneteenth” (2020). She is a black woman in Fort Worth, Texas who has had her dream deferred. Sixteen years ago,...
Dear Cinephiles, Jim Stark: “If I had one day when I didn’t have to be all confused and I didn’t have to feel that I was ashamed of everything. If I felt that I belonged someplace. You know?” One of the positive things that have come out of the past year...
Dear Cinephiles, “Get your hands off them guns. I’m Orvis Goodnight! Record producer, you understand?! I live right across the street from here. Well, I don’t get this kind of service. No sir.! Two weeks ago a thief tried to break into my house. I called the police....
Dear Cinephiles, Clyde Barrow: “You know what you done there? You told my story, you told my whole story right there, right there. One time, I told you I was gonna make you somebody. That’s what you done for me. You made me somebody they’re gonna...
Dear Cinephiles, “You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours. All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.“ A few weeks back I wrote to you about Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” (1941) and its importance. I also mentioned that I would recommend you...
Dear Cinephiles, ‘The blues help you get out of bed in the morning. You get up knowing you ain’t alone. There’s something else in the world. Something’s been added by that song. This be an empty world without the blues.’ – Ma Rainey...
Dear Cinephiles, Andy Dufresne: “There are places in this world that aren’t made out of stone. That there’s something inside… that they can’t get to, that they can’t touch. That’s yours.” Red: “What’re you talking about?”...
Dear Cinephiles, Su Li-zhen Chan : “You notice things if you pay attention.” Heed that wisdom. “In the Mood for Love” (2000) by maestro Wong Kar-wai is on my top-ten. The list shifts, but this one always remains in it. I’m not alone in claiming this film to be one of...
Dear Cinephiles, “Oh, life is like that. Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at its zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us.” Think for a second about that sentiment expressed in “A Christmas...
Dear Cinephiles, “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas. Just like the ones I used to know” The song White Christmas had been used in the film “Holiday Inn” (1942) starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. The ballad went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song. It...
Dear Cinephiles, Apu: “Didi, have you ever seen a train?” Durga: “Sure.” Sarbojaya Ray: “Don’t lie.” Apu: “You know where the tracks are? Where?” Durga: “Past the big meadow and beyond the rice fields.” Apu: “Shall we go one day?” And we do go see the train. We...
Dear Cinephiles, Ollie: “Your choices are only as good as your options are.” The Western is one of my favorite genres in movies. I like the classic period of it, representing the spirit of a new undomesticated American frontier with its open landscape mountain ranges,...
Dear Cinephiles, “It would not be true to say that I am no longer lonely. I have made myself articulate and understood to people in many parts of the world, and this is something we all wish to do whether we’re crippled or not. Yet like everyone else, I am acutely...
Dear Cinephiles, “The heart is a very, very resilient little muscle.” Throughout the years, the line above has caused me to get very emotional – and on this special day – it’s the perfect summation of how some of us may feel. They’re uttered towards the end of Woody...
Dear Cinephiles, “No growth without resistance. No action without reaction. No desire without restraint. Now give yourself up and find yourself again.” Could those lines be more appropriate to describe this infamous year? In the past months we’ve been tested. I...
Dear Cinephiles, Thatcher: “You always used money to buy things.” Kane: “If I hadn’t been really rich, I might have been a really great man.” “Citizen Kane” (1941) never gets old. When I first started teaching at Santa Barbara City College seventeen years ago, I would...
