Too old for this? Nah, it’s only 20
SHANE BLACK wrote the screenplay for the first hit “Lethal Weapon,” and he’ll host a retrospective panel discussion on the film Friday, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences celebrates the 20th anniversary of director Richard Donner’s violent action thriller. You may recall that Mel Gibson and Danny Glover starred as a mismatched L.A. detective team that discovers a woman’s suicide was actually a murder. Three sequels followed, and the creators of the current “Hot Fuzz” clearly saw all of them.
The academy’s “Great to Be Nominated” series continues Monday evening with the dazzling 1979 Fellini-esque musical drama “All That Jazz,” starring Roy Scheider as a self-destructive director-choreographer who suspiciously resembles the film’s director, Bob Fosse. Produced and co-written by Robert Alan Aurthur, “Jazz” was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning for art and costume design, film editing and music (adaptation score). Among those scheduled on the post-screening panel are costar John Lithgow and associate producer and assistant director Wolfgang Glattes.
The Skirball and American Film Institute’s screening series, “Cinema Legacy,” presents John Huston’s near-flawless 1948 production “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” on Monday evening. Oscar-winning filmmaker William Friedkin (“The French Connection”) will present Huston’s brilliant tale of the dark side of nature, which starred Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt and the filmmaker’s father, Walter Huston, in his Oscar-winning turn as an eccentric old prospector. A Q&A; with Friedkin follows the screening.
The American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre celebrates the inventive comedies of the extraordinary French clown Jacques Tati. Screening tonight is 1947’s “Jour de Fete,” in which he plays a small-town mailman. On Friday, Tati plays his beloved alter ego, the perplexed Monsieur Hulot, in 1953’s enchanting “Mr. Hulot’s Holiday” and the Oscar-winning 1958 “Mon Oncle.” On tap for Saturday are his last two films: 1971’s “Traffic” and 1974’s rarely seen “Parade.” Tati’s ambitious 1967 comedy, “Playtime,” will screen on Sunday.
The Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre presents the only Los Angeles screening of the 2006 drama “The Hawk Is Dying” on Saturday. Paul Giamatti and Michelle Williams star in director Julian Goldberger’s adaptation of Harry Crews’ novel about a Florida auto upholsterer who deals with his midlife crises by taming a wild hawk.
Elsewhere: The 8th Annual Polish Film Festival concludes tonight, and the Silver Lake Festival kicks off tonight with Hal Hartley’s latest film, “Fay Grim,” which stars Parker Posey.
The festival continues through May 12; and UCLA Film and Television’s 17th Annual Celebration of Iranian Cinema screens “A Little Kiss” and “A Little Bit Higher” on Friday evening and the documentary “Iran: A Cinematheque Revolution” on Saturday night.
*
Screenings
Motion Picture Academy
* “Lethal Weapon”: 8 p.m. Friday
* “All That Jazz”: 7:30 p.m. Monday
Where: Samuel Goldwyn Theater, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills
Info: (310) 247-3600, oscars.org
Skirball Cultural Center
* “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”: 7:30 p.m. Monday
Where: 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A.
Info: (310) 440-4500, skirball.org
American Cinematheque
* “Jour de Fete”: 7:30 tonight
* “Mr. Hulot’s Holiday” and “Mon Oncle”: 7:30 p.m. Friday
* “Traffic” and “Parade”: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
* “Playtime”: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica
* “The Hawk Is Dying”: 7 and 10 p.m. Saturday
Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood
Info: (323) 466-3456, americancinematheque.com
Also
Polish Film Festival: www.polishfilmla.org
Silver Lake Film Festival: www.silverlakefilmfestival.org
Celebration of Iranian Cinema: www.cinema.ucla.edu
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