Mama Mia 2! Here we go again, Review: ABBAsolutely delightful--See that film, enjoy the scenes Co-incidences and flashbacks galore dot the story of Mama Mia 2! Here We Go Again, a sure-fire recipé for disaster in so many films. Not here, though. Here, they are never one too many. And linking them all are some delightful songs and dances, in a 114 minute long ode to bittersweet things called life and love. A jukebox romantic comedy it is, but so well executed and integrated that it almo...

Book Club, Review: Life begins at sexty With a combined age of 563 and an average age of 70.4, there’s no way these eight fuddy-duddies are going to do a Fifty Shades of Grey. Well, they did set out to go along that road, but never mind—how about ‘hundred hues of shocking pink’? Just for the record, Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2015 American erotic drama film, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, with a screenplay by Kelly Marcel. It was banned in India, for its explicit sex s...

Siraj Syed reviews Passengers: Window seat at the journey of a life-time They’ve got it right. Not perfect, but right. Mind-boggling special effects and a mind-toggling emotional narrative. It’s an elusive, coveted recipé, and for once, somebody nailed it. Use state-of-the-art VFX, but blend them with an equally compelling story-line, sometimes shaken, sometimes stirred, and then pray you hit bull’s eye. Passengers is a journey that starts in outer space, but gets you...

SPOTLIGHT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS   The American Cinematheque Presents Jazz on Film, By Adrienne Papp   The American Cinematheque Presents… By Adrienne Papp  Jazz On Film Sponsored by Sony Legacy Recordings and Amoeba Music Thur., August 20 – Sun., August 23, 2015   Aer...

By Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent   That Sidney Lumet acted when he was a child is not surprising, but that his gut-driven hard-nose for stories included giving a first job in scoring to someone like Quincy Jones who given up on film music, is surprising. Lumet's off-camera gift was that he could recognize someone's talent often before they knew it themselves. During LAFF's "Remembering Sidney Lumet" tribute hosted by Los Angeles Times' film guru K...