Tag Archives: Film Festival

TCMFF 2023: It’s Time to Light the Lights!

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It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights. It’s time to head to Hollywood for TCM Film Fest! Yes, it really is that time of year again; when we gather with friends in Hollywood to watch a bunch of excellent films and hang out with the people we talk to every day of the year in the group chat. I cannot wait to see my pals; it’s what I live for. Yet it would not be travel without ordeal, and due to some recent stress/panic at home (and a planned security strike at Heathrow — a different hub to my airline but will be concluding the weekend I am due to travel, so it may still affect), the excitement has not fully kicked in for me quite yet. Fingers crossed, all will be good, and as always, the adrenaline rush will kick in once I’m through airport security and seated on the plane.

I have other fun things planned aside from movies while I am in LA, of which details are here, and I will also be blogging here and in greater depth in my newsletter (please subscribe and follow!). I said and failed to do this last year, my bad. In my defence, I was having too much fun. But first — TCM Fest! Will I stick to these films? Who knows! Do I believe in a festival schedule? Hardly. But anyway, here are my tentative TCMFF picks.

Thursday 13 April

The opening night starts gearing up in the afternoon when the red-carpet preparations commence and the first film of the fest approaches. So far, I have no plans for the day, but I guess the afternoon will be spent hanging out at the Roosevelt watching the red carpet set up, possibly followed by lurking on Hollywood Boulevard and watching some of the red carpet in action. So, the usual.

After an early dinner, I will either walk up to the beautiful Hollywood Legion Theatre to kick off the festival with Airport or stay at the Roosevelt for the poolside screening of Hairspray. I think both films are perfect for festivities to begin — raucous, hilarious, and will play great with a crowd. After skipping last year’s notorious Blue Hawaii screening (lol), I feel a poolside screening would be perfect, so it’s dependent on the day’s mood. I’ll then end the day with new-to-me Genevieve which I think most friends will be at too!

Friday 14 April

This is where it gets pretty frenetic, which I love. If I’m not too tired in the morning, I’ll head to The Old Maid, but I’ll likely skip the first block of films and start my day with Footlight Parade at noon. 

It all gets very tricky in the afternoon, and is dependent on whether I choose to base my day around watching American Graffiti with Candy Clark in attendance at the TCL IMAX. American Graffiti is one of my very favourite films — I have watched it countless times. So I can clock up another viewing and head to Ball of Fire afterwards, OR I can change it up by watching new-to-me The Strawberry Blonde in the early afternoon block followed by the poolside screening of very fun-looking new-to-me Beach Party. 

Obviously I will need some coffee and food at some point, and the latter option will grant me time for dinner and breaks before heading to the midnight screening of The Batwoman, which I will not be missing on any account! I love the midnights, and I’ll base my day on whatever grants me enough energy to power through and stay awake until 2am. 

Saturday 15 April

There have been times when if I had attended a midnight screening I would sleep in and miss the 9am films, but no way am I missing The Muppets Take Manhattan (my second favourite Muppet film or my favourite non-Christmas Muppet film, depending on the way you look at it) with Brian Henson in attendance.

In the lunchtime slot, I will be watching Tuesday Weld in the movie adaptation of Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays. I love the book, so this is a definite one for me, and I plan to follow with Russ Tamblyn in conversation at Club TCM. These talks are always interesting and often hilarious, and where else will I get the opportunity for such a discussion?

As for the early to the late evening, I’ll either hang around Club TCM and stay for the Assisting the Classics discussion, or I’ll be at The Crimson Canary, which I had never even heard of before! Another option is to go with the flow (as per usual) and see what friends are doing in the lead-up to Xandadu at midnight. I have never seen Xandau in a theatrical environment, and this will be an excellent screening as we are all hopelessly devoted to Olivia Newton-John (RIP).

Sunday 16 April

As soon as you get in the flow, it’s over. As usual, a chunk of the schedule is TBA, and at this point, I’m only set on new-to-me No Man of Her Own in the early afternoon block. All About Eve would be a fabulous way to spend the afternoon, and I have never seen A Shot in the Dark (which is playing in the evening), but, again, it depends on the TBAs.

One thing is for sure: I’ll be seeing you at the Closing Night Party at The Hollywood Roosevelt, but we know the real fun comes after. See you at In-N-Out Burger! 

The LA Diaries 2019 ​#3: The Night Before

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The day before the festival is always fun; the sense of anticipation in the air palpable. Everybody is excited, happy, energized for what lies ahead. We start seeing each other on Hollywood Boulevard as we walk between The Roosevelt and bites of lunch or dinner, as we stroll between hotels or to pick up supplies that take us through four days of solid movies. Time becomes irrelevant.

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And then the day before becomes the night before, which always kicks off in style. The combination of the historic hotel, classic movies and the City is an intoxicating combination, on this night more than any other. So, I don my glitter heels, and I have a great time before it all gets crazy, before the movies start and before everybody is tired or on their way home. Because this is the night we have looked waited for since we arrived home from the previous year’s events. And when the party ends at the Roosevelt, we head to Boardners until 1am. The night becomes the early morning. TCMFF has begun.

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Bee’s Hollywood – Part 4: An Afternoon in Burbank

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My early arrival in Hollywood really allowed me to savour the pre-festival excitement that hits at the beginning of festival week. It also allowed me to do something I had not done before: greet my out-of-town friends. As they started to trickle into town on Monday and Tuesday, plans started taking shape over texts, tweets, DMs and PMs for pre-festival adventures, dinners, and get-togethers.

Arriving into town the weekend before the festival also allowed me to attend Kimberly Truhler‘s marvellous fashion and film lecture (an event I would usually miss due to travel!) and a spend a sunny Burbank afternoon vintage clothes shopping with the lovely Danny and Aubrey. (We also met some sweet cats).

 

In a serendipitous occurrence, we ran into Beth and Karie. Following a quick drink and bite to eat, we popped into the fantastic Besame store to peruse and purchase a few items from their wonderful Agent Carter Collection, making our way to the Women’s Club of Hollywood en masse in time for Kim’s lecture.

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Then it was onto The Women’s Club of Hollywood for a fabulous evening of fashion and film. It’s an incredible historical venue around the corner from The Roosevelt, and so under-represented that long-term L.A. natives — even those on historical committees —were not even aware of it’s existence. We all gasped after being told it was once The Hollywood School For Girls attended by Ginger Rogers! Now, it’s a lovely hall space and fantastic venue that needs to be seen to be believed.  Check out it’s history and more details via the link above.

When the night was over it was over to The Roosevelt for the first time this trip and to meet up with my bestie Ms Marya Gates and the TCM/Filmstruck gang. It may not have officially started, but TCMFF was well and truly underway.

 

 

 

Bee’s Hollywood – Part 3: What on earth…?

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For the price of thirty dollars you can gain entry to three of the most touristy places on Hollywood Boulevard: The Hollywood Wax Museum, Ripley’s Believe Ir Or Not, and The Guinness Book of World Records. I used to live a stone’s throw from the Ripley’s in London, and for three years never set foot inside. But when in Hollywood…

This may seem like an exaggeration, but the Wax Museum was once of the creepiest places I have ever visited. It started well—a pretty good section of horror figures (see above photos) greeted me—and went a little askew from there. I turned the corner and found myself staring at figures I recognised but only in an extremely vague sense—it was like they had travelled to a parallel universe and had melted a little from the planetary change in temperature. “That’s supposed to be…..???” was a sentence I kept exclaiming, and not always under my breath. I did that a lot during my visit, which was brief as the place is pretty small. Regardless, it is a truly bizarre, fun experience, and I recommend a visit just to prove I am not exaggerating.

The Guinness Book of records was fun but a quick buffer before the more vibrant Ripley’s. My pick of the three, you will find yourself navigating a series of rooms alternating in themes that take you on a journey from old Hollywood via occult trinkets and back again. The first space homes slabs from the original Chinese Theatre, Hitchcock’s Director’s Guild Medal (and a bronze death mask), samples of Mary Astor’s hair (hair or wig?), and framed newspaper cuttings, one being news of Mae West’s death.

I enjoyed the transition into the next room downstairs, which is a treat of magick and the occult. The items on display include Gerarld Gardner’s magician’s club, an ‘authentic’ vampire killing kit, an alter, and a porcelain phrenology head (exactly like the one residing on my desk).

The museum gains a bittersweet note as you weave your way through, culminating in the Marilyn Monroe Room. Her clothing, strewn make-up case and bikini do little to downplay her sex symbol status. “Marilyn’s Sexy Sleepwear” is not the ideal display card and does little to push past the glossy veneer of a person constantly striving to be seen for herself rather than the dizzy blonde characters she often portrayed on screen.

However, I was entranced by one particular item: the belted cardigan she wore in George Barris’ famous 1962 Santa Monica beach shoot. It captivates in a room of frippery and glamour where the visitor is still encouraged to view Monroe as a commodity.

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This is emphasised when you glance the Monroe dresser that was owned by Anna Nicole Smith, the attached note emphasising the younger, but no less tragic, woman’s money value rather than her career.

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I made my way out via a tribal themed room of ritualistic items, it stuck me how Ripley’s is the perfect metaphor for Hollywood: glamorous yet seedy, beautiful but tragic, dark and dangerous, yet captivating and magical. Some people will say both are crazy and bizarre. I left hypnotised.

(ps. I measured myself going in. Yes, I’m still short).

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Bee’s Hollywood – Part 2: Batman ’66

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If a museum was built to house the contents of my working my mind, it would be not unlike the Hollywood Museum. Situated at North Highland Avenue in the old Max Factor building, the three level treasure trove is vast, winding, and appeals to all of my sensibilities. Mae West’s shoes, Hedda Hopper’s notebook, and Maila Nurmi’s gloves appear alongside costumes from Mad Men and sci-fi regalia, while four thematically lighted dressing rooms on the ground floor reveal whether you are best suited as a ‘blonde’, ‘brown’, ‘brunette’ or ‘red’. It’s a feast of a venue and essential to visit, as you will always find something new to discover. However this visit was all about the Bat.

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I first heard about the Batman ’66 retrospective a few months ago, but assumed the exhibition would end a few weeks prior to my visit. Image my surprise as I walked into the lobby to be met with a poster announcing it was still on—I  literally punched the air with glee. Based on the TV series which ran from 1966-1968 and starring Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman, the show spawned a wonderful, often quoted film (and countless accompanying memes). Joyous, camp, and innuendo laden, it’s a far cry from the moody, troubled, tortured Batman of recent years and I defy anyone not to be delighted by the feature length film and it’s memorable moments of West battling a (very fake looking) rubber shark or rope ‘climbing’ up a building with Burt Ward’s Dick Grayson/Robin in tow. West’s death in 2017 was a huge loss, but the popularity of the exhibition—which had been extended by two months due to overwhelming demand—is credit to legacy.

While gadgets, gismos, photographs, scripts, props and additional paraphernalia filled cabinets and display cases, I couldn’t get enough of the costume cabinet. As a Catwoman obsessive, seeing all the various iterations of Lee Meriweather, Eartha Kitt, and Lee Julie Newmar was an purr-fest (sorry!) treat.

And, of course, a certain car…

If you follow me on social media, you will surely know how much I am obsessed with all of the Batmobiles, with the ’66 version being a personal favourite, I couldn’t resist having a sly flirt with the car as I consumed her with my eyes until other attendees wandered in with similar intentions. (Although I strongly maintain she loved me the most).

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I must have spent at least an hour in that room, wandering in concentric circles and ensuring that I had taken in each and every word of descriptions. Fandom has changed a lot in recent years, and can be a toxic place—especially for women—but there was none of that here amongst the vibrant colours and the “POW” and “WHAM” captions littered about the place. I soaked in as much as I could before moving on to explore the rest of the museum, a sly glance back across my shoulder, and taking one final lingering look as I waved goodbye to the gang on my way out.

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Bee’s Hollywood – Part 1

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In April I grabbed my copy of Eve Babitz’s Eve’s Hollywood and made my annual visit (my third in as many years) to Hollywood for TCMFF for my favourite time of year. I live for this trip: so many of my favourite people in one place, fantastic movies, a great city… I always have fun but the good times were exceptional this year — a combination of staying in Los Angeles for almost three weeks, hanging out with friends, visiting exhibitions, and having more adventures. I may have seen fewer movies this year (including none on the festival’s last day, more of that to follow ) but I had a damn good time. I also caught the closing of Noir Fest (a dream!) and was witness to the Avengers: Infinity War premiere in all its exciting madness. Closed roads, the Boulevard shut down to traffic, chaos and crowds. So grand was the scale it only slightly trailed the was equivalent of the Academy Awards…and no, I was too short to see a thing. But what a joy to witness. And, in many ways, it set the tone of things to come…(Alas, I did not have the opportunity to find James Dean at the Griffin Observatory…maybe next year…)