This is the Weekend to Watch "The Thing"

If you've been wanting to go back and watch various versions of the classic horror story, The Thing, then this is your lucky weekend. There are two, count em, two! screenings of The Thing: the 1982 John Carpenter version at the Egyptian on Friday, and the 1951 Christian Nyby version at LACMA on Saturday.

Both films follow a team on an air base fighting off an alien in the Arctic. And both will leave you with a craving for horror. So go to one and have a blast, or go to both and compare and contrast. I really didn't mean for that to rhyme and for me to sound like some morning radio jockey. My apologies. But you should attend, nonetheless.

The Thing (1982) 109 min - Egyptian Theatre Friday, July 15, 7:30 PM, general admission: $11
(preceded by The Fly in a thrillingly creepy double-feature, combined 209 min)
6712 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028

The Thing (1951) 89 min - LACMA (Bing Theatre) Saturday, July 16, 2:00 PM, general admission: $5, LACMA members: free
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles California 90036

Sullivan Travels to LACMA

Preston Sturges' funny, and surprisingly heartwarming screwball comedy Sullivan's Travels is playing at LACMA this Friday, July, 15 at 7:30 PM. The movie follows Sullivan (Joel McCrea), a disenchanted Hollywood director decides to leave light comedies behind for something more substantial. His new project: O Brother Where Art Thou?. (Yes, the Coen Brothers are big Sturges fans.) Sullivan decides to hit the road and live like a hobo in Depression-era America, and along comes Veronica Lake as his insanely beautiful companion. As if a newsboy cap and some ratty clothes could ever hide that stunning face...


Tickets are $10 general admission, $7 for seniors, students with ID, and museum members in the Bing Theatre 7/15 at LACMA (5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90036).

Rear Window Screening at LACMA. Let's get artsy!

I know I am prone to exaggeration, but when it comes to Rear Window, I refuse to believe that anything I say will be over-the-top. If you haven't seen this film, then you've probably seen some kind of parody of rip-off: "Bart of Darkness" (The Simpsons), Disturbia. That's all I can think of right now, but give me a break.

Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 movie Rear Window is on the outside a thriller about a wheelchair-bound photographer and his gorgeous girlfriend becoming entranced by his view into the neighbor's windows, but Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly play these parts with bravado. The view from Stewart's window becomes a screen that allows him to sit in the darkness and quietly observe the tenants from the comfort of his seat, looking through the lens of his camera like we see through the filmmaker's lens.

I won't tell you how it ends, but you'll want to be at LACMA tomorrow (7/12) at 1:00 PM to find out. And guess what? Admission is only $2! Only $1 for senior citizens, who I don't think read my blog, but if you do then pull out a crisp dollar bill from your grandson's birthday card and tell him to suck it, cause you've got a date with Hitchcock.

LACMA: 5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90036