PATTON OSWALT will be @ SKYLIGHT BOOKS TONIGHT! 1.18.

That's right, folks! PATTON OSWALT, one of the greatest stand up comics of all time has written a book, ZOMBIE SPACESHIP WASTELAND, and he'll be at SKYLIGHT BOOKS for a reading and a signing, all in the span of one magical evening! So save the date, or put it in your phone-device, or whatever it is you kids do these days, because you will not want to miss this. Skylight is expecting a huge crowd for this event, so here are a few guidelines to keep things running smoothly: This event is FREE and open to everyone.If you'd like to get something signed, you must buy a copy of Zombie Spaceship Wasteland at SKYLIGHT BOOKS. When you buy your copy, be sure to get your signing line number, which will denote your place in the signing line. You must have a number to get into the signingline. Photos are OK, but due to time constraints, photos in the signing line will be restricted to the lean-in (as opposed to the run-around-the-table-and-pose) variety. It's always a good idea to get here early for events if you want to get a seat, as seating is limited and on a first-come basis. If you can't find street parking right away, and if the lot behind the store is full, you can park in the parking lot of the post office across the street for a $2.00 fee. And always remember, SKYLIGHT BOOKS loves you.


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Theater, Puppetry, Dance and Live Music with Betontanc and Umka.lv: Show Your Face! @ REDCAT Wednesday 1.19.

West Coast premiere!

A virtuosic layering of physical theater, puppetry, dance and live music, this contemporary parable follows Little Branko, a faceless snowsuit transformed by puppeteers into a modern-day Everyman on a dark odyssey through the 20th century. The story takes Little Branko around the world, where he is confronted by other rootless figures—characters either too impetuous or not brave enough to be able to change the world. Show Your Face! is an award-winning collaboration by avant-garde Slovene physical-theater troupe Betontanc, Latvian object-theater masters Umka.lv, and the Slovene pop-electronic group Silence.

January 19, 2011 - January 23, 2011

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Bruce Dern will be @ CINEFAMILY this Saturday 1.15.11.

An Evening With Bruce Dern
Featuring 'The King of Marvin Gardens' & 'Tattoo'

“I've played more psychotics and freaks and dopers than anyone.” -- Bruce Dern

Specializing in villains and heavies, but bringing to them the sensitivity and complexity that makes them truly memorable, Dern has been the premier psychotic-neurotic of the past forty years. First burning his way into our consciousness as the man who shot John Wayne (The Cowboys, 1972), he was quickly typecast in a way that belied his considerable acting skill. His close friend Jack Nicholson called him the best of the new breed of actors to emerge in the 1970s, and the force of his performances truly show the power that a supporting character or villain can have. “Dernsie” is also an inveterate storyteller of Hollywood lore; his fascinating memoir “Things I’ve Said, But Probably Shouldn’t Have” is made up of 88 hours of juicy stream-of-consciousness and interview hours. This Saturday night we look forward to touring through those memories with him, as Cinefamily will showcase clips from his career, and discuss everything: his formative days at the Actors Studio, his gobs of ‘60s TV work, his formative film work at AIP, and his collaborations with some of the great creative film minds (Hitchcock, Rafelson, Ashby)! Our discussion will be followed with a screening of the seminal ‘70s classic (and one of Dern’s best dramatic performances) The King of Marvin Gardens.

The King of Marvin Gardens Dir. Bob Rafelson, 1972, 35mm, 103 min.

Starts @ 7p

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Tonight @ the HAMMER - Tom Morello & Sam Durant in Conversation

Tom Morello is the Grammy Award-winning guitarist of the rock bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, and Street Sweeper Social Club, and a solo project, The Nighwatchman. A widely recognized political activist, Morello co-founded Axis of Justice, an organization whose purpose is to bring together musicians, music fans, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice.

Sam Durant is a multimedia artist whose work engages a variety of social, political, and cultural issues, while often referencing American history. Durant has exhibited widely in the U.S. and internationally, and teaches art at the California Institute of the Arts.

ALL HAMMER PUBLIC PROGRAMS ARE FREE. Tickets are required, and are available at the Billy Wilder Theater Box Office one hour prior to start time. Limit one ticket per person on a first come, first served basis. Hammer members receive priority seating, subject to availability. Reservations not accepted, RSVPs not required.

Starts @ 7p

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Tonight @ CINEFAMILY - The L.A. Premiere of DOGTOOTH

Combining the gripping, unpredictable tension of a prime Polanski thriller, the perfectly-executed production design of a Wes Anderson contraption and the dangerous freaky-deakiness of a David Lynch nightmare, Dogtooth is easily one of the most unique filmic creations of the last few years, spinning forth from the dark imagination of new Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos. Topping critics’ lists as one of the best films of 2010, Cinefamily is proud to bring a full week-long of one of the coolest films you’ll see in 2011!

On par with Antichrist and Enter The Void for sheer audacity, this hyper-stylized, intoxicating mixture of physical violence and verbal comedy is the story of three teenagers perpetually confined to their parents’ isolated country estate, and kept under strict rule and regimen -- an inscrutable scenario suggesting a warped experiment in social conditioning. Terrorized into submission by their father, the children spend their days devising their own games and learning an invented vocabulary (a salt shaker is a “telephone,” an armchair is “the sea”) — until a trusted outsider brought in to satisfy the son’s libidinal urges starts offering forbidden VHS tapes(!) as a key to the outside world.

Fully utilizing every last inch of onscreen space, Lanthimos paints the blackest of portraits here using austere, antiseptic visuals, and elicits total warped commitment from his entire cast, resulting in an indelible immersive experience into a claustrophobic emotional netherworld never before seen.

Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos, 2009, 35mm, 94 min.

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Trailer - Dogtooth from Tour de Force on Vimeo.

FILM - The Visual Language of Herbert Matter will be screening for FREE @ LACMA on 1.8.11

Herbert Matter was a man who seemingly fit many lives into one by excelling in the creative disciplines of design, photography and film. The documentary The Visual Language of Herbert Matter profiles his extraordinary life and seminal work.

With the help of historical footage, vintage photographs, never-before-seen film excerpts (some shot by Matter himself) and a broad overview of his extensive body of work, the feature length documentary helps in bringing the picture of an almost forgotten creative genius back into focus.

Interwoven with interviews from a who's who list of legendary artists, designer and photographers, the film sheds light on a remarkable career and its impact on the evolving language of design during the short 20th century both in the USA and Europe.

For the first time in an encompassing and comprehensive way, the film touches on the innovative expressions of his free experimental work, his fashion and advertising photography and his portraiture. His amazing talent of combining bold combination's of words, images and space is shown in his iconic Swiss travel posters, pavilion designs for the New York World's Fair 1939, photographs for Condé Nast publications; corporate image programs for Knoll furniture, the New Haven Railroad, exhibition- and numerous catalog designs for the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum; Matter's photography was instrumental in disseminating the designs of Charles and Ray Eames, covers for the legendary Arts & Architecture magazine and his lesser known work in film, the prime example being a film on the works of Alexander Calder.

The documentary is produced by independent Swiss production company PiXiU films, directed by award-winning filmmaker Reto Caduff (who will be on hand to discuss the film) and presented with a unique approach of visual storytelling: beginning with Matter’s childhood in the Swiss alps, to his training in Paris with legends such as A.M. Cassandre, Fernand Léger, and Le Corbusier, leading back to Zurich and the groundbreaking photomontage in his legendary Swiss travel posters - followed by his subsequent move to the United States.

FREE - Bing Theater | No Reservations
Saturday, Jan 8, 2p

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Matter Teaser from Herbert Matter on Vimeo.