{"id":653298,"date":"2026-03-13T18:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/653298\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T18:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:54:19","slug":"how-to-treat-your-oscars-hangover-plus-the-best-movies-in-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/653298\/","title":{"rendered":"How to treat your Oscars hangover, plus the best movies in L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello! I\u2019m Mark Olsen<\/a>. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.<\/p>\n

As we head into the weekend of the Oscars, I am coming to you from Austin, Texas, where I have decamped to for the SXSW Film & TV Festival. I always feel so energized by this festival, with its mix of comedies, action films and real discoveries. It\u2019s a perfect way to shake off the Oscars hangover and move on to some fresh titles.<\/p>\n

Last night, things kicked off with the premieres of \u201cI Love Boosters\u201d on the film side and \u201cMargo\u2019s Got Money Troubles\u201d for TV. Other titles premiering in the next few days include \u201cReady or Not 2: Here I Come,\u201d \u201cMike & Nick & Nick & Alice,\u201d \u201cOver Your Dead Body\u201d and \u201cThey Will Kill You.\u201d The dysfunctional family comedy \u201cSeekers of Infinite Love\u201d marks the biggest movie role yet for \u201cHacks\u201d breakout star Hannah Einbinder.<\/p>\n

\"Three <\/p>\n

From left, Naomie Ackie, Taylour Paige and Keke Palmer in the movie \u201cI Love Boosters.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Neon)<\/p>\n

As part of my festival preview, I compiled a list of eight titles to watch out for<\/a>, including three from the narrative competition, which, from what I have seen, is the strongest in a few years. SXSW veteran Joe Swanberg returns this year with his 10th film to premiere at the festival, \u201cThe Sun Never Sets,\u201d which features a revelatory performance by Dakota Fanning.<\/p>\n

And for those looking for guidance with last-minute Oscar predictions<\/a>, The Times\u2019 Glenn Whipp has you covered. He\u2019s picking \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d to win best picture, while noting that \u201cSinners\u201d might emerge as the winner. The two films will slug it out all night long, as dedicated Oscar-watchers tally wins as the event goes on.<\/p>\n

Amy Nicholson drops her own list<\/a> of who among the nominees should win, while also picking some films she thinks should have been included in the nominations. (Imagine a world in which \u201cEddington\u201d<\/a> competed for best picture.)<\/p>\n

\u2018The English Patient\u2019 in 35mm \"Two <\/p>\n

Kristin Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes in the movie \u201cThe English Patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Phil Bray \/ Miramax Films)<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Academy Museum<\/a> will show 1996\u2019s romantic drama \u201cThe English Patient\u201d<\/a> in 35mm in the David Geffen Theater. The film won nine Academy Awards, including best picture, and the screening will be introduced by late director Anthony Minghella<\/a>\u2019s two children, academy governor Hannah Minghella and actor and filmmaker Max Minghella, recently of HBO\u2019s \u201cIndustry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though we now think of the movie as something of an iron-clad classic, our coverage of its big night at the Oscars<\/a> had a slightly different tone, referring to the film as \u201ca sweeping World War II romance whose struggle to get made came to symbolize the hurdles independent filmmakers endure in Hollywood.\u201d <\/p>\n

In his original review<\/a>, Kenneth Turan noted, \u201cFinally it comes down to writer-director Minghella, whose modest debut film, \u2018Truly, Madly, Deeply,\u2019 didn\u2019t hint at the command of dreamlike mood and atmosphere on a large scale he demonstrates here. Though it may sound excessive at 2 hours and 42 minutes, \u2018The English Patient\u2019 captivates as only the grandest and most consuming passions can. The heart is an organ of fire indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?\u2019 4K restoration \"Two <\/p>\n

Michael Emil and Karen Black in the movie \u201cCan She Bake a Cherry Pie?\u201d<\/p>\n

(Hope Runs High)<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the American Cinematheque<\/a> at the Los Feliz Theater will have the L.A. premiere of the 4K restoration of Henry Jaglom\u2019s 1983 \u201cCan She Bake a Cherry Pie?\u201d<\/a> The restoration first played at last year\u2019s New York Film Festival.<\/p>\n

Set in New York City\u2019s Upper West Side, the story follows recently divorced Eli (played by Jaglom\u2019s real-life brother Michael Emil) as he becomes involved with an aspiring singer named Zee (Karen Black), recently abandoned by her husband. With a freewheeling energy and great location work around the city, the movie feels like a real snapshot of a time and place. Larry David and Orson Welles both have small roles as well.<\/p>\n

In a review from December 1983, Kevin Thomas wrote, \u201cThe freshness of \u2018Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?\u2019 lies not in its insights into contemporary romance, which are familiar enough, but in Jaglom\u2019s breezy approach and in his acceptance that cruelty, as deplorable as it is, is at times inevitably as much a part of emotional relationships as kindness. From Karen Black, who can seem alternately gorgeous and bedraggled, joyous and defeated, Jaglom has gotten one of her finest portrayals and surely her best comic performance. As for the warm and funny, unhandsome yet attractive Emil, he makes middle age seem not such a bad proposition after all.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a January 1984 Times interview from his home near the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, Jaglom described \u201cCherry Pie\u201d as \u201ca film for those who want to see a movie about people.\u201d He went on to say, \u201cThis town is full of people complaining that they\u2019re not doing the work they want. Me, I make exactly the films I want. I see myself as representing Off-Hollywood, if you like, someone making movies for the same people who would go see an Off-Broadway play. I shoot them inexpensively and they make money. Really, I\u2019m very fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Points of interest<\/p>\n

\u2018Slap Shot\u2019 in 35mm<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n

Paul Newman in the movie \u201cSlap Shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Universal Pictures)<\/p>\n

Screening tonight at the American Cinematheque<\/a> at the Aero in 35mm is George Roy Hill\u2019s 1977 \u201cSlap Shot,\u201d<\/a> which stars Paul Newman as a pro hockey player at the end of career trying to squeeze out one last championship season with a misfit minor league team. With a screenplay by Nancy Dowd, who would win an Oscar for \u201cComing Home\u201d (and who also wrote \u201cLadies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains\u201d under a pseudonym), this movie is an unlikely gem, smart and funny and sharp. Seeing it with an audience would be an absolute blast.<\/p>\n

I was surprised to discover that the film was a point of controversy on its initial release, with both a review from Kevin Thomas and a critic at large piece by Charles Champlin chastising the billowing plumes of profanity in the film\u2019s dialogue. Hill wrote an essay for The Times defending the film and Dowd gave an extensive interview as well.<\/p>\n

Defending the movie from charges of exploitation, Dowd said, \u201cIt makes me mad that people try to second-guess us now, and because the film stands to have some kind of commercial success, to say that it was calculated exploitation picture. How you can take a 52-year-old star paying a hockey player, a studio opposing a picture, a first-time screenwriter with a screenplay full of obscenities writing about a minor league sport, a cast of unknowns and nonfactors, shot on location, on ice, and call that a sure-fire exploitation picture, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Director Hill compared the critics\u2019 reactions to that of an easily offended character in the movie: \u201cIf they haven\u2019t gotten the joke by this time, they probably never will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Jackass<\/b> Number Two\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Johnny Knoxville in the movie \u201cJackass Number Two.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Paramount Pictures)<\/p>\n

Tonight Vidiots screens 2006\u2019s \u201cJackass Number Two\u201d<\/a> with star Johnny Knoxville in person. Among the more notable stunts this time are Knoxville riding a giant rocket, Bam Margera trapped in a trailer with a cobra and a finale musical number. And in a sign of how the \u201cJackass\u201d movies were breaking to wider (and increasingly unlikely) audiences, John Waters makes a cameo. <\/p>\n

Reviewing the film for the Chicago Tribune, Jessica Reaves wrote at the time, \u201cQuite honestly, I don\u2019t know what to say about \u2018Jackass Number Two.\u2019 What is there to say, after all, about a 95-minute foray into feces, intestinal gas, horse semen and a beer funnel inserted into a body cavity that\u2019s quite obviously not someone\u2019s mouth. \u2026 Knoxville and his crew operate with knowing smirks on their faces, which makes them both more annoying and less susceptible to critics who might question their intelligence, human decency or both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our own Joshua Rothkopf reviewed the movie<\/a> back in the day at Time Out New York, kicking off with this lede: \u201cCall it distasteful, crude, the lowest form of culture-coarsening trash. Or, in the thoughtful words of a critic sitting beside me at the screening: \u2018Oh no no no no bad idea BAD IDEA that\u2019s no no no no please no stop no what a stupid thing you\u2019re doing to yourself no no no no no nooooooo!!!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hello! I\u2019m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":653299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[42125,42126,1582,276,7652,42127,2882,42128,42129,21183,2961,224,2444,5337,42124,3196,6166,2433,637,103],"class_list":["post-653298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-angelina-jolie","tag-barry-jenkins","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-david","tag-dead","tag-drama","tag-evil","tag-good-work","tag-killing","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-lovers","tag-movie","tag-series","tag-short-film","tag-times","tag-world"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116223388578220723","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}