{"id":669685,"date":"2026-03-20T18:14:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/669685\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T18:14:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:14:20","slug":"moving-on-from-the-oscars-plus-the-best-movies-in-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/669685\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving on from the Oscars, 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

This was a very busy week. Of course, the Academy Awards<\/a> were last Sunday, with Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d winning six awards, including best picture, Ryan Coogler\u2019s \u201cSinners\u201d winning four and Guillermo del Toro\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d winning three.<\/p>\n

The Academy Museum is in the midst of screening a handful of the winners in the David Geffen Theater. Tonight \u201cSinners\u201d<\/a> will play in 70mm. On Saturday there will be a singalong screening of \u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d<\/a> which won two awards, along with a 70mm screening of \u201cOne Battle After Another.\u201d<\/a> On Sunday there will be a screening of \u201cWeapons,\u201d<\/a> which snagged a supporting actress prize for Amy Madigan<\/a> and her instantly iconic character of Aunt Gladys.<\/p>\n

I have just returned from the South by Southwest Film and TV Festival, where I attended the raucous premiere<\/a> of Boots Riley\u2019s \u201cI Love Boosters\u201d and also saw a talk with Steven Spielberg<\/a> where he professed his belief that \u201cwe are not alone\u201d and that alien lifeforms have visited Earth.<\/p>\n

\"Dakota <\/p>\n

Dakota Fanning in Joe Swanberg\u2019s \u201cThe Sun Never Sets,\u201d filmed in Alaska.<\/p>\n

(SXSW)<\/p>\n

I spoke to Joe Swanberg, Jake Johnson and Dakota Fanning \u2014 in what may be a career-best performance \u2014 about their absolutely winning collaboration on the Alaska-set romantic dramedy \u201cThe Sun Never Sets.\u201d<\/a> And real-life couples Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick and Katie Aselton and Mark Duplass talked about the experience of making a movie with their real-life children<\/a> on, respectively, \u201cFamily Movie\u201d and \u201cTheir Town.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent, you don\u2019t really get to watch your kids navigating their way in the world as adults,\u201d Sedgwick said. \u201cSo having a window into that and also to be like, \u2018Phew, they\u2019re such good people,\u2019 it was just such a gift. Because it could have been, \u2018Geez, they\u2019re a nightmare.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bud Cort\u2019s \u2018Ted & Venus\u2019 \"Bud <\/p>\n

Bud Cort in 1991\u2019s \u201cTed & Venus,\u201d which he starred in, co-wrote and directed.<\/p>\n

(Hollywood Entertainment)<\/p>\n

On Tuesday at Whammy Analog Media<\/a>, Hollywood Entertainment and 7th House will present an evening in tribute to Bud Cort, the actor best known for \u201cHarold and Maude\u201d and \u201cBrewster McCloud\u201d who died in February at age 77<\/a>. There will be a showing of 1991\u2019s \u201cTed & Venus,\u201d<\/a> the only feature directed by Cort, as well as the 2016 short \u201cAffections,\u201d his final screen appearance. \u201cAffections\u201d director and star Bridey Elliott will be there to introduce the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cTed & Venus\u201d<\/a> stars Cort as a Venice Beach poet who becomes obsessed by a woman (Kim Adams) he sees on the beach. As his romantic pursuit of her becomes increasingly unhinged, the film develops a deeply off-kilter energy \u2014 honestly, it would not have been out of place at this year\u2019s SXSW. It also features appearances by James Brolin, Gena Rowlands, Carol Kane, Cassandra Peterson and Timothy Leary.<\/p>\n

\"Gena <\/p>\n

Gena Rowlands and Bud Cort during production on \u201cTed & Venus.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Hollywood Entertainment)<\/p>\n

When Cort died, Elliott posted a heartfelt tribute<\/a>, so I reached out for a few memories of her friend. The two met in 2011 when Elliott was a production assistant in New York City on an Adult Swim series Cort made an appearance on as an actor and struck up a friendship. When she later moved to L.A., he took her under his wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with him on my short was wonderful,\u201d Elliott said via email. \u201cI barely recall actually directing Bud, honestly, it was more about observing him at his craft. He was always teaching me a lot about art-making, even while putzing around his house. He would be rattling off amazing stories and life lessons about acting and film. \u2026 He was really generous with process and effort, even for someone directing their first short. When we screened the film, he called me \u2018a demented Audrey Hepburn.\u2019 I was delighted by that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Elliott referred to Cort as \u201ca true seeker,\u201d and when asked what she would want people to know about him, she responded, \u201c[H]ow special Bud\u2019s heart was. He was super supportive of the people in his life, talking everyone\u2019s brilliance up. He planted a deep sense of belief in me at a time when I really needed it, and I\u2019ve come to realize he did that for so many others too. Since his passing, we\u2019ve all found ourselves sharing these stories, recognizing his impact. Bud lived by the philosophy at the heart of \u2018Harold and Maude,\u2019 and in his departure, left it with everyone whose life he touched.\u201d<\/p>\n

Points of interest<\/p>\n

\u2018Network\u2019 and \u2018True Confessions\u2019 in 35mm<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Faye <\/p>\n

Faye Dunaway watches William Holden, right, and Robert Duvall have a discussion in a still from the film \u201cNetwork,\u201d directed by Sidney Lumet, 1976. <\/p>\n

(MGM Studios \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

On Sunday the American Cinematheque<\/a> at the Egyptian Theatre will have a 50th anniversary screening of Sidney Lumet\u2019s 1976 film \u201cNetwork\u201d<\/a> in 35mm as part of their ongoing tribute to Robert Duvall.<\/p>\n

Written by Paddy Chayefsky, the film is a scathing takedown of the conflation of news and entertainment in television that has only become more prescient and relevant over the years.<\/p>\n

The film stars William Holden and Faye Dunaway as executives at a struggling television network, with Duvall as their boss. When their news anchor (Peter Finch) has a nervous breakdown on the air, suddenly their ratings turn around, bringing on a moral morass only some of them are prepared to face.<\/p>\n

In a review at the time, Charles Champlin wrote, \u201cChayefsky does not bite the hand that fed him when he was one of the then-young medium\u2019s best dramatists, he rips it off at the shoulder. It has been a long while since a movie attacked anything as savagely (and knowingly) as Chayefsky attacks television. \u2026 But his jeremiad is not only about the misuses and degradations of the medium and its powers, it is also about the all-pervading, life-changing, soul-crippling, reality distorting influence of television even when (presumably) it is noble and swell.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cinematheque will be showing another Duvall film, 1981\u2019s \u201cTrue Confessions,\u201d <\/a>on Monday at the Los Feliz Theatre<\/a> in 35mm. Directed by Ulu Grosbard from a screenplay by John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion, the film stars Duvall and Robert De Niro as brothers, one a cop and the other a priest, caught up in the corruption, power and scandal of 1940s Los Angeles in a story that touches on the notorious \u201cBlack Dahlia\u201d murder case.<\/p>\n

Reviewing the film, Sheila Benson wrote, \u201c\u2018True Confessions\u2019 is as engrossing, as rich in detail and as fascinating a portrait of corruption and ethnicity as we have had from an American director in years. \u2026 For those who savor performances of the greatest intelligence, understatement and elegance, \u2018True Confessions\u2019 is a glossary of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Groove\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

\"An <\/p>\n

An image from Greg Harrison\u2019s \u201cGroove,\u201d 2000.<\/p>\n

(Vidiots)<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Vidiots <\/a>will have the world premiere of a new restoration of Greg Harrison\u2019s 2000 film \u201cGroove,\u201d<\/a> a fun-loving time capsule of millennial San Francisco rave culture in which characters converge on an all-night warehouse dance party. (In typical Vidiots fashion, the screening will be followed by a dance party.)<\/p>\n

In his original review<\/a>, John Anderson compared the film to \u201cAmerican Graffiti,\u201d \u201cAnimal House\u201d and \u201cDazed and Confused\u201d for the way it uses music to evoke its time and place. \u201cHarrison gives us a glimpse into a subculture that thrives on an intrinsic underground-ness, but it\u2019s only a glimpse. There\u2019s not enough sustained musical momentum to simulate the energy of an actual rave; the characters are likable but unremarkable. The most resonant aspect of \u2018Groove\u2019 is the paradox of pop-music movements: how transient they are as well as critically important, at least when it\u2019s your first time around.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other news<\/p>\n

\u2018Project Hail Mary\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Ryan <\/p>\n

Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace in \u201cProject Hail Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Jonathan Olley \/ Amazon MGM Studios)<\/p>\n

The week\u2019s biggest new release is \u201cProject Hail Mary,\u201d<\/a> Phil Lord and Chris Miller\u2019s adaptation of Andy Weir\u2019s novel from a screenplay by Drew Goddard. Ryan Gosling stars as a middle-school science teacher named Ryland Grace who is chosen to be launched into space in hopes of reversing the sun\u2019s dimming. Along the way he meets and befriends an alien creature he comes to call \u201cRocky.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her review, Amy Nicholson wrote<\/a>, \u201cSilly but not sappy, \u2018Project Hail Mary\u2019 doesn\u2019t gin up much suspense over whether anything bad will happen. This crowd-pleaser simply wouldn\u2019t dare. So much of science fiction is about humanity bringing our problems \u2014 class, capitalism, pollution \u2014 with us into outer space. Weir\u2019s trick is that he knows that two astronauts is a crowd. A solo explorer can only fight his circumstances, not his co-pilot. \u2026 An aspiring blockbuster this grand must have calculated that despite the moral and emotional exhaustion of our own timeline, people yearn to root for this kind of hero: a flexible, generous, empathetic and sensitive man rather than a strong one.\u201d<\/p>\n