By Susan JAMES Merry Christmas, kids, Santa Claus has left you an expensively wrapped piece of movie coal under the Christmas tree. It features a wicked witch, angry giants and singing children. It looks like a kids’ movie. Trust me, it isn’t. Director Rob Marshall’s grandiose imagining of the Stephen Sondheim musical featuring four of […]
By Susan JAMES “When I was 17,” said costume designer Luke Reichle, “I stopped eating for two months. The image and idea of me as fat stayed with me.” Now a style icon, online personality (secretsoftheredcarpet.com) and award-winning costume designer for ABC’s hit series “Castle,” Reichle has decided to use his experience and his philosophy […]
By Susan JAMES Fox Studios’ long-running television drama “Bones,” now in its 10th season, will reach a milestone tonight, Dec. 11, that few shows ever achieve: It will air its 200th episode, “The 200th in the 10th.” Soon to become the longest-running show in Fox history (with its 206th episode), “The 200th in the 10th” […]
By Susan JAMES Looking for a fabulous and unusual Christmas present for that sister who posts screen catches of costumes from “Revenge” on her Pinterest website or that friend who never misses an episode of “The Mindy Project?” Relax, shoppers, your search is over. The Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing (919 S. Grand Ave.) […]
By Susan JAMES What is a showrunner, you ask? If you are on Facebook or Twitter you already know that the showrunner is the person in charge of your favorite TV show – the one you send nasty tweets to if you don’t like the direction the show is going. Irish writer-director Des Doyle has […]
By Susan JAMES Together with zombies, the nation of vampires has been a rich vein of source material for moviemakers. Some journeys into the world of pointy teeth and arterial blood spatter have been memorable – Frank Langella’s tormented immortal and George Hamilton’s comic riff on bloodsuckers. “Dracula Untold” does not rise to this level. […]
By Susan JAMES Disney’s love affair with India (last seen in ‘The Million Dollar Arm’) is on display once more in director Lasse Hallstrom’s succulent foodie adventure, ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’. Adapted from the book by Richard C. Morais, the film makes shopping for tomatoes in an open air market and mushroom hunting in a mountain […]
By Susan JAMES The eighth annual exhibition of television costume design at the L.A. Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing – FIDM – opened on July 22 and runs (free to the public) through Sept. 20. Over 100 costumes from 20 television shows are featured representing 98 current and past Emmy-nominated costume designers. As usual […]
By Susan JAMES Writer-director Mike Ott, his co-writer Atsuko Okatsuka, and leading man Roberto Sanchez sat down to talk about their new film, “Lake Los Angeles,” which premiered this month at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The story is of Cecilia, a young illegal immigrant abandoned at a drop house just over the California-Mexico border. […]
By Susan JAMES With her new work, “My Name Is Salt,” Indian filmmaker Farida Pacha used the documentary format to create a masterwork of minimalist storytelling. Thought provoking and visually stunning, with cinematography by Lutz Konermann, this official selection of the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival reaches beyond its sumptuous images to mine the […]