David

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

I have been writing this newsletter, most weeks, for more than 10 years now. I wouldn’t even want to do the math on how many of them that would be, or just how many movies I have written about. That count is about to come to a close as this is the last one.

Don’t worry: I will still be covering the world-class scene of moviegoing in Los Angeles as well as writing about a broad swath of films and filmmakers, just finding new ways to go about it.

When this newsletter began, it was a catch-all for movie coverage and related events from The Times and eventually settled into a curated survey of the best new releases each week. We helped figure out what you should go see. As theaters reopened following the closures forced by the pandemic, the repertory scene in Los Angeles exploded, with new audiences turning out for old movies in astonishing numbers.

We followed their lead, flipping the focus of the newsletter to the rep scene while still keeping an eye on new releases. Venues around the city had a newly revived energy to match audiences’ enthusiasm. The Academy Museum opened with two gold-standard theaters, while the American Cinematheque expanded the number of screens it programs. (Just recently, it added the historic Village Theater in Westwood.) The Vista began bringing first-run films in 35mm and 70mm, along with classic movies. Vidiots opened in Eagle Rock, helping to redraw the map of L.A.’s movie-loving community.

The David Geffen Theater at the Academy Museum seats a thousand and is often fully attended.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

The city has also seen the rise of itinerant pop-up series such as Mezzanine, Acropolis Cinema and Hollywood Entertainment pulling off must-see events. Smaller venues such as Now Instant Image Hall, 2220 Arts + Archives, Eastwood Performing Arts Center, Brain Dead Studios and the Philosophical Research Society have made a home to all kinds of movies. The Laemmle and Landmark chains have continue to play traditional arthouse releases and international films, while the Frida and Gardena theaters bring great movies to the South Bay.

Entities such as Revival Hub and MovieTown do a vital job of collating extensive listings info. (We will also continue to give monthly overviews of the best movies to see.) This is simply an incredible time for going to the movies in Los Angeles, arguably the best ever.

My main takeaway from the experience of working on this newsletter is confirmation of my belief in the movies themselves and the community of people around them. I was recently at a sold-out screening of Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran” and the idea of sitting with nearly a thousand other people watching a Japanese movie from the 1980s, each connecting to the events on screen in their own way, was deeply inspiring.

Among my favorite recent developments is how many venues now name the show’s projectionists as part of a screening’s introduction, which is always met with an enthusiastic round of applause. It is a reminder that what this is really about is people, dedicated to something we love.

And since this isn’t really a goodbye, it seems fitting to turn to the movies once again, as another week demonstrates why the scene here in Los Angeles is so truly special.

A tribute to Sam Neill

Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman on the set of 1989’s “Dead Calm.”

(Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

Anyone looking for an example of just how intimate the screening scene in Los Angeles can be should make their way to the New Beverly Cinema on July 24. The theater already had a three-night double-bill of Rob Reiner’s “Misery” and Phillip Noyce’s 1989 thriller “Dead Calm” booked when news broke last weekend that actor Sam Neill had died at age 78.

The New Bev quickly announced that it would make one of those screenings into a tribute to Neill, who co-stars in “Dead Calm.” Director Noyce, along with co-star Billy Zane and filmmaker Roger Donaldson (who worked with Neill on 1977’s “Sleeping Dogs”) will all be there to celebrate their friend and colleague.

“Dead Calm” is a tight thriller set within the confines of a small sailing boat. Reviewing the movie when it was first released in 1989, Sheila Benson wrote, “Neill is probably one of the screen’s most underrated actors … ‘Dead Calm’ was probably far and away his nastiest assignment physically, yet his presence, sexuality and all, is absolutely vital to the balance of the story.”

Remembering the actor as part of a rundown of his greatest performances, Glen Whipp described Neill in “Dead Calm” as “part Cary Grant, part MacGyver.”

Two by Ross McElwee

Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee in his 1986 movie “Sherman’s March.”

(Music Box Films)

Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee helped to reinvent the form with his 1986 film “Sherman’s March,” which comes with the explanatory subtitle of “A Meditation on the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation.”

Ostensibly a film about Union General William Tecumsah Sherman’s campaign of destruction during the Civil War, the movie actually ends up being about McElwee revisiting old girlfriends and forging a few new ones along the way, reflecting on his own campaign of romantic misadventure. As charming as it is revelatory, the movie is being rereleased in a new 4K restoration.

McElwee’s latest film, “Remake,” reflects on the death of his son Adrian and whether the director himself had a detrimental effect on the boy’s life. Reviewing “Remake,” Tim Grierson calls it “especially revealing — both in terms of the glimpses we get of this father-son relationship and of unsolved mysteries that linger just outside the frame.”

A weekend with Robert Rodriguez

Quentin Tarantino, George Clooney and Salma Hayek in the horror movie “From Dusk Till Dawn.”

(Academy Museum)

The Academy Museum will present “A Weekend with Robert Rodriguez” to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “From Dusk Till Dawn” and the 25th anniversary of “Spy Kids.” It speaks to Rodriguez’s undersung range as a filmmaker that one movie is a bawdy, gory comedy about a criminals on the run who encounter an ancient den of vampires, while the other is a family-friendly tale of two siblings who discover their parents are secret agents and must rescue them from a supervillain.

Rodriguez will not only be present to talk about both movies, he will be performing music each day with a different band.

Reviewing “From Dusk Till Dawn,” which was scripted by Quentin Tarantino, Jack Matthews said it was “a film nerd’s fever dream, a Frankenstein’s monster of used movie parts, deliberately mismatched styles, and deliriously implausible characters.”

Elaine May’s secret success

Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange in the movie “Tootsie.”

(Everett Collection / Columbia Pictures)

One of the most exciting things about the ongoing revival of L.A.’s repertory scene is the upheaval of the notion of the “canon.” What are the most lauded movies of all time and who gets to do the lauding? Case in point is the now widely accepted coronation of Elaine May as a towering creative figure, no longer relegated to being merely a fringe character unfairly saddled with the commercial failure of “Ishtar.”

May is credited as director on only four feature films, though she’s an uncredited writer on a number of other projects, perhaps most notably 1982’s comedy “Tootsie,” starring Dustin Hoffman as a struggling New York City actor who finds success when he lands a part by secretly posing as a woman. Directed by Sydney Pollack, who also makes a tremendous turn as Hoffman’s agent, the movie will be playing at Vidiots on Saturday.

Finding new moves

Wiley Wiggins and Patrick Riester in the movie “Computer Chess.”

(Kino Lorber)

The very first thing I ever wrote under the banner of Indie Focus was about how independent filmmakers such as Andrew Bujalski and Alex Ross Perry were working on 35mm at a time when mainstream Hollywood was very much forcing the idea of shooting on digital. So it only seems appropriate that this final edition of the newsletter should include something on Bujalksi, who has long been one of my favorite contemporary American filmmakers.

“Computer Chess,” Bujalski’s oddball experiment in using antiquated video equipment to tell a heady, offbeat story about a weekend chess tournament in the early ’80s, will screen in a 35mm print at Brain Dead Studios on July 24, presented by Mezzanine. Bujalski will be present, along with Blair Barnes, a filmmaker who will be showing the L.A. premiere of his short “sitrep,” also shot on an analog-era tube camera.

New this week

Matt Damon and Zendaya in the movie “The Odyssey.”

(Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures)

Sure to be one of the biggest movies of the year, Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey” opens today. Los Angeles audiences have multiple venues to choose from that are showing the film in Nolan’s preferred Imax 70mm format — these theaters are among only a small number across the world that are doing this. Presenting a movie in Imax 70mm isn’t the easiest endeavor. Eloise Rollins-Fife has a report on how that’s actually done. Get your epic on.

Reviewing the movie, Amy Nicholson wrote, “Nolan refuses to tremble before the canon. Grabbing mighty scissors, he cuts and rejiggers Homer and a bit of Virgil to transform these classical texts into his type of tale: one fixated on memory, self-identity, destructive genius and the slippage of time. As ever, it’s light on sex, heavy on wine-dark angst.”

Kenneth Turan spoke to Nolan about the movie’s origins, saying, “I’ve been telling this story in all my films for years. It’s a family story, a love story, a revenge story, a war story, a coming-of-age story. It’s a very strong foundational text for me.”

NORTHRIDGE — Of course David Duke did not come dressed in sheets. Of course he did not burn crosses on the Cal State Northridge campus. They’re always more clever than that. He wore a dark suit, a bright red tie and his best winning smile. He quoted Shakespeare and recited many of the same gentle, if disingenuous, arguments for ending affirmative action put forward by proponents of Proposition 209.

It was about “fairness,” Duke said. Preferences were by definition a form of discrimination, and discrimination in any form is deplorable. Public safety demands that merit be the only qualification in hiring police officers and firefighters. The debt of history has been paid; it’s time to move forward.

David Duke, in fact, looked and sounded not at all unlike the patron of Prop. 209, Gov. Pete Wilson–with one notable exception. Duke himself was more than eager to point it out. “Wilson,” he said with contempt, “and most of the so-called Republican establishment are afraid to even use the word ‘white people.’ ” They cloak their arguments in what he called “fine words.” They talk around the heart of the matter.

And that’s when the sheets came on.

*

Duke has been reading my mail, it occurred to me as the debate heated up. He has tapped into my telephone service. As he made his own bent case against affirmative action, I closed my eyes and could hear echoes of the many angry letters and answering machine soliloquies I receive from white men who have found in Prop. 209 a vehicle for their frustration.

“What’s wrong,” they ask bluntly, if often anonymously, “with white people sticking up for white people?”

They speak of being “fed up,” of things simply having gone “too far” in the realm of race relations. Almost invariably, they link Prop. 209 to the O.J. Simpson verdict, as if the jury represented the end game of affirmative action. They wrap in immigration–to them another sign of the decline of the American ideal–and lament the “political correctness” they believe has muzzled them.

Duke came to Northridge decidedly unmuzzled. He brought a warning for “white people.” They were becoming “second-class citizens” in, as he put it, their own country: “You have a right to have your children live in a nation that reflects the values of their forefathers, not become more like Mexico, or Haiti, or Zimbabwe. . . . That is where we are headed, and that is what affirmative action is all about.”

At this bilge, most of the students began to hiss. Duke seemed undaunted. He was not speaking to the students. He was speaking to the television cameras. He was speaking to all those anonymous correspondents and callers out there who believe that “white people” are the ones getting the raw deal in America these days. He was reminding them that this is what Prop. 209 really “is all about.” In his view. In their view.

*

Now, the invitation of Duke was a source of great controversy. Wilson and Ward Connerly, chairman of the Prop. 209 campaign, saw it as a political setup, an attempt to lay a guilt-trip-by-association on those who would support Prop. 209. Their opponents no doubt worked to exploit Duke’s appearance, to make wobblers on the issue ask the question: If Duke is for this thing, then why am I?

It’s possible, however, that as a strategy, Duke’s presence could prove to have been too clever. Surely a portion of Prop. 209 supporters has bought honestly into the argument that affirmative action has outlived its purpose, that it has become unnecessarily divisive. Duke’s appearance could only inflame this constituency: Nobody wants to be accused of keeping company with bigots.

At the same time, Duke, without question, does represent the views of those who would eliminate affirmative action to strike a blow for “white people.” How many of these are there? It can’t be said. These are not people who open their hearts to pollsters. They can, however, vote–and their votes will count the same as everybody else. And, Duke’s appearance also worked to rally and reinforce this part of the Prop. 209 base, to quell any confusion that might be created by those soft, pro-Prop. 209 commercials about Martin Luther King and civil rights and all that.

Still, it wasn’t a total loss for the opposition. Perhaps the strongest argument against the initiative is that it simply is too early to abandon the struggle for civil rights, that now is not the time to start dismantling the few, flimsy ladders America has managed to stretch across the racial divide. The demons of racism might be on the run, but the exorcism is hardly complete. A point David Duke, by his mere presence, made abundantly clear.

It is a question that has been repeatedly asked.

Not least at the various reunions to mark Leeds‘ title triumph in 1992 or Blackburn Rovers’ Premier League win three years later.

Batty was involved in both of those landmark achievements, but ex-Blackburn midfielder Mark Atkins has not caught up with him since their playing days.

“We have tried to get him to the dos we have had, but nobody can get hold of him,” he said.

“He’s not that type of person. Even if he was living five miles away, he wouldn’t turn up because he’s a very personal guy, really.”

Aside from a rare trip to Elland Road to lay a wreath on the pitch in memory of his close friend Gary Speed, following his tragic death in 2011, Batty has tended to keep out of the public eye.

Viduka, who quietly opened a cafe in Croatia after hanging up his boots, can relate.

“In this day and age, everyone shows off everything they do in every moment, like what they had for breakfast,” he said. “Who cares?

“If anyone was not going to be like that, it was Batts.”

Rather than entertaining corporate guests, representing footballers or working in the media, Batty always planned to dedicate his time solely to his family in Yorkshire after retiring.

It has only added to the cult surrounding a player who former Leeds team-mate Eirik Bakke called one of his “heroes”.

“If someone tackled you, Batts was always there to stand up for you,” he said. “You don’t find those types of players a lot. You could always rely on him.”

Batty was more than a mere enforcer, however.

As well as standing his ground, and aggressively winning the ball back, the England international rarely gave away possession.

Those qualities quickly struck ex-Leeds midfielder John Sheridan, who was Batty’s “mentor” in his early days at the club.

“You would think butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth when you looked at him then,” he said.

“But he was tough as nails. He made the game look very simple by doing the simple things easily.”

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

One of the big discoveries for me at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was the erotic thriller “Night Nurse,” which opens in theaters this week. A remarkably confident feature debut from writer-director Georgia Bernstein, the film is hypnotic and entrancing, with a powerfully sustained sense of mood and menace. Brought to life by two assured lead performances, the story is about a young woman (Cemre Paksoy) who takes a job as an attendant at a senior living community and is assigned to help a man (Bruce McKenzie) who quickly ensnares her into an ongoing phone scam in which he swindles other residents.

Taking cues from the likes of Catherine Breillat and David Cronenberg, there are moments where you start to feel turned on and then feel weird about feeling turned on. It’s delightful stuff, full of the unexpected and unnerving, with shifting power dynamics that destabilize everything. See it with someone you maybe aren’t so sure about.

‘Hudson Hawk’ will have its day

Andie MacDowell and Bruce Willis in the 1991 movie “Hudson Hawk.”

(Columbia TriStar / Getty Images)

Its name has become synonymous with box office bomb, with tales of an out-of-control production leading to terrible reviews and rejection by audiences. Yet 1991’s “Hudson Hawk” is one of those movies that over the years has seen its reputation slowly turn around and is now en route to becoming a cult classic in the vein of “Ishtar” or “Showgirls.”

On Monday at Brain Dead Studios there will be a 35th anniversary screening of the film in 35mm with director Michael Lehmann and co-writer Daniel Waters in-person. Presented by Hollywood Entertainment, the evening could be ground zero for the next stage of the misbegotten movie’s revival.

The movie is a playful buddy-comedy / caper-heist hybrid, starring Bruce Willis as the title character, a master thief newly released from prison who reteams with his old partner (Danny Aiello) as they are drawn into a convoluted conspiracy involving the CIA, a villainous ultra-rich couple (played with maniacal, scene-stealing glee by Richard E. Grant and Sandra Bernhard) and ancient designs by Leonardo da Vinci. Upending action movie conventions, “Hudson Hawk” is simply a fun hang.

On a recent video call together, there is a certain gallows humor shared by Lehmann and Waters over the film, which at the time threatened to derail both of their careers. Waters was already working on the script for Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns” by the time the movie came out, while Lehmann admits he spent some time in director jail — “I was in director federal penitentiary and death row for a while,” he says — before going on to direct films such as “Airheads” and “The Truth About Cats and Dogs.”

“You can’t escape a big failure in Hollywood,” he adds. “You have to be good-natured about the fact that you’ve made something that so many people hated when it came out, but that you feel still has some value — quite a bit of value, I think. And that eventually people would start noticing that.”

The project began as an idea between Willis and his friend Robert Kraft that snowballed into having action super-producer Joel Silver attached and a screenplay draft by “Die Hard” writer Steven E. De Souza. Eventually Lehmann became involved to direct and he helped bring on Waters, the two having worked together on the hit black comedy “Heathers.” (Waters had also worked with Silver on “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane.”) The reunited writer-director team set about subverting what began as a more conventional action movie.

“My intention was to turn that kind of movie on its head,” says Lehmann. “I thought people have seen these things so many times, they must be ready to see the truly odd version of it.”

“In the Olympics you can’t just go up and make any dive,” says Waters. “You tell the judges what dive you’re going to do and then they grade you. And ‘Hudson Hawk,’ we never told the judges what dive we were doing. I think people got angry: Wait a minute, you didn’t give us a Bruce Willis action movie.”

Leading up to the film’s release, there were reports of a shoot hijacked by a star whose ego was getting the better of him as he rode the wave of the success of the first two “Die Hard” movies. Lehmann admits the clash of personalities made for a complicated shoot.

“Of course, when you’re hired by Bruce Willis and Joel Silver to do what is essentially a vanity project of Bruce’s, you’re not going to have the kind of control that you have when you make a piece of personal filmmaking,” says Lehmann. “But it was really difficult to deal with somebody who, in theory, was one of my bosses as producer on the film and a big star, which is always a thousand-pound gorilla.”

Author David Hughes recently published “The Unmaking of Hudson Hawk,” a book on the film’s production, reception and afterlife. Calling from England, Hughes thinks the critical reappraisal and resuscitation of the movie has gained a bit of momentum — and is in danger of slipping.

“I feel like any day there’s going to be a headline that says, ‘Nope, despite what you’ve heard, “Hudson Hawk” is still s—.’ The pendulum is about to swing back the other way and people are going to start saying that it’s bad again. And when that happens, I think that will be the most perfect life cycle of the film.”

But for now two of the key people behind making the film in the first place want to enjoy a moment they have rarely been allowed.

“People are finally laughing with the movie, not at the movie,” says Waters.

Celebrating a fallen friend

Harry Dean Stanton, photographed in Los Angeles in 2013.

(Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP)

To celebrate the centennial of the birth of the beloved character actor Harry Dean Stanton, Vidiots will screen the 2013 documentary “Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction” on Tuesday. Director Sophie Huber will be joined in conversation by actor Logan Sparks for an evening hosted by Cherry Jones.

The film is a tender portrait of Stanton, who found relative fame later in life with roles in films such as “Alien,” “Paris, Texas,” “Repo Man” and “Pretty in Pink.”

“He makes it look really easy,” said Stanton’s friend and frequent collaborator David Lynch around the time of Stanton’s death in 2017. “But it’s not that easy to be looking like it’s easy.”

A flaky love story

Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel in the 1971 movie “Minnie and Moskowitz.”

(Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

One of my most memorable moviegoing experiences of the last few years was seeing John Cassavetes’ 1971 “Minnie and Moskowitz” for the first time. The movie has a joyful, unpredictable energy thanks to the openhearted, dynamic performances of its two leads, Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel, as two mismatched strangers who find temporary solace in each other. Romantic, funny and with lots of great L.A. locations and moments — I often think of a perilous U-turn across La Brea by Cassel — this is a singular gem.

It was just announced that a new restoration of the film will premiere later this year at the Venice Film Festival, but there is no reason to wait. The movie is showing tonight at the Philosophical Research Society as part of its “YesterdayLA” series celebrating the city. On Saturday there will also be a rare theatrical screening of 1972’s “Columbo: Étude In Black,” starring Cassavetes as an L.A. symphony conductor who may have committed the perfect crime until he catches the attention of Peter Falk’s rumpled detective.

On the road again

Maribel Verdú, left, Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal in the movie “Y Tu Mamá También.”

(Criterion Collection)

Playing as part of the American Cinematheque’s “Summer Breakdown” series, which, true to its name, features movies about car trouble, Alfonso Cuarón’s 2001 “Y Tu Mamá También” is showing tonight and tomorrow at the Los Feliz Theater in 35mm.

It stars Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna as two teenage best friends who set off on a road trip with an alluring older woman (Maribel Verdú) they don’t know particularly well. Emotions fly fast and furious among all three of them, as the film seems at times like a horndog teen comedy and at others like a subtle exploration of class and sexual dynamics. Of course, it is all of those things, made with a fresh sense of style.

As Kenneth Turan put it in his 2002 review, “Nominally a simple road movie about two Mexican teenagers taking off to look for a mythical beach in the company of a suddenly available woman of 28, ‘Y Tu Mamá’ manages to be comic, dramatic, erotic, sociological and even political, all without breaking a sweat.”

New this week

• Amy Nicholson calls the new movie “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” a “screwball joy … a sex comedy that’s as innocent as a Labrador puppy.”
• Less positively, Amy reviewed the live-action adaptation of “Moana,” noting “Every one of Disney’s remakes and spinoffs of its animated hits has been a naked cash grab.”
• The new “Evil Dead Burn” is brutal and not much else, per our reviewer Joshua Rothkopf: “The gore comes like a tide, shockingly for a mainstream studio wide release.”

Ricky Gervais today marked the 25th anniversary of the hit BBC sitcom with a countdown of his favourite 25 David Brent moments.

Ricky Gervais has crowned David Brent’s dance his favourite moment of The Office – but admitted it could have left him needing hospital treatment.

The co-creator of the show, along with Stephen Merchant, has marked the 25th anniversary of the hit BBC sitcom with a countdown of his favourite 25 David Brent moments.

In a specially curated retrospective on his YouTube channel Gervais had a training role play scene, Brent’s song Freelove Freeway and the dance by Brent as his top three.

Speaking about the crazy dance and how the scene was made, Gervais revealed: “It probably is the most famous single thing I’ve ever done, and when we had to do that, that’s three takes cut together, the first time they laughed, the second time I laughed, and then the third one we got to the end, and and then just cut it together in the edit using people looking like bewildered, but it sort of looked like one take.

“I sort of knew the type of thing I was gonna do. It’s totally improvised, obviously. I quite like the fact that it looked nearly real. Some of them looked a bit like dance moves, and I can’t believe how low I got when I did the crab, I couldn’t do that now.”

And anymore takes might have been dangerous. He added: “I remember after I filmed it, I was sat in a corner on a chair and they were fanning me.

“I was, I think I was the blobbiest I’ve ever been. I think I was like 14 stone, no muscles to speak of, just a blob, and you know, there was a small chance of heart failure.

“So, I think people were genuinely worried the way I was breathing afterwards. Tom Cruise jumps off buildings. Do I want to do a little dance? I’ll have go. It would f***ing kill me now. I’m glad I recorded it to show I did it once.”

The Gervais special is not the only celebration of the show, as the BBC also aired a programme called Remember… The Office.

On the second show Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook reflected on their time on the TV show. The pair spoke about how some of the scenes features small bits of improvisation which helped make them even more magical.

Freeman said: “The writing on it that they did was brilliant. But you only need to know us a little bit or know the process of it. We’re also in there, you know? It doesn’t mean it’s a co-credit. Doesn’t mean it’s improvised, but it’s nicely loose.”

Freeman, who played Tim, also said he had a good feeling about the show from the beginning.

He explained: “At the read-through, I remember thinking, ‘This script is really good, it’s brilliant’.”Despite huge success The Office was just two series long along with several Christmas specials. It inspired the award-winning US version, which ran for nine ­seasons

* The full countdown of David Brent moments is available to watch on Ricky Gervais’ YouTube channel.

The BBC has confirmed that David Mitchell’s comedy-drama Ludwig will return for a third series, even before its eagerly awaited second season premieres

The BBC has announced that David Mitchell’s popular comedy-drama Ludwig will be back for a third series.

Even before its highly anticipated second season launches later this year. The detective programme, which is ideal for fans of Death In Paradise, has become the broadcaster’s most successful scripted show since 2024, leading executives to commission another run for both BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Made by Big Talk Studios, in partnership with That Mitchell and Webb Company, the series is also a co-production with Germany’s ZDF. The programme’s first series proved an enormous ratings triumph, becoming the BBC’s most successful comedy debut since at least 2018, reports the Express.

Its initial run drew 9.5 million viewers within its first 28 days, while the opening episode has steadily grown its audience, achieving an impressive 11.8 million viewers in total.

Created and penned by Mark Brotherhood, the six-part mystery features David Mitchell as the unconventional puzzle-enthusiast detective Ludwig, with Anna Maxwell Martin portraying Lucy Betts-Taylor, the wife of the missing James Betts-Taylor. Both performers are confirmed to return to their roles when the series comes back.

Expressing his delight at the third series commission, actor David Mitchell told the BBC: “I am delighted that Ludwig will be returning to solve more of Mark Brotherhood’s brilliant mysteries. I can’t wait to get started and have renewed the subscription on my denouement-learning app.”

Meanwhile, Kenton Allen, Executive Producer and CEO of Big Talk Studios, said: “Ludwig has become one of those rare shows that genuinely cuts through – critically, commercially and internationally. We’re hugely grateful to the BBC, ZDF and ITV Studios for the confidence they’ve shown in greenlighting a third season ahead of the launch of series two.”

He went on to say: “What Mark Brotherhood has created is brilliantly original, hugely entertaining and deceptively distinctive in the way it blends smart comedy with a richly satisfying detective engine. At the heart of that success is the remarkable partnership between David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin, brought to life by an exceptional creative team.

“In a crowded global market, for audiences to have embraced Ludwig on this scale feels incredibly special. There’s clearly nothing puzzling about that.”

Jon Petrie, BBC Director of Comedy Commissioning, added: “Ludwig is exactly the kind of smart, distinctive, audience-pleasing show we love at BBC Comedy. Sharp writing, a compelling story, big laughs and, naturally, a generous helping of puzzles. The team at Big Talk have crafted something truly distinctive and much-loved, and we’re excited to see what mysteries Ludwig tackles next.”

Ludwig is produced by Big Talk Studios in collaboration with That Mitchell and Webb Company for the BBC. The third series, comprising six hour-long episodes, will once again be penned by creator Mark Brotherhood, with Chris Foggin returning to helm the show as lead director.

Ludwig series one is currently available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

A SCULPTURE of David Brent has been unveiled – at a Premier Inn in Slough.

The clay creation of Ricky Gervais’ most iconic character marks 25 years since The Office UK first hit British TV screens.

Commissioned by Premier Inn, it is positioned inside its Slough Trading Estate hotel – the exact location of the original exterior shots used for ‘Wernham Hogg’ in the series’ opening credits.

The beloved TV show followed the fortunes of character David Brent from his life as a regional manager in a paper office to life on the road as a travelling salesman.

It was unveiled by Brent impersonator Tim Oliver, who re-enacted the pose as well as some of the character’s signature dance moves, which helped make Berkshire-born writer Gervais internationally famous.

The bust – which took 120 hours to put together and weighs seven kilograms – will be a permanent installation at the site.

OFFICE POLITICS

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A spokesperson for the hotel chain said: “The exact site of the world’s most famous office, Wernham Hogg, is now one of our hotels and so we’re thrilled to unveil this brilliant tribute to mark its place in British comedy history.

“Ricky’s iconic character truly put Slough on the map, and it’s only fitting to honour him with this memorable statue, which we hope will be particularly popular with some of the millions of business travellers who stay with us each year.

“Whilst the building itself is totally transformed – our guests are more likely to be interested in pillows than photocopiers – eagle-eyed fans will certainly spot the similarity in the footprint of the site.”

The hotel company also commissioned research of 2,000 adults which found David Brent’s unforgettable Comic Relief dance topped a list of favourite moments from the show.

It picked up 26 per cent of the vote from Office fans and was followed by Dawn returning to the Christmas party to kiss Tim in the denouement of the festive special (15 per cent).

More than one in 10 (13 per cent), meanwhile, selected Tim’s prank from the very first episode, encasing desk mate and nemesis Gareth’s stapler in lurid yellow jelly.

It emerged 72 per cent of respondents who watched the show consider it a nostalgic snapshot of what working life was like in the early 2000s.

Although 68 per cent are glad they don’t work in an environment like Wernham Hogg – the fictional working home of David Brent.

Elements of working life people believe have changed for the better include flexible working hours (39 per cent), improved office technology (28 per cent) and the business attire (27 per cent).

A fifth (20 per cent) cited an increased focus on wellbeing, and 16 per cent a greater diversity in teams, according to the OnePoll.com figures.

The spokesperson for Premier Inn said: “From tech to business attire, office life has changed drastically in the 25 years since the show aired but what hasn’t changed is the need for business travellers to know what they’re getting with a great night’s sleep in a comfortable room ready to face the day – no matter how embarrassing their boss is.”

The study also saw Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, creators of The Office, named the best comedy writing duo of the 21st century (16 per cent).

They narrowly pipped James Corden and Ruth Jones, writers of Gavin & Stacey (15 per cent), and Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders (12 per cent).

The history of all living things is examined through five key species chosen for the way they move, feed and reproduce and also for their size and intelligence

Chris Packham famously hates so-called “T-shirt” animals – preferring beetles and bugs to the more box-office elephants, lions and tigers.

But for his major new BBC series examining the history of every living creature’s existence, the presenter had to block that prejudice as he looked back over 4 billion years. In Evolution, viewers will see how every plant and animal evolved – differently – from a single celled organism called LUCA.

And in order to explain this effectively, the five episodes focus on the elephant (size), ostrich (reproduction), horse (movement), bat (feeding) and dolphin (intelligence) to show what changes have happened over the millennia until they started to look a bit like the creatures we recognise today.

“TV likes an iconic species, something to put on the T-shirt,” Chris laughs, acknowledging that he doesn’t normally go for these “celebrity” animals which tend to draw in viewers, but go against the grain for Chris. “On Springwatch we’re always keen to champion the underdog, we make films about slugs and snails and flies and all those sorts of things, so we’re trying to build up that idea in people’s minds that everything counts – not just the fluffy birds in the nest, or the cute pine-marten kits. Survival of the cutest has always been an issue.”

“But had we picked, I don’t know, some innocuous little bug, it wouldn’t have looked great,” he laughed. “I’m not a great fan of T-shirt animals, but I am a fan of using them constructively.”

He even admits that filming the series, in different locations around the globe, brought him one of the best moments of his life, when he found himself right in the middle of a pod of dolphins during a break in filming. “It was absolutely extraordinary,” he says. “There were times when the cameraman was doing something and I was still in the water and I could just actually just be there with them.

“I dived down about four metres and I looked down and I had a dolphin right underneath me, under my chest. And I had couple on one side, I mean they never touch you, but they’re close, and a couple on the other side – and then I looked up and they were above me. And I was like in the middle of a pod of dolphins. You can hear them the whole time, they’re constantly clicking. So you can here that that’s that communication going on.

“It was just five minutes or something, it wasn’t a lot of time, but long enough to actually just engage, and realise that this was one of the most remarkable moments in my entire life. To be in that environment with these astonishing animals. I thought ‘blimey, I’m Flipper’.”

The five-part science show, which must be Packham’s most ambitious programme to date, has clear similarities in scope to Sir David Attenborough’s 1979 series Life on Earth, which set out to look at the earliest life forms. “I’d say it was more modern in its narrative structure,” he says thoughtfully. “Also, we’re catering for an audience that we know we need to surprise. We want to feed them short snippets, which are basically entry information into a bigger story, if you like. Those twenty-second things that get people to prick up their ears. And we want people to down the pub and say, ‘do you know what? I just watched this programme and, you won’t believe it, we couldn’t have a head before we had an arse’.

“I don’t think Life on Earth is like that. That felt very 1970s, because that’s when it was made, this just feels like a really modern, cutting-edge version.”

To film the series the BBC team were very careful about where they went in order to limit the carbon footprint. “Ten or 15 years ago, we would have gone to multiple locations to make a series like this,” Chris says. “But I’m pleased to say that each of our programmes was essentially made in one location.”

The elephants in the series opener were filmed in Kenya and the ostriches in South Africa. The horses were in the UK, with three days in France which was reached by train. Then the dolphins were in the Bahamas and the bats were in Borneo.

Chris says his role as presenter on the show, from the team who previously brought us Earth, is to keep the audience enthralled, and showing his own excitement is a big part of that, just as he experienced while watching his hero Attenborough. He particularly remembers a programme made by the veteran broadcaster about birds of paradise, filmed in Papua New Guinea.

“They were my dream birds because they’re mental, they look like space aliens,” he explains. “And I was sat there waiting for it to come on, just thinking, ‘you b****rd, I want to go to Papua, I want to see that.’ But in fact my response to the programme, and a testament to his broadcasting, was that I absolutely loved it because I felt the connection to the birds through his joy.”

Chris found himself caught up in some beautiful moments that will also tug at the audience’s heartstrings, such as when a baby ostrich hatched out of its egg right into his hands. “You’re peering into it, it’s not even in the world yet, and it’s like you’ve had a sneak preview into a life which is going to unfold,” he marvels. “It’s just this little thing moving, and that was really very emotional, that formation of new life.”

Learning new stuff is “the greatest joy” of his job. “I get to work with people who know more about a subject than I do. And their job is to tell me and the team everything they know about it in 30 seconds,” he says. “So my joy is that I attend the University of Zoology every single day that I’m working, and this is updated information, so we’ve constantly gone to the latest science.”

While they don’t skirt away from the technical stuff, like explaining how DNA works, Chris feels it is carefully woven into the narrative. “There’s no dumbing down, but we are conscious constantly of building a narrative which will keep our audience engaged.”

– Evolution, BBC2, Monday 13 July, 9pm

VICTORIA and David Beckham have celebrated 27 years of marriage with sweet tribute posts on their wedding anniversary.

The superstar couple said “I do” in 1999, and have been smitten with each other ever since.

Today, they thrilled fans when they each shared posts to commemorate their long and happy marriage.

Victoria, 52, posted a picture of herself lovingly kissing her husband on the cheek, and penned: “After 27 years of marriage, four amazing children and countless matching outfits, you’re still my *everything*.

“Happy anniversary!! I love you so much.”

While David, 51, shared a slew of pics from their time together, dating back to when they first met.

READ MORE ON THE BECKHAMS

foul play

Brooklyn Beckham takes savage swipe at family in big-money World Cup ad

JANE MOORE

Dear Brooklyn, your ENTIRE mollycoddled existence is based on Brand Beckham

The smitten husband then wrote: “29 years together. 27 years married & you have given me everything I could ever wish for.

“Our proudest achievement will always be our family 🩷 I love you & Happy Anniversary.”

The famous couple said their “I do’s” on July 4, 1999, with their first-born Brooklyn as their ring bearer.

The big day came after the two started dating in 1997 and Becks popped the question the following year.

Posh and Becks sat on golden thrones at the altar and spent all the money needed to have their dream wedding.

According to reports, they splashed out around £500,000, making it one of the most extravagant celebrity weddings.

Along with Brooklyn, the couple also share three more children – Romeo, 23, Cruz, 21, and Harper, 14.

However, their eldest son is currently embroiled in a bitter estrangement with David and Victoria.

In January, Brooklyn made a dozen explosive accusations in a ruthless statement hitting out at his family.

The aspiring chef called out his famous parents for their “inauthenticity”, accused them of making bribes and scolded the family for their treatment of his wife on their wedding day.

In a shock move, he also sent his parents a legal notice warning they can only contact him via lawyers.

In the extraordinary “desist” letter, he also instructed them not to “tag” him on social media.

But in a surprising twist, last month Brooklyn filmed a World Cup advert taking a savage swipe at his family’s estrangement.

It showed the eldest Beckham boy throwing down his match tickets onto the coffee table, which appeared to show a £250,000 designer watch gifted to him by his dad and a stack of unopened letters.

The ad went live on social media after we revealed Brooklyn spurned his sister Harper’s attempt at a reconciliation.

The teenager was pictured delivering a letter to the house Brooklyn shares with his wife Nicola Peltz, 31.

They quickly hit back at the Beckhams, claiming the letter felt like an “orchestrated move by his family” – insisting it “made them feel uncomfortable.”

A spokesman for the couple added: “That photographers were in place as the letter was hand-delivered says it all.

“This was choreographed for the cameras.”

But a source close to the Beckhams called it “another untrue and unfair accusation”.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

July is another month absolutely packed with essential repertory screenings at venues all over Los Angeles. It’s genuinely impossible to attend everything that feels like a must-see. Joshua Rothkopf and I compiled a list of the 10 movies you need to see in L.A. this month to help in making some tough decisions.

On Monday at the Academy Museum will be a 30th anniversary screening of Wes Anderson’s debut feature, “Bottle Rocket,” which introduced the world to his still-evolving mix of whimsy and melancholy with an unmistakably specific sense of style. Anderson will make a rare Los Angeles appearance at the event, along with actor Luke Wilson and producer James L. Brooks.

The New Beverly will have a double bill on July 9 and 10 of Paul Brickman’s “Risky Business” and Steve De Jarnatt’s “Miracle Mile,” two neon-drenched artifacts of the 1980s that both feature scores by the German electronic group Tangerine Dream. (Be sure to also note the screening of “Sorcerer,” featuring another of their pulsing scores, below.)

John Travolta in Brian De Palma’s 1981 thriller “Blow Out.”

(Criterion Collection)

On July 10 there will be a 35mm screening at the Academy Museum of Brian De Palma’s paranoid 1981 thriller “Blow Out,” starring John Travolta as a sound recordist who accidentally captures a political assassination. Anyone who still hasn’t gotten enough from the Fourth of July will want to see this for the thrilling fireworks display as part of its finale.

On July 12 at the American Cinematheque’s Los Feliz Theatre will be a screening of Alexander Mackendrick’s show-biz noir “Sweet Smell of Success” in 35mm with an introduction from filmmaker Shane Black, who presumably learned a thing or two about snappy, acid-drenched dialogue from the film. Black will also be appearing at the Culver Theater on July 22 for a 10th anniversary screening of his crime comedy “The Nice Guys.”

As part of the American Cinematheque’s ongoing 70mm festival, on the 22nd there will be a screening of Damien Chazelle’s 2022 “Babylon,” a bold and ambitious look at the early days of Hollywood starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt. It was a box office disaster when it came out but has already seen a passionate fan base grow around it.

Have a killer holiday

Richard Dreyfuss, left, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw in the 1975 movie “Jaws.”

(Universal Pictures)

There is something rather wholesome about the fact that Steven Spielberg’s 1975 seaside horror-thriller “Jaws” has become the official unofficial movie of the Fourth of July. Set amid a beach community suddenly beset by a great white shark as the town prepares for the holiday, the movie is a mix of ’70s-style ramshackle, good-natured ease and precison-tooled action that prefigures the blockbuster era of the ’80s. Even now at more than 50 years old, there is something undeniable about the movie’s ability to entertain, delight and terrify an audience.

This weekend “Jaws” is playing at venues all over the city, including the Frida Cinema and the Academy Museum, as well as Vidiots, the Gardena Cinema and other theaters.

An underground masterpiece

An image from Ken Jacobs’ 2004 movie “Star Spangled to Death.”

(Los Angeles Filmforum)

When acclaimed avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs died last year at age 92, the world lost one of its most singular voices. In tribute to Jacobs and as a celebration of the 250th anniversary of America, on Sunday at 2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles Filmforum will show his “Star Spangled to Death,” a six-and-a-half-hour masterpiece that took decades to complete.

Beginning work on the project in the 1950s, Jacobs would eventually premiere the film in 2004. It is an epic compilation of his own imagery, some of it of his longtime friend and colleague Jack Smith, along with found footage that coalesces into a grand statement on nothing less than the state of the nation. Jacobs himself described the film as a portrait of “a stolen and dangerously sold-out America, allowing examples of popular culture to self-indict.”

A tribute to Marjane Satrapi

An image from the 2007 movie “Persepolis,” directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud.

(Sony Pictures Classics)

In tribute to Iranian French cartoonist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, who died at age 56 last month, the Los Feliz 3 will have a 35mm screening of her 2007 animated film “Persepolis” on Thursday. Director Ana Lily Amirpour will introduce the movie, which was nominated for an Oscar for animated feature.

Based on Satrapi’s own autobiographical graphic novel, “Persepolis” is about a young girl coming of age during Iran’s Islamic Revolution told with bold line drawings and a belief in the freedom of the imagination.

Love, crime and sweat

Katy O’Brian, left, and Kristen Stewart in the 2024 movie “Love Lies Bleeding.”

(Anna Kooris / A24)

Some movies arrive seeming ready made as cult revival objects. Ross Glass’ 2024 “Love Lies Bleeding” was overlooked when it was first released but seems ripe for rediscovery. In a story that knowingly plays with the motifs of classic film noir and crime dramas, Kristen Stewart plays a hapless, easily manipulated loner in a small dead-end town who falls in with a mysterious and charismatic drifter played by Katy O’Brian. Their chemistry is electric and gives the film a real charge.

The film will show on Thursday at the Frida Cinema as part of its ongoing Nu-Classics series, along with a conversation between actors and online personalities Maggie Mae Fish and Abigail Thorn.

In an interview at the time of release, Glass talked about the film’s appeal, saying, “It’s people meeting each other and falling in love for the first time and those whirlwind sort of first few weeks. Going into it, I don’t think I was specifically thinking of it as horny, but I definitely knew going into it that I wanted it to feel sweaty and intense.”

Road to nowhere

An image from William Friedkin’s 1977 adventure movie “Sorcerer.”

(Criterion Collection)

Though it is a movie we have talked about here before, it is always worth mentioning when there is a screening of William Friedkin’s 1977 “Sorcerer.” It will be playing tonight in the main room at the Academy Museum in a recent 4K restoration, which should be big and loud. The score by Tangerine Dream should be even more brain-rattling than usual in that venue.

The film notoriously first opened a week after “Star Wars” in 1977 and was left in the dust, though it has more recently become revered as one of Friedkin’s best — a movie of relentless, ratcheting tension. An adaptation of the novel that also inspired 1953’s “Wages of Fear,” Friedkin’s film is about a group of desperate men, each on the run from something, who must transport a truckload of nitroglycerine through a dangerous South American jungle.

New this week

• Amy Nicholson found “Minions & Monsters” to be a “delightful dingbat homage to Tinseltown set during the transition from silents to sound.”
• Carlos Aguilar spoke to Minions creator Pierre Coffin about all the old-school movie homages in the new film and its cameo from no less a film figure than George Lucas.
• Katie Walsh reviews Jon Erwin’s “Young Washington,” calling it “propaganda in the form of a history lesson wrapped in a summer blockbuster.”
• Tim Grierson reviews “Romería,” an autobiographical tale from Spanish writer-director Carla Simón starring newcomer Llúcia Garcia, noting “Simón and her star bracingly recall the electricity of youth.”

NEW YORK — David Clayton-Thomas, the lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose husky, high-strung tenor on “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die” and other hits helped make the so-called brass rock band among the most popular acts of the late 1960s, has died at age 84.

Spokesperson Eric Alper said that Clayton-Thomas died peacefully Wednesday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Alper did not cite a specific cause of death.

Clayton-Thomas was a onetime street fighter and petty thief from Canada who briefly became a rock superstar, the front man of a nine-member group that sold millions of records and won two Grammys for “Blood, Sweat & Tears,” which beat out the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” for best album of 1969. Calling out amid a jazzy parade of horns, keyboards and percussion, Clayton-Thomas’ urgent shout was a signature voice of the era, preaching love on the Motown cover “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” a lasting legacy on Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die” and a cool head on his own “Spinning Wheel.” Meanwhile, Blood, Sweat & Tears helped inspire a wave of horn-led bands, among them Chicago, the Electric Flag and Ten Wheel Drive.

“A lot of the guys [in Blood, Sweat & Tears] would play a Broadway show matinee, then go up to Harlem and play Latin music or R&B and funk at night, or come down to the Village and play pure jazz the next night,” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com in 2023. “I was just a blues player: Give me three chords and I’ve got a song.”

At its peak, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ appeal was so broad it helped lead to the band’s downfall.

Hip enough to perform at the 1969 Woodstock festival, where they were among the highest paid acts, they also were known enough to the establishment to tour Eastern Europe the following year on behalf of the State Department. When Clayton-Thomas and other band members denounced the Communist regimes on the other side of the Cold War, Rolling Stone’s David Felton wrote that “the State Department got its money worth.” Counterculture Yippies would turn up at a 1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears show at Madison Square Garden, carrying obscene banners outside and dumping manure by the front gate.

The band had practical reasons for going along with the government: Clayton-Thomas, who had allegedly wielded a gun at his girlfriend, had been denied a green card and faced deportation. But after topping the charts in 1970 with the album “Blood, Sweat & Tears 3,” their appeal soon faded. A burned-out Clayton-Thomas left the group in 1972, and neither he nor the remaining musicians ever regained their old stature. Blood, Sweat & Tears would continue recording over the next few years, and even briefly reunited with Clayton-Thomas, who went on to release more than a dozen solo albums and tour on his own for decades.

Beginning under a licensing agreement reached in 1984, Clayton-Thomas toured as “Blood, Sweat Tears” for 20 years with a revolving roster of bandmates. A 1994 Times review of a show at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano reported that “BS&T’s formula has legs, that its music has withstood the test of time. Indeed, in a world full of today’s pop harmonic minimalism, the sound of trumpets, trombones, guitar and sax backing a singer somehow seems fresh, even if it has been around for so long,” and Clayton-Thomas “still has all the enthusiasm and buzz-saw roughness that gave his voice its distinctive quality way back when.”

In 2005, BS&T re-formed (without Clayton-Thomas, who continued his solo career) and has toured since with various lead singers.

Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996. “Spinning Wheel,” covered by everyone from James Brown to TV star Barbara Eden, was voted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame a decade later.

Born David Henry Thomsett on Sept. 13, 1941, in Kingston upon Thames, near London, and raised near Toronto and Ottawa, he was the son of a Canadian World War II veteran and of a pianist-entertainer who helped inspire her son’s interest in music. Thomsett was lucky to have the chance. He fought violently with his father, was living in the streets by his mid-teens and by age 20 was serving time in a reformatory for vagrancy, assault and other crimes.

An old guitar, left behind by a fellow inmate, changed his life. He taught himself to play and began spending extensive time in the early 1960s around Toronto’s Yonge Street music “strip,” where peers included the American rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins, a mentor to Robbie Robertson and other future members of the Band and a guide for Thomsett early in his career.

Eager to reinvent himself, he changed his last name to Clayton-Thomas while leading his own groups. In the mid-’60s, he released such albums as “Sings Like It Is” and had a hit single with the antiwar rocker “Brainwashed.” He would also befriend a rising star, Joni Mitchell, whose childlike “Circle Game” helped inspire “Spinning Wheel,” and the venerable John Lee Hooker, who would indirectly contribute to Clayton-Thomas’ breakthrough in the U.S.

The band Blood, Sweat & Tears, including David Clayton-Thomas, far right, from the documentary “What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?”

(Sony Music Archives)

Hooker had encouraged Clayton-Thomas to move to New York, where the American bluesman had an engagement at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. When Hooker unexpectedly departed for a tour of Europe, club owner Howard Solomon needed a replacement and recruited Clayton-Thomas.

“So I played him a couple songs on the guitar,” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com. “He said, ‘Do you have a band?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ and went out into Greenwich Village looking for anybody carrying a guitar case or even looking like a musician, and we put together a little band and we opened there that night. We ended up staying there for several months.”

Around the same time, session man-producer Al Kooper was looking to form a jazz-rock group and was joined by such musicians as guitarist Steve Katz, drummer Bobby Colomby and horn players Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss. They called themselves Blood, Sweat & Tears, releasing the debut album “Child Is Father to the Man” early in 1968. Although praised by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner as “a fine, exemplary group,” members were torn between those allied with Kooper and those who thought his vocals too weak to attract a substantial audience.

By the end of the year, Kooper and others had departed, and the band was seeking a new singer. After Judy Collins saw Clayton-Thomas perform, she recommended him to Colomby.

“I got home and just a couple of days later, Bobby Colomby called me up and said, ‘Hey, Kooper’s gone. We got four guys left out of the nine. And we still got a record contract with Columbia. Do you want to come down and try out for the band?’ ” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com. ”I said, ‘You’re damn right.’ I knew [bassist] Jim Fielder real well and I knew they were superb musicians. So I was on the next plane. We had a rehearsal that afternoon, an audition, and it was instant magic. We just knew right off the bat.”

Clayton-Thomas is survived by his daughters, Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham.

Italie writes for the Associated Press.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Two of my favorite movies of the year so far are opening in Los Angeles today and they both benefit from being seen with a proper audience. You will find yourself surprised by what you are laughing at, curious about what other people are laughing at and then feel the air in the room collectively shift as both films take unexpected turns toward more genuine emotional moments.

The third feature directed by Olivia Wilde, “The Invite” is a biting look at modern relationships. Wilde stars as one half of a struggling couple, unhappily married to a character played by Seth Rogen. She invites over a couple from the apartment upstairs, played by Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, and soon all sorts of feelings start flying around.

I reviewed for the paper, noting, “It feels daring for how it wants to actually examine the emotional costs of contemporary grown-up life, bringing wincing laughs of recognition.”

Wilde will be making appearances around L.A. over the weekend, including at the Vista, where the movie is playing in 35mm.

Also opening this weekend is “Maddie’s Secret,” the debut feature as writer-director from comedian and actor John Early, who also stars as the title character, an aspiring L.A. food influencer battling bulimia. It is a truly astonishing performance, one that walks a difficult tightrope between sincerity and parody. Early will appear for Q&As around town this weekend.

I spoke to Early about the film when it played as part of the Los Angeles Festival of Movies about its unusual tone — somehow earnest, tender and very funny all at once. Joshua Rothkopf reviewed the film, which he calls the indie arrival of the year, comparing it to movies by John Waters, Todd Haynes and Douglas Sirk.

Jack meets the maestro

Jack Nicholson in the 1975 movie “The Passenger.”

(Sony Pictures Classics)

One movie I feel obligated to note whenever it plays it Michelangelo Antonioni’s “The Passenger.” Jack Nicholson stars as a disaffected journalist who assumes the identity of a dead man in an attempt to start over, only to find that his new life is even more complicated than his own. It is a powerful examination of middle-aged malaise that has Antonioni’s trademark mystery but, thanks to Nicholson, also has a directness that makes it accessible to wider audiences.

Nicholson made the film in between “Chinatown” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” at the height of his fame in the 1970s, a time when going to Europe and Africa to shoot a movie with an esoteric art-house filmmaker was a huge risk. He would personally purchase the rights to the film in the early 1980s and essentially treated it like owning an art object, very rarely allowing it to be shown publicly. It reentered circulation in 2005 with a rerelease but still has a certain air of rarity around it. The film will be showing at the New Beverly in 35mm on Saturday and Sunday.

Nicholson sat for an extended interview with The Times’ Patrick Goldstein around that 2005 reissue of the film, calling the production “the most vivid filmmaking adventure I’ve ever had.” He described his relationship to Antonioni by saying, “He’s been like a father figure to me. I worked with him because I wanted to be a film director and I thought I could learn from a master. He’s one of the few people I know that I ever really listened to.”

When the Italian filmmaker died in 2007, Nicholson got on the phone with us to say, “I don’t know how to put this: He’s just a maestro, and everybody loved him. … He was a man of joy and impeccable taste. His whole life was dedicated to modestly being a brilliant artist.”

Truffaut’s humanist warmth

Delphine Seyrig and Jean-Pierre Léaud in the movie “Stolen Kisses.”

(Janus Films)

Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” last year didn’t exactly start a renewed wave of interest in the French New Wave of the 1960s, but then again, those movies never really went away. They’ve been inspirational to generations of film fans for more than 60 years now.

But one French director who has perhaps fallen out of favor slightly is François Truffaut. Long seen as one of the quintessential New Wave filmmakers, he has become taken for granted a little of late. Which is why it is exciting to see Brain Dead Studios showing his 1968 film “Stolen Kisses” in 35mm on Sunday.

The third in the series of films Truffaut returned to throughout his career, including his 1959 breakthrough “The 400 Blows,” the film again stars Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine Doinel, Truffaut’s alter ego through the stages of his life. Discharged from the army, Antoine drifts through a series of jobs. His real concern is juggling his busy love life, making the film something of a male-centered rom-com while capturing Truffaut’s warm, humanist worldview.

Rohmer’s caustic cynicism

Jean-Claude Brialy in the 1970 movie “Claire’s Knee.”

(Janus Films)

Conversely, a filmmaker of the French New Wave who has seen his stock rise during the last few years is Eric Rohmer, championed by Noah Baumbach among others. His more caustic view of the world may resonate better with more cynical modern audiences.

The American Cinematheque will begin showing Rohmer’s cycle of “Six Moral Tales” at the Los Feliz Theatre this weekend with a 35mm screening of “My Night at Maud’s” and continuing with other screenings through the end of July. Other films in the series include the sultry, summertime tale “La Collectionneuse,” the ethical dilemma of “Claire’s Knee” and the tale of infidelity “Love in the Afternoon.”

Writing about “Claire’s Knee” in 1971, Charles Champlin noted, “What redeems Rohmer’s films from a defeating sameness is the quite extraordinary charm, believability and complexity of his characters and his meticulous attention to detail and his refusal to go for gross events at the expense of the subtle shadings of human relationships.”

Honestly, if a trip to France isn’t happening for you this summer, this series makes for a not-bad substitute.

Reconsidering ’90s comedy

An image from the 2025 documentary “We Are Pat.”

(The Film Collaborative)

Fresh off its world premiere at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, Ro Haber’s documentary “We Are Pat” will screen at Vidiots on Sunday. Haber will be there along with comedians Julia Sweeney and Harper Steele and, for good measure, Alan Cumming.

“We Are Pat” examines the afterlife of Sweeney’s character from “Saturday Night Live,” a confusingly genderless person who no one can ever quite figure out how to engage with. The way Pat has been picked up by a new generation of genderfluid comedians shows how influence and inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places, and also how comedic ideas can transform over time.

Ali in Africa

Muhammad Ali fights George Foreman in the 1996 documentary “When We Were Kings.”

(Gramercy Pictures)

Released in 1996, “When We Were Kings” depicts the 1974 boxing match in Zaire between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman known as “The Rumble in the Jungle.” Director Leon Gast was unable to complete the film at the time, so the footage languished for years until he got an assist from filmmaker Taylor Hackford in shooting contemporary interviews with the likes of Norman Mailer, George Plimpton and Spike Lee. “When We Were Kings” would go on to win the Academy Award for documentary feature. It will be screening at Vidiots on Saturday.

The core of the movie is watching the thrilling, inspiring footage of Ali training and interacting with the locals. As Kenneth Turan wrote in his original review, “Because a classic heavyweight championship fight, especially with these protagonists, epitomizes the drama inherent in sport, ‘When We Were Kings’ always compels our interest.”

New this week

• Amy Nicholson wasn’t crazy about “Supergirl,” but reserves praise for star Milly Alcock as the “one reason to see the film.”
• Johnny Knoxville and friends are back for another round of stunts and pranks in “Jackass: Best and Last.” Age has finally caught up with them, Amy Nicholson laments.
• It seems a little odd that a movie starring Angelina Jolie, “Couture,” is just sort of sneaking into theaters, but that’s movie business in 2026. We spoke to Jolie at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival about the film.

BROOKLYN Beckham has taken yet another swipe at his parents David and Victoria.

After missing out on seeing his dad getting honoured with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and failing to publicly acknowledge his family on Father’s Day, Brooklyn has shared a gushing post about his wife.

The famous family have been feuding for more than a year, with Brooklyn even issuing a brutal social media rant where he said he has no wish to reconcile with his parents.

Despite the rift, David mentioned his kids in his speech at his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, and also shared a heartfelt tribute with snaps of Brooklyn on Father’s Day, which reportedly left him “furious”.

But Brooklyn is in his own bubble with wife Nicola Peltz, and has now gushed how he “gets to do life” with her in yet another backhanded swipe directed at his family.

Taking to Instagram to mark a milestone with his wife, Brooklyn shared a smiley black and white photo of them and wrote a heartfelt caption.

FRIEND’S FAITH

Brooklyn Beckham WILL heal rift with David & Victoria, claims pal

ACTING UP

David & Victoria’s verdict on Romeo’s new role & insiders’ scathing Brooklyn dig

“6 years ago I asked my best friend to marry me,” he began.

“You are my girl, my beautiful wife, and my whole heart.

“Every day with you feels like the best adventure, and I still can’t believe I get to do life with you.

“You make everything brighter, funnier, sweeter, and more magical just by being you.

“I can’t wait to keep laughing, dreaming, and staying young with you forever.

“I love you more than words, Nicola,” he concluded.

Nicola commented on the post swiftly, writing: “I couldn’t possibly love you more. You’re my world, my rock and my soulmate.

“I love you a million times over and I love being your wife. Thank you for loving me so perfectly. My forever.”

Flocking to the comments, many fans were supportive of the pair.

One person wrote: “Awwww Happy Anniversary beautiful soulmates.”

While another penned: “Well done for putting your wife first, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. Glad you are making each other happy.”

But others appeared to slam Brooklyn while supporting his mum and dad amid the rumbling family feud.

“Is that all you do all day, talk about how much you love your wife? We’ve all heard it by now,” said one.

“Team Posh all the way. Respect your parents,” penned a second.

This comes after both David and Victoria both marked Father’s Day by sharing snaps of all of their children – including Brooklyn.

But Brooklyn was left disgruntled by the posts which included him.

An insider told The Sun: “He’s fuming about it.

“He’s asked them to leave him alone and they just keep posting him.

“It just brings the whole thing up all over again. He wishes they’d leave it and leave him alone.”

The feud is rumbling on despite it being five months since Brooklyn unleashed his nuclear attack on his parents via an Instagram statement.

In a scathing statement, Brooklyn told how he grew up with “overwhelming anxiety” having been “controlled” by his parents most of his life.

His initial statement read: “I have been silent for years and made every effort to keep these matters private.

“Unfortunately my parents and their team have continued to go to the press, leaving me with no choice but to speak for myself and tell the truth about only some of the lies that have been printed.

“I do not want to reconcile with my family. I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life.”

He then went on to recall the night of his wedding and how his mother danced in an “inappropriate way”.

Brooklyn also sent his parents David and Victoria a legal notice warning they can now contact him only via lawyers.

The extraordinary “desist” letter also instructed them not to “tag” him on social media.

TWO years after hanging up his football boots to pursue a career in modelling, a major curve ball has seen Romeo Beckham land his first acting role.

The 23-year-old will make his big-screen debut this November in movie Forty Love, which centres on a same-sex romance involving two rising tennis stars.

Insiders say Romeo — the middle son of David and Victoria Beckham — honed his skills during secret acting lessons last year.

A source revealed: “Romeo has long been in demand for film and TV roles, but he made sure to do the work before putting his name to anything.

“Forty Love’s script and the team behind it resonated with Romeo, plus he has first-hand experience of being a professional sportsperson and knew he could bring that knowledge and experience to the role.

“It’s a French film and is currently only slated for release over there, although there will be plans for a wider rollout.

“Romeo had a handful of lessons with acting specialists early last year before they started filming. He has put his heart and soul into this role.”

Forty Love is described as a “sensual, romantic and deeply moving fable and coming-of-age story.”

Most of the movie will be in French, but Romeo plays an English-speaking character, using his native language in his scenes.

It is a far cry from the football pitch or runways across the globe where he has modelled for Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Burberry.

His fans have applauded his new career, with many comparing Forty Love to HBO Max series Heated Rivalry, in which two professional male ice-hockey players have a secret romance.

But Romeo himself is aware of being branded a nepo baby as he expands his showbiz CV, just like his ex-footballer dad David and former Spice Girl mum Victoria did before him.

And he is not the first famous youngster to move into acting.
Maya Hawke — daughter of Hollywood actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman — is now a screen star following her breakout role in Netflix’s Stranger Things.

And Lily Collins, whose father is superstar singer Phil Collins, plays the lead role in the romantic comedy Emily In Paris.

A source said: “Romeo knows there will be a lot of eyes on him, but his work will speak for itself.

“This film will show people what Romeo can do. He is an impressive actor and this is a great starting point for him.

“He is still working as a model and he has just launched his clothing range Intra, which is a project he has been working hard on in the background.

“Romeo is a grafter.”

Forty Love will be the directorial debut for fashion photographer Pierre-Ange Carlotti, who has cast French actor Paul Kircher alongside Romeo.

Paul plays the leading role of Sacha Gallo, a tennis superstar who is vying to win a major trophy in Paris under the guid- ance of his coach and father.

Romeo will play his rival — and his love interest. The film’s synopsis says of Sacha: “For the first time, he faces an opponent of an entirely different nature — love.

“A force as exhilarating as it is destabilising — and far more dangerous than anything he has encountered on the court.”

Renowned French actress Catherine Deneuve has also been cast in the film, which will be released on November 25. Those close to Romeo say he is being quietly championed behind the scenes by David and Victoria, who are “beyond proud” of his new venture.

A source added: “David and Victoria have always supported all of their children. And seeing Romeo taking on his first big film is a huge moment for them. They couldn’t be more proud of him and what he has achieved.”

News of Romeo’s acting debut had been kept a closely guarded secret.

After turning down a new contract with Brentwood FC’s B-team in 2024, he signed to top French agency Paris Safe Management and returned to working as a model.

Work poured in for the youngster, who made his modelling debut for Burberry in 2012, aged ten.

In the months after his decision to step away from football, he walked on runways for Balenciaga, Burberry and Versace, before he was put forward for the role in Forty Love. Production started on the film last summer and wrapped late last year.

“Romeo didn’t want any fanfare around his new role, so he kept it very quiet,” an insider explained. “He wanted to get his head down and get his teeth into the character and focus on that as best he could.

“Romeo is used to playing a character on the catwalk — it’s why modelling is such a stepping stone for acting jobs because you are playing a role.

“His acting lessons made sure he felt confident and then he got to work.

“By all accounts, he loved the experience and it’s likely there will be more roles to come after Forty Love comes out.” Romeo will be following in his mum’s footsteps with his jump to the big screen.

Fashion designer Victoria was the first in the family to hit the big time in the Spice Girls film, Spice World, in 1997.

To date, it is the highest-grossing film of all time by a musical group, and in the US it broke the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for a Super Bowl weekend, with box office sales of more than £8million.
Twenty years later, David followed suit with a small speaking role in Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword.

He said of breaking into films: “I am very aware that many sportsmen and other celebrities have turned their hand to acting and failed. I know it is a tough profession, where you need a huge amount of skill and discipline. I wouldn’t want to push myself forward too soon, without learning more about it and doing a lot more practice. But what I have done so far, I have loved.

“I can deal with most things. I am a well-known person, so I have gotten used to criticism. It was nerve-racking delivering the lines, but it actually went really well.

“The thing about sport is that it gets the heart beating faster.

“You focus the mind in order to deliver. Acting has a similar feel.”

Romeo’s sister-in-law, Nicola Peltz, who is married to his estranged brother Brooklyn, works as an actress, too. But she has failed to make her mark on the industry.

Her directorial debut Lola, which she also starred in, came out to much fanfare two years ago. But it was savaged by critics and took just £480 at the box office.

Nicola was blasted for creating a film inspired by “poverty porn”, which a commentator said was “filled to the brim with underbaked, oftentimes harmful tropes”.

Undeterred by the failure, Nicola has spent the past few months filming Prima, which is a debut from famed photographers The Morelli Brothers.

They have worked with a legion of A-list celebrities, including Hailey Bieber, Lindsay Lohan, Gwen Stefani and Kris Jenner.

The indie film will see Nicola playing a ballerina who is raised and coached by her grandmother, played by Faye Dunaway. Prima is expected to be released later this year, although no official date has been confirmed.
Romeo, alongside the wider Beckham family, has had no meaningful contact with Brooklyn since he cut himself off last year.

Insiders joked Romeo was rivalling Nicola by entering the acting sphere, but conceded: “It’s hardly a competition.

“Romeo is carving out his own lane, just as he has done his entire career.”

Brooklyn, the eldest of the Beckham clan, demanded in January that his family only contact him through lawyers.

He later issued a blistering statement insisting he no longer wanted to be a part of the family.

His decision to cut himself off was hugely painful for the Beckhams, including his younger brother Cruz, 21, and his little sister Harper, 14, who was seen delivering a letter to the home he shares with Nicola in Los Angeles earlier this month.

A source said: “Brooklyn has made his position clear and the family have respected that.

“It’s painful for everyone involved.”

Romeo will be supported by family at the release of Forty Love, with promotional screenings being drawn up beforehand.

A source said: “David and Victoria are both so incredibly proud of Romeo.

“They know how hardworking he is and have supported him throughout this project.

“Romeo knows what he wants in life and will work hard to get it.”

A FRIEND of Brooklyn Beckham has spoken out on his heartbreaking fallout with his famous parents – and revealed hopes that the feud will be resolved.

The Beckham feud has been rumbling on for over a year now, largely punctuated by a bombshell statement Brooklyn posted to his Instagram story.

The tell-all statement took the internet by storm, calling out David and Victoria for their ‘performative’ and ‘controlling’ behaviour.

But Brooklyn’s pal DJ Fat Tony (real name Tony Marnoch) believes that an olive branch is still yet to come, and has faith that all will be well with the Beckham clan again.

Speaking to Closer magazine, Tony shared: “I hope that they do sort it out, I really do, for all of their sakes.

“I think they will – of course they will. Like all family feuds, there comes a point where you think, ‘Well, what is this about?’

Read more Brooklyn Beckham

CLAP BACK

Brooklyn Beckham’s wife Nicola takes swipe at his family in cryptic new comment

fiery feud

Brooklyn Beckham ‘absolutely furious’ at David and Victoria’s Father’s Day posts

“But it’s not for me to say, ‘She was wrong, he was right.’ It’s not my business.”

Tony also shared how he tried to correct the misinterpretation of what happened at Brooklyn and Nicola Peltz‘s wedding.

The duo claimed Victoria was dancing inappropriately and grinding on him during the big day, causing humiliation.

But Tony said: “Brooklyn is a friend of mine, and so is Nicola. I went on This Morning to change the narrative.

“The word ‘inappropriate’ was misused. Everyone thought that Victoria was slut-dropping – there was no slut-dropping.

“I wasn’t on there to take down the Beckhams. No one needs to do that. It’s a family and it’s a really sad situation.”

His comments come amid Brooklyn’s fresh frustrations with his parents after they posted photos of him in commemoration of Father’s Day.

Brooklyn has previously instructed his parents not to post photos of him anymore or to tag him in pictures.

But this request has been broken multiple times, leading to Brooklyn blocking his family online.

He found out about the Father’s Day snaps through friends and the media.

His wife Nicola also appeared to take a swipe back, sharing a cryptic quote to her Instagram story that read:  “I am in love with this sentence: “Forgive yourself for not knowing earlier what only time could teach.””

DAVID and Victoria Beckham put on brave faces as they celebrated their second Father’s Day without their estranged son Brooklyn. 

The pair were spotted heading to a London gastro-pub with their son Cruz, 21, and his girlfriend Jackie Apostel, 30. 

David, 51, and Victoria, 52, who were cut off by Brooklyn, 27, last year were also joined by their son Romeo and David’s mum Sandra, 77. 

On Father’s Day, David shared a photograph of all of their children, including daughter Harper, 14, and said: “Being a dad is my most important job… I love you all.” 

Brooklyn is understood to be “furious” with his parents once more after their Father’s Day posts.

David and Victoria both marked the annual event yesterday by sharing snaps of all of their children – including Brooklyn.

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He had previously instructed his parents not to tag him in online posts – something that they have continually ignored.

The feud has rumbled on for over a year with a source telling The Sun that Brooklyn has been left filled with rage following his mum and dad’s latest stunt.

An insider told The Sun: “He’s fuming about it.

“He’s asked them to leave him alone and they just keep posting him.

“It just brings the whole thing up all over again.

“He wishes they’d leave it and leave him alone.”

Brooklyn, who lives in Los Angeles with his American actress wife Nicola, 31, has been estranged from his family for over a year and has accused them of trying to “control” him. 

VICTORIA Beckham has extended the biggest olive branch to estranged son Brooklyn yet with a touching Father’s Day tribute to David. 

The fashion designer, 52, took to social media to share a snap of David, 51, with Brooklyn, 27,  Romeo, 23, Cruz, 21, and Harper, 14, in happier times. 

It showed proud dad David posing next to Brooklyn with their arms around each other – a stark contrast to the state of their relationship these days. 

Spice Girl Victoria wrote: “David you truly are the best daddy.

“Your greatest achievement has always been our beautiful children and we love you so much.Happy Father’s Day.”

Victoria’s post comes just days after the family feud took a bitter twist when Brooklyn mocked his strained relationship with his dad in a paid collaboration with Door Dash. 

QUIDS IN

Brooklyn Beckham ‘raked in £753k for World Cup ad that left his family fuming’

COPY CAT

Brooklyn Beckham rivals dad David with new ad – after family feud World Cup swipe

Brooklyn, who now lives in Los Angeles with wife Nicola Peltz, was seen in a clip saying: “You’re probably wondering why I’m watching the FIFA World Cup 2026 from home…”

Smirking Brooklyn then laughed: “It’s a long story.”

He went on to throw down his tickets onto the coffee table.

The advert then said: “It’s complicated. More soon.”

It’s now been claimed that the nepo baby was paid a whopping $1 million dollars, which equates to £753k, according to Mail Online.

Beloved England player Becks famously played in three FIFA World Cups in 1998, 2002 and 2006.

The ad came after Brooklyn failed to acknowledge his dad’s Hollywood Walk of Fame honour.

Instead, he took to Instagram to share a story of himself enjoying a run in the park while in New York.

Following the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in February, reverberations were felt globally. But is the world really safer and Iranians freer or has the war unleashed disastrous consequences?

Mehdi Hasan goes head to head with David Des Roches, retired colonel, former Pentagon official and professor at the National Defense University on the justifications and costs of the war – and whether President Donald Trump sent U.S. troops to fight Israel’s war.

Joining the discussion are:
Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini – founder and CEO of the International Civil Society Action Network
Mohammad Ali Shabani – Middle East scholar and Editor of Amwaj.media, a London-based news outlet focused on Iran, Iraq and Arabian Peninsula countries
Barak Seener – Associate Research Fellow, Henry Jackson Society

Recorded shortly before the announcement of a deal between the US and Iran.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Recently, I don’t exactly know why, I was overtaken by a concern that because of the impending merger of Paramount and Warner Bros., Olivier Assayas’ 2022 series adaption of his own film “Irma Vep” would be removed from the HBO Max streaming platform. With no official physical release, the series — starring Alicia Vikander as a Hollywood movie star making a project in Paris — could be effectively vanished from existence.

This is sadly inevitable, though some superfans have gone to extra-legal measures to ensure otherwise (not that we would ever endorse this). Most famously it’s happened with the original “Star Wars” trilogy. Billed as the “Grindhouse Edition,” these are discs of the first three “Star Wars” films sourced from scans of original film prints before the digital fixes and polish of the more recent official releases. Reengaging with these works in this way, scratches and all, is (I’m told) a strong reminder of why they hit so hard in the first place, similar to how it might be to reread a text in the original language instead of a more recent translation.

‘Indiana Jones’ marathon

Harrison Ford and Karen Allen on the set of 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

(Lucasfilm Ltd.)

The same deep understanding of genre filmmaking that went into the original “Star Wars” also went into “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” the first adventure of the character of Indiana Jones. Directed by Steven Spielberg from a script by Lawrence Kasdan and story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman, the film is playful, thrilling and self-aware. It is made with such care, attention to detail and sense of fun that I remember how disappointed I was to discover not all movies would be like this.

There have of course been diminishing returns with the more recent run of Indiana Jones sequels, but the first three installments all have a real spark. And so the Secret Movie Club will present “Raiders,” 1984’s “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” all on 35mm at the Million Dollar Theater in DTLA on Sunday in celebration of Father’s Day.

In her original review of the first film, Sheila Benson described that while watching it, she felt “a rush of gratitude which almost brought tears of contagious joy and — not to be corny about this — the strength of the film’s positive vision. If this is an era in which the heroic is lacking and the mediocre threatens us from every side, then ‘Raiders,’ which has no pretensions to importance, which is unabashedly wide-eyed and exaggerated and true blue but somehow cherishes the best in life and filmmaking — is a high-water mark.”

Plenty of jokes could be made about the movies having settled into what might be thought of as part of the dadcore canon: action-adventure movies that play well on TV and maybe you can take a short nap and not miss anything. So be it.

From one master to another

Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller “North by Northwest.”

(Sunset Boulevard / Corbis via Getty Images)

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has been making waves of late for his strong public stance against the use of AI in feature filmmaking. But it is worth remembering that he is also a deep and incisive thinker about older movies, a true fan, which makes his upcoming appearances at the Academy Museum a special occasion.

Del Toro will present five films by Alfred Hitchcock — 1946’s “Notorious,” 1943’s ‘Shadow of a Doubt,” 1959’s “North by Northwest,” 1953’s “I Confess” and 1972’s “Frenzy” — along with delivering a lecture on each of them. To see one great filmmaker reflect with such depth into the work of another is just remarkable. This is some genuine only-in-L.A. type stuff.

Comedy + politics = good fun

A scene from the 1976 movie “Car Wash.”

(Margaret Herrick Library / Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

A raucous comedy set around the location of the title, “Car Wash” is also a sharp, politically minded satire about labor and money. Directed by Michael Schultz from a screenplay by Joel Schumacher, the film has an extended ensemble cast that includes Richard Pryor, Franklyn Ajaye, George Carlin and many others.

In his original review Charles Champlin compared “Car Wash” to films such as “American Graffiti” and “Nashville” and called it “light but not foolish. … The experience is exhilarating.”

A 50th anniversary screening at the Academy Museum on Saturday of a new 4K restoration will include a panel with Schultz and actors Bill Duke, Antonio Fargas, Melanie Mayron, Garrett Morris and Pepe Serna.

Collision report

James Spader in the 1996 movie “Crash,” directed by David Cronenberg.

(Jonathan Wenk / Fine Line Features)

The controversy that surrounded David Cronenberg’s “Crash” when it premiered at Cannes in 1996 and received a U.S. release in 1997 tended to overwhelm the actual movie. Shockingly explicit, the film is about a secret underground world of people who create a sexual fetish out of car crashes. An adaptation of the novel by J.G. Ballard, Cronenberg’s movie explores the cinematic obsession with sex and violence.

Over time, “Crash” has been evolving from a seemingly cursed object dogged by scandal into something that audiences can come to appreciate and admire — even if it is not a movie you can ever exactly fully understand. Part of Cronenberg’s brilliance is how enigmatic and unknowable his work can be: strange, inviting and enveloping while refusing easy or direct analysis.

The movie is playing twice locally this week, on Saturday at Vidiots in partnership with the Cinegogue, with special giveaways and exclusive merch, and again on Monday at the Academy Museum in 4K. Who will be brave (or perverse) enough to go twice?

A different view of Rio

Milton Gonçalves, center, in the 1974 movie “The Devil Queen.”

(Kino Lorber)

A drag queen (Milton Gonçalves) rules the criminal underworld of Rio de Janeiro in Antonio Carlos da Fontoura’s 1974 gangster drama “The Devil Queen,” an unlikely mix of camp aesthetics and gritty violence. Among the film’s many fans is Kleber Mendonça Filho, the filmmaker behind the recent Brazilian hit “The Secret Agent,” who referred to “The Devil Queen” as “bloody, nasty and full of personality.”

The movie is playing in a new 4K restoration at the Lumiere Cinema in Beverly Hills.

A musical melodrama returns

Raul Julia, left, and Teri Garr in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1981 movie “One From the Heart.”

(Rialto Pictures / American Zoetrope)

We have talked before about Francis Ford Coppola’s “One From the Heart,” a movie of such delirious audacity that it nearly ruined the filmmaker‘s career. A throwback musical about two lovers who break up in search of more excitement, the film stars Teri Garr, Frederic Forrest, Nastassja Kinski and Raul Julia.

On Saturday the film will screen at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theater in a 70mm print for the first time in L.A. since 1990. The event is being dedicated to Dean Tavoularis, Coppola’s longtime production designer, who died in April. For “One From the Heart,” Tavoularis re-created the Las Vegas Strip on a studio back lot.

New this week

• Amy Nicholson is not a fan of the new “Toy Story 5,” writing in her review, “Pixar has continued adding shades to the same plot outline like a child with a box of 128 crayons (or a company clinging to its billion-dollar idea).”
• Glenn Whipp cast back into the “Toy Story” universe for a highly personal ranking of his 10 favorite “Toy Story” toys.
• Two gay teenage boys attempt to survive a supernatural entity and conversion therapy in Adrian Chiarella’s debut feature “Leviticus.” Jen Yamato spoke to the filmmaking team.
• I spoke to writer-director Michael Sarnoski about his new “The Death of Robin Hood,” starring Hugh Jackman in a subversively revisionist telling of the last days of the medieval bandit.

BC Place Vancouver was a battlefield as Kone was stretchered off, Qatar got 2 red cards, and both teams brawled after full time.

Canada thrashed nine-man Qatar 6-0 to clinch their first-ever World Cup victory in a Group B match, marred by a horrific injury to the home team’s midfielder Ismael Kone, and disciplinary issues both during and after the match.

A Jonathan David hat-trick, one goal apiece from Cyle Larin and Nathan Saliba, as well as a Qatar own goal, sealed a momentous victory for the Canadians at the BC Place Vancouver stadium on Thursday.

Canada now need only a draw against Switzerland in their final match to finish top of the group, while Qatar and Bosnia and Herzegovina will aim to finish third when they meet on Wednesday.

But the celebratory atmosphere in Vancouver, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney cheering on Les Rouges, was soured by a serious injury to Kone in the 51st minute.

Qatar’s Assim Madibo upended Kone with a clumsy challenge from behind, leaving the Italy-based midfielder writhing in agony and clutching his left leg.

The seriousness of the injury was immediately apparent as teammates frantically called for help from the Canadian medical staff on the sidelines.

Kone was eventually stretchered off the pitch, waving to the crowd as he inhaled from an oxygen pipe.

Madibo, who had initially been given a yellow card for the tackle, was sent off after it was upgraded to red following a VAR review, the second Qatari dismissal after Homam Ahmed was given his marching orders in the first half.

With Qatar down to nine men, Canada took full advantage to score three more goals.

Saliba, who had replaced the injured Kone, curled in a free kick to make it 4-0 in the 64th minute.

The substitute celebrated his goal by racing to the sideline to hold up a replica of the stricken Kone’s Canadian jersey and pointing to his jersey number, eight.

Another substitute, Jacob Shaffelburg, then helped make it 5-0, his fierce shot turned into the Qatar goal by defender Mohamed Manai.

David, who had scored twice in the first half after Cyle Larin’s 16th-minute opener, then completed his hat-trick in the second minute of stoppage time to end the rout.

‘Tough to focus’

David’s was the 56th hat-trick scored at a men’s World Cup and the second of the 2026 edition.

Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi earned his first of the tournament when he led his side to a 3-0 victory over Algeria and steamrolled several records in the process.

David is also the first Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) men’s player to score a hat-trick since 1930 and the first Canadian man to record a multi-goal game at the World Cup.

Embers of carnage during the match were reignited after full-time when both sides brawled on the halfway line and had to be pushed apart by FIFA volunteers and team personnel.

“It was a great game even before [Kone] got hurt, but I think after he got hurt, it was tough to focus on the game, even finishing the game… We just wanted the game to end so we could all be together,” David said after the match.

“It will take a few days to sink in, but obviously we know that what we’ve done today is historical for the country, our first win in the World Cup, and to do it in that fashion is really amazing.”

Stephanie Shih, “梅國 (Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo),” 2025/2026. Archival pigment print on wood panel, varnish, glue, acrylic, frame. 38.25×48.25×3.75.

(From the artist)

Much has been written about the experience of aimlessness in the new David Geffen Galleries at LACMA, but it is another thing to experience it firsthand. The meandering floor plan, with its rooms of various sizes and orientations alongside their resulting passageways and corners, demands that you wander, not map, your perusal of the galleries. As a result, a visitor can easily feel disoriented, or in my case, a touch deconstructed. A little depersonalized, if you will.

Fortuitously, I was there to meet with multidisciplinary artist Stephanie Shih, whose photo-based compositions have the opposite effect, grounding the viewer in their personhood and experience. Her still lifes are made both beautiful and meaningful through their intentional arrangement of specific food, florals and ephemera, touching on diasporic understandings of self, Western and European appropriations of the “exotic” and the juxtaposition of the natural with the fabricated. In other words, to view a Shih piece is to collaborate with the artist on reconstructing or, in some cases, reclaiming an understanding of place and self.

We were talking about, and in front of, Shih’s new piece, “梅國 (Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo),” which was not only commissioned by LACMA, but created in a temporary studio Shih constructed within the gallery itself over the course of two weeks late last year. The image features two ceramic vessels, one slightly in front of the other, within a traditional still life scene. The background jar stands alone, while the piece in the foreground overflows with a rainbow of plants, flowers, fruit, chamoy candies, gummies and a single real butterfly. To get to the small but sunny corridor that houses the work, one might make a few indirect turns and cross the gallery containing Andreas Gursky’s “Ocean” series. Flanked by four wall-size photographs of vast, overhead perspectives of the deep blue Indian Ocean, it’s easy to feel small among the giant panels. Luckily, when I met Shih at LACMA, she intercepted me outside and led us confidently up the Geffen’s dramatic exterior staircase and to “The Global Appeal of Blue-and-White Ceramics” installation — no crossing of oceans necessary.

After our conversation, I stayed to wander the galleries for a few more hours. I am a completist and I wanted, no, needed to see everything. Without the prescribed navigation I was accustomed to in a museum, this became a fool’s errand. I got physically lost and a bit lost to myself. Had I already seen that statue or did it just look like another visage also rendered in marble a few galleries back? I was pretty sure I had already taken these two rights and then a left before, but what if I hadn’t and would then miss a whole other room? The 360-degree curved glass walls encasing the galleries offered many glimpses of a face that belonged to me but somehow wasn’t mine. Who was I? I felt like I would never see everything on display, but also maybe never again exist beyond the funhouse of the Geffen Galleries. In my confusion, I passed by “梅國 (Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo)” more than once and was reminded of Shih’s ability to articulate complex reconstructions of self through her exquisite, serene compositions. It was enough to reassure me that I could find myself again, if only I slowed down and considered my context with curiosity instead of fear.

This curiosity led me to “Shaping Dutch Identity: The Mr. and Mrs. Edward Carter Collection.” It was a serendipitous encounter for two reasons: One, the visual and symbolic correlation between Shih’s painterly use of shadow in her food- and floral-centered compositions, and the still life masterpieces of the 17th century Dutch. And two, because much like her work itself, our interview included layered discussion of constructing and shaping identities. Take the new Peter Zumthor-designed building in which we found (and in my case, lost) ourselves, which builds upon the existing galleries of LACMA while redefining the museum’s identity. Or Shih’s in-situ studio, which was created for creation’s sake, then taken down with only a photo of its contents remaining — contents which were constructed by the artist, too.

There was also the progression across cultures and continents of blue-and-white ceramics, which mirrors the evolution of chamoy, a pickled fruit condiment in Mexican cuisine that, along with a blue-and-white Talavera jar, is at the center of Shih’s piece. Both the ceramic and the chamoy traditions symbolize layers of culture as shaped by globalism and localism.

At one point in our conversation, I was momentarily embarrassed when I couldn’t recall the Filipino term for dried sour plums (kiamoy), a precursor to Mexico’s chamoy. It was an aspect of my identity as a third-generation Filipina that was also irretrievable to me that day. Shih was understanding and gracious in her response: “One of the really fun parts of the work I get to do is learning a lot of these histories that get hidden from us.” Given Shih’s academic background — she holds a PhD from Stanford University in linguistics — it makes sense that she brings deep research to her practice. Her art is rich with symbolism and history. But Shih’s work is also playful and, much like her response to me, generous in the invitation it extends to viewers to bring their own identities to her pieces in order to construct meaning for themselves. I may have felt unmoored among the Geffen’s myriad corners and paths, but never when I was standing in front of Shih’s piece.

Installation view of the inaugural presentation in the David Geffen Galleries, April 2026, featuring (top) Stephanie Shih’s 梅國 (Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo) (2025- 26) and (bottom) Jar (c. 1700-50).

(Museum Associates / LACMA)

Claire Salinda: Your composition captures flowers, chamoy and other candies and fruit sumptuously arranged in and around a ceramic jar from LACMA’s permanent collection. How did you decide on chamoy as a subject? And how is it contextualized within the new David Geffen Galleries?

Stephanie Shih: “梅國 (Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo)” is on display in “The Global Appeal of Blue-and-White Ceramics.” The gallery presents a condensed history of blue-and-white ceramics globally in dishes, starting in the Middle East with a 9th century Iraqi piece. From the Middle East we really got the use of cobalt in designs, and that married with the introduction of porcelain from China. We also have the Iznik kilns in Turkey, which are still operating today, and influences into Southeast Asia, and so on. Later on, the influence spread farther afield into Japan and France, where they started adding even more to it. The blue-and-white tradition has really spread globally, so this gallery is a nice microcosmic story of the effects of globalism before modern globalism.

For a long time I’ve been wanting to make a piece about chamoy and was just waiting for the opportunity to do so. The story of chamoy really parallels this journey of blue-and-white ceramics, which got to Mexico because of Spanish colonialism and then was adopted by local artisans. They really made it their own in the Talavera tradition. Chamoy similarly comes from Asia through pickled plums, particularly China via the Philippines. Filipino laborers came to Mexico via colonialism, and adapted and adopted champoy with spices and chilies from Mexico to become chamoy.

The curator, Susie Ferrell, gave me a whole list of blue-and-white surveys that they were looking at. We went to storage and to the conservation labs to look at all the pieces and we ended up choosing two pieces to work with. The one in “梅國 (Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo)” is a Mexican Talavera jar from the 1700s. It’s the first non-Asian origin institutional ceramic I’ve gotten to work with in my career, which is the reason that I gravitated toward it.

Chamoy has been used by a lot of modern day food makers and chefs with American nostalgic candies, like peach rings and gummy worms, and my personal favorite, Gushers. One of these food makers, Alana Solis, who’s based in Tucson, runs Dirty T Tamarindo, a chamoy candy business she started during the pandemic. It was from her that I learned the history of chamoy, and so I wanted to do a piece with her candies for a long time. And this is just a really perfect opportunity with the Talavera jar.

I had pitched to Susie that it might be nice to have a second ceramic in the piece, a companion that demonstrates the origins and precursors of the blue-and-white ceramics in Mexico, a Chinese piece or something. She actually picked the one pictured here, which is also from the LACMA collection. It’s a 12th century Qingbai ware prunus vase, a meiping jar. When Susie pitched it to me, I didn’t even realize how perfect it was: A prunus vase is usually what they put plum blossoms in, and meiping means beautiful plum vase. It just ended up being a really, really good pick from her.

CS: You built a studio space within the gallery to create the piece. I’m curious about the constraints and what was surprising for you.

Artist Stephanie Shih’s makeshift set in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) David Geffen Galleries for her two-week commission project residency; Light test detail.

(Stephanie Shih)

SS: I was here for two weeks. I had a friend build a wall, we painted it downstairs and then brought it in and had it in the gallery with the light coming in through the windows. They gave me a refrigerator to store all the food, because I wasn’t supposed to have it out in the gallery space. We built out work tables too … it’s hard to kind of imagine with all the other stuff here now.

It was in December, and so the building was in several stages of installation with the art. There were just stacks of crates and boxes, which is amazing — it was very cool to just see statues half unpacked.

And actually, seeing everything get installed affected my thinking about the frame. Originally I wasn’t going to do a framed piece, it was just going to be on a panel. But then as I saw everything else go up, there was a weightiness to the way everything was framed and thought about. A lot of the frames are gold gilded, which are incredibly beautiful and historical. I wanted something that played off of that tradition, but using a red frame made it really obvious that it’s not 100% within tradition.

CS: How does this commission fit into your practice?

SS: My work started out really thinking about the artistic references we get as people working in food and still life. So many of the references are of this very Eurocentric art historical tradition. But if you look at that tradition, many things are taken from other cultures and used to symbolize the access and wealth and value that was assigned to these objects from the perspective of European imperialists, to put it nicely. It wasn’t until very recently that people were even thinking, “Well, where are these things from? What other artistic traditions does that mean that we’ve sort of borrowed from?” And so a lot of my work thinks about responding to that, but also taking back some of that tradition to tell stories of diaspora communities today here in the U.S.

From there, I’ve really started thinking a lot about the construction of identity and how we get to the things that symbolize who we are, and how we use symbols as we move through the world. As a cognitive scientist and linguist, a lot of my research training is about symbols and about the construction of identity in that way.

CS: Do you think that this piece could have been made anywhere else?

SS: No, I don’t think so. There’s something so special about the mission with the new building, how it’s so much more fluidly built and how LACMA is trying to think curatorially outside of the silos that have been set up by traditional art history. Thinking about that really, really influenced my approach to these pieces in terms of trying to collapse in each piece the timescales of historical influences and contemporary identity, but also the locality.

There’s stuff in “梅國 (Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo)” that’s very global and far away, but also hyper local and here in L.A. For instance, the butterfly was found by my friend just a couple miles north in WeHo while I was working at LACMA. It’s native to California.

Do you know who Rachel Ruysch is? She was one of the big Dutch still life painters and in some of her later work, she was able to access flowers and plants from the American West, which was really rare at that time. She has a piece with prickly pear cactus as well as datura in it, which is crazy. We see those plants right here, but not in England and the Netherlands, where she was working at the time. Seeing that piece was part of the influence as well. In my piece, we have candy stripe ranunculus, which I was able to find for the candy. The cactus is from my backyard. There’s marigold and chamomile for their significance in Mexican culture, and the hibiscus flower, which has a long history across the Pacific Rim, tracing a lot of the places that ended up with chamoy and sour plums. I wanted a little nod to Hawaii with the pineapple because that’s where we also get salted plum culture.

Artist Stephanie Shih poses on set.

(From the artist)

CS: As we stand and chat in front of “梅國 (Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo),” I can’t help but notice folks stopping to take it in. How is it being here and seeing people interact with the work?

SS: Oh, really fun!

CS: Do you ever want to interrupt them to answer a question you overhear?

SS: No. I think my favorite part of watching people interact with the pieces is what they bring to it. Some people see the chamoy immediately and they recognize their experiences in it, which is really lovely to see. Like, I can see someone’s been pointing at it, there’s a nice fingerprint mark. That’s funny. Some people recognize the candy in it. Kids often ask me, “How did the gummy butterflies fly?” and that’s really fun to answer. I appreciate that everyone brings their own experiences to it, and that sort of completes the piece for me.