Support your local art-house cinema!

An artist's rendering of the new Laemmle Theatre on Lancaster Blvd.
I forgot my camera,so this is the best I could do without violating copyrights.

Okay, art-movie lovers, it's time to put your money where your mouth is.

For years, we have campaigned for something other than the standard blockbuster movie fare. Sure, I like to see superheroes save the world as much as the next person, but also I need independent films, foreign films, auteur films — pieces of art that have something to say besides "We spent $200 million on this thing, come look at it."

One of three films playing right now
 at the Laemmle Theatre on Lancaster Blvd.

I need movies like "Beginners," which we drove 132.5 miles and probably spent $100 to see at the Landmark at the Westside Pavilion, by the time you add in dinner downstairs at the Westside Tavern. You can now see this Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer charmer for $11 a ticket right here at home at the new Laemmle Theatre on Lancaster Boulevard.

And you know what? The seats are more comfortable here.

For years, we have been at the mercy of Cinemark, who responded to our cries for more culture by playing a few additional art house films for one week at a time. By the time anyone figured out that "Midnight in Paris" was at the Lancaster 22, it was gone.

I have been very bitter about Cinemark's "The Best Seat in Town" claim, considering they were "The Only Seat in Town." Granted, they did give us the Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HG" series, and for that I am grateful. I obviously need them for the latest 3D animated kid's movie and summer tentpole, but I think they will be seeing me much less.

My husband and I went to the gala opening of the new theater, and it is amazing! The front of the house is a gift shop called Forge with gourmet cooking items (some amazing picnic things), bath salts sold in open barrels (mix your own concoction), and an array of decorating goodies, as well as a magazine stand.

Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, and Cosmo in "Beginners,"
a love letter to Los Angeles, among other things.
The dog is hysterical, by the way...

Upstairs there are clothes for young people, sort of an affordable Urban Oufitters meets Anthropologie.  The women's clothes were marked small, medium and large, but whether that is juniors or women's, is anyone's guess. But the stuff was fantastic, and reasonably priced.

I heard a rumor  this space was originally intended to be a book shop. If so, they probably realized that the 33% profit margin looked a little anemic next to 60% for gifts, and figured there was a reason why there's only one new bookstore left in the Antelope Valley.

The Santa Clarita Valley's Signal carried a piece about the Laemmle opening, and of course, snarky, snooty SCV residents left comments complaining about how it should have been built in their valley instead, and how the screen will be ripped and seats trashed within the year because of our low-life residents. Feel free to leave comments of your own. We know they are just jealous.

Years ago, we used to be able to see art-house films in Valencia, but lately, they've been getting the same trash as everybody else, and my kids have been coming up here to see movies. (Of course, the fact that two baby-sitting grandmas are here helps.)

Comedian/actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon eat their way
 through the north of England in "The Trip," engaging in
dueling impressions and pissing contests (figuratively).

Remember when you went to a frock film and there were six people in the audience, and the theater seemed so immense it made you sad? Fear not, English lit majors! Each of the three theaters holds between 46 to 58 people, because the seating is love seats with tables on each side. Which makes it easier to hold hands during the latest Richard Curtis romantic comedy, and makes it cozy.

You can get dinner, beer and wine to enjoy in your comfy seat, and the aisles are so wide that no one has to trip over anybody else's feet. Also, the Coke machine is trippy; you push a button to get one of about a dozen different beverages out of the same tube.

We saw "The Trip" at the gala, and it was very funny. Judging by the laughter level, it was most funny to Anglophiles and regular viewers of BBC America. Steve Coogan, a comedian and mostly TV actor (Tropic Thunder, Night at the Museum, 24 Hour Party People) and Rob Brydon (outside of a bit part in "Shaun of the Dead," probably nothing you've seen) play versions of themselves in this not-quite-reality show.

Driving a Range Rover through the breathtakingly beautiful Lakes District and eating gourmet food —each dish more elaborate than the last—the two men engage in one-upmanship, whose career is on the rise, whose Michael Caine imitation is the best, and whose personal life is the most fulfilling. (My money is on the married guy, Coogan's almost-compulsive couplings–– with innkeepers, photographers and waitresses look pretty joyless.

"The Trip" was originally a BBC television special in multiple parts, and Coogan and Brydon play upon their personas as well-known television stars. It has a loose script, but much of it was improvised, and Brydon does impressions until Coogan wants to kill him. You can see their dueling Michael Caines here. 

Sean Penn in "Tree of Life." Why is he in a suit in
what looks like Bryce Canyon in Utah?
I don't know; lets go see the film and maybe find out.

If for nothing else, it is a must-see for literature majors, as they tromp though Wordsworth country (quoting Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, and more), sleep and smoke pot in Coleridge's bed, and discuss British writers. I have already begun planning that trip.

The third film is "Tree of Life," which my friend Barbara has been asking me to see down in Pasadena, so now we go can see it, only closer to home. I don't know much about it, other than it stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, won the Palme d'Or, was directed by Terence Malick, and has the most baffling trailer I have ever seen.

But I'm going to see it, good or bad. Know why? Because I only have to drive a mile and pay $11 (maybe $8, if it's the right time of day). Because I can.

So c'mon, art-house film lovers, we got what we wanted. Now, stimulate that economy and go to the movies....