Video Update - 27 April 2011

12 O'Clock High - 1x17 - The Albatross

Combat - Beneath the Ashes

Gunsmoke - Stage Stop

Hawaii Five-O - Thanks for the Honeymoon

Honeymooners - Baby Sitter

I Love Lucy - 2x07 - The Courtroom

I Love Lucy - 2x08 - Redecorating

Japanese Earthquake - 20110312CNN(0729-0857)

Marshal Dillon - 2x09 - The Mistake

My Three Sons - 7x31 - So Long, Charley, Hello

Petticoat Junction - 5x28 - My Pal Sam

Petticoat Junction - 5x29 - Ring-A-Ding-Ding

Prince William's Africa

Rawhide - 4x29 - Devil and the Deep Blue

Real King's Speech

Untouchables - 3x06 - Loophole

Video Update - 26 April 2011

Ancient Aliens - Alien Contacts

Ancient Aliens - Alien Devastations

Ancient Aliens - Alien Tech

Ancient Aliens - Aliens and the 3rd Reich

Ancient Aliens - Underground Aliens

Ancient Aliens - Unexplained Structures

Being Human - 2x02 - Adam's Family

Bob Newhart Show - Guaranteed Not to Shrink

Combat - Billy the Kid

Dick Van Dyke Show - 4x06 - Romances, Roses & Rye Bread

Gunsmoke - 12x09 - The Well

Hawaii Five-O - The Child Stealers

Honeymooners - Oh My Achin' Back

I Love Lucy - 2x05 - The Saxiphone

I Love Lucy - 2x06 - Vacation From Marriage

Japanese Earthquake - 20110312CNN(0330-0727)

March of the Dinosaurs

Mary Tyler Moore Show - 5x18 - Phillis Whips Inflation

Rawhide - 2x21 - Incident At Sulphur Creek

Rawhide - 4x23 - The Immigrants

The curtain is falling on vaudeville palace

PANTAGES THEATRE

Demolition permit issued to raze movie house

The old Pantages Theatre on East Hastings is likely to be 

demolished in a few days. The back of the building is 

already being ripped apart.

  It's curtains for the Pantages The­atre, Vancouver's oldest vaudeville/ movie house.BY JOHN MACKIE

  The century old landmark at 144-150 East Hastings near Main will proba­bly be torn down in the next couple of days, after the city issued a demolition permit for the site.

  "They've been chewing away next door, so [demolition is] imminent," said Don Luxton of Heritage Vancou­ver. "They've already started ripping out the backs of the buildings."

  Several groups have attempted to revive the Pantages, which was the oldest theatre remaining from a leg­endary chain of vaudeville palaces that Alexander Pantages built across North America.

  It has been vacant since 1994, and has been rotting inside from rain seep­ing in through a damaged roof, a text-book case of what heritage activists call

"demolition through neglect."

  "I think it's a tragic and irreversible loss," said Luxton. "We're losing what was clearly recognized as a historic theatre. We can't get it back now, it's gone."

  Demolition permits have also been issued for the four adjacent properties at 130, 132, 134 and 138 East Hastings, which means there will soon be another big empty lot in the troubled Downtown Eastside.

  Will Johnston of the city's licences and inspections department said no plans have been approved to rede­velop the site.

  The Pantages was built in 1907-08 in the middle of Vancouver's original downtown.

  It was converted to a movie house in the late 1920s, and in the early '30S sur­vived a fire in the projectionist's booth and a bomb that was thrown into the theatre during a labour meeting. It had several names over its lifetime, includ­ing the Royal, State, Queen, Avon and City Nights. It last operated as the Sung Sing, a Chinese-language theatre.

--The Vancouver Sun 8 April 2011

Hollywood Theatre faces the final curtain

LANDMARKS

After celebrating its 75th anniversary last year, the venerable theatre may not last until its 76th

BY JOHN MACKIE VANCOUVER SUN

  The Hollywood Theatre cel­ebrated its 75th birthday last October. But the legendary Kitsilano cinema may not be around for its 76th.

  Owner David Fairleigh has confirmed the Hollywood will "probably" be closing. But he didn't say when, or what the family plans to do with the prop­erty at 3123 West Broadway.

  "I can't make any comments at this time," said Fairleigh, 67, whose family has owned and operated the 651-seat theatre since 1935. "I'm right in the middle of something, I can't comment right now."

  Alan Franey of the Vancou­ver International Film Festival has been going to the Hollywood since he was a teenager. He thinks Vancouverites will be "shocked" to learn that one of the city's cultural icons may soon be gone.

David Fairleigh and son Vince inside Kitsilano's Hollywood Theatre.

  "It would be a great loss to the neighbourhood, and our sense of what public spaces are for, our historical memory of what they used to be for," said Franey.   "It's a great facade, it's a great place to see films. I think it's near and dear to a lot of our hearts."

  The theatre has an assessed value of $2.426 million, and is rumoured to be on the market for $2.9 million. At that price, said Leonard Schein of Festi­val Cinemas, "they're asking too much to run it as a movie theatre."

  Schein's company leases two neighbourhood theatres, the Park and the Ridge. They may not be around too much longer, either.

  "The whole shopping centre [the Ridge is in] has been put up for sale by our landlord," Schein said. "If someone buys it he or she may decide to tear down the whole shopping cen­tre and build condos and other retail there, but you never know until there's a new buyer. They may decide to hold the location for years, or they may decide to redevelop it."

  Don Luxton of Heritage Van­couver said the city may have to step in if it wants to save the city's dwindling number of neighbourhood theatres. Several old theatres have been knocked down in recent years, including the Varsity, the Impe­rial (last known as the Venus) and the Van East. The city's oldest theatre, the Pantages, has also been condemned and may be torn down.

It would be a great loss to the neighbourhood, and our sense of what public spaces are for, our historical memory of what they used to be for.

ALAN FRANEY

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

  "We have a bigger, broader issue: that there's four theatres that are going to be problem­atic and we could lose, the Hol­lywood, the Ridge, the Park and the Dunbar," said Luxton.

  "Somebody at the city should take a look and see which one of those would make good com­munity spaces. We're restor­ing the York [theatre] on the east side. What about the west side? I think the Ridge, Park and Hollywood are all signifi­cant spaces, and ready to roll — you can use them as com­munity theatres, community space, performance space."

  Luxton said one way to save the theatres would be to bring back the heritage density trans­fer system that the city killed in 2007. Another would be to buy the theatres with the million the city collected 'from developers to build a Coal Harbour Arts Complex, which never built. "Wouldn't it be sensible to buy a couple of small neigh­bourhood theatres?" said Luxton.

  "There's an urgent issue here. The city should examine through its cultural services office what would he the most appropriate use of the Coal Harbour Arts Complex money. Could it be used in different parts of the city to purchase rind run these smaller community centres, rather than concen­trate everything downtown?"

  Franey thinks the potential loss of the Hollywood might stir the "public recognition the space requires to be saved." He also said the film festival would be interested in running the theatre, if it could swing the financing.

  "We have an interest the Hollywood, for sure," said Franey. "We haven't used it for a few years, but this is a very changing world, and I don't know if we can count on any of the theatres we use being avail-able to us, one year to the next. It might not only he something we'd like to consider, it's sonic-thing we may need to consider."

New Movie Releases – 28 January 2011

The Mechanic (2011)

Stars: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn

Director: Simon West

Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller

CBS Films, Millennium Films, Chartoff-Winkler Productions

Time: 93 min

Rating: Restricted

Follows an elite hit man as he teaches his trade to an apprentice who has a connection to one of his previous victims.

The Rite (2011)

Stars: Colin O'Donoghue, Anthony Hopkins, Ciarán Hinds, Alice Braga

Director: Mikael Håfström

Genre: Drama/Horror/Thriller

New Line Cinema, Contrafilm, Mid Atlantic Films

Time: 114 min

Rating: PG-13

An American seminary student travels to Italy to take an exorcism course.

Biutiful (2010)

Stars: Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Genre: Drama

Menageatroz, Mod Producciones, Focus Features

Time: 148 min

Rating: Restricted

This is the story of Uxbal, a man living in this world, but able to see his death, which guides his every move.

From Prada to Nada (2011)

Stars: Camilla Belle, Alexa Vega, Kuno Becker, Tina French

Director: Angel Gracia

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

OddLot Entertainment, Gilbert Films, Lionsgate

Time: 107 min

Rating: PG-13

A Latina spin on Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility," where two spoiled sisters who have been left penniless after their father's sudden death are forced to move in with their estranged aunt in East Los Angeles.

Kaboom (2010)

Stars: Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Chris Zylka, Roxane Mesquida

Director: Gregg Araki

Genre: Comedy/Mystery/Sci-Fi

Desperate Pictures, Wild Bunch, Super Crispy Entertainment

Time: 86 min

Rating: Unrated

A sci-fi story centered on the sexual awakening of a group of college students.

New Movie Releases – 21 January 2011

The Company Men (2010)

Stars: Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones, Suzanne Rico

Director: John Wells

Genre: Drama

Weinstein Company, The, Battle Mountain Films, Spring Creek Productions

Time: 104 min

Rating: Restricted

The story centers on a year in the life of three men trying to survive a round of corporate downsizing at a major company - and how that affects them, their families, and their communities.

No Strings Attached (2011)

Stars: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Kline, Cary Elwes

Director: Ivan Reitman

Genre: Comedy/Romance

Paramount Pictures, Cold Spring Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment

Time: 108 min

Rating: Restricted

A guy and girl try to keep their relationship strictly physical, but it's not long before they learn that they want something more.

The Way Back (2010)

Stars: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Dragos Bucur

Director: Peter Weir

Genre: Adventure/Drama/History

Exclusive Films, National Geographic Films, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ

Time: 133 min

Rating: PG-13

Siberian gulag escapees walk 4000 miles overland to freedom in India. 

Vancouver Sun - 18 January 2011

A Little Tramp in modern times

Charlie Chaplin's films remain relevant and continue to delight audiences today

BY JOHN MACKIE

VANCOUVER SUN

            Charlie Chaplin's heyday was in the 1920s and '30S, and many of his biggest movies were made during the silent era. But he remains one of the greatest movie stars of all time, an instantly recognizable figure whose movies still play regularly on TV.

            Nothing compares with seeing them on the big screen, though, and Pacific Cinematheque is staging a major retrospective of his work beginning Thursday, through Feb. 11, in new 35-mm prints from Europe.

            "They're beautiful, pristine, brand-new prints," says Jim Sinclair of Pacific Cinematheque.

            "It's like seeing the films for the first time. Seeing them the way they were meant to be seen, on the big screen, in excellent copies."

            The 17-film retrospective brings together almost every feature Chaplin directed, from classics like The Gold Rush, Modern Times and The Great Dictator to lesser-known works like A Woman of Paris, Payday and Limelight.

            The big question is how many people will come out to see them, particularly the silent movies.

            "Anyone who tries to show black and white films to young people will know the reaction: `Oh, what's this, black and white?' " says Sinclair.

            "It's going to be curious, we'll see [how big the audience is]. These are great films, and he's a great physical comedian. But they're also heart-wrenching and poignant, smart, moving, funny films. So we hope they will find an audience."

            They have been doing just that since last summer, when the retrospective made its North American debut in Los Angeles.

            "It's amazing, how Chaplin translates," says Sarah Finklea of Janus Films, the North American distributor. "I've had a lot of programmers say they were watching it with small kids and the kids were just losing it, watching Chaplin. They'd forgotten how much it does appeal to young children."

            Janus specializes in classic movies; it's an associated company to the Criterion Collection, which does deluxe DVD reissues. Finklea says that Chaplin's films are "absolute perennials."

            "I don't think these films ever died," says Finklea, who is a distant relative of the late dancer-actress Cyd Charisse (whose birth name was Tula Ellice Finklea).

            "But I know [that with] some of the slightly earlier stuff, there hadn't been prints around since maybe the '8os. I don't even know when the last time a wide retrospective was done. But there's always demand within certain theatres, and we like keeping the library alive."

            Besides being a great actor and director, Charlie Chaplin was a savvy business-man. He co-founded United Artists pictures, owned the copyrights to his work, and kept prints.

            Chaplin died in 1977 and his legacy is ' handled by the Chaplin estate in Paris, which has been working with the Cineteca of the Comune di Bologna in Italy on restorations of his catalogue. The new 35-mm prints came from this arrangement.

            Chaplin was a comedic genius who produced some of the most famous moments in movie history, such as the part of Modern Times in which Chaplin's Little Tramp is caught in the giant gears on an industrial assembly line, and the scene in which the starving Chaplin eats his shoe in The Gold Rush.

            But when she's asked for her favourite Chaplin film, Finklea picks a relatively obscure one.

            "Mine is one of the shorts, The Idle Class," she says. "I love that one.

            Of the features I'd have to say The Circus, I think it's hilarious.

            "The Idle Class is one of the Tramp shorts. It's a film [in which] he also plays an aristocratic drunk, so he has two parts in the same film. It's a mistaken identity film, he plays a rich alcoholic husband at this sort of country club estate. The Little Tramp arrives at the country club to take the air, and play golf with some clubs he ' picked up somewhere. At some point the drunk's wife gets the two of them mixed up at a costume party.

At a glance

When: Thursday, through Friday, Feb. 11

Where: Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe

Tickets: $10.50 single bill; $12.50 double bill

Information: http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/chaplin

SCREENING SCHEDULE

The Gold Rush, Payday: Thursday-Sunday

The Circus, The Idle Class: Thursday-Saturday

The Kid, A Day's Pleasure: Saturday, Sunday

A Woman of Paris, Sunnyside: Sunday-Thursday

A Dog's Life, Shoulder Arms, The Pilgrim: Thursday, Jan. 27-Saturday, Jan. 29:

City Lights: Friday Jan. 28-Sunday Jan. 30, Tuesday Feb. 1

Modern Times: Friday Jan. 28-Sunday Jan. 30

The Great Dictator: Monday, Jan. 30, Tuesday Jan. 31, Sunday, Feb. 6:

A King in New York: Monday, Jan. 31, Tuesday, Feb. 1, Saturday, Feb. 5

Limelight: Monday, Feb. 7, Thursday, Feb. 10, Friday, Feb. 11

Monsieur Verdoux: Monday, Feb. 7, Thursday, Feb. 10, Friday, Feb. 11

            "The Circus is really great. Again it's a Little Tramp story. The Little Tramp finds a job working as a comedy act in the circus. He doesn't know he's funny: he is mistaken as a pickpocket and gets chased through an actual performance. The crowd is not laughing at the actual clowns, but as soon as he appears running from the police, the crowd loses it. So he gets hired on, falls in love with a tightrope artist, and hilarity ensues."

            Both are in the retrospective, along with his lesser-known talkies like Limelight (a sad, beautiful film about an aging vaudeville star in which Chaplin makes his only onscreen appearance with another silent movie icon, Buster Keaton), and Monsieur Verdoux, where he plays a ladykiller, literally.

            "They're very truck in their perspective," says Cinematheque's Sinclair. "Monsieur Verdoux kind of freaked people out, with Chaplin playing a serial killer.'

            His most acclaimed talkie is The Great Dictator, a satire of Adolf Hitler that' Chaplin made almost two years before the United States went to war with Germany; shooting started in September 1939, the same month Germany invaded Poland.

            The Great Dictator maybe the funniest serious movie ever made (or vice-versa). Chaplin's cinematic fuehrer is dubbed the Phooey, Hitler becomes Adenoid Hynkel, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels is renamed Garbitsch, and Luftwaffe head Hermann Goering becomes Field Marshal Herring.

Chaplin mocks Hitler's plans for world domination by having Hynkel play with a balloon done up like the world; at one point, he's lying on his desk and sends it skyward with a bump from his bum. But when Hynkel tries to squeeze the world too tight, it explodes.

"It is amazing," Sinclair says. "[But] Chaplin did say later if he had known about the enormity of Hitler's crimes he wouldn't have ridiculed him in the same way, or made a funny movie about him."

jmackie@vancouversun.com