Movieville | News
Ongoing
- Most Fridays I list my "Write This Down" picks on the directory page;
I don't bother to note that here. - Max takes care of When Reviews Attack! on his own, so sometimes he's got reviews newer than my listed update date. Drop by his site and check!
New Beverly Jan. Schedule - 8 Jan 99
- I've posted the January schedule for the New Beverly on the Revival Schedules page.
Theater Lists Updated; Plaza Midnight Shows for Winter - 4 Jan 99
- I've made major revisions to the Los Angeles and Orange County theater lists - deleted all of the closed ones, added all of the new ones, and added as many MovieFone Express Codes as I could find. The sub-lists (art, revival etc.) are still out of date; I should get to them later this week.
- The Plaza Midnight Shows schedule through the end of March is now on the Revival Schedules page.
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 1 Jan 99Good business sense and the preservationists have won the battle over ransacking the Cinerama Dome. We're still going to be facing Yet Another Multiplex in the parking lot behind the half-buried golf ball, but the Dome and its original entrance are gonna live.
Personally I hate what the curved screen does to movies that weren't designed for it, but I hate multiplexes more, so get yourself down there and buy a ticket and let Pacific know the public still appreciates a building with some character. Yes, you can wait until they get a movie you like.
If you're looking for an article on it, it was in the LA Times in early December (I was out of town - anyone see it?) and the carrier pigeon finally got to Phoenix, it seems, because the New Times finally ran a story last week.
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 1 Jan 99I provide this lovely service all on my own time with no ads etc. to drag down your experience, so I don't feel bad begging for something: I need to buy two (or more) tickets for the Close Encounters screening at the Academy on Jan 12th. It sold out on me before I even knew the exact date to publish, darn it, and while I can do the standby thing, I'd rather be sure. If you've got a couple of extras I can buy from you, please email me at otto@movieville.com or call 818-783-7620. Thanks!
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 1 Jan 99Hiya, Happy New Year. I doubt anyone misses it, but I ditched the "New and Different" page, since it seemed sort of redundant if I've got a News page already. So here we all are.
The new graphic header any more readable than the old one?
This week there is going to be a Monday update too; watch for it.
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 18 Dec 98Hi folks, I'm back at working on Movieville once again. Watch next week for all the new theaters that have opened in the last several months to be added to the theater lists, all the dead links removed from (and a pile of new fresh links added to) the Outside Links page, and neighborhood and theater specific first run movietime links to showtimes.hollywood.com, since it appears the movielink people aren't planning to allow that. If you have any suggestions, now's the time. (And I'll be answering those 157 pieces of email piled up too.)
(1/1/99 - okay, so I'm not quite there yet. But I'm trying....)
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 18 Dec 98Hopefully they'll be back with something bigger and better:
Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 09:53:32 +0000 From: bluehorse - talescafela@earthlink.net Subject: Re: Farewell Tales Bookshop/Cafe/Cinema at 667 S. La Brea will be closing and our current film schedule has been canceled. Our potential close date is late January 1999. We apologize for any inconvenience our closing may cause. We are planning to host several farewell screenings and we look forward to having the opportunity to say good-bye to our original location in the company of our many loyal film enthusiasts. This information will be e-mailed to you in the near future. For those of you with discount cards, please print your name and address on the back of the card and mail it to 667 S. La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036 to receive reimbursement for any unused portion of the card. Alternatively, you can turn them in for refunds at the time of our final screenings. Our e-mail address will remain talescafela@earthlink.net. For information about our new repertory movement, future screenings and fundraising events, expansion plans or investment opportunities, please visit our web site at www.bluehorse.org, which will launch on January 4, 1999.
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 18 Dec 98The "Twins" at the Mann Chinese are no more - they're closed as part of the land that'll be swallowed up by the massive "Hollywood and Highland" project. There's a big long story in the new issue of the LA Weekly (paper or I'd presume at www.laweekly.com). I'm not sure what my opinion is on all this, but there at least are some details for you. The main theater will remain untouched.
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 18 Dec 98The Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard has reopened as the permanent home of the American Cinematheque, and it's a beauty. For a few weeks starting today, it'll be presenting a first run film, though: "The Prince of Egypt". If you have interest at all in this film, see it there -- this may be the most beautiful theater in Los Angeles. A more detail review will be along next week.
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 31 Jul 98Well, okay, so I got Movieville its own domain (see 25 May 98 below), but I didn't get it a fresh account, so for now movieville.com just redirects to the addresses you've come to know and love. But if you're at a machine without movieville bookmarked, typing movieville.com (or heck, just plain movieville on Netscape) is about as easy as it gets, and you can tell all your friends to drop by "movieville.com" instead of "it's... um... waffle something. Look for 'movieville' in Yahoo, you'll find it." (And please do send your friends - this is a hobby site and I'm a hits junkie!)
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 31 Jul 98I know it's been a year -- and I know this is listed in what's new as well -- but there are finally changes to the theaters list -- new theaters, 323 area code changes, and a whole bunch of 310/213-777-FILM theater express codes, all to make the list more usable and more in touch with reality. It's not done, but it's better.
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 31 Jul 98It's 3:30am so and I don't have time to dig up the info now, but I want to mention something for the huge reader spike on Friday -- for those of you interested in writing a letter to help save the Cinerama Dome, there's new hope and new stuff to do and I'll have the details up by Monday, or call the number listed below on 20 May 98 for more details. (And tell them Movieville referred you.)
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 25 May 98Hiya! If you've gotten here, you've gotten our new, easier to remember URL:
http://www.wafflelight.com/movieville/although you really should bookmark:
http://www.wafflelight.com/movieville/movieville.htmland it's only one click away from:
http://www.wafflelight.comwhich should be pretty easy to remember. Plus, it's my own domain, so the address won't ever change again unless I get Movieville its own domain.
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 25 May 98The flyer GIF below has been deleted; everything you need to know to try and save the dome (and you've got until Thursday I think) is at:
http://pw1.netcom.com/%7Ewoodpssy/Savethedome.shtml
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 20 May 98Hello there. That's what I get for saying no further problems in my life -- two days after posting my Apr 11th notice, my father had a heart attack; he died on Tax Day. I was able to get there (to Tennessee) to see him, which was great; he was his same self mentally, telling bad jokes and being cranky and asking me to go get him an extension form for his taxes. After that, though, was a really rough month dealing with services and arrangements and the relatively messy legal situations the estate managed to leave. (I'll just say here, have a will, folks.)
I'm home in LA now, and while I know I'll be in and out of town for a while, this will actually leave me a bit more time to work on stuff like this site. Mostly, though, the phone-book and link to event aspects of it should mostly run itself, so if the listing's I've got are out of date, just follow the links to other pages, and the data there should be accurate.
Max moved his reviews page while I was gone; I've fixed the link to that so his reviews will now be available again.
Thanks for your patience, and everything I said six weeks ago (see below) about this site still stands.
Otto
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 20 May 98A Plan To Save Hollywood has got the Cinerama Dome facing some major revisions to its historic self. Personally I think the Dome does need a flat screen (I saw "Godzilla" there last night from the side, and the distortion nearly gave me a headache) but certainly don't like the thought of having the place obscured in a mall.
A group called the "Friends of the Dome" has this flyer out. In case you can't read it or are using LYNX, the phone number to call for more information (act quickly - a deadline is May 28th) is 213-960-5045.
(The flyer GIF has been deleted; everything you need to know to try and save the dome (and you've got until Thursday I think) is at:
http://pw1.netcom.com/%7Ewoodpssy/Savethedome.shtml(link broken - last checked 06 Sep 99)
Cinerama Dome Saved
- 11 Apr 98Actually, it's April 10th, but late in the day so I'll just date these items (and all changes on the site) tomorrow. After disappearing completely for over two months, and with only minor updates for over a month before that, I'm happy to say I'm back and should be able to keep up with the site now.
Movieville has been and will continue to be a volunteer effort, and it had to take a back seat to the rest of my life for a little while, and there were time-consuming things like concert tours and car accidents to distract me. That's pretty much all done with now, though, so here I am.
Max continues to write movie reviews, and they continue to grow in popularity. Since he's got his own site up and running now, including links to the most recent reviews, I'm just going to (with his permission) poach off his code and not duplicate work that doesn't need duplicating. Visit his reviews page under "movies" and you'll see what's new there.
My reviews and picks will be back sometime next week. They're still there, if you can find a link in, they're just really old. So for the four people out there who like them, they'll return.
The "New and Different" page will continue to list changes to individual pages; longer items will be listed here. And of course, the "updated on" dates will continue to be on the main directory page.
Plans for the next few weeks include adding all the new theaters that have opened since last summer, and adding reviews for a number of them.
I will also -- at long, long last -- write a FAQ, put up that "letters" section, and start to deal with the stack of email that has built up for months while I've been off trying to make a living.
If you've got suggestions or tips or just want to say thanks, feel free to drop me a line, and I will reply as soon as I can.
Thanks for sticking around, and look for good changes soon!
Otto
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