Naked Gun Screening

Capsule Reviews – What I’m Watching Now

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning 

While we’ll see whether Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is indeed the final entry of the series, it’s a great send off. As I have said before, this is a franchise that has gotten better and bigger with each succeeding film, an impressive feat.

Concluding a saga that began with the previous film where we saw a powerful AI entity—called The Entity—essentially become sentient while nations and bad actors compete to gain dominion over it so that they, in turn, can control the world. Of course, it’s up to Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his Impossible Mission team to stop and destroy it.

I greatly enjoyed the film’s many twists and turns, and the fact that many characters got a chance to step up and shine, and enjoy a hero moment. These include mainstay co-stars like Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames; new team members played by Hayley Atwell and a very fine Pom Klementieff; and cameo appearances by people like Nick Offerman. And while I mentioned this film wraps up a story begun in the prior film, the movie also circles back to storylines that reach back into earlier films, including several characters and callbacks from the very first M:I film.

Doctor Who (Season 3) (Disney+)

A year and a half ago, I reviewed the Doctor Who specials that introduced the new Doctor, played with wonderful exuberance and energy by Ncuti Gatwa. Though I greatly enjoyed the specials, I never returned to it, though it remained on my to-watch list.

But an episode involving an animated character coming off a movie screen in the 1950s (Season 2, Episode 2: “Lux”) piqued my interest. So I started watching it again, picking up a few episodes before that one in season 1. And every single episode turned out to be amazing, so now I have been all in. Nearly every single episode  has managed to knocked it out of the park—by turns funny, thrilling, clever, and deeply moving and emotional. It really has it all. 

The Studio (AppleTV+)

The Studio is a self-described cringe comedy limited series about Hollywood, centered around new studio head Matt Remick of Continental Studios, played by Seth Rogan who co-created the series. In addition to featuring topnotch production values, the show also is distinguished by long single take scenes—in fact, one episode is entirely in one take.

Hollywood often likes nothing more than poking fun at itself and this series leans into that, perhaps a little bit too much at first, featuring people who often, of course, come off as terrible human beings. While Remick actually is a fairly good guy, he nevertheless manages to always make the worst decisions, especially in the early episodes, usually making things worse. 

While this ran the risk of making the series and Remick tiresome, the series picked up for me in the last several episodes, particularly the two-part season finale, which truly made me laugh my ass off. 

Rogan is surrounded by a terrific cast, including Catherine O'Hara, Patty Leigh, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, and Kathryn Hahn, as well as memorable recurring turns by an always strong Michael Krum and a deliciously unhinged performance by Bryan Cranston as the studio company’s CEO. Playing themselves in both guest and cameo appearances are a host of Hollywood icons, including Martin Scorcese, Charlize Theron, Antony Mackie, Ron Howard, and in hilarious substantive appearances, David Franco and Zoe Kravitz. 

The Residence (Netflix)

The Knives Out film franchise has launched a plethora of delicious mystery shows and series like Murders In the Building, The White Lotus, Elspeth, and Poker Face. In addition to being great whodunnits, they are fun mystery romps, often featuring a somewhat off-kilter lead detective and a plethora of big name guest stars.

One of the more recent, The Residence, is particularly high concept—in addition to featuring a “world’s greatest detective” in the form of bird watcher Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba), this is essentially a drawing room murder mystery set at the White House, with the homicide occurring during a state dinner. As the story slowly unwinds and reveals its many layers and red herrings, we are treated to a zany cast of characters played by an amazingly diverse cast, including Giancarlo Esposito, Ken Marino, Randall Park, Jason Lee, Bronson Pinchot, and others. Framing the story is a Senate hearing looking into the investigations, with a perfectly cast Al Franken (of course an actual former senator himself) and comedic actress Eliza Coupe. And, of course, the White House and its storied history also is a character.

This is yet another mystery that builds great momentum each episodes, coming to an exciting and thrilling climax and reveal—and its pleasures are as much about the journey as it is the solution.

Murderbot (AppleTV+) 

Based on its first five episodes, Murderbot is a deft blend of dystopian science fiction and action comedy, with a compelling mystery at its center.

Set years in the future, earth has expanded into the galaxy, apparently dominated and run by an interplanetary corporation known as the company. Murderbot is a robot/android security unit (SecUnit) who secretly disables his control mechanisms so that he essentially has free will and is sentient. (It secretly names itself Murderbot).  

While keeping his autonomy a secret as he decides what to do—his primary interest being to download and stream in his head hundreds of hours of entertainment shows—he is assigned to provide security for a group of researchers on a mission to a remote planet. Though he finds humans and their behavior completely illogical (in fact, he considers humans assholes and idiots), as the story unfolds, he gradually begins to form bonds with his human companions as they begin to respect and appreciate him. For me, the show was somewhat reminiscent of Resident Alien.

The show consists of zippy half hour episodes which usually end with great cliffhangers that compel you to watch the next episode, and I have found it incredibly fun and engaging.

 

Retro Review: Top Secret

Weeks ago, when our local theater announced a film series called "Springtime Spoofs ‘N Goofs," my wife said she wanted to see one of the films on the slate, Top Secret, Val Kilmer’s first film, from 1984. Kilmer’s passing a few weeks later, of course, made seeing it even more poignant, which was acknowledged by the theater staff introducing the film.   

I found it amusing, if not a bit disconcerting and ironic, that in an early scene, to show how oppressive the (somewhat fictionalized) East German regime in the film was, a senior official demands over the phone that they “seal the borders and cancel all visas!” All they needed to add is "tariffs" to hit the trifecta. 

Coming off the heels of the success of Airplane, Top Secret is not really a great film—it's a mishmash parody of World War II and teen rock and roll films with not enough laughs to sustain a full-length movie though they try to maintain interest with a barebones story. But you do get to see a pre-Batman Michael Gough, a very pre-Downton Abbey Jim Carter, and Omar Sharif sending up his reputation as a gentleman with one indignity after another.

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts!

Double Secret Probation!

Entertainment Roundup for 2024

Not much to say about this year, but I certainly watched plenty! Saw a record number of films in the theater and plenty of live shows. Though it partly started last year, I also re-discovered to a degree network TV with shows like Ghosts, Elspeth, So Help Me Todd (since cancelled), and the return of the Law & Order mothership. Among the best overall on tv and streaming were Blue Eyed Samurai, Franklin, Julia, Time Bandits, The Mick (the latter three also since cancelled), 

I always say that I'm not a good bellweather for films since I don't see everything and have gotten a bit more discriminating about what I see. That said, among my favorites this year were Saturday Night, Fly Me to the Moon, Twisters, The Boys in the Boat, Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,  and Brooklyn (though that film was a 2015 release. 

Films

Gone With the Wind – Culver Theater (12/30/24)
Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim – Howard Hughes Center (12/23/24)
Conclave – Monica Laemmle (11/29/24)
Wicked – Culver Theater (11/25/24)

Saturday Night – Culver Theater (10/13/24)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – Culver Theatre (8/26/24)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – Culver Theatre (8/19/24)
Babe – Culver Theatre (8/10/24)
Iron Giant – Culver Theatre (8/3/24) - rewatch
Deadpool & Wolverine – Culver Theatre (7/31/24)
Twisters – Bruin Theatre (7/20/24)
Fly Me to the Moon – Culver Theaters (7/13/24)
Fall Guy – Century City AMC (6/1/24)
Spy x Family Code White – Century City AMC (4/27/24)
Argylle – Culver Theaters (2/3/24)
Boys in the Boat – Culver Theaters (1/11/24)

Streaming Films/DVD/BluRay

Wham: Last Christmas Unwrapped – Netflix (12/29/24)
Music by John Williams – Disney+ (12/8/24)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story – Max (12/6/24)
School of Rock – Paramount+ (11/30/24) – rewatch
Dear Santa – Paramount+ (11/30/24)
March of the Wooden Soldiers – YouTube (11/28/24) – rewatch
Amelie – Max (11/6/24)
Dave – YouTube (11/4/24) - rewatch
See How They Run – HBOMax (10/21/24) - rewatch
The Party – Prime (10/16/24)
Snack Shack – Prime (10/15/24)
On Chesil Beach – Max (10/11/24)
Brooklyn – Max (10/10/24)
The Banker – Apple+ (10/4/24) - rewatch 

Go for Broke – Prime (10/1/24) - rewatch 

Django & Django – Netflix (9/12/24)
Big Fat Liar – Netflix (9/9/24)
Muriel’s Wedding – Netflix (9/6/24)

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REVIEW: Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

I hadn’t really planned to see The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in the theater, but I had some time to kill yesterday and decided on the spur of the moment to check it out—and I’m glad to say I enjoyed it! (This review is spoiler free btw.)

Made as an anime film by a noted Japanese anime director, the animation in the trailer didn’t particularly impress me which partly tamped down my enthusiasm to see it, but it was better than I anticipated. There was great attention to detail in the film, from the intricate costumes (not easy in hand animation!), to the lighting and the creation of a grounded environment that enhanced the mood and drama. And though not overused, it was interesting to spot where computer animation was utilized; at times, it looked like they even used some rotoscoping, mostly in a few long shots with figures (which frankly gave me a sense of deja vu with the Bakshi films—I'm not kidding).

Of course, it helps that the film is very much part of the Peter Jackson/Lord of the Rings universe, so the filmmakers had full access to and use of the film trilogy’s visual and production designs, as well as Howard Shore’s score. And though Jackson wasn't very involved in the development of the film, one of his writing partners on the original trilogy, Philippa Boyens, a Tolkien obsessive well before the films, helped develop the story. Scenes in the film clearly evoke the film trilogy, particularly in the staging of some scenes/battles, and the use of many of the same locations and settings from the original movies (particularly, The Two Towers)—down to camera angles—very much connect this movie with Jackson's films. So audiences get to see Rohan’s capital city of Edoras, Isengard, and Helm’s Deep, exactly as they looked and were shot in Jackson's films.

That said, the story is a bit circumscribed, taking place entirely in Rohan, 200 years before the events of the trilogy, involving a civil war among its tribes/factions that encompasses vengeance, ambition, pride, spurned love and historical grievances. In addition, they have made a young woman—a princess, daughter to the Helm Hammerhand, King of Rohan—the main protagonist. (Helm is voiced by Brian Cox, a great choice since Hammerhand is a true badass lol.)

My only slight disappointment was that since the film is entirely focused on Rohan, there are no elves, dwarves, hobbits or even Gondorians in sight. But you get to see a few Middle Earth creatures, such as the elephant-like Mumakils. (I’ll keep it at that, to say more would be spoiling!) There are a few shout outs/references to the trilogy, but they are actually very sparing and the film very much tries to be its own story.

Though I’ve loved the books since I first read them and, of course, the films (even the ill-fated Bakshi adaptation), I must confess that I have found The Rings of Power series on Prime to be a slog and too drawn out. (This is a complaint I’ve had with most of the Star Wars series as well, so make of that what you will—I’ve bailed on almost all of them.) In contrast, being a tight two hour film, The War of the Rohirrim has a narrative urgency that kept things moving and engaging, and swept me up. But your mileage may vary on whether the film will actually fulfill one's need for a Lord of the Rings fix.

All in all, though I went in with fairly low expectations (in fact, I was prepared to be disappointed), the film completely surprised me and I found it very entertaining and well executed.

More Capsule Reviews

Brooklyn

I’ve wanted to see this film, starring Saoirse Ronan, since its release in 2015. After I missed it in theaters, it never seemed to show up on one of my streamers (yes, I probably could have rented or purchased it digitally, of course). But recently, I happened to be on Max, looking for something to watch, and there it was.

My patience was rewarded—set in the 1950s, it’s a quiet but emotional and touching film, about a young woman who immigrates from Ireland to the U.S.—specifically, Brooklyn where she is aided by an Irish immigrant community—in search of opportunities for a better life. She meets a young man and marries, but briefly questions her decision when she returns to Ireland for a visit.

There is nothing earth shattering or deeply traumatic here—and though people have their foibles, most mean well—but it nevertheless is a wonderfully warm human drama about a young woman's immigrant experience.

Long Way Round

After recently seeing Ewan McGregor during his recent appearance at the L.A. Comic Con, I was inspired to watch the first season (from 2004) of his travelogue series, Long Way Round, where he motorbiked around the world with chum and fellow actor Charley Boorman, after the series came up during his panel conversation.

The series reminded me of a wonderful book, Lone Rider, by Elspeth Beard, that I read and reviewed here several years back, who undertook a similar journey, alone and much less heralded, as well as other excellent travelogue shows like Michael Palin’s journeys and even the original British television series, Top Gear, that frequently embarked on journeys to places both touristy and remote. 

It’s a fascinating series, partly because time is spent on the logistical planning for the trip. And there are some amazing moments, particularly as they traverse areas with literally no roads, sometimes with the help of random Russian truckers. 

I partly enjoy these shows because I’ve found them to be beneficial for the “globe trotting” aspects of my comics work, showing remote, nearly inaccessible places and first hand experiences that don’t come up in ordinary research, that sometimes even inspire my stories.

My Adventures with Superman (Max)

Finally finished the second season of My Adventures With Superman—thought it was terrific. When I went into the first season, I thought it was going to be an episodic villain-of-the-week series, but it turned out to be more ambitious than that with a season-long arc involving Superman learning about his Kryptonian/alien identity. Season 2 builds on that as Superman learns more about his roots, deals with the fears that the public (and government) have for him, and the show opens up into space and science fiction.

I don’t know whether season 2 was based on any of the recent comics, but frankly, I thought the story arc was impressive enough on both an emotional and thematic level to serve as the basis of a full-length live action Superman film, bringing in Supergirl, Brainiac and even touching on the existential threat AI potentially poses to civilization. 

Bad Monkey (AppleTV+)

This series has been a fun watch. Set in the Florida Keys, this black comedy crime drama features a diverse cast of characters, many with their own secrets, flaws and agendas, but all driven by a central mystery set up in the very opening scene involving a severed arm. Although the “mystery” of that arm is revealed early in the series, the twisty storyline never loses its momentum.

At the center of it is a demoted and suspended police detective, played by series’ lead Vince Vaughn, whose distinctive persona and improv chops serve to elevate and distinguish the character and the series. In some ways, Bad Monkey is a shaggy dog story that is as much about the journey and character arc of suspended police detective Andrew Yancy as the mystery—indeed, the final payback of the main villain, almost a deux ex machina ending, seems almost like an afterthought and could easily have felt like a bit of a cop out and unsatisfying, had the other loose ends had not been tied up so satisfyingly.

Jeeves and Wooster

I recently re-watched the British Jeeves and Wooster television series. My wife and I discovered the series when it first aired in the 1990s, which not only introduced us to the world of P.G. Wodehouse, but also made us fans of the series’ leads, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Fry and Laurie were already known in Great Britain—particularly due to their comedy sketch show, A Bit of Fry and Laurie—but this series introduced them to American audiences. Indeed, we were so taken by the series, with both actors so perfectly cast, that we became fans and delighted in following their careers. 

Though the series ran four seasons of six episodes apiece, there were a few episodes I didn’t recall. Watching the series in their entirety made the reason fairly obvious—the PBS series didn’t air about three of the episodes, partly I’m sure due to the use of black face in some of the episodes (including the finale). Nevertheless, the series—capturing an era that  never really happened—remains a delightful and hilarious watch.

Live from New York!

We saw the film, Saturday Night, over the weekend and thought it was terrific. 

Set in the 90 minutes leading up to the premiere of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live, the story is told with an energy and edginess that captures the chaos behind the scenes as an unproven producer, and a largely unknown new generation of performers and writers, prepare to bring a new comic sensibility to network television and the pop culture landscape. 

SNL debuted when I was 13 years old and I started watching it with that very first season. (Monty Python’s Flying Circus began airing on PBS in New York City around the same time, so I was at the perfect age to discover these shows.) 

Given my memories of SNL in its early days, it’s amazing to see the actors capture the essence of those original cast members, sometimes simply with a look or a line delivery that gave me deja vu—the entire cast is outstanding from top to bottom. Seeing the re-creation of bits from those early seasons, or the first inklings of classic skits backstage, also triggered my memories. 

The film viscerally conveys what was at stake for those involved in the show and how groundbreaking it was at the time. Producer Lorne Michaels' journey as he battles the old guard at the network and struggles to define the show forms the spine of the story, but the arcs and challenges of many of show's cast members are portrayed as well. The film ultimately ends with great energy, immediately segueing into a nifty end credits sequence—I was buzzing when we walked out of the theater! 

Saturday Night is also a solid film that stands on its own. While both my kids know and watch SNL, they’re 21st century babies and don’t know much about the history of the show. But they’ve seen Saturday Night with friends separately from us, and they and there friends were wowed. 

By the way, a great companion piece to this film is a season-by-season history of SNL being serialized at the Saturday Night Live Network YouTube Channel that we've been watching. Below is the first episode.

A Return to Theaters

Yesterday night, we went to a showing of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It was part of a summer-long weekly Steven Spielberg film retrospective at our local theater in Culver City—we missed Raiders of the Lost Ark last week, but plan to see Last Crusade next week, which concludes the series.

Like many people, Temple of Doom is my least favorite of the Indiana Jones films. Though I love the opening Busby Berkeley-inspired musical number and the terrific action sequence that immediately follows (which has a very strong Terry and the Pirates flavor to it), I had not seen the movie in its entirety beyond those opening scenes in many years. I primarily went to accompany my wife who really wanted to see it and ended up really enjoying it. Seeing it on the big screen with a nearly full house made it great fun. (Our 19 year old son also accompanied us—he’s seen the movie too but never in a theater.)

As you’ll see in the photos, people even came in cosplay as Indiana Jones and other characters! They all gathered in the lobby afterwards—one even came dressed as Shia LeBeouf’s Mutt character in his Marlon Brando-inspired The Wild One leather biker outfit, though I didn’t take a photo.

I assume showing films in repertory has been a success because the theater is now running several retrospectives concurrently. A few weeks ago, we saw Babe as part of a weekly family summer film series and watched The Iron Giant as part of the same series a few weeks before. Both screenings were also well attended. A horror film series, presumably in the run up to Halloween, kicks off shortly with Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness. I should add these films are also at reduced prices—the family films were only $5.99/ticket while last night’s film was only $8.99/ticket (it’s reserved seating and they don’t even charge an online service fee!). Showing familiar classic films that people have a fondness for may be a way to get people back in the theater.

By the way, I had forgotten how intense and scary both Temple of Doom and Babe can be for younger audiences—during both films, in the middle of the show, I noticed that some families with young children left the theater.

I particularly look forward to a 100 Years of MGM retrospective that kicks off in September—it includes, of course, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind and Singing in the Rain, but also 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as A Night of the Opera, Shaft and others. (I’ve seen all these films theatrically, including 2001 in 70 mm). I remarked on how I’d like to see Singing in the Rain and 2001—my wife initially said she wasn’t interested in the latter, but changed her mind when she saw the trailer for it that screened before Temple of Doom, because it’s so beautifully shot! What particularly makes the venue ideal for the series is because the old MGM Studios (now Sony) lot is in Culver City as well, just down the street from the theater.

This local theater is a multiplex that was once an ArcLight. It went dark during the pandemic when ArcLight declared bankruptcy, but was purchased by Amazon Studios, which is next door to the property at the historic Culver Studios, in downtown Culver City. The theater is on a promenade next to one of the studio’s entrances. Though owned by Amazon, the theater still screens first-run theatrical films, though I’ve occasionally noticed special events and screenings there. Indeed, the 2022 West Coast red carpet premiere for Amazon’s Rings of Power series was held there, when the theater was technically still closed—we saw the temporary red carpet area they had set up, which included the Prime Video logo over the top of the theater entrance (see accompanying photo). I thought it was going to be a permanent fixture of the renamed theater, but the next time I was there, it was gone, so I guess it was just temporary for the purpose of the event. The venue is now simply the Culver Theater, though it is indeed owned by Amazon.

Below are two photos from 2022 of the ArcLight Theatre in Culver City, which by this time had gone dark due to the pandemic, and had been purchased by Amazon Studios. Though the theater had not been re-opened, it was used for the West Coast red carpet premiere for the Amazon series, The Rings of Power.

Legacy Theaters

Shortly before heading off to the San Diego Comic-Con, I heard the news that two classic movie houses in L.A. closing down at the end of that week: the Village Theatre and the Bruin Theatre, which both opened in the late 1930s. They’re classic movie palace theaters—they even have balcony seating (I remember seeing The Killing Fields in the balcony of one of the theaters, in a packed house.) The weekend before, we saw Twisters at the Bruin, which I guess is the last movie that played in that theater.

The theaters are across the street from each other in Westwood Village, just across the street from the UCLA campus. I’ve gone to those theaters since the 1980s, since that's where I went to college. Westwood was a real hotspot for young people and cruising during the ‘80s. As recently as a few years ago, the theaters were popular sites for red carpet movie premieres, such as the 1989 film, Batman, where I saw it opening weekend. I saw Blade Runner in one of those theaters too, along with many others.

During that era through the ‘90s, I often spotted celebrities walking up the street to attend a premiere at one of the theaters or just out and about, such as Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery on two separate occasions. I bumped into James Woods twice on the street (while actor Jon Lovitz walked by) and in the restroom at the Village. Another time, Billy Crystal, Jane Seymour and Lou Ferrigno were at the same movie showing within a few rows of me. I sat behind Bill Campbell and Jennifer Connelly at another show, shortly after their film The Rocketeer had been released. 

The Bruin was recently prominently featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood. In fact, I made a point to watch that film there. When the theater was revealed during the movie in a drone shot, the audience laughed and applauded.

The Village actually was recently purchased by a long list of Hollywood players led by director Jason Reitman. It is being refurbished and will re-open to play first-run films and repertory programming. The future of the Bruin remains unclear, though like the Village, it is designated an L.A. historic landmark.

A few years ago, UCLA purchased an abandoned movie theater not too far from these theaters, renovated it into a performance arts theater, and renamed it the Leonard Nimoy Theatre. I wonder had the Bruin been up for sale earlier would it have been purchased by UCLA at the time; or whether that’s potentially in the cards in the future.

REVIEW: Fly Me to the Moon

We saw Fly Me to the Moon last night and were charmed! It’s doing a lot of things—romantic comedy, a caper/conspiracy story, and the (mostly true) story of the Apollo 11 moon landing—all rolled into a fun package that they pull off. 

I like Scarlett Johansson, but she really shines here. I love performances that are just fun to watch and this is one such occasion. She’s sassy, smart, strong, sexy and funny, and exuded a real movie star quality. On the other hand, I have to admit, I’ve not been a particular fan of Tatum Channing, but there was one scene where he won me over with his character and as an actor, and I was on his side in the movie from then on lol. Cast was rounded out by Ray Romano (I never would have predicted it, but he’s always terrific onscreen regardless of the project) and Woody Harrelson pretty much doing what he does best. And one kinda fun cameo. 

 The film also had great photography/editing and a cool production (and sound) design with a definite Mad Men/space age feel—you wouldn’t expect it for a movie like this, but we definitely are glad we saw it on the big screen. 

 Frankly, it also served as a bit of reference/inspiration for my next story that's scripted and I've begun working on. But more about that in the future, soon enough!

A Lovely Father's Day

Had a wonderful Father’s Day. After lunch at Pink’s Hot Dogs, our main destination that day was the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. We last visited shortly after its opening in 2022. Among the exhibits was a retrospective of the films and career of John Waters.

The museum is housed at the historic May Company Wilshire Building, which is designated a historic cultural landmark by the City of Los Angeles, partly due to being a prime example of “streamline moderne” architectural design. (The interior was entirely renovated but the facade of the street-facing side of the building remains.)

Before being occupied (via a longterm lease) by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the property was purchased by the L.A. County Museum of Art (LACMA) next door. (The La Brea Tar Pits is on the other side of LACMA—the Petersen Automotive Museum is across the street, which we’ve also visited several times on past Father’s Days.)

LACMA has actually been undergoing a major renovation—when we were finished at the Academy Museum, we briefly strolled over to the LACMA grounds and could see the new museum under construction! (An artist’s rendition of the completed project is included in my photos below.)

The renovation began around 2020. In fact, in 2019, our daughter interned at LACMA as part of a very competitive L.A. County-wide high school internship program at the museum—she was the last cohort of internships before they paused the program due to the renovation!

Anyway, it was a wonderful Father’s Day that ended with a lovely dinner with the family at a favorite French restaurant, Meet Me in Paris (pictured above).

Photos of Pink's Hot Dogs:

L.A. County Museum of Art:

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures: