Tag Archives: Movies

Adventures in L.A., Places to Visit

Vidéothèque is Now Open in Highland Park. Go Rent a Movie.

Vidéothèque video store in Highland Park, Los Angeles. (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)

Vidéothèque is back! After moving from South Pasadena to Highland Park, the 20-year-old video store is open again for rentals from its catalog of 45,000+ releases. 

I stopped by on Saturday night to check out the new shop, which is located on Figueroa, near where Cypress Park and Highland Park meet, and was immediately impressed by how spacious it is. There’s a front room dedicated to movie posters and store merchandise. In the main room, you’ll find Xenon set up towards the front window and there’s now plenty of room for you and your crew to hang out and play a few rounds of pinball. Behind the maze of DVDs and Blu-Rays, you’ll find an alcove with a jukebox as well as the store’s record selection. 

If you already rent from Vidéothèque, you’ll enjoy the new space. If your reaction to this post is, “wait, video stores are still a thing?”, then you should make plans to visit and see what you miss when you stick with streamers. 

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Film

Phantom of the Paradise Is the ’70s Rock Musical You Need to See

William Finley and T.O.N.T.O. in a scene from Phantom of the Paradise (1974) directed by Brian De Palma with music by Paul Williams
William Finley as Winslow Leach and T.O.N.T.O. in Phantom of the Paradise

On its surface, Phantom of the Paradise, the 1974 sold-my-soul-for-rock-n-roll musical, may not seem like it’s a Brian De Palma film. It’s, essentially, a retelling of The Phantom of the Opera with a meta-dose of Faustian legend, along with touches of The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s campy, drawing plenty of comparisons to Rocky Horror, the film adaptation of which came out the following year. But, if you stick around to the movie’s final concert scene— and you should— you might have the same reaction that I did, which is, “OMG, Carrie!”

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Film, The Playlist

Watch This Now: Falco- Verdammt, wir leben noch!

Falco verdammt wir leben noch Falco biopic

Falco: Verdammt, wir leben noch! is a 2008 Austrian biopic of the late pop singer Falco, released in the U.S. under the title, Falco: The Rise and Fall of an ‘80s Pop Icon. Now, you might be scratching your head and thinking, “There’s a Falco biopic? Why?” In fact, that’s exactly what went through my dumb American brain when I recently learned of the existence of this film.

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