Linda and I went to Target's American Film Institute Night at the Movies this week. This is the second year that they've had this event, I believe. AFI screens several classic/neo-classic movies at the same time in one night at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood, with either a prominent actor or director giving an introduction before the movie. I was a little torn because Denzel Washington was introducing "Glory" in one theater, Jodie Foster was introducing "Silence of the Lambs" in another, and Rita Moreno was introducing "West Side Story" in yet another. It also would have been cool to see Sean Connery (for "The Man Who Would Be King"), or Keanu Reeves (for "The Matrix"), though I wasn't as torn about those. Linda was torn about Connery, though. :) Since "West Side Story" is one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time, and I'd never seen it on the big screen, I decided on that one, and Linda eagerly agreed.
Linda and I happened to arrive at about the same time, so we went to dinner at the Jack-in-the-Box across the street, and tried not to get beaten up by the homeless woman whom was loudly talking to herself and everyone else in general.
We then walked to the theater, and saw Jim Carrey getting his picture taken on the red carpet. He was there to introduce "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." It must be difficult to have to deal with all of those people getting in your face to take your picture and yellling your name all the time. Yes, I 'm serious. It's just no wonder that some celebrities get such whacked-out views of the world. The line to enter the theater was pretty long, but only because they had a security check. Those people with cameras and cell phones with cameras were asked to either put them back in their car or check them in. I had already left my phone in the car when I saw the sign, so our entry into the theater was painless. We ran into one of Linda's co-workers, whom was there to see "American Beauty," which was introduced by Annette Benning.
Our theater was upstairs, and we were offered free drinks and popcorn, which was nice. I made sure to get a water bottle because it had a fleur-de-lis on it. I can't help it if I like fancy water! After our trip to the restrooms with the hooks on the doors made at the height for Amazon Women in Heels, we went into the theater and were led to our seats, which were in the very back left corner. Since the theater isn't that big, our seats were still in a good viewing location.
The screen showed trivia questions from WSS, and the speakers played music from all of the films being shown during the night. A volunteer from AFI talked to us a little bit about the evening, and asked trivia questions (that were different from the ones on the screen), offering prizes like Target Water Bottles to the winners. The second round of trivia questions required the contestants to finish the lyrics of songs, and sometimes required them to sing them. Now, I love WSS very very much, but I knew that if I got up in front of everyone, I'd forget every single word of every song and look like a complete idiot. Linda didn't go up there either. Instead, we sang to each other quietly after people answered their questions. One of the young girls had just finished playing "Anita" in her school's production of WSS this May; a lady had taken a picture with Rita Moreno in the Philippines when she found out that she was nominated for the Oscar; and an 11-year-old sang "I Feel Pretty" quite nicely. Those that sang won movie tickets and AFI hats. After the trivia questions were over, Linda asked me if she should just go up to the front and start singing (she would have completely blown away anyone else), and I offered to buy her dinner at Napa Rose if she did so. She also had the alternative of just singing loudly from the back corner, and I offered her dinner at Catal for that, but she still couldn't get up the gumption to do it. That's OK, Linda. I would have been too worried that they'd kick out the two of us before getting to see Rita M.
Some guy named Robert Mandel to tell us more about the movie's accolades. "West Side Story" has been honored 4 times by the AFI, won 10 Academy Awards out of its 11 nominations, and one of those was Rita Moreno's Best Supporting Actress award.
Ms. Moreno looked great. She said that she was happy to be there, as she shops at Target all the time. She marveled at the fact that WSS is 50 years old, and that the reason it endures is that the Movie itself is the star. It has "universal emotions in it and truths." She called the production one of "Choreographing to Character," as every move, every word that Anita did or said was pure Anita. Nobody else would have moved like her or talked like her. It was truly a treat for us to see her speak about how proud she was to be a part of the movie. She's awesome.
The movie itself was, of course, wonderful. My favorite scene of the movie is "America." Whenever the movie is being shown on AMC or whatever cable channel, no matter how late at night, I flip to it just to watch "America." I won't go to bed until I see it. Yes, I have it on DVD. But I'd just rather watch it right there. Well, whaddaya know, but when the scene played, I clapped quietly, but a lot of other people applauded at that time, too, so I got to be loud about it after all! I love that scene for the lyrics, the clothes, the dancing, the singing...it's just perfect. I also love that George Chikaris and Rita Moreno are wearing matching colors, which makes sense, since she works in a dress shop and probably has plenty of access to nice materials. The crowd seemed to particularly enjoy all of Anita's lines. For some reason, we didn't get to have an intermission like when it is usually shown. Perhaps they thought that we could last through the whole thing, which is fine, except for the fact that Linda and I love listening to that intermission music. I think that the only thing that I've never liked is Velma saying "Oobly Ooh." I so don't get that. It must be a thing from that era. I don't know. Otherwise, I loved the movie just as much as every other time I've watched it. I cried, I laughed, it remains a part of me.
Afterward, we shopped at the Arclight store, then stopped in at bodyfactory, a store with fancy health-type drinks and candles and such. No, I don't know how one goes with the other. Anyway, one of the employees there, Nadia, talked to us for quite awhile, and she was very entertaining about why she liked or didn't like the certain candle scents, and even talked about her roommates, and going to dance class. She was hilarious.
Linda and I said our goodbyes to Nadia and to each other, and called it a night. Thanks, Linda, for accompanying me! I had a great time, and hope that I get to go again next year. THIS is why one lives in L.A.: to go to cool events such as these. Middle America, eat your hearts out!
No comments:
Post a Comment