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Pondering Will Smith’s recent triumph at a local Cinemark and Donald Trump’s post-conviction surge, I got to thinking about “movie-think.”

You know, the way we’ve become accustomed, after watching hundreds and hundreds of mainstream films, to thinking the way the movies do. The real villain is someone in power. Anyone too pretty, male or female, is suspect. Things will get worse, much worse, before they get better. Our hero is almost always an outsider — someone who is knocked off a pedestal, beaten down, and kicked around, all the way to the bottom of the second act, before rising in triumph or existential martyrdom (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) to win our hearts and minds forever.

From our heroes, real or cinematic, we forgive and even expect transgression — a misbegotten slap, a tawdry liaison and all that comes with it. In movie-think, we honor the renegades,...

The iconic Fox Theater in Westwood may soon be taken over by an investment group led by Academy Award-nominated director Jason Reitman.

A report in The Ankler said the group is “weeks away from assuming control of the 1,400-seat theater.”

The property for the Fox Village Theatre was originally listed in early 2023.

The theater appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and has been home to countless film premieres and screenings.

Amenities include a corner lot, signage, and signalized intersection. Built in 1929, the cinema was opened in 1931 by Fox Film Corp. founder William Fox. The city officially named it a historic-cultural monument in 1988.

The commercial real estate tracking website CoStar reports that the theater is currently in escrow.

Reitman (Juno) is the only partner in the consortium identified so far, although several others are reportedly entertainment executives.

During Hollywood's Golden Era, Westerns ranked among the most popular film genres in the United States. Routinely, nearly a quarter of all Hollywood films produced were Westerns, meaning upwards of 100 Westerns premiered every year over several decades. While revisionist Westerns saw their fair share of success in the 1960s and 1970s, Westerns have never been able to regain the glory they achieved during the 1940s and 1950s.

Like any genre, Westerns have a small group of directors who excel at crafting some of the genre's most iconic works. Filmmakers such as John Ford, Sergio Leone, and Clint Eastwood have directed numerous movies within the Western genre that have influenced both future directors and popular culture as a whole.

Raoul Walsh Was One Of The Golden Era's Premier Action Directors <img alt="Raoul Walsh standing by camera" data-image-id="1746334" height="500" src="https://static0.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/raoul-walsh-standing-by-camera.jpg" width="1000" />

Related 10 Best Non-American Action Films, Ranked The world of action cinema goes well beyond the United States, with classics like Crouching Tiger,...

I recently discovered my pioneer producer great-grandfather Sol M. Wurtzel’s obituary in the April 16, 1958 edition of Variety. In 1917, mogul William Fox sent Sol to oversee production at his Hollywood studio. During his lengthy career as a Fox Studio head, Sol produced over 700 films.

One short paragraph blew my mind. “In 1933, when his [Fox Studio] Western Avenue lot was threatened with a three-month shuttering, Wurtzel went to bat for his staff, refusing to take anyone off salary. The studio remained open, and costs were charged to his later productions.” Wow, exactly 90 years ago, a studio executive cared enough about his employees to keep them on payroll.

During the height of the Great Depression, my great-grandfather bet the house, so his employees had money to cover rent, put food on the table and pay their medical bills. A hardcore gambler, he risked his own career and financial future.

He bluffed his way through,...

Commercial real estate firm Newmark has updated a listing for the iconic Fox Village Theatre in Westwood, which has been operated by Regency Theaters since 2010.

The listing, which was first reported by UCLA student newspaper The Daily Bruin, was first posted on January 18 and was updated on June 20 ahead of the expiration of Regency’s current lease for the theater at the end of July. If sold, the new owner would take over property control of both the theater and adjacent storefronts, including a next-door Starbucks, and would have the option to choose whether to continue the lease.

TheWrap has reached out to Newmark and Regency for comment and will update with any response.

First opened in 1931 as part of a series of cinemas opened by Fox Film Corporation founder William Fox — whose name would be the basis of 20th Century Fox — the Fox Village Theater is best known for...