Liz Buda’s grandfather survived the concentration camps of Dachau, Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Kaufering, only to face the difficult conditions of the black market in a postwar displaced persons camp. Read more...
Photo: (Left to right) Channing Dungey, Liz Buda, Neil Landau and Tony Goldwyn pose at the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards, where MFA screenwriting student Buda won first place for the script of her pilot episode of “Zero Hour.” (Courtesy of Todd Cheney)
“Lady Bird” is a film almost all college students can relate to. Set in 2002, the film follows rebellious student Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), who desires to leave her Sacramento home and continue her education in college despite her parents’ wishes. Read more...
Photo: (Courtesy of Merie Wallace/A24)
“Thor: Ragnarok” is a thunderous film that sparks life into the Norse god’s tired trilogy. The last time audiences saw the god of thunder was in the disjointed “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and his previous stand-alone film, “Thor: The Dark World,” which felt humdrum and anticlimactic. Read more...
Photo: (Marvel Studios)
“Happy Death Day” Raunak Devjani, Theater | film | television editor Watching “Happy Death Day” is like listening to a scratched record playing a good album. Read more...
Photo: (Courtesy of Tony Rivetti Jr./Netflix)
Poor Will Byers just can’t catch a break. “Stranger Things 2,” which was released Friday on Netflix, revisits the sleepy town of Hawkins, Indiana, as supernatural events once again turn the lives of its residents upside down. Read more...
Photo: (Courtesy of Netflix)
Ava Bogle constantly played with Barbies as a child and now, she is directing them in her short film “Meryl Fuckin Streep.” In the film, Bogle, a UCLA alumna, uses Barbies dolls to satirize Hollywood and the filmmaking experience. Read more...
Photo: UCLA alumna Ava Bogle directed “Meryl Fuckin Streep,” a short film that features Barbie dolls as characters. In the film, two writers go into a meeting with Hollywood producers to pitch a film script. On arriving, they discover that the producers are living, speaking Barbie dolls. (Chelsea Zhang/Daily Bruin)
“The Square” is completely out of the box. The 2017 satire drama film by writer-director Ruben Östlund is a captivating spectacle of understated humor, with cleverly written moments of discomfort and thought-provoking actions. Read more...
Photo: Actress Elisabeth Moss plays an American journalist named Anne who sleeps with the main character Christian (Claes Bang). During the movie, she confronts Christian about their romantic connection in a museum, which is overheard by the docent. (Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
