‘Short Term 12’ a decade later, and the best movies to see in L.A. this week

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Veteran film programmer and curator Doug Jones was a well-known fixture of the independent film scene in Los Angeles, most recently involved in launching Vidiots at its new home in Eagle Rock. So it was a shock when news circulated last week of Jones’ death at age 53.

Jen Yamato and I spoke to a number of Jones’ friends and colleagues to learn why his death seemed to be striking such a tender nerve. Often a background player by choice, Jones had quietly and steadily provided support to many in the community of filmmakers and film-festival workers of which he was very much a part. To have that pillar suddenly gone was particularly destabilizing.

“He was gentle and reserved, but also one of the most energetic, playful, warm people on Earth — the last to leave a party, the first to talk movies or music with a stranger in a crowded room,” said Maggie Mackay, executive director of Vidiots Foundation. “This duality, and a deep affection for art and humanity, were key to his building a massive creative community around him; he is the center of a web of filmmakers, artists, and programmers who, more than anything, are friends.”

There may be no better way to celebrate Jones’ legacy than to head out and see some movies. So here’s some of what’s playing this week.

Back at the Egyptian, in 70mm

Following a multi-million-dollar renovation courtesy of new owner Netflix, the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood is finally reopened. The American Cinematheque is back to handling some of the programming for the venue and has launched the latest iteration of its 70mm festival to show off what the theater is capable of.

Titles include Jacques Tati’s “Playtime,” an astonishing experience in the 70mm format, along with Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” and “The Master,” James Cameron’s “Aliens,” Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Spartacus,” Jordan Peele’s “Nope” and Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch.”

‘Short Term 12’ turns 10

Brie Larson and LaKeith Stanfield in the movie “Short Term 12.”

(Brett Pawlak / Cinedigm)

If it feels shocking to realize that the movie “Short Term 12” is now 10 years old, you’re not alone.

“Honestly can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton told The Times via email. “When we were making this movie, most of us were brand new in our careers. I remember stepping on set that first day and seeing the small village of people getting ready for our first scene. I was scared out of my mind, convinced that someone was going to find out I had no idea what I was doing.”

On Sunday, the UCLA Film and Television Archive will mark the occasion with a screening of the film plus a Q&A with Cretton. The indie tells the story of the young staff of a group home for troubled teenagers, based in part on Cretton’s own experiences working in a similar facility.

In the years since the film’s release, cast members Brie Larson and Rami Malek have gone on to win Oscars, while others, including John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, LaKeith Stanfield, have also stepped into remarkable careers. Cretton himself made the Marvel adventure “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and Larson also stars in this weekend’s “The Marvels.”

“I think it was pretty clear to everyone on set that this cast was special,” Cretton said. “The first scene we shot was the whiffle-ball scene, which had the whole cast in it. Brie Larson, Rami Malek, Kaitlyn Dever, LaKeith Stanfield, Stephanie Beatriz and the rest of our brilliant young cast were all happily sweating in the blazing sun together with no air-conditioned trailers to retreat to, no personal chefs or drivers, no money, no sleep and no complaints because we didn’t know any better. We were having the time of our lives.”

In his original Times review of the film, Kenneth Turan wrote, “This is an accessible film that honestly earns every bit of its emotional impact. Critical to ‘Short Term 12’s’ success is its gift for believability, for putting on screen people who are unmistakable individuals. In a larger sense, this is a film about the riskiness involved in both caring for another human being and having someone else care for you.”

I profiled Larson in 2013 ahead of the South by Southwest world premiere of “Short Term 12,” which was her first time playing the lead in a film. I also caught up with Cretton and Larson again for the film’s release and she spoke about how she connected to the role of Grace, a young woman striving to move forward in her own life, “I read it and the initial feeling was that it was so right for me,” the actor said. “There was something about this script that, from the second I read it, I just knew. I just knew what I was supposed to do, I knew that person. And it wasn’t really me, but it was like the deepest part of me was Grace.”

For Cretton, the experience of making the film has provided lessons he has continued to draw from.

“This story was based on a very impactful season of my life, exploring many of the fears and questions I was dealing with at that time,” Cretton said. “I learned that making movies can be a form of therapy, a way of exploring life’s mysteries alongside a group of creative friends. We were just a bunch of kids trying to understand the world a little more through making a movie. That’s something I try to hold on to as much as I can.”

Other points of interest

Christina Ricci, left, and Charlize Theron in the movie “Monster.”

(Newmarket Films)

‘Monster’ turns 20 On Saturday at the Aero Theatre, the American Cinematheque will host a 20th anniversary screening of “Monster” with director Patty Jenkins doing a Q&A. The film won an Oscar for Charlize Theron’s performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who was executed in 2002 for murdering seven men.

One of the earliest pieces I wrote for The Times brought Jenkins together with director Nick Broomfield, who had made two documentaries on Wuornos. The two filmmakers had never met and it made for a fascinating conversation on approaching the same story from the perspective of a fiction film and a documentary, both of them trying to get at some sense of truth about a deeply troubled woman who had been wronged by the system her entire life.

Jenkins spoke about the casting of Theron: “I believed wholeheartedly she could do it,” the director said. “I thought deep down inside she has a real strength of character that would make her able to have heart and still punch back. As best I could, I wanted to make a really correct film.”

“Monster” makes iconic use of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” for a sweet roller skating scene between Theron and Christina Ricci years before it would be used in the finale of “The Sopranos.” As Jenkins and Broomfield were wrapping up their conversation, Journey frontman Steve Perry stopped by the table we were sitting at in the lobby lounge at the ArcLight Hollywood and sat with us until we finished. (He and Jenkins were going somewhere together afterward.) I think I may have said, “You’re Steve Perry from Journey!” in surprise before I realized the words were coming out of my mouth.

The L.A. blues of ‘Too Late’ On Friday night, the Secret Move Club will be screening Denis Hauck’s “Too Late” in 35mm, along with a preview of footage from Hauck’s upcoming film “Al’s Brand,” shot by cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. (Filmed in 70mm, that footage will screen in 35mm.)

“Too Late” premiered at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival, where it played in LACMA’s now-demolished Bing Theatre. The film is a modern-day L.A. detective story, with John Hawkes playing a P.I. on the trail of a missing woman. The film is told in only five scenes, with each scene running in a single uninterrupted take that is the length of a roll of film. The extended effect is unexpectedly mesmerizing. The strong cast also includes Joanna Cassidy and Robert Forster.

In an interview at the time, Hauck said the style of the film was more than just a clever hook, noting, “It is a gimmick, but it was more of a way for me to make a movie and just challenge myself. But I never liked pitching it that way. I didn’t want it to seem gimmicky. I was proud of the script and I felt like it could stand on its own.”

‘Can’t Hardly Wait’ On Monday, the New Beverly Cinema will screen a double feature of 1998’s “Can’t Hardly Wait” and 1987’s “The Allnighter.” The former, written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont (before their true masterpiece, 2001’s “Josie and the Pussycats”), is a fun entry in the one-crazy-night subgenre of teen comedies, centered on a suburban high school‘s graduation party, with a cast that includes Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Seth Green and Lauren Ambrose.

In his original review of the film, Times critic Kevin Thomas wrote, “For all its nonstop energy and high spirits, ‘Can’t Hardly Wait’ allows its characters to emerge as fully dimensional individuals; they’ve been written with care and perception and played with equal aplomb by a roster of talented young actors.”

Written and directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs, “The Allnighter” is an updated beach-party movie best known for featuring the filmmaker’s daughter, Susanna Hoffs, at the height of her fame with the Bangles.