Mark Olsen - Los Angeles Times

Mark Olsen

Staff Writer

Mark Olsen writes about all kinds of movies for the Los Angeles Times as both a feature writer and reviewer. He creates a regular series on independent, documentary and foreign language films under the banner of Indie Focus, also curating and hosting the Indie Focus Screening Series. His work has also appeared in Film Comment, the New York Times, LA Weekly, Sight & Sound and other publications. He is from Kansas.

Latest From This Author

Movies

Getting at the heart of American darkness, Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult go deeper than ever

Directed by Justin Kurzel, “The Order” is the fact-based story of an FBI agent tracking a violent neo-Nazi group in the Pacific Northwest during the 1980s.
Movies

Make it a John Hughes holiday plus the week’s best movies in L.A.

Also this week: Tributes to Kris Kristofferson continue with ‘A Star Is Born’ in 35mm, a celebration of the unique writer and performer Zoë Lund, and China’s ‘Black Dog.’
Nov. 22, 2024
Entertainment & Arts

How ‘Wicked’ star Cynthia Erivo became Elphaba, from ‘Defying Gravity’ to ‘the perfect green’

“Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo opens up about her personal connection to Elphaba.
Nov. 21, 2024
Entertainment & Arts

Cynthia Erivo on preparing for ‘Wicked,’ Saoirse Ronan talks ‘The Outrun’ and ‘Blitz’

Nov. 21, 2024
Awards

How ‘Wicked’ star Cynthia Erivo became Elphaba, from ‘Defying Gravity’ to ‘the perfect green’

In the season premiere of The Envelope, ‘Wicked’ star Cynthia Erivo on becoming Elphaba and Saoirse Ronan on her pair of awards contenders ‘The Outrun’ and ‘Blitz.’
Nov. 21, 2024
Movies

A new context for ‘There Will Be Blood,’ plus the week’s best movies in L.A.

Also this week: Pamela Anderson presents ‘The Misfits,’ 10 years of David Wain’s ‘They Came Together’ and a Kris Kristofferson tribute double-bill.
Nov. 15, 2024
Movies

Reconsidering Daniel Craig, plus the week’s best movies in L.A.

Also this week: Ann Magnuson and Susan Seidelman with “Making Mr. Right,” Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer’s “Candy Mountain” and a Nicole Holofcener double feature.
Nov. 8, 2024
Movies

Directors’ Fortnight comes to L.A. for the first time, plus the week’s best movies

Also this week: GuadaLAjara Film Festival, 30 years of Giant Robot and a 35mm nitrate screening of “Blonde Venus,” starring Marlene Dietrich.
Nov. 1, 2024
Movies

Review: A restaurant is a world unto itself in ‘La Cocina,’ one of the year’s freshest films

Starring Raúl Briones and Rooney Mara, the latest film from Alonso Ruizpalacios searches for signs of life in the intense work of running a not-great restaurant.
Oct. 31, 2024
Movies

‘John Malkovich isn’t me’: John Malkovich remembers ‘Being John Malkovich’

The title star of ‘Being John Malkovich’ looks back on the ‘iffy call’ to make the movie that would introduce audiences to future Oscar winners Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman.
Oct. 29, 2024