"Searching"

 

John Cho is looking for his missing daughter and accosts a teenager played by Buck Reed in a theatre lobby in "Searching" (Sony Pictures, 2018). The film is set in the San Jose area and John had tracked him down at the "Oaktree Theatres." The location they used was the Regency Valley Plaza Theatres in North Hollywood. 

 

The kid posted an obnoxious remark saying the daughter was with him and he was her pimp. The film, directed by Aneesh Chaganty, also features Debra Messing, Michelle La and Sara Sohn. The cinematography was by Juan Sebastian Baron, Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick. Thanks to Cinema Treasures contributor Midnight Moon for noting the appearance of the theatre in the film. 

 

 

 The encounter ends up online. Here the guy in blue has also started filming it.

 

We watch with John as he later sees the footage online as "Crazy Dad Theater Attack."

 

 

Other customers flee as the encounter gets violent. The kid ends up in the hospital and the altercation doesn't lead John any closer to finding his daughter.  

For more about this six screen complex see the page about the Valley Plaza Theatres on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1976 on Bellingham Ave. just south of Victory Blvd. The theatres closed for good in 2020.

On IMDb: "Searching"

"Don Jon"

"Do you like movies?" Scarlett Johansson asks Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the romcom "Don Jon" (Relativity Media, 2013). It's set in New Jersey but the location they used for a date was the Valley Plaza Theatres in North Hollywood. He likes seducing many different girls but also has a love of porno. 

 

The film, directed by Gordon-Levitt, also features Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Brie Larson and Glenne Headly. The cinematography was by Thomas Kloss. Thanks to Jared Cowan for identifying the theatre. He included the film in "This Dilapidated Valley Shopping Center Is the Backdrop for Decades of Huge Movies and TV Shows," his fine 2020 article for Los Angeles Magazine. 

 

 

Heading into the lobby. Most people buy tickets at the boxoffice. These two are going to go look at the posters and then decide what to see.   

 

"So Hard So Fast" in 3-D is the movie more to his taste. Yet she's making all the decisions and loves romcoms as well as the two actors in "Special Someone," played by Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway.

 

He goes along with it and they head into auditorium #3.

 

During the movie she's enthralled but he tells us in voiceover what he thinks of the unrealistic plots and sappy characters of the genre. 

 

For the sake of the romance he pretends to have enjoyed it. Nice to see the seat counts for three of the complex's auditoria. 

 

 

The big moment in the middle of the lobby. He leans in for the first kiss.  

 

 

Of course we get the 360 degree pan around to observe. She turns out to be wonderful but he still needs to creep out of bed and watch porno. Julianne Moore is the one who eventually straightens him out.

 

For more about this six screen complex see the page about the Valley Plaza Theatres on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1976 and closed for good in 2020. The building is in NoHo at 6355 Bellingham Ave., just south of Victory Blvd.  

 

 

Later in the film Joseph is out at a joint getting some New Jersey style pizza with his buddies. The location is the 7th St. side of the State Theatre, 7th and Broadway. We see a Metro bus go by. 

On IMDb: "Don Jon"

"Captain Marvel"

After an interplanetary mishap, Starforce agent Brie Larson falls through space and lands in a Blockbuster video store in North Hollywood's Valley Plaza Shopping Center in "Captain Marvel" (Walt Disney Studios, 2019). Out the window it's the neon of the Valley Plaza Theatres on Bellingham Ave., just south of Victory Blvd.

The planet we call earth is known to Brie as C-53. When one of the characters is asked if she's visited, she responds: "Yes. It's a real shithole." The film, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, also features Samuel L. Jackson, Annette Bening, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Lashana Lynch and Clark Gregg. The cinematography was by Ben Davis. Thanks to Cinema Treasures contributor Midnight Moon for noting the appearance of the theatres in the film.

 

 

 

Brie approaches mall security officer Barry Curtis and after silence on his part asks "Do you understand me? Is my universal translator not working?" She gives him her name and ID data and asks if he's in charge of security for this district. He says: "Sort of. The movie theatre's got their own guy." She's lost contact with her team and wants to know where there's communications gear. He points to the nearby Radio Shack. 

 

 

 

We have the theatres in the background again the next morning when S.H.I.E.L.D. security agent Clark Gregg approaches the car and asks if he's the guy who called this in. Barry nods and points to the Radio Shack where Brie has been working to try to fix her communicator. 

 

After Brie gets away from the agents and there's a scuffle with another alien, Clark and senior agent Samuel L. Jackson get in the car to give chase. At least Samuel THINKS he's getting in the car with Clark. 

We get our last look at the theatres when Clark phones in to say "I'm still here at Blockbuster. Where is everybody?" It's then that Samuel realizes he's been driving around with a shapeshifting alien in the car. 

For more about this six screen complex see the page about the Valley Plaza Theatres on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1976 and closed for good in 2020.

On IMDb: "Captain Marvel"