SLO Film

BY JUDY SCOTT San Luis Obispo’s Sunset Drive-in opened in June 1950 and today it maintains most of its original charm.  The bright neon signs are just as eye catching as they were 75 years ago. Showing a double-feature every night of the week, moviegoers recently came out for “Dog Man,” an animated action/comedy for kids at 7 p.m., and “Wolf Man,” a woodsy horror movie at 8:50 p.m. for an older audience. Customers can enjoy a night at the drive-in complete with classic snacks, thrilling entertainment, and a unique moviegoing experience. Since the 1980s the number of drive-in theaters has dwindled, from over 4,600 to around 300 today. The Sunset Drive-In still draws a sizable crowd – with 12 cars in the lot filled with families and friends on a Saturday night in February. Open seven days a week, SLO’s Sunset Drive-in always has a double feature and a swap meet on Sunday mornings. Ticket prices have increased since this sign was printed to $12 per person. Vintage decorations are dis...

On Wednesday January 22, Mustang Film Society showed Sofia Coppola's "The Bling Ring" for their first Women On Wednesday of the quarter. BY JUDY SCOTT On a Wednesday night in January, a crowd of moviegoers filled the Frost Center’s Expressive Technology Studio for a screening of Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring.” The event, put on by Mustang Film Society , Cal Poly’s film club, was part of a series honoring female filmmakers. Often overlooked and underrepresented in film are the women that work behind the scenes to bring dazzling images to the silver screen. Women comprised 24 percent of directors, writers, producers, editors and cinematographers working on the top 250 grossing films of 2022, down a percentage from the previous year, according to the Celluloid Ceiling report. While in recent years this percentage has begun to increase, women in film are still overlooked. To combat this issue and shed light on the work of women in the film industry, Mustang Film Society (M...

The movie poster for “Weird: the Al Yankovic Story” features Daniel Radcliffe  who plays Weird Al Yankovic. BY JUDY SCOTT In 1979, Al Yankovic, a nerdy Cal Poly architecture student, stepped across the hall from the radio studio where he worked as a DJ, entered the men’s restroom and strapped on his accordion.  His recording of “My Bologna” – a parody of the Knack’s smash hit “My Sharona,” recorded next to urinals and porcelain sinks – would set him on a course to becoming an 80s cultural icon. His story is just one of many to recently be turned into a Hollywood biopic. Biopics – short for biographical motion picture – are movies that dramatize the life of a public or historical figure. The genre has been around since the days of silent film, yet there has been a notable resurgence of biopic movies since the early 2000s but especially in the last six years. “Oppenheimer,” “Rocketman,” “Elvis,” “Napoleon,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Ferrari” are just a few of the many biopic film...