As the preeminent Keats scholar in my small cadre of illiterate friends, let me say that I was mostly outraged at the shabby treatment accorded the poet by director Jane Campion (LAist review here). I had such high hopes for this film when I entered the screening, but everything was dashed in short order. Gone was any indication of Keats' magnificent intellectual gift. Rather, he was rendered as little more than a simpering poet chasing after Fanny Brawne. Campion would have been better served focusing on Keats' last days in Rome with Joseph Severn. That would have made for some marvelous cinema. I probably liked I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell more than most, but then again I do fucking rule! Tucker Max is obviously a cretin, but the film is mostly a genial, albeit raw rendering of a bachelor party gone terribly south (LAist review here; LAist interview with director Bob Gosse here). It's definitely worth a peek on DVD (assuming there is tons more nudity). more ›

On this icy weekend, nobody's more explosive than Black Dynamite! The blaxploitation tribute lights up Long Beach this Friday, with exclusive giveaways & Adrian Younge, the Dynamite composer who brings more funk than the junk in your trunk! Want even more bang for your buck? The New Beverly has a neo-grindhouse triple-threat of Black Dynamite, Planet Terror & Death Proof sure to make your Sunday sizzle. Or go to LACMA for a quadruple Korean KO of Bong Joon-ho's The Host, Barking Dogs Never Bite, Memories of Murder (for free!) & Mother (South Korea's hard-boiled Oscar submission). If space is your place - head to Echo Park, for alien abduction documentary Hollywood UFO. Check your Milla Jovovich at the door. more ›

I have often criticized Steven Soderbergh for wasting his time, talent and energy on crap like the Oceans series. If only he would dedicate his life to things like The Informant!, which looks incisive and hilarious. Matt Damon, on the other hand, will likely never hear an unkind word from me. All he does is make superb and brave choices. Seriously, when was the last bad or dull movie in which Damon starred? Jennifer's Body looks like cynical, wordy, pseudo-clever tripe to me. Diablo Cody -- go away. Megan Fox -- go away. more ›

One tries to be objective when reviewing a film, but the reality is that you bring every moment of your life into a movie theater and some of those moments affect how you judge what you see. For me, Bright Star is tortuous to review because I've been reading anything by and about John Keats since college. From his childhood in London to the death of his parents and brother to his troubled relationship with his guardian to his time as a surgeon to his rapid growth as a poet to his early death in Rome -- every element of his life is always present in my mind. How then to judge a film which reduces that life to an unrequited, frantic love affair? more ›

Even though the book on which it was based was infinitely better than the resulting movie, the quasi-racist 21 still managed to dominate the weekend box office in its debut. It pulled in a healthy $23.7M, easily outdistancing the resilient ($5.8M/$20.2M). more ›