Less is more, Shia! Less is more! | Photo courtesy of Paramount A few weeks ago we ran a story called "Irksome and Insufferable: The Ten Most Annoying Singers". Given that actors are just as capable of being annoying as musicians, I thought it would be worthwhile to throw out 10 names for public review. I avoided the easy ones (Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, etc.) and tried to cobble together a list of actors......

a writer's perspective Today flew by. I stumbled up to the sign in table just before 6am, and before I knew it, I had been walking the line an hour longer than I was scheduled to. Perhaps I can attribute this to my newfound inner-peace. Considering all the hysteria that accompanies the daily ups and downs of negotiating, I have decided, at least for the time-being, to just let go. As someone said to......

Though it's opening weekend box office total was surprisingly low, it was no surprise that critics savaged The Heartbreak Kid. Of all the Farrelly Brothers movies, only There's Something About Mary received good notices (the very funny and underrated Stuck on You and the weak Fever Pitch did okay). Comedies, of course, never get the critical respect that dramas do and vulgar comedies typically fare worst of all (with the notable exception of Judd......

Despite early expectations that it would top $20 million in its opening weekend, The Heartbreak Kid failed to knock off The Game Plan at the box office. Though it's actually better than its fairly dismal reviews, The Heartbreak Kid could only muster $14 million in its debut frame, while The Game Plan reigned for the second straight weekend with $16.2M ($42.8M) and is now, unfortunately, a bona fide hit. Damn you, America! Can't you......

There was a time when I thought Ben Stiller was one of the more inventive comic minds in the business (consider these hilarious shorts as proof--1,2,3,4,5,6). He can still be funny (witness his brilliant turn on Curb Your Enthusiasm), but it seems like he mostly wants to play it safe now. Let's hope that The Heartbreak Kid is a return to old form, both for Stiller and the inconsistent Farrelly Brothers (who direct). Swedish......

Man, didn't you just love "Freaks and Geeks"? Weren't you pissed when it got cancelled, almost as pissed as you were when they cancelled "Arrested Development"? Or, if you discovered it post-axe, weren't you pissed there was only one season to savor on DVD? But then The Forty-Year-Old Virgin came out and was really funny and did really well at the box office, and you were still pissed about "Freaks and Geeks", but at......

But it was for a good cause, right? LAist watched the entire two hours of American Idol's telethon tonight, which was broadcast at both the regular Idol studios and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. And while we admire Ryan Seacrest and company for trying to do something good for kids living in poverty in both America and Africa (checkout myspace.com/idolgivesback or the Idol Gives Back page for ways to donate), we felt cheated and......

Year of the Dog's Laura Dern and Molly Shannon with writer/director Mike White OK, so we were invited to the Paramount lot -- but wouldn't it be more dramatic if we crashed it? Could additional drama even be necessary at the premiere of a movie about relationships, work, death, and dogs, with a tagline begging the question: "Has the world left you a stray?" Year of the Dog hits theaters next Friday, the 13th.......

The New York Times seems to think so. We can confirm that among the 800 or so who paid $2,300 a head to rub elbows with Barack Obama for a minute or two at the Beverly Hilton were: Jennifer Aniston, Burt Bacharach, Mario van Peebles, Stephen Spielberg, Arianna Huffington, Ben Stiller, Morgan Freeman, Zach Braff, Eddie Murphy, Ron Howard, Taye Diggs, Norman Lear, JJ Abrams, Paul Reiser, Christine Lahti, Jackson Browne, and Natalie Maines.......

Movie grosses have for some reason become mainstream news, so starting today here's your weekend box office report. I'm only writing this column so I can someday use screaming headlines like "Boffo at the B.O.!" and other flagrant abuses of Variety-speak. (BTW, thank you Variety for posting weekend grosses so promptly on your site every Sunday morning. You've made my job a whole lot easier.) The big news? People are still watching Night At The......

Special Screenings & Limited Releases Jean-Luc Godard's Two or Three Things I Know About Her opens for a week-long run at the Nuart in West L.A. Saturday at 7:30pm The American Cinematheque screens a real, live 70mm print of Lawrence of Arabia at the Aero in Santa Monica. See this movie on the big screen the way it was meant to be seen! Major Releases The Good Shepherd & The Good German -- I......

Tonight - Wednesday Lakers @ Timberwolves (KCAL, 5:00 p.m.) "After Jesus - The First Christians" (CNN, 7:00 p.m.) Takes a look at the beginnings of Christianity, and let me tell you something, they didn't celebrate Christmas Raptors @ Clippers (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) "A Christmas Carol" (TNT, 8:00 p.m.) This is a pretty darn good '99 version starring Patrick Stewart as Scrooge "America's Next Top Model: British Invasion 2" (the CW, 8:00 p.m.) Supposedly the......

Tonight - Tuesday Lakers @ Bulls (KCAL, 5:30 p.m.) (What In) Sam Houston State @ UCLA (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) College Basketball Flames @ Kings (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) "Identity" (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) This is the only non-repeat thing on at 8 pm. "Big Day" (ABC, 9:00 p.m.) Back-to-back new episodes, yip..... pee.... "Independent Lens" (PBS, 10:00 p.m.) Profile of 5 Cuban photographers - flickr, go eat your jeart out. "The Little Girl Who Lives Down......

Tonight - Monday TV Junkie is desperate, there ain't crap for new stuff on tonight other than late night talk - and the (free) movie channels have nothing inspiring on AND I have no new DVDs to look at, somebody help me for effssake! Monday Night Football: Bengals @ Colts (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.) Flames @ Ducks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) "Identity" (NBC, 9 p.m. EST) A new game show with Penn Jillette, let the magic......

In television the lowest of the low is the Production Assistant, the PA. Everyone's bitch, the PA works the hardest, gets the most shit, gets paid the worst and usually isn't allowed even to talk to the talent. So when stories like this one end up on our browsers about people like Jaime Paxton, who started off as a PA on MTV's "Laguna Beach", we smile, for the PA has overcome all odds and......

Are Ben Stiller, Christina Applegate and Taye Diggs American Idol groupies? While they weren’t the only celebs that Fox tcaught on camera at the Kodak, the sightings show how much this pop competition has become a red-hot ticket in Hollywood. Even the networks pulled their regular programming, and those not watching AI were given the choices of Stephen King’s “Desperation” on ABC or the Academy of Country Music Awards on CBS. NBC really threw......

If you've only seen one of the nominated movies, haven't voted in any pools and are really only tuning in to the Oscars to see Jon Stewart, the, highlights of the evening are not so much the awards as any funny or memorable moments in the ceremony. So far: - Stewart turned his trademark self-deprecation into a funny opening film that poked fun at all the rumors that he was far down on the......

KABC has wasted no time in getting the awkward questions, stammered remarks, and best wishes to everyone coming down the red carpet. So far we've already heard them refer to Ben Stiller as "studly", and Naomi Watt's very current gown as "vintage". It's almost too painful to watch, but you know we'll keep doing it. Our highlight so far has been hearing Paul Giamatti say, in reponse to the interviewer asking if he'd ever......