While it was expected to be a close race, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($53.5M) easily topped Terminator Salvation ($43M) to capture the weekend box office crown. Both of these borderline movies will surely be blown out of the water next week by the absolutely fantastic Up (saw it; loved it). Star Trek slipped to third but still had a strong weekend ($21.9M/$183.5M), managing to edge last week's champ Angels & Demons ($21.4M/$81.5M). Newcomer Dance Flick finished fifth with a decent take of $11.1M. more ›

Defying all expectations (and good common sense), Fast and Furious roared to the top of the weekend box office chart with an April-record haul of $72.5M. Last week's champ, Monsters vs. Aliens, came in a very distant second ($33.5M/$105.7M), but easily outdistanced A Haunting in Connecticut ($9.5M/$37.2M), the awful Knowing ($8.1M/$58.2M) and the hilarious I Love You, Man ($7.8M/$49.2M). In the latest indictment of America's cultural decline, the wonderful Adventureland limped to a weak, sixth-place finish ($6M). more ›

There is one movie that everyone should see this weekend and that movie is Adventureland. Alternately funny and touching, it is another rousing success from director Greg Mottola (LAist review here). That said, there is another movie that probably everyone will actually see and that is Fast & Furious. I admit it -- I liked the first title in this series. It had a Point Break-ish quality to it. But is this latest reboot really necessary? Pass. more ›

After more than a decade in the wilderness following his fine 1996 debut, The Daytrippers, director Greg Mottola roared back into public consciousness in 2007 with the wonderfully foul Superbad. His follow-up to that, Adventureland, is a much gentler work that should cement his position as a sought-after director for years to come. Based on Motttola's teenage experiences working at an amusement park in the 80s, the film is a wonderful conflation of two disparate genres: daffy comedy and genuinely affecting coming of age flick. more ›

LAist has had a regular column about television for almost two years now - we're not saying it's a good column, but it's been very regular, which is something to think about as you get older. While Los Angeles has been a mecca of film for the last 75 years or so the migration of TV production to Los Angeles didn't really begin until 50 years ago. For the most part, TV, like radio, started in New York City (please, no snarky comments about Philo T. Farnsworth inventing TV in San Francisco) where all the major networks are still based along with MTV, Comedy Central, HBO, and it's where more than 100 TV shows are produced. more ›

Tonight - Friday - February 2nd, 2007 more ›