There are two movies that are being scandalously left off the year-end best lists. The first, Rescue Dawn, is already out on DVD. The second, Once, is available today. Simply put, this is one of the best musicals and love stories in years. Buy it and watch it immediately. The Simpsons Movie was much better than I expected. If only the same care was put into the TV series. Why did Stardust bomb? It......

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......

Considering its initial mixed critical reception and middling box-office performance, it's sort of amazing how Blade Runner has grown in stature over the last two decades. In 2007, the American Film Institute even named it the 97th greatest movie of all time. Starting Friday, a final version of the film (there have been 7 different cuts) will begin screening in Los Angeles and if you're even half a fan of this movie you should......

Horror movies seem to come and go in cycles. Just as the wave of Japanese re-makes tapered off, so-called “torture” porn began its ascent. Given that, it’s refreshing to watch a horror film like The Wizard of Gore that doesn’t fit neatly into any category. It certainly has its share of gore (wonderfully specific and gruesome, by the way), but the bloodletting never overshadows the psychological war that is at the heart of the......

If you want a dose of smartness on Saturday, what could be better than the Science Matters panel on The Science and Ethics of Reproductive Cloning? The 2-hour discussion starts at 1:30pm at the California Science Center at Expo Park and is absolutely free. Smart, lively Geoffrey Cowan — Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at USC — will moderate, which is a good sign. The panel will talk about hard science, perhaps......

Mark Vallen has been making art in Los Angeles for more than 30 years. A native Angeleno, Mark has integrated the city's residents and landmarks into his work since his teens, when he worked on seminal LA punk publication Slash Magazine and captured the early punk scene in a series of sketches, drawings, and paintings. Mark continues the DIY spirit by supporting LA's contemporary art scene, advocating for change against the status quo and sharing......

Today, as we're sure you know, is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Perhaps his "I Have a Dream" speech is what inspired the LA Times to ask a bunch of local activists and entertainers what they would dream up for an imagined Los Angeles. To our surprise, nobody invoked Blade Runner. Instead, people are thinking along the lines of transportation (TC Boyle, Mike Watt) and graffitti (Robbie Conal). So we put the question to......

"Kinetic advertising" seems to be on a roll in Los Angeles over the past few years. Hollywood and Highland, Sunset Boulevard at Kings Road, and the Aroma Wilshire Center have adopted the advertising medium that makes us wonder if Blade Runner wasn’t entirely so far-fetched after all. Now it appears the Citadel in City of Commerce is the next site positioned to attract bored eyeballs that crave pumped up lights and action. This move......

Ever nearly rear end someone while staring at those Blade Runner-esque dynamic digital billboards that dazzle and daze passing motorists at numerous intersections around town? Those same devices that might push drivers to dangerous distraction are now urging us to mind the road. Go figure. LAist is skeptical about the logic behind the DOT�s $2 million, multilingual campaign that hopes to curb careless, aggressive, and/or reckless behavior. Despite good intentions (urging people to use......