After last week's monster Thanksgiving schedule, Hollywood wisely takes a breather from wide releases. In limited release, there's sex addicts, Bollywood starlet biopic & even more animation! more ›

To no one's surprise, the unnecessary re-make of Clash of the Titans easily claimed the box office crown this weekend thanks to America's pathetic embrace of bad 3-D. The crappy reboot hauled in $61.4M ($64M) to easily top the equally mediocre Tyler Perry's Why Do I Keep Making Bad Movies ($30.1M). The fantastic How To Train Your Dragon claimed $29.2M worth of treasure to top Miley Cyrus' pointless shit-fest The Last Song ($16.2M | $25.5M). The solidly entertaining Alice in Wonderland ($8.2M | $309.7M) rounded out the top 5. more ›

If ever a movie didn't cry out for a re-make it was Clash of the Titans. The original wasn't necessarily good, but it was beloved by a distinct sliver of the populace. They will now hate this re-make, while those new to it will think the movie is just stupid. Which it is. A last-minute 3-D conversion only adds to its mediocrity. At least, it's not the worst movie of the weekend. That is surely The Last Song. Miley Cyrus is, of course, grotesque in everything. My question is this -- what's a solid actor like Greg Kinnear doing in this shit? more ›

Now that all the publicity and hype have passed, isn't it obvious that there is no way in hell Sandra Bullock should have won an Oscar instead of the divine Carey Mulligan in An Education? I had serious doubts about Sherlock Holmes when it was originally announced, but I found it to be much better than I expected. Sure, it was your typical, bloated, over-done studio film, but it was actually a pretty good one. Baader Meinhof Complex was the best foreign movie you didn't see last year. If you couldn't get onto the incredibly exclusive guest list at UCB, at least now you can see the star-studded A Night of 140 Tweets on DVD. Cheers to Paul Scheer for organizing this charity bonanza. Spankers and Horat released in the same week? Amazing! more ›

This is my third year-end best list for LAist (2007, 2008), and it ain't getting any easier. I could easily list forty films that are worth your time and money, but that would get all sorts of unwieldy and expensive so I'll limit it to the traditional ten. I won't even try to rank them. All I'll say is that each one captured my imagination in a unique way, and each still lingers clearly in my memory. There's a mixture of studio and independent films, documentary and narrative -- in short, something for everyone. If there are any films listed below that you haven't seen, I urge you to spin up your Netflix queue and go add them now. Also, if there's anything you believe I've criminally ommitted, please let me know and I'll be happy to joust with you in the comments. more ›

Despite middling reviews, America warmed up to Couples Retreat this weekend as it easily topped the box office chart with a haul of $35.3M. Last week's champ, Zombieland finished a distant second with $15M ($47.8M) but managed to top the sturdy Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs ($12M | $96.2M). The Toy Story 1 & 2 double-feature continued to do good business ($7.6M | $22.6M) while sleeper Paranormal Activity did huge business in its first weekend of wide release ($7M | $8.2M). more ›

I was excited when Couples Retreat first popped on my radar a few months ago. I mean, coupling the Vaughn | Favreau | Billingsley team with Demiurge Jason Bateman seemed like a match made in mainstream comedy heaven, right? Nope. Michael Sheen has quietly become a top-notch, see-everything-he-does actor. I know more about the Bible than I do about soccer, but I'll queue up for The Damned United just to see Sheen. It's already being written: An Education will produce one of the next great stars and that star is Carey Mulligan. more ›