Emile Hirsch now regretting agent's 'can't miss' advice. | Photo courtesy of xiaming via flickr On Friday I surmised that Speed Racer would bomb and now the events of the weekend have borne that prediction out. The live-action cartoon sputtered to a weak $20.2M weekend, just ahead of What Happens in Vegas ($20M) and well behind the summer's first true blockbuster, Iron Man ($50.5M/$177.1M). Once the actual numbers come in on Monday, many expect Speed......

Still the champ but diminished | Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema It's usually good news for a movie when it wins the weekend box-office race. When the movie severely underperforms expectations, however, that win feels like more of a Pyrrhic victory. Such was the case with Semi-Pro this weekend as it only brought in about half of what was expected--a lowly $15.3M. Last week's champ, Vantage Point, held up well and took second......

A shy Will Ferrell covers his shame | Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema I'll go on the record and say that I think Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is the funniest movie in the last ten years. Will Ferrell's subsequent pictures--most of them amusing to varying degrees--have never lived up that early, brilliant standard. Semi-Pro is his latest picture and if its previews are any barometer of its quality, it looks like......

Be careful who you root for. L.A. County Federation of Labor's leader Maria Elena Durazo is taking some heat for her recent endorsement of Barack Obama, and her subsequent decision to take a leave from her post to work on his campaign. Speaking of labor...today was the launch of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, a coalition of local businesses hoping to emulate--and perhaps defend against--the organizational power of unions. The group "so far......

Mark Wahlberg lights up TV screens this week as Shooter reaches the DVD shelves. I don't know about you, but this tale of double-crosses and revenge had a distinct late 80s/early 90s vibe to it for me. Did Sly pass on this script 20 years ago or was it Steve in '95? For those of you who want to see Samuel L. Jackson in full-on Samuel L. Jackson mode, pick up Black Snake Moan.......

A Word Or 30: A wall of repeats ends a fairly good week of new TV. They had to pull celebrity commentators off of Anna Nicole's coffin today, leaving nail marks on the lid. Tonight - Friday - March 2nd, 2007 Sharks @ Ducks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Kings @ Lakers (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) 38th NAACP Image Awards (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) Hosted by LL Cool J Las Vegas (NBC, 9:00 p.m.) Ed thinks about......

When I heard there was a movie coming out about a black man who chains a nymphomaniac white girl to a radiator to save her from herself, I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to see Black Snake Moan, by Craig Brewer, the same writer/director who gave us Hustle & Flow last year. Brewer brings us another portrait of the dirty South filled with characters who must piece together their battered lives in the hopes......

A Word or 4: Have... a... great... weekend... Tonight - Friday - February 16th, 2007 College Basketball: UCLA @ AZ State (PRIME, 5:00 p.m. NBA All-Star Celebrity Game (ESPN, 7:00 p.m.) Hoops Ghost Whisperer/Close to Home/NUMB3RS (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.) All new. Nanny 911/Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy (Fox, 8-10:00 p.m.) Fox! Make it one show! Las Vegas/Law & Order (NBC, 9-11:00 p.m.) New & New Logan's Run (TCM, 9:155 p.m.) Farrah Fawcett-Majors! Yeah!!......

It may not be the best film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, but Black Snake Moan, director Craig Brewer's follow-up to Hustle & Flow, definitely has the best tagline. Even if it doesn't lead to an Oscar-winning comeback for mark Christina Ricci,* who spends a good chunk of the film chained to a radiator in her underwear, she can always cherish this stylish yet practical knit cap emblazoned with a silhouette of her......

Long Beach native Morgan J. Freeman has lived the good life, and finally he's sharing some of it with the rest of the world. Because Southern California wasn't plush enough, Morgan got his undergrad degree at UC Santa Barbara (where he met yours truly while we worked with each other at the college paper), jetted out to NYU for a little film school. Picked up a Sundance award during his last days at film......

The homey Defamer has the scoop on the end of the Eastside's indie cred... Hipsters, say goodbye to your East Side Fortresses of Indie Rock Solitude. Spaceland, The Echo, Silverlake Lounge: They're all targets of a coming invasion of celebrities looking to colonize your empire of thrift-store t-shirts, faux-hawks, and sweatbands. Lock up your babies! Hollywood is hungry for your blood! The panic comes after Christina Ricci + boyfriend were spotted at a recent Spaceland......