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I walked into Alice in Wonderland prepared to be completely underwhelmed. Something about Burton + Lewis Carroll + Depp seemed too on the nose for my taste. And yet -- mostly due to the fantastic performance of Mia Wasikowska -- I enjoyed the film far more than I ever expected. more ›

The trailers for Hot Tub Time Machine have been all over the TV for a couple months and the cast members have been making the rounds on late night shows for the last two weeks in anticipation of this weekend's opening. We had the chance to see the movie earlier this week and we found it very enjoyable and probably your best choice for an outright comedy flick this weekend. more ›

Late Night Notes: Crispin Glover will be on "Chelsea Lately" (11pm on E!) and we can't wait! He has a hilarious part in Hot Tub Time Machine and we're still bummed that we didn't get the chance to talk to him at the E! Oscars party a few weeks ago. more ›

MUSIC: The Los Angeles Master Chorale performs Handel's Messiah tonight at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. But the audience has a part in this fun sing-along. So get your "hallelujah" ready. 7:30 pm // Walt Disney Concert Hall // 111 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles // $16-$69 (Cheaper tickets are getting scarce). OUTDOORS: Santa Monica pretends its Pershing Square with an ice rink of its own. It’s a stone’s throw away from the Third Street... more ›

It almost feels like summer again as Beowulf comes crashing into theaters with a huge amount of hype. From where I'm sitting, though, that hype actually looks deserved. If 3-D is (once again) the future of film, consider me an early adopter. Combine a technical innovator like Zemekis with two--and I mean this as a true compliment--odd birds like Avary and Gaiman and you get a movie that is relentlessly beautiful and compelling. Love... more ›

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 film’s story. more ›

It's the first real day of the LA Film Festival so naturally a lot of films have sold out. But take heart--there are plenty of things to see. As of this morning, stand-by tickets are still available for Interview. Directed by Steve Buscemi and starring Buscemi and Sienna Miller, Interview tells the story of a journalist interviewing a celebrity that he doesn't particularly like (imagine that?). An adaptation of Theo Van Gogh's 2003 film of the same name, Interview received glowing reviews when it premiered at Sundance in the winter and is definitely worth your time. It plays at 2:00 p.m. at the Landmark Regent Theater. more ›

Crispin Glover's 2006 directorial debut, "What is It?" is being trotted out once again this year, along with the Crispin Glover Show, complete with exclusive interviews and curious media hype. Today I deliver to you a slightly more critical perspective than the review that accompanied last year's LAist interview. more ›

Hollywood, to corrupt Rabelais, abhors an iconoclast. This simple fact makes the long career of Crispin Glover all the more remarkable. Amazingly, it’s been almost twenty years since Glover’s infamous Rubin and Ed appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. Despite that apparent fiasco, Glover has continued to work regularly, often in big-budget studio fare like The Doors, The People vs. Larry Flynt and both Charlie’s Angels movies. The money earned from those films has been plowed into Glover’s own, more esoteric ventures, particularly the two films he has directed, What Is It? and It Is Fine. Everything Is Fine! more ›

What can I say about a film where images of Shirley Temple are juxtaposed with swastikas? Where Fairuza Balk's voice comes wailing through a snail? Where there's a scene of a naked man with cerebral palsy lying in a giant clam as he appears to be masturbated by a woman who's wearing a rubber monkey mask while a racist folk song plays on an old record player? I'm not totally sure I didn't hallucinate... more ›

Get your eyes ready for a busy weekend of visual art and suchlike: 1. Tonight at the Nuart: Bob Rafelson's movie Head featuring the Monkees. See Peter Tork punch an old lady, Frank Zappa insult Davy Jones, Teri Garr wear a prairie girl costume, and Victor Mature destroy a city, and hear the immortal line, "I'd like a glass of cold gravy with a hair in it, please." Yeah, yeah, Jack Nicholson wrote it... more ›

Yesterday we spotted Crispin Glover and Courtney Peldon in Chinatown. Are we sure it was Crispin? Well, he was wearing an immaculate black velvet jacket — in the middle of the afternoon. We started feeling all nostalgic for his mad-as-a-hatter days, the days of rat books and Nancy Sinatra covers, and YouTube comes through. From July 1987, it's Crispin Glover making a permanent enemy of David Letterman. more ›