Robocop lives again! | Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema Michel Gondry is one of the few major directors who still relies on almost entirely visual humor in his films. Be Kind Rewind has numerous instances of pure daffiness and a few nuggets of outright brilliance. Yes, Martin Lawrence still has a flourishing cinematic career. Wonders never cease. For the first couple of episodes, Californication relied a bit too much on David Duchovny banging......

Hope that video camera fires bullets, Mr. Secret Service! | Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Mediocre political thriller Vantage Point topped the box office this weekend, grossing a solid $24M in its opening frame. It was the only new film to do significant business as hold-overs held the next five spots. Jumper dropped precipitously in its second weekend (-54%) but still managed to make $12.65M ($56.2M). Family picture The Spiderwick Chronicles showed considerably more......

Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema If you think you know what Be Kind Rewind is all about, you're probably mistaken. The film's advertising would lead you to believe that it's a raucous comedy about two losers forced to re-make classic films on a zero budget to hilarious effect. While that's certainly a major plot point, it only exists to serve what I think is the film's subtext. Namely, Be Kind Rewind is a......

John Sayles has enjoyed one of the more respected careers in film over the last twenty-five years. By some estimates, he is the king of the uncredited re-write and has used the large fees he's garnered as a script doctor to further his own career as a writer-director. His resume is studded with several superb pictures (Sunshine State, Passion Fish, Eight Men Out, The Brother from Another Planet) and one masterpiece (Lone Star). Tonight......

The list is a little long this week since I'm including the Christmas Day openers. Having already raved about There Will Be Blood yesterday, I'll lead off with what some are calling the best horror film of the year, The Orphanage. For any horror fan who's tired of torture porn and bad Japanese re-makes, this is the movie for you. Grim and spare, it's a horror film for adults and Spain's foreign-language entrant for......

Let's face it, 2007 was a mediocre year for movies. Although there are still a couple months left for 2007 to prove it's cinema value, overall it was a disappointing year. Sure Hollywood gave us "300", "Zodiac", and "Once", but we also got "The Number 23", "Norbit", and "Code Name: The Cleaner". So I have my eyes set on 2008, which seems to have a wonderful slate of features for us to see at......

From time to time, LAist will take a look at the many book-to-film projects underway in Hollywood. We'll explore the books we love and why we're over-the-moon excited or just plain worried about the film projects that bear their name. The Lovely Bones -- When we first examined the books-to-film projects underway in Hollywood, we were on regular IMBD watch for casting updates about Alice Sebold's novel-about-to-be-film The Lovely Bones directed by Peter Jackson. So......

THURSDAY • Tonight is the opening reception for "How It Happens" at Pharmaka Gallery. The party runs from 6–9 PM during the Downtown Art Walk. • Kristin Hersh performs the first of her two nights at Tangier. Lauren Shera opens the show at 8 PM; tickets are $17 advance, $20 day-of. • If you haven't seen it yet, check out the Golden Globe nominated Kung Fu Hustle at the Aero tonight at 7:30 PM.......

World AIDS Day. Minorities at risk....

It's going to be a bloody good time tonight at the ArcLight when AFI presents a preview screening of Saw, starring Carey Elwes and Danny Glover. Q&A with director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell will follow. The film starts at 9:00 PM. Stick around after Saw for a special midnight showing of The Grudge starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. Or, if gore isn't your thing, head to the Knitting Factory and catch The Velvet......