Sony thrilled they didn't stick with financially riskier, historically accurate all-Asian cast | Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Though the stumble by Leatherheads was the big weekend box office story, I think it's equally significant that little 21--a movie with relatively modest expectations--led the pack for the second week in a row. It's take of $15.1M ($46.5M) easily outpaced Leatherheads which debuted to a weak estimate of $13.4M and may ultimately finish third behind......

What's so amazing about this picture is that John Krasinski is only 5'7" | Photo courtesy of Universal I'll be in the minority when I attend Leatherheads this weekend because I'm not going to see George Clooney. As an increasingly obsessive fan of The Office (I record the repeats on TNT), I'm paying to see my man John Krasinski finally--let's hope--be in a good movie. After mega-stinkers like License to Wed and The Holiday......

Photo by highervision via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr This evening a public viewing will be held for slain LA High football star Jamiel Shaw, with funeral services to follow tomorrow. Shaw's tragic murder has prompted many LA residents to refocus on the senselessness of gang-related violence. Go, stop, go, stop: Commuters northbound on the 57 and the 605 transitioning to the 210 westbound this morning were greeted by the new traffic......

Photo courtesy of Universal Wow! Most weeks I'm happy if there are a couple of new DVDs worth picking up. Today, I count at least eight that would be solid editions to any library. American Gangster may not have been the great film that many were expecting, but it was still solid studio fare. I'll say the same for Michael Clayton even though it inexplicably got better critical attention. Has Ang Lee ever made......

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate After successfully resuscitating his Rocky franchise last year, Sylvestor Stallone tempts fate again today by bringing the world a new Rambo movie titled, er, Rambo. Something tells me it may be tougher sledding this time around since John Rambo is hardly a beloved character in the same vein as Rocky Balboa. Personally, I think the franchises should be fused: Rambo versus a Drago/Clubber Lang hydra in a fight to the......

There's only one 1/2 hour of TV I'm looking forward to tonight and it's on NBC. Out of some desperate need I've turned to Kenny vs. Spenny (which debuted on Comedy Central a couple weeks ago) but I scored the Season 3 DVDs which includes the hilarious "Who Can Make the Best Porno" competition which resulted in the first sketch comedy porno ever (although, it could be argued, that the majority of porn is sketch......

The past year has given us two searing portraits of the human crisis in Darfur: Darfur Now and The Devil Came on Horseback. Tonight on HBO, a worthy third film joins them. In Sand and Sorrow, director Paul Freedman and narrator George Clooney follow John Prendergast, Samantha Power and Nicholas Kristof as they explore the tragedy of the genocide in Sudan. They journey through refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border, visit mass graves inside......

Two of the four big summer three-quels hit DVD shelves today. Neither is worth your money. Better to spend it on La Vie en Rose, featuring one of the best performances in years by the amazing Marion Cotillard. Better yet, make it a French double-feature and pick up Paris Je T'Aime, too. If you haven't yet, invest a weekend watching Berlin Alexanderplatz. And, yes, it will take the whole weekend. Christmas and South Park......

Nick Hogan has been criminally charged with reckless driving because he was drinking before his August car crash. Another faux- celeb headed to the clink? - TMZ Bitch Fight! George Clooney and Fabio get into a physical fight after Fabio's ladies were taking pics of Clooney and his gf at El Coyote restaurant - Defamer Britney Spears's nearest and dearest, the few that are left, claim its not drug use thats causing her irrational......

In a shocking upset, Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married easily topped the box-office with a much higher than expected $21.5 million haul. Ordinarily, I'm on the side of the underdog, but Perry's movies are so aggresively mediocre that I'm not looking forward to the glut of his product that is now certain to follow. Then again, Why Did I Get Married is hardly worse than The Game Plan which finished second in......

After a raucous couple of weeks we're settling in now. We know what sucks (Moonlight and about a jillion other programs) and what's pretty good (Chuck and just a handful of others). It's a matter of choosing a couple to follow now as we wait for the delayed series like Nip/Tuck, etc. 7:00pm The Pride of the Yankees TCM - The Gary Cooper classic is followed by Anthony Perkins in Fear Strikes Out, yes, it's......

There was a time when I thought Ben Stiller was one of the more inventive comic minds in the business (consider these hilarious shorts as proof--1,2,3,4,5,6). He can still be funny (witness his brilliant turn on Curb Your Enthusiasm), but it seems like he mostly wants to play it safe now. Let's hope that The Heartbreak Kid is a return to old form, both for Stiller and the inconsistent Farrelly Brothers (who direct). Swedish......

A recent 911 call about George Clooney's motorcycle crash in New Jersey has been made public. The operator seems quite confused - TMZ Uh Oh - do we have another celeb heading to rehab? Pamela Anderon's friends are concerned about her hard partying ways, drinking and doing damage to her liver when she already has Hep C (Thanks Tommy) - NY Post Bridget Moynihan poses for OK magazine with new baby boy, John, fathered by......

Too many train crashes! Today saw the second Gold Line crash this month, this one being the worse of the two. The Blue Line was involved in a crash earlier this week as well as a Metrolink train yesterday. Tennie Pierce, the city firefighter who claims co-workers fed him dog food-laced spaghetti settled with city council today for $1.43 million dollars. Will it be a cozy night indoors as it rains outside? Yep. Pretty......

Believe it or not, Ocean's Thirteen actually out-Grindhouses Grindhouse. Not in violence or cursing or explosives per se, (it does have a PG-13 rating), but in hearkening back to the good ol' days when movies were fun, dagnabit, Clooney and co. have Tarantino beat. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Thirteen is the most kinetic and most fun of the Ocean series, and there are far worse ways you could spend two hours......

- Barack Obama says that blacks are pissed and there's a "quiet riot" brewing in LA and the rest of the country. Does that mean that the real trouble won't come for another 20 years when folks begin to finally "rage against the machine"? - AP - Although the adult video world generates about $12 billion nationally, Vivid Video co-partner David James says, "Very few people make over $150,000 in this industry" - Daily......

A Word or 26: Welcome to the land of reruns and late night TV. Someone give me a heads up on other stuff on basic cable that's perhaps worth watching. Tonight - Tuesday - June 5th, 2007 Dodgers @ Padres (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Twins @ Angels (Fox Sports, 7:00 p.m.) On the Lot (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) The first 5 finalists present their films. The Sea Wolf (TCM, 8:30 p.m.) Edward G. Robinson stars in......

One of the coolest, most classic things about that most classic of old-school Hollywood restaurants, Dan Tana's, is that the servers will toss your Caesar salad for you right at your table. The white-clad waiters wheel the whole station out on a little wooden cart, and fling those frilly romaine leaves about with a kind of carefree showmanship. Besides the tart, creamy taste of freshly made dressing, what puts their salad over the top......

Way back in the day LAist got crappy grades in high school so we had to do a few years over at Santa Monica College. One of our favorite classes was Cinema because due to the proximity of Hollywood, pretty much all of our Cinema teachers were former industry insiders or historians who knew about everything. We ate up those classes with a spoon and couldn't believe we were getting college credit for learning......

Jennifer Aniston has not-so-secret nose job - TMZ Everyone is still pissed at Isaiah Washington - perezhilton All the rehab residents are pissed at Lindsay - glitterati George Clooney and Pam Anderson are an unlikely couple - daily dish Baby Spice is Preggers - Dlisted Britney's back at work with the tots - celebrity baby blog Madge and fam hit the red carpet. Her daughter has pretty hair. - A socialite's Life Photo by: Noeluap's......

Tonight - Monday - January 2nd New Series Alert: "Dirt" premieres on FX tonight. They've been pushing this series for months now, effectively ruining my viewing of "Nip/Tuck" with their incessant Peter Gabriel-soundtracked promos. I wasn't a fan of Peter Gabriel in the first place so that didn't help. Since FX hasn't thought it fit to send me a preview of upcoming episodes I'll have to get creative here. Courteney Cox looks hot and......

Rande Gerber not only married supermodel Cindy Crawford and is BFF with George Clooney, but he also opened the chic Stone Rose Lounge in the Sofitel Hotel last Spring on Beverly and La Cienega. If you want a cool, low profile yet still Hollywood-esque spot this is it. Swanky but not pretentious, the space is large and filled with lots of Hugh Hefnerish red couches to lounge on (hence the name), cocktail waitresses at......

Today - Thursday College Football: California vs. Texas A&M (ESPN, 5:00 p.m.) the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl from San Diego "City of God" (IFC, 6:00 p.m.) Hardcore gang action in Rio - heavy duty violence College Basketball: Washington @ USC (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) College Basketball: Washington State @ UCLA (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Road Trip with Huell Howser. (KCET, 9:00 p.m.) Huell Goes to Chico! Inside the Actor's Studio (Bravo, 9:00 p.m.) Eddie Murphy......

OK so last night's Colbert/Decembrist Green Screen thing wasn't such a great premise but the line-up was incredible. Due to non-existent new programming somebody here suggested that I occupy my time with porn, but this is the TV Junkie spot, not the Porn Junkie spot, I'm not sure that the LAist editorial staff want that to happen yet, and no one has stepped forward to start supplying me with said porn yet either --......

- 44 year old Los Angeleno claiming to be a TV producer... lied! Then thrown in jail - AP - Today was the LA Times' birthday! - LAT - Palmdale parents who sued their school for asking the students questions of a sexual nature lose in the Supreme Court - AP - George Clooney's pet pig goes tits up - AP - Scientology believes in Christmas? Who knew? - Dlisted - Kid Rock seems......

- LAFD Chief will probably fire himself today - LA Times - New MagLight flashlight capable of lighting things on fire - Extreme Geek - Local blogger Perez Hilton sued for $7.5 million by a group of paparazzi companies for illegally using their photos on his often unfunny and callous gossip blog - TMZ - Will Eddie Murphy return for Beverly Hills Cop IV? - Ain't It Cool - George Clooney will star in......

Tonight - Wednesday If I could do it all or if you could convince me otherwise: "College Basketball" (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) Kansas State @ California "NBA Basketball" (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Grizzlies @ Clippers "Woman On Top" (IFC, 6:00 p.m.) The best position and Penelope Cruz's career establishing flick. "Great Performances: A Tribute to James Taylor" (PBS, 8:00 p.m.) Just as corny all these years later. "Jericho" (CBS, 8 p.m.) Last episode until Feb.......

Tonight - Tuesday Got Charlie Brown for all the kids, and then late night TV is really kickin' it. "NBA Basketball" (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Clippers @ Kings - also Bucks @ Lakers on Fox Sports at 7:30 "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) The perennial classic. "Big Day" (ABC, 9:00 p.m.) Sitcom series premiere. A sitcom about frickin' weddings. This is gonna be a winner. "Veronica Mars" (the CW, 9:00 p.m.) Dean Begley......

"We cannot talk about urban transport until we know what kind of city we want, and to talk about the kind of city we want, we have to know how we want to live." Honestly, the event tonight is worth 10 categories. Crime, transportation, traffic, your commute, green printing, sustainability...Los Angeles, listen up. We don't have to live in a city plagued by traffic woes! Imagine real solutions and ideas and a room full......

Almost three years ago, the LA Times visited the Rainforest Trail in Studio City, which lays in the Santa Monica Mountains that split the Valley from the rest of the city. They said that while you will easily see 100 people hiking the Wilacre Park/Coldwater Canyon Park basic loop, you won't see many along this hidden trail. That still holds true today. You see, to get to the Rainforest Trail, you have to hike......