In a huge jump from the original Hellboy film, Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy 2: The Golden Army pulled in a big $35.8M to win the weekend box office race. Fellow superhero flick Hancock finished a close second with $33M ($165M) despite the fact that it's mostly derivative, crappy and overlong at only 92 minutes. Newcomer Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D finished a decent third with $20.5M followed by the super Wall-E......

Good to have Hellboy back, but can we get better make-up for Abe? | Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures Hellboy was one of the real surprises of 2004--a rollicking interpretation of the Dark Horse comic featuring a knockout performance by Ron Perlman in the title role and great turns by Selma Blair and Doug Jones/David Hyde Pierce as his fellow do-gooders. The whole crew returns in Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Freed from the strictures......

Driving Miss Daisy 2: The Revenge | Photo courtesy of Universal The Los Angeles Film Festival officially kicks off tonight with the premiere of the awful-looking Angelina Jolie action flick, Wanted. It's something about assassins, tattoos, curving bullets and explosions--you know, standard indie fare. Starting tomorrow, the festival begins in earnest with films and events rolling at 18 locations all around Los Angeles. Most, however, are relegated to Westwood and the surrounding neighborhoods. While......

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......

Only Bryan Singer has directed a better superhero movie than Guillermo del Toro's original Hellboy. It was one of the real surprises of 2004 and starting next July the whole gang is back for Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Early details about the film have been sparse (expect Del Toro compadre Harry Knowles to have the lion's share of exclusives), but today at noon the first trailer for the film rolls out simultaneously on......

Although LAist has previously reported that Pan’s Labyrinth is dull -- more than once mind you – this reviewer found it necessary to take one more look. I agree with what the other reviews put forward however I would also say that PL, although not originally clever, is a well-told story. The film is set in 1944 Spain, during the time of Francisco Franco. A young girl, Ofelia, is sent with her mother to......

A Word or 14: Nothing matters until the Police appear on TV this Sunday at the Grammy Awards. Tonight - Friday - February 9th, 2007 Clippers @ 76ers (KTLA, 5:30 p.m.) Lakers @ Raptors (KCAL, 5:30 p.m.) Ghost Whisperer/Close to Home/NUMB3RS (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.) All new. Mary J. Blige guest stars on Whisperer. Crank Yankers (MTV2, 8:00 p.m.) Season premiere Las Vegas/Law & Order (NBC, 9-11:00 p.m.) A mummy is stolen in Vegas and......

About three weeks ago, LAist's Elina reviewed the critically acclaimed fantasy film Pan's Labyrinth and gave it a resounding meh. Elina said then that this film and 2001's The Devil's Backbone (both by director Guillermo del Toro) have a lot of similarities, but sadly Pan's is lacking. ...where The Devil's Backbone uses careful plotting and clever visuals to meticulously interweave the fantastical and realistic narrative threads, Pan's Labyrinth is all baroque styling and tangential......

You couldn't ask for a better director than Guillermo del Toro -- visually inventive, intellectually nimble, devoted and self-effacing -- but with his latest film, Pan's Labyrinth, his technique outshines his film making, and the result is a movie that's more admirable than it is enjoyable. There's enough in Pan's Labyrinth to make it worth watching, because even on his worst day (Blade II) Guillermo del Toro brings more to the table than 90%......