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......

Jonathan Nail messes with the Zohan. | Photo courtesy of Ask You Movie Review Large crowds of children propelled Kung Fu Panda to a win at this weekend's box office race ($60M) while legions of morons drove You Don't Mess with the Zohan to a healthy second-place finish ($40M). Hold-overs staked out the rest of the top 10, led by Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($22.8M/$253M). Sex and the City......

Is it me or is Adam Sandler the natural successor to Noel Coward? | Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures I understand the appeal of Steven Seagal far more than I ever will that of Adam Sandler. I've hated him in his comedies just as much as I have in his dramas. In fact, I've yet to make it through the entirety of Punch Drunk Love even though Paul Thomas Anderson is high on my......

Dentistry? I can't even believe that's something that's real. | Photo courtesy of Paramount Vantage One of the great things about living in Los Angeles is that there are countless opportunities to see movies in advance for free. Spend any afternoon at the Burbank Town Center or the Third Street Promenade and you'll see people hanging around movie theaters with clipboards and flyers for upcoming screenings. Next week, as part of MTV's Sneak Peak......

Less is more, Shia! Less is more! | Photo courtesy of Paramount A few weeks ago we ran a story called "Irksome and Insufferable: The Ten Most Annoying Singers". Given that actors are just as capable of being annoying as musicians, I thought it would be worthwhile to throw out 10 names for public review. I avoided the easy ones (Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, etc.) and tried to cobble together a list of actors......

The Actors' Gang 25th Anniversary Season will feature a revival of the Gang's 1992 hit "Klub". The production opens April 12 and reunites the company with director Michael Schlitt, songwriter David Arnott, and writer Mitch Watson. LAist asked Mitch Watson about his years in 'The Gang", his work in animation, and the existential world of Klub. LAist: What is Klüb? Mitch Watson: Well, it’s an old abandoned theater that once you get into, you......

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 Sony Pictures Hollywood's latest exercise in Rashômon-style storytelling is Vantage Point. As most of you no doubt realize because you've seen the trailer a quarter of a million times, Vantage Point deals with the attempted assassination of the President from a multitude of perspectives. As the movie's tagline says, "8 Strangers. 8 Points of View. 1 Truth." Critics have been flaming it with Variety's Justin Chang providing some choice barbs. I......

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......

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 Focus Features Even on the best days, the Sundance Film Festival is an extremely hectic place to be. Screenings and events often overlap and are spread all over town, and even though the public transportation is good (and free!), it can still be a nightmare to get someplace quickly. Cabs can be hard to come by and parking (when available) is expensive. Furthermore, there are always going to be lines waiting......

About 500 support and production workers marched down Hollywood Boulevard to urge an end to the strike that has paralyzed the movie and television industry. The "Strike a Deal" march brought together workers who are not on strike themselves but who have been laid off or are losing business as a result of the WGA strike, which appears far from over as it enters its sixth week. Today's rally and march -- from Grauman's......

The buzz on Enchanted--and especially Amy Adams--has been high for the last few weeks. Weren't they saying the same thing about Adams, though, after Junebug? Either way, I'll see Enchanted this weekend. In a strange way, it reminds me of Galaxy Quest. Stay with me here. I thought Galaxy Quest looked horrible when I saw the previews, but I ended up loving it. Will the same hold true for Enchanted? I'm actually a fairly......

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 singing a Pussycat Dolls song in "Wild Hogs" to playing a hobo on "Friends", Kyle Gass is always ready to jump into character. (He and Jack Black have a little band called Tenacious D too.) Since 2002, Kyle's country-rock band has played over 150 gigs across the country. Trainwreck features lead vocals by J.R Reed and Kyle conducting the craziness with his trusty guitar. If you are looking for a honky tonk party......

Every day people attempt and succeed at suicide. Some of those people are very bad and we're better for it, but most should be given reasons to stick around one more day, because things WILL improve. Hopefully. Maybe. Probably. No it will get better. Relax. It will. What's keeping us alive is knowing that Jack Black has teamed up with Michel Gondry, kickass director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Mos Def,......

From old-timey comedians like Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Oliver Hardy (Stan Laurel's rotund partner) to character actors like Sydney Greenstreet and Victor Buono to wild men like John Candy and Chris Farley, Hollywood has always had a special place for fat men, especially the funny ones. But in a body-obsessed, size 0 industry even Hollywood's corpulent comedians aren’t immune to downsizing. Fat -- whether used as epithet, compliment or neutral descriptor -- meant something......

The third annual Silverlake Music Conservatory Hullabaloo put on quite a show at the Henry Fonda Theater Saturday to raise money towards music programs for children of low-income families. Organized by Flea, who we talked to last week, the concert delivered big names headliners like Eddie Vedder and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and also showcased students from The Conservatory, showing us some of the best musical acts around haven't even gotten their drivers'......

But it was for a good cause, right? LAist watched the entire two hours of American Idol's telethon tonight, which was broadcast at both the regular Idol studios and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. And while we admire Ryan Seacrest and company for trying to do something good for kids living in poverty in both America and Africa (checkout myspace.com/idolgivesback or the Idol Gives Back page for ways to donate), we felt cheated and......

Iggy & The Stooges The Wiltern April 23, 2007 Last night we managed to get in to see Iggy and the Stooges rock the Wiltern. We are very grateful to a certain bass player for this, because the tickets sold out in like a minute. The Wiltern is still gorgeous, but it is really weird the way they took out all of the seats downstairs. They have plenty of bars and bartenders, clean bathrooms,......

Year of the Dog's Laura Dern and Molly Shannon with writer/director Mike White OK, so we were invited to the Paramount lot -- but wouldn't it be more dramatic if we crashed it? Could additional drama even be necessary at the premiere of a movie about relationships, work, death, and dogs, with a tagline begging the question: "Has the world left you a stray?" Year of the Dog hits theaters next Friday, the 13th.......

A Word or 73: Was sad to learn of the death of Larry "Bud" Melman aka Calvert DeForest who spent over 20 years as a regular on David Letterman's shows - always able to suffer indignities and deal with situations that exceeded Punk'd and Jackass in terms of humor and sophistication by decades. Fox lostsome couple slots in the top 5 last week: American Idol got 1&2, followed by GRey's Anatomy, Deal or No......

Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and John C. Reilly brought the biggest laughs to a pretty ok Oscar telecast in this musical jab at how the Academy doesn't reward comedic actors as much as dramatic ones. The singing from this trio wasn't as great as the "Dreamgirls" medley, but it was way better than Celine Dion's tune, and it filled the gaping hole left by the lovable Three 6 Mafia, who we now know are......

120 year old Indian woman died this week. She claimed that smoking marijuana every day was the reason for her long life. - All Headline News "Weeds" star and Hollywood Blvd. preacher, Craig X, was arrested last month for distributing marijuana. He says the "sacrament" that he sold to people at Temple 420 on Hollywood Blvd. is protected under the freedom of religion and Prop 215. The LAPD, who officially pressed charges this week,......

Tuesday Night "NBA Basketball" (PRIME 42, 6:00 p.m.) Clippers @ Jazz "Nova" (PBS, 8:00 p.m.) A genetic impairment causes an entire Turkish family to walk on all fours. PBS is attempting to become the Discovery Channel, or TLC or something sensational. What next, "When Anthropologists Attack"? "Dancing With the Stars" (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) This is the finals, finally - does anyone think that they'll let Emmitt Smith walk away with this thing? I'd like......

- How did Kenny Rogers get away with his pine tar, when George Brett (above) was busted? - LA Times - Metro rail through the hood to LAX - LA Times - Nic Cage to sell $7 mil Bel Air home for $35 mil - AP - Even pregnant, Brooke Burke looks amazing - Egotastic - Grow weed in your working-PC - boingboing - BitTorrent becoming more and more legit - CNET - Smashing......

Even though they have every record company at their beck and call, even though they can basically hand-pick the performers and the songs that they will play, MTV's Video Music Awards are usually hit-or-miss and as comfortable as watching Michael Jackson try to make out with Lisa Marie Presley. Last night's ceremony was no exception with generous parts cringe and a sprinkle of inspiration. Christina, Justin, and Jack Black were talented and wonderful, as......

Even though the Arclight is modern-day movie-viewing perfection, sometimes you want to step back into the past and enjoy a film in a classic theatre. LAist screened Jack Black's Nacho Libre at the Los Feliz gem Vista Theatre. Known for its unbelievable leg roo, the Vista is a hidden treasure in LA - one of the few last standing single screen movie palaces - their bargain price for showtimes before 6pm is $5. A......

This week the LA Weekly gets up close and personal with 110 Angelenos. In among the publicists and activists, doorkeepers and politicos, we found 2 bloggers. Congrats to Luke "it's not all about porn nowadays!" Ford and Tony "I love my iPod" Pierce! We bet it's nice to be put on a list with Jack Black, Mayor V, Sarah Silverman and Francine Dancer — we're really with they'd have a cocktail party together. All......

We saw these classic Mexican Movie poster lobby cards first on posterwire who saw them referenced on boing boing. ASIFA-Hollywood's art archive in Burbank (and their blog) is a treasure trove of great classic Hollywood animation treats. We're particularly taken with the last two images which feature luchadores doing dastardly things much like we suspect they will do this summer in Jack Black's Nacho Libre. We also couldn't help but wonder what an old......