I enjoyed but hardly loved The Runaways. Dakota Fanning continues to be badly mis-cast (mostly because she's no longer nearly so compelling an actor) and Kristen Stewart hasn't grown much as a performer since In the Land of Women. Still, Michael Shannon was his usual electrifying self and the story of The Runaways is a great one (though I would have loved to have seen more of Lita Ford!). The Losers surely suffered from the perception of being an A-Team-lite. Let's see if The Expendables suffers a similar fate in a few weeks. Cop Out was plain awful. If only Kevin Smith could be satisfied with the prospect of being nothing more than a brilliant public speaker (as opposed to a mediocre filmmaker). more ›

Considering the former magnitude of her fame, it was expected that Jennifer Lopez's The Back-up Plan would at least eke out a box office victory this weekend. Nope! The little animated movie that could -- How To Train Your Dragon -- topped the charts for a second consecutive weekend ($15M | $178M), easily beating J-Lo's rancid "romantic comedy" ($12.2M). Date Night continues to chug along nicely despite not being nearly as funny as either The Office or 30 Rock ($10.6M | $63.4M). The Losers lived up to its title ($9.6M) but still managed to best the fantastic Kick-Ass ($9.5M | $34.8M). Note to parents: stop being such prudish losers (click it! click it! click it!) and bring your underage kids to see this superb and violent R-rated film! more ›

I'm not particularly looking forward to seeing The A-Team -- err, I mean, The Losers this weekend, but it may be the best of a bad bunch. Oceans obviously looks amazingly cool, but I'm not completely on board with it's pro- to neutral position on sharks (aka, the serial killers of the sea). Subtitles will scare away many, but the brave will be rewarded by No One Knows About Persian Cats if they dare to see it (LAist review here). more ›

I'm still not sure why Watchmen was pilloried by so many. Considering how many adaptations are butchered by filmmakers, it was refreshing to see how closely Zack Snyder adhered to the source material by Alan Moore (except for, of course, the ending). Sure it may have been a little obtuse for people unfamiliar with the graphic novel, but so what, right? Anyway, today's DVD release is a treasure trove for Watchmen fans. For less than $30 you get the integration of The Black Freighter into Snyder's director's cut as well as: more ›

Rarely do major film studios finance films as ambitious as Watchmen and with the middling success the film enjoyed, it's likely to become rarer still. Which is a damn, damn shame. Zach Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel has its share of issues, but he did manage to get Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach and Nite Owl (II) just about perfect which is a huge triumph. Watchmen is a film that deserved greater financial support from the public. Let's hope it finds that support on DVD. I mean seriously, do we want more films like Watchmen or more shit like Transformers 2: Revenge of Shit. Vote with your dollars, people! more ›