Let’s start this weekend with actors directing themselves. Philip Seymour Hoffman makes his directorial debut in Jack Goes Boating, a very quirky romance based on the Off-Broadway play which also starred Hoffman. I can’t swim either, so I’m totally into it. Then Ben Affleck returns to Beantown with The Town, a bank robbery thriller starring him and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) as bank robbers pursued by Don Draper. more ›

If you have somehow avoided watching Battlestar Galactica up till now (and God damn you if that's the case), you can finally watch it as God (e.g. Ron Moore) intended: the complete series on Blu-Ray. Sure, it's expensive but how could you more wisely spend your money? On health insurance? On fucking food? Please! I love everything that Werner Herzog even walks past, so naturally I loved Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Nicolas Cage is in full freak mode (see trailer here for proof) and Werner's direction is as daffy and counter-intuitive as ever. Is Peter Jackson trying to assume the dick mantle from George Lucas (click the link!)? Today we get The Lords of the Rings trilogy in Blu-ray, but it's only the theatrical editions. I'm sure in a few months we'll get another high-priced version of the extended editions in Blu-Ray. Sigh. Greed. Party Down! more ›

Jeff Bridges will probably end up winning an Oscar for his role in Crazy Heart, but if he doesn't you can bank on Jeremy Renner taking home the statue for his performance in The Hurt Locker. In a just world, Peter Capaldi would be doing the same thing for his brilliant turn as Malcolm "Prince of Fucking Darkness" Tucker in In the Loop. The fact that he probably won't even be nominated is insane. Similarly, Sam Rockwell will likely be ignored for his (inter) stellar work in Moon. Hard to believe that The Simpsons has been on the air for twenty years. Even harder to believe when you consider that it hasn't been consistently funny in over a decade. The Brothers Bloom is exactly the kind of small, quirky film you should find on DVD. It came and went in the theaters, but features great work by Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody (LAist interview here). more ›

More than perhaps any weekend in recent memory, Americans are going to spend their money on the wrong movies starting today. The Hurt Locker is a vibrant, thrilling film about a bomb squad unit in Iraq. It ratchets tension so tightly you'll feel like you can barely breathe and features a star-making performance by Jeremy Renner. And yet it will likely be ignored by audiences. Similarly -- especially now given recent events in Iran -- The Stoning of Soraya M. is a film that everyone should see. Based on the actual murder of an Iranian woman falsely accused of adultery, it's a potent reminder of how little freedom still exists in the Islamic Republic. more ›