Jean-Luc Godard's Week End ditches little things like "plot" along the way to gleeful cinematic anarchy. Battle Royale's a bloody good Japanese satire. Then play 2011 catch-up with guests & double bills! more ›

Michelle Obama visits L.A. on Monday to to raise money for her husband's reelection campaign and to "boost support for military families," starting with a guilds-hosted, J.J. Abrams-moderated discussion in Beverly Hills about "how Hollywood can tell stories of today's military families through film and television," says the White House, according to the L.A. Times. more ›

A group of close childhood friends. A town gripped by strange phenomena. A government cover-up. A mysterious, maybe malevolent creature. Sound familiar? No, it isn't another re-release of E.T., although that film is clearly a spiritual ancestor to the highly-anticipated Super 8. more ›

Paramount partnered with Twitter to offer not-so-secret screenings of "Super 8" in over 300 theaters nationwide this Thursday -- one day before its official release. Fueled by the promoted trend #Super8Movie (i.e. ad) on Twitter, anyone who wishes to see the J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg flick on Thursday can purchase advance tickets now. The movie officially opens nationwide Friday. more ›

I'm still upset that Dumbledore's funeral was left out of Half-Blood Prince, but this latest installment in the Potter series definitely delivers a gloomier, more adult vibe than any of the previous films. Can't wait until 2/2/10 to see the newest chapter of Lost. Until then, the DVD set of Season 5 will have to do. Best documentary of the year? The Cove. Most important documentary of the year? Hmm...The Cove? Maybe so. Michael Mann's films are required viewing for any cineaste. Public Enemies may not be in the same league as Heat, but it's still a tense, macho ride. Julie & Julia would have benefitted from less Julie and more Julia. more ›

Weekend plans still up in the air? If 20,000 feet isn't enough elevation for you, boldly go to the Aero for screenings of JJ Abrams' Star Trek, fanboy tribute Free Enterprise, and a Trek triple: Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock & The Voyage Home. TrekMovie.com has organized panels reuniting the cast & crew of Free Enterprise, and welcomes writer/director Nicholas Meyer in-between Khan & Search for Spock. For a different warped drive, the Warner Grand has cracked-out Christmas flick Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, paired with surrealist seasonal import Santa Claus. If you'd rather stick to this planet, the Nuart has celluloid space-cases Werner Herzog & Nicolas Cage unspooling all week in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. more ›

On many Tuesdays, the pickings are slim among the new crop of DVDs. And then there are days like today where the bounty is almost too rich. Where better to start than with JJ Abrams' re-start of the Star Trek franchise. Did anyone not like this movie? You know, except for those people who automatically don't like things because they're popular. In other news, there may not have been a funnier movie this year than Humpday. There definitely wasn't a funnier scene than the dinner table revelation between Josh Leonard and Alycia Delmore. Is the number one rule about the Fight Club Blu-Ray DVD that we don't talk about it? That wouldn't make sense. Sure, Bruno wasn't as funny as Borat but the swinging dick scene was priceless. more ›

Star Trek made a killing this weekend for obvious reasons: it was really, really good and it didn't matter if you were a Trekkie or not. And the fact that it wasn't 100% green screen and computer generated graphics was one of the redeeming factors. “So much incredible stuff happens in Star Trek that I wanted to keep it feeling as real as possible,” Director J.J. Abrams said in production notes provided by Paramount Pictures, via Wired Magazine's Underwire. “I didn’t want to have it all be green screens and CG.” more ›

The early word has been so good on Star Trek that I'm actually starting to get a little nervous that my expectations are too high. Despite the great reviews for Star Trek, however, I have no doubt that Outrage is the best film opening this week (LAist review here). If Atom Egoyan makes a film, I go see it. Simple as that. Adoration is his latest work, starring the very underrated Rachel Blanchard. Loved Mos Def in Be Kind Rewind; love Donald Faison always, but not sure I'll care for Next Day Air. Seems a little...broad. more ›

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who was involved with Star Trek since the beginning died of leukemia early this morning in her Bel Air home. "Even before she married Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in 1969, she was integral to Star Trek," Marc Bernardin reminisced at EW's PopWatch blog. "She was the original first officer aboard the Enterprise—replaced after the pilot by Leonard Nimoy's Mr. Spock—and reappeared as the faithful Nurse Christine Chapel." The 76-year-old continued her Trek with the Sci-Fi brand until the very end, even recording voiceover as the ship's computer for J.J. Abrams movie "Star Trek" two weeks ago. It was one of roles she used to do through her more than four decades of work on the show. Rest in Peace. more ›

Streetartist MBW has been changing up the art on this wall on La Brea north south of Olympic every few weeks. He got into street art by making a movie on it, but he never finished-- and ended up becoming an artist while trying to promote it. more ›

href="http://londonist.com/2008/01/6_years_on_amne.php">Amnesty International bringing Guantanamo Bay to the American embassy to raise the profile of the continuing campaign to close the detention center.

I'm shocked at the middling critical response that Cloverfield has generated. Sure, it's only a popcorn movie, but it's a is not a huge box-office hit. I also can't imagine there not being a huge backlash any day now. Flame away! more ›

Held at Paramount Studios, last night's Cloverfield Premiere drew out all kinds of celebrities from big names like Lindsay Lohan to MTV-reality-scum Heidi Montag & Spencer Pratt. more ›

Since its teaser trailer screened in front of at the end of an insanely tense sequence in a subway tunnel. more ›

Legions of curious fans have been waiting for January 18, 2008 for months. Many comb for clues online and speculate about every detail. LAist spent an afternoon with the director, Matt Reeves. We asked him to spill some juicy details about the film (including what the title really means), about his longtime friendship with J.J. Abrams, and to describe the wild ride that is Cloverfield more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on LAist. more ›

You could be the very first to see CLOVERFIELD before it comes out on January 18th! Below, you'll find a very special Cloverfield Widget, which includes an introduction from JJ Abrams, and 5 whole minutes from the film! Whoever gets the most people to "Grab" their widget will get to be the very first person to see the movie with 30 of their friends in the city of their choice. more ›

Not a moment too soon, here it is: The five minute extended trailer from one of our most anticipated films of '08, JJ Abrams' Cloverfield. more ›

Some Trekkies are having heart palpitations over this: William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, will not be in the 2008 release of Star Trek. While Leonard Nimoy gets to play the resurrection of his character, Spock, there is no place for Shatner and the cocky and horny Boston Legal character is disappointed, he told the Associated Press: 'I couldn't believe it. I'm not in the movie at all. Leonard, God bless his heart, is in, but not me. 'I thought, what a decision to make, since it obviously is a decision not to make use of the popularity I have to ensure the movie has good box office. It didn't seem to be a wise business decision.'' more ›

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness - we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. more ›

Viral marketing, when done right, can be an absolute blast. Case in point, a pre-Transformers preview for a new J.J. Abrams film, tentatively titled "Cloverfield". What starts out as an innocent, hand-held video of a going-away party quickly descends into front-row footage of the apocalypse, with people running through the streets of New York City dodging flying cars hurled by an unknown source... not to mention a closing shot that already has people talking... more ›

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The New York Times seems to think so. We can confirm that among the 800 or so who paid $2,300 a head to rub elbows with Barack Obama for a minute or two at the Beverly Hilton were: Jennifer Aniston, Burt Bacharach, Mario van Peebles, Stephen Spielberg, Arianna Huffington, Ben Stiller, Morgan Freeman, Zach Braff, Eddie Murphy, Ron Howard, Taye Diggs, Norman Lear, JJ Abrams, Paul Reiser, Christine Lahti, Jackson Browne, and Natalie Maines.... more ›

The sci-fi world is abuzz with the recent news that J.J. Abrams (mastermind behind Lost, Alias and Felicity) got the go-ahead to helm the aging Enterprise for the next -- 11th -- installment of the Star Trek series. While rumors surfaced that the plot will focus on the Starfleet days of the young James T. Kirk and a Mr. Spock, Abrams himself was a little fuzzy on the details: more ›