A significant portion of the American movie-going audience probably avoided Hot Tub Time Machine because of its banal title. They missed a movie that was funnier than it had any right to be, particularly in the manic performance of Rob Corddry. Any fan of The Doors should automatically buy When You're Strange. It features a wealth of material previously unseen (though the narration by Johnny Depp leaves something to be desired -- namely, passion). If you missed White Ribbon during its brief theatrical run last winter, correct that mistake today. Michael Haneke is as good as it gets, folks! Think it's a coincidence that the film The Eclipse was released on DVD on the eve of Twilight: Eclipse hitting theaters? I say, nay! more ›

Parents and kids (and critics) were totally charmed by How To Train Your Dragon as it easily won the weekend box office race. It's huge haul of $43.3M demolished previous champ Alice in Wonderland ($17.3M | $293.1M) and disappointing newcomer Hot Tub Time Machine ($13.6M). The terrible, shitty, depressing The Bounty Hunter actually had a decent hold in its second frame ($12.4M | $38.8M) while Diary of a Wimpy Kid was clearly the victim of a nasty dragon bite ($10M | $35.7M). more ›

Week by week, trailer by trailer, Hot Tub Time Machine is growing on me. Now, I'm really itching to see it (and not just to see aging hottie Jessica Pare slumming it in a thankless role). Is it this year's The Hangover? We'll see on Monday morning! Atom Egoyan definitely belongs on the list of directors who never get the notoriety they deserve. Chloe looks fantastic (and not just because crush object Amanda Seyfried is all kinds of naked in it). What's the best reviewed movie of the week? How about How to Train Your Dragon. I love that the filmmakers employed ace DP Roger Deakins as a consultant. Does Pixar finally have a challenger? more ›

A common complaint I heard from parents last year who took their kids to see Where the Wild Things Are was, "It was too dark for a kids' movie." To these parents I say, "You are fucking morons." The only kids for whom this movie is too dark are stupid and ordinary kids, and who cares what they think anyway. For me, Where the Wild Things Are was the latest oddball entry in Spike Jonze's increasingly awesome canon. Don't rent it; buy it. The same goes for the latest from grand master Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo. In fact, while you're at it pick up Totoro and Kiki's, too. 2012 is disposable garbage, but if you're in the mood for that you could do worse. Cold Souls might have been considered a brilliant movie if it had come out before Being John Malkovich. Instead, it's just derivative (but still pretty good). Who will stand up and end the MILF onslaught? more ›

Better off Dead celebrated its 25th anniversary at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica yesterday. In attendance was director “Savage” Steve Holland along with a coterie of stars including Diane Franklin (French exchange student Monique), Curtis Armstrong (snow snorting best friend Charles De Mar), and E.G. Daily (the intoxicating singer at the dance). Sadly, John Cusack, who some think landed his breakout role in this movie, was not in attendance. The rest of the cast, however, provided sometimes illuminating and always funny commentary during the film. more ›

As long as he steers clear of movies with numbers for titles, John Cusack's all right with me. Sunday, the New Bev pairs Cusack classic High Fidelity with (500) Days of Summer, both in Scenesteround Sound! The Aero continues the Cusack attack with Better Off Dead, featuring a live commentary from writer-director "Savage" Steve Holland & cast-members Curtis Armstrong, Diane Franklin & E. G. Daily. Considering their work in the 25 years since, it should make for an animated discussion. more ›

In a surprisingly robust debut, 2012 took in a huge $65M to easily capture the weekend box-office crown. Despite completely sucking, the latest Roland Emmerich disaster pic easily out-distanced last week's champ, Disney's A Christmas Carol which managed to bring in a decent $22.3M in its second frame ($63.2M). Grant Heslov's hilarious The Men Who Stare at Goats grabbed third place ($6.2M | $23.3M), just ahead of indie powerhouse Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire ($6M | $8.9M). The creepy and morbid Michael Jackson's That Was It rounded out the top 5 ($5.1M | $68.2M). more ›

Some critics have derided Wes Anderson as a victim of his own precious taste. His movies take place in "Andersonville" it's said -- a singular, specific world from which he needs to free himself. To that I say, "Pah!". Anderson's latest film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, takes place in the stop-motion animated version of Andersonville and it's, well, fantastic. I can't recommend it highly enough. I can't say the same for 2012. I mean, honestly, how is it really different from The Day After Tomorrow? Sure Richard Curtis is a bit schmaltzy, but I always give extra-credit to the open-hearted. Plus, Pirate Radio has Philip Seymour Hoffman in it so it's worth seeing. more ›

With that pesky, couples-oriented, Hallmark holiday just around the corner we thought we'd help our readers get into the spirit with a fun little exercise we like to call, "Best Sex Scenes in Movies." It's certainly no secret that sex sells and the opportunist in us couldn't pass on the chance to plug it. After hours of exhaustive but thoroughly entertaining research, we compiled a list of the top ten scenes that fit our bill. From those that inspire the heart, to those that arouse the senses, we feel confident there will be something for everyone in our collection. (Please be warned that our content may not be suitable for anyone under the age of eighteen or safe for work.) more ›

Plenty of people were disappointed by the latest Indiana Jones adventure, but I thought there were enough vestiges of the original character to make it worthwhile. Note to George, though: you should have stuck with the Darabont draft. Small, foreign films need critical attention to draw in audiences and the AMPAS really blew it by not recognizing . more ›

While with a haul of $25.6M ($257.8M). more ›

By now you've probably read everything you want to read about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. All I'll add is a few interesting stats: the total domestic box office of all the films that Harrison Ford has appeared in is a staggering $3,094,851,491. That's just ahead of the films that George Lucas has produced ($2,977,630,768) and behind the movies that Steven Spielberg has directed ($3,447,944,266). did $25M on Thursday alone so those totals will rise to even more insane levels over the next few months. more ›

Atonement hits theaters this weekend as one of the few, definite contenders for an Academy Award. It bears all the traditional hallmarks of an Oscar-caliber film: lavish period piece (check), excellent source novel (check), epic scope (check), high-powered English cast (check), nude scene from Keira Knightley (double check). Those critics who've already seen it have been generous with praise, so I'm expecting nothing less than a winner. It's virtually certain that The Golden Compass... more ›

Did anyone else catch SciFi's Tin Man last night? Definitely worth watching into Part Deux (they will repeat Part One at 7:00pm). I wish I could say the same about Comedy Central's Last Laugh '07 - I love Lewis Black, Dave Attell, and D.L. Hughley, but they crammed their acts, a lengthy animated intro, and a Q/A session into one hour. The end result left a lot to be desired. 7:00pm David Copperfield TCM -... more ›

There was a welcome flight to quality this weekend as movie-goers finally gave some love to a good flick. pulled in $39.1M and looks to be a hit for DreamWorks Animation. more ›

This weekend is one of those weekends where--if you love movies--you'll be hard-pressed to choose which one (or two) to see. Most will probably settle on American Gangster, and I don't see anything wrong with that. Couple two powerhouse actors (Denzel & Crowe) with a reliable director (Ridley), add a compelling story that has slipped through the cracks for years and you have what looks to be a great, studio picture. If, like the... more ›

If you've missed Ken Burns' latest sprawling effort on PBS, you can catch it today when it drops on DVD. Silver Surfer was better than the original Fantastic Four, but that's not really saying much. Got to love Doug Jones, though. 1408 was a surprise summer hit. I think it'll work even better when you're watching it alone at home with the lights turned off. Entourage was never the same after the Aquaman arc,... more ›

Get this, there's another sequel coming out today. You're surprised, I know, I was too. Alas, in a summer of recycled story lines, the comedy genre takes center stage today with "Evan Almighty. With "The Office" on hiatus, I'm itching for some Steve Carell. He arrives, riding an ark, in time for your weekend. more ›

If you see John Cusack in the stands, someone's in the playoffs or world series. You might recall the Chicago-native in the bleachers of Wrigley Field when the Cubs had a healthy Kerry Wood and Mark Prior and if not for Bartman would have made it further than the playoffs, and then a few years later you may have heard about him wanting to get tickets to see the White Sox as they played... more ›

So we noticed something when catching a few minutes of Chasing Liberty on HBO last weekend. (Btw, LAist was just channel surfing and not actively watching the forgettable Mandy Moore flick – but we so happened to catch a glimpse of dreamy Matthew Goode from Match Point in it.) But back to the purpose of this post. more ›

New! Updated Roscoe's Edition more ›

The romantic comedy can sometimes be a bit of a hard sell these days. What passes as comedy can often leave a lot desired to a certain discerning audience, whereas sometimes a discerning audience feels compelled to just put up and shut up, and drop a ten dollar bill on a couple hours' worth of entertainment. We're sometimes kind of suckers for the lighter, lovelorn fare, which, in combination with a couple of good pals, is what brought us into the dark, icebox of a theatre to see Diane Lane and John Cusack get cute in Must Love Dogs. And, honestly, we found ourselves quite smitten. more ›

While we scratch our heads figuring out how to increase civic engagement here in the city of LA, the restless lefties at MoveOn.org are thinking nationally. Monday they launched a Flash animation contest To Stop the Republican Social Security Scam. There are 16 days left for you to submit your wickedly funny, wierd, politically persuasive Flash animation. Al Franken and Arianna Huffington (of course) are among the judges, plus Richard (Slacker) Linklater, Aaron McGruder (The Boondocks cartoons), and John Cusack (LAist loves Grosse Pointe Blank). The winner, in addition to a few seconds of fame, will get an Apple G4 laptop. LA's genius deserves to represented in the final 10. more ›