Still the champ but diminished | Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema It's usually good news for a movie when it wins the weekend box-office race. When the movie severely underperforms expectations, however, that win feels like more of a Pyrrhic victory. Such was the case with Semi-Pro this weekend as it only brought in about half of what was expected--a lowly $15.3M. Last week's champ, Vantage Point, held up well and took second......

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......

Ethan and Joel Coen, aka the Coen Brothers took home the biggest prizes at tonight's Academy Awards for the film "No Country For Old Men." It wasn't even the best film they've done but then again, Herbie Hancock. Jon Stewart ran the show as he did last year but could do no wrong with Regis Philbin there in the wings. You really want commentary? Visit our 2008 Oscars Liveblog. Hate the Oscars? Check out what......

Photo © Copyright 2008 by Jonathan Alcorn (Sundogg) via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr One of the gunmen involved in yesterday's Glassell Park shootout has been identified as a member of the Avenues gang. Daniel Ivan Leon was killed by police following his participation in a fatal drive-by shooting that claimed one life. Ok, so there wasn't anyone jumping onto the 110 Freeway today, but there was a police pursuit on the......

Although critics have raved about Juno, including myself, I have occasionally heard that it made a few people gag, and I've definitely heard mixed responses to the decidedly twee soundtrack. (I love that word. Twee! ...Not related, sorry.) Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis's rant about both the movie and the soundtrack is already making the blog rounds and iliciting quite a few responses. Working an odd angle for a screenplay written by a tatted-up former......

Photo courtesy of IMDB I'm usually the first to slag the large theater chains for their lack of creativity in programming. As such, I feel compelled to point out when they actually make a good decision. In this case, AMC is doing something so obviously cool that I can't believe it isn't done every year (maybe it will be going forward). This Saturday, several AMC theaters in the Southland will be hosting a marathon......

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox While not the record-breaker that Cloverfield and Hannah Montana proved to be, Jumper debuted to a winning $31.7M over the long President's Day weekend. The Spiderwick Chronicles finished second with $24.4M followed by fellow newcomer Step Up 2 the Streets with $21.5M. The rancid Fool's Gold surprised by holding onto fourth with $15M ($43.9M). Clearly, Valentine's couples preferred it to the weekend's other new romantic comedy, Definitely, Maybe......

There are few things that bring sex workers, old-school feminists and modern-day Hollywood together under one roof. But thanks to Jill Soloway (right), writer and co-founder of the feminist group OBJECT, this seemingly impossible dream of yore will be realized on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m. It’s called Lady Party IV, and it’s definitely all about the ladies. Hosted by OBJECT, Lady Party IV will feature Obie Award-winning playwright Heather Woodbury performing her one-woman......

Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers In what can only be seen as a ratification of Mike Huckabee's belief that Satan actually exists, Fool's Gold roared to the top of the box office this weekend with a robust take of $22M. Plans are already underway for a third Kate Hudson-Matthew McConaughey pairing, tentatively titled Shit Sandwich. In further bad news, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins finished second with a healthy gross of $17.1M in its first......

WGA Bests: Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Comedy Series, Drama Series The Writer's Guild of America (WGA) didn't hold a gala ceremony this year (who can afford a gown when you're not getting paid?) but they did take a break on the East coast from discussing the possible end of the strike to announce the winners of their annual awards. This year's very informal and somewhat unusual gathering "was decidedly looser than past ceremonies and......

Photo courtesy of Mike Schmid via Flickr Not since 1992 when Billy Ray Cyrus sparked an ill-advised cultural revolution with his tuneless "Achy Breaky Heart" has the Cyrus family experienced a moment of such undeserved triumph. Defying all logic and good taste, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour crushed all comers at the box-office this weekend. In only 683 theaters, it amassed a staggering $29M and will likely continue playing despite......

Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox In yet another blow to Western civilization, Meet the Spartans ($18.7M) edged Rambo ($18.1M) to win the weekend box office crown. 27 Dresses proved surprisingly robust in its second frame, adding $13.6M ($45.3M) to its coffers. Last week's winner, Cloverfield, went in the opposite direction, plummeting over 68% and bringing in only $12.7M ($64.2M). The weekend's third wide opener, Untraceable finished fifth with $11.2M, in-line with expectations and......

"No Country For Old Men," "There Will Be Blood," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," and "Atonement" all received nominations for Best Picture this morning, as the Academy Award nominations were announced in Beverly Hills. "No Country" and "There Will Be Blood" are the front runners with eight noms apiece, including a Best Actor nod for perennial Oscar fav Daniel Day-Lewis, and directing nominations for the Coen Bros. and Paul Thomas Anderson. While Javier Bardem was recognized......

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures As expected, Cloverfield demolished the box office this weekend, setting a record for a January opener with $41M in receipts. The final total was $15M+ more than was expected as early as a week ago, establishing Cloverfield as a potential monster of a hit once word-of-mouth starts to flow. Not to be outdone, 27 Dresses surprised to the high side in its debut, raking in a solid $22.4M and......

In its first weekend of wide release, The Bucket List charged to the top of the box office. Its tally of $19.54 million ($20.9M) just edged Ice Cube's First Sunday which debuted with an even $19M. There was some talk that upstart Juno might win the weekend crown, but it had to settle for a still healthy $14M ($71.2M). It now seems certain to reach $100M while holiday stalwarts National Treasure: Book of Secrets......

This is a good time to be a Kinks fan. Last year Ray Davies put out a solo album, then "A Well-Respected Man" and "This Time Tomorrow" popped up this year in movies like Juno and The Darjeeling Limited. And now a Kinks Retrospective box set is scheduled for release in 2008, and NME has announced that a reunion tour for the seminal 60s, fighting-brothers band The Kinks is supposed to take place this year.......

The week in Los Angeles bookish events from Monday, January 7th - Sunday, January 13th. Readings, signings and bookish events this week include Andy Summers, Jami Attenberg, Judith Freeman, Alice Fulton, J.A. Jance and Robert Gottlieb....

National Treasure: Book of Secrets ($20.2M/$171M) and I Am Legend ($16.3M/$228.6M) continued to rule the box office, but the weekend's big news belonged to Juno. In its first weekend of wide release, the sly comedy raked in $16.2M ($52M) and has now eclipsed the gross of last year's indie-ish* hit Little Miss Sunshine (*both films were produced by major studios). Alvin and the Chipmunks was a hair behind at $16M ($176.7M). Crappy newcomer One......

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the worst opening weekend of the year! Granted, it's only the first weekend of the year but with a mere one movie opening--one!--I think it may hold the title for the next 51 weeks. That movie, of course, is One Missed Call. It's your typical, 'let's trick bored teenagers into seeing another bad re-make of a better Japanese horror film.' I thought that trend had run its course, but......

So what do you think of the beards on Letterman and Conan? I thought everyone did pretty well, particularly Conan. Leno's show was practically unchanged (same old crap) while Letterman gave lots of props to the WGA. If you don't have a TV with a built-in digital tuner you will need to get a converter box by February of 2009. It seems like a long way off but it will sneak up on you. Be......

I had originally planned to forgo a "best of" list and just talk about all of the movies I enjoyed in this very deep and rich year. After some consideration, though, I decided I should stick my neck out a little bit and go with the best of the best. I'm sure I went with a few outliers and even ignored some consensus picks, but that's why you do these things, right? The hardest......

In a crowded weekend of new movies, it was National Treasure: Book of Secrets that topped the box office with a haul of 45.5 million dollars. I Am Legend showed good strength in it second weekend ($34.2M/$137.4M) as did Alvin and the Chipmunks ($29M/$84.8M). Charlie Wilson's War managed fourth place in its debut ($9.6M), just ahead of fellow opener Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ($9.3M). P.S. I Love You had a......

"Atonement" leads the pack of nominees for the 2008 Golden Globe Awards with seven nods, including top actor nominations for both leads, Keira Knightly and James McAvoy. "American Gangster," "No Country for Old Men," and "Sweeney Todd" also garnered nominations; you can read a partial list of the nominees here at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association website. Hayden Panettiere, Dane Cook, Ryan Reynolds and Quentin Tarantino read the list at the Beverly Hilton at......

For those of you who enjoyed The Golden Compass this weekend, it looks unlikely that you'll have the chance to see the second installment of the His Dark Materials trilogy. Compass only managed to take in 26.1 million dollars at the box-office, below what were already reduced expectations. Considering its budget was rumored to be above $200M, it's looking like Compass may rival Evan Almighty as the flop of the year. Shame. Since Compass......

So I think I can safely say, having viewed it twice now, that Jason Reitman's Juno is the newest addition to my list of favorite movies. Okay, yes, it may be a pretty "rosy view of teen pregnancy", as my friend declared, but the humor, the characters, and the crazy dialogue ("You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put......

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......