While Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope is about the comic-con crowd, the film's underlying themes of hope, community, acceptance, and the human capacity to be extraordinary make the film boundlessly inclusive and universally engaging. more ›

The Art of Charm, they say, teaches men to “get and keep the girl.” Their approach to dating doesn’t center in the woman, but in the man (in this case: the student.) Their curriculum focuses on overcoming insecurities, challenging old beliefs, and gaining comfort in one’s own skin. more ›

Southwest Airlines is building up quite the track record for kicking passengers off planes based on rules that seem to be created on the spot. Within the past year and a half, they've booted Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong for wearing baggy pants, and Kevin Smith for taking up too much space in his seat. more ›

This weekend, Kevin Smith comes to the New Beverly for his latest, Red State. Meanwhile, Laemmle Theatres comes to Lancaster. Will the Antelope Valley embrace the arthouse? more ›

Gallery 1988 has been a fixture on LA’s pop art scene since Jensen Karp and Katie Cromwell opened the gallery on the corner of Melrose and La Brea in 2004. One of its most popular yearly shows is the Crazy 4 Cult: Cult Movie Art—fan art inspired by some the best-loved cult movies. Think Donnie Darko, The Big Lebowski, Rushmore, Clerks, A Clockwork Orange, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, etc. more ›

Mr. Clerks had it out with another airline, this time because he was late and they were jerks. Eight minutes to blastoff and first class tickets in hand Kevin Smith and wife were denied boarding on a Virgin Atlantic flight from JFK on Monday having missed the ten minute pre-leave window. Pleading with the "unfriendly face" about the jetway still being attached and some much-needed medication in the checked luggage another 15 minutes went by with the couple standing in the terminal. Following Smith's tweet rant Virgin, unlike Southwest, sent an immediate apology, refund and free tix offer. more ›

Get ready for the pep rally, root for your team to beat Valley and prepare to pull those pranks on the rival’s because it is homecoming time at the Sundance Film Festival. Not really but with several big name filmmakers making their return to Sundance, it is hard not to get excited to see what many of the festival’s notable alums, now later in their careers, have to say about the world of Independent Cinema. Sidenote: a football team at a school of all filmmakers would most likely be one of the worst teams in history....just sayin’. more ›

Anyone who routinely drives along the battered Santa Monica Blvd. blocks known as ‘Theatre Row’ has undoubtedly noticed there’s a new kid in town: SModCastle. Located in a downstairs corner theater of the always-bustling Complex (a series of small black box theaters squished together just west of Vine), the ‘castle is the new de facto home for all things podcast and Kevin Smith. After the successful 2007 launch of his weekly SModcast, Smith began taking live tapings of the podcast on the road for all to see. Eventually, the travel really started to catch up to Silent Bob, because he decided to bring the shows home to roost in their very own nest - SModCastle. more ›

Of all weeks, this one can be a tough one to get out and see shows. There are *ahem* important issues at hand over the weekend, and lots of kids are getting back into the swing of school and all that jazz. Luckily, there's so many good shows happening all around down you don't need much more motivation to get out and experience some laughter. Jeff Garlin, Kevin Smith, Marc Maron, David Alan Grier, Joe Rogan and a grip of other folks are out getting out to bring you the laughs, so why not complete the circle of life and actually show up. more ›

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 ›

Showing unexpected strength, Shutter Island held off all comers to claim its second straight weekend at the top of the box office heap ($22.2M | $75M). Yay Marty! Newcomers Cop Out ($18.5M) and The Crazies ($16.5M) placed second and third while Avatar just keeps fucking hanging around ($14M | $706.9M). Percy Jackson & The Olympians: Unusually Long Title is showing good legs in its third week ($9.8M | $71.2M), unlike Valentine's Day which continues to crater ($9.5M | $100.3M). more ›

Some might say I am a Woody Harrelson apologist, but I think I'm just a really big fan. In any case, his latest film opens today and everyone should see it. Defendor is about a mentally unstable man who believes (and acts) as if he's a superhero (think Kick-Ass but more insane). Check out the trailer after the jump and try and tell him it doesn't look hilarious. A Prophet was one of the prestige films to emerge from this year's Cannes Film Festival. It concerns an illiterate man who goes to prison and emerges a criminal. Looks fantastic! It's a shame that so many Angelenos will be turned away by its (gasp!) subtitles. more ›

This was not a good weekend for Southwest Airlines. Beyond the Kevin Smith incident, in which the director was ousted from an Oakland to Burbank flight for apparently not fitting in his seat Saturday evening, a plane of theirs avoided a crash the same day, according to a KNX1070 e-mail alert: "KNX 1070 has learned that Southwest flight 2534 with 85 people on board this Saturday was on a collision course with another plane because, according to the FAA, the Southwest jet was in the wrong place. The 737 took emergency actions resulting in two flight attendants being injured one with a broken shoulder." Add: The LA Times says the Burbank-bound Southwest jet was on a collision course with a small private plane and executed an evasive maneuver. more ›

The moronic ($6M). more ›

I don't know about you but I am steamed--DAMN STEAMED--that Kevin Smith made a movie called Zack and Miri Make a Porno and exempted Elizabeth Banks from what I feel is a compulsory nude scene. Fail, Kevin Smith! Fail! The Haunting of Molly Hartley looks generic, stupid, unscary--you name it. Listless teens will probably eat it up while groping each other. Bruce Campbell is rightfully a screen icon for his years of B-movie excellence. Everyone in L.A.owes him a debt of gratitude so please go see My Name Is Bruce. more ›

I'll never understand why Ang Lee's just get along? more ›

Will we be able to survive the onslaught of new shows and season premieres tonight? Will you succumb to the hype of Cane? I've been hearing about that one since the beginning of the year. Reaper, on the CW, is directed by Kevin Smith of Clerks fame. But for quality I'm probably going to have to stick with Damages, at 10pm on FX, since I haven't missed an episode yet and won't miss this one.... more ›

Before catching The Simpsons this past weekend, this LAist poster had to sit through -- not just one -- but four lame ass trailers. Usually, you get a 50-50 chance of seeing at least one good trailer...because, now call us crazy, but isn't the purpose of a movie trailer to entice people to actually go see the film? At the very least, aren't we supposed to say, "Yeah, the trailer's the best part of that movie..." more ›

7:13 - Saddest Realization of the Night: Although this was theoretically an awards show, it was in actuality a two-hour commercial for Transformers. I don't know how much of what happens on stage makes it to air, but the live feed in the Blogghetto was all Transformers, all the time. It's enough to make me hate the movie and hope it flops. Not that there's a chance of that happening. 7:10 - Best Moment... more ›

6:36 - Total Number of Celebs Who Have Visited the Blogghetto: 1. 6:34 - Dane Cook visits us in the Blogghetto. Despite my lack of interest in his comedy, he seems like a laid back, personable dude. Even though I like capping on him, I really don't dislike him. He gamely answers questions, revealing why he won't be in the upcoming Transformers movie. "I know this is going to sound like complete balderdash," he... more ›

6:00 - The FIB-u-less Orbit gum lady (What kind of accent is that? Is she South African? British by way of Argentina?) gives the Dirtiest Mouth award to Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. Their acceptance speech, which is delivered by not-so-silent Bob, is only one sentence long but somehow manages to get 70% bleeped out. The Orbit gum lady vows never to date either of them. 5:58 - Dane Cook jokes, "This just in,... more ›

This Film Is Not Yet Rated - Keep the violence cartoonish and the sex missionary -- that seems to be the guiding principle of America's self-appointed film censors, the MPAA. In this fascinating look into the heart of a corrupt, shadowy and increasingly out-of-touch organization director Kirby Dick deftly exposes the MPAA's rank hypocrisy vis à vis depictions of homosexuality, female pleasure, "abnormal" sexuality and violent content. more ›

Good Morning America film critic Joel Siegel could only stand forty minutes of Kevin Smith's "Clerks II" yesterday at a screening in NYC, and made a fuss about it. more ›

Don't be alarmed at the loud title above. This is just a primer to get you in the mood for all the festivities, mayhem and otherwise cool stuff that will be happening at the Comic-Con in San Diego next week. If you don't already know, the San Diego Comic-Con is one of those events with humble roots that is now one of the premier happenings of the year, at least on this coast. However, it's not just comics and manga and people dressed in weird costumes (although there will be people dressed in weird costumes, no doubt). No, its about much more than comic books these days. more ›

Yep, that's Felicity Huffman, and yes, she wins Best Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards. Think she's got a shot at the Oscar? more ›

Multi-hyphenated Guinevere Turner, 37, is queen of the shorts at this year’s Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (Outfest 05). The actress-writer-director stars as a clairvoyant in Beyond Lovely, which screened last night as part of Outfest's “Funny Ladies” program. more ›

Speaking of local TV, there's a lot of locally based television going on right now. The N -- Nickelodeon's brainy older sister -- just greenlit "South of Nowhere", a high school drama about a family who moves from Ohio to Los Angeles and finds itself in the middle of a fast-paced, metropolitan environment and a overcrowded "anything goes" L.A. public school. Considering how forward thinking and 'real' their current youth hit series, Degrassi: The Next Generation (yes, we watch. Shut up. If Kevin Smith likes it, we can like it, too), we have high hopes that "South of Nowhere" will give an accurate view of the tensions, struggles and triumphs that currently happen in our schools. They are casting now and plan to shoot in town. more ›

During today's morning commute down Sunset, heading west, we passed a long, long line of film geeks wearing Vulgarthon 2005 T-Shirts outside of the Cinerama Dome. more ›