Jennifer Westfeldt recently chatted with us about her inspiration for writing Friends with Kids, the challenges of directing, and how she hopes people aren't disappointed when this movie, co-starring the likes of Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Chris O'Dowd, isn't actually a sequel to Bridesmaids. more ›

LA is the movie capital of the world, with tons of independent & international productions on screen every week. Here are 11 of our favorites from 2011! more ›

Girls just want to have fun! The raunchy comedy goes XX with Bridesmaids. Saturday Night Live alumni Maya Rudolph & Kristen Wiig headline the Judd Apatow production, which also stars Rose Byrne (Get Him to the Greek), Melissa McCarthy (Gilmore Girls), Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno 911) & Ellie Kemper (The Office). Wiig also co-wrote the screenplay with Annie Mumolo (both are Groundlings graduates) and director Paul Feig's resume includes accomplished, hilarious femme dramedies Weeds & Nurse Jackie. more ›

Steve Carell gives an ever-expanding heart and heavily accented voice to the (initially) despicable villain Gru in the new animated film, Despicable Me. When we first meet our hero, er, villain, Gru’s having a bad, bad day. He’s just found out he has lost his title of World’s Best Villain to some newcomer named Vector (Jason Segel) and he’s not one to settle for second place. Vector bested Gru by stealing a giant pyramid from Egypt, so Gru hatches a plan to regain his title by stealing something treasured by every nation. The moon. more ›

I've always thought that MacGruber worked perfectly as a one-minute interstitial, but I can't imagine how you pull a whole movie out of it. Still, reviews have been pretty decent so maybe it works. Didn't the last Shrek really answer all of the questions posed by the other Shreks? Is there any reason to see Shrek Forever After other than to distract your bratty kids for a few hours. Holy Rollers was a solid hit at Sundance this year. How can you go wrong with Orthodox Jewish drug dealers? more ›

The Labor Day weekend is typically a slow time for the movie business as everyone makes one final attempt to catch some elusive summer magic (e.g. sleep with unattainable lust object). As such, The Final Destination was the best of a weak bunch as it nabbed $12.4M ($47.5M) to top the weekend box office. Terrible newcomer All About Steve finished a reasonably close second ($11.2M) just ahead of the steady Inglourious Basterds ($10.8M | $91M). Gamer disappointed in its debut ($9M) as audiences showed a rare flash of sound judgment. more ›

Is it just me or is there a surprising lack of public excitement about the release of Extract? I mean, Mike Judge and Jason Bateman working together on a film? Either one of these guys pulls me into a theater, but both together-- that's nirvana. On the other hand, is anyone looking forward to Gamer? Gerard Butler is rapidly squandering the capital he earned back when he was just a working actor. If you don't know what I mean, watch how great he was in Dear Frankie. Hell, he was even good in Timeline and that movie blew! more ›

Defying all expectations (and good common sense), Fast and Furious roared to the top of the weekend box office chart with an April-record haul of $72.5M. Last week's champ, Monsters vs. Aliens, came in a very distant second ($33.5M/$105.7M), but easily outdistanced A Haunting in Connecticut ($9.5M/$37.2M), the awful Knowing ($8.1M/$58.2M) and the hilarious I Love You, Man ($7.8M/$49.2M). In the latest indictment of America's cultural decline, the wonderful Adventureland limped to a weak, sixth-place finish ($6M). more ›

There is one movie that everyone should see this weekend and that movie is Adventureland. Alternately funny and touching, it is another rousing success from director Greg Mottola (LAist review here). That said, there is another movie that probably everyone will actually see and that is Fast & Furious. I admit it -- I liked the first title in this series. It had a Point Break-ish quality to it. But is this latest reboot really necessary? Pass. more ›

After more than a decade in the wilderness following his fine 1996 debut, The Daytrippers, director Greg Mottola roared back into public consciousness in 2007 with the wonderfully foul Superbad. His follow-up to that, Adventureland, is a much gentler work that should cement his position as a sought-after director for years to come. Based on Motttola's teenage experiences working at an amusement park in the 80s, the film is a wonderful conflation of two disparate genres: daffy comedy and genuinely affecting coming of age flick. more ›

Much like his countryman Eddie Izzard, Ricky Gervais has never been able to find the right feature film material to properly showcase his sharp and unusual comic persona. While his television work in Britain ( is a needlessly sprawling, confusing and manipulative mess. more ›

LAist has had a regular column about television for almost two years now - we're not saying it's a good column, but it's been very regular, which is something to think about as you get older. While Los Angeles has been a mecca of film for the last 75 years or so the migration of TV production to Los Angeles didn't really begin until 50 years ago. For the most part, TV, like radio, started in New York City (please, no snarky comments about Philo T. Farnsworth inventing TV in San Francisco) where all the major networks are still based along with MTV, Comedy Central, HBO, and it's where more than 100 TV shows are produced. more ›