The past few weeks have brought earthquakes, massive power failure, continued economic desperation... the only thing missing is a global pandemic. Warner Bros. offers a shot of that with Contagion. more ›

James "Whitey" Bulger, notorious Boston mob boss, was arrested yesterday in Santa Monica. This ends not only 16 years of searching for the infamous criminal, but the possibility that Bulger would go down in an even remotely similar fashion as his onscreen doppelganger, Frank Costello, played by Jack Nicholson in "The Departed," or as we like to call it, "The Depahted." Read on for some other similarities and dissimilarities between fact and fiction... more ›

How cool is it that within the same week we can see Jeff Bridges as a high-tech Zen master living inside a computer-generated world as well as a barely literate, alcoholic, one-eyed U.S. Marshall prowling post-Civil War Indian Territory? Bridges is experiencing a bit of a Renaissance after scoring Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Academy Awards for his role as Bad Blake in last year's "Crazy Heart" and "True Grit" is an extension of this era that is sure to nab him several more laurels in the upcoming awards season. more ›

Last year, Paranormal Activity scared up the greatest ROI in Hollywood history. This weekend, Paranormal Activity 2 tries to recapture lightning in a bottle, and if this reaction to an Arclight preview screening is any indication, they've got it. more ›

Who knew that people in London were such big Springsteen fans? Or was Hyde Park just full of expats? It was sad to see a solid film like The Green Zone completely fall flat at the box office. Its failure made it increasingly less likely that high-budgets will be spent on smart, complex films. Shame that. How can anyone not think that Exile on Main Street is the Stones' best album? Same goes for this as their best song. Entourage hasn't been good since the Aquaman season, and yet I continue to watch. I didn't love the first season of Hung, but how do you not keep up with the great Thomas Jane? more ›

I enjoyed everything about Invictus -- the cast, the story, the filmmaker -- except the actual movie. Frankly, it was just dull. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I am very angry at Americans right now for throwing good money at the vile Valentine's Day. You know what happens now, right? They're going to make another "themed" movie like this -- New Year's Eve. And then another one. And another. When will you people ever learn? You suck. Extraordinary Measures felt more like a movie of the week than something that needed to be seen in theaters, but it did give us, "I already work around the clock!!!" Will that awful line reading supplant this beauty? The Messenger is quality filmmaking, but get ready to be depressed upon watching it. more ›

Alice in Wonderland dominated the box office for a second consecutive weekend, earning $62M ($208.6M) to blast the competition. Despite it's pedigree, The Green Zone limped to a weak $14.5M debut. The bonerific She's Out of My League suffered a similar fate ($9.6M) as did the evil Remember Me ($8.3M). Shutter Island enjoyed a solid fourth week ($8.1M | $108M), topping yet another newcomer, Our Family Wedding ($7.6M). more ›

I'm psyched to see any new Paul Greengrass movie and even though Green Zone feels a little Bourne-ish, I'm definitely there. I can't say the same for Our Family Wedding which looks like a quasi-racist farce (and not in a good way). Will Team Edward flock to see Remember Me? Let's hope not! Jay Baruchel is solid gold in my book, and She's Out Of My League appears to be the sort of broad, horndog comedy that I tend to like. more ›

I thoroughly enjoyed The Informant! and am actually really looking forward to catching it again on DVD. If only Soderbergh would spend all his time making flicks like it and no time making flicks like this. It is by no means a good movie, but Dead Snow was a rollicking horror of a film (though a lack of solid nudity does penalize it substantially). How can you beat Nazi zombies? The less said about Jersey Shore, the better. It's just dumb assholes. It's not ironic; it's not a guilty pleasure; it's a show about dumb assholes. I'm probably as big an Adam Scott fan as there is (LAist interview here). Check out The Vicious Kind today! Was Richard Kelly a one film wonder? The Box would seem to indicate so (as if Southland Tales didn't scream it). Bloodbath!!!!!!! more ›

After a week in limited release, Disney's The Princess and the Frog went wide this weekend and easily topped the box-office chart ($25M | $27.8M). See Hollywood -- traditionally animated films featuring African-American characters can succeed! The still-strong The Blind Side held onto second place ($15.4M | $150.2M), well ahead of the disappointing Invictus which debuted to $9M and only a so-so per-screen average of $4,275. New Moon continues to pull in squealing teenagers and lonely old women ($8M | $267.3M) while A Christmas Carol is proving to be a sturdier performer than originally thought ($6.8M | $124.4M). more ›

If ever a movie screamed Oscar-bait it is Invictus. Big-name cast? Check! Big-name director? Check! Poignant, life-affirming, yet complex story about human triumph? Check. The Princess and the Frog is significant because it is the first Disney film to feature an African-American lead. Thank God those racists at Disney were finally drummed out! The Lovely Bones was a, uh, lovely book that is apparently being blown up into this bloated thing by Peter Jackson. Peter -- less effects, more story. more ›

I have often criticized Steven Soderbergh for wasting his time, talent and energy on crap like the Oceans series. If only he would dedicate his life to things like The Informant!, which looks incisive and hilarious. Matt Damon, on the other hand, will likely never hear an unkind word from me. All he does is make superb and brave choices. Seriously, when was the last bad or dull movie in which Damon starred? Jennifer's Body looks like cynical, wordy, pseudo-clever tripe to me. Diablo Cody -- go away. Megan Fox -- go away. more ›

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When you read something you like on LAist, we love it when you hit the "recommend" button, and we love it even more if you put your two cents' worth in the comments. Getting a dialog going with our readers and making sure we're giving you content you can use are top priorities for us. So here's this week's top posts, as endorsed by you via the recommend feature, or as indicated by the level of talk going on in the comments: more ›

On Monday the NY Times reported that ABC and Cox Communications are collaborating on a video-on-demand service with disabled fast-forward, meaning, yeah, that you can't skip the commercials. This isn't that new an idea as Time Warner Cable has been doing the equivalent with two features called "Start Over" and "Look Back" (after using them IMHO they stink). more ›

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Enough with the Oscar talk -- Kimmel's long-awaited response to "I'm Fuckin' Matt Damon" is here and it's chock-full of hilarity: more ›

Silverman came clean last night, honoring boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel's 5th anniversary on late night with a music video. more ›

Two of the four big summer three-quels hit DVD shelves today. Neither is worth your money. Better to spend it on La Vie en Rose, featuring one of the best performances in years by the amazing Marion Cotillard. Better yet, make it a French double-feature and pick up Paris Je T'Aime, too. If you haven't yet, invest a weekend watching Berlin Alexanderplatz. And, yes, it will take the whole weekend. Christmas and South Park... more ›

In what the Wall Street crowd might call a flight to quality, North American audiences made nose-dived 65% after an auspicious opening, adding 25.6 million to run its total to 128.5 million. more ›

What better way to make flex fuel vehicles and E85 (corn-based ethanol) more hip than by taking several YouTube clips, stirring in some Facebook, MySpace, a Napoleon Dynamite-esque aesthetic and, finally, for good measure a good dollop of Ben Affleck dressed in a corn suit (seriously, just watch it)? Narrated by Phin (who looks suspiciously like a certain silent protagonist), this series of videos, dubbed "Clean My Ride, Flex My Fuel," aims to raise... more ›

Nelly Furtado is engaged to sound engineer Demacio "Demo" Castellon - People Nicole Richie IS preggers with Joel Madden's baby, and reports are that its a boy - DListed Britney's got a new man, rehab counselor/real estate developer John Sundahl - Daily Mail Another pageant queen scandal- an unknown blackmailer has threatened to make certain scandalous photos public on Facebook of current Miss New Jersey Amy Polumbo - NY Post Laguna Beach alum Jessica... more ›

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti... more ›

Believe it or not, Ocean's Thirteen actually out-Grindhouses Grindhouse. Not in violence or cursing or explosives per se, (it does have a PG-13 rating), but in hearkening back to the good ol' days when movies were fun, dagnabit, Clooney and co. have Tarantino beat. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Thirteen is the most kinetic and most fun of the Ocean series, and there are far worse ways you could spend two hours... more ›

After a week without a sequel, we're back at it with the lovable scoundrels of "Ocean's 13". Sure, watching the same group of guys we've seen plunder Vegas and steal a Faberge egg plan another elaborate heist is rehashing already trodden ground, but I'll be damned if it isn't a good time. Add to that a torture-porn and another insufferable CG toon about penguins and we're in for an interesting weekend. 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 ›

Recommended 13 Tzameti - French movie with an Eastern European sensibility about a young handyman who decides to follow instructions intended for the owner of the house he's repairing. He ends up in a remote house, where he is forced to take part in a brutal game of Russian Roulette in which only one of the 13 participants will survive. Bicycle Thieves - Criterion has released a DVD of Vittorio De Sica's 1947 classic... more ›

A Word or 28: Am still impressed with the fact that Bill Gates went on the Daily Show on the eve of a major product kick-off. Too bad the product sucks. Tonight - Tuesday - January 30th, 2007 Lakers @ Knicks (KCAL, 5:30 p.m.) Kings @ Flames (Fox Sports, 6:00 p.m.) Dateline NBC (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Members of 'Perverted Justice' search for perverts! If only it were the other way around. American Idol (Fox,... more ›

Tonight - Monday TV Junkie is desperate, there ain't crap for new stuff on tonight other than late night talk - and the (free) movie channels have nothing inspiring on AND I have no new DVDs to look at, somebody help me for effssake! Monday Night Football: Bengals @ Colts (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.) Flames @ Ducks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) "Identity" (NBC, 9 p.m. EST) A new game show with Penn Jillette, let the magic... more ›

Tonight - Monday "Breakheart Pass" (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) Charles Bronson starts off Crime/Mystery night on TCM. This is followed by "Murder On the Orient Express", "Sherlock Holmes in Terror By Night", and "The Narrow Margin" "Monday Night Football" (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.) da Bears @ Rams "NBA Basketball" (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Spurs @ Clippers "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) Xmas episode followed by new episodes of everything else on CBS Monday night.... more ›