Once again, Batman flouts the law in his pursuit of vigilante justice. | Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers Is there anyone in America who didn't see The Dark Knight this weekend? The second chapter in director Chris Nolan's reboot of the Batman franchise grossed a stunning $155.4M this weekend, eclipsing the old record of $151.1M set by Spider-Man 3 in 2007. In a cagey piece of counter-programming by Universal, Mamma Mia! brought in a higher......

Will Ledger win the Oscar? | Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers It's already a foregone conclusion that The Dark Knight will set some sort of record this weekend at the box-office. The only question is how much it will eventually make. 130 million bucks? 140 million? More? The buzz surrounding the film has been almost universally positive so expect a great time as you settle into your seat and enter the dark world of Batman......

One of the great performances in recent memory. | Photo courtesy of Paramount Vantage If you somehow missed There Will Be Blood in theaters, pick up the DVD today and watch one of our finest actors give his finest performance. Nothing more really needs to be said. Walk Hard got knocked around at the box office over Christmas, but I really liked it. For any fan of the Apatow brand, it's a no-brainer buy.......

The Los Angeles Michelin ratings are out! No three-star restaurants for LA, and many Angeleno foodies are already complaining about the non-starred status of places like Lucques, Grace, and JAR. They couldn't get Ackroyd? Meryl Streep will be playing Julia Child in the upcoming movie adaptation of the book "Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen." The sequel will be based on Carol Cooks Keller, hopefully. The kids over at......

With one very notable exception, it's a fairly dull weekend in the movie world. That exception, of course, is the sterling No Country for Old Men. After several misfires (Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, The Man Who Wasn't There), the Coen Brothers are back with their best film since The Big Lebowski. Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones all give superb performances in this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name.......

Unless you are a hardcore devotee of the 3-camera sitcom format (How I Met Your Mother, etc.) then Monday has somehow turned into NBC night. Check out late night offerings as you can while the writer's strike gains traction - Letterman and Conan have good guests. 8:00pm Chuck NBC - TV Junkie 8:00pm Pick 9:00pm Carol Burnett: A Woman of Character PBS - For some she's an annoyance, for many she's a classic, if you're......

Don't forget to check out my interview with Glenn Close if you haven't yet. Damages is the pick of the night of course, but there's some other gems out there. 8:00pm Matt Lauer Reports NBC - I'm not a huge fan of Matt Lauer or NBC news reporting but it should be interesting to see him grill Senator Larry Craig about his wide stance. 9:00pm Frontline: Cheney's Law PBS/KCET - A look at the Cheney......

5:30 - I can hear the press people and the MTV handlers trying to corral Jack Nicholson in the next tent over, which apparently isn't easy to do. We here in the Blogghetto have been promised by MTV that they will try to get as many celebs as possible in here. You know you're low on the totem pole when even Shia LaBeouf is too big to talk to you. 5:26 - Dane Cook......

I love movies. I love clothes. And because I don't watch enough reality TV shows to have an unhealthy dose of schadenfreude in my life, I love stories about evil bosses who receive their comeuppance. So I was, of course, dying to see The Devil Wears Prada. I am a girl after all. My lady friends who were lucky enough to have attended advance screenings or rushed to the theater on opening weekend all......

Who doesn't love the dramatic skills of Meryl Streep? Who doesn't think Anne Hathaway isn't the cutest thing? And who doesn't think the director of several episodes of "Sex and the City" and "Entourage" (including the pilot) will probably put together a good film? Ah, who cares? All we know is in order to promote the new Streep/Hathaway/Stanley Tucci flick, "The Devil Wears Prada" you can get a free large cup of joe at......

FRIDAY • Avalon features Chevelle and Taproot tonight at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $22. • Modfather Paul Weller performs tonight at The Wiltern at 8 PM. Tickets are $30-37.50. • The Decemberists and Sons and Daughters are at The Glasshouse tonight at 8 PM. Tickets are $15. • The UCLA Live season kicks off with live theater, featuring plays by Charlie Kaufman and Francis Fregoli, plus music by Carter Burwell and featuring Hope Davis,......

Appearing at UCLA's Royce Hall tonight and tomorrow night only is Charlie Kaufman's amazing new theater experience, "The Theater of the New Ear". We highly suggest that you run, not walk, to your nearest UCLA box office, or some online venue and purchase tickets. Los Angeles is usually one of the last rungs on the theater ladder, getting touring shows months (sometimes years, sometimes never) after they have appeared on the east coast. Don't......

THURSDAY • Bernhauser, Anchors for Architects, Seven Times On The Sea, Sticky Children and El Ten Eleven are playing tonight at the Knitting Factory. The show starts at 8 PM. Tickets are $5. • The UCLA Live season kicks off with live theater, featuring plays by Charlie Kaufman and Francis Fregoli, plus music by Carter Burwell and featuring Hope Davis, Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan, Meryl Streep and David Thewlis. The plays......

WEDNESDAY • The Decemberists and Sons and Daughters perform tonight at the Henry Fonda Theater. Doors open at 8 PM; tickets are $18. • Spaceland hosts a Katrina benefit featuring Dirty Kings, Numchuck, The Ringers, The Absentee and Demo Team. Doors open at 9 PM. • The UCLA Live season kicks off with live theater, featuring plays by Charlie Kaufman and Francis Fregoli, plus music by Carter Burwell and featuring Hope Davis, Peter Dinklage,......

Tomorrow is an epic day for all of you fans of Troy. No, LAist speaks not of the cumbersome, homo-erotic, overlong and overhyped Brad Pitt fiasco from this past summer, but rather of a certain press conference occurring within the holy walls of the University of Southern California. There, one Matt Leinart, better known as the quarterbacking heartthrob of your national champion football Trojans, will answer the question that has been on the tip......

Let’s be honest. The New Year really couldn’t start until Mr. Blackwell crawled out of his hole and brought us his sartorial critique of Hollywood in the form of his 45th Annual Worst Dressed Women List. Or, as we here at LAist like to call it, the 45th Annual “Who the Hell is this Mr. Blackwell Guy Anyway?” List. This year, the great and noble Mr. Blackwell (as far as we know, he has......