Results tagged “mickeyrourke”

                            

When I think of my favorite movies of the last twenty years, the most curious inclusion is probably Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco. Now that it's been given the Criterion treatment (it's been out of print on DVD for years), I can't recommend it highly enough. If only Stillman would actually write and direct another film (Disco was his last and that was eleven years ago!). I enjoyed Adventureland so much at Sundance that I watched it again when it landed in theaters. Equally sad and sweet and funny, it was poorly marketed as a straight comedy and never really found an audience. I imagine that it will on DVD, though. Sunshine Cleaning was okay, but had that "deliberately quirky" vibe coursing through it. Duplicity was one of several failures earlier this year that probably marked the beginning of the end of the big-budget, adult-targeted film. Shame that.

       

Large swaths of red-blooded American males have been waiting for this moment since March of 2000 (NSFW) and today that moment finally arrives -- Jessica Biel is nekkid in a movie (unbelievably NSFW)! Of course, by all accounts Powder Blue is a terrible film, but why let something like that stop you from buying it, right? It surely can't be any worse than the week's "big" release, New in Town. What has happened to Renee Zellweger? Not every notable 70s movie was actually good. Zabriskie Point will make you laugh but not in a good way. Forever Strong has two things going for it: it's about rugby and it stars the amazing Gary Cole.

In the latest example of Hollywood underestimating the size of the African-American audience, Basic Instinct knock-off Obsessed stormed to the top of the box office this weekend with a healthy take of $28.5M. Last week's lame champ 17 Again ($11.6M/$39.9M) edged out newcomer Fighting ($11.4M) while newbies The Soloist ($9.7M) and Earth rounded out the top 5 ($8.5M). Kiddie hit Monsters vs. Aliens continues to print money as it storms towards the $200M mega-hit benchmark ($8.5M/$174.8M).

Though it was almost criminally ignored by the Academy, The Wrestler was among the very finest movies released in theaters last year. Since it made only a little more than $26M at the box office, there are still plenty of people who haven't seen it. To those people I say: buy, buy, buy this DVD! It features a staggering performance by Mickey Rourke and a very underrated turn by the increasingly compelling Marisa Tomei. Ron Moore is my kind of storyteller so naturally I'm onboard with Caprica. I mean, who doesn't love Eric Stoltz? Ron Howard never seems to take any great chances, but he does consistently deliver solid pieces of entertainment. He gets pilloried for it by many, but being this good and this popular is no easy feat.

"For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support," Sean Penn said in his acceptance speech for actor in a leading role last night at the Oscars. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

Earlier this month The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences held its annual luncheon for the Oscar nominees at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. LAist was there in the interview room while nominees such as Penelope Cruz. Mickey Rourke and Kate Winslet fielded questions from the press.

To the great dismay of the human, vampire and lycan kingdoms, Paul Blart: Mall Cop once again triumphed at the box office this weekend ($21.5M/$64.8M). Underworld: Rise of the Lycans made a game effort, but only managed a close second-place finish ($20.7M). After that it was the resilient Gran Torino ($16M/$97.5M), the silly Hotel for Dogs ($12.3M/$36.9M), the surging Slumdog Millionaire ($10.5M/$55.9M) and the, uh, bloody My Bloody Valentine 3-D ($10M/$37.7M).

There's only three weeks to go until the Super Bowl and NBC still has to sell some ads so they're looking to the movie studios to fill up the remaining (10%) of slots. So what we're saying is that at least 1 out of 10 ads will be for a movie, with all the ads adding up to over $200 million for NBC.

While 2008 was no 1999 in terms of truly amazing films, it was better than most may think. Last year, I went with a top 10 that was headed by the wondrous and magical . Accordingly, I've put them at the very top of my list. The rest are in alphabetical order. See each one of them and I promise you will have lived a better life once you're done.

In a down weekend due to bad weather across the country, middling Jim Carrey "comedy" continued to hang around like a drunken slut ($7.7M/$100.1M).

The Wrestler marks the return of Mickey Rourke to prominence and, to a lesser extent, Darren Aronofsky. I think both are welcome occurrences. Be warned, though--the squeamish should avert their eyes during the meat slicer scene. The Tale of Despereaux is just the sort of broad, silly tale of redemption that a sucker like me always enjoys a little too much. Seven Pounds would probably be high on my must-see list if it starred anyone other than Will Smith. Seriously people--let's put a stop to this man and stop going to his movies!

Here’s a sampling of what's happening around town tonight. You want other things to do this weekend? Then check out the LAist Agenda: December for upcoming events.

Lede of the week: Imagine if Peter Pan had been a fucked-up teenage vagrant with a permanent hard-on, Wendy had been a cum-drenched junkie living in Brooklyn and Captain Hook had looked something like Mickey Rourke - you’d think to yourself, “I bet Larry Clark had something to do with this”. - LA Weekly's Style Council

LAist likes Matt Dillon. "My Bodyguard", "Drugstore Cowboy", even "Crash" were decent films where Dillon played that tough guy with a heart. But Matt Dillon isn't Charles Bukowski. Bukowski was ugly and bloated and got laid in spite of his looks, not because of them. That's why a fucked up Mickey Rourke played a passable Chinaski in the stinker called "Barfly". Ironic because would be the perfect time for Rourke to play the great poet and novelist.

LAist and our friends at New Line and Fandango would like to send you and a friend to see the new film Domino which opens this Friday and stars Kiera Knightly (and Mickey Rourke and Brian Austin Greene and Ian Ziering!).

Speaking of Sin City, we weren't invited to last night's premiere of the film at Mann National in Westwood but, by the look of things, all the rest of Hollywood was. Every time we find something about the flick, we're surprised by another actor or actress being in the movie that we didn't previously know about. The premiere revealed Carla Gugino is in the film. She plays Lucille. This is very exciting. We're still mourning the untimely demise of Karen Sisco.

At MOCA at the Pacific Design Center, Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena, partners at Escher GuneWardena Architecture, will be giving an art talk on the Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec exhibition currently at MOCA. The talk begins at 6:30 PM.

LAist once saw someone do a karaoke rendition of Cheap Trick's "Surrender" that involved a blow-up guitar; particularly considering that the act took place in a coffee house, it was an impressive show. LAist is willing to concede, however, that tonight's actual Cheap Trick show at the Canyon Club will probably top it. Doors open at 6:00 PM for dinner reservations; the show starts at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $42.50.