Despite a huge amount of buzz amongst its core audience of superficial women, Sex and the City 2: I Am An Idiot was easily dispatched by the sleepy Shrek Forever After and the pointless Prince of Persia: Sands of Something or Other. The rancid tale of four middle-aged drag queens earned a mere $37.1M over the holiday weekend, just behind Persia's $37.8M and well off Shrek's mammoth $55.7M ($145.4M). Iron Man 2 continues to hang around ($20.6M | $279.1M), topping the disappointing Gladiator 2: Robin Hood ($13.6M | $86.3M). 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 ›

There's already been a ton of Inglourious Basterds material on LAist this weekend, so I'll only say, "Check it out. It's a helluva ride." My One and Only looks like an intriguing film. Based in part on the life of George Hamilton, it tells the story of a determined woman looking for a wealthy man to provide a nice life for her and her sons. It's been awhile since there's been a film about The Troubles, but Five Minutes of Heaven is a welcome addition to the canon. Liam Neeson stars as a man who, as a child, murdered the brother of another man (a fantastic James Nesbitt). The film tells a story of forgiveness as both try to reconcile the past. more ›

The difficulty in reviewing a film like Inglourious Basterds is that it's really two films mashed up into one. One of those films concerns a young Jewish woman named Shoshanna who exacts a brilliant revenge against the Nazis who murdered her family. The other regards a group of mostly Jewish-American military assassins (the titular "Basterds") who scour the French countryside killing everyone in a German uniform. What's strangely problematic about Inglourious Basterds is that while the latter story is full of Quentin Tarantino's characteristic bluster and brio, you can't wait to get back to Shoshanna and find out what's happening with her life. more ›

Late night news: TBS is building a late night show around comedian/actor George Lopez (whom we have loved as Mayor Hernandez on "Reno 911"). The hour-long show will air at 11pm, Monday through Fridays but we're not so sure that it's a good move to go head to head with local news. We'll see what happens when the show launches. TBS has dabbled in late night comedy, with the Frank Caliendo vehicle, "Frank TV", which has not been renewed, and the admirable "10 Items or Less", headed by John Lehr, which is up for renewal now. more ›

Given the choice of two-profile comedies, audiences chose had a dismal debut ($14M) and will struggle to be profitable. The Alba curse continues. more ›

Steve Carrell is one of the funniest guys on television but it looks like he's dropped another turd on the big screen. It's never a good sign when the preview to a comedy is unable to generate more than a few, soft giggles from audiences, but that appears to be the case for Get Smart. Anne Hathaway is a marvelously appealing actress, but she looks awfully uncomfortable in the role of an action hero. And Dwayne Johnson? Pass. more ›

Late last week The Hollywood Reporter noted that Jon Voight has signed on to be Jack Bauer's nemesis in the upcoming season of "24" (shooting now in South Africa). Do you think it's enough or is "24" so stale now that no addition of talent can save it? more ›

Looks like we have a few more weeks of comedy and drama to enjoy before our shows start petering out due to the writers' strike. As we can see, late night TV is in repeats. TV Junkie will have an interview with a WGA card-carrying writer posted in the next couple days, as well as some DVD reviews (gotta feed the addiction). Thursday is comedy night in our book: 8:00pm Ugly Betty ABC - Tonight... more ›

6:22 - It's your last chance to text in your vote for Best Movie. I know it hasn't even opened yet, but I bet that somehow Transformers will win. 6:21 - Mike Myers gets a well-deserved laugh after he thanks his parents for teaching him to "never sell out" and immediately follows it with a deliberately over-the-top promo for a Pontiac sedan. Plug away. 6:19 - "Shall I shag him now or shall I... more ›

A Word or 146: It was fun to watch Molly Shannon on SNL. In general it was a great broadcast and she was just as funny now as she was then but who could really care about Linkin Park? Less fun is reading about the continuing poor decision-making by the networks in their upcoming program development. NBC is trying to cover all it's bases milking Heroes, their only good horse in the running, by creating... more ›

A Word or 89(approx): One thing I didn't mention over the weekend was Sunday's SNL In the '90s because I thought it woudl suck. I was right. First, why did it take them 7 years to come up with this 2 hours of dreck? Second, the equal emphasis of the (pathetic) music acts and the comedy was a mistake - the show is an hour and a half with 2 songs in it, the... more ›