In 1992, Quentin Tarantino made a huge splash at the Sundance Film Festival with his directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs. He didn't return to Park City until this year to serve as a member of the Festival's Jury. Last night, he was honored with the Ray-Ban Visionary Award and LAist was there. Following a short introduction by Dennis Hopper, Quentin took the stage and riffed about his first Sundance experience for about twenty minutes. Following......

Roger Avary, the Academy Award-winning writer of the 1994 cult classic Pulp Fiction, was arrested this weekend on charges of manslaughter. The arrest stems from his involvement in a car accident Sunday night in Ojai that left his wife injured, and one other person dead. Avary, who was at the wheel, was booked on suspicion of DUI, and his passenger, 34-year-old Andreas Zini, a guest of the Avary's from Italy, was taken to the hospital,......

Who is brave or foolish enough to go out tonight? No, seriously. Why do you want to leave the house? There are some things to do if you are so inclined (queue writer's raised eyebrow). JAZZ The renowned Alan Broadbent Trio plays two sets tonight at the Jazz Bakery. 8 & 9:30 p.m. // The Jazz Bakery // 3233 Helms Ave. // (310) 271-9039 // $25 FILM Quentin Tarantino hosts a LACMA screening of South......

Helena Bonham Carter and her boyfriend, director Tim Burton, both Golden Globe nominees for Sweeney Todd welcomed their second baby together, a girl, in London this weekend - People What better way to get attention than talk smack about some Hollywood heavyweights? Rupert Everett is starting trouble by talking about how Al Pacino and Robert De Niro have turned into "tragic paradies" of the icons they once were- StarPulse Britney Spears's home away from home,......

"Atonement" leads the pack of nominees for the 2008 Golden Globe Awards with seven nods, including top actor nominations for both leads, Keira Knightly and James McAvoy. "American Gangster," "No Country for Old Men," and "Sweeney Todd" also garnered nominations; you can read a partial list of the nominees here at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association website. Hayden Panettiere, Dane Cook, Ryan Reynolds and Quentin Tarantino read the list at the Beverly Hilton at......

In Which we Discover how the Golden Girls helped make stuff we like Have you ever written anything? I don't mean like a letter or a note, but something long, something good. Sure, you think you could. A lot of people do. But unless you're actually writing something, you're not a writer. Writing is really time consuming. It's not just about fun and ideas. It's about forcing yourself to sit down, get off the phone,......

See cult-movie legend/director Jack Hill at the Egyptian tonight for a double feature celebrating the release of the scary masterpiece, Spider Baby on DVD! Tonight’s festivities include a screening of Spider Baby (1968) & Pit Stop (1969). Saturday night he will also grace the theatre with his presence for the screenings of two of some of the most friggin’ awesome movies ever made, Switchblade Sisters (1975) & Coffy (1973). A Hollywood resident for decades, Hill’s......

Those of you who didn't get enough of Death Proof at the theater (and that would be 37 of you) now have the chance to experience Quentin Tarantino's complete and unedited cinematic vision--oh, whatever. Matthew McConaughey almost refused to do We Are Marshall because he thought his character should always be shirtless. Would Carly Schroeder turn 18 already so I can stop feeling so creepy (Kristen Stewart, too). Lucky You deserved better. Daniel Auteuil......

New Beverly Cinema owner Sherman Torgan died yesterday, unexpectedly, of a heart attack. Two local film blogs, Hollywood Elsewhere and Cinema is Dope are reporting it, and LAist has confirmed the sad news with the revival movie theater. Projectionist Jeff Nowicki of the New Beverly said on the phone with us that Torgan had indeed died in Santa Monica yesterday of a heart attack while on a bike ride. While the theater will be......

- "Ugly men try harder. They care more about you and treat you like a princess. Good-looking guys are self-obsessed. That’s not attractive." - The Sun Online - Girls Gone Wild asswipe founder pleads no contest to feeling up an 18-year old at a January party in Hollywood. Could get six months - CBS2 - While in town to play the Dodgers, four Milwaukee Brewers players taped an episode of the Young and the......

A Word or 157: It's all about the Prime Time tonight. The Office and 30 Rock have a real chance at getting some serious viewership since both Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy are simply rehash episodes (even though they are billed as 'New'). Tina Fey has been hitting everything from Good Morning America to Conan (and Baldwin made an appearance on Letterman last night) in an attempt to push 30 Rock more - it's......

I am in shock. Despite a ton of promotion, great reviews and legions of Quentin Tarantino fans, Grindhouse opened in only fourth place. That would be $3.4 million behind the "former ghetto rapper heads to the burbs" comedy Are We Done Yet? and only $1.5 million ahead of the "I'm Hilary Swank, and I've won two Oscars, so I can star in whatever piece of poorly conceived commercial dreck I want to" horror film......

A Word or 46: Boy what a hubbub over this American Idol dreck - didn't the show producers see what a joke Howard Stern made of People magazine's "Most Beautiful People" contest back in '98? That's what you get for inexperience and idiocy, watch the guy with bad hair win. Tonight - Thursday - April 5th, 2007 The Office (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Supersized 40+ minute version Survivor: Fiji/CSI: Crime Scene Investigation/Shark (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.)......

Don't forget. If you want to see a sneak preview of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature, Grindhouse (Planet Terror = Rodriquez; Death Proof = Tarantino), head over to the New Beverly tonight at 11 p.m. Actually, head over at 9:45 p.m. That's when tickets go on sale, and there's a good chance it will sell out. If you wanna go in true grindhouse style, I recommend rolling up in a 1970s Dodge Challenger......

Starting tomorrow, lots of folks are going to be rushing area theaters to check out the latest Quentin Tarantino+Robert Rodriguez splatterfest, Grindhouse. And yes, Los Angeles has definitely gone grindhouse crazy in general. But before running off to The Grove, consider a truly authentic alternative. We think the best way to see the Tarantino/Rodriguez homage to 1970s and 1980s schlock cinema is by heading to an equally entertaining relic of a bygone era; the......

A Word or 52: Some people hated last week's "useless" Lost because it didn't further the storyline but I thought it was a humorously macabre and welcome break that reminded me of some of the better tangential X-Files episodes from 10+ years ago. If looks like we're going back to that story line tonight, oh well. Jericho (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) Roger goes off the deep end, and who can blame him Friday Night Lights/Crossing......

I was lucky enough to score a couple of last minute tickets to last night's world premiere of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature, Grindhouse, at the Orpheum in downtown LA. I am happy to report that after months of festering anticipation, Grindhouse lives up to the hype. Grindhouse, which is actually two feature-length movies in one (total running time: 185 minutes), begins with vintage title cards promoting "prevues of coming attractions." Then comes......

Back in January, SXSW launched a contest looking for the scariest, freakiest movie trailers. In honor of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's upcoming movie Grindhouse, amateur filmmakers were invited create their own grindhouse trailers. The best submissions were presented at the festival a couple of weeks ago by Rodriguez. Here's one that I like, Hobo with a Shotgun. Simple, direct and hilarious. Plus, it delivers what it promises.......

Grindhouse There probably isn’t a single night I wouldn't enjoy going to the Quentin Tarantino-curated Grindhouse Festival at the New Beverly. On Monday & Tuesday it’s a double bill of Rolling Thunder, a revenge flick about a Vietnam vet who goes on the warpath after his wife and son are killed by thugs, and The Town That Dreaded Sundown, a 1977 film that's set in 1946 about a hooded killer stalking the terrified residents of......

- Proof that America isn't as fascist as some might think: our trains don't run on time. Least fascist line? The Coast Starlight that runs between Seattle and LA - Seattle PI - Be careful what you wish for. Paris Hilton wanted to be popular and loved - well now she might become the most popular and loved inmate in a local jail thanks to her insistence of driving with a suspended license. Didn't......

Bonjour Tristesse As part of its ongoing Saul Bass mini-tribute, the Skirball Center will screen Bonjour Tristesse, a drama directed by Otto Preminger that stars David Niven as a suave playboy-turned-father and Jean Seberg as his pixie-ish daughter. Their dissolute existence of tromping across Europe from nightclub to cocktail party to casino is upended when Niven falls for the hopelessly upright Deborah Kerr. I also highly recommend the mildly smutty book by Françoise Sagan on......

The New Beverly has announced the schedule for 2007 the Los Angeles Grindhouse Festival Grindhouse festival, which is this year programmed by Quentin Tarantino and runs from March 4 - May 1. Many of the prints come from Tarantino's vast and awesome private collection, reputed to be among the best in the world for such films. As we reported last week, Los Angeles' best revival house will screen themed, handpicked double features on weekdays......

UPDATE: FUCK YEAH! I have confirmation from an unnamed but reliable source that Quentin Tarantino will indeed be programming the New Beverly for March & April. It's no rumor. It's reality. Rumor has it that Quentin Tarantino himself will be taking over programming at revival house The New Beverly for March and April as a way to promote the upcoming release of Grindhouse, which hits theaters on April 6. Supposedly the Q-Man will be showing......

Valentines Day is in just mere hours and for those of us who want to celebrate the holiday in true love fashion here is a short list of love or anti-love movies, perfect or the occasion. No Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts here. True Romance- This cross-country love story between southerners Clarence and Alabama, ending in Los Angeles, is brilliantly violent but loving at the same time. True Romance has a perfect cast with Brad......

- Now that's a bad ass trailer - Defamer - My bad little girl is bringing her bi-hotness back to Lost - tv squad - Is the Pope gay? - NY Post - The Answer is a Question Mark for tonight's game in Denver - AP - Woman thrown from her car and into LA River during a traffic accident, probably fatal - LA Times - Clippers only a game and a half out......

Not that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez need any free publicity, but you gotta love the 1970s-style color palette and cheeseball film effects of the Grind House trailer -- complete with Josh Brolin looking like a young Jeff Bridges, Danny Trejo as the badass knife-sharpening Machete, Tom Savini as a shotgun-wielding sheriff's deputy and Rose McGowan as an amputee stripper with a machine gun for a shin.......

This is for all the marbles, folks. $9 to get in. Winner takes half the door money. Trivia starts at 7p. If you can answer questions like “In what area of LA did Quentin Tarantino's character in Pulp Fiction live?” or “What year did the Vista movie theater opened its doors?” then pack up your big brain, do not pass go, and collect your dollars. Hollywood Trivia TONIGHT @ Safari Sam's 5214 W. Sunset......

Quentin Tarantino, mah-jongg, art galleries, lofts. L.A. Times profiles the new Chinatown: The transformation has been occurring gradually over the last six years but now appears to be shifting into overdrive... The situation has created a culture clash. Some old-timers complain about the rowdy behavior of the new patrons. There are periodic flare-ups over art shows that some longtime Chinatown merchants consider too racy. Some elderly residents worry about being pushed out by gentrification.........

Apparently the billion-dollar oil giant Unocal thinks that upgrading their trademark spinning orange ball is a good idea. Clearly it's not. That giant orb is iconic, brilliant, simple, and classic. But as long as we're paying north of $3 a gallon for gasoline, drawing attention to anything oil-related without a clenched fist and an angry mob is foolish. If Unocal -- or their parent company ConocoPhillips -- wants to de-ball themselves, fine. Screw 'em.......

When we heard that Tom Hanks was cast as the lead Prof. Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code, LAist was worried. Then when we heard that Dan Brown's page turner would be directed by Ron Howard, we were totally bummed. Not to take anything away from Hanks or Howard, but really, why do the studios need to always take the safe (read: boring) route with the blockbusters? We reserved comment until the film......