You know it's a slow day at the DVD counter when the highlight of the week is a Blu-Ray release of a fifteen year-old film. Sure Apollo 13 is a solid flick -- maybe even Ron Howard's best -- but the prospect of seeing it again doesn't particularly get my juices going. As a fan of Richard Curtis, I wish I could recommend Pirate Radio, but the comedy in it just seems a little forced and dated. Woody Harrelson is, of course, a demigod in my eyes so Defendor was required viewing when it originally hit theaters. Check it out. more ›

Some critics have derided Wes Anderson as a victim of his own precious taste. His movies take place in "Andersonville" it's said -- a singular, specific world from which he needs to free himself. To that I say, "Pah!". Anderson's latest film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, takes place in the stop-motion animated version of Andersonville and it's, well, fantastic. I can't recommend it highly enough. I can't say the same for 2012. I mean, honestly, how is it really different from The Day After Tomorrow? Sure Richard Curtis is a bit schmaltzy, but I always give extra-credit to the open-hearted. Plus, Pirate Radio has Philip Seymour Hoffman in it so it's worth seeing. more ›

Channel surfing the other night, LAist stumbled upon the recent HBO Film/BBC Production, The Girl in the Café, starring Bill Nighy (humorously unforgettable as the aging rock star in Love Actually) and Kelly Macdonald, most recently seen as Peter Pan in Finding Neverland. Written by British rom-com god Richard Curtis, famous for penning screenplays like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary and the aforementioned Love Actually, the film is a romance with a cause. more ›