Results tagged “rickygervais”

       

In a bit of a surprise, Zombieland roared to the top of the weekend box office. Despite a relative lack of stars, the black comedy pulled in $25M to easily top powerhouse Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ($16.7M | $82.3M). The re-release of Toy Story | Toy Story 2 in 3D proved potent as the Pixar dinosaurs raked in $12.5M in their re-debut. Ricky Gervais continues to struggle as a big-screen star as his Invention of Lying brought in only $7.3M in its opening frame. High-concept bomb Surrogates rounded out the top 5 ($7.3M | $26.3M).

                     

Can we officially say that the Coen Brothers are the best filmmakers in America? Can we also say that A Serious Man is the best film released so far this year? Yes and yes. My gut told me that the zombie genre had run its course after the great 28 Weeks Later, but Zombieland finds new ground to cover. Well, not really but it is a hell of a lot of fun and not just because of the huge, unexpected and delightful surprise in the middle of the film that I won't ruin for you (though even mentioning its existence does sort of spoil it, huh? Oh, well!)

If you didn't see Tell No One in the theater last year, go out and immediately buy or rent the best movie released in the U.S. in 2008. Rarely does a film set up such a fantastical premise and deliver on it so perfectly. Slumdog Millionaire never deserved the mini-backlash it received. Based on its kinetic cinematography alone, it was one of the best films of the year. Sure, Dev Patel's performance was a little flat (ok, very flat), but Freida Pinto was absolutely luminous and the child actors were a revelation. As for Marley & Me and Seven Pounds...skip and skip. Spend your money on the great Leonard Cohen or any of these comedy specials.

Yes, Keira Knightley has many detractors, but I think she's just fabulous. Period pieces like and be glad you have a normal, non-raping mommy.

Samuel L. Jackson continues to prove he's at least a decent box-office draw as his presence lifted the rote thriller was expected to do just okay business which is pretty much what it did ($8M).

Much like his countryman Eddie Izzard, Ricky Gervais has never been able to find the right feature film material to properly showcase his sharp and unusual comic persona. While his television work in Britain ( is a needlessly sprawling, confusing and manipulative mess.

Lakeview Terrace looks like such a rote, phony thriller that it's hard to imagine a decent (albeit declining) director like Neil LaBute being able to do much with it. Then again, it's probably Oscar-worthy compared to tripe like My Best Friend's Girl. Is there still an audience for Dane Cook? The Duchess looks like just another wan costume drama after the fiery and robust . Keira Knightly really needs to stop doing these things. Anyone else getting an overpowering TNT vibe from Appaloosa?

The Emmy nominations are out today and finally it seems like they're getting on the right track with nominations for AMC's "Mad Men", FX's "Damages", and Showtime's "Dexter". In comedy NBC is duking it out with itself between "30 Rock" and "The Office". If any of those previously-mentioned shows wins this will be a good year for the Emmys. In particular the AMC and FX nominations are groundbreaking for basic cable to receive such critical acclaim.

This was fun.

Wes Anderson doesn't have many casual fans. You either love the strange worlds of whimsy he creates or you find it all a bit precious and twee. Count me in the former camp and count .

As a devoted fan of , though, is a completely different story.

Even though “Extras” has ended, you can still get a Ricky Gervais fix when he comes to the Kodak Theatre in 2008. Though his people originally announced that tickets would go on sale Dec. 25, the date has been moved up to tomorrow, Dec. 18, at 10 a.m.

A couple things on tonight but Saturday's a wasteland, go play in the sand or snow. Sunday is finale-city, check it out below. Have a great weekend.

Start saving your pennies now. Today it was announced that Ricky Gervais—podcast king and star/co-creator of The Office (U.K.) and Extras—will be coming to the Kodak Theatre next summer. Here's the official word from his website: Overpaid, Over-Fed and Over There Ricky Gervais will shortly be announcing stand-up shows across America in July 2008. Tickets for the coast to coast tour will go on sale at Christmas and will include dates at New York's...

While rightly lauded for originating The Office, I think Extras is Ricky Gervais' true masterpiece. I mean, how can you possibly top Harry Potter flicking a rubber into Dame Diana Rigg's hair? I'll tell you how--have David Bowie improvise this song for Gervais' hapless Andy Millman. Unfortunately (really unfortunately), Gervais decided against another season of the show, but Season 2 is now available on DVD. Buy it. Watch it. Live it.

A Word or 52: TV icon Bob Barker is retiring and is getting a big sendoff from CBS. Lost will be killing us by not giving us any additional info about Locke. Idol will knock another one off. There are no decent movies on TCM or IFC to go take refuge from regular broadcast TV tonight. Tonight - Wednesday - May 9, 2007 Angels @ Mariners (Fox Sports, 7:00 p.m.) Cardinals @ Dodgers (PRIME,...

A skit about the true meaning of charity, featuring Ricky Gervais, Jamie Oliver, Bob Geldof and... Bono?

Recommended Dixie Chicks - Shut Up & Sing - Remember when rugged individualism was the hallmark of the "American character"? Remember when that individualism was defined by a willingness to speak your mind? Remember when criticizing your governmental overlords was a patriotic duty? Yeah, me neither. But maybe country music trio The Dixie Chicks were trying to recall that mythologized frontier spirit when lead singer Nathalie Maines criticized President Bush for launching the Iraq...

Movie grosses have for some reason become mainstream news, so starting today here's your weekend box office report. I'm only writing this column so I can someday use screaming headlines like "Boffo at the B.O.!" and other flagrant abuses of Variety-speak. (BTW, thank you Variety for posting weekend grosses so promptly on your site every Sunday morning. You've made my job a whole lot easier.)

A Word or 67: I've already seen some State of the Union drinking games posted on the web, so get home early with a bottle of hooch because here again your early primetime programming is to be disrupted by our floundering President and his evil grimacing VP, standing behind him like some kind of Golem. Which Democratic senators is he going to attempt to kiss this time? Lieberman, pucker up mofo. Tonight - Tuesday...

Wednesday - Tonight Lakers @ Mavericks (ESPN, 6:30 p.m.) Jazz @ Clippers (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) "King of Queens" (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) Double whammy - 2 new episodes. "The Next Top Model: British Invasion" (the CW, 8:00 p.m.) 2 Hour debut(!) "The Biggest Loser" (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Season finale in mondo 2 hr. episode. "The Lost Room" (SciFi, 9:00 p.m.) Final episode of the miniseries. "One Punk Under God" (Sundance, 9:00 p.m.) If you pay...

Tonight - Tuesday Lakers @ Rockets (CBS2, 5:30 p.m.) If the NBA consolidated these two they'd be the Lockets which sounds better anyway, what the hell is a Laker, some kind of ship? "Friday Night Lights" (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Cheerleader competition becomes the focus for the town as well as additional male viewers of the show. "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: 40th Anniversary" (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) I'm a mean one, so you'd...

LAist loves to point out great upcoming tv shows and shows that may not be so great, but worth a look anyway. We are just putting this out there, you call it.