In a marked departure from his previous, politically-charged directorial efforts, Rod Lurie delivers a thoughtful, often poignant film about family and morality in Resurrecting the Champ. Based in part on a Los Angeles Times Magazine article by J.R. Moehringer, Resurrecting the Champ tells the story of Erik Kernan (Josh Hartnett), a sportswriter living in the shadow of his late father, a legendary broadcaster. Erik is your classic hustler--quick with a lie and unwilling to......

To conservatives in the media, Rod Lurie may be the ultimate bête noire of Hollywood filmmakers (he would compete with Oliver Stone and Aaron Sorkin). His two highest-profile projects, The Contender and Commander-in-Chief, fully reflected his Democratic politics and were both harshly labeled by Republican commentators as little more than sops to the (then) presumptive presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton. How strange then that Lurie's new film, Resurrecting the Champ, is a morality play......

Mark Wahlberg lights up TV screens this week as Shooter reaches the DVD shelves. I don't know about you, but this tale of double-crosses and revenge had a distinct late 80s/early 90s vibe to it for me. Did Sly pass on this script 20 years ago or was it Steve in '95? For those of you who want to see Samuel L. Jackson in full-on Samuel L. Jackson mode, pick up Black Snake Moan.......

Get this, there's another sequel coming out today. You're surprised, I know, I was too. Alas, in a summer of recycled story lines, the comedy genre takes center stage today with "Evan Almighty. With "The Office" on hiatus, I'm itching for some Steve Carell. He arrives, riding an ark, in time for your weekend. Evan Almighty - It's the most expensive comedy ever (there are reports that Universal has been recruiting churches to try......

Today marks the first day that 76 book titles will be available for your cell phones via Moka. Yet, we wonder if this books on phone thing isn't similar to Snakes on a Plane -- good idea in theory (might be cool, might inspire a cultish following), but a disaster in reality. As with the film, we're betting that such a lofty idea - who ever heard of books on phones (or, for that matter,......

5. Airbus was actually going to dis LAX until a few weeks ago because the airport was so far behind on the infamous ~$50 million modifications needed to accommodate the 8-story tall village-in-the-sky. So while 550 Lufthansa passengers will arrive simultaneously (9:30 a.m. PDT Monday) at New York's JFK, the LAX-bound A380 is practically a test flight, with only handful of Airbus techs and some heavy equipment (although it's rumored that Samuel L. Jackson......

A Word Or 71: Hey, thanks for calling me on my BS mistakes yesterday, it pleases me that some people have been reading my little list of shows and snarky comments. Have a great weekend - the only thing that will get me through Oscar night is alcohol, here's a link to an Oscar's Drinking Game but there's got to be better ones, please post your own or links to better ones in the comments.......

This is LAist’s mutherfuckin’ Snakes on a Plane review. This should have happened months ago, but like every other person we neglected to cough up the bucks at the box office and opted instead to wait for its DVD release. To make the case for SOAP, it doesn’t live up to the internet hype but it does however manage to pull off death by snakebite to the penis quite gracefully. The sickeningly twisted snake......

A Word or 82: The long drought is over my friends -- regular programming is back, we have new shows and new series coming on every day. My life has some purpose again. My thumb was blistered from almost 2 weeks of endlessly scrolling through channel after channel of repeats and other unwatchable TV - I had almost depleted my tin of Bag Balm. Thank you TV, thank you networks, I may have said......

Tonight - Monday TV Junkie is desperate, there ain't crap for new stuff on tonight other than late night talk - and the (free) movie channels have nothing inspiring on AND I have no new DVDs to look at, somebody help me for effssake! Monday Night Football: Bengals @ Colts (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.) Flames @ Ducks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) "Identity" (NBC, 9 p.m. EST) A new game show with Penn Jillette, let the magic......

Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies, snakes as themselves directed by David R. Ellis, 105 min, rated R There are moments in history, great moments, when the people of their time rise to meet the technology of their age. Planets align. Messiahs are born. Civilizations prosper. And snakes get their asses handed to them by Samuel L. Jackson. You might not have been alive for Woodstock. Or perhaps you missed......

Two killed, two injured when a Metro Blue Line train smashed into a car yesterday morning - CBS-2 Although once one of the best juvenile detention systems in the country, LA now has one of the worst, and it has only gotten scarier in the last ten years. The Board of Supervisors is partially to blame, the Times says. In the last year, county juvenile facilities operated by the Probation Department have erupted in......

Grim news about a Southern California staple: Chris Morris, a 103.1 dj, says in the Hollywood Reporter that the nation's largest free-standing record store chain, Tower Records, is in huge financial debt and may not last another year: The amount of money that Tower owes evidently is staggering. One confidential source familiar with Tower's balance sheet put the company's debt to Warner Music Group's distributor WEA Corp. at $20 million. The same source said......

Don't be alarmed at the loud title above. This is just a primer to get you in the mood for all the festivities, mayhem and otherwise cool stuff that will be happening at the Comic-Con in San Diego next week. If you don't already know, the San Diego Comic-Con is one of those events with humble roots that is now one of the premier happenings of the year, at least on this coast. However,......

More SAG Awards liveblogging. Watch out, Dakota is coming. 8:40 Outstanding actor in a comedic series: Sean Hayes takes it to Will and Grace, leaving William Shatner, James Spader and Larry David behind. 8:44 Ensemble comedy series: Arrested Development, Boston Legal, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Desperate Housewives, Everybody Loves Raymond, My Name is Earl. Which show has the most pretty ladies? Yep, they win. Four lavender dresses &mdashl but nobody told Nicolette. She's in green.(side note:she......

The Daily News tunes in to Howard Stern's premiere satellite radio broadcast, counts the number of times he uses the f-word. Cal State Long Beach has a new president, F. King Alexander; the Long Beach Press Telegram checks in on his first day of school. Apparently he did not use the f-word. Pasadena middle school students have lunch with Samuel L. Jackson as part of a program that helps them make it to college.......

Autograph hounds may be eager to brave the gray skies and go to the Grauman Chinese Theater on January 13th in order to get the signatures of Samuel L. Jackson, Thomas Carter, Ashanti, Robert Ri'Chard, Rick Gonzalez,Rob Brown, Nana Gbewonyo, Channing Tatum, Antwon Tanner, Texas Battle and the actual Coach Ken Carter along with the usual suspects who populate "Black Hollywood" as they attend the film premiere of Paramount's "Coach Carter," directed by Thomas......

LAist wasn't quite sure what to make of Trey Parker, Matt Stone and their patriotic puppets when we first got wind of Team America: World Police earlier this year, but after catching an early screening last night at the Paramount lot, we may just have to take one for the team. In addition to the language, violent situations, and insensitive commentary most will expect from the creators of "South Park", Team America: World Police......