Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer - the two American hikers who were detained in Iran for over two years - returned to American soil on Sunday. Both men were recently sentenced to eight years in Iranian prison, but after much pressure from supporters, politicians and activists, their sentences were lifted. Their list of thank yous surely stretches across multiple pages and includes one unexpected but familiar name - Sean Penn. more ›

Summer blockbuster season is officially in full force! Memorial Day weekend is traditionally Hollywood's highest-grossing (long) weekend. This year brings two highly anticipated sequels, one for the family & one for the frat-house. Even snobs will delight at the big names appearing at the arthouse. more ›

Remember when actor Sean Penn, sick and tired of the paparazzi, went on the offensive and kicked a photographer in Brentwood last year (video)? The City Attorney filed charges in February and today the verdict came out. He "was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to perform 300 hours of community service," according to the LA Times, which reminds us he served 60 days in jail in 1987 for attacking an extra for taking a photo of him while on set. more ›

The Los Angeles City Attorneys office today will file two misdemeanor counts against actor Sean Penn, according to TMZ. Back in October, Penn was captured on video--of course--kicking a paparazzo in Brentwood, apparently breaking the pap's camera. If found guilty, jail time could be up to 1.5 years. You can watch the video here. more ›

Let the Right One In was a fiendishly good reimainging of the vampire story. Naturallly, it is now being re-made into what will surely be an inferior, American film. I thought Mickey Rourke gave the performance of the year in The Wrestler, but Sean Penn was almost as impressive with his rendering of the late Harvey Milk. Speaking of fine actors, Anne Hathaway stirs my drink. While I liked Synedoche, New York, I was let down by it because of my absurdly high expectations for Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut. Role Models was better than it had any right to be. I'm still amazed that Seann William Scott is the sole survivor of the American Pie crowd. more ›

"For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support," Sean Penn said in his acceptance speech for actor in a leading role last night at the Oscars. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone." more ›

While 2008 was no 1999 in terms of truly amazing films, it was better than most may think. Last year, I went with a top 10 that was headed by the wondrous and magical . Accordingly, I've put them at the very top of my list. The rest are in alphabetical order. See each one of them and I promise you will have lived a better life once you're done. more ›

Despite sucking and being overwhelmingly patronizing, is looking more and more like a big flop ($4.2M/$37.8M). more ›

Despite not being terribly funny, opened to a relatively disappointing $12.3M ($18.5M). more ›

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There are delicately few films that choose to tackle the other side of the silver screen. There’s something strangely cannibalistic about the whole process, as behemoth studios coil inside themselves to capture the blood and guts that go into any motion picture. Perhaps it’s cathartic, and allows the greater movie industry to shed it’s old cinematic skin and move forward, off into the underbrush. more ›

A few weeks ago we ran a story called "Irksome and Insufferable: The Ten Most Annoying Singers". Given that actors are just as capable of being annoying as musicians, I thought it would be worthwhile to throw out 10 names for public review. I avoided the easy ones (Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, etc.) and tried to cobble together a list of actors who--for whatever reason--are actually considered to be pretty good by the masses. But not by me! In their own ways, each one of these actors makes me anxious whenever I watch them. more ›

Kaki King plays the Roxy Tonight more ›

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"No Country For Old Men," "There Will Be Blood," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," and "Atonement" all received nominations for Best Picture this morning, as the Academy Award nominations were announced in Beverly Hills. "No Country" and "There Will Be Blood" are the front runners with eight noms apiece, including a Best Actor nod for perennial Oscar fav Daniel Day-Lewis, and directing nominations for the Coen Bros. and Paul Thomas Anderson. While Javier Bardem was recognized with a Best Supporting nom for his work in "No Country," neither Tommy Lee Jones nor Josh Brolin were nominated for the film (although Jones is in the running for a Best Actor award for his work in "In the Valley of Elah" -- did anybody actually see that?). more ›

• Tribune Company CEO Dennis FitzSimons will be stepping down at the end of the year, letting Chicago businessman Sam Zell take over the company. The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times.
• President Bush signed a huge Energy Bill yesterday, in hopes of "reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."
• Looks like Sean Preston and, uh, the other little Chee-to whose name escapes us will have a little fucked up cousin very soon! Jamie Lynn Spears, following in her sister's dirty, unshod footsteps, got herself knocked up.
• California's population has grown by 11.5% since 2000 -- but the annual growth rate has slowed overall, possibly due to slower job growth: "Those who left... were fleeing an economy in which just 5,800 jobs per month were created -- down from more than 20,000 per month the previous year."
• Sean Penn's road-trip flick "Into the Wild" garnered four SAG Award nominations, including one Best Lead Actor nod for star Emile Hirsch. SAG has reached an agreement with the writers guild that will allow the ceremony to proceed as planned.
• This week's rainfall brings California's yearly total up to the seasonal norm. More relief may still be on the way.
• Approximately 25,000 residents in Northridge and other parts of the Valley were affected by power outages yesterday. Cal State Northridge shut down classes, but power has been restored to most customers.
• There may be hope yet for television in the New Year! Stephen Colbert & Jon Stewart will return to cable on January 7th without their writing staff. Stewart and Colbert commented: ""We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

Those who believe we shouldn't be covering Orange County, cover your eyes for a few seconds: okay! O.C. Sheriff Mike Carona, his wife, and many others used the Sheriff's office as a cover to accept gifts, loans, and other compensation totalling $350,000. Carona has been indicted on ten separate federal counts of corruption. That big rig crash on the 405 at La Tijera was a real doozy -- the accident wasn't cleaned up until... more ›

Third times a charm? After being married to Tommy Lee and Kid Rock, Pamela Anderson made it official with Paris Hilton's sloppy seconds, Rick Soloman at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas this weekend - Dlisted Although STILL no official announcement has been made, Christina Aguilera and husband Jordan Bratman registered for baby - People After a long Saturday of discussions with her family who were desperate to make this intervention successful, Britney Spears stormed... more ›

Check out late night TV, lots of good stuff including an appearance of Juliette and the Licks (photo via Juliette's Myspace) on the Late Late Show. Tonight we also present the guilty pleasures of Steve-O's new show Dr. Steve-O, USA @ 11:00pm. Steve-O's sidekick is the lovely Trishelle of Real World fame who was interviewed here on LAist a couple months ago. The premise is that Steve-O and Trishelle subject "wussies" to various humiliations... more ›

First of all, if you haven't seen the wonderful make plans to do so right away. It is one of the rare films that exploits the full power of cinema to transport you into another world and into the consciousness of another person (my enthusiastic review of it is here, tickets here, preview here, music here). After seeing it, I imagine you'll be ready to go on a little adventure of your own and Lonely Planet is giving you the opportunity. more ›

To no one’s surprise, the awful ($14M). While discerning patriots were sad to see Paul W.S. Anderson’s “vision” further validated, they were somewhat cheered by the continued deterioration of "comedian" Dane Cook’s film career. Also, failed starlet Jessica Alba is one flop closer to what now seems an inevitable, tasteful appearance in Playboy. more ›

It’s rare that a movie can change a hardened opinion and yet that’s exactly what Sean Penn has done with his sublime adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s . When I originally read the book in 1997, my view of Christopher McCandless was essentially in-line with those—largely Alaskans--who considered him an ill-prepared, arrogant fool who died needlessly. The romance of his life and death was entirely lost on me. more ›

The fall tradition of releasing prestige films continues tomorrow as Resident Evil: Extinction opens wide. Milla Jovovich stars as the beneficent Alice, a latter-day Tess of the d'Urbervilles who is charged with the stygian task of killing armies of the undead--and the joke is now over. Anyone dumb enough to see the latest chapter of this awful series probably didn't notice anyway. At least there's nudity. But not from Ali Larter. Dang! Into the... more ›

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! more ›

Bukowski in LA, LA in Bukowski. The man was quintessential LA and our fair city informed every word, every rant, every foul-mouthed rush of brilliance that he created. In honor of Bukowski's birthday, Nobody Reads in LA will be reading from his novel Post Office. The ranting kicks-off at Charlie O's Bar in the Alexandria Hotel tonight @ 7pm. In true Buk style, drinks are served until 2am. more ›

A Word Or 78: Last night I didn't watch anything that I had listed or even Tivoed. I ended up watching "Monster In a Box" on IFC because I had the privelege of seeing Spalding Gray a couple times and there he was again on TV. Wile watching the movie I found it extraordinarily sad to both hear this amazing person talk about his mother's suicide as well as allude to committing suicide himself.... more ›

- Just like Mel Gibson, Judith Regan allegedly has a Jew problem too - LA Times more ›

Part of an on-going series of posts by people who have never been to our fair city but who want to. This is what they think of when they daydream about LA, this is what they think it's all about. more ›

Hey, have you heard? Andy Mitch Hurwitz says he's leaving the job of Show Runner for Arrested Development behind. If you haven't heard, apparently this is the only blog you read as we've seen more notices about this non-story on more blogs today than maybe anything else. AD was cancelled months ago, the 4 part series finale gave a fitting end to the show and, really, we're sorry to tell you, that no matter how much you loved it, it would appear that only bloggers were watching. more ›

The National Film Preservation Board on Tuesday announced the next 25 films that were being added to the National Film Registry. Here’s the selection that makes us want to jump up and order a pizza in the middle of our posting: Fast Times at Ridgemont High. more ›