Ed Helms, a breakout star from The Hangover and regular on The Office, plays Tim Lippe, a naïve insurance salesman from small-town Wisconsin who finds himself far out of his comfort zone when he heads to an industry convention in Cedar Rapids. He’s there representing his company BrownStar Insurance, its logo complete with a Vonnegutesque asterisk in the B, should you not get the joke in the phrase alone and need a visual. It’s not the kind of thing Lippe would pick up on; he’s oblivious to the fact that back in Brown Valley, he’s surrounded by a-holes. Lippe has some growing up to do, and though it isn’t an easy process, it is pretty hilarious. Even if you’ve never taken a business trip like this, and especially if you have, you’re going to find entering into the world of the “ASMI” convention scene an amusing escapade. more ›

3-D televisions are still a technology of the near-future so everyone who buys Avatar will be watching it in good old-fashioned 2-D. Absent the gloriously immersive world created by James Cameron, will audiences be distracted by the obvious plotting and tinny dialogue? Jeff Bridges should have won an Oscar long before getting one for Crazy Heart (The Fisher King anyone?). While his turn as Bad Blake didn't blow me away, it was a solidly professional turn in an otherwise mild movie. A year ago, smart money pegged Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones as a surefire Oscar contender. Nope! We need more movies like 44-Inch Chest. Is Ray Winstone ever not awesome? Don't worry -- Solar Anus Cinema isn't what you think. It's, you know, arty. more ›

James Cameron's Avatar broke 3-D records this weekend as it surged to a strong $73M opening to top the box office. Disney's The Princess and the Frog was a distant second with $12.M ($44.7M) just ahead of the still-strong The Blind Side ($10M | $164.7M). Did You Hear About the Morgans? disappointed in its debut ($7M) as the audience just doesn't appear to be there for Sarah Jessica Parker if she's not playing a vapid, money-grubbing whore. Teenage girls and lonely middle-aged women continue to flock to New Moon ($4.3M | $274.5M) while Afrikaaner ex-patriats are not flocking to Invictus ($4.1M | $15.8M). more ›

If you think you know what is a film about filmmaking and, more specifically, it's a film about the tight communities that form around the making of a film. It's a daffy ode to the hard work, compromise and wild invention that making a movie inevitably requires. Anyone who's ever made a low-budget film will love it. more ›

Diana Ross -- looking like a big-haired, red-feathered, mythical creature (or possibly Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters) -- vogued, shrieked and crooned a vegas-style rendition of “More Today Than Yesterday,” while Randy tapped along, Paula danced like a drunken sailor and Simon watched smugly all the while thinking, “If she was in this competition, her entrails would be hanging off the lighting rig.” Or maybe he was just looking through her dress. It's hard to... more ›