Herr Claus may be the most sought-after German this week, but his countryman Herzog is also comin' to town. He'll see you, sleeping or awake, at the Downtown Independent, for a screening of his latest, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. If two Herzog films in one season isn't enough of a treat, gorge yourself on the other names in this celluloid sack: Willem Dafoe, ChloÎ Sevigny, Michael Shannon, Udo Kier, Brad Dourif & Grace Zabriskie. The only thing keeping the partridge from the pear tree is that executive producer David Lynch is just an ornament on the marquee, not a key player. Maybe next time, if we're good little boys and girls. more ›

In one of the rarest of rare occurrences, a movie in its fifth week of release finally clawed its way to the top of the box office. Paramount pushed Paranormal Activity into over a thousand new theaters and the gamble paid off handsomely as the horror sleeper raked in $22M ($62.4M) to easily win the weekend. Torture porn shit-show Saw VI endured a brutal debut as it pulled in a weak $14.8M (yay!) while last week's champ Where the Wild Things Are stumbled a bit in its second weekend ($14.4M | $53.9M). The formulaic Law Abiding Citizen ($12.7M | $40.3M) and the half-funny Couples Retreat ($11M | $78.2M) rounded out the top 5. more ›

As some of you may know, I am perhaps the world's greatest fan of John C. Reilly. Anything John does (including music), I see (and usually like). Unfortunately, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant may test that theory. Not sure how to say this, but it looks...really, really stupid. Hilary Swank will definitely NOT win an Oscar for Amelia since she's not playing a boy/masculine character. Oh wait, yes she is. Go ahead and give her the Oscar now. I never really watched Astro Boy as a kid and probably won't start now. more ›

I don't typically review films via print, but Lars von Trier's latest body of artwork, Antichrist, wasn't really a typical film. It was more beautifully shot than some of the most gorgeous movies I've ever seen; it was scarier than any run of the mill horror film, and more disturbing than anything that's ever disturbed me in my life, in a very outside-of-the-spectrum of what-you-would-drop-your-jaw-at-because-of-its-astonishing-shock-value kind of way. I don't know what the normal protocol for revealing spoilers is in movie reviews, but to save you the trauma of reading about the things I saw in this film, I will leave them for your own viewing. more ›

Orson Welles has seen more devastation & studio interference than any other filmmaker. Major works like The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil & Lady from Shanghai were all slashed to ribbons and will never be seen as the writer/director/actor intended. Still, they retain their innovative style, fierce bite & raw power over 60 years on. Running through Saturday, the Aero's Orson Welles retrospective features valiant restorations of these works, as well as rare screenings of UCLA's exhaustive, full restoration of Macbeth and Welles' classic (and surprisingly, untouched) Citizen Kane. more ›

Streets of Fire (1984) releases today on HD-DVD, something we at LAist believe is a big fucking deal. It's one of the greatest films of the 80's, right up there with The Wizard, WarGames, and Adventures in Babysitting. I fail to mention any John Hughes films, since the holy grails of teenage-oriented motion picture go without saying. more ›