In a pathetic display of media-generated conformity, audiences rewarded the witless Hancock with a crushing victory at the box-office over the long 4th of July weekend. The inspiration-free actioner tallied $66M ($107.3M) to overwhelm the infinitely superior Wall-E ($33.4M/$128.1M) and further enshrine milquetoast weirdo Will Smith as the putative king of the box-office. Angeline Jolie's vile Wanted finished a distant third, as Jolie's hot, naked ass only managed to garner $20.6M ($90.7M) in its......

Hancock is a nearly great movie. I suppose that means it was only good, but that obscures the fact that, unlike other good movies, it could have been great. Will Smith's latest flick tells the story of an alcoholic superhero addled not so much by his addiction to hard liquor, as much as his plunging loneliness. As such, he is a depressed and lonely fuck who believes he is the only one in the world......

Please see this movie instead of that awful Will Smith garbage! | Photo courtesy of Sony Classics If you don't want to deal with the crowds that will invariably shuffle mindlessly into Hancock, take the time see a movie that is actually funny and entertaining. Take the time to see The Wackness. Ben Kingsley's long streak of great roles continues. Here he plays a stoned psychiatrist to Josh Peck. Peck was forgettable in Drillbit Taylor,......

Less is more, Shia! Less is more! | Photo courtesy of Paramount 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......

Could Kara Thrace be the last of the final five? | Photo courtesy of the Sci-Fi Channel As a true devotee, I feel it's my duty to spread the word about the criminally overlooked Battlestar Galactica. You may be thinking that a science-fiction show is not for you, but give it a few episodes and you will be hooked. Under much of the cultural radar, Katee Sackhoff is delivering one of the fiercest, most heartbreaking......

National Treasure: Book of Secrets ($20.2M/$171M) and I Am Legend ($16.3M/$228.6M) continued to rule the box office, but the weekend's big news belonged to Juno. In its first weekend of wide release, the sly comedy raked in $16.2M ($52M) and has now eclipsed the gross of last year's indie-ish* hit Little Miss Sunshine (*both films were produced by major studios). Alvin and the Chipmunks was a hair behind at $16M ($176.7M). Crappy newcomer One......

The list is a little long this week since I'm including the Christmas Day openers. Having already raved about There Will Be Blood yesterday, I'll lead off with what some are calling the best horror film of the year, The Orphanage. For any horror fan who's tired of torture porn and bad Japanese re-makes, this is the movie for you. Grim and spare, it's a horror film for adults and Spain's foreign-language entrant for......

I Am Legend proved to be legendary, indeed, as it opened with a staggering 76.5 million dollars--an all-time record for a film in December. Considering it exceeded estimates by over $30M, I think it's safe to say that Will Smith is now officially the biggest movie star in the world. I can't remember the last time I typed out such a depressing statement. Alvin in the Chipmunks surged unexpectedly, bringing in an even $45M,......

Of all the big holiday releases, I Am Legend is probably the one I'm least excited to see. And that's saying a lot considering National Treasure 2 is on the docket. As for Legend, I just get the feeling that there's absolutely nothing in the movie that will surprise me. And I'm sure that the dark ending of Matheson's source novel has been scrapped in favor of something more life-affirming. Because Will Smith never......

Nine are dead in Omaha, Nebraska today after a man opened fire in a shopping mall, and then shot himself. Police do not have a motive so far. Did you have this conversation this morning? "Sorry, boss, I can't come in to work today...a terrible cough, I, uh, flu symptoms, definitely -- what waves? Uh, I don't know what you're talking about...." Lots of SoCal surfers took a sick day and busted out on......

This strike photo outside of Warner Bros. was taken last week on November 27. If they waited a few days, it would have been witty to play off the 28 Days Later reference... oh well, maybe they have that new Will Smith movie in mind... or maybe they just like to eat people. That or they have dermophagia (gross!). Photo by movie lover via the LAist Flickr Pool (join and add your own photos!)......

As firefighters sought to contain the smoldering remains of California, officials are keying in on how the fires started. One of the largest fires, the Santiago fire that burned 22,000 acres was, reportedly set by an arsonist. President Bush toured parts of California and declared, "We're not going to forget you in Washington D.C." I guess he didn't visit any poor children. There's at least one good story to come out of this tragedy.......

Today in major LA Fire Department events: an early morning structure fire in North Hills sending smoke into the flight path of Van Nuys Airport, a big rig with a trailer overturned on the Southbound Harbor freeway causing a Sig Alert, and a medical emergency in the Hilton Hotel at Universal City where staff mixed ammonia & bleach solutions creating hydrochloric acid (oops!). Is it the second Thursday of the month? Ah, it is!......

6:00 - The FIB-u-less Orbit gum lady (What kind of accent is that? Is she South African? British by way of Argentina?) gives the Dirtiest Mouth award to Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. Their acceptance speech, which is delivered by not-so-silent Bob, is only one sentence long but somehow manages to get 70% bleeped out. The Orbit gum lady vows never to date either of them. 5:58 - Dane Cook jokes, "This just in,......

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too,......

A Word or 51: I thought I was watching my TiVoed Golden Globes broadcast last night but it turned out to be the Screen Actors Guild Awards with the same winners almost across the board. If the Oscars follow suit can't we just get rid of this circle jerk and have one stinkin' awards show? Tonight - Monday - January 29, 2007 UCLA @ Stanford (PRIME, 5:00 p.m.) College basketball Carnival Marathon featuring The......

Tonight - Wednesday Lakers @ Timberwolves (KCAL, 5:00 p.m.) "After Jesus - The First Christians" (CNN, 7:00 p.m.) Takes a look at the beginnings of Christianity, and let me tell you something, they didn't celebrate Christmas Raptors @ Clippers (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) "A Christmas Carol" (TNT, 8:00 p.m.) This is a pretty darn good '99 version starring Patrick Stewart as Scrooge "America's Next Top Model: British Invasion 2" (the CW, 8:00 p.m.) Supposedly the......

Tonight - Thursday Kings @ Sharks (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) "Survivor: Cook Islands" (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) The scheming gets more intense, it's all in your head. "The Office" (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Christmas party double episode! "The OC" (Fox, 9:00 p.m.) For those that can stomach its Chrismukkah episode. "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central, 11:00 p.m.) Rajiv "Say it 10x Fast" Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post "The Colber(t) Repor(t)" (Comedy Central, 11:30......

We're noticing a trend here as art and dance seem to come together more and more often downtown. Create:Fixate has its first show of 2005 tonight when The Optical Lounge and Audio Lab comes to the Spring Arts Tower at 453 S. Spring Street. The Gallery opens its doors at 4 PM and the party starts at 7 PM. General Admission is $10 but if you get there early (like before 7), you can......

Sometimes LAist wishes we lived in a city that wasn't all about the movies and publicizing them. Somtimes LAist wishes we could go down a city block without being overshadowed by a building-sized fish featuring the voice of Will Smith (Highland and Santa Monica), or a Christmas-Kranked Jamie Lee Curtis (Beverly and Robertson) or the huge monoliths on Sunset Boulevard. Sometimes LAist wishes the movie studios would pay us to have huge movie banners......

LAist knows that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery -- but with what's coming out in theaters this weekend, well, someone has completely gone off the deep end. Shark Tale: A CGI film about the underwater world of fish -- with Will Smith and Jack Black playing the title roles of a fish and shark, respectively. There's comedy, action, suspense (there's a little mob mentality thrown in here) and a little bit of......