Josh Tate

Despite middling reviews, America warmed up to Couples Retreat this weekend as it easily topped the box office chart with a haul of $35.3M. Last week's champ, Zombieland finished a distant second with $15M ($47.8M) but managed to top the sturdy Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs ($12M | $96.2M). The Toy Story 1 & 2 double-feature continued to do good business ($7.6M | $22.6M) while sleeper Paranormal Activity did huge business in its first weekend of wide release ($7M | $8.2M).

I was excited when Couples Retreat first popped on my radar a few months ago. I mean, coupling the Vaughn | Favreau | Billingsley team with Demiurge Jason Bateman seemed like a match made in mainstream comedy heaven, right? Nope. Michael Sheen has quietly become a top-notch, see-everything-he-does actor. I know more about the Bible than I do about soccer, but I'll queue up for The Damned United just to see Sheen. It's already being...

If you've been to the New Bev as often as I have, you've found that the theater isn't run by a staff so much as a family. Friday, they pull out all the stops for one of their own, Julia Marchese, as she makes her big screen debut in the thriller Golden Earrings. Of course, for every sweet Julia, there are a plethora of bastard stepchildren.

FILM To anyone who has ever had a dream and seen that dream gone unfulfilled, I implore you to see Anvil!: The Story of Anvil and perhaps re-discover the inspiration to continue pursuing that elusive prize. Some have described Sacha Gervasi's hilarious doc as a real-life version of Spinal Tap, but the reality goes much deeper. So many would-be artists pursue success only to give up after a few years of failure. The boys of Anvil demonstrate how a true love of your craft compels you to never quit. Oh, and did I mention it was also fucking funny?

In a bit of a surprise, Zombieland roared to the top of the weekend box office. Despite a relative lack of stars, the black comedy pulled in $25M to easily top powerhouse Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ($16.7M | $82.3M). The re-release of Toy Story | Toy Story 2 in 3D proved potent as the Pixar dinosaurs raked in $12.5M in their re-debut. Ricky Gervais continues to struggle as a big-screen star as his...

On first blush, Bob Gosse seems like an unlikely choice to direct Tucker Max's ribald memoir, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. After all, it was Gosse who co-founded the seminal independent film company The Shooting Gallery while also producing the early indie hits, Laws of Gravity and New Jersey Drive as well as directing the superb Niagara, Niagara. What is this guy doing directing a movie about a narcissistic alcoholic who fucks midgets?...

Can we officially say that the Coen Brothers are the best filmmakers in America? Can we also say that A Serious Man is the best film released so far this year? Yes and yes. My gut told me that the zombie genre had run its course after the great 28 Weeks Later, but Zombieland finds new ground to cover. Well, not really but it is a hell of a lot of fun and not just...

A great paradox of the Coen Brothers' films is that they are all exactly the same even as they are all miraculously different. If you're a fan of theirs, I think that would make perfect sense to you. However, even if you've never seen a single one of their films, I'd wager that if I placed ten random films in front of you and two of them were made by the Coens, you'd correctly pick...

How is it that every Pixar film is an absolute gem, yet every other animated movie from every other large American studio is just okay? Oh right -- John Lasseter. I watched The Wizard of Oz plenty of times when I was a kid, and I admire it as an important film in the American film canon...but...would I ever watch it again? Probably not. Man, Jennifer Aniston just can't seem to pick good movies in...

I can understand people disagreeing with Michael Moore's political beliefs, but his talent as a documentary filmmaker is unquestioned. This is a man who knows exactly how to move an audience. His latest, Capitalism: A Love Story, deals with the thieves that populate our financial industry. If all you are looking for are some good laughs, buck up and a buy a ticket to I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (LAist review here). I...