Josh Tate

Every January the quaint Mormon hamlet of Park City, Utah is overrun by tens of thousands of people eager to attend the films (and parties) of the Sundance Film Festival. Having attended the festival for the last three years, I can highly recommend the experience. In fact, I'd say that everyone should try to attend at least once. From the freezing weather to the immense crowds to the abundance of cinema, alcohol and sleeplessness, it...

The difficulty in reviewing a film like Inglourious Basterds is that it's really two films mashed up into one. One of those films concerns a young Jewish woman named Shoshanna who exacts a brilliant revenge against the Nazis who murdered her family. The other regards a group of mostly Jewish-American military assassins (the titular "Basterds") who scour the French countryside killing everyone in a German uniform. What's strangely problematic about Inglourious Basterds is that while...

Horror classics continue to suffer the indignity of needless remakes with The Last House on the Left being another victim. It's as if someone thought that the original would benefit from polishing when, in fact, it was its very roughness that made it so damn good. James Toback's fascination with Mike Tyson continues with the eponymous (and excellent) documentary Tyson. I still think that Toback is seeing things that aren't entirely there, though, with respect...

In a rare show of good taste, Americans flocked to the alien civil rights drama, District 9, as it rang up a surprising $37M in sales to top the weekend box office. Last week's champ, G.I. Joe: Didn't Suck As Much As Transformers, had a decent second frame ($22.5M | $98.7M), managing to hold off newcomer The Time Traveler's Wife ($19.2M). After that it was the mostly delightful Julie & Julia ($12.4M | $43.6M), the...

District 9 is generating the sort of low-level buzz that is often the sign of an unexpected, breakout hit. Thank God, the plug got pulled on Halo or District 9 never would have been made. Also, thank God that the increasingly on-the-nose Peter Jackson didn't direct it. Davis Guggenheim isn't nearly the documentary filmmaker that a Kirby Dick or an Errol Morris is, but the subject matter of It Might Get Loud kept me enthralled...

I keep trying to resist these manufactured "bromance" movies, but damn if they don't continue to work on me. While some men enjoy the guilty pleasure of crappy, godless action spectacles like Transformers and G.I. Joe, I am helpless against the machinations of Paul Rudd. I gave 17 Again a chance in the theater only because I still have a soft spot for Matthew Perry. Probably should have waited for the DVD. The Class was...

Paramount refused to screen G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra for critics which is usually a huge, obvious warning that the film is an unmitigated disaster. Then again, maybe the studio is still just chafing from the deserved reaming given to Transformers 2: Racist CGI Porn by reviewers. In any case, G.I. Joe is obviously on the "skip" list. The consensus on Julie & Julia (LAist review here) appears to be that the movie would...

As LAist noted earlier today, tonight is National Night Out, uh, night. If you live in Northridge, you can catch a free outdoor screening of Kung Fu Panda at Northridge Park this evening. As noted in the press release from the office of Councilman Greig Smith (Greig? Really?): Free hot dogs, provided by CPAB and LAPD Community Supporters, as part of National Night Out, will be served starting at 6:30 pm. Movie starts at nightfall....

Season Two of Flight of the Conchords wasn't quite as inventive as the amazing Season One, but it was still excellent television. If you don't have HBO, do yourself a favor and pick up this DVD today. Not only are Jemaine and Bret hilarious, but Murray may be the funniest character on television not named Dwight Schrute. This is the Steven Soderbergh I want to see. Not Oceans Steven Soderbergh but dense, four-hour movie about...

Despite facing a brutal marketing challenge, Funny People managed to top the box office this weekend. Though it was the lowest-performing champ of the summer, the Judd Apatow-helmed laugher brought in $23.4M to hold off a resilient Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($17.7M | $255.4M). The awful G-Force was a hair behind ($17M | $66.4M), followed by the awful The Ugly Truth ($13M | $54.4M) and the, uh, awful Aliens in the Attic ($7.8M)....