Josh Tate

Photo courtesy of Susan NYC via Flickr If you know who Justin Rice is, you probably know him as the lead singer of Bishop Allen or his appearance in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. Very quietly, though -- working mostly with friends -- he's put together an interesting film career. I had the great pleasure of not only seeing Harmony & Me a few days ago at the LA Film Festival (review here), but...

Before diving into a review of the wonderful Paper Heart, allow me to relate an episode from last night's screening. I think it provides a key insight into the whimsical mind of Charlyne Yi. Following the screening, Charlyne and director Nicholas Jasenovec sat down for a Q&A. Ten minutes in, Charlyne excused herself to the restroom. Moments later, she returned. Except she didn't. A man dressed exactly like her entered the theater and continued the...

Timmy's wedding suddenly took a strange turn. | Photo courtesy of Midnight Insanity Like many aspiring tranny space aliens, I worked Rocky Horror shows in college, and through many, many weeks of rehearsals have probably seen the show a dozen times. That being said, even though there are two shows every weekend down here, I've yet to see it in L.A. Now might be a good time to check out Midnight Insanity's show at...

If you didn't see Waltz with Bashir in the theater, you have the opportunity to correct that mistake today on DVD. It is rare that a film so perfectly combines a complex, powerful story with such dazzling visual technique. Concerned with lost memories surrounding the 1982 Lebanon War, this is a must-see film for any fan of cinema (or history for that matter). Confessions of a Shopaholic is not such a picture. Pink Panther 2...

The first Transformers was by every estimation a bad movie. Sure the effects were cool, even groundbreaking, but every other element of the movie was basically silly, if not frequently and insultingly stupid. Its sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is significantly, significantly worse. Absent the mildly diverting discovery arc of the first film, the second one is literally nothing but uninspired set piece after uninspired set piece after uninspired set piece after uninspired set...

There was a belief a few years ago -- as cheap cameras and Final Cut Pro gained real traction within the filmmaking community -- that we were at the dawn of a cheap indie revolution. Affordability was going to allow new talent to finally be seen and recognized. In some cases that happened, but mostly this surge in access resulted in a colossal amount of dull movies. Thankfully, a micro-budget film still punches through occasionally...

After mostly being given up for dead as a legitimate box-office attraction, Sandra Bullock roared back to prominence this weekend as she carried The Proposal to a surprising box-office triumph ($34.1M). Last week's champ The Hangover had yet another powerhouse weekend ($26.8M/$152.9M) as did Pixar's wonderful Up ($21.3M/$224.1M). Sony probably had high hopes for Year One several months ago, but the pic disappointed in its debut ($20.2M). Lack of "funny-ness" and an abundance of "shitty-ness"...

It would be almost impossible to imagine someone as improbable as Martin Strel. He is one of the rare man on this earth who is utterly unique. Allow me the indulgence of summarizing him in a few sentences. Martin is an overweight Slovenian man in his mid-fifties. Martin is essentially an alcoholic, typically drinking two bottles of wine a day. And -- here's the kicker -- Martin has swam the entirety of the Mississippi, the...

In the same way that Wag the Dog was about the Clinton sex scandals without ever explicitly being about the Clinton sex scandals, Armando Iannucci's In the Loop is a searing and hilarious shadow satire about the run-up to the West's collective misadventures in Iraq. Alternately howlingly mean and relentlessly authentic, it may be the funniest movie of the year, weaving a pastiche of profanity so inventive one can't help but marvel at it. Further,...

A missed opportunity. | Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Film Festival One of the reasons I expect that I will never tire of going to the movies is that even when you think you know what you are going to get, you can still be surprised. I remember being dragged to see Galaxy Quest at the Cinerama Dome. Honestly, the only reason I went was because it was at the Cinerama Dome --...