Josh Tate

Jack White, Jimmy Page and The Edge. | Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Film Festival As director Davis Guggenheim remarked in his comments prior to Friday night's LA Film Festival screening of his documentary It Might Get Loud, "I just wanted to make a film about the electric guitar." As rock gods Jack White and Jimmy Page (Jimmy Fucking Page!) confirmed after the screening during an audience Q & A, there really was...

I thought Sandra Bullock was done doing romantic comedies. Oh wait, The Proposal probably isn't very funny. Speaking of not funny, Year One is getting savaged. Is it really possible that the extraordinary Michael Cera has finally given us a true dud? Say it ain't so! Woody Allen has enjoyed a resurgence since the beyond awful Hollywood Ending (okay, Scoop sucked, too). Looks like that trend continues with Whatever Works. What a great hook Woody...

The 15th annual Los Angeles Film Festival kicks off tonight at 7:30 pm with the premiere screening of Paper Man at the Mann Village Theater. The full festival begins in earnest the following morning as over 80 documentary and narrative features unspool in venues across the Westside. In addition to that, the festival features panels and seminars, coffee talks and poolside chats, short-film programs, music video showcases, live concerts and free screenings of such beloved...

Ack! Ack! | Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers Look to the skies! The flying saucers will always be there! Not even your local cinematheque is safe when evil extraterrestrials & suave spacemen invade Santa Monica. Should our valiant heroes survive these "Far Out" encounters, they must still contend with a Martian militia, led by none other than our governor himself! I heard it through my magick Tesla Coil! From France, they say? Instead of...

I understand every criticism of Family Guy, but I still tune in regularly to watch Peter, Cleveland and Quagmire do the same jokes time after time after time. It just makes me laugh. While Friday the 13th may have sucked completely, at least it didn't wuss out and go for a PG-13. Here's to gore and nudity! With the next Transformers film looming, what better time to piggyback a cartoon compilation and get some free...

Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers Raunchy bachelor-party comedy The Hangover topped the box office for a surprising second straight weekend as it dropped only 26% from its strong debut ($33.4M/$105.3M). Pixar's delightful Up presented a strong challenge in its third week to finish a close second ($30.5M/$187.1M) while superb newcomer The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 finished third with a slightly underwhelming $25M. After that, it was the dreadful Night of the Museum...

I'm surprised that reviews haven't been better for the re-imagined version of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. It is, by all rights, a superior film to the original from the 70s. Moon may not be as funny as Solo, but it does cover similar territory. How can you not love Sam Rockwell? There will be no hot dogs served at the screening of Food, Inc.! Repeat -- no hotdogs! Has Eddie Murphy really...

Movies open every week in Los Angeles, and LAist always tries to let you know about as many of them as possible. Some films, though -- at least I think so -- deserve a special mention because a) they don't have a huge marketing budget supporting them; b) they are the kinds of provocative films that more people should see and c) they are the kinds of films that the worst toadies in corporate America...

Before Live Aid, Farm Aid & Chef Aid came The Secret Policemen's Ball - which made the mold for the benefit concert, broke it, taped it back together, and ran with it. With a wealth of British comedy (including The Pythons, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry & Rowan Atkinson) and musical virtuosos (Pete Townshend, Sting, Eric Clapton & Phil Collins in then-unheard-of "unplugged" performances) donating their talents for Amnesty International, the show & tie-in albums, films & tapes, became a phenomenon

I was a big fan of Gran Torino when it originally dropped in theaters last year. The one complaint I constantly heard from those who didn't like it was that the young Asian actors weren't very good. My reply to them was that within the universe of the film, these kids had a less than perfect grasp of English so naturally they would struggle to speak. At any rate, Gran Torino was a great flick...