Josh Tate

Buzz on the The Hangover is so hot that Warner Brothers is already moving ahead on a sequel before the film is even released. Every summer a comedy breaks out of nowhere to be a huge hit. Will this be the one? It probably won't be Land of the Lost. By most accounts, it's a Bewitched Will Ferrell flick instead of an Anchorman one. Away We Go will not work for everyone since it's so...

Yay! Coordinated dancing is fun! | Photo courtesy of CTV International Now that the summer blockbuster season's in gear, it's time to counter-program with an influx of festivals! The Israel Film Festival runs through the 18th at Laemmle's Fallbrook in West Hills & the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. Highlights include Lost Islands, which cleaned kibbutz at the Israeli box office last year and won four Ophir Awards (Israeli Oscars); The Seven Days,...

I'm still angry at how much mileage Greg Behrendt has gotten out of the whole He's Just Not That Into You thingie. Seriously -- this guy is a millionaire because of a fucking phrase! Not only that, but it's a phrase that other people were saying long before this jack-off codified it. It was in common usage for years! It would be like me publishing a book called Who Farted? and suddenly being rich. Don't...

In an instance of fitting justice, Pixar's Up, uh, ballooned past expectations to pull in a mammoth $68.2M and easily top the weekend box office chart. Night at the Museum 2: Needless Sequel lost more than half its audience from last week's debut, but still managed to earn $25.5M ($105.2M). The week's other newcomer Drag Me To Hell scared up $16.6M worth of business to edge a plummeting Terminator Salvation ($16.1M/$90.6M). Meantime, the reliable Star Trek continued to plug along at a good pace ($12.8M/$209.5M).

I'm not sure how much more I can write about Up that I didn't relate in my review from yesterday. Simply put -- go see it! Unless you're a misguided fool like Armond White, you'll love it. Nice to see Sam Raimi taking a dip back into the horror pool with Drag Me to Hell (although the PG-13 rating is chickenshit). I'll never understand why Alison Lohman isn't a bigger star. Watch her in Where...

Wait a minute! This isn't real! | Photo courtesy of Martynf65 via Flickr Every so often, two movies play in theaters that appear so similar, it rips a hole in the cultural zeitgeist. Antz & A Bug's Life. Armageddon & Deep Impact. Capote & Infamous. Back to the Future & Back to the Future. Take your pick; the entire trilogy plays this weekend at both the New Beverly and the Aero. Same Doc-day, same...

Every time Pixar releases a new film, one wonders, "Is this the one that breaks the long string of phenomenal critical and commercial success?" I mean, surely a film studio can't continue to release inventive, profitable movies ad infinitum, right? It's just too implausible; even the very brilliant have slumps. Christ, the gold standard that is the Coen Brothers made the god-awful The Ladykillers, didn't they?! And yet...Pixar keeps churning out absolutely top-notch work and...

Large swaths of red-blooded American males have been waiting for this moment since March of 2000 (NSFW) and today that moment finally arrives -- Jessica Biel is nekkid in a movie (unbelievably NSFW)! Of course, by all accounts Powder Blue is a terrible film, but why let something like that stop you from buying it, right? It surely can't be any worse than the week's "big" release, New in Town. What has happened to Renee...

Maybe Bill Hader can remind Ben Stiller how to be funny. | Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox While it was expected to be a close race, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($53.5M) easily topped Terminator Salvation ($43M) to capture the weekend box office crown. Both of these borderline movies will surely be blown out of the water next week by the absolutely fantastic Up (saw it; loved it). Star Trek...

Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo | Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment Rian Johnson burst into prominence with his sterling debut, Brick. A teenage murder mystery, it was told more in the style of a Dashiell Hammett novel than a thematically similar (and more conventional) film like Bully. His latest film, The Brothers Bloom, is almost a complete 180 in terms of tone -- daffy and convulated where Brick was brooding and fatalistic. What's still...