Josh Tate

The movie that you should see this weekend is Get Low. The movie you probably will see is Dinner for Schmucks. The movie that no one should (or will) see is Charlie St. Cloud. The movie that only kids should see is Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. The movie that makes you feel like you are taking medicine is The Dry Land. The movie that is entirely unnecessary is Hugh Hefner: Playboy,...

Photo courtesy of the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest When you start writing for LAist, you sign a pact in soy chorizo to promote the sacred order of the food truck whenever possible. But so many theaters prohibit bringing in outside food! What to do? If you're the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest, you bring the film outside to the food! LAist's own Farley Elliot posted an overview of the fest a few weeks back, and...

Boy, Zach Galifianakis is suddenly everywhere, huh? Let's hope that over-exposure doesn't ruin my favorite current comedic actor. One question, though: how bad is Operation: Endgame? Considering its superb cast, this is a movie that should have gotten a nice theatrical debut instead of being dumped to DVD by Anchor Bay? And it's got Odette Yustman, folks! Odette Yustman!! The re-make of Clash of the Titans violates my number one rule of doing a re-make:...

In a box-office landscape where week-over-week drops of 50% are considered pretty good, Inception's staggeringly small 31% dip looks downright amazing. The Chris Nolan dreamscape tallied $43.5M ($143.6M) to easily dispatch the weekend's big newcomer, Salt ($36.5M). The sly Despicable Me continues to chug along ($24.1M | $161.7M), while the just plain bad Sorcerer's Apprentice ($9.6M | $42.6M) and the amazing Toy Story 3 ($9M | $379.5M) rounded out the top 5. Kid flick Ramona...

I wasn't terribly interested in Salt until I read the brilliant grump Jeffrey Wells give it a decent rave over at Hollywood Elsewhere. Consider me interested now, though I'm still not completely sold on Angelina Jolie as an action star (see Tomb Raider). I am, however, sold on Mads Mikkelsen as the star of Valhalla Rising. If only Nicolas Winding Refn were doing the new Conan. He's perfect for it! The only thing I know...

Photo courtesy of MGM Every week, dozens of classic Hollywood films grace our marquees and monitors. So many, in fact, that I often take them for granted. Not this week! For when the Aero goes Billy Wilder, I go even wilder! The perfect combination of bitter and romantic, cynic and humanistic, Wilder's films master a pitch-black sentiment that celebrates glamor, myth and the girl next door -- and then skewers it sans mercy. Two...

I enjoyed but hardly loved The Runaways. Dakota Fanning continues to be badly mis-cast (mostly because she's no longer nearly so compelling an actor) and Kristen Stewart hasn't grown much as a performer since In the Land of Women. Still, Michael Shannon was his usual electrifying self and the story of The Runaways is a great one (though I would have loved to have seen more of Lita Ford!). The Losers surely suffered from the...

The summer's most anticipated film, Inception, over-performed at the box office to the tune of $60.4M to easily win the weekend box-office crown. While Nolan's dreamy action flick gets very wobbly in its last act, it is still the best big-budget movie of the summer season (mainly because of the great Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Last week's winner, Despicable Me, had a strong second weekend, piling on an additional $32.7M ($118.3M). The same can't be said for...

When was the last time a studio film opened that carried with it such anticipation and hope for brilliance? Inception almost has to be great in order to avoid being considered a disappointment. If early reviews are any sign, brilliance may have been achieved. Expectations are considerably more slight for The Sorcerer's Apprentice. As a devoted Nic Cage fan I will obviously see it, but I'm expecting pure popcorn and cheese. Kisses is several years...

Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Deadly Prey is the Citizen Kane of Rambo rip-offs. Or, more accurately, Citizen Kane is the Deadly Prey of William Randolph Hearst biopics. Don't believe me? Check Cinefamily favorite Everything is Terrible! for video clips or the Gentleman's Guide to Midnight Cinema podcast for an in-depth discussion. There's no better venue for such cinematic splendor than Horrible Movie Night, a monthly film/comedy spectacular with alcoholic beverages, sugary brownies,...