Josh Tate

Oh, great. This means there will be sequel. | Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment To the great dismay of the human, vampire and lycan kingdoms, Paul Blart: Mall Cop once again triumphed at the box office this weekend ($21.5M/$64.8M). Underworld: Rise of the Lycans made a game effort, but only managed a close second-place finish ($20.7M). After that it was the resilient Gran Torino ($16M/$97.5M), the silly Hotel for Dogs ($12.3M/$36.9M), the surging...

Photo courtesy of Trinitas via Flickr After enduring the brutal weather, constant partying, general sleeplessness and large, unruly crowds of Sundance, it was a welcome change of pace to head up the 101-N and attend the considerably more peaceful Santa Barbara Film Festival. Rather than having to wait out in the cold for a shuttle bus to take me from Main Street to the Eccles Theater, I could just park my car on lovely...

How is it that when I cause mayhem, no one talks about my great performance? | Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers In anticipation of the Oscar Best Picture nod that never came, The Dark Knight is back in theaters today. If you are one of the 113 people who somehow didn't see this movie over the summer, now might be the time. You know how you can tell when a franchise is completely and...

Photo courtesy of Vardhana via Flickr My first month in Los Angeles, I worked a short stint at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre, and one of the Mouse's lesser-known secrets is the large number of foreign exchange workers employed at the snack bar. I remember the Thai teens best; they were all sweet kids, and it's in their honor that I recommend the Thai Film Miracles Festival at the Arclight. Well, them and Tony Jaa,...

A quick shot of postcards from the Press Office. | Photo by Josh Tate The first time I attended the Sundance Film Festival in 2007, I stayed until the festival's conclusion on Sunday. Never will I make that mistake again. While it did allow for a more leisurely pace, all the excitement (and most of the people) had left Park City by mid-week. So this year I once again planned an early Friday morning...

Ah, to be young and in love and stuck in a dead-end carnie job. | Photo courtesy of Miramax Similarly to last year (and probably owing to the largely liberal bent of the festival's programmers), there were a significant amount of films about the Iraq War at Sundance this year. Perhaps the most despairing (both in content and execution) was first-time director Oren Moverman's The Messenger. The film stars Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson...

Photo courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival My fourth day at the Sundance Film Festival began bright and early at seven am. Thankfully, the night before had been a fairly casual one so I was actually feeling full of bounce and vigor. That energy was quickly sapped by a twenty minute wait for the shuttle bus (in twenty degree weather) but soon enough I made it to the Festival Headquarters and quickly jumped into...

Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Max Payne [Blu-ray] Repo! The Genetic Opera Moonlight - The Complete Series King Kong [Blu-Ray] The Powerpuff Girls: The Complete Series - 10th Anniversary Collection Saw V [Blu-ray] National Lampoon's Stoned Age - Unrated Ghost (Special Collector's Edition) Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger Election [Blu-ray]...

Lizard King and Co. | Photo courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival Perhaps the biggest challenge when attending the Sundance Film Festival is determining how on God's green earth you are going to do everything that you want to do. Film schedules don't always sync up, travel on the city shuttles--while free--can be slow and there is always the temptation to stay out till all hours of the night at any one of the...

Dismal "comedy" Paul Blart: Mall Cop tricked thousands of Americans into buying tickets as it easily topped the weekend box office chart ($33.8M). Last week's champ Gran Torino had another strong week ($22.2M/$73.2M) as it held off three new releases: the bloody My Bloody Valentine 3-D ($21.9M), the bloody Notorious ($21.5M) and the bloody Hotel for Dogs ($17.7M). The second half of the top 10 was led by the awful Bride Wars ($11.7M/$37.5M) which bested the amazing Odette Yustman's The Unborn ($9.8M/$33M).