Josh Tate

Years of steroid and HGH abuse finally paying off with meaty role. | Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight The Wrestler marks the return of Mickey Rourke to prominence and, to a lesser extent, Darren Aronofsky. I think both are welcome occurrences. Be warned, though--the squeamish should avert their eyes during the meat slicer scene. The Tale of Despereaux is just the sort of broad, silly tale of redemption that a sucker like me always enjoys...

She likes to laugh. | Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures You know how some movies are better because of the audience in the theater with you? I think that's why I enjoyed The House Bunny so much. I sat next to the prettiest girl that ever was that night and God damn if Anna Faris wasn't cracking me up. After the monumental No Country for Old Men, it's understandable that the Coen Brothers would go...

Look at the emotion on Reeves' face! Oh wait, there isn't any. Ever. | Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox Despite sucking and being overwhelmingly patronizing, The Day the Earth Stood Still battled its way to the top of the box-office this weekend by taking in a decent $31M from gullible Americans. The equally bad Four Christmases continued to hover far too high on the charts ($13.2M/$87.9M) while horny but confused teenage girls kept Twilight...

Those better not be teenagers on my lawn! | Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers In Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood has finally fused his many previous cinema personas into something both grand and elegant. It belongs in the Oscar conversation (plus Clint sings!). Doubt was timelier when it opened onstage years back, but how do you miss anything featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep (Along Came Polly and Mamma Mia excepted)? The Day the Earth...

Who's afraid of the Batman? | Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers While Heath Ledger seems assured of winning Best Supporting Actor at next year's Oscars (and should have won for Brokeback), don't be surprised if The Dark Knight sneaks in to win Best Picture, too. Plenty of folks insist that The Wire is the best show ever to air on television, but I'll stick with Deadwood if asked to choose. Ian McShane gave one of...

Vince Vaughn astonished by Four Christmases undeserved success. | Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers Since the weekend following Thanksgiving is an historically slow one for business, the major studios were hesitant to release anything on Friday. As a result, the witless Four Christmases topped the box-office again ($18.1M/$70.8M). Twilight regained some footing after a steep drop last week ($13.1M/$138.5M) while Bolt sank ($9.6M/$79.2M). Australia will struggle to recoup its $130M cost ($7M/$30.8M) unlike Quantum of...

Titus Pullo is here to kick your ass! | Photo courtesy of Lions Gate Films The first iteration of The Punisher basically sucked, but I think that's mostly because Thomas Jane (and I like Thomas Jane) isn't nearly so perfect for the part as is Ray Stevenson. He's the best thing that Punisher: War Zone has going for it. For any who never watched Rome (and you should!), expect to be blown away by this...

I could do this same effect in Corel Paint 4 back in the fuckin' 90s! | Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures Wanted may very well be the worst movie ever to have made $100M (unless it's another Jolie groaner, Gone in 60 Seconds). Yes, she shows her bare ass in Wanted, but you can just as easily see that here and save yourself some money. The first two Narnia movies suffer from the same malady...

Get ready not to laugh! | Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers Despite not being terribly funny, Four Christmases managed to wrest the box-office crown from last week's winner, Twilight. The new "comedy" hauled in $31.6M ($46.7M) to top a resurgent Bolt ($26.5M/$66.8M) and a fading Twilight ($26.3M/$119.6M). Quantum of Solace stabilized in week 3 ($19.5M/$142M) while Australia debuted to a higher than expected number ($14.8M/$20M). Madagascar 2 continued to print money ($14.5M/$159.5M) while Transporter 3:...

Changed my life. | Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Maybe the best thing about writing for LAist is that we are constantly encouraged by our extraordinarily generous editors to reach out into the scary ether and be personal with our stories. Sure, it doesn't always work out as we intended--we always eventually, clumsily embarrass ourselves a bit by being too personal--but it's great that we have such a liberal outlet for our thoughts. Earlier this...