Josh Tate

The past year has given us two searing portraits of the human crisis in Darfur: Darfur Now and The Devil Came on Horseback. Tonight on HBO, a worthy third film joins them. In Sand and Sorrow, director Paul Freedman and narrator George Clooney follow John Prendergast, Samantha Power and Nicholas Kristof as they explore the tragedy of the genocide in Sudan. They journey through refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border, visit mass graves inside...

So, yeah, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Superbad are the big releases this weekend. Honestly, I liked both movies well enough, but neither deserves the #1 slot in the weekly rundown like Battlestar Galactica: Razor does. Since new episodes of the best show on television won't air until March 2008, we'll have to make do with this 2-hour movie that follows the adventures of the Pegasus after the treacherous Cylon attack against the...

Enchanted joined the small circle of films that have topped the box office over consecutive weekends this year. It brought in 17 million dollars, raising its cume to a healthy $70.6M. This Christmas was second to Enchanted once again. It made an extra $8.4M and--considering its meager $13M budget--is now a bona fide hit with a gross of $36.9M. Beowulf was third in its third week, adding $7.9M to its $68.6M worth of treasure....

For over 60 years, the Monday Evening Concerts program has been a tradition in Los Angeles. This Sunday, they've decided to add a new wrinkle by screening documentaries and hosting discussions that tie into the Monday concert. If you're looking for a refined way to spend tomorrow morning, head down to the Goethe-Institut Media Lounge and enjoy a screening of Casa Scelsi: A Voyage into Sound along with a performance by violinist Vincent Royer...

One of the great things about living in L.A. is the profusion of movie choices available. You can see everything from Beowulf in 3-D at the Bridge's IMAX theater to Into the Wild in one of the Landmark's Living Rooms to a revival screening of Bananas at the New Beverly. One of the best choices for more eclectic fare is the Silent Movie Theater. Every month they program several series, any of which is...

Everyone has a guilty pleasure when it comes to terrible movies (mine is Autumn in New York--don't ask). Tonight at the glorious old Vista in Los Feliz, the good people from the So Bad It's Good Film Fest will be screening one of the true standards of the genre: Road House. Patrick Swayze stars as James Dalton, a "cooler" who is brought in to tame the rowdy Double Deuce bar in Jasper, Missouri where...

With the big Christmas season movies still a week away (The Golden Compass, Atonement), it's a rather soft schedule of new releases. That's not to say there aren't any quality films coming out, though. At the top of the list is The Savages. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney and Philip Bosco star in Tamara Jenkin's acerbic drama about two siblings forced to care for their not altogether pleasant father as he slips further into...

For me, Edgar Wright is one of those directors whose films I see the moment they hit theaters. Both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz share a comic spirit that never diminishes even after many viewings. This past August, Wright hosted several sold-out screenings of his films at the New Beverly Cinema and starting December 2nd the New Beverly will turn over its programming reins to him for what is sure to be...

When you consider the numerous fiascoes that afflicted the production of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, you realize that it's sort of a miracle it was ever even finished (much less that it turned out to be a minor epic). What seems even more improbable, though, is that two relative newcomers like George Hickenlooper and Fax Bahr would be hired to cobble together footage shot by Coppola's wife, Eleanor, and that the resultant documentary...

Though hardly a mainsteam name, George Hickenlooper has managed to carve out a long filmmaking career full of varied and fascinating work. From documentaries (Mayor of the Sunset Strip, Monte Hellman: American Auteur) to narrative features (The Man from Elysian Fields, Factory Girl), Hickenlooper has always delivered unexpected and satisfying stories. Two of his best documentaries are also two of his first: Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas and...