FilmWeek

Larry Mantle and critics Lael Loewenstein of Variety and Henry Sheehan of HenrySheehan.com, discuss this week's new releases, including World Trade Center, Edmond, Conversations With Other Women, Step Up, Mardi Gras, Who Needs Sleep?, and The House of Sand.

Larry Mantle and critics Henry Sheehan of HenrySheehan.com, Andy Klein, film editor and chief critic for both CityBeat and ValleyBeat and Charles Solomon, animation critic for amazon.com, discuss this week's new releases, including Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, The Night Listener, Barnyard, Boynton Beach Club, The Descent, Quinceanera, Nightmare Man, Shock to the System, Brothers of the Head, Changing Times, Gabrielle, and Favela Rising.

Larry Mantle and critics Jean Oppenheimer of New Times, and Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor discuss this week's new releases, including Miami Vice, Scoop, The Motel, Little Miss Sunshine, Beowulf and Grendel, Azumi, and Andy Klein, film editor and chief critic for both CityBeat and ValleyBeat shares his thoughts about The Ant Bully.

Larry Mantle and critics Jean Oppenheimer of New Times, Lael Loewenstein of Variety and Charles Solomon, animation critic for amazon.com, discuss this week's new releases, including My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Lady in the Water, Monster House, Shadowboxer, Three Days of Rain, Time to Leave, Heading South, and The Great New Wonderful.

Randall Balmer expected backlash as he wrote his new book, Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America (Basic Books). As an Evangelic Christian, he has found the Religious Right "an embarrassment to the legacy of the Evangelicals," and he doesn't see any difference between the movement today and the Republican Party. Balmer talks with Patt about the Religious Right's inception and the dangers he sees in it's current agenda.(photo: Balmer and Patt) Randall Balmer will be speaking on Sunday at 10 a.m. at All Saints Adult Forum, 504 North Camden Drive in Beverly Hills, and at 3pm at All Saints Pasadena, 132 N Euclid Avenue in Pasadena

Larry Mantle and critics Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor and Scott Foundas, film editor for the L.A. Weekly discuss this week's new releases, including You, Me and Dupree, Mini's First Time, Little Man, The Groomsmen, The Oh in Ohio, 4, and the re-release of Blue Velvet,.

Guest host Ted Chen and critics Henry Sheehan of HenrySheehan.com and Andy Klein, film editor and chief critic for both CityBeat and ValleyBeat discuss this week's new releases, including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, A Scanner Darkly, Strangers with Candy, The Puffy Chair, Only Human, La Moustache, and Sisters in Law.

Rhode Island, one of the first States to declare independence from English rule, was also home to John and Moses Brown whose legacy prevails through institutions such as their namesake university. Their history somewhat parallels that of America during a time when ideals such as liberty and freedom were juxtaposed with the horrors of the slave trade. Charles Rappleye joins Patt to talk about his book, Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution (Simon & Schuster), which chronicles the lives of these two brothers, their entrepreneurial successes and ideological differences over slavery during the founding era of America.

Larry Mantle and critics Jean Oppenheimer of New Times and Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor discuss this week's new releases, including Superman Returns, The Devil Wears Prada, Wassup Rockers, Lower City, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, and Who Killed the Electric Car?. Peter shares his opinions of the films of the Yukon International Film Festival.

Larry Mantle and critics Scott Foundas, film editor for the L.A. Weekly and Andy Klein, film editor and chief critic for both CityBeat and ValleyBeat discuss this week's new releases, including Click, Say Uncle, Wordplay, and The Road to Guantanamo. Larry and the critics also preview the Los Angeles Film Festival.