The Eye – With Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola, Parker Posey and Directed by David Moreau, and Xavier Palud. Another remake of another Chinese horror film. Syndney Wells (Jessica Alba) is an accomplished violinist, who happens to be blind. She has surgery to have her eyes replaced (ummm…what?) and as she learns to use her eye sight, things start to go terribly wrong. Are the eyes she is given are haunted by the eyes of her donor? Is it her imagination?! And ACTION! Scary Movie! Things pop out. Can’t trust your eyes. I know some teenager who will love this.

Over Her Dead Body – Starring Eva Longoria, Paul Rudd, Lake Bell, Lindsay Sloane, Jason Biggs and Directed by Jeff Lowell. Well with Paul Rudd you’re guaranteed a few laughs. It’s kind of like the eye, but funny, hopefully they leave out too much of the romance. Kate (Eva Longoria) gets killed on her and Henry’s (Paul Rudd) wedding day. A year later a psychic (Lake Bell) tries to help Paul get over her and they end up falling for each other That is until his dead wife comes back to haunt her. The dead wife doesn’t want her to be with him and she wants to despite her. The two go at eachother unbenounced to Henry, hopefully hilarity ensues.

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The New Year has started and as February grows near we are bombarded with hearts and valentines and talk of love. First comes love, then comes marriage and so on. On February 12 at 7:30 pm the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary The Year of Paper will be held at the Renberg Theater.

The first year of marriage is traditionally called the year of paper. After the honeymoon life as a married couple sets in. Many couples find that there are lots of adjustments to make that they had not anticipated. Through the ups and downs of the first year they struggle to reach that Paper Anniversary. Documentary makers Kelly Rouse and Nikki Parker set out to chronicle the newlywed year of three couples – lesbian, heterosexual, and gay. Each couple deals with the same issues all couples face – finances, resolving conflict, and family.

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Now that Hollywood’s (possible) only awards show has occurred this year, it will be easier to handicap the Oscar race. Well, that’s how it usually works, no? …Anyone?

Unfortunately, it might be best to hold onto those bets until the awards are closer because this year seems to be a free for all. The SAG awards are usually a good indicator of who will take home the Oscar given that the nominations for a SAG award usually line up with the nominations for Oscar. But this year, the nominations are all over the place. Shoot, the Screen Actor’s Guild poured lots of love on Into the Wild (only to shut it out), but the Academy only gave it two nods. So here’s a brief rundown of Sunday’s results.

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis remains the front runner, however, his competition for an Oscar is much more intense. Johnny Depp and Tommy Lee Jones, while not garnering the buzz they need at this point, are still forces to be considered. Even so, its still Day-Lewis’s award.

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Well I would say that all people want to see it sh*t movies in the theaters, but the fact that Juno is still in the running and There Will be Blood is making a comeback, proves me slightly wrong. The fact that the top three are Meet the Spartans, Rambo, and 27 Dresses, makes my assumption not too far off though.

The Winner: Meet The Spartans: Weekend Gross: $18,505,650 | Total Gross $18,505,530

Rambo: Weekend Gross $18,203,876 | Total Gross $18,203,876

27 Dresses: Weekend Gross $13,360,535 | Total Gross $45,107,889

Cloverfield: Weekend Gross $12,712,134 | Total Gross $64,306,110

Untraceable: Weekend Gross $11,354,069 | Total Gross $11,354,069

The Bucket List: Weekend Gross $10,532,406 | Total Gross $58,006,449 Continue Reading

The fourth installment into the Rambo franchise is one of the most violent movies ever. Our hero used to just mow people down with machine guns, exploding arrows, and the occasional knife to the throat. But now, he maims people: severing limbs, gutting, and tearing throat with bare hand. It all plays out like a combo of “Friday the 13th Part IV” and every war movie made in the 80’s. So yeah, it’s pretty cool.

The setup is a bit rough, though. We’re led to believe that a group of Christian doctors would have the nuts to go to one of the most violent areas on the planet, just to give medicine to the sick. This could happen in reality, but it wouldn’t happen in this movie, because the actors who play the Christians don’t summon enough emotion to pull it off.

Rambo doesn’t buy it either. He tells the dumbass martyrs to go home, but they’re on a mission from God. So he takes them upriver to the asshole of the world and drops them off. They disappear. He’s hired to get them back. End of story.

Begin killing spree.

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Can’t afford Blockbuster, don’t have Netflix, or Direct TV, and movie tickets are just too expensive? Fear not – you can get movies for free. Yes free! All you have to do is go to your local library – or for that matter the library across town or near your work. The Los Angeles Public Library system has a great collection of movies available for free. All you need is a library card (also free).

Most movies can be kept for 2 days and documentaries can be kept for a week. Here’s another really cool thing about getting movies from the library. Let’s say you live in Silver Lake and work in the valley. After work you can drop by the library in Studio City or anywhere else in the valley area and pick up a couple of movies. Instead of watching lame reruns on television at night just open a bottle of wine if you are so inclined and pop in a movie and enjoy the evening at home. If you don’t have to go back to the valley when they are due back, just go to your local branch and turn them in.

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Go see Persepolis. Go now. Go on. Stop reading this and get your tickets already.

I had seen the trailer once, and remembered thinking it looked fun. Then I drove by and noticed it playing at the Laemmle on 2nd St in Santa Monica.

“Fuck!” I exclaimed. “I want to see that!”

Well let me tell you, this is one of the most enjoyable and emotionally revealing films I’ve seen in a while.

The story is very simple: Marjane is a young girl living in Iran during the time of the fall of the Shah and subsequent Islamic Revolution (and war with Iraq).

And while the story is compelling in its own right, the visual style of the film is so interesting that the enjoyment is only compounded.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be angry and relieved, and you’ll leave wanting more.

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Remember when Vanilla Ice was considered hip? I swear to god it happened for a week in 1991, around the same time kids were wearing Hammer pants. Vanilla’s popularity was so short-lived, that by the time he wrapped production on his first film, even the dumbest Americans were sick of him. On a budget of $6 million, “Cool as Ice” plundered less than a third of that back in ticket sales. Now it’s on the big screen once more. For one night only: come join a crowd of grey-haired children and help us mock this “rap oriented remake of ‘Rebel Without a Cause.’” Saturday. January 25th. Midnite. New Beverly. Tickets at the door.

The pompous assholes at the AFI redeem themselves this week, as “2001″ plays in a “special dome presentation in 70MM with six track magnetic discrete magnetic sound.” I don’t know exactly what all that means, but it sounds incredible. Meet me in the parking 15 minutes early; we’ll share a joint. Wednesday. January 30th. 8:00 PM. ArcLight Hollywood. Tickets Here. AFI is also presenting “The Shining.” Monday. January 28th. 7:30 PM. ArcLight Sherman Oaks. Tickets Here.

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Somewhere in America, there’s a group of film school graduates crying. Not because their movie didn’t get selected for Sundance; but because some executive took the time and effort to greenlight a piece of crap. Meet the Spartans, is that crap.

Even with it’s various takes on spoofing movies, celebrities, and product placement; I counted twenty seven, “Meet the Spartans” fails to deliver on the laughs. The plot, if there is one, is a knock off of last year surprise hit, “300.” Granted, there are a few chuckles here and there. My particular favorite involved one with Ugly Betty. However, you can see these one liners coming a mile away, and most of them should have stayed there. The gags get old very quickly, and most go on for far to long.

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