If you're not mall-ward bound, frantically baking fruitcake, cleaning house for arriving relatives, or headed to LAX, there are still plenty of things to do tonight in LA. FILM "Yippee Ki-yay, mother..." You get the idea. The Aero Theatre is showing a badass Christmastime double feature tonight. On the bill is the original Die Hard and 2003's Bad Santa, starring Billy Bob Thornton. Ah, the familiar holiday cinema classics. 7:30 p.m. // Aero Theatre......

Hearts of Darkness is such a perfect complement to Apocalpyse Now that it's hard to watch one without thinking of the other. Though it's not the greatest print, the former is finally available on DVD. Now that the year is coming to an end, people are starting to talk about Oscar contenders. Why is the superb Rescue Dawn being left out of the mix? Live Free or Die Hard doesn't play like a Die......

You’ve probably whizzed by his 17-foot image dozens of times or been stuck in traffic behind one of the many trucks that he rides on. The Little Man with the Hammer, the trademark of The Western Exterminator Company was born in 1931. The creation of telephone company artist Vaughn Kaufman, “The Little Man” has been used as the trademark for this family-run company (celebrating it’s 86th year) ever since. The Los Angeles icon known over......

For what seems like the first time in years, The Simpsons actually exceeded expectations. The first movie of America's first animated family took in a whopp(er)ing 71.8 million dollars at the box office this weekend, demolishing even the most optimistic of estimates. Credit Fox's clever marketing campaign and the opportunity to finally see Bart's shrimpy doodle. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry finished a distant second, making 19 million bucks to raise its......

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry eked out a win this weekend, just besting Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The moronic Sandler vehicle earned 34.7 million versus 32.1 million for the latest, infinitely superior Harry Potter installment (now at 207.5M). My guess is that the release of Deathly Hallows cost Order of the Phoenix a second consecutive weekend crown (I still can't believe that Voldermort turned out to be Harry's......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix blew away not only the competition, but its own previous franchise records this week with a 140 million dollar opening 5 days. Expect Potter mania to reach its full flowering later this week when the 7th and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, reaches stores. Transformers held steady at number two, dropping only 49% from the previous week (movies typically drop well over 50%......

To those glorious fools who had hoped against hope that The Island might mark the beginning of the end for Michael Bay's filmmaking career, I am loathe to tell you that such wishes now appear to be in vain. Transformers left the North American box office in a twisted wreckage of smoking metal this week, taking in a (groan) record-setting 152.5 million dollars in its opening 7 days. With regard to Mr. Bay, it......

Pixar's Ratatouille was tops at the box office this weekend, raking in a healthy 47.2 million dollars. While that number was well below previous Pixar films like Cars (60 milllion) and The Incredibles (70 million), it was more than enough to take down Bruce Willis and Live Free or Die Hard which pulled in 33.1 million. Both movies enjoyed across-the-board good reviews and should show decent legs in the coming weeks. Last week's clunker......

In honor of Bruce's big return to ass-kicking, I bring you the best... song... ever... "Die Hard" by Guyz Nite......

Fact: John McClaine would beat the piss out of Jack Bauer. I know what you're gonna' say: "But c'mon Henry, Jack withstood Chinese torture. They've got that water on the forehead trick and shit" Oooh, Big deal. I bet Jack wouldn't trade 15 nights of Chinese torture for a single night in Nakatomi Plaza. If you've even seen the preview for this movie, you may have noticed that John McClaine surfs a goddamn jet......

A few weeks ago in this space, I predicted that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer would be the big-budget flop of the summer. Turns out I missed it by one week. Evan Almighty tallied a meager 32.1 million dollars at the box office over the weekend--well below already reduced expectations (the ugliest five words a studio chief can ever hear--worse even than "the call girl taped everything"). Considering its budget was somewhere......

LAist reader Joseph Tsai, who we believe may have been a contest winner way back when, sent us this video of various famous LA landmarks used in film. There are locations from Die Hard, The Big Lebowski, Back to the Future, Chinatown, and many many more. Sorta makes you wonder how many more nooks and crannies the rest of the world would have learned about LA if the film industry wasn't so happy to......

Tarfest begins today! Four days of films, music, and tar at the LaBrea Tar Pits - Tarfest.com Beck's new album is too cool for the UK charts. Because you can use stickers to design your own cover, it's got an "unfair" advantage on the other cds, the Brits say. Beck begs to differ. - Billboard How do you fight downtown gentrification? Involve a 75 year old nun - LA Times Boy-crazy Foley's behavior wasn't......

We admit it. Watching this TV show may or may not place us in high regard with you, the untold masses reading this site with keen interest every day. But, we just call 'em like we see 'em. We like to find shows that are good and deserve to be seen. This show is well written, funny and has a heart (yes, you guessed it) in the right place. We are talking about, of......

Oilman Marvin Davis died Saturday at his Beverly Hills home. He was 79. The Los Angeles Times pubished his obit in Sunday's edition. "The wealthiest individual in Los Angeles for much of the last two decades, Davis was recently estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth $5.8 billion. Although his fortune was built in the dusty oil fields of Colorado, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Texas, where he was known as "Mr. Wildcatter," Davis was inexorably......