Quarantine is the Los Angeles based movie that opens today and it looks scary and stuff like that. Quarantween, the Los Angeles based movie by Disney looks even scarier.......

Progressive author, cultural critic and feminist Naomi Wolf is in Los Angeles tonight and tomorrow promoting her book Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries. Wolf, who blogs at the Huffington Post, also wrote The End of America which was recently turned into a documentary. There are no screenings scheduled in Los Angeles at the moment, but we thought the trailer was interesting enough to share.......

Wanna buy a historic Hollywood theatre? Well, the El Capitan is rumored to have been put on the market today, with a price tag of $31 million. The purchaser will have a ready-made tenant, namely Walt Disney Co., and can boast they own a key piece of the entertainment industry, old and new. The El Capitan began as a venue for live theatre, and showed plays between 1926-1936, until it began to show movies. It......

If you haven't read LA Times columnist Steve Lopez' book, The Soloist, it comes with a high recommendation. And if you're a fan of reading books before the movie version comes out, then you've got to November 21st. Robert Downey Jr. plays Steve Lopez and Jamie Foxx plays Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, the street musician Lopez discovered in Pershing Square before writing a series of amazing columns that led to the book. Related: LA Times'......

Here's another reminder of that movie no one has ever heard of -- Meet Dave (with an abominable $5.3M debut back in July). LAist first spotted Eddie Murphy's giant-ass head on the Paramount Lot in June. This morning it was traveling the 405 Freeway when a driver took a photo and tweeted "WTF?" "Guess no one told him Meet Dave's friend request was denied," joked The Jay, who tipped us off to this photo. "You......

From a SAG Rally earlier this month (more photos here) | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist It was looking to possibly be a dramatic summer when the Screen Actors Union and movie studios were scrambling to renew their contract with each other before it ended. But the contract expired, no deal was made (but AFTRA's deal was) and here we are months later. "Variety reminds us today that a major! labor! crisis! remains in effect......

As everyone says, you probably didn't know his name but you knew his voice. The man with the deep classic voice guiding moviegoers through trailers (he did over 5,000!) and heard in commercials (and he did over 350,000, wow) died yesterday at the age of 68. Don LaFontaine lived in the Hollywood Hills and passed away of complications from Pneumothorax, a condition resulting from a collapsed lung. Two videos are below: his recent Geico commercial......

Photo courtesy of DreamWorks It's been more than a month since The Dark Knight hit screens, yet it remained in the top five at number four grossing movies raking in $10.3 million dollars. Still at the top of their game, the offending-to-some Tropic Thunder came in first at $16.1 million with House Bunny trailing behind at $15.1 million. Death Race at number three did a decent $12.3 million, but rounding out the top five......

Submitted and Authored by Andrew Seely I’m going to start this with the preface that I for the most part consider myself a Star Wars fanboy. Which means either I’m going to be more critical of everything Star Wars or every thing attached to Star Wars is the best thing that can happen. Star Wars holds a very special place in my life, maybe it’s all nostalgic feelings of wanting to take part in......

George Furth, a Tony-award winning playwright and the man behind the books for "Company," the 1970 Broadway musical as well as "Merrily We Roll Along," died yesterday in Santa Monica for reasons yet to be announced. Furth worked with Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the music and lyrics for the two musicals, on the short lived murder mystery "Getting Away With Murder" in 1996. He also wrote the play "Twigs." As an actor, Furth worked on......

Ben Stiller's latest comedy is not being taken lightly by several groups that advocate for the disabled. Many of the nearly two dozen advocacy groups protesting Tropic Thunder are planning to protest tonight's premiere at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, according to reports. Tropic Thunder, written and directed by Stiller and starring Jack Black, Tom Cruise, and Robert Downey, Jr., features the 5'7"[-in-heels] Stiller in a send-up of big-budget Hollywood war movies. The......

A historic piece of property has just gone up for sale: The redwood hangar where eccentric millionaire and aviation icon Howard Hughes (pictured) built and housed the "Spruce Goose." The hangar was set up in the early 40s when Hughes was awarded a wartime government contract, and, according to the LA Times, "is now used mainly for movie and television shoots." It is located in what is now the Playa Vista Development. In 1998, when......

Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers Talk about a super blockbuster, The Dark Knight continues to come in at number one in weekend box office returns ($43.8 million) after its third weekend, but The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor came in close at second ($42.4 million). Rounding out the top five are Step Brothers ($16.2 million), Mamma Mia! ($13.1 million) and Journey to the Center of the Earth ($6.9 million). Making the bottom five......

Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting that Batman anticipation has lucrative effects. "MovieTickets.com says that, four days prior to its release, Warner Bros' Batman: The Dark Knight has sold out 700 performances in North America and is outselling 3 of MovieTickets.com’s Top 10 Performing Films of All-Time." That's 90% sold-out. Are you ready for 152-minutes of glory?......

SAG Members at a 'Solidarity Rally' on June 9, 2008 (more photos here) | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist The votes came in and were counted: members of AFTRA--the nation’s second largest performers’ union--overwhelmingly voted to ratify a contract with the AMPTP, who represents movie studios and producers, by a 62.4% margin. “Today’s vote reflects the ability of AFTRA members to recognize a solid contract when they see it," AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon said......

The Screen Actors Guild announced today that they will "present its response" to the "last best final" contract offer by movie studios and producers, who hope it will be accepted. With that, Nikki Finke opines: "... the Big Media companies are prepared to play hardball. I forsee a repeat of what happened during the lowest ebb of the writers strike: the AMPTP walks away from the talks and issues an ultimatum to SAG to take......

Hancock is a nearly great movie. I suppose that means it was only good, but that obscures the fact that, unlike other good movies, it could have been great. Will Smith's latest flick tells the story of an alcoholic superhero addled not so much by his addiction to hard liquor, as much as his plunging loneliness. As such, he is a depressed and lonely fuck who believes he is the only one in the world......

www.strike.tv Teaser from StrikeTV on Vimeo. During the Writers Strike, a group of creatives got together to make Strike.TV and began to develop 40 projects that are expected to debut starting today (as of this writing on the morning of July 4th, only the above teaser has been launched). One of their promises is "to demonstrate that it was possible for Hollywood professionals to coexist and flourish with the studio system that has supported......

This is a difficult movie to market without a red-band trailer, due to the subject matter. The Wackness is this summer's "it" indie movie. It's got all of the typical elements you'd see in an indie film; it's the coming-of-age story of an apathetic and depressed graduate (Josh Peck) who meets and falls in love with a carefree girl (Olivia Thirlby). This chance encounter allows him to experience a whole slew of emotions he......

Now that the contract between the largest actors guild and the movie studios has expired, with talks to resume Wednesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers is using a tactic on their website to show the economic pain the actors will supposedly cause if they authorize a strike. Two flash animation boxes on their homepage give out these statistics based on an Milken Institute study (for the writers strike) and Screen Actors Guild's......

Photo by Peggy Archer via Flickr Day 42 into the negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and no result. The contract expires Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. and the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. SAG has been saying along that they have no plans to strike but AMPTP has said in a statement that the "industry is now in a de facto strike, with film......

Living in Hollywood is never so fun as when attending an old-school movie event. Granted, there wasn't anything highly unusual about the screening of "Gilda" at the Silent Movie Theater yesterday -- it was the third movie in the Cinefamily's month-long series, Femme Fatale Hall of Fame. But some things happen in Hollywood that just can't happen elsewhere. In this case, it was Peter Ford, son of Glenn Ford - the star of the film......

Actors Union: "Management is stubborn and intransigent." Studio Reps: "'Frustrated and discouraged' at the guild's attitude." The Screen Actors Guild's contract with studios expires on June 30 and with the way things are going, the union is saying contract talks could extend past that deadline. That doesn't mean a strike, however. SAG has worked past the deadline in the past and plans to this time if talks are progressing, albeit slowly. Both the studios representation,......

SAG's 'Solidarity' Rally on Monday (see more photos here) | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist Screen Actors Guild members outside of Los Angeles are reportedly fuming over Monday's rally, which was billed as a pro-SAG "solidarity" event, but ended up having anti American Federation of Television and Radio Actor tones. Around 500 actors and supporters of the movement rallied outside SAG's Wilshire Blvd. headquarters chanting "Vote No!" "We were told this would be a pro......

Although the Screen Actors Guild said today was a "solidarity" rally, Variety plainly headlines the event: "SAG rallies against AFTRA, Guild member encourage to vote down deal." Some 500 or so actors and supporters came out to bolster support for duel cardholding SAG/AFTRA members (44,000 people are in both unions) voting down the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors' deal with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers. SAG says the AFTRA deal......

UPDATE: About 500 people showed for the rally. See photos here.This morning, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) will hold a "solidarity" rally at their Wilshire Blvd. Headquarters, a move the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) is calling decisive and possibly illegal. "It’s disingenuous of SAG to call it a ‘solidarity’ rally when it’s clear that it will be an anti-AFTRA rally,” said AFTRA President Roberta Reardon. The Writers Guild of America held......

You know, I didn't have very high expectations going in to see Kung Fu Panda. I expected a lot of slapstick, pop-culture jokes, and a lot of smart-ass remarks from Jack Black's panda character. I had no expectations for any real, exciting, actual Kung Fu action. This time, I'm so glad I was wrong.......

While Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull couldn't quite break the Memorial Day weekend record ($139.8M), it did come close by grossing a robust $126M ($151M) over the long holiday. As the only new film in wide release, it won the weekend by a wide margin. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian fell to $28.6M ($96.6M) in its second frame while mega-blockbuster Iron Man continued to do great business, finishing just......

Photo by Robert L. Wells There's really no point to discussing the plot of this movie as it's nearly identical to the other movies in the franchise: Indy gets dragged into trouble with bad guys (Russians this time), travels to a place with a lot of cobwebs and gets wet and/or mucky in the process and then runs from fire/mud/water/big rock/CGI something-or-other while dodging bad guys and dragging along a sidekick and then, of course,......

Don't fucking push any levers! | Photo courtesy of Paramount By now you've probably read everything you want to read about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. All I'll add is a few interesting stats: the total domestic box office of all the films that Harrison Ford has appeared in is a staggering $3,094,851,491. That's just ahead of the films that George Lucas has produced ($2,977,630,768) and behind the movies that......