Sweeney ponders blood-letting | Photo courtesy of DreamWorks Though it did decent business at the box office, I'm thinking that Sweeney Todd will kill on DVD. It's Burton's best film since Edward Scissorhands. I enjoyed Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, but it's nice to see him in something less hammy. I understand that David Cross did Alvin and the Chipmunks because he needed the dough, but what's Jason Lee's excuse? He......

In a crowded weekend of new movies, it was National Treasure: Book of Secrets that topped the box office with a haul of 45.5 million dollars. I Am Legend showed good strength in it second weekend ($34.2M/$137.4M) as did Alvin and the Chipmunks ($29M/$84.8M). Charlie Wilson's War managed fourth place in its debut ($9.6M), just ahead of fellow opener Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ($9.3M). P.S. I Love You had a......

Actor and comedian-chameleon Sasha Baron Cohen admitted in an interview yesterday that the characters that made him famous, Ali G and Borat, will be retired from his repetoire. Borat, the improbably cuddly anti-Semitic Kazakhstani innocent abroad, whose antics and exploits were made famous in a highly successful 2006 film, transformed Baron Cohen from a popular British comedian to a world-wide phenomenon. But he broke the news in a Daily Telegraph interview that Borat, he......

One day the golden touch of Judd Apatow will fade and one of his films will bomb (Drillbit Taylor is the likeliest culprit). For now, though, he can seem to do no wrong and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story looks to be his latest triumph. It's a bit of a departure for Apatow--there's a strong Zucker vibe coursing through Walk Hard--but I'll be piling into the theater along with everyone else this weekend......

Having never seen the stage version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, I can't speak to the fidelity the film shares with the play. That said, let there be no doubt that Tim Burton has crafted a true piece of musical cinema from Stephen Sondheim's bloody masterpiece. To their discredit, early previews have hedged a bit regarding the singing in the film. In them we only see Johnny Depp canting some......

Helena Bonham Carter and her boyfriend, director Tim Burton, both Golden Globe nominees for Sweeney Todd welcomed their second baby together, a girl, in London this weekend - People What better way to get attention than talk smack about some Hollywood heavyweights? Rupert Everett is starting trouble by talking about how Al Pacino and Robert De Niro have turned into "tragic paradies" of the icons they once were- StarPulse Britney Spears's home away from home,......

Does Depp's Sweeney Todd rip off Dave Vanian? ...

Fridays at 7:30 pm: THE PERVERSE PUPPETRY OF JAN SVANKMAJER Unsurpassed in his tactile, uncanny approach to experimental animation, surrealist Czech master Jan Svankmajer's films have inspired a generation of directors, including Tim Burton and The Brothers Quay, to expand their confidence in what is visually and conceptually possible in cinema. Whether concerned with sexual taboos or blatant political satire, Svankmajer's vision is always off-kilter, mordantly funny, and oddly sincere. - The Silent Movie Theater......

Listen to the interview here: Bobby Slayton is an icon, he's been doing stand-up for 30 years, everyone in the industry knows him, and generations of us have grown up on his comedy. At his live show the crowd gets warmed up with a video of practically every single well-known American comic, from Don Rickles to Robin Williams, giving props to Bobby. I've been listening and seeing Bobby Slayton perform for 25 years, listening to......

Hadrian over at Cinefile in West L.A. just sent us the heads-up for a great event going on at the Silent Movie Theatre this Wednesday, 8/15 at 9pm. Brent Green is an animator from rural Pennsylvania whose unique style has drawn comparisons to Tim Burton and Adam Jones. Hadrian blogs: Brent Green an untrained, completely original animator from rural Pennyslvania, who plays music along with his short films, while narrating them live in freeform,......

LAist is proud to offerer a weekly, chart roundup of Billboard Magazine’s most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week’s chart toppers. Behold the #1s. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts......

Beyonce continues to bully the charts. And far too many people think that buying Kenny G CDs is an appropriate use of money. I know we can do better than this. Here to make miserable your otherwise sunny day is a list of this week’s Billboard No.1s. Below is the short list. More good news after the jump... Billboard Charts Issue Date: January 27, 2007 The Billboard 200 - Dreamgirls:Soundtrack The Billboard Hot 100......

A Word or ~43: Welcome to the weekend my little ones. Other than the local teams the NBA is lighting up the dial all over the place tonight. During your busy weekend don't forget that "The L Word" and "The Apprentice: LA" are coming back on Sunday. Tonight - Friday - January 5th, 2007 Clippers @ Wizards (the CW, 5:30 p.m.) Blue Jackets @ Ducks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Nuggets @ Lakers (Fox Sports, 7:30p.m.)......

Only a few days left to get tickets to Edward Scissorhands -- no not the movie, the musical playing at the Ahmanson Theatre until December 31st. The touching and Gothic Tim Burton fairytale has been brought to the stage by Matthew Bourne, who devised, directed, and choreographed the show in London. This breathtaking dance sensation is performed to the original movie soundtrack written by Danny Elfman with a live string orchestra. It has beautiful......

It's CalArts lore -- and most likely true -- that Tim Burton, an alumnus of the art institute in Valencia (now a neighborhood in the later incorporated City of Santa Clarita), based the setting of Edward Scissorhands on the dichotomy between the blessed cookie-cutter Mormon Los Angeles bedroom suburb and the psychedelic Playboy-rated party art school on the hill. Even today, while Santa Clarita has become more diverse and the school has become less......

Halloween is Tuesday, which means this weekend is really the time for all of the –ists to celebrate. And whether they’re designing super-spooky costumes or talking about the super-spooky upcoming elections, we’d say that they’re doing a fine job of it. Austinist knows that few things in life are scarier than zombies, people with way too much money, and politicians who try too hard to be funny. Slightly less scary, depending on whom you......

Ken Page, the voice of the Boogie Man in Tim Burton's "A Nightmare Before Christmas", treated this El Capitan audience with an "impromptu" rendition of "The Oogie Boogie Song" after a showing of the new 3D version of the film. See, laying out top dollar in the old school El Capitan sometimes pays off. Sometimes. After the jump please enjoy the original clip in all its animated glory.......

Defamer alerts us that Sharon Waxman filed a story about the Lisa Marie-Tim Burton Garage Sale in the 03/12/2005 issue of the New York Times. As predicted, the sale was a bit of a disappointment. Anxious fans, dreaming of a huge score like the mint jazz collection discarded by an angry ex in "High Fidelity," failed to find much of value in Ms. Marie's Azusa-based storage unit. [But] by 9 a.m. on Friday, not......

Last week, we told you about the upcoming Tim Burton Garage Sale. This week, Tim Burton is livid. While the yard sale is happening, Mr. Burton has nothing to do with it. While Burton won't name names, The Wow Report is claiming it is just Lisa Marie trying to make a quick buck. Sorry for the confusion. There may indeed be cool Tim Burton gear at the sale but he's not happy it is......

See, stars are just like us. They have yard sales. Cartoon Brew tips us off that Tim Burton and his wife, Lisa Marie (That's what Cartoon Brew says. LAist thinks he's married to Helena Bonham Carter), will be having a yard sale this month in Azusa. Amongst all of the fancy name brand stuff the Burtons will be selling at discounted rates will be movie memorabilia. We're pretty well stocked on our Nightmare Before......