LA TIMES HERO COMPLEX: AN EVENING WITH HORROR LEGEND JOHN CARPENTER

I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend this years LA Times Hero Complex Film Festival this past Friday evening. When I heard that horror legend John Carpenter was going to be there doing a Q&A bookended by two of his classic films, They Live and the iconic Halloween, nothing was going to keep me from attending. 

SCHWARZENEGGER RETURNS IN 'THE LAST STAND', MOVIE REVIEW

Arnold is BACK(!)...in Jee-Woon Kim’s fast paced, action packed popcorn film. I grew up watching Arnold; I own every film of his. I am what you would call a serious Schwarzenegger fan. I have waited a decade for his return to the cinema, and I wasn’t disappointed. The Last Stand isn’t perfect, but Arnold fans can rejoice, for he truly is back.

THE SILVER LINING TO THIS AWARDS SEASON

Believe the hype. Silver Linings Playbook is easily one of this years most enjoyable films and one of my personal favorite films of 2012, no question. This serious yet funny film is packed with powerhouse performances from Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) and Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games), as two dysfunctional adults each trying to cope with life’s issues, to Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver as his loving yet concerned parents.

THE E3 EXPERIENCE

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly referred to as E3, is an annual trade fair for the video game industry to show off its upcoming video games (and related hardware). For anyone unfamiliar with E3, it is a video game players dream and PPLA was there to take part in the action.

THE AVENGERS CRUSHES AT THE BOX OFFICE

The Avengers has crushed the competition, literally. The superhero extravaganza, directed and co-written by Joss Whedon, opened to an astonishing $207.4 million this past weekend, crushing box office records all around the globe (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2 held the world record at $169.2 million). The Avengers is also the first ever to gross $150 million in just two days, and the first to hit $200 million 3 days.

JOHN CARTER, NOT SO SUPER POWERED

John Carter is a valiant attempt at Edgar Rice Burrough’s sci-fi classic The Princess of Mars, but is not the epic film I was hoping for...Period.

CHRONICLE: BOYS WILL BE BOYS

Chronicle led the Box Office this past weekend, pulling in $22 million. Not bad considering this film’s meager $12 million budget! Directed by the virtually unknown 27-year old Josh Trank, it is an uncommonly well put together 'found footage' film.