Title: The Rocketeer Directed by: Joe Johnston Starring: Bill Campbell, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Sorvino and Timothy Dalton Running time: 109 minutes, Rated PG, Available on standard DVD Disney has released their 1991 cult classic The Rocketeer on Blu-ray. Based on writer/illustrator Dave Stevens’ comic book series is the story of Cliff Secord (Campbell), a test pilot who discovers a top-secret prototype jet-pack stashed away in one of his planes which will enable the wearer to fly. He comes up with an idea to become a masked/helmeted superhero, and soon he discovers a Nazi plot to utilize the jet pack to take over the world. There are no special…

Title: Answers To Nothing Director: Matthew Leutwyler Starring: Dane Cook, Julie Benz, Elizabeth Mitchell, Barbara Hershey, Zach Gilford, Erik Palladino, Kali Hawk, Aja Volkman, Greg Germann, Miranda Bailey, Mark Kelly “Answers To Nothing” is an unfortunately all-too-apt title for director Matthew Leutwyler’s sprawling thematic think piece, which focuses on the hard knocks and self-deception of a disparate group of Los Angelenos. The filmmakers seem to be reaching rather nakedly for early Paul Thomas Anderson territory here, but the copped moves come off less as artful homage and more as the nervous half-formed duplications of a mentee who’s left the nest too soon. While Ryan (Dane Cook) and Kate (Elizabeth Mitchell) try to conceive…

Title: Littlerock Writer-director: Mike Ott Starring: Atsuko Okatsuka, Cory Zacharia, Rintaro Sawamoto, Roberto Sanchez, Brett L. Tinnes, Ryan Dillon A nicely photographed and initially intriguing character study of a road trip gone awry, and a sibling pair of foreign travelers waylaid in a land foreign to them, “Littlerock” quickly fumbles away any sense of delicate engagement, and ends up a collection of posed and meandering down-tempo moments in search of an inciting incident or clarifying signifier. Pleased with itself more than it ought to be, the movie seems to believe or feel that dawdling for dawdling’s sake is in the end its own kind of precious artistic statement, a fact only underscored…

Title: Where the Road Meets the Sun Writer-director: Yong Mun Chee Starring: Will Yun Lee, Eric Mabius, Luke Brandon Field, Laura Ramsey, Fernando Noriega, Elsa Pataky, Jesse Garcia, Emmanuelle Vaugier A sprawling, somewhat self-consciously multi-ethnic drama of struggling immigrants from writer-director Yong Mun Chee, Where the Road Meets the Sun is a movie which means well, in unspooling its story of hard-knock, off-the-grid America, and both the unique opportunities and special perils that presents for those with headstrong dispositions. Unfortunately, despite some relaxed, inviting performances, the film repeatedly identifies plausibility as an enemy, and never locates a compelling enough throughline to hook and pull an audience through from beginning to end. A brief…

David Carradine is much on my mind recently, having just finished up his rather excellent “Kill Bill Diary” — a thorough, intellectually rangy and assuredly entertaining read of his time spent on Quentin Tarantino’s two-part revenge epic. A workaholic without necessarily the most discerning taste, Carradine’s sudden death at the age of 72 (in June, 2009, he was found nude in the closet of a Thai hotel room, the result of accidental autoerotic asphyxiation) nonetheless put the brakes on what just might have been one of the more interesting sunset career reinventions of modern Hollywood. After all, here was a worldly, well-read guy with a reawakened fire in his belly…

Title: The Comedian at the Friday Writer-director: Brett Ryan Bonowicz Starring: Chris Shields, Chad Jamian Williams, Laura Alexandra Ramos, Jessica Sherman A Los Angeles-set indie flick which recently enjoyed its world premiere at the 14th annual Dances With Films festival, ‘The Comedian at the Friday’ offers up an almost serially listless look at an interesting and creative occupation. Instead of getting caught up in the vicarious or behind-the-curtain thrill of even a fringe comedian’s quirky, atypical lifestyle, an audience watching it is much more likely to go through and ultimately bog down in the first half of the seven stages of grief — denial, pain, anger, bargaining, depression, etcetera —…

Shia LaBeouf was handcuffed and detained by Los Angeles police on the morning of February 6 after a fight broke out at Mad bull’s Tavern, one of his favorite area bars, RadarOnline.com is reporting. The ‘Transformers’ star was at the bar with an entourage of more than 12 people when he became involved in an angry brawl with another patron on the front sidewalk patio. The other patron is reportedly college student Mark Mastro, who later admitted to RadarOnline that he did call LaBeouf a gay slur and then laughed at him. Mastro added that the actor then physically attacked him. One of the bar’s bouncers held LaBeouf in a…

‘The Avengers’ movie, based on the beloved Marvel comic book series, is set to begin filming in Los Angeles in February, despite the fact that it’s set in New York. All interior shots will be filmed on sound stages in L.A., with only exterior shots being filmed in New York. Initial reports are speculating that Marvel and director Joss Whedon choose to mainly shoot in L.A. for economic reasons. Further rumors speculate that it’s also easier to assemble the large A-list cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Evans, in L.A. However, New York is currently offering a higher tax credit…

Emily Deschanel married writer-actor David Hornsby in her home in of Los Angeles on September 25, her rep has confirmed to PEOPLE.com. The 33-year-old actress, known for her starring role on the hit FOX drama ‘Bones,’ held a “quiet evening ceremony,” with just her friends and family in attendance. Hornsby is known to fans of the hit FX comedy ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ as Rickety Cricket, Sweet Dee’s admirer. Deschanel, meanwhile, is currently shooting the sixth season of ‘Bones,’ for which she’s also now producing, and will reportedly direct an episode later in the year. The ceremony comes a year after Deschanel’s younger sister, ‘(500) Days of Summer’ star Emily,…

The child abuse investigation against Britney Spears has officially been dropped by the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services, RadarOnline.com reported on July 19. The investigation began after one of Spears’ former bodyguards, Fernando Flores, alleged that she beat her two sons, Sean Preston, 4, and 3-year-old Jayden James, specifically with one of his belts. After social services workers visited Spears’ home to check the claim, the department found no evidence to support it. The boys’ pediatricians also submitted documentation stating that they are healthy, and there has never been any sign of abuse. The case was closed after the department received the documentation. The website also quoted an…