You know it's the beginning of January when the gyms are filled with New Years resolution exercisers and the movie theaters are filled with post-New Years dreck. Frankly, it's best to focus on getting caught up on last year's best (see our Top 10 and the subsequent comments for suggestions) and leave this week's releases for suckers with movie money to burn. Hilary Swank often stars in Oscar-lauded movies but her newest about an inner-city......

Even though the weather isn't encouraging you to stay inside, there's still a whole host of new flicks to check out at the theaters. Looking for a few cheap laughs while you gear up for the Christmas shopping? Kal Penn stars in National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, a collegiate boobfest about a frat dude teaching some English geeks how to party Yankee style. Beer and cleavage, wahoo! Another movie which looks like......

This week's new film releases are a lovely New York melting pot: ballroom dancing teens, Arab/Israeli anxieties, motor skills-challenged geeks, neurotic female friends, and a thoughtful Polish director thrown in for good measure. Spring may have sprung outside but it's also a great time to be inside at the movie. If you saw last year's documentary Mad Hot Ballroom, you're already familiar with dancing teacher Pierre Dulaine and his work with children around the country.......

To attempt to answer that question, consider a road trip up the Hudson this weekend. Poughkeepsie-based New York Stage and Film is hosting the premiere of a work-in-progress called Good Vibrations, a musical inspired by the songs of the Beach Boys. The show began on July 29th and runs through August 2nd. On one hand, the show is being directed and choreographed by John Carrafa (Urinetown, Into the Woods), someone with real cred. On the......

When you've read the eighteenth interview with Renee Zellweger and realized you've learned nothing about her, except that she loves her dog, you know that celebrity interviews are a smokescreen. Jeanette Wells asks various interviewers who the boringest interviewees are, and besides Renee, here are three: George Clooney: “During the interview, I was so excited because he seemed so forthcoming and disarming. Then I got home and listened to my tape, and realized he hadn’t......

The Media Action Network for Asian Americans is up in arms against the creators of Charlie's Angels for missing out on the opportunity for giving Lucy Liu's character an Asian parent by casting funny man John Cleese. They have an opinion piece in the L.A. Times: Only Alex's father would appear in the sequel, and he would be played by British comedian John Cleese. Alex's Asian mother would be reduced to an image in......

All the talk about Charlie's Angels Full Throttle being about female empowerment is a joke, because it's just about a bunch of girls being silly and their T&A. Of course Gothamist knew that, but the evidence is too overwhelming not to comment on. For starters, a painful-to-read interview by Sean Smith of Newsweek, with the Angels, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu. Here's a sample: BARRYMORE: It is gold. DIAZ and LIU: [Loudly, imitating......

Usually, I'm not bothered when the media gets excited about all things Asian. In fact, I think it's a good thing to expose people to the Far East. But for some reason, this description of the cocktail at Jean-Georges Vongerichten nouveau Chinese (or is that Chinois) restaurant 66 in The New York Times style article confused me: "The Shanghai Cosmo at 66, which was created in character with the restaurant's Chinese theme, is a Lucy......

Dateline, Hong Kong Certain cultures take honorifics very seriously, and the Chinese are no exception. In America, you'll refer to your maternal and paternal grandparents "Grandmother" and "Grandfather" or some variation at your discretion, but the titles can apply to both maternal and paternal sets. Whereas in Chinese, there are specifc grandmother/grandfather terms for the maternal side and for the paternal side. There are also special terms for older brother, younger sister, youngest cousin, and......