Film

Superhero comedy Hancock raked in $107 million over the July 4th weekend and became the third-biggest holiday opener ever, Variety reports. The weekend's other big debut, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl , sputtered in 8th spot with $3.6 million. Filling out the top five after Hancock were Wall-E , Wanted , Get Smart , and Paramount summer laffer, Kung Fu Panda . More »

Heavy metal and Halloween, make room for haute couture. “What used to be a symbol for borderline-sociopathic tough guys with weird design fetishes—Hells Angels, pirates, Nazis—has become a trope de luxe,” writes Stephen Marche in Esquire . The skull, a symbol of death with deep religious significance, “has suddenly become hypermodern, totally in and of the moment.” More »

The  discovery of long-lost footage from Fritz Lang's futuristic classic Metropolis in the archives of a Buenos Aires museum has given the film world a thrill, reports Der Speigel . Nearly a half-hour of Lang's 1927 vision of 21st-century class struggle can be restored. The new scenes flesh out the characters and add story-telling rhythm to Lang's sprawling tale. More »

Ex-Nickelodeon star Josh Peck shines in The Wackness , a dark comedy set in 1994 Manhattan. Jonathan Levine's coming-of-age film is “both darkly funny and life-affirming, in an offbeat and offhanded way,” writes Claudia Puig of USA Today . Peck as Luke, who’s selling pot out of an Italian ice cart, “shows you the sweet, virginal kid hiding inside the outlaw poseur,” writes Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly . More »

There’s a “fascinating history lesson” in the documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson , “a lively collage of interviews and found materials,” writes A. O. Scott in the New York Times . The film cements the journalist's “place in the great American parade of cranks, renegades and sages,” Scott adds. It's “all you could wish for in a doc about the man,” notes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times . More »

Inspired by Sex and the City's wild silver-screen success, all six cast members—including holdout Jennifer Aniston—are on board to reunite for the big-screen adaptation of the hit sitcom “Friends,” the Daily Mail reports. Produced by Warner Brothers, Friends: The Movie would get under way within the next 18 months, said an insider. More »

Everyone wants to like Hancock . The idea of a slovenly, booze-swilling superhero screwup is undeniably priceless. But “the finished product is so poorly conceived and misguided that even Will Smith… can't save it,” writes Claudia Puig of USA Today . The movie starts out irreverent and fun, then veers sharply into a melodrama “trying to be a heavier, larger-than-life romance with historical, spiritual, and sci-fi implications." More »

The contract between the Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood studios expired early today—but SAG has decided to let members keep working for the time being, E! Online reports. The two sides are scheduled to reconvene tomorrow. The Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers made it what it called a “final offer” last night, but SAG officials were skeptical. More »

Just as residents of Healy, Alaska feared, more men have come looking for the bus—the old jalopy where Christopher McCandless died on his famous quest, the AP reports. Portrayed in the book and film, Into the Wild , his trip to Alaska has inspired dozens to trek through dicey weather and mosquito clouds to the bus. "I don't want people to go out there and die," a former official said. "It's that simple." More »

Porn star Tera Patrick is being considered for a role in Quentin Tarantino's remake of Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! , the New York Post reports. "Quentin loves her, and she's a dead ringer for original star Tura Satana," says a source. The original cult film, released in 1966, follows three go-go dancers on a violent trip across the desert. More »

This has been a banner year for Hollywood blockbusters, but things look dour for explosion-free cinema, David Carr writes in the New York Time s reports. Small movies have flooded multiplexes, choking each other out—a sign, producer Mark Gill says, of big-money backing meeting the ease of digital film-making. The money's disappearing, and eventually only good indie flicks will get made. More »

Wall-E charmed filmgoers and Angelina Jolie's Wanted beat out expectations in a strong box office weekend, Variety reports. The Pixar-Disney animation flick banked $62.5 million while Wanted raked in $51.1 million. Get Smart held at third with $20 million and Kung Fu Panda kicked up $11.7 million in fourth, while The Incredible Hulk dropped to fifth with $9.2 million, Bloomberg reports. More »

Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot, the second documentary from Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, is no Hoop Dreams , but critics predict a slam-dunk with roundball and hip-hop aficionados. The film follows eight high school phenoms through a high-profile Harlem pick-up game and “offers a snapshot of the kind of top players who one day hope to have a shoe named after them,” writes Variety’s Ronnie Scheib. More »

Heath Ledger is getting a tribute from his collaborators on The Dark Knight . The end credits of the Batman Begins sequel include a farewell note to Ledger, who died in January from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. Ledger plays the Joker in the movie, which opens July 18. “Heath created something entirely original,” said the director. “It's going to blow people away.” More »

If you're heading out to see the new Angelina Jolie flick Wanted , critics have some advice: Lighten up and enjoy it. "It’s trash, but I love it anyway,” writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone . The story of a “nobody” office worker who winds up “a tight, muscled killing machine” in a team of assassins, the film’s got “passion as well as pow” without “a scintilla of redeeming social value,” Travers notes. More »

Though by his own admission, he's "just terrible at watching basketball on television," Beastie Boy Adam Yauch—aka MCA—has directed a documentary about the nation's top prep players. Gunnin' for That #1 Spot opens tomorrow, and Radar catches up with Yauch, whose fight for his right to party is trickier now that he's a gray-haired soccer dad. Among the highlights: More »

The makers of such revelatory documentaries as Inside Deep Throat and The Eyes of Tammy Faye have a new film in the works, about Heidi Fleiss’ bid to open an all-male brothel in the Nevada desert, W reports. Fleiss, who had a falling out with directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, said, “I was hoping it would be fun, but instead it was me getting mad.” More »

Still tallying the proceeds of the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises, Hollywood is turning to darker, underground graphic novels like Wanted for movie adaptations—and comics auteurs have mixed feelings, Time reports. Some argue the mainstream success of ultraviolent adaptations like 300 and Sin City can only mean good things for the graphic-novel underworld, but others worry the interest will suck the medium dry. More »

Mike Myers' Love Guru failed to work its mojo at the box office this weekend, caving to Get Smart , which raked in $39.1 million. It wasn't a close race: Myers' live-action comedy grossed $14 million, coming in at No. 4. The Incredible Hulk and Kung Fu Panda —in their second and third weeks respectively—virtually tied for second spot, grossing just more than $21 million. More »

Although big-name documentaries such as An Inconvenient Truth and Sicko have raised the genre's profile, recent ones just aren't pulling in audiences, the Los Angeles Times reports. The critically acclaimed steroid film Bigger, Stronger, Faster has grossed only $164,000 since its release three weeks ago, and the Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side topped out at $275,000. More »