In the past year, numerous films based on comic books including “Hulk” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” have been produced in hopes of achieving the box office success of other comic book-based films “Batman” and “Spider-Man.”Â As movie studios vie for the opportunity to adapt another comic book for the big screen, along comes “American Splendor.” But “American Splendor” is the antithesis to the big-budgeted, effects-driven comic book films of the past. Read more...

Over 200 bodies clashed and sweated until 2 a.m. in a tireless mosh pit as the band El Gran Silencio jammed and danced live for three hours at JC Fandango’s in Anaheim earlier this month. Read more...

“American Splendor” Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini Fine Line Features If this year’s disappointments “Daredevil” and “Hulk” are any indication, comic-book adaptations for the big screen have lately failed to capture the true essence of the original comic book.  Constructed with ingenuity and inventiveness, the new film “American Splendor” should help to subside fears of comic book adaptations gone wrong. Read more...

“Freddy vs. Jason” Directed by Ronnie Yu New Line Cinema Devotees of the long-running “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” slasher series now have, at long last, the chance to see two of the scariest film icons ever conceived try to beat each other into bloody messes in Ronnie Yu’s surprisingly entertaining “Freddy vs. Read more...

In Ladd McIntosh’s beginner improvisation class, 15 students encircle the teacher campfire-style with their trusty instruments in hand. As a jazzy rhythm section chugs along, the teacher points to the students one by one for some short, improvisational solos. Read more...

Rock music often looks at the tensions between man and machine, sometimes casting technology as a force that takes the humanity out of the songs, reducing musicians to cogs in the OK Computer. Read more...

A wedding is a joyous occasion ““ the union of two souls, forever joined in holy matrimony. An “American Wedding,” as it turns out, is a bit more complicated. Read more...