Back when schools taught civics (and penmanship), a common assignment was to write an essay titled “What America Means to Me.” And every July Fourth, newspaper editors assign similar essays to their reporters. In Friday’s paper, I have a column about the movies…

Changing standards of decency, perhaps driven downward by the Internet, mean that I can report something here that I couldn’t have written in the newspaper a few years ago: The Jonas Brothers next film project is called “Walter the Farting Dog.”

The…

When I gave the new “Transformers” sequel a mixed review, acknowledging its technical heft but criticizing its ideological emptiness, it turns out I was being nicer than most other critics. The movie, which earned more than $200 million through its…

On Wednesday, Johnny Depp is back on the big screen in “Public Enemies,” playing legendary gangster John Dillinger, a man who loves “baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars”–and robbing banks.

The Oscar-nominated Depp is perhaps the most talented–and publicity shy–actor of…

Next month, the Skyview Drive-In in Belleville celebrates its 60th year in business.

In the peak year of 1958, America had 5,000 drive-ins, which outnumbered indoor theaters. Now there are only about 400 “ozoners” left, and the family-run Skyview is the last remaining…

The gadget action flick “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” earned $60 million in its first day of release Wednesday, a new record for a mid-week opening, topping “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” in 2007. It was the…

This is big: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that it will double the number of films that are nominated for the best picture, from five to ten. The change will take effect next year. The ten…

Aaron Sorkin, the creator of “The West Wing,” has signed to write a movie based on the creation of the social-networking site Facebook. David Fincher (”Fight Club,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) is in talks to direct it.

Although there…

The Fourth of July is the unofficial midpoint of the summer-movie season, and so far the boys have been hogging the field. Granted, Sandra Bullock’s romantic comedy “The Proposal” finished number one last weekend, but that’s partly because Jack Black’s “Year One”…

The production of “Moneyball,” a Steven Soderbergh film in which Brad Pitt was set to star as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, has shut down, just days before the cameras were scheduled to roll.

As much as I like baseball,…