Boyz n the Hood

South Central, Los Angeles; October, 1984

The story opens in 1984 with ten-year-old Tré Styles (Desi Arnez Hines II) and three other youths heading to school, on the way stopping to inspect a crime scene they encounter. At school, Tré misbehaves in front of his teacher and receives a three-day suspension after fighting with another classmate. While discussing the issues with his teacher, Tré's mother, Reva (Angela Bassett), elicits surprise from the teacher when she references her education as well as Tré's father, who the teacher had not realized existed. Frustrated with her inability to curtail Tré's history of disobedience, Reva sends him to live in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles with his hard-nosed father, Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne), from whom she hopes Tré will learn life lessons. 

Due Date

Peter Highman (Robert Downey, Jr.) is on his way home from Atlanta to Los Angeles to be present at the birth of his first child, a scheduled C-section, with his wife, Sarah. Once on the plane, Peter learns that Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis), who had accidentally run his car through his door is sitting behind him in first class. After inadvertently using the words terrorist and bomb, Ethan has Peter shot by an air marshal with a rubber bullet. Both Peter and Ethan are forced off the plane before take-off.

After being questioned by security, Peter discovers that he has been placed on the No Fly List and will have to find another way to get to California. After realizing that he had left his wallet on the plane, Peter reluctantly agrees to travel with Ethan, an aspiring actor hoping to make it in Hollywood, to Los Angeles. Ethan is on his way to Hollywood after the funeral of his father, and is carrying his father's ashes in a coffee can on the trip. They are going together by a rental Subaru Impreza 2.5i Hatchback............... Read More >>

True Grit

The film is narrated by the adult Mattie Ross (Elizabeth Marvel), who recounts that in the late fall of 1877, when she was 14, her father was murdered in Fort Smith, Arkansas by one of his hired hands, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Chaney made off with her father's horses and two of his California gold pieces. While collecting her father's body, young Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) inquires about a Deputy U.S. Marshal to hire to track down Chaney. She is given three recommendations, but chooses to hire Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), because he is described as the most merciless. He repeatedly rebuffs her attempts to hire him, believing that she doesn't have the $50 with which to pay him.

Menace II Society

The film begins in South Central Los Angeles in the Watts neighborhood with Caine and his friend Kevin, nicknamed "O-Dog", entering a liquor store. Caine begins to drink malt liquor out of the bottle, intending to pay for it when he gets to the register. The Korean storekeeper and his wife watch them suspiciously, and O-Dog rails against them. As O-Dog is finished paying and is about to leave the store with Caine, the shopkeeper tells O-Dog, "I feel sorry for your mother." O-Dog takes offense and shoots the Korean storekeeper and his wife, taking the video surveillance tape of the shooting before he and Caine flee. O-Dog keeps the tape and entertains his friends by showing it to them, and there is talk of a copy being made for others in the neighborhood to watch.  

Halloween: Resurrection

Three years after the events that happened in California, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has been sent to a psychiatric hospital after it is revealed that she had beheaded a paramedic instead of Michael; the paramedic had located the body of Myers in the dining hall of Laurie's school, but Myers had attacked the paramedic, crushed his larynx, and forcefully switched clothing and his mask.

On October 31, 2001, still in captivity, Laurie pretends to be heavily medicated, behaving as though she had extreme dissociative disorder. In fact, she hides her pills and prepares herself for the inevitable confrontation with Michael. When Michael finally appears, Laurie lures him into a trap, as she attempts to kill Myers, she second guesses herself, to make sure that it is really her brother this time when it's obvious. Myers takes advantage, and stabs her on the roof. She then kisses him then says " I'll see you in hell". Then falls to her death. Michael then returns home to stay. His mission is complete....More>>

Janky Promoters

Russell Redds (Ice Cube) and "Jellyroll" (Mike Epps),
two louche, inexperienced concert promoters from
California, get their huge break when they book a
famous rap star (Young Jeezy, playing himself) for
a small concert hall. But the duo is unprepared for
the never-ending series of complications that threatens
to derail the event. Marcus Raboy (Friday After Next)
directs this comedy written by Cube.

Starring: Ice Cube, Mike Epps

Director: Marcus Raboy

The Lost Boys

A mother and her two sons move to a small coast town in California. The town is plagued by bikers and some mysterious deaths. The younger boy makes friends with two other boys who claim to be vampire hunters while the older boy is drawn into the gang of bikers by a beautiful girl. The older boy starts sleeping days and staying out all night while the younger boy starts getting into trouble because of his friends' obsession.

Wolf Creek

Just when you thought it was safe to go hiking in the bushes again...along comes Mick Taylor. Kristy, Ben and Liz are three pals in their twenties who set out to hike through the scenic Wolf Creek National Park in the Australian Outback. The trouble begins when they get back only to find that their car won't start. The trio think they have a way out when they run into a local bushman named Mick Taylor. Wait until you get a load of what Mick has in store for them. Their troubles have just begun.

FBI busted tracking student, demands GPS spy gear return

After Web uproar, feds reclaimed magnetic tracker found under car

Several days ago a 20-year-old student discovered a GPS tracking device hidden on his car. After his friend posted a picture of it online, speculating about its ties to a secret FBI investigation, the feds themselves came a-knockin', according to Wired.com. They wanted their toy back. Read On

California execution try collapses after court setbacks

California's first execution attempt in nearly five years collapsed Wednesday amid two adverse court rulings in as many days and an impending shortage of drugs that made the lethal injection of a convicted rapist-murderer impossible....more

Schwarzenegger’s daughter reveals details of growing up in famous family

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Katherine Schwarzenegger, 20, the oldest child of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and journalist Maria Shriver, has penned a new book, scheduled for release Tuesday, about how she and other young women deal with body-image issues.

Something that's key for girls trying to gain perspective these sensitive matters, she argues, is sustaining a close relationship with their mothers. "My mom was always good with me. She always checked in with me. I had the best relationship with my mom. I still do. I talk to her four times a day," Schwarzenegger tells USA Today.

She also notes that both of her famous parents tried to shield her and her siblings -- Christina, 19; Patrick, 17 this month; and Christopher, 13 this month -- from the harsh glare of the Southern California celebrity-publicity complex. Her parents "were very protective of having us in the public eye when we were younger," she tells the paper. "We didn't go to Hollywood premieres. We practiced community service. We went to school and camp like normal kids."

[Related: California workers boycott movie over Arnold's cameo]

Still, even with a protective set of parents, Katherine Schwarzenegger -- who is now a junior at the University of Southern California -- says she became "self-conscious" about her weight in her middle-school years. She tried to ward off such feelings by undertaking an informal contest with a friend who was naturally thinner to keep their weights beneath 100 pounds. (Schwarzenegger is now 5-foot-8 and a size 6, the paper says.) But weight loss didn't become the obsession for her that it did for many girls, she says.

"I did not have an eating disorder at all," she says. "It was like a friendly competition."

Click image to see photos of Katherine and the Schwarzenegger family


Getty Images/David Paul Morris

Schwarzenegger's book, "Rock What You've Got: Secrets to Loving Your Inner and Outer Beauty From Someone Who's Been There and Back," contends that close family relationships across the board are a critical resource in dealing with body-image issues. "I also have an amazing relationship with my dad. ... I talk to him about boys, about going out, about what I'm interested in, about business."

[Photos: Arnold dresses up for the red carpet]

Her dad may well be asking for some counsel himself these days. Late last week, he found himself stirring up controversy after he took to Twitter to mock former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's infamous 2008 campaign gaffe alleging that Russia was visible from Alaska. As the California governor flew over Alaska, he wrote that he was "looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here." He promised his Twitter followers that he would keep them "updated as search continues" -- enclosing a photo of himself staring out a plane window for good measure.

He has tangled with Palin in the past: When she composed an op-ed in the Washington Post questioning the science behind global warming, he suggested she might be more "interested in her career and winning the nomination" than in honest inquiry into the subject. By most conventional political calculations, the elder Schwarzenegger can ill afford to sow dissension among fellow GOP leaders, given that his home state approval rating is now around 16 percent -- the lowest for any major political figure in the country, and beneath the lowest point that his Democratic predecessor Gray Davis reached before the 2003 recall election that swept Schwarzenegger into power.

Then again, the California chief executive isn't up for re-election this year, so he probably doesn't much care what others are thinking -- a lesson that bears repeating for fiftysomething politicians and teenage girls alike.

(Top photo of Katherine Schwarzenegger: AP/Matt Sayles)