What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Be Kind Rewind Expect our review of this Michel Gondry comedy, starring Jack Black, Mos Def, and Danny Glover, later on this morning. Trailer - Freshness Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse The Band's Visit A fish-out-of-water comedy about the Ceremonial Police Band of Alexandria, Egypt arriving for a gig in Israel, only to find that their hosts and transportation have failed......

There's a new restaurant reviewing website in town, and we think it's pretty neat. Urbanspoon works as a local restaurant review aggregator, finding reviews of eating establishments city-wide and combining them with user rankings to come up with an overall score, a la Rotten Tomatoes. Urbanspoon will also tell you its current top restaurants in the city, give you reviews by cuisine, neighborhood, or price, and even features a few "specialty" categories (vegan, gluten-free, delivery,......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. Some big awards and award nominations came out yesterday and this morning. We've got the Golden Tomatoes (via Jill) from Rotten Tomatoes, celebrating the highest rated films of 2007, the Razzie nominations, honoring the worst movies of 2007, and finally, some little dinky awards called the Oscars. Meanwhile, video games, not to be left out, are getting yet......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Diva - The 1981 debut film from the director of the more recent Diving Bell and the Butterfly is about a famous opera singer who refuses to be recorded, and the fan who one night sneaks a tape recorder into her performance and tapes her anyway. Eventually the fan and the singer become friends, but there's also a labyrinthine plot involving two......

Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know! With apologies to those readers who don't celebrate Christmas, I'm going to indulge myself a bit here. I love just about everything about Christmas. I actually enjoy Christmas shopping, stressful though it may......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: The Rape of Europa - Joan Allen narrates a documentary about the art destroyed and displaced by the Nazis during WWII, and the attempts - which began then and are still going on today - by museum officials and art historians to rescue and return said art. Sounds totally fascinating, and the reviews are very good. And given the slim pickings this......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this holiday weekend (all of these movies open today). Most Likely to Rule: I'm Not There - An "unconventional" biopic of Bob Dylan wherein six different actors play him at various stages in his career. Said actors include Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, and Heath Ledger. Also in the cast (but not playing Bob) are David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, and Julianne Moore. We could see how this......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains - A documentary by director Jonathan Demme following Jimmy Carter on his recent book tour for his controversial book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. A great director and an interesting subject should make for a good film. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten - Another documentary opening at the Ritz at the Bourse this weekend......

What's new and/or interesting in theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Gone Baby Gone - Ben Affleck's directorial debut is based on a novel by the guy who wrote Mystic River, and stars Ben's brother Casey as a private detective investigating a young girl's disappearance. As one might expect, nothing is what it appears to be and he must risk everything to find the girl. The film also stars Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, and......

What's new and/or interesting in theaters this weekend. For the Bible Tells Me So - This is a documentary looking at Christianity and homosexuality, and whether the two can possibly get along. It includes interviews with people on both sides of the debate, and looks at whether the parts of the Bible that are supposedly anti-gay haven't perhaps been taken out of context and used to serve a political agenda. Sounds like a very interesting......

What's new and/or interesting at Philly theaters this weekend. Ira & Abby - Ira is a brilliant, neurotic Jew with tons of "issues" (hmm... where have we heard of that character before?), and Abby is a free spirit who likes to solve her friends' problems. They meet, fall in love, meet each other's parents, and decide to get married, all in just a few hours. Then, of course, a series of wacky shenanigans make them......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. Authorized copies of US sitcoms are becoming really popular in Russia these days - especially the Russian version of "Married... With Children." Crazy! (Via Jason and Jill) You can now download a free demo of Quake Wars. We just thought you should know. (Via) Looks like a copy of Halo 3 might have slipped out early via eBay.......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Inside Paris or Dans Paris - The story of a man who is left suicidal and depressed after his marriage breaks up. He goes back home to live with his divorced dad and his younger brother. Although they try to cheer him up, the only thing that actually makes him happier is a visit from his distant mother. Eventually, of course, he finds something to live......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. David & Layla - It sounds like an unlikely idea, but it could work: a romantic comedy about the love between a Muslim Iraqi refugee and a New York Jew. It's described as "warm and breezy," so apparently it's not as intense as you might think, and the reviews are mostly positive. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse Them - This is, sadly, not the......

What's new and/or interesting at Philly theaters this weekend. 2 Days in Paris - Julie Delpy wrote, directed, and starred in this romantic comedy about a couple - Marion and Jack (Delpy and Adam Goldberg) - who are stopping in Paris to visit Marion's parents after a "romantic" vacation to Venice that ended up driving them further apart. After meeting Marion's parents, her friends, and innumerable exes on the streets of Paris, Jack begins to......

Judging by the, as of this writing, abysmal freshness rating of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, a lot of people don't agree with me, but I thought The Invasion was a pretty good movie. It's apparently the fourth film adaptation of a story originally told in a Collier's magazine serial (and which was later turned into a novel), but the only other movie version I've ever seen was the first one - 1956's Invasion of the......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Rocket Science - When a film is described as "inspirational," we immediately approach it with suspicion, but this one at least has an interesting premise: a 15-year-old high school student (Reece Thompson) with an uncontrollable stutter decides to work through his disability by joining the debate team at school. The film is directed by Jeffrey Blitz, who overcame a speech impediment of his own as a......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Labyrinth - Woah! Here's a blast from the past. It's the 1986 classic wherein a young Jennifer Connelly has to travel into a weird fantasy world and face-off against a charming, well-hung, singing, dancing, evil David Bowie - not to mention a bunch of Jim Henson puppets - in order to save her kidnapped baby brother. Of course, it's ostensibly a kid's movie, so she has......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. The Boss of It All - A comedy about working in an office by... Lars von Trier?! It seems impossible, but here it is. This film was at the Philadelphia Film Festival; you can read our reviews of the film here, here, and here. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse Vitus - The story of a child genius who also happens to be a piano......

What's new and/or interesting in local theaters this weekend. Brand Upon the Brain! - Odd Canadian (is that redundant?) indie filmmaker Guy Maddin puts out another puzzler. We don't feel capable of paraphrasing the plot summary; we recommend you click here and read it for yourself. The film appears to be black and white, silent, and very, very strange. But it's also sitting at 93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and it sounds incredibly creative and......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Day Watch - Entry number two in the trilogy of films based on the best-selling Russian sci-fi/fantasy novels. The story is a classic one: the forces of light and good vs. the forces of darkness and evil. The movies are a huge hit in Russia, and are supposedly loaded with awesome special effects and thrilling action. We hear they're pretty confusing, though, so you might want......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend Paris Je T'Aime - A love letter to the city of love, taking the form of a series of vignettes that tell stories of unusual encounters in the various neighborhoods of the city, each directed by a different famous director (including the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, and Walter Salles) and starring a different team of famous stars (including Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elijah......

What's new and/or interesting at Philly theaters this weekend. Philadelphia Film Festival - To those of us deep inside it, it feels like it's been going on for a long time now, but it's still here, and you've still got a chance to catch a lot of really cool movies this weekend. Click through for the schedule and detailed info on movies, times, and venues. After the Wedding - A Danish man running an orphanage......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. The Lookout - A down on his luck janitor at a bank ends up entangled in a plot to rob the place in this crime thriller starring the surprisingly talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the janitor, and Jeff Daniels as... somebody else. This is the directorial debut of screenwriter Scott Frank, who wrote the excellent Out of Sight. Sounds good! Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Starter for 10 - A romantic comedy set in '80s Britain, where a working class kid, along the way to achieving his dream of appearing on University Challenge (a TV quiz show), falls in love with his teammate and decides "to win her heart through his advanced general knowledge skills." Charles Dance and James McAvoy star. Can't say we're too interested in this one, but it......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Becket - Not a new movie, but a classic award-winner from 1964 starring Peter O'Toole as King Henry II and Richard Burton as Thomas a Becket. Yes, it's an historical costume drama, but it's anything but boring. Burton and O'Toole are both amazing, and the story is intense and moving - Henry and Becket start out buddies, but when Henry appoints Becket......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. Want to write the next great rock book on that totally amazing album by that one guy? Shoot your idea at music blog 33 1/3 and see if it sticks. (Via Editor Jill) Those end of year sum-up lists aren't all done yet, folks! Just check out Idolator's 2006 Jackin' Pop Critics Poll! They surveyed critics and writers......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Tideland - We really wanted to label this our Most Likely to Rule this week - we really did! It's the new movie from one of our favorite directors - Terry Gilliam. It's got on of our favorite actors, Jeff Bridges, as Noah, a burnt-out, drug-addicted rock star. It's even also got Jennifer Tilly - who's not really a very good actor, but we like her......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Candy - An Australian indie film adaptation of the novel of the same name starring Heath Ledger as a poet named Dan and Abbie Cornish as the title character, an art student who falls for Dan. To get closer to him, she starts taking heroin. "Their story becomes a love triangle - a boy, a girl, and a drug." We haven't read the book, but we've......

Phillyist is pleased and proud to welcome Katie Kuhl into the fray. In addition to looking for love in all the wrong places, Katie is a local actress who will someday be doing great things, onstage and in life. Just you wait. One of my dearest, darling manhunting partners emailed me this today: “Lots of Missed Connections on Craigslist at The Last Drop. We need to start spending more time there.” I didn’t know what......