L.C.J. RECIPE FOR A GREAT THANKSGIVING: – Watch a Parade – Eat with the Family – Watch some Football – Eat some More – Watch a Movie. And you’ve got some great choices this year. I’m surprised that many are predicting that “Twilight” will beat “The Muppets” and win the weekend Box Office. I don’t […]

This Wednesday, “Arthur Christmas”, “Hugo” and “The Muppets” open nationwide. This might be one of the tightest races of the year for box office supremacy considering that all three are going after the same holiday family audience. Here’s a break-down of the race, and thoughts on which has the best chance to win: “Arthur Christmas” […]

In November 2008 I saw “Live with Regis and Kelly” for the first time. That was also the first time I got to meet Regis Philbin. We’d written back and forth several times before then – me as a big fan, he simply as a nice guy. I’ll never forget that first show – he […]

Billy Crystal will host the Oscars for the 9th time on February 26th. This is the first time since ’04 that Crystal has hosted, and I believe will be my first Billy Oscar show. Maybe the Muppets will still present an award, or Kermit will win for Best Actor. The Twitter, Facebook and website campaigns […]

Crazy week for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – and the Oscars are still over 3 months away! Once Brett Ratner resigned as producer of the 84th Academy Awards you knew that Eddie Murphy wouldn’t be far behind. Ratner has been replaced by Brian Grazer, but so far a new host (or […]

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced that 18 Animated films have been submitted for this year’s Best Animated Feature category. If all of the films meet Oscar criteria, there will be five nominees because the number is over 16. However, some of the considerations are not even fully animated. “The Adventures […]

This is the first Halloween since 2003 that there isn’t a “Saw” movie in theaters. Here are some observations on the tricky treats being offered this year: “Paranormal Activity 3” (another scary franchise) would’ve won the weekend if it had opened on the 28th and not the 21st. Because of that, “Puss in Boots” wins […]

“The Muppets” is Disney’s reboot of the classic franchise. It’s written by and stars Jason Segel. While the film has been doing well at early test screenings, veterans of the TV show and previous movies believe that Segel, co-writer Nicholas Stoller and director James Bobin didn’t have a complete understanding of the Muppets characters and […]

If you were looking forward to seeing “Anonymous” next weekend (as I was), chances are those plans are not “To Be.” The Shakespeare mystery was originally supposed to have a wide release on October 28th (around 2,500+ theaters). But just a week before the curtain is scheduled to rise, Sony has decided to cut the […]

In “Real Steel” 12 year old Dakota Goyo boxes, dances and goes toe-to-toe with actor Hugh Jackman. I recently spoke with him about the movie and his career: LCJ: In “Real Steel” you play Hugh Jackman’s son, Max, who discovers an old boxing robot and together you try to make him into a champion. The […]