Movie guide alt: Independent, limited release and foreign-language films

Ratings by the Motion Picture Association of America are: (G) for general audiences; (PG) parental guidance urged because of material possibly unsuitable for children; (PG-13) parents are strongly cautioned to give guidance for attendance of children younger than 13; (R) restricted, younger than 17 admitted only with parent or adult guardian; (NC-17) no one younger than 17 admitted.

Superman: A new movie, and a 75th birthday

Seventy-five years after he sprang from the imaginations of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman is making another visit to movie screens, in "Man of Steel," with Henry Cavill playing the superhero.

Jennifer Lopez: 'We're realizing our power'

Jennifer Lopez says Latinos in the United States are starting to realize their power in politics and media, making the timing good for her latest undertaking: lobbying for greater diversity in TV programming.

Apocalypse now, Seth Rogen style

The world won't end with just a bang or a whimper, but also a truckload of sophomoric humor and Hollywood in-jokes. At least that's the way Seth Rogen and a bunch of his movie-star buddies see it in "This Is the End," a riff on the apocalypse that's closer in spirit to Harold & Kumar than Genesis and Revelations.

France threatens veto of EU-US trade deal

A cloud is hanging over the upcoming free-trade talks between the European Union and the United States after France said it won't back any deal that threatens the country's prestigious film, radio or TV industries.

Review: The leaden 'Man of Steel' doesn't soar

It has been a black eye to Hollywood that throughout this, the unending and increasingly repetitive age of the superhero blockbuster, the comics' most iconic son has eluded its grasp like a bird or, if you will, a plane.

'This Is the End' is raunchy, self-deprecating fun

In "This Is the End," a horror comedy about the apocalypse, a slaphappy bunch of funky comedy stars, including James Franco, play themselves before and after Hollywood burns. It's a gross-out extravaganza, with comic heroes and antiheroes who are more like pathetic victims, effects that echo torture-streaked horror films as well as the Book of Revelations, and a generally debauched sensibility.

'Man of Steel' reimagines Superman for a new generation

MIAMI - The Man of Steel had gotten rusty. While his DC Comics counterpart Batman was conquering the world via the Dark Knight trilogy, and the rivals over at Marvel Comics were raking in the cash with "The Avengers" and all its spin-off films, Superman had been put into mothballs.

Paul Walker never gets out of 'Vehicle 19'

The essence of a great car chase is editing, that combination of shots - points of view, inside and outside the car - that make the viewer share the sense of speed, danger and G-forces that the drivers must feel.