• RIP: Charles Nelson Reilly. Most of the articles aren’t mentioning my favorite of his performances, his guest appearance on The X-Files (and its spin-off Millennium) as goofball author Jose Chung. His X-Files episode, Jose Chung’s From Outer Space is probably my favorite of the series.
• So, did everyone have a merry Memorial Day?
• Work continues on this site, with a number more changes coming over this week. The visual look of things will continue to change and tweak, to be sure. I’ve started to add some things that are kinda stop-gap solutions to things I was going to be doing on the new version of the site that I abandoned for now. Things like my theatrical movie log, which uses an embedded Google Apps spreadsheet to neato effect. I’ve also started to get some movie reviews posted. I’m gonna try to start working my way back through previous films of the year, getting those reviews posted. That’ll take time, though. I’ll likely date them back to when I saw them. You can always see just the movie review posts via that category. I’ll try to note the ones I’ve added in my daily pondering postings.
• Hey, somebody else agrees with me about Pirates 3, and I agree with most of his statements (but not all).
• One of my favorite comedians, Brian Regan, has a great little story (for lack of a better word) up on his official site. Had me chucklin’.
• Wow, check out this high-res scan of a photo of San Francisco after the great quake of 1906.
• Oh, wise and powerful Deep Thought…
• A hilarious comic. Sometimes it’s the simplest ones that are funniest.
• MySpace v. Facebook: “It’s Not A Decision. It’s an IQ Test.” Ain’t that the truth? I’ve got an account on both, but never use the MySpace one, cause MySpace, and the whole mentality of the way that site does things, drives me nuts. Facebook isn’t perfect, but it’s a far cry less annoying to deal with. Then again, as more of the MySpace unwashed masses migrate on over, it’ll get more annoying through no fault of Facebook as a system. Still, their new API and philosophy is an excellent move.
• For those wondering, I will be posting a farewell write-up for Veronica Mars at some point this week. I’ve got it partially written.
• Added full reviews for Waitress (9), Bug (6) and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End (10). From now on, I’ll just note the additions of ones older than these in the Pondering posts.

Not sure if I’ll continue adding random facts, dialog and video links on these pondering posts as yet. I might be putting different mechanisms into play for that soon. So for now, I’ll continue to leave them off.

After the entertaining but lesser effort of Dead Man’s Chest, this third film goes for absolute broke, and is a resounding success. Full of deliriously bizarre concepts (some seemingly from the brain of the likes of David Lynch) and truly insane ambition. It’s a welcome change from the disappointing third franchise films of Spider-Man 3 and Shrek The Third. I’m already beginning to take quite a bit of heat for how much I liked this film, but that’s fine. I’m used to having to fight for certain movies. To be sure, I saw it a second time a couple days after the first screening and came to the conclusion that I may have even liked it a bit more the second time round.

Writing: Those who think the plotting and character interactions are too jumbled up and don’t work really aren’t paying attention close enough. And you really do need to pay attention to this one, because it moves along at such a clip, throwing out TONS of plot as it goes, it is tough to keep up if you’re not on the ball. In fact, after watching this film a second time, I’m starting to have a bit more appreciation for the second film. Certain things that seemed needless or convenient suddenly make sense in retrospect (primarily the stuff with Tia Dalma them bringing back Barbossa).

Production: Great Ceasar’s ghost! The visual effects teams must have numbered in the thousands to make a film of this ambition, and they must have slept at their workstations for most of the post-production phase. There’s SO many visual effects sequences in this movie that are absolutely gorgeous it’s hard to begin naming any. I will quickly single out some of the stranger and/or eerie sequences, like those of the crew sailing into Davey Jones’ locker, amidst eerie, frozen landscapes and water. Depp puts in a large number of performances in a few scenes, and again the VFX are great. Then there’s the battle material, which pulls out all the stops. There are sequences that made my jaw drop, both times I watched the movie. And all that is just singling out the VFX department. Everyone else comes through in spades as well, from the excellent sound design to the always-excellent set and costume departments.

Cast: What can you say about this cast at this point that hasn’t already been said? Johnny Depp comes through yet again with another wilder chapter of his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow - easily one of the most prolific of performances of the decade, period. In this film, he’s really lost his marbles, and Depp just goes for it - to remarkably fun effect. I can’t compliment Depp’s performance enough. The returning actor who elevates his performance considerably from previous films is Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa. Yeah, OK, he’s barely in the second one, so that doesn’t count. But he’s really on his game in this one, going as far over the top as the material would possibly allow, and it works oh so well. And when you get him and Depp together in a scene, it’s magic. Keira Knightley makes her tough role of Elizabeth Swan work yet again, taking it to a new level this time. Orlando Bloom makes his material work yet again, though his acting skill is still a bit restrained and obviously a bit below the brilliance sparking all around him on screen. Bill Nighy is stunning, yet again, as Davey Jones. He must go through murder in all that getup he has for the role, and he makes it all work. Jones has a much wider range of character and emotion in this film, and Nighy is absolutely up to the challenge. Chow Yun-Fat joins the team for this film and he does well enough keeping up with the insanity all around him. Tom Hollander takes a surprisingly striking turn as Lord Beckett, giving the fairly one-dimensional character remarkable charisma and depth. Jack Davenport continues to imbue (now-Admiral) Norrington with a number of levels. Kevin McNally is excellent yet again as Gibbs. The list goes on and on and on…

Music: Hans Zimmer’s wonderfully thematic, quirky and unrestrained music score is one of the highlights of the movie. Zimmer did some thematic work on the score to the first film, but gave main scoring credit to Klaus Badelt (who’s easily one of the least impressive of Zimmer’s stable of lackey composers). He took over as lead composer on teh second film and did a better job on the score than what the first film had (which wasn’t bad - just not great either). His Kraken theme from the second film is excellent, as are the other thematic elements surrounding the likes of Davey Jones. The score to this third film is instantly my favorite of the trilogy, featuring the brilliant new “Hoist The Colours” theme. Zimmer does an amazing job at weaving all sorts of different themes in and out of situations and character arcs. It’s one of the most thematic scores I’ve heard in years, which is getting to be a rarity these days.

Note that there’s a scene after the (incredibly immense) end credits, like the previous 2 films had.

Well, the site is going through some changes, but not as radical as I had planned. After working for twenty or thirty hours over the last week at trying to launch a new version of this site using the Drupal CMS system, I have given up on that for the time being. To do what I want to do right, I can’t quite make it fly with what I can do with that system currently. There are plenty of plans afoot, and I believe I’ll be able to do what I want later this year when their development of certain features catches up to what I’m wanting to do. Until then, I’d rather not try to kluge things together in ways that’ll make me regret not having just waited to be able to do it right. So, until then, I’m putting some work into sprucing things up on the newest version of Wordpress (what this site has run on for the last few years). So, look for plenty of changes over this coming week, in both look and content.

Gonna try something new with this review. I’m writing this on my nifty new phone while sitting in the theater waiting for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End to start…

Anyway, on to the review for Bug. I really knew very little about this film before seeing it. It was almost nothing like what I was expecting. I didn’t realize until watching the end credits that it was based on a stage play, and after learning that I suddenly realized that I should have noticed that while watching it. It is almost entirely set in one room (with just a couple scenes set outside the room). Unlike what the misleading trailer would make you think, this isn’t a horror film. It’s really a stark, fearless psychological thriller - one which kinda works. I find it hard to believe this movie will do well at the box office, as I think it’ll only connect with a small percentage of an audience. I’m kinda amazed that Lionsgate opened this one as wide as they did with a moderately large sized advertising campaign (perhaps they want to see if they can at least get a quick box office take on the first couple weekends to turn something of a profit).

Writing: The script is really quite simple. It references many real life events that it mirrors on a smaller scale (like Jonestown), and uses them to feed into its own paranoia. Paranoia is really what this movie ends up being about. That, and deep psychological trauma. One of the strengths of the script is that all the characters (of which there are few) are flawed and damaged, most of whom aren’t quite what they would seem.

Production: There’s not a heck of a lot to this production. The cinematography is solid and the sets are simplistic (but quite inventive later in the film when they need to be).

Cast: Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon are positively fearless and uninhibited on screen. There’s no shortage of physically and emotionally raw exposure for their characters, to be sure. Judd in particular goes the extra mile to have a very unflattering appearance through the film. Supporting performances are solid from Harry Connick, Jr and Lynn Collins.

Music: Like the movie itself, Brian Tyler’s score is very low key and subversive. It works well enough.

I spent a while waiting for this movie to open wider so I could finally see it. My main reason was for the cast. The trailer was also pretty good, and I was fairly sure that I’d really like it. And really like it, I did. It’s a very charming movie, though it does have something of a dark, cynical sense of humor and edge to it.

Writing: The script is surprisingly strong and quite touching. And it pulls it off without being treacly. Beneath the funny and endearing dialog is also a rather well written character drama that goes in directions you don’t quite expect. It’s a remarkable script in a number of ways.

Production: Everything about the production screams simplicity itself, and rightfully so. Most of it seems to be location shot (and if it isn’t, I’m very impressed).

Cast: The cast is absolutely phenomenal. You couldn’t want better than Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion. Russell has been in need of more well written lead roles, and she scores a winner with this one. Fillion gets to be more like himself in this role - warm and charming (though the shy quality of the performance is a bit unlike his real quick-witted personality). Then there’s the excellent supporting performances from no less than the likes of Andy Griffith, who is both charming and equally edgy and surly. Cheryl Hines is great fun, as is Adrienne Shelley. On the subject of Adrienne Shelley, this movie has a very bittersweet meaning to her career. This will be one of her crowning achievements, but it’s tainted by the fact that she was murdered as the film was being completed. Jeremy Sisto does an excellent job playing an oddly sympathetic creep. Eddie Jemison does a great job playing a wonderfully warm and sympathetic character who’s odd.

Music: I remember the music by Andrew Hollander to be down-to-earth, embracing the quirky southern charms, but I don’t remember a lot specifically about it. I’m unfamiliar with any of his previous work, so I’m hard pressed to make any real comments about the score, at least not without seeing the film again.

• So, did you have a happy Towel Day?
• Speaking of which, did you enjoy your Universal Day of the Jedi? (as the Trek & Who fans yawn whilst trying to remember their 30th anniversaries)
• Speaking of speaking of sci-fi geek anniversaries, here’s one article that has noticed that this year is Tron’s 25th anniversary.
• Any of you fellow Studio 60 fans catch this week’s return episode (well, that’s a relative term, as it is only returning so they can burn off the remaining episodes)? Strange to see Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet and Bradley Whitford completely absent from the episode. Stranger still is that it clocked in at a mere 36 minutes length? Are those two facts related somehow? Still, I think Timothy Busfield is one of the strengths of the show, so his heavy role in the episode kept it moving.
• Speaking of burning off episodes, The Loop gets bumped up the schedule and will be burning off all 10 season 2 episodes pretty darn quick.
• And just cause I don’t get to say it enough, Fox sucks. (the network, not the movie and/or TV production studios)
• Check out the cool mouse pointer
• So, what’s inside your punching bag?
• And here’s one of those lawsuits that the general public should be allowed to counter-sue on the grounds of common sense. What morons.
• Wow, talk about being screwed (or substitue any other screw joke here)
• I’ve added Waitress (9) to the 2007 Film Order list

No more random facts of the day, dialog or video until the new site version launches…

• Just a quick ponderings post for today. Popped in to say that I’ve added (the great) Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End to the 2007 Film Order list.

That is all…

• This is too funny. There’s a great campaign underway to deluge CBS with nuts. The reason for it being nuts is explained on the linked page. This is the funniest tv series fan campaign since Roswell’s tobasco sauce campaign (which worked). I too was very disappointed in CBS for this cancellation. NBC killing Studio 60 I was expecting for some time (and justifiable enough from the network perspective), but Jericho being axed was a bit of a surprise. And, as a number of other sites/reports have mentioned, it’s CBS’s own fault. They pulled the show off the schedule for nearly 3 months, then when the numbers dropped a rough 30% when they put it back on their air, they decided to cancel it. Uh, who’s fault is that? If the various networks’ programming departments weren’t run by a pack of retarded chimpanzees, they might not make such choices and act positively SHOCKED when it has such obvious results.
• Here’s a cool write-up on a strange natural disaster.
• Nifty. Serenity Found: another excellent book of essays on Firefly, again edited by the great Jane Espenson.
• Google adds daily zeitgeist rankings with their “Hot Trends” page. Interesting.

Sorry, no time for random facts, dialog or video today…

• XM is experiencing technical difficulties. I’ll confirm that, as the XM receiver in my car has been having a heck of a time getting more than a spotty-at-best signal.
• A possible conclusion to the Jericho story? I’m not going to hold my breath, but it would sure be a nice move from a network, for once. Believe me, I understand the reasons a show gets cancelled, and you can often try to fight it until you are blue in the face, but it would at the very least be nice of the networks to do a closing TV movie or mini-series with the intention of wrapping up the story for shows that are as serialized as Jericho, and in particular ones that go out on such a huge cliffhanger. So, CBS brass, let’s see if you can make the kind and considered move to give us fans closure for once. To see a major network actually respond to their viewers (who, btw, are in no way their customers - the advertisers are the customers and the viewers are nothing but a means to attract said customers) would be to see programming intelligence on the part of the network execs for once. I mean, I would be far more likely to commit to watching a CBS show next season over one from another network if I had more confidence in them not leaving us fans hanging when the shows profitability goes down.
• Here’s a very nice, new Western Digital 250gb laptop hard drive.
• Last but not least, I’m laying down an ultimatum for myself (but not a Bourne Ultimatum). The new version of this web site will launch by Memorial Day. I’m on vacation this week and can finally dedicate some time to getting the ducks in a row, or at the very least in a drunken semi-circle.

Random Fact Of The Day: Coffee is the second largest item of international commerce in the world. The largest is petrol.

Dialog Of The Day: “Lick the light switch.” (The Brass Monkey, voiced by Ted Dykstra in Wonderfalls 1.11)

Video Of The Day: The first preview for The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I’ll admit that it looks problematic at best. The actor playing the kid looks pretty lame. But, it’s got Summer Glau as a friendly terminator, which is enough to make me want to watch basically anything. I said it before and I’ll say it again: this is sci-fi on Fox, I give it a life expectancy of 4 episodes - 6 at best.

• It’s official: Veronica Mars is history. Sniff sniff. That means this coming Tuesday’s two episode season finale is actually the series finale. We’ll miss you, Veronica. You were too young to die.
• The new AACS protection is cracked a week before it hits shelves. I love these guys. Die, AACS, die.
• “In a dark underworld, ruled by fear…” Jason Statham squares off against Jet Li in “War.” Pass and a half. Yuck.
• Now here’s a spiffy looking monitor
• What kind of insane freak would actually use one of these things?
• The Sarah Conner Chronicles gets pushed back to midseason by Fox. One more move to guarantee it’ll be short lived. I’m placing my money on cancellation after 6 episodes. Heck, that’s being generous for Fox. It’ll probably be more like 4 episodes.
• Whoops
• If you think YOU live in a bad neighborhood…
• How not to ship a plasma TV, indeed.
• I’ve added Georgia Rules (7) and Shrek The Third (8) to the 2007 Film Order list

Random Fact Of The Day: When Albert Einstein died, his final words died with him. The nurse at his side didn’t understand German.

Dialog Of The Day: “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” (Inigo Montoya, duh, played by Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride)

Video Of The Day: This is one of the most mind-blowing videos I have ever seen. Possibly THE most mind-blowing video I’ve seen. My jaw is permanently dislodged from hitting the floor so hard. The level of control this dude has is astounding. Truly amazing. Stupendous. Absolutely unbelievable.

For those who aren’t familiar with how the TV industry works, this week is one of, if not THE, biggest weeks of the year. It’s known as the “Upfronts” - where the networks do a huge media event revealing their new season schedules and programming to the people most important to them, their advertisers. For many shows, this is the week where they find out if they live or die. Or at the very least, it’s when us fans find out for sure. Case in point: Veronica Mars. The CW’s Upfronts are tomorrow morning, so as I type this I know that in about 10 hours, the fate of the show will be known. And, at this point, it’s looking HIGHLY doubtful that it’ll survive, if industry sources are correct. I’d place survival odds at about 10%. And it’ll be a crying shame to see another TV all-time great, cut down before its time, cause the viewing public are a bunch of reality TV watching morons (sorry, I’m bitter ). Today, CBS revealed their schedule, which has two official cancellations I’m sad to see. Most frustrating is Jericho, which was quite good for this debut season, and also ended on a massive cliffhanger (figures). The other was The Class, which was a very entertaining sitcom with an excellent cast. However, it was already pretty much assumed that The Class was a goner a while back, so I was expecting to see that one on the cancelled list. NBC, as pretty much expected, canned Studio 60, which is very sad. I was expecting it, but it’s sad none-the-less. I’m sure that the fact that it’s a wildly expensive show to produce certainly didn’t help matters. But hey, for once my favorite new show of a year survived (30 Rock). Fox’s upfronts are tomorrow afternoon, but I couldn’t possibly care less what that horrid, abysmal network does anymore. After their years of staggeringly idiotic programming moves, screwing fans over at every single possible moment, they don’t deserve me or anyone else as a viewer. I’ll watch The Sarah Conner Chronicles, but I’m fully aware that it’ll die a quick, painful death - 100% the fault of the network in any failings it’ll have in the ratings. It’s guaranteed from that network. Anyway, for an excellent “score card” of all the announcements/renewals/cancellations, there’s no better source than The Futon Critic’s 2007-2008 Season Upfront Guide.

So, just finished watching the last and final episode of Gilmore Girls, a show I’ve been watching faithfully since it first aired on October 5, 2000. People who wrote the show off as just a “chick show” never knew what they were missing, which was one of the wittiest, quirkiest shows on TV made by one of the most talented casts and crew on the air. The show has had its ups and downs, but for the most part it remained one of the best shows out there. I’ve mentioned in recent months how this 7th season has helped get the show back on its feet from the less-than-great 6th season, and I’ll say it again. This 7th and final season has been solid - a return of form for the series. As a result of that, I’m actually almost glad that it has ended where it did. It got the dignity it deserves, going out at the top of their game, heads held high.

Today’s final episode, appropriately titled “Bon Voyage” hit as many of the marks as I would have hoped to expect. They rounded up nearly the entire supporting cast for this one, which is no small thing given the history and cross section of supporting characters. The one main person that didn’t make it into this final episode was Paris Gellar, played so wonderfully by Liza Weil. Given the story and setting of this final episode, it kinda makes sense they she be the one they have to send off in the previous episode, but it would have been nice to include just a quick moment of her, even on a phone. Still, that’s a very minor nit-pick. I did have one idea that I bet the writers didn’t think of, and I’ll forgive them for not coming up with it, that would have been a perfect touch. While I watched the scene of Lorelai watching Rory sleep, the idea of the perfect scene popped into my head. They should have had Rory wake up and Lorelai lay down next to her, and have Lorelai recite (as Rory quotes along) the story of her delivery at the hospital. It’s a classic scene from the 6th episode of the series, “Rory’s Birthday Parties.” It goes like this:

Lorelai: And, it’s so hard to believe that at exactly this time many moons ago I was lying in exactly this same position…
Rory: Oh, boy. Here we go…
Lorelai: …only I had a huge fat stomach and big fat ankles and I was swearing like a sailor…
Rory: …on leave…
Lorelai: …on leave! Right! And, there I was…
Rory: …in labor…
Lorelai: …and, while some have called it, the most meaningful experience of your life, to me it was something more akin to doing the splits on a crate of dynamite.
Rory: I wonder if the Waltons ever did this.
Lorelai: And, I was screaming and swearing, and being surrounded as I was by a hundred prominent doctors, I just assumed there was an actual use for the cup of ice chips they gave me.
Rory: There wasn’t.
Lorelai: But, pelting the nurses sure was fun…

It loses at least half its hilarity without the perfect performances of Alexis Bledel and primarily Lauren Graham, who does her best Dr. Seuss narration styled delivery. But anyway, I digress a bit. I bet they probably had a bit of a discussion about what scene to end on, and they made a great pick. Pulling back slowly from the front window at Luke’s Diner was the absolute perfect choice. It’s a fantastic bookend to the wonderful opening scene of the series (the scene that made me instantly love the show - “are you my new daddy?”).

So, thus ends one of my favorite shows. Lauren Graham has been robbed all these years as one of the easily greatest actresses in the game. What she did on this show was nothing short of magical. The rest of the cast was equally fantastic. Yes, even Sally Struthers.

And on Thursday, we find out if Veronica Mars will survive. Unlike Gilmore Girls, which had a long, healthy run, it would be downright criminal to cancel Veronica Mars…

• Woah, check out the ultra-cool lightning/storm photos
• If The Mummy 3 had to end up without Rachel Weisz, at least they cast a great alternative: Maria Bello.
• Good grief. Machete to become an actual film? Personally, I like Edgar Wright’s faux trailer for “Don’t” best.
• Added 28 Weeks Later (9) and The Ex (5) to the 2007 Film Order list.
• Saw Hot Fuzz again tonight. I’m officially bumping it up to a 10, and putting it in the lead position at this time on my 2007 Film Order list. I really enjoyed it on first viewing, but on second viewing I think it’ll grow on me as a classic. The whole Michael Bay style parody is too well done.

Random Fact Of The Day: Ralph and Carolyn Cummins had 5 children between 1952 and 1966, all were born on the 20 February.

Dialog Of The Day: “Death is a disease. There is a cure, and I will find it.” (Tom Verde, played by Hugh Jackman in The Fountain)

Video Of The Day: I’m not a fan of South Park, but this animation of Scientology from the show is pretty funny.

• make it stop. Make It Stop. MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT STOP!!!!!
• Jericho gets a tentative relase date on DVD. I just watched the season 1 finale last night (which aired this week). I still say that Jericho is superior to the likes of runaway hits like Heroes that debuted this season as well. The season 1 finale was excellent (and a big cliffhanger - I’ll be annoyed if it doesn’t get picked up).
• Fujitsu makes a fun claim of boosting hard drive capacities by 500%. I’m waiting, Fujitsu, I’m waiting…
• Evil by any other name is still evil
• Better start looking for a secure military bunker
• 2 new classic Doctor Who DVD announcements for USA releases, one of which is Survival - the final episode of the classic series run. The more McCoy era releases they can get released, the better.

Random Fact Of The Day: China banned the pigtail in 1911 as it was seen as a symbol of feudalism.

Dialog Of The Day: “There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That’s one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?” (Yuri Orlov, played by Nicolas Cage in Lord Of War)

Video Of The Day: Here’s a fun music video montage of clips from the first 200 episodes of The Colbert Report (yes, all 200), then some additional newer stuff. Probably only fun for the rest of you out there in the Colbert Nation.

• So, word has it that the revamped Veronica Mars season 4 stands a chance at being picked up by CW. Here’s hoping. And if Gilmore Girls has to gracefully lay down their lives in order to save Veronica Mars, then I raise a glass in their honor. Within a week or so, we’ll know the fate of Veronica Mars one way or the other. BTW, I completely disagree with their comment about Veronica Mars having a creative downturn this season. It’s been fantastic, as always.
• Speaking of things ending, it’s sad to hear that the official Buffy & Angel magazine is coming to an end.
• So, Bermuda is going RFID on all vehicles. Interesting.
• I’m losing track of what new Star Wars projects Lucas is and is not doing
• How to REALLY take the SAT
• Here’s a nifty picture. Granted, I have a thing for violent weather images.
• An interesting project: The Encyclopedia Of Life
• Dell & HP announce their new (Santa Rosa-based) line of laptops
• I added Black Book (9) to the 2007 Film Order list

Random Fact Of The Day: The Imperial Throne of Japan has been occupied by the same family for the last thirteen hundred years.

Dialog Of The Day: “If I’m right about this, I could save a man’s life. Do you know what that would do for my book sales?” (Gale Weathers, played by Courtney Cox in Scream)

Video Of The Day: Watch it long enough and it’s almost strangely hypnotic. Then the voices in your head start demanding blood and carnage.

• And the music industry wonders why all of its customers despise them so? If this isn’t an indicator, I don’t know what would be. To say this is ridiculous and completely out of line would be to say that the sun ain’t particularly hot. The music industry is just plain screwed. Put a fork in it. They’re a bunch of morons so entrenched in raking in as much cash through any and all means possible that they don’t realize that their customers are getting tired of being financially raped.
• Speaking of the music industry, the RIAA has done it, yet again.
• Medium gets a renewal for next season. Excellent news. It’s one of those shows that kind of flies below the radar, that constantly turns out one great episode after the next.
• Speaking of renewals, Lost has been slated to run for three more seasons of 16 episodes each, to air in uninterrupted runs. This is the episodic equivalent of 2 seasons worth or episodes spread across 3 years, with a painful 8 month break between each. Still, a show like this truly will be better if they have their end game in mind to work towards.
• Spider-Man 3 clocked in with some HUGE numbers. I was expecting a big opening, but this is bigger than even I was guessing. $151 million domestic on a normal 3 day weekend. That’s insane. Particularly for a movie that’s not particularly spectacular.
• I would think twice about leaving the parking brake disengaged.
• Here’s a law suit I’d expect to see on Boston Legal.
• EEEEEEEEEEEEK! Would that I could unread that.
• A good list of features that Google’s online apps could really use. I have been pestering them via feature requests for sorting in GMail ever since I got an account shortly after the app launched. And yeah, I’ve always been amused that Google’s excellent Reader app has no search function (for crying out loud, you people are Google, king of the search!)
• “We can do that.”

Random Fact Of The Day: The ‘Hundred Years War’ lasted 116 years.

Dialog Of The Day: “This is a story about a man named Harold Crick and his wristwatch. Harold Crick was a man of infinite numbers, endless calculations, and remarkably few words. And his wristwatch said even less. Every weekday, for twelve years, Harold would brush each of his thirty-two teeth seventy-six times. Thirty-eight times back and forth, thirty-eight times up and down. Every weekday, for twelve years, Harold would tie his tie in a single Windsor knot instead of the double, thereby saving up to forty-three seconds. His wristwatch thought the single Windsor made his neck look fat, but said nothing.” (Karen Eiffel, played by Emma Thompson in Stranger Than Fiction)

Video Of The Day: Now here’s a very cool domino video

No time for well thought out posts right now. I have been adding some little one paragraph reviews to the 2007 Film Order list. I’ve also added In The Land Of Women (10) and Lucky You (9) to said list.

• Welp, it’s official. Gilmore Girls ends its run in 2 weeks. It has been officially cancelled. It’s sad, to be sure, but it’s not one I can be particularly annoyed about, or not understand. The show had a nice, long 7 year run. And, even more important, is ending on a high note. This 7th season has been excellent, and a great recovery after the poor 6th season. It can go out, hold its head high. So sad to know that there are only 2 more new episodes left to air. I will try to enjoy them to their fullest. So, you execs at CW, make up for this by renewing Veronica Mars - a show that would be hugely disappointing and criminal to cancel!
• RIP: Wally Schirra. For you non-NASA geeks, he was one of the original 7 Mercury astronauts (as well as a Gemini and Apollo astronaut).
• A fake article, but still quite funny. Given how strange many Japanese products like this are, I was actually believing it as I was initially reading it (in a very disbelieving manner)
• Now, if only this one wasn’t real
• Editing this post after having gotten back from seeing Spider-Man 3 a bit ago. Will write a full review tomorrow, but thought I chime in quick here. While it was entertaining and fun, it’s the weakest of the 3 films as far as I’m concerned. I had a handful of specific problems with it I’ll detail in the review.

Random Fact Of The Day: Paul Revere was a dentist.

Dialog Of The Day: “Look, defenseless babies!” (Fletch, played by Chevy Chase in, you guessed it, Fletch)

Video Of The Day: How would you like to be one of these insane lunatics?

As I mentioned in a previous post, my first attempt at this article got destroyed by WordPress’ auto-save feature. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna rewrite the whole article again, but I’m going ahead and doing so, if for no other reason that to be defiant against WordPress’ attempt to screw things up. However, I will stop short of how far I had gotten last time and only include the May & June releases. I’ll work up a list of July & August in the near future and perhaps try to combine them into a master list. So anyway, here’s the list of the May & June releases for Summer 2007, listed in order of my level of anticipation with some comments and a link to the IMDB page for the film.

1. Live Free Or Die Hard (6/27)
   Who knows, perhaps this fourth entry to the father of the modern action movie franchise will fall on its face, but I’m totally looking forward to it all the same. Taking point as the director this time is Len Wiseman, who directed the Underworld films. The first Underworld was quite lame. The second one I actually quite liked. The cast for this entry in the franchise gets some nide additions, including the funny Justin Long (we’ll try to not hold the Apple commercials against him). And we’ve got the vastly underrated Timothy Olyphant as the main baddie, too. And hey, Len Wiseman has carried over composer Marco Beltrami from working on Underworld Evolution to do the score to this high profile project. I can’t wait to hear what he comes up with. Surely it’ll be an improvement on the late (not-so-great) Michael Kamen’s efforts for the previous films.
2. Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End (5/25)
   While I didn’t like the second film as much as the first, it was still quite entertaining. My anticipation for this third film is very high, if for no other reason than the fact that this is being produced as a final entry in a trilogy and they will be going for broke. Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the most defining acting performances of the decade, and getting to see him put the finishing touches on it will be great.
3. 28 Weeks Later (5/11)
   Despite the fact that this is one of those horror sequels to feature none of the original cast, and only partial original crew, I have very high hopes. The original is one of the horror genre’s greats. The Brits have been making better horror films this decade than anyone, and this sequel has the original classic to live up to. But, no pressure…
4. Ratatouille (6/29)
   Sure, the trailers do very little to make me want to see this film, but that’s actually been true of most previous PIXAR productions. Yet they all still manage to be fantastic. At this point, even the typical nay-sayers are saying that they’ve been wrong enough times in the past stating, “this’ll surely be PIXAR’s big downfall,” to finally just accept the fact that it’ll likely be a great film. I’m hoping that the mere fact that it’s a PIXAR film will make it great. They’ve certainly earned enough trust over the years to have that faith in them.
5. Spider-Man 3 (5/4)
   This film gets to be the official kick-off to the summer movie season, and the pressure for it will be intense. After the massive success of the previous two films, and the record setting number of screens it will launch in, all the pundits are expecting the Spider-Man franchise to reclaim that biggest opening record it once had, which was stolen by Dead Man’s Chest. The first film was quite good, but the second was actually better. Can this third film deliver on expectations? It’ll be hard. At least Thomas Haden Church will be an added benefit.
6. Shrek The Third (5/18)
   Here’s another third franchise film to be released in May. And it is yet another that has massive expectations to live up to. Like the Spider-Man films, I liked the second Shrek better than the first and have high hopes for the third. They can’t go too wrong, since Antonio Banderas is back as Puss-In-Boots.
7. Waitress (5/2)
   One of those rarest of cute films: those tainted by controversy - the fact that writer/director Adrienne Shelly was murdered. The film has a fantastic cast (Nathan Fillion, Keri Russel, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith, etc) and looks to be a great little charmer. I definitely look forward to seeing it.
8. Away From Her (5/4)
   The directorial debut of Sarah Polley. ‘nough said. I’m there.
9. Fido (6/15)
   Excellent cast members Carrie-Anne Moss and Billy Connolly star in the wonderfully dark but goofy looking zombie comedy (otherwise known as a “zomcom”).
10. Evan Almighty (6/22)
    One of the most expensive comedies ever made (THE most expensive?) at something like $175 million, the pressure is on for this one. The trailer has been mildly funny, but it’s ultimately the cast that will probably save this one. The great Steve Carrell is joined by the returning Morgan Freeman (who is always great - ALWAYS). And to add icing to the cake, the wonderful Lauren Graham joins the fun. The first film was amusing enough, but not a classic or anything. That’ll at least give this film an easier job at trying to live up to and/or beat the creative expectations.
11. Lucky You (5/4)
    Ignoring the exception of 8 Mile, Curtis Hanson is a very talented director. He has an excellent cast at his disposal for this film, not to mention an excellent crew. Part of said crew is composer Christopher Young, who also did the score to my all-time favorite poker movie, Rounders.
12. Knocked Up (6/1)
    The newest film from talented writer/director Judd Apatow features a fantastic cast (many of whom are regulars in his movie and TV projects). The trailer is quite funny, and Katherine Heigl will make a nice addition to the rest of his usual cast members.
13. Ocean’s 13 (6/8)
    I have high hopes for this third entry film, despite the fact that the second entry wasn’t all that great. It’s impressive that they can manage to coordinate the schedules of the massive returning cast to make these films. Only Julia Roberts isn’t returning for this entry. And hey, they added new cast members as unexpected as Ellen Barkin.
14. Day Watch (6/1)
    The sequel to the slick and cool Russian horror/action film Night Watch should be equally cool, if not more so.
15. Captivity (5/18)
    This looks like it might be a pretty cool horror flick. The trailers have been pretty nifty, and there’s been a moderate amount of controvery over the print advertising campaign. Director Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields, Fat Man & Little Boy) hasn’t made a great film in more than 15 years, so he’s due. And hey, Marco Beltrami has the scoring duties, so at least that part of the film will be great.
16. Mr. Brooks (6/1)
    Can this Kevin Costner thriller deliver? Perhaps. It has many talented cast members, that’s for sure. From Marg Helgenberger to Danielle Panabaker, it also features some entertaining enough actors like Dane Cook and Demi Moore. However, I have a feeling that if anything will make this movie great, it will be William Hurt. His “devil on the shoulder” role in the film will surely give him some great material to work with.
17. You Kill Me (6/29)
    Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni, Bill Pullman, Luke Wilson  - reasons enough for me. Director John Dahl has shown some talent in the past, too.
18. The Wendell Baker Story (5/18)
    Luke Wilson’s directorial debut? Count me in. He stars as well.
    
19. Bug (5/25)
    Here’s one of the crazy films that’s opening against At World’s End, but it might do OK anyway. Trailer for it is fairly effective, and it has a respectable pedigree.
20. Martian Child (6/29)
    John & Joan Cusack star along with the likes of Amanda Peet in this parental looking version of K-PAX. Should be at least fairly good.
    
21. Angel-A (5/25)
    The extremely stylish and rather enigmatic looking black & white film from writer/director Luc Besson get its US debut. I’ll admit that most anything in recent years with his name on it has been total crap (with the exception of the fantastic Danny The Dog, aka Unleashed). Hopefully this will return him to his earlier levels of style and greatness from Nikita to The Messenger (yes, I’m actually a fan of that film).
22. Evening (6/15)
    Claire Danes. I’m there. The rest of the highly notable cast surely won’t hurt, either.
23. A Mighty Heart (6/22)
    This Angelina Jolie-in-a-foreign-land film looks to be different than her previous genre outings, and looks interesting enough to work well.
24. Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (6/8)
    So, can they improve upon the considerably lame first Fantastic Four film with this sequel. All early indicators look as though they have, but it’ll take a considerable efforts to get rid of the bad after taste from the first film. Hey, if nothing else, at least there’ll be another great John Ottman score to enjoy.
25. Home Of The Brave (5/11)
    Not entirely sure what to make of this movie, but it could turn out good. It does have a couple good cast members (Christina Ricci, Sam Jackson, Jessica Biel), and the trailers have made it look pretty decent.
26. Rise: Blood Hunter (6/1)
    While the “undead” premise of this revenge thriller may backfire completely, and the fact that there’s little material out there about this film yet to make any judgments at all, this Lucy Liu film may be a dark horse in the running.
27. I Could Never Be Your Woman (6/15)
    Amy Heckerling returns with this romantic comedy that looks like it might work well enough if Tracey Ullman’s part in the film didn’t sound like one of those retarded elements that could destroy the entire film. We’ll see about that. Cool to see Heckerling bring a few of the Clueless cast to this film (Paul Rudd, Stacey Dash, Twink Caplan).
28. The Ex (5/18)
    After the awful The Last Kiss, it’ll take a bit of motivation on my part to see another romantic Zach Braff film. But hey, Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman will surely be enough to get me there. And…… Charles Grodin???
29. Surf’s Up (6/8)
    After the mildly amusing but ultimately disappointing Happy Feet, this follow-up computer animated penguin movie doesn’t show too much promise. Who knows, perhaps it’ll be a pleasant surprise. It has tons of awesome voice talent, featuring no less than Jeff Bridges channeling Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski. Other excellent voice performers include Zooey Deschanel, James Woods, Jon Heder, Shia LaBeouf, Mike McKean, Jane Krakowski and the underappreciated Brian Benben.
30. Eagle vs. Shark (6/29)
    Easily the most Napoleon Dynamite rip-off feeling of any movie since, this one has a small chance of working. It has a big danger of being exactly what it looks like - a wannabe.
31. Mama’s Boy (6/29)
    The only reason I have for wanting to see this is for a few of the cast members (Jeff Daniels, Anna Faris, Eli Wallach).
    
32. Nancy Drew (6/15)
    Yeah, OK, I’m hardly the target demographic for this one. Still, it has a solid director in Andrew Fleming (who’s movie, Dick, is one of the single most undervalued comedies ever made, imo) and a descent enough cast. The trailer seems a bit too juvenile, but it might work well enough.

And here are ones that I may or may not see, depending. I’ll have to talk myself into catching ‘em.

1. Georgia Rule (5/11)
   Here’s one of those films that looks like it’s way too stereotypical of the genre, and it features a couple great cast members and a couple sucky ones. If I’m caught up on enough of the other May releases, I might talk myself into catching this one.
2. Blind Dating (5/11)
   A romantic comedy that I have no idea of what to think features a couple good cast members. Might catch it.
3. DOA: Dead or Alive (6/22)
   A stupid looking action parody (I hope) brought to you by the Corey “The Transporter” Yuen. Yes, it’s based on the video game - which is surely another strike against. The ONLY reason I’d wanna see this is Jaime Pressly.
4. Delta Farce (5/11)
   The trailer for this film makes it look considerably stupid, and not in a funny way. My only reason for wanting to see it is for DJ Qualls. Might just wait to catch it on video or something. Perhaps I’ll be able to talk myself into catching it.
5. Hostel: Part II (6/8)
   Yeah, I’m one of the only people who kinda liked Cabin Fever but hated Hostel (though I don’t consider Cabin Fever to be a great movie or anything). I have very little interest in seeing Hostel Part II, as it looks like much of the same, just in a different setting. Somehow, I don’t think a simple change of venue will make much of a difference. I do think Eli Roth is a highly overrated director.
   
6. The Flock (5/11)
   Could Claire Danes actually be enough to make me break my Richard Gere boycott?

I’m sure there’s a handful more that I’m missing here, but this are the ones I’m aware of at this point.

• So great to have Veronica Mars back on the air again yesterday! And it was yet another excellent episode. It’ll be sad if the next 4 are the last new episodes of the series. Ditto for yesterday’s Gilmore Girls episode. They are actually laying some groundwork for story to follow the end of this season, so perhaps the unofficial rumors of season 8 are true. Then again, I’m sure they’d lay a little groundwork either way, just to be safe.
• Wow, check out this unusual armed burglary story. Good for her (though sure not a good thing for her to have to do).
• For those of you wondering (the few-to-none of you that noticed) about the hex code on the banner at the top of this site currently, here’s an article relating to it. I was watching the whole thing happen and changed my slogan line to the code for the heck of it. The initial posting about it skyrocketted in record time on DIGG’s site. Then everything hit the wall when they pulled it. It was absolutely fascinating to watch as it happened. Surely it sent the admins at DIGG scrambling. They surely expected some backlash, but the staggering speed and immensity of the response was amazing. I’m not quite sure I’ve seen something so strangly cool happen in such context. As so many others have already done, I’ll quote the Joss Whedon line, “They can’t stop the signal…“
• The 10 most ridiculous lawsuits of all time
• A good collection of photos from the Oakland freeway collapse
• Added Wind Chill (8), Next (8) and Year Of The Dog (9) to the 2007 Film Order list

Random Fact Of The Day: Peter the Great had the head of his wife’s lover cut off and put into a jar of preserving alcohol, which he then ordered to be placed by her bed.

Dialog Of The Day: “Well, I wouldn’t argue that that was a no-holds-barred, adrenalin fuelled thrill ride, but there is no way you can perpetrate that amount of carnage and mayhem and not incur a considerable amount of paperwork.” (Nicholas Angel, played by the great Simon Pegg in Hot Fuzz)

Video Of The Day: This dude burned off all his luck in one shot