More on SPIDER-MAN 3... Last night, FOX aired the ‘world broadcast premiere’ to 2004's Spider-Man 2, and during most of the commercials, showed brief clips from the newest trailer to next year’s third Webslinger installment. Right before the movie started, however, there was a promo to these sneak previews, and a quick shot of Venom from the film was shown for the first time! In the words of Eric Cartman from TV's South Park: "Kiiick. Ass! Kiiick. Ass!" Thanks to the folks at SuperHeroHype.com for providing a video that combines all clips from the sneak previews. Word.

SPIDER-MAN 3 Trailer... Check out the newest preview to the third Spidey flick on iFilm.com, and in front of the next Bond flick Casino Royale...which comes out this Friday. Hopefully, a downloadable version of the trailer will be made available online once Royale is released. By the way, there's no sign of Venom in this preview (except Topher Grace playing Eddie Brock...Venom's human alterego). Sam Raimi is trying to keep the character under wraps, eh? Hopefully, Venom will look awesome when we finally see him on the big screen next May. That is all.

"Kazakhstan is the greatest...country in the world..." So I saw Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan on Saturday, and what did I think? In the words of Mr. Sagdiyev himself (that’s Borat’s last name, in case you didn’t know yet): HIGH FIVE! The movie was hi-larious! From pointing out the town rapist in his home village at the beginning to trying to kidnap Pamela Anderson at the end, the movie was a non-stop crackup! Sacha Baron Cohen is one devoted comedian...considering he was willing to have a naked fat man (Azamat, Borat’s producer in the film) sit on his face and pretty much ‘69’ him during that hotel room wrestling scene, poking fun at his Jewish heritage (C’mon now... Who won’t admit they found guilty pleasure in laughing at him trying to pay off those two ‘Jewish cockroaches’ so they wouldn't kill him? Or videotape the Running of the Jews in his village? It’s good, satirical fun... Mel Gibson should be amused), commenting on the current US and A political climate ("We support your war...of terror. May George Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq.") and even mingling with a couple of male participants at a gay pride parade. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprise if he brought "Not" jokes back into popularity again. And one phrase I’ve never heard of that I'll probably incorporate into my own screenplays is the term "Make romance explosion on her stomach." If you don’t know what that means... Well, you haven’t watch enough pornos then, haha.



All in all, Borat delivered. Though I don’t know about buying it on DVD since, once again, that now-infamous wrestling scene doesn’t lend itself to repeat viewings (unless you like fat and skinny, butt-naked Kazakh reporters). This is similar to what I said about the last Sacha Baron Cohen flick, Talladega Nights. Anyways... Since I (and millions of other people who contributed to the movie’s $26.5 million opening weekend) watched the film, does that mean Borat will no longer be execute? If so... HIGH FIVE!

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS: Blog #2... I saw the World War II epic today, and while it was not as intense as 1998's Saving Private Ryan, it was more moving and emotional. Like Private Ryan, Flags opens up with a modern-day sequence featuring a WWII veteran...who in the Clint Eastwood film recounts the significance of the flag raising photo shot in Iwo Jima. The battle scenes in Flags are just as realistic and gut-wrenching as those in the Steven Spielberg epic. But unlike Private Ryan, the modern-day scenes also take place during the movie...and they are actually pivotal to the story in Flags. The modern-day scenes at the beginning and end of Private Ryan, on the other hand, could've been deleted from that film...which would've probably made the '99 Best Picture nominee a much better movie. It's still a great film, though.



Proof that Flags of Our Fathers was emotional and moving was evident at the finale, when most of the theater audience remained still and silent during the end credits sequence. As the credits rolled, actual photos taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima came up on screen...and it was interesting to see how close Clint Eastwood came to re-creating certain events that took place in the 1945 Pacific conflict.

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS... Clint Eastwood’s World War II epic about the famous photo taken in Iwo Jima comes out today. I’ll probably watch it sometime this weekend. Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige is also out in release. I’ll probably watch that too... Don’t know when, though. Definitely can’t wait for Borat to come out (it opens on November 3rd). That looks like a hilarious film. "I support your war...of terror." ‘Nuff said.

THE DEPARTED... So I saw the film yesterday, and there’s really one thing I need to point out: In the hands of a capable director like Martin Scorsese, violence rocks!! Yes, you heard right... It might be my dark, sadistic subconscience talking...but nothing gets the adrenaline pumpin' faster than having most of the main characters get blasted away at the en— Err, you can finish the sentence. Storywise, I’m well aware that Scorsese actually remade a little Hong Kong film known as Infernal Affairs, but since I didn’t see that movie, I’ll treat Departed as being completely original and kicking ass. Jack Nicholson, unsurprisingly, gave a great, wacky performance as mob boss Frank Castello (especially in that scene where he was giving that little imitation of a rat. Yes, the actual rodent). Matt Damon gave a good, straightforward performance as mob mole Colin Sullivan. Mark Wahlberg gave an amusing performance as trash-talking police investigator Dignam...and Leonardo DiCaprio gave a strong performance as Jack Dawso—err, Howard Hugh—I mean, police mole Billy Costigan. And Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin were okay, too. So that was Anthony Anderson. And I thought that was Maggie Gyllenhaal who played Madolyn. My bad. It was another lady named Vera Farmiga.



Now that I’m done listing the main cast, what else should I mention? I already pointed out the violence, and how it kicked ass, so I’ll switch to something else. One negative comment I have about the film is that the editing was very haphazard in many of the scenes. Apparently, the script supervisor was dozing off on set...since some of the actors' gestures were inconsistent with the shots that followed the previous ones. In one shot Leonardo Dicaprio will be staring straight ahead at a wall, in the shot after that his head is turned as he is conversing with Martin Sheen or making a move on Vera Farmiga’s character. To the film editor: It must’ve been fun working on the Avid for this film, eh? Anyways, that is the only nitpick I have. Don’t know if this film will be Oscar material for Scorsese, but we shall see...

THE SIMPSONS GAVE CREDIT TO THE PREQUELS??? OF COURSE NOT! But today's episode where Bart and Principal Skinner engage in a peanut and shrimp-toting stick fight featured the "Duel of the Fates" music theme from Star Wars Episodes' I and III (and that brief scene of Anakin riding that speeder bike across the Tatooine desert in Episode II). The question is... Will The Simpsons ever make a reference to Revenge of the Sith? And if it does... Will it be a positive reference? Or will Lenny and Carl engage in another mock-lightsaber fight talking about how Revenge of the Sith sucked more than Attack of the Clones and The Phantom Menace (Sith ruled, FYI!)? We shall see...

SNAKES ON A MOTHERF***IN’ PLANE... I saw the Samuel L. Jackson film during a free screening at the Ontario Mills in California today, and needless to say, it rocked! Or maybe I just have low standards when it comes to critiquing movies. Anyways, the filmmakers—or should I say, the geeks on the online message boards who gave suggestions about what they wanted to see in the film (RE: more violence, profanity and nudity)—did not run out of creative ways of showing the snakes wreak havoc. Highlights of the film (Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD): The hot blonde chick getting bit on one of her tits, that fat dude getting bit on the ass, that other dude getting bit in the crotch while taking a piss (ouch!) and that one geezer who gets crushed and eaten by a boa constrictor. Oh, and don't forget that dog that gets also eaten by the boa constrictor. Then again, maybe "creative" wasn't the right word to use there...but "predictable". As in, predictably amusing. Of course, how can we overlook that much-anticipated Sam Jackson line: "I’ve had it with these motherf***in’ snakes...on this motherf***in’ plane!" You rock, Shaft—err, Mace Windu—err, Jules.



Though I’m kinda surprised... A couple of coworkers and I were actually doing an exit poll at Ontario Mills...and most of the screenings we polled yesterday and tonight had a measly average of 30 to 40 people attending each show. Wow, I guess all that Internet buzz isn’t gonna help the box office take for Snakes on a Plane at all. I wonder if this film is gonna even make $20 million this weekend. We'll see.



UPDATE (August 20): Snakes on a Plane made $15.2 million during opening weekend. Considering the hype— GOOD GOD, that's sad...

THE DARK KNIGHT... That will be the name of the sequel to last year’s Batman Begins, with Lords of Dogtown/Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger set to play the role of the Joker. The Dark Knight will start principal photography—err, filming, in 2007, with a release date set for 2008. Click here for more details.

TALLADEGA NIGHTS... So I watched the Will Ferrell NASCAR comedy yesterday, and needless to say, it was more enjoyable than his previous film, Anchorman (which was still funny). Will I buy this one on DVD? Hmm... Good question. Then again, I did buy The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions on DVD, so you never know. I like squandering money. Just kidding... Not really. Anyways, where was I? Oh yea... The racing scenes in Talladega Nights were well-staged (especially the car crashes), Leslie Bibb is hot (and so is Amy Adams, who plays Susan), Will Ferrell was actually pretty convincing as a NASCAR driver, those two kids (Walker and Texas Ranger) were hilarious and Sacha Baron Cohen as the gay French Formula One-turned-NASCAR driver Jean Girard was a crack-up. Though now thinking about it, buying the DVD will probably be ruled out since there’re only so many times one could watch Borat liplock with Andy Richter and Will Ferrell at the end. Unless you’re not hetero. Or a chick. Haha. For those of you who haven’t watched the film yet, check it out (it IS 76% fresh on RottenTomatoes.com right now...which is pretty good for a film comedy that doesn’t have Woody Allen-style humor in it). Next up on the "To-see" list: the college flick Accepted...which comes out on August 18.

One more thing: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy... What’s up with Will Ferrell and biographical titles with colons in them? Err, whatever.