But, like, whom would you hire to haunt Batman? The zombie ghouls of his parents, their brains drooling out of their ears? Or the dulcet tones of Alec Guinness, wafting gently through the landscape?

I think actually I would probably hire H. R. Giger to haunt Batman, or possibly John Wayne Gacy.

If haunting is defined as stubbornly refusing to let go of something even after it's long dead, I think Adam West is the perfect person to haunt Batman.

In re Spider-Man 2: the real problem with the whole el train in Manhattan question .... he got no business rescuing poor dumb commuters in Chicago. Some other superhero can handle that.

Not so. We have no superheroes here. Don't need them. We have graft.

I actually thought Badass was kind of a mess -- it needed to be either a straight biopic or a making-of mockumentary. (Or a straight documentary, even.) Trying to be both didn't really work for me. (Of the two, I'd have dropped the mockumentary stuff, because very little of the humor rang true to me -- it made the situations seem very trivial, which I don't think was the film's intent.)

I'm going to copy from Nutty's whitefont, because I don't think it's a spoiler:

I mean, not if the el down Fifth ended at the East River, or anyway it would make New Yorkers just laugh harder,

That makes me think of Down With Love, where she gets out of Grand Central Terminal, is standing right under the Empire State Building, and then crosses the street to the UN. (Note: None of those things are adjacent in real life.) That made me clap my hands with glee! Or a similar, more dignified, reaction. It was such a great signifier that that movie was in fantasy New York, not boring old real New York. Loved it.

Just got back from Anchorman. Anyone else see it? I have nothing to say about it. Nothing. But my throat and stomach hurt from laughing so much. My head also hurts, but I don't know if that's because if the laughing.

I saw it too. It didn't make me feel dirty like Dodgeball did, but it was also so silly that I don't have much to say about it, either.

it needed to be either a straight biopic or a making-of mockumentary.

See, I like when things get all shook up. I thought some of the straight dramatic scenes were over-written-verging-on-trite, but the other stuff didn't bother me.

Speaking of Anchorman, it reminds me of this howlingly funny anonymous gossip item.

It's nice to be a film headliner....especially if your Christmas flick ELF made $100+ million, then you can get all your fun former co-stars and friends and boyfriends of your co-star/ friends jobs in your 2005 planned summer blockbuster. Looks like Will Ferrell is stacking the deck in the upcoming SONY "BEWITCHED" film slated to start production September 1st in Los Angeles.

Though Nicole Kidman is the playing the big-screen witch, it is clearly a WILL FERRELL brand comedy, since Will had his ex-SNL buddy and Anchorman director Adam McKay doctor the Nora & Delia Ephron romantic comedy script to fit his co-starring goofball comedy needs.

Next, he plunked his ANCHORMAN co-stars Chris [Ed. Note--Steve.] (Daily Show) Carrell as flamer warlock "Uncle Arthur",and suggested Fred Willard as "Dr. Bombay" (despite the fact that the original tv actor Bernard Fox is waiting in wings to play his old role).

Ferrell also threw a "Gladys Kravitz" cameo to his ELF co-star Amy Sedaris, and the role of his agent to his ELF co-star Zooey Deschanel's boyfriend Jason Schwartzman. Sound cozy?

Luckily, Nora Ephron who is still the Bewitched director (on paper anyway), was able to snag Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine and Joan Plowright without Will's assistance.

Depending on the box-office success of ANCHORMAN, we will see if Nora will keep on smiling and kissing Will's ample bottom.

How dare he attempt to cast such unfunny, buzz-free hangers-on? THANK GOD Nora Ephron righted that crazy wreck with instant box office gold. Shirley MacLaine, baby!

I think the fact that they couldn't get Steve Carrell's name right is an indication that they don't really know what the fuck they're talking about.

I'm watching The Outsiders right now, and off the top of my head I can't remember a worse pan-and-scanned movie. The shots are so cramped, and you can really feel them sliding around and trying to compromise, with everyone bleeding off the side all the time.

I'm inattentive enough that even when I notice egregious scanning, I'm not usually made as tense as this is making me. It's not a technical point -- it's affecting the mood of the piece.