Then I saw The Muppets' Wizard of Oz on TV, and it was surprisingly brilliant. Very funny and clever.

Not so surprising. Scott Johnson (the "Smile Time" puppet manager) told me he might be working on it last April, so that's some pretty good Muppeteering talent behind the scenes.

I couldn't be that critical of NP in Closer since I thought JR was pointlessly blank. She was ranking below OB on the emotimeter.

The one saving grace was that her character was so relentlessly grim that she never did that thing where she leans back and laughs with the top of her head swivelling backwards like a pez dispenser.

Has anyone seen "The Final Cut"? I'd never heard of it until I saw it on Netflix, and Rotten Tomatoes is mixed. Plus, there is Robin Williams. I feel like someone here mentioned it...Jessica? Scrappy?

I may have a year ago - Stephanie Romanov is a costar.

No, you really aren't. I liked the movie enough to by the dvd (at least when it was on sale), but I abhor that scene.

Right on! (I mean, you still SUCK, but marginally less so, now.)

she never did that thing where she leans back and laughs with the top of her head swivelling backwards like a pez dispenser.

You can... get a fliptop head, or you can use Reach. Clearly, Julia isn't a fan of Reach.

Is it just me, or has the wild Summer Movie Extravaganza (which has started, in the past, as early as May 1) been kind of subdued? Except for the George Lucas Behemoth, there's been so little, even in advertising.

Is it just that my approaching-30 filters have deleted all mention of 100,000 crap movies from my memory? Am I watching the wrong TV channels? For the life of me, Batman Begins and the Adam Sandler movie opening this week are the only two summer movies I can name at all, and the latter I can't actually name; there was something about it on ESPN yesterday evening.

Last Saturday's new Doctor Who had a spectacularly creepy kid. Winsome and blond. In a gas mask.

I agree. Wonderful episode, it made me ant to do something I call the Gasmask Orphans. Cronenberg meets (or meats if you want) Oliver Twist.

I've seen lots of Batman Begins onscreen -- billboards are that too, plus The Honeymooners and Mr & Mrs Smith.

I get my movie news from the Internets, or from the sides of buses these days.

I've got a list of movie releases synched to my Treo. I see nine movies being released on Friday (some are limited release, though).

Oh, I guess I have seen ads for Mr. & Mrs. Smith. That one is a definite "filtered out to protect my brain" type of thing. Didn't know about The Honeymooners, though.

I swear, I haven't seen a single bus- or train-poster all spring long. Whereas, Troy, last year, had Vapid Serious Face (plus flowing locks) all over everything that moved.

Batman Begins and the Adam Sandler movie opening this week are the only two summer movies I can name at all, and the latter I can't actually name

Something about football and jail.

The only movie this summer I'm looking forward to is Howl's Moving Castle, which I haven't seen any publicity for.

THE LONGEST YARD - it's a remake of a Burt Reynolds movie from the 70s (one of the better ones).