They did very nearly this with Queer as Folk, too, at least at the beginning.

I always wondered about this. I loved the original version, but the American one never aired over here, to the best of my knowledge. Did they just write original material from the end of the UK version, or had they veered away before that?

Billy Crudup is one of my favorite actors ever

Sean, I recommend that you see Inventing The Abbotts, if you haven't already. Billy is wonderful in it.

Jars, they diverged from the UK storyline after the first few episodes, although there are echoes of the UK first season throughout the US first season. But that's where the similarities end. I prefer the US version, but then again, I saw it first.

I watched Prey For Rock and Roll today. Avoid it unless you A) have a thing for Gina Gershon, B) can't tell good music if it bites you in the ass, or C) can believe in a Marc Blucas with tattoos, a crew cut, and just-released-from-prison-goatee. Named ANIMAL.

It's like Grace Of My Heart gone horribly, horribly wrong.

I don't think I've ever seen him in anything, but I'll take your word for it.

Everything I've ever seen him in had him playing essentially the same vain, pompous moron. I gather this is perfect for taking on the Ricky Gervais character?

A) have a thing for Gina Gershon

Are there people who don't?

C) can believe in a Marc Blucas with tattoos, a crew cut, and just-released-from-prison-goatee. Named ANIMAL.

To be fair, his character was named after the Muppet.

To be fair, his character was named after the Muppet.

Yeah, but . . . .

Heh. Many people I know and trust found Prey for Rock and Roll to be quite enjoyable.

Of course, I think one of them was named "David" last name starting with "S", but there are other people who gave the same opinion.

I'll give mine after the send it to me on Netflix.

And Nick and Nora lose a few points because of the alcohol abuse.

Nuh-uh! I love their hard-drinking ways.

Of course, I think one of them was named "David" last name starting with "S", but there are other people who gave the same opinion.

I'll cop to it.

Nuh-uh! I love their hard-drinking ways.

Yeah, me too.

Robots review:

story: Leaves a fair amount to be desired - certainly no Pixar tale, more in line with the Non-Shrek Dreamwork movies I think. Haven't seen Ice Age so can't compare with that. It's a little more hit-you-over-the-head with the morals than I like my animated movies, like something aimed at really young kids, though there are a fair number of adult-focused, subtle jokes that make it fun to see as a grown-up. The story is, generally, pretty basic, and the overall feeling is rather disconnected, sadly. It's not a masterwork of storytelling by any means.

Voices: Robin Williams is very over-the-top, but I always feel that works for him in this kind of thing - I loved his genie in Aladdin - so I think that works quite nicely. Ewan McGregor is fine, though the only times he really stood out and seemed really interesting were the times he sounded a lot like his character in Big Fish, which may have just been me extrapolating the goodness, especially since the characters actually have some similarities. Greg Kinnear voices a great villain, but Jim Broadbent was even better at it, voicing a woman. Mel Brooks was very good, though his character was one of the most annoying (he gave all those hit-you-over-the-head morals I was talkking about earlier), and Amanda Bynes was fantastic for what little voice time she got. That girl has comedic timing DOWN (as anybody who watched All That/The Amanda Bynes Show on Nickelodean knows quite well.) Finally, when I was watching the credits, I commented out loud "Oh, THAT'S why I felt no emotional attachment to Cappy at all - she was voiced by Halle Berry!"

Visuals: It's high-quality 3D animation of robots on an IMAX screen, rendered by an efficient raytracing process (which means, basically, things are shiny, though that doesn't quite capture the different looks of the raytracing algorithm versus the scanline rendering used in Pixar/Dreamworks films). The beauty of the visuals is somewhat degraded by the fact that the direction is not really great - nothing like the fantastic direction of The Incredibles - but it still looks extremely, lusciously pretty at times. There are a couple of scenes where the weirdness of the robot world allows strange situations that are simply mesmerizing in their gorgeousity. If you like seeing movies for the pretty CG, this is definitely one to see. The only problem I ever had was actually, I think, with the IMAX transfer - there were times I briefly caught artifacting almost like interlacing lines, which I think probably came from blowing it up to such high resolutions. Nobody else noticed them, probably.

Other: The movie is funny. Often very funny. There were definitely times I was laughing so hard I missed ensuing dialogue, and these times were different from the times my companion laughed that hard, which were in turn different from the times others laughed. There's humor for all in this film. My favorite jokes were usually very, very subtle - tiny flashes of a scene in a montage, for example, that were hilarious. Reminded me of that short scene in Shrek 2 where the people in the Farbucks flee the gingerbread man by going across the street to another Farbucks. There were also, as mentioned above, some really cool moments that were made possible by the intricate details of a world consisting entirely of robots that led to neat, action-packed scenes of "Whoa that was awesome!" without any actual plot power. Plenty of jokes that only adults would get, too - for example, at the beginning of the film the parent robots are building a baby, and the wife says "making the baby is the fun part!" Then, when the baby is almost built, she says "what's that piece?" and the husband says "oh! We did want a boy, right? Well, then ..." and then attaches the piece. Silly, but pretty funny.

Overall, I really liked the world and the general sense of humor, except for the requisite fart jokes, and the plot, though nothing special, is not so bad as to detract from (continued...)