Having seen Inception last night, I really think this movie would have been better with someone other than Leo as the star. Such as Tom Hardy, who is way more volatile and charismatic in his supporting role. (And now I'm gonna go watch Bronson.)

The minions were cute, and I liked the book scene, but the youngest little tyke with the troll doll hair was annoying as hell. The kids in the theater were all "awwww" every time she piped up, though, so they know their audience.

I thought the movie was OK in a Blair Witch Way (I like this faux-verite shit) but not terribly scary. Then I got home and couldn't sleep that night. Or much the next.

I saw both The A-Team and Sex and the City 2. They both fucking sucked. They both seem to invite the "What's your problem, you hate fun?" defense from their respective core demos.

I saw Knight and Day. It had a few laughs. Mostly it sucked in such boring ways that it wasn't even fun to hate. It was better than Fool's Gold as far as romantic-action-comedies go, but that's the most I can say. The box office appears to reflect the same "meh."

For a lot of readers, the whole "rich people have no souls" premise is just an excuse to wallow vicariously in the world of rich people. Same with "celebrities have no souls." Jacqueline Susann and her ilk invented that genre, not Bret Easton Ellis.

They're both mainstream for people who want to think of themselves as out of the mainstream.

Via my job, I receive so many self-published books by insane people that they're no longer funny. They're just insane. And I can't mention any of them for fear those people might hunt me down. (They're already wondering why they haven't received any glowing coverage in our paper.)

I don't understand movie marketing, but I'm guessing summer Wednesdays or Thursdays are for movies they hope will rake it in. Maybe the point is to inflate the weekend gross. That's why The Dark Knight and Star Trek opened on Thursdays, and Twilight: Eclipse opens next Wednesday, or actually Tuesday midnight. And yes,…

I watched them both because they were marketed as Raiders ripoffs. Squarely in the target audience.

He was very funny on Nip/Tuck and totally mocking his own douchiness (playing a self-involved actor on a nighttime soap). Then again, maybe it was just placing him beside the monumental douchiness of that show's characters that made him seem tolerable.

You are correct. Though he was the adoptive dad, sort of, so whatever. It wasn't biological incest.

He has a terminal hangdog look yet seems to be incredibly full of himself.

Yeah, I tend to like films that deliberately go to disturbing places, and I liked it. That may not be a recommendation. When I lived in Montreal, I watched some very strange Canadian films on a basic cable network whose name I don't remember. This movie brought back that experience in spades.

I don't have a problem with fictional characters' having more money than I do. I have a problem with an entire script being a prolonged illustration of how having and spending money is awesome, rather than, you know, a plot with a conflict and shit.

OK, this is how bad SatC 2 is: I saw it with a woman who owns the entire TV show on DVD, part of the "core audience," and she still hasn't forgiven me. Did I mention we saw it for free?

It came out when you would expect and was gone literally a month later. Guess the greenlighting of this sequel is based entirely on the opening weekend when guys thought the tickets would make a nice V-day gift.

The Punisher: War Zone was dumb fun. OK, I saw it for free. But it's decent grindhouse fare if you don't expect a plausible accent from McNulty (do you ever?) and you can deal with yet more whining from poor perpetual victim Julie Benz.

It was sort of like Conan the Barbarian with less dialogue and more blue. Then I turned it off.

Maybe I'm too cynical, but I do think people choose their mates on the basis of (a) earning potential, to secure the offspring's future and (b) good genes, as evidenced in looks, intelligence, a sparkling wit, WTF ever. The problem with The Invention of Lying is that Gervais doesn't point out (if I remember correctly)…