MOW?

Well, I made it out alive today when I decided to take a gander at the Kwik-E Mart/7-Eleven over on Verdugo and Olive in Burbank this afternoon. They have to form a line outside or else the place will be overrun with frothing-at-the-mouth Simpsons fans and their digital cameras, yuk-yuk laughs at Jolt Cola and Duff Beer (well - they were actually out of these items) and the like.

Sadly I didn't bring my camera along to document the nightmare. Though I did take a shot of the pink sprinkle doughnuts on sale in 6 packs 4 packs and singles. I nearly went into a diabetic coma when I ate one, by the way. Never tasted anything so sweet in all my life.

Anyway, chalk one more up for publicity...

Paramount Vantage has a great site up featuring its two awards hounds, "Babel" and "An Inconvenient Truth." There's some nice "making of" stuff going on and such, so give it a look.

This trailer is all kinds of phenomenal. It's operatic, it's largess, it's balanced and it gets the fucking job done. It still pains me that, at the hands of David Koepp and with a shitty villain portrayal, "Spider-Man" was such a God-awful film, but thankfully, "Spider-Man 2" more than made up for that, and the third installment seems to be on the right track.

I'm still not sure about Topher Grace as Venom, who it seems will show up EXTREMELY briefly in the third act. Using Grace seems to follow the "ultimate" Spider-Man mentality, but Raimi is no fan of the character and looks to be utilizing him for a small time in any case.

I'm also not sure about this situation with Sandman being responsible for Ben Parker's murder, unless that's just some red herring. But regardless, he looks absolutely STUNNING, and Thomas Haden Church looks choice in the role.

In the wake of a retched (and thankfully brief) performance this year in "The Good German," I'll welcome Mr. Parker with open arms in this thing next summer.

The fact that Fox Searchlight is the first out of the gate with screeners may end up going a long way toward "Little Miss Sunshine"'s very real bid for a Best Picture nomination. I get the feeling the Oscar update is going to be substantial next week...

And I believe the closing track is that Aretha Franklin/Bryan Adams number that was written for the film. I think. That's definitely Bryan Adams, anyway, but here's a look. It doesn't capture the film very well at all if you ask me:

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/bobby.html

Looks like the two Clint Eastwood Iwo Jima films ("Flags of Our Father" and "Letters from Iwo Jima") have received a Japanese trailer showcasing scenes from each one. Take a look:

http://wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/iwojima-movies/trailer/large.html

The cinematography looks fantastic, and at the end of the day, maybe these will be powerhouse films of the genre after all.

Pretty much what you'd expect:

The trailer.

The poster:

Yes, that's the real poster...no, it's not a Photoshopped fake. Though I understand the urge to consider it as much...

...and heaven help the cynical.

Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happyness."

I certainly wasn't expecting Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" follow-up to have this much texture and style. How foolish of me.

Take a look at the trailer for "The Prestige" and tell me that doesn't look like a heck of a unique and potentially trippy time at the movies. Given the look of the film, I think we're definitely looking at a contender in various technical races, most especially Wally Pfister's atmospheric cinematography and the costume design (uncredited at IMDb, though it might indeed be Lindy Hemming, who outfitted "Begins"). The performances across the board also look fetching, most notably Christian Bale and Michael Caine.

Are we underestimating this thing?

Oh, and that vacant slot in my list of 10 anticipations? It just got filled.