Loaded Couch Potatoes

Time for a confession: there’s something about the Harry Potter franchise — be it the novels or the movies — that just doesn’t connect with me.  I’ve enjoyed it, overall; I read the final three novels as soon as I could get my hands on them, and I’ve seen each of the movies at the earliest available opportunity.

But they’re not sticking with me, for some reason.  I can remember a few details here and there, and the broad strokes of the stories are still more or less present in my head … but I spent a large portion of the sixth movie thinking to myself, “Man, I don’t remember much of this.”

Is that a problem with me or a problem with the movie(s)?

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What the fuck, America?

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According to Variety, the Oscars will, beginning in 2010, begin nominating ten movies for Best Picture.  This will be the first time since 1943 that the Academy has nominated that many films for its top prize; that year’s winner was Casablanca.

The move toward more nominess seems to be specifically engineered to include more popular films, and, I suspect, to boost ratings for the telecast of the show.

So, what box-office champs will benefit from the decision this year?  Could we be looking at the first-ever Best Picture-nominated Star Trek movie?  Or could Pixar finally get their due?  I’ll go ahead and put my bet on The Hangover, and I make to you this promise: if Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is nominated for Best Picture, I will never watch the Oscars again.

So … did the three dudes with headaches hang over to a third weekend at the top of the box office?

Hah-hah-heh-hah-hah!  Get it?  Hang over?  Ooh-eeh-hooh-hah-hah!  (EDITOR’S NOTE: Ting-tang, walla-walla bang-bang…?)

You know, like the movie The Hangover!  Is big hit!  You like!

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Who won the weekend?  Was it Will Ferrell, Ed Asner, or Mike Tyson?

Here’s a hint: it wasn’t Will Ferrell.

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On the BBC.co.uk website, Herb Solow — one of the original producers of Star Trek in the 1960s — has written a review of the new film reboot of the franchise.

First impressions: “The production looked flawless”; “Most of the characters rang true”; “I was impressed and taken with the obvious concern to honour our original series.”

Solow’s review is largely positive, but he does have reservations about certain aspects.  To find out what they are, visit the full article.

Honk Mahfah reports on the weekend box-office, which finds Pixar going ten-for-ten at the bat.

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Honk Mahfah analyzes Memorial Day weekend at the box office, with two major franchise sequels duking it out for the top spot.

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Like many geeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about Star Trek lately, wrestling with the new movie … not so much in terms of whether I like it (I do) or even love it (I do), but in terms of where I would rank it in relation to the other films in the series.

Keep reading if you want to know the results of all that expended mental energy.  And let’s face it: you do want to know.  So here goes, worst to best.

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Honk Mahfah runs his mouth about the weekend box office.  You know you want to read it!

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