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The power of the Internet: “Fanboys” will have cancer. That probably only makes sense to a few people, so allow me to explain.

“Fanboys” is a movie about a group of friends — all Star Wars nerds — in the year 1998. They decide to break into George Lucas’s compound and steal an early print of “The Phantom Menace.” It’s got Kristen Bell and Seth Rogen, as well as a who’s who of geek icons: Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, William Shatner and Ray Park.

It was also supposed to come out last year.

(I’ve twice written about “Fanboys” for the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger — once in a story about the 30th anniversary of “Star Wars,” and again in a column about 2007 movies that I was anticipating).

Apparently Harvey Weinstein, who picked up the movie in 2005, wasn’t happy with, well, the entire plot. The original reason that the nerds wanted to get the early print was because one of them has terminal cancer and wanted to see it before he died (or one of their friends… you’ll have to bear with me here, because I haven’t actually seen the movie).

Terminal cancer, it seems, is not exactly an easy sell. Read the rest of this entry �

Riddle me this:

Remember that old Sesame Street bit, “One of these things is not like the other?” Let’s play it with America’s best-known superheroes.

Batman. Superman. Wonder Woman. Spider-Man.

Even a 3-year-old could tell you the answer to that. Heck, you could even argue that Wonder Woman, the only one without a Y chromosome, shouldn’t even be in that pantheon.

Measured in mass appeal, look no further than the box office success of all those Super, Spider and Batman flicks. Wonder Woman, in fairness, had that Linda Carter television show. Sure, there have been rumblings of a movie in recent years, but nothing’s gelled together yet. (It might make more sense to give her slot in that pantheon to Wolverine).

The real riddle: Why? Read the rest of this entry �

“Best Albums and Songs of 2008.” 

That’s the first link to a new discussion forum on the ever-evolving rollingstone.com home page.

When I saw that, my blood started to boil.

Readers of this column might remember last November when I complained about music publications jumping the gun by a month on their end of the year lists—and how utterly predictable they are.

If talking about “best of the year” in November is jumping the gun, then what’s “best of the year” in March?

(A certain scene with a foreign exchange student from the original “American Pie” comes to mind). Read the rest of this entry �

There’s a lot right with movies these days (stadium seating, Seth Rogen), but there’s also a lot that’s wrong: ticket and food prices, texting, talking, screaming babies and what seems to be the same three movies on every screen in the multiplex.

Let’s face it—Prince William County isn’t exactly a film Mecca.

The best option for movies locally is probably popping a Blu-ray. Maybe someone who lives in one of those gorgeous Haymarket mansions has a super-sized high definition screen, reclining chairs and surround sound. Even for those of us who don’t have these luxuries, Netflix sounds better and better every day. (To say nothing, of course, of film piracy).

(Another option is driving toward D.C. for some of the theaters that specialize in foreign or independent movie theater. But, who wants to drive all that way for what might be a lousy movie?)

What’s the solution for people who love and are interested in movies but aren’t interested enough to take a chance across state lines? What can get us back into local theaters?

I think I may have the answer. Movies need to be fun. Not so much the content of the film, but the experience itself—it needs to be well worth the money, time and for some, babysitting costs. I found out how to do that from of all places, way across state lines in Austin, Texas. Read the rest of this entry �

The Associated Press ran a story this past week about Barack Obama’s favorite movies, to preview an episode of Entertainment Tonight.

Even if this was news (it’s not), this has been public information for some time now, thanks to Obama’s Facebook.com page.

In the last election, the question was “which candidate would you rather drink a beer with?” (to which Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist David Horsey correctly noted, and I’m paraphrasing here, “We’re electing a President, not a drinking buddy”). Now, I suppose it’s “who would you rather watch a movie with?”

Thanks to the inherent goofiness of the candidates’ Facebook pages, let’s find out! Read the rest of this entry �