Spin Psychoses

I sent a 17-year-old bear through the wash today. Intentionally, I might add. I can’t actualy recall whether James has been properly bathed before, so it seemed (or rather smelled) about time something was done. Having had him since I was two, I was understandably a little nervous about the whole affair, “expectant father” being the description if memory serves. He appears to have come through relatively unscathed, although I am warned that the aberrant psychoses developing from the moderate spin cycle can take several days to manifest.

Whilst I can’t say I’m particularly enthused yet, I’m sure there are some Ghost Rider fans out there who are drooling over every trickled drop from the PR guys at Sony Pictures. As far as I can tell, the only credential “The Rider Revealed” teaser has earned is the dubious crown of having even less content than Superman Returns. Which is a rather impressive feat really. I’m not a real fan of the comic book, nor am I particularly knowledgeable about it and, to be honest, nor do I care to be. I like Nic Cage, but his taste in scripts is…varied at best. Until they’re actually confident enough to show me something, I’m decidedly guarded about another Punisher-like candidate looking to soar to the level of mediocrity in an already overcrowded genre. Still, at least we’re guaranteed two hours of pyrotechnics, although if there are any jokes about “burning rubber” I will leave.

Very reminiscent of the Lord of War trailer’s quickfire deadpan cyncism, Thank You For Smoking could be an interesting one. Using a series of amoral arguments to justify his product (and existence), Nick’s open approach to tobacco lobbying makes it appear both dispicable and yet strangely understandable. If nothing else it should remind people that there are worse creatures than lawyers…

With the current dire state of Hollywood date movies, it actually took me a second to work out whether Date Movie expected me to take it seriously — fortunately it soon emerged very definitely in the negative. From (some of) those behind Scary Movie it should be cutting and funny in equal measures, but let’s hope for fewer needless and uninspired sequels this time round.