Week after week, I focus on the good and/or bad concerning moviegoing and the movie theatre industry. But as passionate as I am about the subjects of this column, I've never really felt strongly enough to label any one person either a hero or a villain to moviegoers. Perhaps the closest I've come to calling someone a hero was when I finally had my first experience with an Alamo Drafthouse cinema. On the other hand, I've certainly wanted to call a lot of people villains, including whoever was responsible for my worst moviegoing experience in years and whoever came up with the awful idea to produce scented pre-show ads.

So, it was by some sort of coincidence that last week actually brought news of both a remarkably heroic moviegoer and a terribly villainous theatre owner. Of course, you're welcome to disagree with me as I celebrate the former and castigate the latter. The interesting thing about these two individuals is that some of you may see my hero as a villain, and vice versa. In fact the law has deemed the former a criminal, and meanwhile tons of moviegoers in the UK are championing the actions of the latter. No wonder film exhibition is in such dire straits when there's such disagreement about how to improve the moviegoing experience.

With Fall Festival season about to kick off, this week The Rocchi Review features James chatting with Cinematical's Film Festivals Editor Kim Voynar about the strange splendor of the Telluride Film Festival, what the most-anticipated movies will be at this year's Toronto Film Festival and much, much more. Will Zack and Miri Make a Porno make a splash? Will Rachel Getting Married get Anne Hathaway some respect? And does one of the most-anticipated films for Toronto really star Jean-Claude Van Damme? Cinematical's podcast is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:



As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

Over on his blog, writer-director Kevin Smith has unveiled a new photo from Zack and Miri Make a Porno (see updated gallery below), as well as a few pieces of ridiculously cool movie-inspired artwork from this year's Crazy 4 Cult 2 gallery showing in Los Angeles at Gallery1988 later this month. (He also briefly talks about seeing Watchmen, which he called "f**king astounding.") The above image is only half of Andrew Wilson's sprawling epic-like movie character poster (see miniature version of entire piece below), which will be on display and available for purchase at the gallery when the show opens with a reception hosted by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier on August 22. (The show itself will run from August 22 through September 12.)



**Click on the image above to head to a very cool website where you can scope out each character up close. How many can you spot?

In addition to Wilson's poster, Smith threw up a taste of what else will be on display (see two images in the gallery below; I apologize for not knowing artist names), and you can also see (and learn) more over on the Crazy 4 Cult 2 website and Gallery1988 blog. Wish I could attend, but the whole living on the other side of the country thing kinda gets in the way. If you go, definitely let us know how it is.

Thanksgiving just got a lot less magical. Warner Bros. has announced that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, originally scheduled for release on Nov. 21, has been pushed back to July 17. As in 2009. As in ELEVEN MONTHS AWAY! It's enough to make you utter an unforgivable curse, such as "Avada Kedavra!" or "What the f***?!"

A film's release date being moved back is usually a sign that the production is in trouble, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. For one thing, the production on Half-Blood Prince is pretty much finished already, and it's not like the director, producers, or actors were inexperienced screw-ups. No, the date change in this case seems to be purely strategic. Said top WB honcho Alan Horn in a press release:

"Our reasons for shifting Half-Blood Prince to summer are twofold: We know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent-pole release.... Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers' strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films, changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of.... [Half-Blood Prince] perfectly fills the gap for a major tent-pole release for mid-summer."

There are two ways of reading that. One is that WB won't have anything else PG-13 and family-friendly ready for mid-summer, so Half-Blood Prince has been called in to save the day. The other is that WB is well aware that the other studios' summer plans were screwed up by the strike, so they've moved Harry Potter into position to take full advantage of that weakness. Both are probably at least partially true, and it's a pretty savvy move in either case.

Both Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson leapt from the world of Henry VIII into city love with New York, I Love You, but that's not all they're working on:

• When Portman joined the Big Apple film, it was said to be her directorial debut, but it looks like another film is sliding in front of it. The CBC reports that a 17-minute film she directed, titled Eve, will debut at the Venice Film Festival this month. Organizers are describing her film as a "civilized comedy" and expect the budding filmmaker to be at the opening. Nothing else is being said about the plot, but I imagine it could be quite interesting -- the film stars Ben Gazzara and the one and only Lauren Bacall.
• We've seen the many faces of ScarJo's acting. We've heard her tackle Tom Waits songs, we're on our way to seeing her directorial debut in New York, I Love You, she's apparently looking for a threesome and now she wants more. Showbiz Spy reports that she's itching to develop a film she can direct, and after that, she'd "love to do another album," citing how much she loved living with music and working with musicians. Oh Scarlett, do you really want to take that path again?

Moviegoing seems to be living in the past these days, as both 3-D and large format projection have become attractions at mainstream cinemas again, just as they were half a century ago. Of course, there are updated differences -- the new 3-D is digital and now employs glasses that don't give us headaches, and the large format presentation, IMAX (which is actually almost 40 years old and is technically not really similar at all to the Cinemascope, Cinerama, VistaVision, etc., which were used in the 1950s), is finally separating itself from its usual museum-set association to move into more multiplexes and offer more blockbusters, like the popcorns and sodas, appropriately super-sized.

So where is the return of that other, less successful, less fondly remembered novelty also implemented in desperate times to woo audiences away from their television? You know, that ridiculous idea that's so unappealing that it's a wonder it was even allowed to enter public awareness, let alone cement itself undeservedly onto the timeline of significant moments in film history. Smell-O-Vision. Where is the return of Smell-O-Vision?

Have I ever told you that I'm obsessed with watching Cirque du Soleil shows? I've seen at least 10 live performances in the past few years and highly recommend them to anyone who's never taken the Cirque plunge. In fact, now you have more of a reason to check out a Cirque show because their latest, Delirium, is coming to a theater near you at the end of the month. Sony Pictures Releasing has set up this new programming division called The Hot Ticket, and they specialize in bringing stuff like rock concerts, Broadway shows and premier sporting events to theaters across the United States and Canada. We've talked about this sort of thing a bunch before, and it's definitely a smart move for theaters; one that might eventually become the norm.

So far, The Hot Ticket is bringing Delirium (I'd shell out money to see Delirious on the big screen too, by the way) to theaters for a limited run of four days (August 20, 21, 23 and 24). You can find out where it's playing near you by visiting The Hot Ticket website. Aside from Delirium, they'll also be bringing the show Rent to theaters in September. As far as the viewing experience goes, here's a quote from their website: "Each presentation from The Hot Ticket will be a limited engagement and events will be shown in 2K and 4K digital theaters to ensure the highest quality viewing experience. With the very best in special event programming and state-of-the-art digital projection and sound in theaters, The Hot Ticket will offer the kind of unparalleled access that will make these events memorable viewing experiences."

Sounds like something worth trying out. What do you think? Is this the future of theatrical entertainment? (Check out some really cool images from Delirium in the gallery below.)

Over the past few weeks, movie ratings have been a popular topic for discussion. While Kevin Smith's upcoming Zack and Miri Make a Porno appealed an NC-17 rating (and won), The Dark Knight was enjoying a record-setting box office take and a pretty controversial PG-13 rating. Once again, we ask: Why is sex more inappropriate than violence? Should raunchy language and a few "thrusts" be condemned while a dude with half his face falling off and a psychopathic, murderous clown get off practically unscathed? And are there other issues at work here? Does a film with a giant budget and an all-star cast get it "easier" than a smaller film with a lesser-known cast and a director who chain smokes profanity?

No doubt there are shady politics at play here (as is all over this fine country of ours), and over the years there have been a number of films that deserved a different rating. Over on OMG Lists, they currently have up a list of six wrongly rated movies; films that, for one reason or another, deserved either a lower or a higher rating. It's a weird system, for sure -- these days, if you're a comedy, you kinda want that 'R' rating because your box office take will most likely be higher. However, if you're a horror flick, you want to try for a PG-13. Strange world we live in ...

But anyway, among the films featured on their list are Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which, at the time, received an R-rating because of a few profanity-laced scenes, but totally could've gotten away with a PG-13. Or what about Jaws ... with its PG rating! Hey, it's a film about a giant shark that devours people -- bring the whole family!

Hey, when did the LA Times become the new Cinematical (ahem ... and ahem)?

We've got such craziness this week with two big summer films landing in theaters on Wednesday instead of Friday. No, you don't have some fancy holiday weekend coming up (sorry cubicle dude), but the Olympics do begin later this week, and, well, some of us really want to get our Women's Swimming 100m Butterfly on. That said, those mid-weekers have a choice between the weed action/comedy Pineapple Express and the sober adventure/comedy/romance/jeans-wearing sequel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

I imagine each film has a completely different audience, with one attracting stoners, fans of Judd Apatow-produced content, comedy nuts and the Girls Obsessed with Seth Rogen Association of America (or GOWSRAA), while the other looks to bring in pre-teen and teenage girls (and their parents) who like to watch other girls come of age and explore the rest of their lives ... or something like that. Word has it each flick is worthy of your nine bucks (I've seen Pineapple and can vouch for its coolness), so it's really about which movie fits your cinematic tastes.

So, what are you watching: Pineapple Express or The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2?

Cinematical reader Todd Y. clued us into these very cool Star Wars figures re-designed in a Steampunk sorta way. As explained on the site, "Steampunk is a genre of science fiction fantasy that generally contains worlds full of amazing technologies in the form of antiquated systems." Titled Sillof's Workshop, the site houses all sorts of different figures; from Gaslight Justice League and Victorian Avengers to Star Wars: 1942 and Steampunk Empire Strikes Back. Apart from the figures, Sillof has also created some very cool dioramas, sculptures and replica props. We've pulled out some of our favorites from the Star Wars collection and stuck them in the gallery below for you to check out. Afterward, make sure you skip on over to Sillof's Workshop to see the rest.