This Week In Entertainment (2/19/07)

My Pick of the Week is a book! Wow! This book is based on the high-concept of making Dante Alighieri into a detective. I love The Inferno, so maybe I'll take a look at this book someday.

Opening in theaters this week is a Jim Carrey movie called Number 23. I used to be a big fan of Carrey until he started making serious movies, so I'll most likely pass on this one. Whoa! It's directed by Joel Schumacher. And it's not a comedy?! I guess it's funnier as a drama. Anyway, the poster has a picture of Jim Carrey with the number 23 written all over his face, and it somehow reminds me of that guy from the Lord of the Rings movies. You know, the hero guy who wasn't short?

Coming to consoles is Sonic and the Secret Rings. For those who haven't followed Sonic's career, he had a good 3d start in Sonic Adventure, but each game afterwards has gotten worst. And it's probably not a good sign that you're crying, "This is the worst camera ever!" in three straight games. This may be Sonic's last chance at a respectable 3d game for a while, and even so it's probably time to hand him over to another company. This happened to Lara Croft and her last game was a step in the right direction. Anyway, this game is played by tilting the Wii Remote back and forth, and the levels seem to be fixed to avoid exploration. I'm a Sonic fan so we'll see how this game turned out.


For portables, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is out for the Nintendo DS. I only list this because I think adventure games should make a comeback, and the Nintendo DS and/or the Wii would make a great place to do so.

On to DVDs:

Penn & Teller - Bullsh*t - The Complete Fourth Season - I only list this because I saw a couple episodes where they made fun of enviromentalists. A quick look at wiki tells me that I probably wouldn't like a few episodes on this list, but I did enjoy the two episodes I saw despite the cussing. I wish there were more shows that took a critical look at things like enviromentalism and conspiracy theories.

The Three Stooges - Hapless Half-wits - I may have automatically given this my Pick of the Week if the shorts they selected (only four!) weren't so bad. They used to release about seven shorts to dvd but at one poin, they started releasing colorized Three Stooges shorts. I don't know what happened but I wish it would stop. They should have released all the Three Stooges shorts on one or two sets by now. Anyway, the shorts are: I’ll Never Heil Again, Beer Barrel Polecats, Dopey Dicks and Brideless Grooms. (Brideless Groom is one of the four public domain shorts that you can find anywhere!)

Gandhi - Known for winning out over the more popular ET and Tootsie.

For nerds, a special limited addition of Final Fantasy 7: Advent's Children. I dare you to watch this movie and see if you can explain the plot.

Also out is a movie made about three trolls and their unique take on the Bill of Rights.