The new Steve Carell movie, Evan Almighty, will be a big winner at the box office despite some very lackluster reviews. It's a "sort-of" sequel to Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey, which was also a lackluster film that did very well with ever-fickle audiences.

Steve Carell does his best work in smaller-budget movies that nobody sees coming. Who would have thought a film like The 40-Year-Old Virgin could actually be a smart comedy that adults could enjoy? Little Miss Sunshine came out of nowhere last year to wow film festival crowds before being picked up by a major studio and getting a feature release. Carell is a good leading man loser, but only when we don't see it coming.

There are many reasons why this movie doesn't work. First of all, we can all pretty much figure out what's going to happen. It's the same basic plot as Miracle on 34th Street, which was released in theaters 60 years ago. A person receives a message from a higher being, the person makes some sort of lifestyle change due to this message, everyone thinks the person is crazy, and then the person convinces everyone that he/she is not crazy. It doesn't work here because the general public should realize that Carell's character is not crazy. He has pairs of animals that follow him everywhere for no apparent reason. Oh yeah, he must be crazy, because he's making us see all those animals. The animals then help him build an ark. Yep, still crazy. He must be using mind control on the animals. When he shaves his beard, it instantly grows back. Only a crazy man could have that kind of follicle control.

I realize that this movie is fiction, but the reactions of the people in the movie to the changes in Carell's character's life are far out of line with what I can find believable. It's a story of one man who talks with God and the general public who lacks faith. I just don't understand what kind of sign these people need. An instant-growth beard and hundreds of animals with self-awareness following a man are not enough to prove that something strange is going on? Nope, let's call him crazy and remove him from his job.
Variety.com - Reviews - Evan Almighty

Mindless Idiot Television, or MTV (they thought mindless and idiot were one word) held their annual meaningless movie awards last night, and to no one's surprise they gave the best movie award to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Johnny Depp, who I have nothing against, won for best performance.

The MTV Movie Awards are slowly merging into the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards with each passing year. The Pirates sequel was not only not as good as the first, it wasn't good period. Even many fans of the first were turned off by the mindless special effects and lack of any coherent storyline.

It's a shame that MTV chose to recognize Johnny Depp for this movie and completely ignored his crazy take on Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas back in 1998. That film represented the young adult market that MTV wishes it could target a lot better that some over-the-top pirate movie.
Variety.com - MTV Movie Awards honors 'Pirates'

NBC left The Apprentice off its prime time schedule for next year, essentially ending the show. That would lead many to believe that Trump was fired. Donald Trump doesn't think so. He announced today that he is "moving on" from the low-rated TV show. I guess that gives him the higher ground. Right? I'm actually missing the Trump/Rosie feuding right about now.
Donald Trump to NBC: You can't fire me, I quit | Reuters

Just a quick note on the Opie & Anthony firings:
People are protesting by canceling their XM satellite radio subscriptions and smashing their receivers. If you are an XM customer, you can call them and threaten to cancel due to the O&A fiasco and receive 3 to 6 months of free service. I suggest every XM customer do this, just to punish XM for censoring its content. The whole point of satellite radio is that the content would not have to be censored. Wake up, XM!
Secretary Sex: People Smash XM Receivers in Response to Opie & Anthony Suspension - Gizmodo

Just a couple of weeks ago, industry insiders were spreading the news of the pilot episode of a comedy series based on the Geico cavemen. The word was, the show was terrible. Worst-show-of-all-time terrible. It seemed almost certain that ABC would reject the show based on the pilot, and it would be up to some intern working on the inside to leak that one episode on to YouTube so the rest of the world could see how terrible a show really could be. We may have underestimated how desperate ABC really is.

ABC decided to pick up the comedy show, titled "Cavemen," for their fall lineup. Also new on their list is a spin-off of "Grey's Anatomy." While it's nice that ABC has decided to hire writers from our nation's large pool of mentally challenged people, I fail to see how these bottom-of-barrel shows are going to rescue the once proud network.
ABC turns to cavemen, modern women, for new lineup | Entertainment | Reuters

Spiderman 3 broke box office records this weekend, bringing in $148 million in just 3 days, shattering the old mark of $135.6 million set by Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Spidey 3 has received mixed reviews at best, with a convoluted storyline that includes one villain after another for no particular reason other than the filmmaker wanted to use up everything they had just in case this is the last Spiderman movie they make.

Some of the bizarre casting decisions made for this movie include Topher Grace as one of the villains. Someone needs to tell Topher Grace that he hasn't aged a day since the first episode of That 70's Show. He still looks like a 15-year-old kid struggling with adolescence. I liked him in That 70's Show, but he should not be playing leading male roles or supervillains in major motion pictures.

Spiderman 3 will likely threaten some of the top box office records, which is too bad. The movie-going audience has changed in the past 10 years. We champion mediocrity like never before. Big names and special effects can carry a movie to box office gold, while a great script and legendary director will do nothing to affect gross.
Deadline Hollywood Daily » WHAT A WIDE, WIDE, WIDE, WIDE WEB! ‘SPIDEY 3′ SPINS $148 MILLION & SETS BIGGEST U.S. WEEKEND OPENING EVER!

Tom Hanks has signed on to star in Angels & Demons, a prequel to Dan Brown's DaVinci Code. Reports are swirling that Hanks salary for the next film will be the highest ever paid to an actor for a single movie.
Tom Hanks signs on to Angels & Demons for Record Payout? | /Film