Over on The Hot Blog, David Poland has the weekend box office numbers up, and the one thing that popped out at me, probably because I just saw and reviewed the film last week, is that Lake of Fire, which opened at Film Forum in NYC this weekend, did not do nearly as well as might have been expected. There's some discussion in the comments on Poland's post speculating on the whys and wherefores of the film's less-than-stellar opening, the main gist of which is that either the film did not appeal to people because no one wants to see the abortion process on a big screen while they're munching their popcorn, or because the film doesn't take a side on the abortion issue, and people who are passionate about it on one side or the other do not want to see the other side treated fairly.

I pondered this for a while this morning as I lingered over my Monday morning coffee. As I noted in my review of the film, Lake of Fire does give both sides of the debate equal weight, but I also think that the way each side will be perceived is in the eye of the beholder. I could see the film playing well in red states, because the film doesn't portray right-to-lifers (on the whole) as a bunch of nutcases. Sure, there are some some interesting folks in there, but there are also attractive women in there talking about why they are pro-life. And even the folks that a liberal might view as off-their-rocker (such as Assembly of God preacher John Burt and Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry) would probably be viewed by a lot of fundamentalist Christians as good, God-fearing guys who are simply passionate about their beliefs on the subject.

More odds and ends than you can shake a stick at:

• I have to admit that I'm sort of amused by this concept: a movie about someone who actually followed through on their threat to move to Canada when Bush was elected. Entitled Blue State, the film stars Anna Paquin as the mover (which is funny, what with her being from Canada and all) and Breckin Meyer as the token male, and will be produced by Paquin Films - bet you can't guess who owns that sucker.

• You know that movie Woody Allen is going to make in Paris? Well, he's taking a Brokeback wife along: Michelle Williams has reportedly agree to star. She'll be playing, well, one of a bunch of Americans. In Paris. For the love of God, Woody -- throw us a plot-bone!

• Because we can never get enough heartwarming stories (Has anyone actually tested that? Personally, I hit my limit about 13 misunderstood youths ago.), Aaron Eckhart has ridden the Thank You for Smoking wave into yet another one. Eckhart's personal story of redemption is called Bill, and he'll star as "a man fed up with his job and marriage who bottoms out when he catches his wife cheating. He finds a catalyst for a resurgence when he reluctantly mentors an unruly teen." Ah, the unruly teen. How many lives have they saved? The movie starts shooting next  month.

• When I tell you that Universal has acquired a story about a small town "saved by baseball," what do you imagine? A touching, period piece? Or perhaps a story about a town triumphing unspecified tragedy by coming together behind an underdog high school team? Ah, but you'd be wrong -- gloriously, bizarrely wrong! In fact, Time of the Their Lives is about people who literally DON'T DIE because they play baseball. (I hope this doesn't mean that they actually play 24/7. How impractical would that be? Not to mention boring.) Then, somehow, a misguided kid gets the town involved in "a winner-take-all game between townsfolk and the devil's ringers" for his own soul. While I admit the whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense, it sounds more than weird enough to be interesting. Right?