Warning: This post contains excessive grasping at straws.

Most knowledgeable folks seem to think that the upcoming Wanted looks like a piece of junk. I can understand their position: the trailer was kind of a sensory assault, and didn't exactly make the film seem original. For my part, I'm not ready to write it off. I like James McAvoy, director Timur Bekmambetov is a fellow Russian, and I tend to enjoy the wildly implausible brand of action that the film seems to be going for. So I'm happy to report a piece of news that kind of surprised me: Wanted has been rated R by the MPAA for "strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language and some sexuality." That elaboration makes it seem like they won't be trying to trim the bad parts to earn a PG-13.

Now, okay: obviously that doesn't mean much. I mean, the similarly (identically?) themed Hitman was rated R too, and look how that turned out. But for me, the R rating speaks not directly to quality, but to the kind of film Wanted is likely to be. Seeing the trailer (and not knowing the source material), I thought that while it looked kind of cool, it also looked like a broad, inoffensive, second-rate action romp -- my first association, probably due to the presence of Angelina Jolie, was with Lara Croft Tomb Raider. But maybe it won't be. Maybe it'll turn out to be harsh, and sexy, and over-the-top in ways that are actually interesting. Maybe it'll be more like Running Scared or Shoot 'Em Up than like Ghost Rider. You might think that those comparisons don't help and that it still looks like crap, but it seems to me that an R rating for a movie like this increases the odds of it being worthwhile. Or am I off my gourd?

Last night I was watching The Rock with a stranded house guest (first snow = flight cancellations) who really loves Nicolas Cage. Near the beginning of the movie (one of my favorite guilty pleasures), she asked why Cage does these kinds of movies, and I replied that he must simply love doing dumb action. It's got to be easier and more fun than trying to win another Oscar, that's for sure. It's not surprising, coincidentally, to find some quotes from the actor on ComingSoon.net this morning in which he proposes a couple more dumb action movies he'd like to star in. The interesting thing, though, is that they're more sequels -- something Cage hadn't seemed too interested in prior to National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Of course, the only reason he never did a sequel before is more likely because his movies weren't big enough hits to warrant a follow-up. I doubt he would have turned down Snake Eyes 2.

The first movie he asks for is Ghost Rider 2, which he says could happen if only someone gives him a call. It's actually pretty surprising that nobody has contacted him about a Ghost Rider sequel considering it made more than $200 million worldwide, and it had a shockingly great opening -- the best 4-day President's Day weekend gross ever, in fact. Plus, director Mark Steven Johnson claimed last summer that there were talks for GR2. Cage said it would be "fun" to return to the comic book character with the flaming skull head (see: he does it cuz it's "fun"). The other hoped for sequel is a third National Treasure (the second, Book of Secrets, is out later this month), though he is interested in expanding the series so "it becomes more and more International Treasure." Maybe Cage is jealous of Indiana Jones, but he'd like his character, Ben Gates, to have to travel to London, Paris, Egypt, Africa, Asia and more. He said, "that would be a lot of fun for me." (see: he does it cuz it's "fun"). Well, Nic, here's what would be a lot of fun for me: Con Air 2. As long as you enjoy doing dumb action, why not bring back the funniest, dumbest action you've ever made?

Before I begin, let me just admit I am not a fan of Mark Steven Johnson's directing work nor am I a fan of his most recent effort, Ghost Rider. His other films, the equally tepid Daredevil and the so-so Simon Birch did demonstrate a rather meager level of competence, but left me, well, pretty unsatisfied. Given all of that, it was with a great deal of trepidation that I read a recent interview with Johnson over at IGN wherein he discusses, among other things, the development of a sequel to Ghost Rider and that he might, unfortunately, have something to do with it.

In the interview, given during promotion of the upcoming DVD release of Ghost Rider, Johnson discuss many things including another Ghost Rider film, his involvement in it, what villains he would like to see in the sequel and what else he would like to be directing if he doesn't end up doing a sequel. "We're talking about it, yeah, talking about it," says Johnson of Ghost Rider 2. "I don't know what I'm going to do, to be honest. After Daredevil and this ... it takes so long, these movies. I really want something different, and the pressure of the fan community is always so great."

Given the constraints on his time and the fan community's "pressures," what would Johnson perhaps prefer to do next instead of a Ghost Rider sequel? "I would like to do something more comedy-based," he says, "go back to my roots like the Grumpy Old Men movies and do something with effects. I love effects; I love working with them. So I don't know about for myself, if that's in the cards for me." So, he wants to go back to comedies and not make any more comic book movies because they take too long and the fans expect too much? Well, given what he's done with Daredevil and Ghost Rider, I think never doing another comic book movie ever again is a fine career choice. I wish him luck.

If ever there was a case of statistics being, how to put it politely, skewed, its showcased in this article in The Hollywood Reporter. According to a recent Arbitron survey which asked moviegoers their opinion of pre-movie advertising in theaters, a rather unbelievable 53% of "frequent" moviegoers -- those that attended more than five movies in the past three months -- said that advertising before a movie is acceptable. Compare that to the 46% of people who responded that TV advertising is acceptable.

According to the article, the study also showed that 59% of moviegoers recall the experience of watching onscreen advertising before the movie on their last trip to the theater. To those statistics I just have to say "huh"? I don't know about you, but I and pretty much everyone I know find advertising before a movie to be very unacceptable. So much so that its one of the reasons I pretty much stopped going to regular theaters to see movies. That and the parents who insist on taking their five-year-old to R-rated films and then wonder why they keep crying.

Fortunately, there is still a theater here in Los Angeles that doesn't have adverting -- its called the Arclight and its the only place I will go, other than screenings, to see a film anymore. Now, I'm really trying not to be so negative these days but in my mind, the only thing these statistics, if true, seem to prove is that 53% of "frequent" moviegoers need to have their heads examined. They're probably the same rocket scientists who think Ghost Rider and Eragon are the epitome of cinematic excellence.

Just as you might expect, many of the recently released, universally-panned movies are bringing in big box-office numbers, while praised films like Zodiac are falling short. Using the Rotten Tomatoes scale, which is usually quite forgiving when it comes to negative reviews: Wild Hogs, which was the number 1 film of last weekend, rests at 18%, Norbit rests at 10%, Ghost Rider came in with 27% and Night at the Museum had the highest with 45%, which is still low for a multi-week #1 hit.

With the box-office squarely on their side, the big honchos of mainstream movies are now, unsurprisingly, picking a fight with critics. An exec at Disney recently went on record saying that "critics are out of touch with their readership," while Tom Rothman of Fox proudly says that his feature wasn't embraced by "highfalutin snooty snoot critics." At least he was creative with his distaste. But when has big money ever equalled big quality? McDonald's rakes in the bucks, but no one calls the Big Mac gourmet. So, why are execs getting ticked off when critics, who are paid to evaluate how well something is done, see a film as a limp fast food burger and not a juicy taste of Kobe beef? You might like the limp burger, but that doesn't mean that it was made just as well as the gourmet one.

There's no winner or loser to this debate because the sides aren't arguing about the same thing. Just because a film does well does not mean that it is good. Can anyone attached to any of those films say that they are as good as some of their highly-regarded, highly-praised films? Would William H. Macy describe Wild Hogs as comparable to Pleasantville or Boogie Nights? No. It's time for these execs to stop getting ticked at critics when their crappy, or questionable big-box-office movie gets panned, and start seeing their mainstream schlock for what it is.

Hope your Monday was a good one (but, really, aren't all Mondays super?). So, um, moviegoers went 'Hog' wild, eh? Or were 'Wild' for 'Hogs'? How many other obvious puns are there to make with that title? Too many to count, I'm sure. Or maybe not, considering that the flick made $38 million this weekend. Shew. It's official: Critics really have no relevance on box office take. I know there have been some preliminary reports to such effect, but I'm hereby making it official. And apologizing to the critics. There is one good thing we can say about Wild Hogs, though, and it's this: William H. Macy co-stars (coincidentally, one of the stars of our staff picks celeb crush gallery). Of course, I haven't seen this movie, and judging by the comments that Erik Davis' review received, I guess it's a crowd-pleaser (Moviefone's own Tommy DiChiara did have fun with the cast in Boston). And at least it made more than Norbit when that broad comedy (heh ... we said "broad") opened a few weeks back -- $33 million if you're keeping track -- so that's something. Here's what Patric ia predicted Friday:

1. Wild Hogs
2. Zodiac
3. Ghost Rider
4. Bridge to Terabithia
5. Black Snake Moan

And here's the actual weekend top five:

1. Wild Hogs - $38 million (!)
2. Zodiac - $13.1 million
3. Ghost Rider - $11.5 million
4. Bridge to Terabithia - $8.5 million
5. The Number 23 - $7 million

Get the full box-office report here.

Happy Fat Tuesday! I truly hope you're all wearing dozens of strands of beads by now. If not, get on that.

In other news, Nicolas Cage's spectacle-laden, comic-book-based Ghost Rider blazed to an easy weekend box-office victory with a Friday-to-Sunday haul of $44.5 million, more than twice the gross of its closest competitor. Here's what Patricia predicted on Friday:

1. Ghost Rider
2. Bridge to Terabithia
3. Norbit
4. Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls
5. Music and Lyrics

And here's the actual top five for the weekend:

1. Ghost Rider - $44.5 million
2. Bridge to Terabithia - $22.1 million
3. Norbit - $16.8 million
4. Music and Lyrics - $14.0 million
5. Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls - $12.1 million

Get the full box-office report here.

Can't say there are really too many big surprises here. The well-reviewed adaptation of the beloved children's book Bridge to Terabithia put forth a strong showing to land the No. 2 spot, beating out last weekend's champ -- the not-so-well-reviewed but surprisingly box-office-beloved Norbit -- by a solid $5 mil margin. The No. 4 and 5 spots were a little harder to predict, with both Music and Lyrics and Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls fighting for the dinero of guys who belong to the I-didn't-want-to-deal-with-the-crowds-on-Valentine's-Day-so-I'm-going-to-make-up-for-it-by-taking-my-girlfriend-slash-wife-to-see-a-chick-flick-over-the-weekend school of thought (gentlemen, I applaud you). And here, it seems it was all about Hugh, with Music dominating Tyler Perry as if he were a Little Girl.

The latest film from Tyler Perry, Daddy's Little Girls, is missing two things: Perry's Madea character and a significant opening weekend gross. Could it be coincidence? Or was it simply the result of an overly competitive weekend? In the six days since its Valentine's Day bow, Daddy's Little Girls has earned about $20 million, which is normally a good debut for a February. But this past weekend drew record attendances due to five major new releases, including a superhero action film, a fantastic family pic, a star-billed romantic comedy and a grown-up thriller. It isn't that surprising that a few of those, plus the very popular Norbit, would place higher than a lower-budget, "urban" romantic comedy on the box office chart.

Still, Perry's first picture, Madea's Family Reunion, opened in the same month last year to $30 million. And two years ago, also in the same month, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which Perry wrote but did not direct, opened to $21 million. In the end those films grossed more than double their opening totals. But neither of them went up against any significant challengers at the multiplexes. With another slew of new films opening Friday, it is possible that Daddy's Little Girls will get lost in the mix, and it isn't likely that it will manage to finish with as noticeable a run as its predecessors.

Few in Hollywood like to defend low numbers with such logical explanations, so it is easy to imagine Lionsgate is right now pressuring Perry into adding the Madea character to his next film, Why Did I Get Married?, even though the source play did not feature the character. I think that Madea could very well be Perry's own Jay and Silent Bob.

Welcome to President's Day Weekend, where the multiplexes are stocked with a few pounds of new product, including an FBI espionage drama, a family-friendly kidventure flick, another Tyler Perry concoction, a flashy supehero epic and a sweet 'n' sunny rom-com. Dig in!

Breach -- 80 positive / 22 negative reviews at RottenTomatoes.com.

Pro: "There are some neat, almost delirious scenes of suspense, most of which play against cliche." -- Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Con: "A movie that urgently asserts itself as a spy thriller, but can never quite escape the Bureau's true preoccupation with who is getting the window offices." -- Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News

Pro: "While Breach plays effectively as a cat-and-mouse espionage thriller, its real drama derives from the murky moral and ethical frontier it crosses." -- Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

Con: "The big suspense sequence revolves around whether Hanssen will notice that his briefcase has been moved a smidgen, hardly on a par with Goldfinger giving 007 a laser beam vasectomy." -- Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Bonus! "Has real excitement and true craft behind it, which is just one part of the reason why it's such a pleasure to watch." -- James Rocchi, Cinematical

Bridge to Terabithia -- 66 positive / 12 negative at RT.com.

Pro: "A painfully grounded tale of the stripping away of naivete that is adolescence, and how heartbreakingly excruciating an experience that can be." -- MaryAnn Johnason, The Flick Filosopher

Con: "One wonders if the makers of Bridge to Terabithia actually have something against all the people who loved reading Katherine Paterson's award-winning book as children." -- Chris Barsanti, FilmCritic.com

Pro: "Mark my words: it is that rarified breed of masterpiece with a shelf life destined to span many generations." -- Dustin Putnam, TheMovieBoy.com

Con: "The whole affair has been unnecessarily coated in computer-generated magical kingdom fairy dust, no doubt in deference to the perceived needs of a young audience in a post-big screen "Chronicles of Narnia" environment." -- Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times

Bonus! "A heartfelt, respectful and remarkably well-done film." -- Kim Voynar, Cinematical

Damn, but there are a lot of movies opening wide this week -- or in the case of two of them, that opened wide on Wednesday. So I'm going to go waaaaay out on a limb and make this bold prediction: This is the weekend that Night at the Museum FINALLY falls out of the top five. You heard it here first! Or second, or third, or you know, whatever.

Ghost Rider: Nicolas Cage is the cyclist with the flaming skull and Eva Mendes is the love of his life in this adaptation of the Marvel comic book. To paraphrase the song from Grease 2, "He's a ghooooost rider ... and if he's hot enough, he will burn you through and through, whoa, whoa!" Granted, I may be the only person in history to reference Grease 2 and Ghost Rider in the same sentence ... and I'm OK with that. The film, which is about cyclist Johnny Blaze -- who sells his soul to Mephistopheles to save his father's life, and must then become the vigilante Ghost Rider -- is high-profile to say the least, and it's the only action film opening, and it's showing on a whopping 3,619 screens. You do the math.
Get showtimes & tix | Watch trailer | See Cage & Mendes chat |
Get pics, clips & more | Check out our top 20 comic book movies

Bridge to Terabithia: We swing to the other end of the moviegoing spectrum with another adaptation, this one of the Newbery (yes, that's how you spell it) Award-winning children's book. Josh Hutcherson (Zathura) is Jess, an introverted farm kid; AnnaSophia Robb (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is Leslie, the decidedly not introverted new girl who moves in next door. They become friends and create an imaginary kingdom, Terabithia, in the woods across the river. I saw the film last week, and, having read the book, I'll admit I was nervous at the prospect of this being turned into a fantasy flick, with what was only suggested on the page -- Terabithia and its inhabitants -- being made "real." But I shouldn't have worried. The movie manages to pump up the story's visual elements while capturing what makes the book special: the strength of Jess and Leslie's friendship, the power of imagination, and the joy and pain involved in having to grow up. Move over, Museum ...
Get showtimes & tix | Watch trailer | Go behind the scenes | Read Zooey Deschanel AIM chat