If this summer movie season shows us anything, it's that Hollywood has gone sequel-crazy. These greedy studio executives keep demanding more explosions, more superheroes, more Power Point presentations about global warming! Wait...what was that last one? Yes folks, An Inconvenient Truth Part 2 is on the way. It doesn't mention whether former presidential candidate (and, many would argue, rightful winner) Al Gore will be involved again, but I would imagine he'd have to be. According to the Truth's director, Davis Guggenheim, "I'm meeting with Paramount next week to talk about a sequel to Inconvenient Truth. Too early to talk about details." Considering the extremely low-key nature of the original, it was churned out in a mere five months, and that quick turnaround could mean we'll see the sequel in time for the 2008 presidential election.

Guggenheim had been largely a television director before An Inconvenient Truth hit it big. He was behind the camera for episodes of great shows like Deadwood and The Shield. He branches out again for his new movie Gracie, which opens on June 1st. It's a scripted film, stars Dermot Mulroney and Elizabeth Shue, and is about a teenage girl who fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer. Don't know if it will be as powerful a soccer film as the Rodney Dangerfield vehicle Ladybugs, but we shall see. Truth won the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award earlier this year, and also picked up a win for Melissa Etheridge's incredibly average theme song. I thought the movie was very informative and entertaining enough, but I could have gone for a lot less scenes of Al Gore walking around to lame narration. There's still a lot to learn about the environment and where the world is headed, I'd be up for a sequel. I can hear the trailer now: "An Inconvenient Truth 2. The truth...just got a lot more inconvenient."

Famed director Sydney Pollack (Three Days of the Condor, Tootsie, The Firm) will be tackling one of the most controversial and divisive political events of recent years: the 2000 election. HBO Films has approved Recount, which will follow the Florida recount from Election Day through the Supreme Court's highly contested ruling in favor of George W. Bush over Al Gore five weeks later. The movie will place an emphasis on the "human drama" behind the news events, and is said to be about many of the smaller players in the proceedings. I suppose this means Recount will not focus on actors impersonating Bush and Gore, which is probably a good call. The film is said to deal with "activists, strategists, politicians and even voters," and will "elaborate on the recount saga in meaningful ways." Danny Strong, known mostly as a television actor to this point, wrote the script.

HBO Films will be airing Recount on HBO instead of theatrically, a move executives say will guarantee millions of viewers. For those expecting a Fahrenheit 9/11 - style Bush bashing, HBO insists that the script steers clear of a partisan point of view in hopes of luring the largest possible audience. According to Paula Weinstein, one of the film's producers, "It's about a major event in American history, but it has no particular agenda or ax to grind." Recount is aiming to be in production by the summer. The film is expected to air on HBO next spring, when the country will be in the midst of another (hopefully less scandalous) presidential election.

"You won't fool the children of the revolution." -- T-Rex

Yeah, but what if the children of the revolution are fooling themselves? That's the central question of Reg Harkema's prickly, perverse and poverty-riddled new comedy Monkey Warfare -- a comedy that, bizarrely, has more in it to talk about than 90% of most dramas. In Toronto, Dan (Don McKellar) and his life-partner-in-crime Linda (Tracy Wright) make something like a living thanks to careful scavenging from other people's refuse and long-term rent control. Dan and Linda are living outside society -- yet still in the heart of it in downtown Toronto - because they have to: Years ago, as part of an act of protest, they severely burnt a security guard. Dan and Linda's relationship used to burn with revolutionary fervor, but now it's just embers -- they're tired, of life on the run and with each other. Their biggest solace, social crutch and anesthesia is weed -- and their supply dries up without much warning.

Chance has Dan meet Susan (Nadia Litz), and her youth and idealism appeals to Dan's jaded sensibilities -- as well as the fact that she's a smoking hottie with access to marijuana. Liz is distrustful of Susan and Dan's friendship for a number of reasons -- what if Susan's a cop? -- but Dan's not worried: "She's not that kind of heat." Dan shows Susan how he lives -- scrounging thrift stores for hidden treasures, jacking restorable furniture from the streetside when it's abandoned -- and she asks him about what it was like to be a real revolutionary. As Dan and Linda's neighborhood starts gentrifying, Susan begins acting on the principles Dan and Linda articulate -- with extreme methods, and extreme results.

Apparently super-suave Oscar-winner George Clooney doesn't want to follow in the footsteps of other actors-turned politicians -- including everyone's favorite Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Senator Fred Dalton Thompson, former Congressman and "Gopher" Fred Grandy, and of course, the gipper himself, former President Ronald Reagan. Instead, he wants to continue his career and the life his success and fame allows him to have. Not a huge surprise, really, as the spotlight of politics is not exactly forgiving to a single male actor who, shall we say, likes to have his fun and has a taste for the ladies. Although, I'm sure if Clooney did decide to settle down and wanted to get married to help his political career (or for love), there would be no shortage of volunteers for the Mrs. Clooney role.

Clooney made his statement about his lack of desire for the political life at a recent gathering of celebs who came together to honor him as part of the American Cinematheque awards. As Kim already told us in her fine coverage of the event, Clooney's award was the 21st time this award has been given by the American Cinematheque, a group devoted to the preservation and restoration of films. Guests in attendance included many of Clooney's friends and co-stars such as Don Cheadle, Morgan Freeman, Salma Hayek and (my favorite and yours) Julia Roberts, who presented the award to Clooney.

Even though Clooney seems to be shunning the political arena, it didn't stop big-time politicians from sending him well-wishes and congratulations on his award. Gov. Schwarzenegger, Senator John McCain and former President Bill Clinton all sent taped messages to him. For someone who has no desire for politics, Clooney seems to have quite a few friends in that world and his recent films do seem to be exploring it, especially in the case of Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck. Maybe it's all just a coincidence? Or maybe this is a case of what people in the political game refer to as a "non-denial denial?"

Whatever his plans, I think Clooney would make an interesting politician but I don't blame him in the least if he decides to shun the entire process in favor of his "normal" life. However, if he did decide to go into politics, I would be very interested to hear what he had to say. How about you?

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George Clooney Feted for American Cinematheque Benefit

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