Getting tired of all this Clinton/Obama stuff yet? Look, regardless of who I'm voting for, I think it's pretty disgusting how some people compare Obama to a terrorist because of his name. A pimp? Totally. A terrorist. No. When asked what his three favorite movies of all time were, Obama recently named The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and Lawrence of Arabia. Not for nothing, but if you're running for President, do you think naming two Godfather films as your favorites might scare off a few people? Great films, no doubt, but in such a tight race why bring up your love for fictional mafia families?

Anyway, Obama also admitted that if a film based on his life were ever made, he'd want Will Smith to play him. Of course! Who wouldn't want Smith to play them in a film? Heck, I'd want Smith to play me too ... and I'm not even black! On why he'd want Smith and not, say, 50 Cent, Obama notes, "Will and I have talked about this because he has the ears!" Surprisingly, however, Smith is not one of Obama's favorite actors. They include Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, John Q. Obvious, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon and Angela Bassett. Looks like someone's definitely got their groove back.

Oftentimes Hollywood's lack of originality leads to overexposed trends. Remember when every action movie seemed to be easily defined as 'Die Hard on a ...'? Remember when disaster movies were all the rage? And then twenty years later when they were all the rage again? Remember when there were like a hundred body-swapping comedies? Well, there appear to be fewer trends these days, or maybe it's just that Hollywood turns trends into full-blown practices, as in the case of sequels, comic book movies and fantasy films based on literary franchises. Nowadays even a promised trend, like the one involving religious Passion of the Christ copycats, isn't necessarily going to happen. But despite there being so few here-today-gone-tomorrow film fads, there's at least seven bad ideas currently in vogue in Tinsel Town, and all of them need to disappear soon, lest they too become permanent.

1. Torture Porn

I'm going to start with an easy, surely obvious one. Torture porn is the latest trend in horror, a genre that changes its predominant style every few years, and it may be the most despised -- at least by us non-horror junkies. I miss the days when a friend, an actual junkie, could drag me to a harmless scary movie that provided a few screams, a few laughs and afterward, at the most, a few silly nightmares. Now, with each new horror movie there's promise of a seriously depressing experience. After watching The Hills Have Eyes, I realized I hadn't been frightened at all. Instead I wanted to cry my heart out. I haven't been to a horror flick since, and my friend is going solo. Sure, I hear that Eli Roth's movies are a lot more enjoyable than watching a young woman raped while watching her father burned alive and her mother raped and then shot in the head, but I just haven't been in the mood to find out.

Apparently the torture porn trend is already on its way out. Hostel II performed poorly at the box office and Captivity may have peaked too soon, reaching maximum tastelessness before even opening in theaters. So what will be next? I'm rather looking forward to when slasher movies are in fashion again, when I can delight in seeing sinful human beings killed off quickly and deservedly by an implausible maniac. Which brings me to the next trend ...

Most die hard fans of the Godfather trilogy don't consider it a trilogy per se, they like to think the third installment was more like bad salad dressing poured over a meal that was already tasty to begin with. Regardless, it is what it is and, for a long time now, folks wondered whether or not the popular Godfather saga would continue on screen. Well, thanks in part to a hit video game and Mark Winegardner's two books (The Godfather Returns and The Godfather's Revenge), Paramount wants to bring everyone's favorite dysfunctional family back to the big screen ... and fast.

You'll remember that Winegardner was chosen by the estate of the late Mario Puzo (original Godfather author) to continue the legacy, pen more books and hopefully tap into our obsession for everything Corleone. Paramount snatched up the rights to both of Winegardner's books awhile back, and now (according to Moviehole) inside studio sources say the first film could get underway within the next year. Oh, but here's the rub: The Godfather Returns takes place between The Godfather and The Godfather II. So, with the original cast way too old to reprise their roles, they will have to attach new faces to play familiar characters. As one studio spy put it, "I guess you'll notice it about as much as Brandon Routh stepping in for Christopher Reeve in Superman Returns ..." As the old clichè goes, "I have a bad feeling about this ..."

As for The Godfather's Revenge? Well, that one takes place after the first two films, but before the third, and revolves around a plot to assassinate U.S. President Jimmy Shea -- obviously inspired by those rumors floating around JFK's death. It will be interesting to see how they approach both films -- do they attach a hot young director and gear them toward a younger audience, one that might not be as familiar with the original flicks? And who will play Michael Corleone? Any suggestions?

Firstshowing.net has Part One of a two-part guest post by Jason Kaleko on whether we are living in the Age of the Sequel, and if originality in Hollywood is dead as a doornail. Jason cites the AFI 100 and notes that only one film in the entire list is a sequel. True enough, but true also that a lot of them were based on existing source material -- they were not completely original ideas. Just looking at the Top Ten of that list: Casablanca was based off a play, Everybody Comes to Rick's; The Godfather was an adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel; Lawrence of Arabia was based off the writings of T.E. Lawrence, a British officer who spent time in Arabia from 1915-1918; and Gone With the Wind, Wizard of Oz, The Graduate, Schindler's List were all book adaptations. The only truly original works in the Top Ten are Citizen Kane, On the Waterfront, and Singin' in the Rain -- which is not to say that the other films aren't good. It's certainly as much of an art form to adapt an exisiting work as it is to write from scratch.

I don't think there was really any more originality in Hollywood back in the "good old days" than there is now. Studios bought the rights to books, they hired screenwriters (or used underpaid screenwriting staff) to pen adaptations, they made the film. Perhaps it just seems more glaringly bad at the moment because of Hollywood's current love affair with comic-book adaptations and sequels of comic-book adaptations; that trend too, as all Hollywood trends must, will eventually have its end. In the meantime, there's still plenty of original film being made, even it most of it comes out of the indie world. We'll have to check back with First Showing next weeked to see what Jason has to say in Part Two; it feels like he's segueing into talking about indies.

In the meantime, though, what do you film fans and fanatics out there think? Is originality really dead in Hollywood? Or has the death of originality been greatly over-exaggerated?

• Norah Baring (1907-1944) - Actress (pictured) who was thought to be still alive (at least by the IMDb and Genarians.com) was finally found to have died in a car crash over 60 years ago. She started in silent films, such as Anthony Asquith's Underground and A Cottage on Dartmoor, and then featured in early talkies, including Hitchcock's Murder!
• Monty Berman (1913-2006) - Director, cinematographer, producer and writer, mostly of B-movies for his company, Tempean Films, like Jack the Ripper, The Siege of Sidney Street and The Hellfire Club. His greatest credits are probably as a cameraman, though. In this early position, he worked on The Edge of the World and The Third Man. He died June 14 of natural causes, in London.
• Joel Ehrlich (1942-2006) - Executive producer on Below the Belt and Luminarias. He died on July 28 following a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.
• Marty Farrell (c.1928-2006) - TV writer who penned script for Academy Awards broadcasts and AFI specials, and who also appeared in Raging Bull. He died of colon cancer on July 19, in Los Angeles.

Every once in a awhile, I like to do something different with the little thing we call Trailer Park. Seeing as today is Father's Day (in the US, anyway), I figured we ought to take a look back at some of the great movie dads over the years -- dig up some old trailers and pay tribute to the man, the myth, the legend -- the Dad.

Like with real fathers, movie fathers come with a whole host of flaws. These aren't the perfect men by any means, but if there's one thing they all have in common, it's that they love their family. Sure, they may not understand why their kids refuse to be around them and constantly argue their decisions but, at the end of the day, everything always seems to work out ... unless your last name is Corleone.

What follows are the trailers for five films in which Dad is the hero ... or villain, depending on how you look at things. Personally, these are some of my favorite movie fathers. While they may not be the greatest of all time, I've found something inside each one of them to connect with on, ya know, one of them higher levels. We're celebrating Father's Day in this week's Trailer Park: