Kids rule the multiplex. That's why they're the most targeted audience and the most targeted consumers as far as Hollywood and concession suppliers are respectively concerned. But where would the kids be without their parents? Perhaps they'd still be watching movies, but maybe not at the cinema. To see a movie at the multiplex, they need a ride from their mom, or they require the companionship of their blockbuster-loving dad. Sure, things may be a little different today, but my experience of being a moviegoing child entailed a lot of assistance and encouragement from my mom and dad.

It's hard to decide which parent had greater influence on my cinephilia, especially since I only recently recognized my mother's contributions. My father was the one who usually took my brothers and me to the movies every other weekend, and each time we stayed with him we seemed to rent more videos than could be watched in a 48-hour period. Meanwhile my mother let us watch cable, including as much R-rated fare as HBO would broadcast. At a very, very young age I was already familiar with a lot of horror, violence, swearing, nudity and other "restricted" content that the MPAA was only OK with me seeing if it was OK with my "accompanying parent or adult guardian."

• Leonard Rosenman (1924-2008) - Oscar-winning composer of the scores for Barry Lyndon and Bound for Glory. He also received nominations for his scores for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Cross Creek. Other scores he composed include those for East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, RoboCop 2, Fantastic Voyage, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Race with the Devil, Hell is for Heroes, Hellfighters, A Man Called Horse, The Car, the 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer and the 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. He died of a heart attack March 4, in Woodland Hills, California. (Variety)

• Carole Barnes (1944-2008) - British television newsreader who appears as herself in Shaun of the Dead. She died following a stroke March 8, in Brighton, England. (The Guardian)
• Sidney Beckerman (1920-2008) - Producer of Marathon Man, Kelly's Heroes, Joe Kidd, Red Dawn and Inchon. He also was president of Allied Artists, where he oversaw the production of Cabaret, and he was executive producer of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension and The Sicilian. He died of cancer February 25, in Los Angeles. (Variety)
• John Bliss (1930-2008) - Actor who appears in A Face in the Crowd, Intolerable Cruelty, The Miracle Worker, The Thing with Two Heads, Imaginary Heroes and Art School Confidential. He died of complications related to an abdominal aneurysm February 28, in Los Angeles. (Variety)

I love reading about who was supposed to be in roles, especially those roles where you can't imagine any other actor doing it justice. Sometimes the casting changes are a positive change, and sometimes they're just teamed with actor's wrong choices. This story is one of the latter. While talking to MTV, Tim Roth discussed how he was tapped to play Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series, the role that became famous because of Alan Rickman. Why didn't he take the role? He wanted to be in Planet of the Apes. Ouch. Bad choice!

Roth said: "I was going to do both films. We rigged it so that I could fly back and forth. They figured out the schedule, but it just got to be overwhelming in my mind. my kids really liked the books. They were really into me doing it, but the idea of being an ape with Tim was too good." I wonder what his kids think about this decision, or if he regrets it at all, but isn't admitting it. If he had taken the role, he'd be closer to Snape's age in the books, which was late-30s. Instead, they went the Interview with the Vampire route (the super-old Armand) and got Rickman, who is currently 61.

Roth says he would have made his Snape "a very different guy." For sure! Can you imagine Roth as Snape? Would he have done an ever better job, or was the scheduling conflict a great gift to the series?

Over at Cracked.com, they've made a list of the top ten worst twist endings of all time. Obviously that list has a lot of spoilers, but I'm going to attempt to write this post without revealing any of them. Why? To make sure you go over there, of course. So, if you're not worried about ruining the endings to some movies you probably shouldn't see anyway, then head over and read the hilariously confusing explanations, or attempts at explanations, and/or how some endings don't make enough sense to bother with explanations. I will let you in on the titles of the movies, just in case you are interested in seeing any of them in the future and would like to go in spoiler free. The ten, in order from "least asinine" to "most asinine", are: Stay (2005); High Tension (2003); Signs (2002); Hide and Seek (2005) and Secret Window (2004), which tie for #7, because they're considered the exact same plot (is that spoiling it for you guys? probably -- oh well, I tried); The Forgotten (2004); Basic (2003); Perfect Stranger (2007); The Number 23 (2007); Planet of the Apes (2001); and The Life of David Gale (2003).

I haven't seen the number one movie, but I can't imagine it's worse than the others that I have seen, especially Planet of the Apes. Basically, I think Cracked.com considers it the worst because it stars Kevin Spacey, who also starred in The Usual Suspects, which pretty much, along with The Sixth Sense, obviously, got Hollywood on this crappy twist kick to begin with (He was also in Se7en, which had another so-so twist ending). Look at those films; they all came out between 2001 and 2007. And what was the most common twist? The main character did it. Either he or she has a split personality, or amnesia, or suffers from some other psychological ailment. Other idiotic yet easily written twists include: aliens did it; it's all a dream (as if you need to steal from Bob Newhart, come on!); and, in the fashion of Suspects, it's all just made-up stories. Personally, I'm upset to not see my least favorite twist ending. It involved a whole crop of great actors who just so happened to be explained as existing inside the imagination of some mental patient. That one had the split personality plus the dream plus the Suspects idea that none of what we watched is real. Can you name it?

Like most people on the internet, we at Cinematical love lists. I love them so much that I wish I could write about everyone I read, but unfortunately there are too many geeks out there making up too many lists, and not enough love to go round (can't you see this is the land of confusion .... ). But since another thing we love around here is Star Wars -- not just the movies but also the fans, the debates, the complaints, etc. -- I figured that these four lists were worth sharing. Because they all mention something related to George Lucas' popular universe. Three of the lists also reference a lot of Star Trek, but with J.J. Abrams rebooting the franchise and all, I think Trekkies have enough love right now. Meanwhile, the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars occurred this year, and we still had to read about things like the Harry Potter franchise out-grossing the Star Wars series and Serenity beating out Star Wars as a best sci-fi film poll. So, thanks to the people at Fark.com, who love lists even more than we do, here are four movie-related lists that give some appropriate props:

• First we have the Times' countdown of the 40 most memorable aliens. Unfortunately, the only Star Wars aliens listed are at #32 and #26, and they're the Ewoks and Max Rebo, respectively. Considering most of the characters in the series can be considered aliens, this is harsh, but since I'm one of the few Ewok fans out there, I appreciate the gesture. Even if ALF is higher up on the list than they are. At least they're still better than the Coneheads. Anyway the top ten here is full of other significant movie aliens, including the arachnids of Starship Troopers, E.T., the Transformers, Superman, The Blob, The Thing and, at the top spot, God.
  
• Next there's Kunochan.com's countdown of the top twenty starship captains. Once again, Star Wars doesn't get the #1, but it's understandable that Star Trek's most famous captains get the first two slots. At #3, though, is Han Solo. However, the list's author does point out that he had to put a Star Wars character in the top five to avoid having his house firebombed. I don't mind the disingenuous comment; Solo deserves to be higher up than Captain Janeway and the dude from Firefly/Serenity. Down the line at #11 we've also got Grand Moff Tarkin.

Remaking a film, whether it's a classic or not, can be a tricky thing: The source material needs to be solid, there has to be an audience that will want to see the film, and -- most importantly -- there has to be a legitimate reason for an update. Regarding the final point, this "legitimate reason" cannot be making a crap-ton of money by fast-tracking a dud. It should be, as in the case of 2005's King Kong, that an update adds something to the original, such as kick-ass special effects that weren't available back in the '70s (the last time Kong graced screens), or simply makes it more accessible to modern audiences. Alas, too few movies heed this final point, and that is why so many remakes, from Planet of the Apes to Psycho, fall short of expectations.

Moviefone has ranked the 25 Worst Movie Remakes of all time, beginning with the moderately misguided and finishing up with the flagrantly bad and unnecessary. Check out the list, then share your picks for the worst remakes. Did we miss any stinkers? Did we include any that, in your opinion, are brilliant reimaginings? And, lastly, do you think Helena Bonham Carter still looks hot as an ape?

If you haven't already, you must read Joshuah Bearman's new Wired article about the 1980 hostage rescue involving the creation of a fake sci-fi movie. Here, I'll sum it up quickly: after the CIA and two makeup artists came up with a non-existent movie (it seemed so real that it had the trades fooled), an operative named Tony Mendez traveled to Iran under the guise of the production in order to sneak out six American hostages. And yes, it worked. Well, it didn't take long for a studio to realize the now-unclassified story would make a perfect non-non-existent movie. Warner Bros. has bought the rights to the article and has tapped none other than George Clooney and Grant Heslov to write the screenplay.

The last film Clooney and Heslov wrote together was Good Night, and Good Luck, for which they received Oscar nominations. And considering the fact that Clooney has worked with CIA subject matter before, with his directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and with his Oscar-winning performance in Syriana, the man seems fully qualified. Hopefully Clooney will also direct the film, which will be called Escape From Tehran, or at least appear in it. It would also be perfect if the project, labeled a dramedy, could employ the two makeup artists, but unfortunately one of them is no longer alive. John Chambers, who won an Honorary Academy Award in 1969 for his work on Planet of the Apes, died in 2001. However, his partner on the mission, Robert Sidell, who went on to do the makeup for E.T., may be able to contribute somehow.

Escape From Tehran reminds me of two other films, Wag the Dog and The Last Shot, but it will likely be good enough to make me forget both (especially the latter). The only thing I ask for is a title change. Right now it sounds like it should feature Kurt Russell as Snake Plisskin, or worse, it could confuse people if it comes out anytime close to the Escape from New York remake. Here is my suggestion, which will associate it better with Clooney's and Heslov's work: You May Proceed. Good Luck. Okay, it isn't actually a better title, but if you read the article (do it!), my idea will at least make sense.

The Browncoats strike again! The wacky fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly television series, and its feature film spin-off, Serenity, are continuing to show their strength on the internet, as SFX Magazine has declared Serenity the winner of an online poll, in which readers voted for the best science fiction film. This should be a big blow to George Lucas, whose Star Wars had certainly been the sci-fi fan favorite for most of the last three decades. Star Wars came in 2nd place with only 28% of the votes compared to Serenity's 61%. There was also a sad turnout for fans of Spielberg, Verhoeven and Star Trek, none of whom/which made the grade this time around. The winners, in order after Star Wars, are Blade Runner, Planet of the Apes (1968 version, I hope), The Matrix, Alien, Forbidden Planet, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator and Back to the Future.

Lucas and his Star Wars franchise also fared badly in CNN's list of best and worst movie battles. Not only did no Star Wars film make it into the best ten, but two of the films held spots in the worst. The Battle of Endor, with its Ewoks, from Return of the Jedi and the Battle of Naboo, with its Jar-Jar, from The Phantom Menace are grouped alongside awful sequences from King Arthur, Dune and Pearl Harbor. Also among the worst, though, is a sequence from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which also features two battles in the best of group. Fortunately for Spielberg and Verhoeven, one film each of theirs was also highlighted among the greatest battle scenes of all time, which was topped by the helicopter attack from Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.

[via Fark.com]

Let me first start this Cinematical Seven list with a disclaimer -- I love genre movies and sci-fi movies in particular. It's probably because, like many of you, I watched the original Star Wars as a kid and fell in love with the idea of speeding through space, fighting the evil galactic empire, saving the day in the nick of time and getting to kiss the Princess. Of course, in my version of the story, the Princess was not my sister. ...

Sci-fi films are great because they serve to entertain us, thrill us and help us see what the future could be like if we live that long. Plus, you get the fun of all that wrapped up in an attractive and exciting package filled with great special effects, memorable performances and stories that while they entertain us, also manage to teach us a little something about life, ourselves and what it means to be human.

When making my list I tried to think of films that inspired me and helped fuel my love for this genre. Some of these films may be obvious to you and some may be new but I feel they all represent what is best about sci-fi films. I also realize that two of these films feature Charlton Heston. What can I tell you -- the man knows good sci-fi material when he reads it. Plus, I also included two films starring the lovely Catherine Mary Stewart, who I had a serious crush on during my formative years. She sure was cute. And spunky. Much like a certain Princess we all know and love.

Here, then, is my list of the seven sci-fi films you should be watching.

Gattaca (1997) -- Writer/Director Andrew Niccol's dystopian vision of a future where you're bred and selected for your genetic superiority is a compelling indictment of the dangers of technology and social responsibility. Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law star along with the great Alan Arkin as a detective assigned to investigate a murder at the giant corp where Hawke works. In the film, Hawke's character, a supposedly inferior and non-genetically enhanced "in-valid" takes the place of Jude Law's character, an enhanced "valid", in order to pursue his dreams of space travel.

This film is a compelling mix of sci-fi film, detective thriller, murder mystery and romance with many twists and turns. Plus, the Production Design, Cinematography and even Ethan Hawke's performance are first-rate and help you imagine a future where all of these things could exist. Gattaca entertains and makes you think at the same time. Not a bad mix.