A personal checklist and shopping guide:

Wall-E
As with all great movies, I quickly forgot about everything except the characters and the story. Wall-E sparked some surprising political and sociological debates, but no one can deny the sense of wonder that the boxy robot and his adventures engender. Erik's already run down the special features; the toughest decision is which editon to get. Buy it.

Tropic Thunder
I skipped this one theatrically because I'm worn out on Hollywood self-mockery -- has any other industry ever found itself so simultaneously fascinating yet repulsive? Still, reviews were generally strong, and this is the best bet this week for a broad, R-rated comedy, as long as you haven't overdosed on Ben Stiller and Jack Black. Does Robert Downey, Jr. make it all worthwhile? Rent it.

Encounters at the End of the World
Speaking of something simultaneously fascinating yet repulsive, Werner Herzog traveled to the Antarctic to make a personal essay assailing the ugliness of the man-made town from which all journeys Seriously Down Under begin, and questions the sanity of some of the people who work there. Then the beauty of the place overwhelms everything, before Werner starts asking about the sex life of penguins to liven up an interview. Oh, Werner! Rent it.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
Girl power got a kick in the, er, pants, with this sequel, which takes place in a fantasy land of upper class privilege masquerading as lower middle class struggles. No doubt some will take me to task for missing the moral message which is rolled up somewhere inside the pretty scenery and prettier tears; I admit I dozed off a couple of times. In a weird way, this could be a good contrasting double-bill with Twilight. Under 18? Rent it.

The weekend estimates have The Dark Knight taking the top spot for the fourth straight week in another squeaker -- though not as close as last week's victory over The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. It dropped 39% to $26 million, which was good enough to beat the $22.4 million showing for the stoner comedy Pineapple Express. That brings The Dark Knight to $441.5 million, edging out Shrek 2 for third place on the all-time domestic charts. By next weekend, it should pull ahead of Star Wars (its unadjusted numbers, anyway) for second place. Titanic still remains out of reach, or at least it seems that way right now.

It's worth noting that Pineapple Express was released on Wednesday (since Wednesday's the new Friday, doncha know), and pulled in $40.5 million over the five days -- a victory for an R-rated stoner comedy. The horribly titled The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, also released on Wednesday, had a $19.7 million five-day on just over 2,700 screens, a reasonably strong showing for a sequel to a niche film that made $39 million in 2005.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor dropped 60% to $16.1 million -- whoops. It looks to top out at around $100 million, which would make it a distant third in the main franchise, though it might beat out The Scorpion King.

One of the summer's biggest box office surprises is lurking down at #7 on the weekend chart. Journey to the Center of the Earth continues to suffer only miniscule drops; it's taken in $82 million after five weekends of release, after an opening weekend of only $21 million. That sounds like a ringing audience endorsement of Real-D 3-D to me.

The full estimates after the jump.

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game that brings the tropic thunder and then some! Last week we asked you to strap on a pair of those magical traveling pants and participate in a little caption-ing for a photo from the new flick The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Note to someone: Never include a small group of pretty girls amongst a few large, orange bouncing balls. Why? Well, to our winners ...


1. "Your balls don't scare me." -- Paul P.

2. Suzie, this is an intervention. We understand that you have a problem with oversized polyps, but you can't just leave them all over the living room like this." -- Kurt P.

3. "This is what happens to the sisterhood once the pants stop fitting." -- Rifah O.

See full image and all captions


This week, it's raining madness and we're traveling into the heart of the jungle with the boys from Tropic Thunder -- a film that's absolutely hysterically insane. Ben Stiller directs and stars alongside folks like Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. (as a black man), Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson -- all of whom play a group of actors shooting the most expensive war picture of all time. But when the real war comes a little too close for comfort, our pretend soldiers will need to get "in the sh*t" ... for realz. The folks behind our three favorite captions will helicopter away with one very awesome signed Tropic Thunder movie poster. Sound off below!



Read the official rules for this contest

If you pay attention, you can learn a lot from movies, even ones you haven't seen. For example: No one dragged me to see Sex and the City and I wasn't inclined to spend money on a dialogue-heavy show that played just fine on TV. Oh, boy, did I miss out! The movie sparked raging debates, both pro and con, and became a rallying cry for neglected female audiences. What I learned: It can be enlightening to expand the range of movies you watch.

Determined not to avoid the next chick flick phenomenon, I hustled out to see Mamma Mia! The audience was overwhelmingly female and mostly as old or older than (middle-aged) me, and it was great to see almost everyone enjoying themselves. Too bad the movie itself was shrill and poorly-directed; even Meryl Streep floundered at times. What I learned: Abba's songs are incredibly catchy; it's OK to have sex with multiple partners within a few weeks time, as long as you can retreat to your own hotel on a gorgeous Greek island to raise your child on your own.

The audience for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 was younger but more racially diverse, though I didn't understand the message of sisterhood that was supposed to be underlying everything. What I learned: You can neglect your friends' obvious emotional needs for weeks at a time as long as you have access to millions of frequent flyer miles and can retreat to a gorgeous Greek island to reconnect.

What have you learned from the movies lately?

Brendan Fraser's third outing as a mummy wrangler did OK, but not well enough to unseat The Dark Knight which has held the number one sport for three weeks now. Here's the top five:

1. The Dark Knight: $42.6 million
2. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: $40.5 million
3. Step Brothers: $16.5 million
4. Mamma Mia!: $12.6 million
5. Journey to the Center of the Earth: $6.6 million

We've got two new releases this week, both of which are arriving in theaters today in hopes of building buzz for the coming weekend (and to avoid the start of the Olympics). Also, neither of them is directly targeting the same audience as The Dark Knight, which, even in its fourth week of release, is still the one to beat.

Pineapple Express
What's It All About: A stoner (Seth Rogen) and his dealer (James Franco) find themselves on the run after seeing a cop commit murder. Rogen wrote the script with Evan Goldberg, and this is the writing team behind Superbad.
Why It Might Do Well: Judd Apatow isn't directing, but he's on board as producer and he's got a story credit, so hopefully his magic touch will be in evidence. Also, most theaters provide comfortable seating with easy access to snacks, so the stoner crowd should feel right at home.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The aforementioned stoners might be saving their money for the recently announced Cheech and Chong reunion.
Number of Theaters: 3,072
Prediction: $24 million

I figure I'm about 20 years older, at least, than the target demographic for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I understand that there are some movies where I'll always feel a little old or out of touch, because they're just not made with me in mind, no matter how good or bad those movies are. Fortunately, I had no trouble empathizing with the four young women who are bound to friendship through their magical bifurcated nether garment -- more so than I did with the Sex and the City gang, who are much closer to my age.

Like Sex and the City, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 works better if you know the characters already through their previous appearances, because you're already emotionally invested in them. I hadn't read the young-adult novels by Ann Brashares, but my sister, who is a big fan, filled me in and we determined that this movie is based mostly on the fourth book in the series, with a few changes, so even if you've read the books you get some surprises.

Hey, when did the LA Times become the new Cinematical (ahem ... and ahem)?

We've got such craziness this week with two big summer films landing in theaters on Wednesday instead of Friday. No, you don't have some fancy holiday weekend coming up (sorry cubicle dude), but the Olympics do begin later this week, and, well, some of us really want to get our Women's Swimming 100m Butterfly on. That said, those mid-weekers have a choice between the weed action/comedy Pineapple Express and the sober adventure/comedy/romance/jeans-wearing sequel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

I imagine each film has a completely different audience, with one attracting stoners, fans of Judd Apatow-produced content, comedy nuts and the Girls Obsessed with Seth Rogen Association of America (or GOWSRAA), while the other looks to bring in pre-teen and teenage girls (and their parents) who like to watch other girls come of age and explore the rest of their lives ... or something like that. Word has it each flick is worthy of your nine bucks (I've seen Pineapple and can vouch for its coolness), so it's really about which movie fits your cinematic tastes.

So, what are you watching: Pineapple Express or The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2?

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game that's great to play while you're traveling ... with pants ... for a second time! Last time we met in this glorious space, we asked you to bring along some funny to compliment an image from the film Step Brothers -- and you gave us spider monkey attacks, Mountain Dew jokes and screaming peas. Right on!

1. "I told you not to tease those spider monkeys, they'll come at you ... well, like spider monkeys." -- Matt H.

2. "That's what happens when you actually try to do the "Dew." -- Kathi F.

3. "You're right, I can hear the little peas screaming as they're thawing out. That's just weird." -- P.J.

See full image and all captions



This week, we're back again with our four favorite friends and the extremely special pair of jeans that works its way from one girl to the next over the course of one busy summer. You know what they say: Some friends just fit together. (And how come my jeans never seem to fit?) Yup, it's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (in theaters August 6), and the authors behind our three favorite captions will travel away with one Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 tank top, one BeDazzler stud-setting tool with assorted studs and crystals, one The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 soundtrack, one (1) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 mini tote, one The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 charm key chain, one The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 visor, one The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 lip balm lanyard, and one The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 beach ball. Sound off below!



Read the official rules for this contest

Before we get the sequel to and the potential copiers of Sex and the City, we're in for a summer of comparative marketing. Already we've seen a new trailer for The Women, which arrived well-timed on the heels of the Sex in the City box office reports. Now, thanks to some insightful reporting from the New York Times, we find out that Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is just like Sex and the City, only its for little girls. Like the recent hit movie, Kit Kittredge comes with a built-in audience thanks to the successful American Girl property, which consists of dolls, books and TV movies. Also, yes, it's mainly for females. Oh, and it's a Picturehouse release, meaning its pretty much being released by the same studio (New Line, now a division of Warner Bros.) that brought us Sex and the City.

Interestingly enough, The Women is also Picturehouse, and this summer's other big female-geared movie, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, is Warner Bros. Hopefully another article can point out that the sequel is just like Sex and the City, only for teen girls. Then all we'd need is for Warner Bros. to make my desired big-screen Golden Girls movie (with original cast, of course), because it'd be just like Sex and the City, only for older girls. Unfortunately the series was produced by Disney, who'd likely hold on to the film rights.

It used to be that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 was schedule to go head-to-head with Pineapple Express. In one corner was the film that has one heck of a pair of magic pants, that no matter how skinny, curvy, tall, or short you are, they just fit perfectly, like a glove, and bond you to your friends stretched across the country and globe (and this time, different colleges). In the other corner was Pineapple Express, the flick that revels in weed, murder, men-on-the-run, and one heck of a catchy trailer song.

Add to that The Perfect Game, which also comes out on August 8, and it looks like a varied triple-header -- one that I think wouldn't have much opening weekend overlap. Still, to get a head up on the competition, Ace Showbiz reports that those Traveling Pants will now hit the screens two days earlier, on August 6. WB distribution president Dan Fellman explains: "It gives us a couple days of extra summer play time. So it just looked like a smart thing to do."

Do you think it will make a difference for the young girl box office? I think it's safe to say that neither of the other two contenders will pull in the same audience, aside from some small overlap.