Idol worship: Mario Cantone, actor/writer/comedian.
- Is best known as the flaky, materialistic professional stylist Anthony Marentino on Sex and the City, a role he'll reprise in the upcoming movie, in theaters May 30.
- The fast-paced, manic comedian got his start hosting the New Jersey-based TV kid's show Steampipe Alley; numerous Comedy Central appearances followed, including Chappelle's Show and his own stand-up special.
- He made his Broadway debut in Terrence McNally's Love! Valour! Compassion!, and has also starred in The Tempest, The Violet Hour and Assassins, as well as has own one-man shows, An Evening with Mario Cantone and the Tony Award nominated Laugh Whore, which was filmed for Showtime.
- Film roles include voice over work for Farce of the Penguins and Surf's Up and an appearence in the notorious The Aristocrats, wherein he memorably told the infamous joke as Liza Minelli (see the clip here - NSFW).
- He has made numerous guest appearances on daytime's The View (and was even rumored to join the female-centric talk show as a co-host for a while) and most recently had a recurring role on the now cancelled primetime dramedy Men in Trees.

Toy Story Mania!, a new interactive ride-through attraction based on the classic Toy Story movies, is gearing up to officially open in Disney parks on both coasts within the next month.

As usual, LaughingPlace.com has been on the scene at Disney's Hollywood Studios for the advance previews, and you can see their extensive video and picture coverage here ... and here and here.

Toy Story Mania! will officially open later this month at Walt Disney World, while the Disneyland version will debut next month at Disney's California Adventure.

I don't know whether C. S. Lewis envisioned his Chronicles of Narnia as movies, but I doubt he would have wanted them translated in such a heavy-handed fashion as is currently being done. Lewis seemed to prefer subtlety in his writing, personal relationships and theological ruminations. Whereas the 2005 adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had a few moments of Lewis-like subtlety, there is none to be found in the new Prince Caspian.

After a strangely abbreviated opening that re-introduces the Pevensie children one year after the events of the previous tale, we're whisked along with them back to Narnia. However, it is 1,300 years later according to Narnia time, and the land's magical former inhabitants have been all but exterminated by the Telmarines, a race of humorless and supernatural-abhorring humans.

Following this basic and fairly brief set-up, Prince Caspian's coveted audience of children and families are then assaulted for two-plus hours by an unrelenting series of swordfights, castle-stormings, battles and other violent skirmishes. Watching the film with a preview audience mostly comprised of children, I was initially surprised, increasingly uncomfortable with and finally horrified by the inappropriately PG-rated goings-on. The fact that some of the bloodletting in the film is done by its juvenile lead characters is downright disturbing.

If The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a kid-friendly re-framing of the Gospels of Jesus, then Prince Caspian is apparently an allegorical take on the Crusades. As Christians and Muslims battled over the Middle East approximately 1,300 years after the death and resurrection of Christ, so here the Narnians and Telmarines fight for control of their "holy land" 1,300 years after the death and resurrection of Aslan, a majestic lion who serves as Jesus' stand-in.

The evil Telmarines are depicted as bearded men with dark complexions, almost all of whom speak with Italian accents. Meanwhile, the good Narnians are generally light-skinned, fresh-faced and speak with British accents, even (oddly) American actor Peter Dinklage, who plays the heroic dwarf Trumpkin.

Newcomer Ben Barnes plays the title character, an exiled Telmarine prince who may be able to unite the Telmarines and Narnians. Barnes is good and uses his dark eyes to hypnotic effect, but his accent tends to waver between Italian, Irish and non-existent during the course of the movie. The best new character is Reepicheep, a fierce, sword-wielding mouse voiced by transvestite comedian Eddie Izzard.

Before this overlong, excessively violent adventure lumbers to a close, Aslan re-appears to work some miracles, validate the victors and remind viewers of all religious stripes that this is supposed to be a Christian story. However, it rings hollow, not unlike the historical Crusades, when we realize Christ condemned violence and encouraged his followers to put down their swords in favor of plowshares. Despite its being heavily marketed to church groups, there is little that is Christian about Prince Caspian.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Little Somerton, Arizona, a dusty town not far from Yuma and the Mexican border, played host to a favorite daughter filming a very personal story, How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer. Much like Falling for Grace and Bonneville, Georgina Garcia Reidel’s film is an independent labor of love with some impressive star power. America Ferrera, Elizabeth Peña and Steven Bauer, along with the enchanting Lucy Gallardo, all bring to life the story of three generations of women searching for love and sex in a small town where nothing happens.

It’s a quiet, languidly paced character study where the heat, longing, and desire for something more are palpable. Bauer, the Cuban-born actor best known for sizzling performances in Scarface and Thief of Hearts, plays Victor Reyes, the comically macho town lothario and video store owner. He catches the eye of lonely mother (and butcher shop owner) Peña, at the same time as her mother (Gallardo) is striking up a friendship with benefits (free driving lessons) with her gardener, and her daughter (Ferrera) is exploring her sexuality with the new bad boy in town.

Bauer is a true contradiction to his swaggering action star persona. The grandson of a German concert violinist (who escaped the Holocaust) and an opera singer, and whose parents fled Cuba as Castro took over, Bauer is a talented musician who is constantly playing guitar or singing when not acting. He loved working on Garcia Girls and can’t say enough great things about the experience of making the film, the people in Somerton he met, and his excitement that Reidel’s film is finally getting distribution and recognition, three years after it garnered a Grand Jury Award nomination at the Sundance Film Festival.

"For some reason, I have a real affinity for the desert and I just loved that small town feel in Somerton and Yuma," Bauer explained. I was able to speak to him right before he left for the International Women’s Film Festival in his hometown of Miami to show the film.

NC: How was it being this huge burst of testosterone among all those women?
SB: Well, that was fun, that was really fun. Needless to say, I was flattered and honored to be chosen by Georgina for that part, and I just had to try to be humble (laughing), just try to retain some humility and not get too carried away there. It really was a great time, and all of the actors were really into the piece. We were all supporting Georgina in her first feature. I’m just so excited that it finally got distribution. It’s been an uphill battle for her. I don’t know if America’s burst of stardom had anything to do with it …

NC: What did you base Victor’s swaggering machismo on?
SB: Oh, gosh. You know, I’ve known guys like that. I’m always observing types, especially men, and the different form and variety of game that men have in dealing with the opposite sex. God, this is a particular type, because he’s a married man who’s not giving up his day job (laughing), he’s the married guy who still wants to be in high school and is just trying to put as many notches on his gun as possible. And he’s got a way of doing it, because obviously he has a radar for the ones who are vulnerable. It’s a social comedy so it’s not written quite that cruelly, but he’s not the nicest person in the world. I tried to play him with some humor. I did approach it, the arrogance, that he considers himself one-of-a-kind, so unique that "no one can resist me". I thought that would be kind of funny without playing the character too clownish or too much of a stereotype. I tried to be a little subtle with it.

NC: Yeah, your body language was so great.
SB: Oh good, you picked up on that. I liked the way the scenes were cut. And of course, Elizabeth and I had great chemistry together. Every time they yelled "Cut!", everybody was laughing. We’re playing it seriously and I’m swaggering, and the director is cracking up. She was going, "Oh my god, you’re so sleazy! You’re such a creep! You’re such a creep!" I had to tell them to stop making me laugh. It was really fun doing it!

NC: Your pictures from Sundance show you with this big warm smile, but your characters are usually these tough military types. Which one’s closer to you?
SB: (Laughing) I’m that warm person. That’s me. I was raised in a very loving family, so when I came to Hollywood, it was quite a culture shock for me. I really had to learn the way of the world quickly.

How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer opens today in limited release.

Interview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

The scrappy little musical Cry-Baby has bounced back from mixed reviews and bad pre-opening buzz to become the underdog of this Broadway season. In addition to nabbing four Tony Award nominations earlier this week, including a surprise nod for Best Musical, the new tuner (based on the John Waters cult fave) picked up a few more trophies today, including a Theatre World Award for co-star Alli Mauzey.

Meanwhile, over at the Fred & Adele Astaire Awards, ensemble member Spencer Liff won their Best Male Dancer on Broadway prize (he also danced in the movies Hairspray and Across the Universe) and Rob Ashford picked up another award for Best Broadway Choreography. Step Up 2: The Streets won for Best Choreography in Film.

For a peak at the award-winning dancing of Cry-Baby, visit the show's own YouTube collection. And stay tuned for a special Reel Thoughts review of the show from our own Neil Cohen, freshly returned from the Big Apple.

Is it Raiders of the Lost Starch? Indiana Spud and the Tuber of Doom? Idaho Jones and the Mash Crusade?

Nope, it's the Indiana Jones Mr. Potato Head: Taters of the Lost Ark.

The 18th Annual Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival starts today in Toronto and continues through May 25.

Scheduled to screen at the fest is Mulligans, a dark comedy described as "The Graduate for a new generation" (so I guess that makes Dan Payne Mrs. Robinson).

The pic stars Dante's Cove faves Charlie David, who also wrote the script and produced, and Thea Gill. Catch the trailer here.

Dashing fashionista Tim Gunn gets some advice from The Love Guru ... or is it the other way around?

The Love Guru opens in theaters June 20.

Hoping to pick up the family film slack left in the wake of last week's non-starter Speed Racer, Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian strides into theaters tomorrow with next to no competition.

Does the dreamy Ben Barnes make a return trip to Narnia worthwhile? Our own Chris Carpenter has already seen it, and he'll chime in tomorrow with his own Reverend's Review of the fantasy sequel; plus, my own Toon Talk take will be posted early next week as well.

Also coming tomorrow: Neil Cohen's exclusive Reel Thoughts interview with Steven Bauer, star of How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer. Elizabeth Peña and America Ferrera also star in this acclaimed Sundance fave, which opens in limited release this weekend.

Visit Fandango - Search movie showtimes and buy tickets!

Helen Hunt (who also co-wrote, produced and directed) stars in Then She Found Me as April, a New York schoolteacher who all at once loses her husband (he runs back to his mother) and adoptive mother, and is confronted by the birth mother she never knew she wanted to meet.

Bernice Graves (Bette Midler) is a loud, overbearing local talk show host who claims that Steve McQueen and she were April’s birth parents. April’s brother (Ben Shenkman from Angels in America) tells her to be careful, and she also finds herself in a lovely relationship with a pupil’s father (Colin Firth). To say all doesn’t go as planned is an understatement.

Hunt is very endearing and she guides her cast well through novelist Elinor Lipman’s comic but serious twists and turns. Midler is a welcome burst of energy as the woman who could either be April’s "fairy godmother or wicked witch". Matthew Broderick plays a variation of his slimy boss character in You Can Count on Me, which Then She Found Me resembles in tone. It’s a sweet and unassuming film with rich characters you’ll want to seek out and find.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

I'm not ashamed to admit I LOVE Speed Racer. Not the animated TV series, with whom I have only a passing acquaintance, but the hyper-stylized, hyper-kinetic new movie adapted from it; bafflingly, I seem to be in the minority among film critics. Despite a number of favorable quotes on the film's newspaper ads, including one by Richard Corliss of Time, most critics have trashed the movie. Anthony Lane of The New Yorker went so far as to call it a work of "pop fascism" (puh-leeze), and warned parents not to take their kids. Such bad advance notices do seem to have scared families away and cursed the film with a relatively meager $18 million dollar opening weekend.

This is a shame, and I've become convinced in recent days (especially after viewing the allegedly family-friendly The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, but more on that in my next review) that most contemporary critics wouldn't know a good family film if it bit them in the ass. Speed Racer even features devotion to family and the importance of family unity as its central themes, but the movie still can't catch a break.

Never mind that, as written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers of Matrix trilogy fame, Speed Racer is also extremely well-acted by a big-name cast. Rising star Emile Hirsch, as the title character, employs a perfect balance of innocence and obsession, which is no easy feat. Susan Sarandon, as Mom Racer, is more down-to-earth and emotionally affecting than she's been in a few years, and John Goodman, as Pops Racer, is the most relaxed and enjoyable he's been on screen since The Flintstones. Christina Ricci is delightful as always as Speed's faithful girlfriend, Trixie, and Matthew Fox of TV's Lost brings unexpected gravitas to the mysterious Racer X. A talented international cast brings the film's remaining assortment of fellow racers, corporate baddies, sportscasters and ninjas to vivid life.

Never mind that the film's creators have seemingly perfected the use of computer graphics and digital environments in their achievement of a stunningly detailed, color-saturated yet organic-feeling world. Critics went ga-ga when Warren Beatty created a similar, cartoon-inspired world in 1990's Dick Tracy (that film's art direction won an Oscar), but some of those same critics are thoroughly unimpressed here.

Never mind that nobody dies in Speed Racer's moral/ethical universe, not even the vilest of the villains. The drivers involved in the film's explosive car crashes are delivered to safety via what look like form-fitting soap bubbles, and live to race another day. The Wachowskis' refusal to indulge violent impulses apart from a couple of comical fistfights struck me as truly refreshing, especially with Iron Man blasting presumed, not necessarily confirmed, terrorists in the next auditorium.

And never mind that Speed Racer's script features some great, timely and occasionally even poetic dialogue about corporate greed, family values, personal achievement and social responsibility. Even if some of it does, admittedly, go on a bit too long, it beats anything currently masquerading as dialogue in big-budget studio films.

My partner and my 40-year old self enjoyed watching Speed Racer as much as, and possibly more than, the children who were seated around us. We all found it entertaining, engrossing and exhilarating. For two hours and fifteen minutes on Sunday night, we were on "speed" and we loved it. Go see it!

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival starts today on the sunny shores of France. Notable films on the docket range from the unexpected blockbuster (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) to the typical art house fare (just about everything else).

EW.com has a rundown of the films expected to make headlines between now and the close of the fest, the largest in the world, on May 25.

Today brings the first of a four part salute to the stars of Sex and the City as they are about to make the leap to the silver screen with their new movie, in theaters May 30.

Object of our affection: Kristin Davis, actress.
- As Charlotte York, the prim and mostly proper one, she endured a short-triggered husband and his overbearing mother only to find love ... and maybe babies ... with her divorce lawyer.
- Year after year, she watched her co-stars get Emmy nominations ... but she finally got one of her own in the series' final season.
- Pre-Sex, she was best known as the shrill and spoiled Brooke Armstrong on the popular nighttime sudser, Melrose Place.
- Other television appearances include Seinfeld, Friends and Will and Grace, and she played Annie (as in "Annie's Song") in the TV biopic Take Me Home: The John Denver Story.
- Film parts include mom roles in such family friendly fare as The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D, The Shaggy Dog and Deck the Halls.

The nominations for the 62nd Annual Tony Awards were announced this morning, with lots of surprises among them. And while our favorites Cry-Baby and Xanadu were both nominated for Best Musical, other front-runners like A Catered Affair and Young Frankenstein were shut out in favor of original works In the Heights (which leads the field with 13 nominations) and Passing Strange. The 39 Steps, based on the classic Alfred Hitchcock film, was nominated for Best Play, where it faces tough competition from August: Osage County, Rock 'n' Roll and The Seafarer.

The 39 Steps leads the screen-to-stage nominees with six, followed by four each for Cry-Baby and Xanadu (including a Best Actress nod for Kerry Butler). A Catered Affair and Young Frankenstein did get three nominations each (including nods for actors Tom Wopat and Faith Prince in the former, and Christopher Fitzgerald and Andrea Martin in the latter), while The Little Mermaid netted only two, including a surprise nomination for Best Original Score.

Stephen Sondheim, currently represented on Broadway with the nominated revivals of Gypsy and Sunday in the Park with George, will receive a special Tony Award for "Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre". The Tony Award telecast, which will be hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, will be broadcast live on CBS from Radio City Music Hall on Sunday June 15. For a quick look at the nominations, see the comments section below.

Previously only available through Best Buy, Universal releases today the first two volumes of their Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collectionin one ten movie set.

If you love vintage 50's science fiction, this is the collection for you: Tarantula, The Mole People, The Monolith Monsters, Monster on the Campus, Dr. Cyclops, Cult of the Cobra, The Land Unknown, The Deadly Mantis, The Leech Woman and The Incredible Shrinking Man (one of my personal favorites of the genre).

Click here to purchase Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection 1 & 2from Amazon.com, and see the Latest on DVD widgets in the sidebar for more of this week's new releases.

From Popeye to George of the Jungle, many a cartoon has tried to make the transition from pen and ink to flesh and blood, but none so spectacularly as Speed Racer. Zooming onto the big screen with a mixture of pedal to the metal pyrotechnics and hyperactive visuals, this live action take on the old school anime series is all kinds of crazy cool fun.

Speed Racer began its pop culture life in the 1960s as a Japanese manga (comic) and animated television series called Mach GoGoGo. Created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida for Tatsunoko Productions, the show (inspired by such western influences as Elvis Presley and James Bond) was quickly picked up for American syndication and given its now familiar name and iconic theme song. Over the years, the original series became a touchstone for both Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers alike, so a full-fledged movie version was inevitable.

And it is finally here; after seeing the kaleidoscopic images that only today’s digital technology could create, you’ll be glad they waited. Helmed by the visionary minds behind The Matrix trilogy, Larry and Andy Wachowski, this Speed thrills, exploding off the starting line and never letting up, laws of physics and plot densities be damned.

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Speed Racer at LaughingPlace.com.

At first glance, screen to stage productions did well at the 58th annual Outer Critics Circle Awards today: the stage versions of Xanadu and Young Frankenstein tied for Outstanding Broadway Musical of the year, and Cry-Baby took home choreography honors.

But the big winners were the acclaimed revivals of Gypsy and South Pacific, with the latter taking home the most awards (four) of the day, including Outstanding Musical Revival. Both shows dominated the musical acting awards, including the first of likely many for Patti LuPone as Mama Rose.

Other acting winners include such big names as Kevin Kline (as Cyrano de Bergerac), James Earl Jones (as Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Laurie Metcalf (November) and Laurence Fishburne (Thurgood).

Crush object: Shia LaBeouf, actor.
- He first gained fame as a young actor on television, winning a Daytime Emmy Award for his role in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens.
- His breakout role in the movie Holes led to supporting turns in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle; I, Robot; Constantine; A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Bobby, in which he had his first nude scene.
- An impressive lead performance in the golf period drama The Greatest Game Ever Played caught the attention of mega-producer Steven Spielberg, who cast him in the blockbuster hit of 2007, Transformers, which (along with Disturbia and Surf's Up) earned the actor a BAFTA Rising Star Award for his work last year.
- This year isn't shaping up to badly either, with his role as Mutt Williams (new sidekick and possible son to a certain Dr. Jones) in the eagerly awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (in theaters May 22). Next up: the thriller Eagle Eye, the romantic anthology New York, I Love You and more transformin' with Transformers 2, due next year.

Beam aboard as the Movie Dearest countdown to the American Film Institute's 2008 edition of their famed "100 Years" lists, AFI's 10 Top 10, continues with science fiction. Defined as a genre that "marries a scientific or technological premise with imaginative speculation", sci fi films can range from the optimistic to the bleak, and there have been plenty of both recognized by the AFI's lists in years past.

Topping out at six prior mentions apiece are two films that should provide a close race for the top spot on this top ten: Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey. And while the latter can be viewed either way, the former is certainly in the optimistic camp (unlike its not nominated sequel, The Empire Strikes Back), as is the next highest placer, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (five previous listings). However, next up is another Stanley Kubrick masterpiece, A Clockwork Orange (four previous listings), that is certainly of the downer variety.

Three more classics come in next with three prior mentions: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Frankenstein, the oldest movie among the fifty nominees (see the comments section below for the full list). Rounding out the strong possibilities from previous lists are Alien, Blade Runner, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Planet of the Apes (all with two apiece), Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Soylent Green and The War of the Worlds (all with one previous mention), plus the lone AFI Award winner, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Of the possible newcomers to the list, the one that I would most like to see in the top ten, Children of Men, is also the most recent of the nominees. Other contenders include such popular favorites as Back to the Future, Fantastic Voyage, Forbidden Planet, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Invisible Man, Minority Report, Robocop, Silent Running, The Time Machine and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, representing the entire Trek franchise.

Mark your calendars for June 17, the date the results will be revealed when AFI's 10 Top 10 airs on CBS.

To celebrate Mother's Day today, here is Vanessa Prager's "Mother Knows Best", inspired by our namesake.

And for more mommies you may not want to run into in a dark alley, be sure to check out Kindertrauma's extensive lists of "Trauma-Mommas".

The last of the GLAAD Media Awards ceremony was held last night in San Francisco.

In addition to awards for Sharon Stone, L Word creator Ilene Chaiken, Brokeback Mountain producer James Schamus and The Advocate, the prize for Outstanding Television Movie or Mini-Series went to here! TV's The DL Chronicles. Also a winner: the Levi's "Change" commercial, which also aired as a heterosexual version.

A television broadcast of the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, which will include coverage from all four of this year's ceremonies, will air on Bravo June 27.

Just in time for the debut of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian this Friday, this prince charming will begin making meet and greet appearances at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World beginning the same day.

Also, "Journey Into Narnia: Prince Caspian", a behind the scenes attraction based on the movie, is also planned for later this summer.

Meanwhile on the west coast, the prince is already making parade stops at Disneyland.

Television history will be made tomorrow night on ABC's Brothers and Sisters: for the first time, two regular gay characters on American primetime network TV will get hitched (or as much as they can in California, where the series is set).

In last week's penultimate episode, Kevin Walker (played by Matthew Rhys) proposed to his boyfriend Scotty Wandell (Luke MacFarlane), and their wedding ceremony will serve as the crux of the second season finale. Also, another gay-themed storyline, involving the closeted uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin), will be just one of the many other family secrets touched on, so be sure to have the tissues handy.

In recognition of the landmark occasion, GLAAD has compiled a comprehensive media resource on "marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships for gay couples".

Per Playbill.com: "There is enough pressure in high school without the Lord appearing to you and telling you what to do -- even if he does provide a divine setup for a song.

That's the way it goes in the new affectionate, coming-of-age musical, Saved, getting its world premiere at Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons."

After a one night delay, the stage musical version of the cult comedy film Saved! began previews tonight; it will officially open June 3, for a limited engagement through June 22.

Idol worship: Perry Moore, director/writer/producer.
- He started his show biz career on the original production team of The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
- As part of Walden Media, he brought C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series to Disney. The first film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was a huge hit; its sequel, Prince Caspian, opens next week.
- His first film as a writer/director (with his partner Hunter Hill), Lake City (a family drama starring Sissy Spacek, Troy Garity, Rebecca Romijn and Keith Carradine), is due later this year.
- Also in the works is a documentary about famed children's book author Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) with director Spike Jonze.
- In addition to his work in film, he is also a best-selling author; his first novel, Hero(about a gay superhero) is currently in development for the silver screen.