Meanwhile, Apollo program/Nixon crosstalk - if humans destroy ourselves and the environment of Earth, the only ready evidence of our existence will be space trash. That includes the descent stages of six LEMs on the moon and the plaques the astronauts left there. If anyone discovers those and can interpret symbols, they will find 19 signatures - eighteen astronaut's names, each appearing once, and six times the signature of Richard M. Nixon, president of the United States of America. Theoretically, alien visitors could be led to believe Nixon was the most important human being who ever lived.

*shiver*

And this looks good. I've heard Langella was just plain awesome in the show, so I'll hold off judgment 'till I see him in the final product. I'm betting the Public Enemies trailer will be attached to this flick, so that's all the more reason to wish December would get here soon.

And is that Fountain music already overused? Starting to seem like it...

For instance: how awesome COULD "Ransom" have been if a more popcorn-oriented director had done it, instead of Opie gunning for another Oscar nod?

Howard even poked fun at this when he was on the Simpsons - he pitches some melodramatic tripe (think Sophie's Choice) to Brian Grazer, who rejects him, only to steal Homer's idea, and sell it - but not before adding some BS melodrama to it first.

Ron Howard's movies (after Gung Ho, which should have been MUCH funnier, for a "comedy") all take themselves waaay too seriously and don't give the audience enough fun/excitement. I like Apollo 13 (and Cinderella Man), and they're good, but mostly humorless. In both cases (and in Beautiful Mind) he was working from a true story that was compelling enough to make a movie out of (by definition), and the "Direction" wasn't anything to write home about.

Actually, the direction/photography in Cinderella's fight scenes were grating as hell - where they punching the camera? WTF?

Ron Howard's not one of the most stylish directors, nor is he one of the more interesting ones, but he's definitely one of the good, solid ones.

I wish Ron well, but he needs to slap me across the face with something before I'll get interested again.

As for Bale's "TDK" bat-husk, I had trouble understanding him at times. The man's sibilance was so over pronounced I thought he might start spraying nearby humans. Or Rottweilers.

M-o-M, being a cordwainer puts Howard above 70 percent of the schmucks putting movies in the theaters. He's technically skilled but easily led astray by weak scripts. He does best with light material, IMO, but sometimes rises above the paper in front of him to create truly interesting films, "Apollo 13" most notably.

Meanwhile - have you yet discovered a way to disagree with someone without being bitchy? Apparently not. They're movies, man, that's all. Great to shit, they're still just movies.