It wasn't many summers ago that audiences were thought downright hostile to pirate movies. Unless you were stuck in the brig these last few years, you know what happened to change all that: An animatronic boat ride dating back to the 1960s was, for some reason, given a modern makeover and a Kraken-sized budget and now, somehow, I don't know anyone who doesn't celebrate Talk Like A Pirate Day.

If you would've told me 10 years ago exactly how much mileage Mike Myers would get out of that crappy Scottish accent he does, I wouldn't have believed you.

I don't want to say I love zombies more than anything, but I do love them more than most things.

I don't want to say I love zombies more than anything, but I do love them more than most things.

I'm sure, by the time you read this, `Spider-Man 3 will have already ensnared many thousands of moviegoers in its glitzy, digitally-enhanced web.

In case you missed it, the Catholic Church recently declared limbo - the space between heaven and hell reserved for unbaptized infants - officially nonexistent.

By sheer luck, I happened to catch a little bit of Commando on AMC the other night. If I were more prone to employ irony when doling out praise, I might use the word "masterpiece" for this pre-Kindergarten Cop Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle.

There have been a few movies over the past several years that involve people with limited or non-existent short-term memories, and while it's always noted that these conditions are very rare, you might not know it. Really, one would think you'd run into these people out on the street more often, considering their prominence in cult hits like Memento and commercial comedies like 50 First Dates.

There's a scene in Punch Drunk Love, far and away one of my favorite films of the last 10 years, where Barry (played by Adam Sandler) goes nuts after being teased by his emasculating sisters. In a blind rage he smashes a series of windows only to look immediately embarrassed at what he's done. It's the first moment in the film that displays the volcanic rage at the heart of its ostensibly tender protagonist.

"Beware the stare of Mary Shaw," goes the nursery rhyme. "She had no children, only dolls."Wow, that just sounds creepy, doesn't it?No? Well, maybe not. But for Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten), who is investigating the grisly murder of his wife, it's an important piece of evidence. As he explains to detective Jim Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg), "In the town I come from, a ventriloquist's dummy is, like, a bad omen."

This might cause the administration of my alma mater to revoke my hard-earned diploma, but here's my guilty admission: For the duration of my time at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, I gave virtually no thought to the significance of the school's mascot, the Spartan...

A lot of people don't realize this film criticism thing is a part-time gig for me. I work days (and more than a few nights) as a newspaper reporter, which is why I was excited to see Zodiac, the newest film by David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room)...

I don't know about you, friend, but I'd estimate that a good 90 percent of my television intake consists of shows I watch just because they happen to be on.Maybe I'm giving up too much information here, but someone has to say it: Yes, I've seen every episode of "My Super Sweet Sixteen," despite the fact that every cell in my body cries out in revolt, simply because, for reasons I can't or won't explain, I choose not to look away...

Traitor.In the acerbic political climate we can't seem to stop wallowing in, it might be fair to say the word has lost some of its sting. Yes, it's supposed to signify a person who actively works against the interests of the United States, who crosses that line in the sand to reveal crucial intelligence at the expense of American lives...

First, the good news: Anthony Hopkins has a new movie coming out in which he plays a brilliant criminal who mercilessly toys with the detective investigating him for murder. At least some of the scenes transpire while Hopkins' character is in prison, with that distant yet intensely focused look on his face, priming the detective to spend a few days chasing his tail...

Here's the scenario: Your family has just moved from the sleepy Chicago suburbs to a long-abandoned sunflower farm in North Dakota. You frequently find yourself alone in the dilapidated lean-to you now call home and you constantly hear noises emanating from dark corners or, worse still, the dank basement that's illuminated by a lonely 25-watt light bulb...

ome actors, left unrestrained, can swallow a movie whole.By way of example, let's take Al Pacino in 1992's Scent of a Woman. If you've seen it as many times as I have, you can probably remember that the plot revolves around a blind ex-Marine who fools a prep school scholarship student into accompanying him around New York for a delightful tour of the senses...