So, in other words, for all of you - like me - who liked cartoons growing up but don’t have the patience to watch 25-minute episodes anymore, this could be a great alternative (I’m pretty sure they have non-cartoons as well). Here’s the pilot episode of The Tick… [EDITOR’S NOTE: Having written this post before watching the video, I now see that the pilot episode is for the live-action version. Either way… Enjoy!]

Number 30 is a pleasant surprise, as Yahoo! users rated Serenity as such. I didn’t know there were enough people who had seen this awesome flick to get it on such a list, but I guess there are. Serenity is one of the best action sci-fi flicks in recent memory. The list includes the ones you’d expect to be on there, such as E.T., The Empire Strikes Back, Back to the Future, etc., but there are some that clearly benefited from their recency, such as:

• X-Men: The Last Stand - this was really not that good of a movie, and certainly not good enough to rank in the top 30
• Deja Vu - a pretty good movie, but top 30 sci-fi films of all time? I don’t think so/
• V for Vendetta - it’s set in the future, but I’d question how “sci-fi” this movie really is. Plus, it’s a bit overrated, and ranks above X-Men 2???
• Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - seriously?
• Transformers - awesome action movie, but it ranks #3 on the list ahead of The Matrix, Aliens and countless other classics. No way, Jose.
• Iron Man - guess what was #1 on the list? Yes, this year’s comic book action movie. As good as it was, there is no way I would list it on the top 30 sci-fi movies of all time. What a way to damage the integrity of your list, Yahoo!

Again, in all fairness, two-thirds of their list probably deserve to be on there, but there are some notable films missing, such as:

• 2001: A Space Oddysey
• A Clockwork Orange
• Children of Men
• Dark City
• Independence Day (if you’re going the popular route)
• Minority Report
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Unbreakable
• Wall-E
• Blade Runner
• The Thing
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (how many remakes has this inspired?)
• The Iron Giant
• Planet of the Apes
• Galaxy Quest
• Total Recall
• Mad Max

And the list goes on… This has inspired me to do my own list, which I will release sometime soon.

This is a good opportunity for Twilight, which is based on an allegedly popular book series about a normal girl (the gorgeous Kristin Stewart) who likes to screw around with vampires. OK, to be fair, she’s monogamous and prefers to share her time with just one vampire (Robert Pattison, who actually lays claim to being the first profound death in the Harry Potter franchise), but you get the point. There’s certainly some buzz around the picture, but having known nothing about the story other than what Summit’s marketing reps tell me, I don’t really see the big deal.

Personally, I don’t think Twilight is going to be the massive picture that some expect it to be. It’s definitely going to get a boost from the Thanksgiving weekend, but is it going to be a valid replacement for Harry Potter? No. The “franchise” doesn’t have the same name recognition that made Harry Potter so successful, and while it looks decent, it doesn’t look that much different than a dozen other teeny bopper horror movies that have come before it. General audiences aren’t going to be that motivated to go see this one, except for a lack of other entertainment.

Only time shall tell.

Body of Lies, about a spy in the Middle East (DiCaprio) who finds himself on the outside when his handler (Crowe) goes over the edge, looks to have plenty of action and, of course, terrific acting. Of course, following the flop that was The Kingdom, will this one earn some bucks?

Watch the Body of Lies movie trailer here.

Seriously, I don’t even think Halloween can save this one.

Or has he? Word has it that Tarantino has actually not been working on his long anticipated Inglorious Bastards flick, and instead is in charge of the yet-to-be-named Austin Powers 4.Given the so-so results of the last Austin Powers film, and the decline in Mike Myers’ star power, Tarantino was brought on to give the franchise a much needed reimaginin, a la Casino Royale. Mike Myers is signed on once again to star as the dashing British hero, but there’s no word if Dr. Evil will return.

Of course, that last paragraph is bullshit. The real story is that Mike Myers has been cast in a small role for Inglorious Bastards. But that’s just not as interesting.

Warner Brothers said it moved the film to take full advantage of its box office capabilities by releasing it in the summer, though frankly I’ve always regarded the November releases to be more successful. I can’t back that up with statistics, but according to today’s release, the last Harry Potter movie - which, in my opinion, was by far the worst of the franchise - was the second highest grosser, and it was released in the summer.

Reading between the lines, though, this release date push probably signifies production delays, perhaps from the various strikes and de facto strikes that have ravaged Hollywood over the last year. I can’t imagine that Warner Brothers would simply sit on a finished Harry Potter movie for eight months, as not only would it be denying them hundreds of millions of dollars, but would also be asking for piracy.

As a Harry Potter fan, however, I am hugely disappointed that the movie has been pushed back to 2009, especially since Warner Brothers had just started to whet our appetites with teaser trailers and the like. Word is that the planned November 2010 release of Part One of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has not been affected by this delay.

The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior is your pretty typical direct-to-DVD movie, which means it’s pretty damn bad. While the production values are decent enough for a film like this, you can tell from minute one that this movie was made simply to coincide with the theatrical release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, though why it isn’t being released until August 19th is beyond me. Cash was in the mind of Universal Studios - not quality - and it shows throughout the film.

The movie features a young Mathayus (Michael Copon), the character who will grow up to be the Scorpion King as portrayed by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King. Long after his father is murdered by a ruthless king (Couture) who has magical powers, Mathayus grows up to be a great warrior and vows vengeance - though killing the king is going to be harder than first thought.

The acting is the first thing that clues you into the fact that you’re watching a cheap production. Copon is pretty bad, and Couture is especially painful to watch. Combined with the clunky screenplay, the actors are barely able to pull off a line without sounding like they’re reading from a teleprompter. Worse still is that the characters - especially Layla, played by the beautiful Karen David - spit out lines that sound like they were written for an MTV reality show; rather modern-sounding jokes and interchange really kill the mood, if there ever was one to begin with.

The action isn’t anything to scream about, and that’s assuming you have the patience to make it to the action. At an hour and 49 minutes, The Scorpion King 2 feels overly long, and while there are plenty of action sequences, they are all relatively small and unimpressive. I could only watch 20 minutes at a time before turning it off to shift my attention to something much more interesting, like preliminary trials in the Olympics.

Basically, there’s no love to be had for The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. Despite the fact that it’s directed by the guy who did Highlander, the movie lacks action, excitement and, more importantly, quality.

The Olympics kicked off on Friday in stunning fashion, with a spectacular opening ceremony by the Chinese. We all knew they were not to be outdone, and it may be some time before we see something as grandious as the $300-million production that featured countless fireworks, amazing video screens that seemed to come out of everywhere, artistic performances that would be unimaginable in any other part of the world (how many performers were there in the ceremonies, altogether?), and so on and so forth. I absolutely love the Olympics, and am happy they are here. It’s the only time I watch so many diverse sports and actually get into them all - I’m watching USA vs. Japan women’s volleyball, and the Japanese are looking good (against a supposedly better U.S. team). I’m actually looking forward to basketball (go Redeem Team!) despite my lack of general interest in the sport, as well as gymnastics and a variety of others. There are going to be hours of lost productivity over the next couple of weeks.

I try to watch the Olympics on CBC, the Canadian channel, rather than NBC, where they seem more content to bring up politics and conflict in a passive aggressive kind of way toward any country they choose to ridicule. Not too mention that they show less sports (on the main channel) and more commercials. Of course, it was classic seeing President Bush glance at his watch halfway through the opening ceremonies. seemingly bored out of his mind.

Of course, the Olympics have been scarred by a series of events, not exactly the seamless launch China was so desperately hoping for. In the days preceding, China was attacked by a small rebel force - a rarity for the country. Beyond that, though, they had little control over a seemingly deranged man stabbing the parents of a former U.S. Olympian just miles from the Games, killing one and seriously injuring the other before jumping to his death, or the suddenly profound Russian vs. Georgia war, where thousands have already died. So much for an Olympic truce, and the timing seems more like convenience than coincidental, as the Games have attracted so many heads of state to Beijing.

Beyond war, reporters have been busy the last few weeks, especially in North America. It was announced to day that Bernie Mac has died - while I was never a big fan of the comedian, it was definitely a bit of a shocker. While both Pineapple Express and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 beat out The Dark Knight on Wednesday, it looks like the Batman movie will once again conquer the weekend box office. More importantly, we’ve seen the mysterious Anthrax case that, in its outset, caused paranoia throughout the United States, to come to a close with the suicide of the FBI’s only suspect. Questions remain, but unless we’re looking at a major government cover up, the late scientist seems like he was a troubled man. Beyond that, Canada and the U.S. has been captivated by the absolutely disturbing stabbing/decapitation/cannibalizing of an innocent, random victim on a bus, by a man who no one - even his wife - would have predicted.

As I’ve said, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks in the world, and there were several other stories not mentioned here.

Nevertheless, the movie trailer for Rachel Getting Married does not have me clamboring to get to theaters in October. There are some mildly funny bits, but the offputting outcast story has been done better to funnier results. The movie looks like it’s going to be more of a drama than a comedy, which is fine, but it seems like the studio thinks that there are more laughs then there actually are. That could spell trouble.

Here’s the Rachel Getting Married movie trailer for your perusal: