Another week has come and...oh crap. I have to think of a new intro thing, because of my new Notables section. I'll get on that for next week, but for now, lets just dive right in to the highlights and lowlights of the movie news world in Notables. I'll be more prepared next time...maybe.

NOTABLES

"Keira Knightley to star in the Tony Scott directed Domino" – Monday, August 2

This could be a wonderful project for all involved. Tony Scott is a very capable director and Keira Knightley's newfound star power should get this movie some hype. A script by Donnie Darko writer-director Richard Kelly is a DEFINITE plus as well. Those elements, along with its slick, true-story premise, is more than enough to garner a Best News of the Week Nominee.

"Brittany Murphy talks Happy Feet" – Monday, August 2

The only thing more annoying than Brittany Murphy's acting his her voice. So these geniuses give her a voice-over role as a singing penguin? Mother of God...Worst News of the Week Nominee by a long shot!

"Stephen Sommers signs on to direct The Big Love" – Tuesday, August 3

Oh wow. Stephen “The CGI Freak" Sommers doing a comedy about a woman's “sexual adventures"? He'll probably go into CGI withdrawal and turn the woman into dominatrix lobster or something. Worst News of the Week Nominee for sure.

"Steve Carell to Get Smart" – Tuesday, August 3

This sounds like a perfect fit to me. Carell, who's been busy stealing scenes from the likes of Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell in the past few years, is finally getting a starring gig. Carell is immensely funny and this role as a “bumbling secret agent" sounds like it's right up his alley. This one is a Best News of the Week Nominee.

"Kristanna Loken cast as the female lead in BloodRayne?" – Tuesday, August 3

I'm not familiar with this video game at all, but any news of the insanely gorgeous Loken in any movie is Best News of the Week Nominee material, as far as I'm concerned...

"D12 set to make movies" – Wednesday, August 4

Oh goody. More rappers (bad ones at that, if you ask me) in movies. I don't know what else to say except Worst News of the Week Nominee.

"Seinfeld finally set for DVD release on November 23!!!" – Friday, August 6

Well, it's about frickin time!!! Best News of the Week Nominee.

"SOJU AFTER MOVIE: Listen to MovieWeb's latest addition right now!" – Sunday, August 8

That rocks, guys! Congrats, and keep yours truly in mind for a guest spot or two. I've always heard I've got a perfect face for radio. Wait a minute...Anyway, this new feature to our fine movie site is well worthy of a Best News of the Week Nominee.

BOX OFFICE CORNER

It looks like crime does indeed pay, for Tom Cruise, that is. Cruise's new flick, Collateral, where he takes a very rare role as a bad guy, nabbed the #1 spot this weekend. The Michael Mann film took in an estimated $24.4 million in its opening weekend. With a July chocked full of $50 million opening weekends, it seems the summer blockbuster season is winding down with the deflated grosses of Collateral. If it has some good weekday runs, and doesn't drop too much next weekend, there is an outside chance that Collateral will earn back it's $65 million budget...but I wouldn't leave the meter running too long while waiting for that to happen.

The week's only other new release, Little Black Book could only muster a 5th place finish, even with only one other new film out this weekend. The Brittany Murphy comedy took in an estimated $7 million in its debut weekend, and all hope looks lost for this chick flick to earn a profit from its $35 million budget. What I don't get is how a movie like that costs $35 million to make in the first place?

It wasn't a very good week for M. Night Shyamalan as well. His new flick, The Village did take the second spot with an estimated gross of $16.5 million, but it dropped a whopping 67.3% in its second weekend. The flick is at $85.7 million so far, $25 million and some change ahead of its $60 million budget, but with a huge drop like that, it seems unlikely that this thriller will break the $100 million mark.

GOING LIVE

Surviving Christmas: (www.survivingchristmas.com) Ugh. Another worthless site with just the one-sheet and trailer. The cast does look interesting, though, but there's nothing worth seeing on this site. Hopefully there will be some updates before its November 10 release.

The Woods: (www.mgm.com/ua/thewoods) This is yet another worthless site, but they have gone the “extra mile" and not only included the trailer, but a synopsis of the film! There's still not much to see here, though, but I'm surprised they even went to the trouble of putting this site up, since the flick isn't supposed to come out until September 2...of 2005! Jumping the gun a bit, aren't we?

The Yes Men: (www.theyesmenmovie.com) It looks like not all the sites are bad this week. This neat little site for this documentary has a slick Flash intro, and while there isn't a whole lot to do here, there is more than the previous sites this week. There is, of course, the trailer, but then there is a cool mock-commercial for these Yes Men and a link to their official site. It's not an amazing site, but definitely worth a look-see. The Yes Men opens September 24 in limited release.

TRAILER PARK

The Yes Men: I wasn't surprised at all to see Michael Moore in the trailer for this documentary The Yes Men, because it seems like Moore and these Yes Men have the same type of “cause." Only The Yes Men use low-brow humor to try and teach their lessons of the evils of corporate greed. I must say, this looks highly entertaining, and if it ever comes within a 50-mile radius of my crappy little town, I'll be there with bells on (minus the bells). This looks like a weird mix of The Jerky Boys and Moore's lost-in-the-shuffle corporate flick The Big One. I'm definitely looking forward to this one.

Surviving Christmas: What a dumb trailer this was, although I must admit, I will probably pay to see this movie just to see James Gandolfini hit Ben Affleck in the head with a shovel. Call me sadistic...But yeah, Ben Affleck is in a Christmas movie and he's, pardon the pun, hamming it up as much as he ever has before in this flick. Maybe I'll just loop that Affleck-getting-hit-in-the-head part on my computer and save the trouble...Surviving Christmas opens on November 10.

Rockets Redglare: This is a very bizarre trailer, and the movie looks like it's structured in the same sort of style as American Splendor, only this is a true documentary. It could be interesting to watch, just for the names that are in it (Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Matt Dillon, Jim Jarmusch) but I just don't know. It has a really weird vibe to it, but it could turn out to be kind of cool. Rockets Redglare opens Setember 3 in New York City.

Layer Cake: This looks very bizarre as well, and, even though it's based off a novel, it almost feels like a Guy Ritchie knock-off. It looks like a heist flick, but then we see all these little segments from a cooking show. It's just plain weird, folks, but who knows...

BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

My pick for Best News of the Week goes to Keira Knightley's addition to Domino. OK, King Arthur didn't do much for her, but I think she has a great future ahead of her, and it's nice to see her go after some more non-blockbuster material like this film. She hasn't really tackled a role like this before (yeah, she's only 19, I know) and it will be very interesting to see how she works with two filmmakers like Richard Kelly and Tony Scott, which in itself is a very interesting combination. With Knightley in the mix now, this will definitely be one to keep an eye on.

WORST NEWS OF THE WEEK

This week's Worst News of the Week goes to Brittany Murphy voicing a singing penguin. Sure, she does some decent voice work as Luanne on King of the Hill, but a singing penguin? The Southern accent in King of the Hill works because it detracts from her naturally annoying speaking voice. But Brittany Murphy singing just sounds dreadful. She's not a good actress, so at least they got around that, seeing as this is an animated flick. But her voice annoys me so much, I'm going to have to bring earplugs to the theaters, just in case I stumble across a trailer for this soon-to-be flop. I mean, Brittany Murphy...singing...Lord help us all!