Saw it Saturday night, in IMAX 3-D. Great movie! There was one line that was so unexpected and so funny that I was still shaking with laughter 10 minutes later. In addition to the big names like Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher, I immediately recognized the voice of the character Ian, but it wasn’t until after the movie that I could place it: Patrick Warburton, the guy who played Elaine’s boyfriend Puddy on Seinfeld. (BTW, Seinfeld is not on his Internet Movie Database page, but his name is on the Seinfeld page).

I am a huge fan of animated films. I know people who love them but refuse to go without a kid – I don’t care about that. Good movies are good movies, and the big animated films are always written with adult jokes and sequences. And they’re even better in IMAX, and then when you add 3-D, well, that’s just the ultimate movie. The only thing about IMAX that bothers me is sometimes the action can be a bit blurry, during scenes where the camera “sweeps” across a scene.

Tonight is the season premiere of Smallville. Yay! I became an addict about a year ago, when I caught a couple of episodes on TV and decided to order seasons 1-4 on DVD. I watched them all just in time to catch the reruns of the first 3 episodes of season 5 on TV before I moved to Toulouse, and then had to wait for Season 5 on DVD, released a couple of weeks ago, to see what happened. And there was a great cliffhanger at the end, so I’ve been anxiously awaiting tonight’s resolution. Unfortunately, I’ll be out of town for the 2nd and 3rd episodes, so I’m hoping my brother will be able to TiVo them for me.

I just saw one of the funniest movies ever – Noises Off, with Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Carol Burnett, Denholm Elliott, Julie Hagerty, Nicolette Sheridan, and Marilu Henner! Since it’s over 10 years old, it’s unlikely I would have ever picked it out myself, but I will forever be grateful that Netflix recommended it. The first half is just ok, but I laughed until I cried throughout the entire second half. Rent it, buy it, whatever – just see it!

After pre-ordering months ago, I finally got my DVD’s of the third season of Arrested Development and watched the whole thing in two days. (Of course, there were only 13 episodes rather than a “full season” of 22 or so.) I can’t believe that show was cancelled – it was absolutely brilliant.

My new favorite TV show is “Monk” – I’m watching the first season on rented DVDs. (I often do this, rather than watching the show during its TV run, because I hating waiting a week to find out what happens next.) I’ve always been a huge Tony Shalhoub fan, from when he was the only reason for watching “Wings,” to his hilarious roles in “Galaxy Quest” and “Cars” – he never ceases to amuse me. And yet he can be serious too – he played a victim in an early episode of “The X-Files” that stayed with me for a long time. The role of Monk is a great one for him – I hope it stays on air for years to come.