Welcome to this week's edition of the Carnival of Cinema. Every week we present the best in film reviews, cinema commentary and industry news.

Kicking things off this week, Donna Freedman (emphasis on free) offers up some simple strategies on how you can see movies without paying for them. This isn't a list that tells you to deck some loser near the counter, steal his ticket and run into the theater. These are legit ideas on how to see mundane, lowbrow Hollywood movies for free. Head over to SMART SPENDING BLOG for more.


Speaking of seeing movies for free, here's one you couldn't pay me to sit through at the theater.

Vaprak of THE CRITICAL CRITICS suffered through the recent Vin Diesel deposit Babylon A.D. Yes, it actually got released in theaters.


How do we know Babylon A.D. stinks? EVEN THE DIRECTOR SAYS IT STINKS.

Over at OBSERVATIONS FROM MISSY'S WINDOW the titular Missy discusses director's Mathieu Kassovitz's discussion on how much his movie reeks. To hear him tell it, the studios made his beautiful little movie a runny, steaming pile of cinematic trash.

Cuz, y'know all of Vin Diesel's other movies are so good expectations were very high.

Isn't the hiring of Vin Diesel in the first place a sign things are going off mark? Just asking.


Next up, Christina M. Rau posts about the musical cheese-fest that is Mamma Mia. I'm not sure but I think if you open Dante's Inferno you may see a lithograph of me sitting in a theater filled with people singing along with a movie. Christina offers her view on the adaptation of the Broadway show on her site LIVIN' THE DREAM (ONE LOSER AT A TIME).

She also talks about The House Bunny and claims that everybody wants to be a Playboy bunny.

While this may be true, I'd like to suggest that not all of us should try to live that dream.

Is it me or does he look like that Mythbusters guy?


Quickly and determinedly moving on...

Jonathan Pacheco of BOHEMIAN CINEMA joins the Carnival this week with a good review of the home invasion horror picture The Strangers.


Next, over at MOVIES, WORK & RANDOM THOUGHTS a writer named BloggingFun takes a look at Pineapple Express.


If you're looking for something off the beaten path, try out Everybody Want to Be Italian. Dr. Rus Jeffrey suggests the indie flick over at his site FRAME BY FRAME. Head over, read the post and see if it is something that looks good to you.

Everybody Wants to be Italian? I hope this is different that when they tried to make everybody Roman a few centuries back.


Next is a brief but great post by Michael Leahy of SCREENPLAY EUROPE. He talks about the film 50 Dead Men Walking which has run into a spot of trouble since the guy who the film's life is based on is threatening to sue. Apparently, he doesn't like being linked to terrorist bombings and torturing when he claims he didn't do it.

As a screenwriter who's gotten screwed, I appreciate his call for screenwriters to make sure all the contracts are signed and the agreements figured out beforehand.


Moving along, we have a spate of reviews to get to.

Over at KABOOM REVIEW, Mike Blitz takes on the James Bond flick Moonraker. Nothing like good ol' fashioned Roger Moore goofiness. Have you ever seen the man run? He runs like a nerdy girl.


Miss Positive of OUR CHOCOLATES looks at the high school version of Taming of the Shrew 10 Things I Hate About You.


Singh is King is Bollywood at its noisiest. Large, loud, and ludicrous, some outstanding elements still keep this Hindi movie on the right side of entertaining. To find out more read Samir's post on the film over at his site SAMIR'S CREATIVE IDEAS BLOG.


Closing things down this week is MANNY THE MOVIE GUY who was inspired by We the Kings' "Check Yes Juliet" to create a compilation of fave romantic films. Click on over to check things out.




Thanks to everyone for their posts.


Hey, why have your posts collect dust in your archive folder? The Carnival of Cinema is ongoing with submissions being taken through each Wednesday and posting every Friday.

Next week the Carnival of Cinema goes on the road. Julie from HAPPY CATHOLIC will be your hostess with the mostess. Send submissions HERE!




Other carnival editions:
Carnival of Cinema: Episode II
Carnival of Cinema: Episode III
Carnival of Cinema: Episode XI

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