First off, a hearty huzzah to Guillermo del Toro and “Hellboy II,” which managed (just barely) to hold off Will Smith and win the box-office weekend with about $36 million. Personally, I found it to be nearly as fun as the first “Hellboy,” even whether it did eventually just reach creature overload, and I was just happy to see a superhero with nearly no baggage at all to impede his principal duty of just kicking all kinds of ass.

Besides, there’s a plenty moody abundant superhero on the dock that week, and since I’m now off on Fridays, I’ll definitely be there at midnight Friday wee hours to see “The Dark Knight” finally take flight (after what seems like three years of hype.)

But, in what in my odd little world is even better news, there’s word that AM that Richard Linklater, Jack Black and Mike White will indeed be back for a “School of Rock 2.” I’ve tried hard not to shout a movie as foolish as “School of Rock” great, but since I’ve probably seen it at least 10 times on DVD and it just makes me smile broadly every moment, I think I’ll just have to give in and confess that I love it unconditionally.

And the plot for the White-penned sequel just sounds like tons of fun. Who doesn’t have great memories of elementary school field trips? For us in Salisbury, Md., the highlight was a trip to Washington, D.C., to act up on the National Mall. In Linklater’s “School of Rock 2,” the lucky kiddies will get to instead go on a rock ‘n’ roll odyssey across America with Mr. Black as their guide to the history of American music. Simply cool.

And congrats indeed to Mike White, who’s taken his lumps after falling out with the Judd Apatow crew. Here’s hoping “School of Rock 2″ captures all the magic of the original and comes quick suitable to rock hard next summer!

A Bush-style frat boy brawl?

I’d imagine there’s probably not a whole lot to do at night in Shreveport, La., but even so that story about Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Wright and the “W” crew is just too funny not to pass along.

Things apparently went awry at the Stray Cat Bar (love that name) when a “W” lighting technician was arrested

for fighting and Brolin, Wright and four others decided to jump into the battle. (Shown here are the mug shots for Brolin and Wright.)

Felland was charged with resisting arrest, public intoxication and entering and remaining. Brolin, Wright and the others were slapped with the interfering charge.

After arriving at the police station, Brolin, Wright and the others were booked and told they’d have to post cash bonds to be released. Brolin and Wright had to shell out $334 each, while Felland had to fork out more than $700.

I have no way of knowing, of course, but that just sounds to me like a perfect scene from the movie for W’s wild days before he somehow encountered Jesus. And, obviously, I pity the poor cop who had to tangle with Josh Brolin, who’s clearly just a poor mutha.

And it’s worth looking at, whether I can find it, the now fairly complete cast list for “W.” Here, as best as I can tell, goes:

Elizabeth Banks: Laura Bush
Josh Brolin: George W. Bush
Thandie Newton: Condoleezza Rice
Ioan Gruffudd: Tony Blair
Ellen Burstyn: Barbara Bush
Richard Dreyfuss: Dick Cheney
James Cromwell: Herbert Walker Bush
Scott Glenn: Donald Rumsfeld
Noah Wyle: Don Evans (rumored)
Jeffrey Wright: General Colin Powell
Jason Ritter: Jeb Bush (rumored)
Toby Jones: Karl Rove
Rob Corddry: Ari Fleischer

I’m still more than a little worried about the effect “W” will have on the elections that fall, since it’s set to be finished and released by October, but it will still be a heck of a lot of fun watching what all these talented folks can do with the saga of Dubya, particularly Toby Jones as Karl Rove.

First Look at “The Dark Knight”

There’s probably more out there that daylight, but who am I kidding? It’s all about “The Dark Knight” here and everywhere else that week, so I’ll just wrap it up with HBO’s “First Look” at the Christopher Nolan flick. It covers about 14 minutes in two clips, but whether you know of a better way to waste some of your workday today, I’m certainly not aware of it. Peace out.

Original post by Reel Fanatic