I’m probably — strike that, I am — behind the times when it comes to the news and hype surrounding the upcoming film Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer’s novel. For instance, I learned today that its release date is in December, where I had originally (read: in February) heard August. So, good. Um. Yeah. Also, I found this clip by browsing Twilight‘s IMDB page. So, I sort of want to complain about how, um, not exciting that scene looks… but. (Spoiler: It’s the climactic scene. CLIMACTIC. Why did they use that as the spoiler scene? Why?)

That scene just ruins pretty much the entire movie for me. Because now, I’m not interested in it beyond mild curiosity appeased through a Netflix rental. Wow. Monumentally sad. But the funny thing is — like when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was made into a monumentally awful movie back in 1999 — people will flock to it, because it’s the first movie adaptation of a bestselling book series. And because people will flock, the producers will have incentive to make the sequels, which means they have the potentiality to get better. (Azkaban continues to be an excellent movie, and the fourth and fifth Potter films really surprised me. The screenplays are still not the best adaptations — though five’s was pretty decent — but the direction and acting have steadily and happily improved.) I hope so. I also hope that the director’s vision is a little more artistic in some of the more interesting early scenes than it was in that particular scene, which was nothing more interesting than an episode of Charmed. Though with the plot being what it is, it’s a character-driven story, so a lot falls on the actors’ shoulders, too, so it’s not fair for me to criticize that scene without having “gotten into it” by seeing the whole movie first. I suppose. But I’m not going to say “That clip has enthralled me even more and I can’t wait to see it!” because that’s not true. If anything that press has turned me off from the film unlike all of the press around The Dark Knight, which makes me salivate. (Perhaps Christian Bale is more my type than Robert Pattinson, anyway.) Gah, look at me trying to be fair and hold off judgment until later. But it’s… it’s… so… hard!

In other news, Hancock opens this weekend. Well, yesterday, actually. I’m interested, I have to admit. Interested for more than one reason. Will Smith does good films. Will Smith always tops the box office. Will Smith has owned Independence Day weekend since the film Independence Day, and it’s a fact that he’s probably the most bankable actor in Hollywood. I’m curious about this film not only because it’s a superhero action film, and you know I’m a sucker for those, but because it’s a Will Smith film, and its plot is unusual. From the trailer I’d guess it’s not amazing — they have pretty much revealed the ENTIRE plot across two or three trailers — but it’s at least worth an eventual rental. Entertainment Weekly usually has the number on a film (so does the NY Times, but they liked it, ish, but then again it was Manohla Dargis and not A. O. Scott, who I like better for reviewing the scifi/fantasy/action films) and they don’t seem to like it all that much. Curiouser and curiouser.

An article I was reading the other day further interested me, linking Will Smith with Scientology through a school he and Jada are funding, and by extension, questioning his motives in making a film like Hancock which — so the article espoused — has themes of Scientology in it. (I’d link it but I cannot for the life of me find the article again.)

Furthermore, another article actually features and quotes a professor from Carnegie Mellon who is somewhat famous for being a debunker of Scientology by saying,

But critics contend that the school is not being honest about its links to Scientology. David S. Touretzky, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, created a website that dissects study technology and asserts that it is Scientology religion disguised as education.

Touretzky said many phrases and concepts on the school’s website are specific to Scientology. For example, the school lists a “Director of Qualifications” and another teacher who is an assistant in the “Qual” department. The “Qual,” said Touretzky, is where people who have completed a Scientology counseling, or “auditing,” session or a course in the Church of Scientology are tested by a qualifications teacher.

“There is no reputable educator anywhere who endorses [study technology],” said Touretzky, a critic of Scientology. “What happens is that children are inculcated with Scientology jargon and are led to regard L.R. Hubbard as an authority figure. They are laying the groundwork for later bringing people into Scientology.”

Fascinating stuff, eh? I think the whole “cult of Scientology” thing is interesting. I like to watch it fom afar with mild interest because come on, a religion based on the teachings of a science fiction author? You have to know I’d be interested, at least academically, in people’s reactions to that.

So it’ll be an interesting two weeks until The Dark Knight comes to sweep us away from the dreariness of not having an amazing film since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. (For the record, I LOVED Iron Man — Robert Downey, Jr. was amazing; The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was great; and Indy totally made my decade. I felt like a kid in a candy store. It was like I was seeing Star Wars Episode I all over again, minus the terrible-ness of parts of that film — cough, Jake Lloyd, cough.) Aaron Eckhart looks amazing as Harvey Dent and I’m a big Maggie Gyllenhaal fan — so happy they replaced Katie Holmes. So. Excited. For. More. Christian. Bale. As. Batman. AND HEATH LEDGER AS THE JOKER! The trailer sent shivers down my spine. I can’t wait. Can’t wait. Can’t wait!