Welcome to the Carnival of Cinema, a weekly roundup of the web's best posts about film. Movie reviews, film news and industry commentary, we have it all.


Starting us out this week, Poornimaa Krishnan says there's a phenomina sweeping across Southern India for the past few months - Sivaji. Have no idea what the heck Sivaji is? Fix your ignorance and click over to SHATTEREDGLASS and find out.


Next up, Jeffrey Stingerstein of DISILLUSIONED WORDS has a post about the future of film. He offers a brief but interesting view on film history and his opinion on where we are headed.


If this summer's flock of films and the release schedule I'm seeing for next year is any indication, it looks like we're going to hell in a hand basket.


Remakes, cartoons and superheros, oh my!


Fresh to the new release shelf is the Steve Carell vehicle Get Smart. Vaprak reviews the completely unnecessary flick over at one of my favorite sites, THE CRITICAL CRITICS.


Next, Toni explains the lessons that can be learned by watching Kung-Fu Panda. Click over to Toni's site HAPPY NEST for more.


And now the superheroes. Remember back in the old days when summer movies actually were based on new content and not rehashed, derivative stuff based on other stuff?


Newman says of The Incredible Hulk, "Entertaining enough, but plays it too safe coming off of Ang Lee's more experimental film." Which Ang Lee experimental film? How is to "too safe"? These questions and more are answered over at NEWMAN'S OWN MOVIE CORNER.


On S. Andrew Swann's site GENREWONK, he looks at the summer's big hit Iron Man.


The final superhero of the week is good ol' Batman. Alex Villalba writes about Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and how they tie into The War on Terror. Head over to TODAY'S SHENANIGANS for an interesting bit of writing.


Moving on, we have two posts about Angelina Jolie's latest, Wanted.


First MANNY THE MOVIE GUY offers to explain why it's one of the smartest, pulse-pounding thrillers this summer.


Need to know more about Timur Bekmambetov's big fat McMovie? Matt Adcock reviews the film on his site DARKMATTERS: THE MIND OF MATT.


If you need to know more about Mike Myers' latest comedic deposit The Love Guru? Check out the review on ENTERTAINMENT BUFF. Jimmy will give you the latest on this film that appears to have the shelf life of cottage cheese.


Next on the review front we have Gracchi coming in this week with a look at Robert Bresson's classic film Mouchette. For this, and lots of other brainy stuff, head over to WESTMINSTER WISDOM.


For lots of bloody stuff head over to THE REVIEWER this week who looks at the horror flick The Signal.


For a different kind of horror film - John Travolta in drag = horror, at least in my book; Michael talks about the recent version of Hairspray on his site FREE REVIEW BLOG.


Moving along as fast as we can from the image of Travolta in a dress...


CONAN STEVENS is announcing that the Som Tum movie has launched in Thai cinemas along with a massive publicity campaign. He's now a big shot famous actor - he's also a darn good blogger, head over to his site and see for yourself.


On a different note, on his site BROKEN PROJECTOR, Carnival regular Gautam Valluri discusses Goddard's film Le Chinoise.


Veering about as far from classic cinema as we can, The Transporter is released on Blu-Ray. Head over to Christopher Swenson's HIGH DEF DELIGHT for more.


Go low-def and head outdoors with THE SEATTLE TRAVELER Mary Jo Manzanares. She posts about outdoor movies Saturday nights in Fremont.


Multiplexes have a grand plan to save themselves. No really, just ask Steve Anderson of SOCIAL TRIVIA GAMES - he has the news.


If they're not doing well, maybe multiplexes can beg the studios to stop making such crappy movies.


Closing up the shop this week is another post from Alex Villalba of TODAY'S SHENANIGANS. Alex says of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:

"As one of the best examples to use as the type of influence and impact the Indiana Jones franchise has had, the Pirates films from Johnny Depp’s character, Jack Sparrow, certainly would serve as a great example to discuss (since it’s one of the few that isn’t a blunt copy of it), as it contains a parallel formula that made the Indiana series popular, from the mythological characters to even the extreme adventures around the world."





Thanks to everyone for their submissions.




Other carnival editions:
Carnival of Cinema: Episode I
Carnival of Cinema: Episode II
Carnival of Cinema: Episode III
Carnival of Cinema: Episode IV

Labels: Carnival of Cinema, film, links