1) Shroud of Tom
The towel Tom Cruise used to wipe his face after getting squirted on the red carpet in London – the most famous discarded piece of cloth since the Shroud of Turin – drew an eBay bid of almost $1,000 before it was pulled off the Internet.
2) God-like voices
The all-too-calm narration by Morgan Freeman in “War of the Worlds” – more distracting than wondering how Tom Cruise’s actual belief in alien life forms meshes with the film’s murderous aliens.
3) Being a hick
The late legendary comic Bill Hicks – polemicist, contrarian, substance abuser and scathing moralist – is the subject of a two-hour tribute tonight at the Laugh Factory, which will also screen over 20 minutes of Hicks’ stand-up.
4) In Deppth
The first-ever film series devoted to Johnny Depp – whose Jacko-meets- Anna Wintour turn in “Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory” we cannot wait to see – begins July 10 at BAM. What took so long?
5) Not getting cancer
Thanks to the alarming news that all the sunscreen we’ve been slathering ourselves with does nothing to prevent
any real damage, we now know to search for the very few FDAapproved UVA and UVB blockers available in the
United States, like Cetaphil’s SPF 15.
6) Top Bananas
Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto – who won a cult following back in 1993 with her debut novel, “Kitchen” – returns with ”Hardboiled & Hard Luck,” two novellas made all the more poignant by the plain-spoken translation.
7) Clumsy vengeance
Our new favorite tabloid narrative in the ongoing saga of Brad vs. Jen: Jen fights back, orchestrating an E! special and awkwardly cuddling with co-star Vince Vaughn.
8) Noir
“Film Noir Vol. 2” – the stunning new collection of five classic, lesser-known gems from Warner Bros. – is released
Tuesday (with the standout “Narrow Margin,” about two cops trying to protect a gangland widow).
9) Blowhards
He weeps when an underling tells him how “unbelievable” his hair product is. He brings cameras to therapy. He punches walls and doors (with his forearm!): Jonathan Antin of “Blow Out,” our favorite reality villain.
10) Damsels
Watching Adrien Brody and Jack Black fight monsters, demons and unwieldy foliage to rescue a kidnapped Naomi Watts in the much-hyped “King Kong” trailer, one thing is painfully clear: Like much of what we see on 24-hour news channels, no life is worth more than that of a missing, skinny, blond white woman.
