This preview (limited release this weekend, thank God) bothers me so much, I’ll just let Gawker tell you more:

This completely not insane and totally normal movie from not-at-all weird country Finland is about an earthquake that releases the real Santa Claus, a monster that punishes bad people. Then some Finnish people capture the Santa monster and try to sell it. So, just a regular movie for regular people in these regular times.

Courtesy of The Grinch.

Santa Claus: The Movie is 100% 80′s, insanely cheesy, and one of my most favorite movies. John Lithgow’s absolutely hilarious.

A Dog Named Christmas
Moonlight & Mistletoe
Farewell, Mr. Kringle

My favorite part about this image is the elf in the background. Recognize him? That’s ‘Ralphie’ from A Christmas Story.

The Night Before The Night Before Christmas
The Dog Who Save Christmas Vacation
A Boyfriend For Christmas

Beautiful. Simple. Will allow you to answer all your friends’ questions by stating: “Just go to Landon’s blog. There’s a picture there that explains it all.”

[Click for larger image.]

It’s true, Inception has “basically supplanted ‘Lost’ for all your theorizing needs.” You don’t need anyone to tell you that. What you do need is to enjoy this wonderful movie as much or as little as you like.

The problem with Lost was that everyone wanted everyone else to care about the same things. In my mind the Island and the rules attached to it (time/space travel, religious analogies, etc) were, and will always be the most important character of Lost. Jack had daddy issues… so what? Tell me why the Island cares about Jack’s daddy issues. Don’t bring Jack to the island simply so that he can reconcile with his father. That’s what therapy is for.

You know who agrees with me? A lot of people. And you know who disagrees with me? A lot of people. You know how much I used to care about that fact? A lot. Now? Not so much. Lost was a TV show… Just a TV show. Kids in Africa are dying of starvation, people in North Korea are oppressed, and I have a wife to take care of, and a life to live, and someone’s geeky concept about a magical island that moves at the tug of a ship’s helm can’t and shouldn’t become anyone’s obsession. Period.

As I was leaving the theater, convinced I’d just watched one of the greatest Sci-Fi movies (maybe of the best movies) ever, I overheard a snotty 20-something female say: “I thought it was completely stupid. It made absolutely no sense. I didn’t enjoy it one bit.” Now, let’s assume for argument sake that she’s right (even though she’s not). Why should I care? Better yet, if she loved the movie and hated the final scene (I love the movie and LOVED the final scene), again, why should I care?

Enjoy Inception in the way you want to enjoy it. Don’t try to hard to put as much effort into caring about a 2 1/2 hour movie as you did for Lost, which ran 120+ hours. Heck, try to find other movies with Inception may have opened the door to. Ever seen Momento? What? No? You were too busy crafting Lost theories? Watch it. I won’t spoil anything, but what i will say is this: if you even so much as kinda liked Inception, Momento will not disappoint.

Anyhow, if you need answers to Inception like we all needed them to Lost, New York Magazine has a great, aptly titled Inception’s Dileep Rao Answers All Your Questions About Inception article which answers and helps to clarify many of the questions we’ve had since watching the movie. Yeah, that’s right, the people behind Inception are actually answering the questions that their creation prompted people to ask… something the people behind Lost quite never seemed to grasp.

I got ill Monday and Tuesday of this week. In my sickened state, these are the movies my clouded mind chose to select via Netflix Instant Queue. I love them all.

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
The Labyrinth
Caddyshack

As you may know, we visited Mikey’s house from The Goonies while passing through Astoria, Oregon a few days back.

I was about to attempt the Truffle Shuffle on camera when 1) another couple started to walk up the drive way, and 2) the neighbors were looking out their windows.

My two favorite movies of 2009: The Hurt Locker, and Up In The Air. The Hurt Locker comes out on video today. Do yourself a favor n the way home and stop by Blockbuster.

It blows my mind that this movie only made $16 million.