“But really, what makes Pontypool worth watching is that fascinating (and often underutilized) actor, Stephen McHattie. With his sunken cheeks and eyes that burn with a kind of canny madness, McHattie, playing the reluctant hero, is completely believable, a guy with demons who suddenly finds that the world is even scarier than his interior landscape. Language is a virus, Laurie Anderson once sang – and Pontypool takes that notion to frightening extremes.” — Hollywood & Fine‘s Marshall Fine in a 5.29 review.

“The harrowing truth remains unchanged from what it was before Dick Cheney emerged from his bunker to set Washington atwitter. The Bush administration did not make us safer either before or after 9/11. Obama is not making us less safe. If there’s another terrorist attack, it will be because the mess the Bush administration ignored in Pakistan and Afghanistan spun beyond anyone’s control well before Americans could throw the bums out.” — from Frank Rich‘s column in today’s N.Y. Times, called “Who Is To Blame for the Next Attack?”

If you were casting around for an actor to play a good-time 30something guy with a beard, a barrel chest and a wisecracking mouth, would you go with The Hangover‘s Zach Galifianakis or Humpday‘s Joshua Leonard? Appearance-wise the differences are mainly about weight (Galifianakis is bulkier) and hair color (Leonard’s hair is blondish). Is the Galifianakis similarity the reason Leonard’s beard was shaved off for the Humpday release poster?

(l.) The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis; (r.) Humpday‘s Joshua Leonard

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If you’re in LA, Jack Morrissey says it’s absolutely essential to visit the Rubber Room’s Monsterpalooza at the Burbank Marriott Convention Center, which features the work of Drag Me To Hell model/prosthetic guy Greg Nicotera (also the creator of “Bruce” in Jaws and Dirk Diggler’s appendage in Boogie Nights). But today’s the last shot! Here’s Nicotera talking to Time Out.