Another fat weekend at the movies is here. From the e-mails I've been getting, many of you will be heading back to The Matrix. (I'll be running your letter about movie references I missed in my Working Hollywood on Building The Matrix early next week to give more people a chance to see the film and to send in their references.) But Never Been Kissed should make a big impact on the weekend, with Drew Barrymore fronting a great idea for a movie. For my $7.75, I'd go to Go for the best two new hours at the movies. And, actually, I will be seeing the film again this weekend because I haven't had a chance to catch another screening since seeing Doug Liman's fresh new film back in January. I haven't seen Twin Dragons, but I'd suggest waiting for video, the medium this one was meant for in the first place.

On the art house front, there are two pretty good limited releases starting today. (Check your local listings!) Lovers of the Arctic Circle is a kinky little romantic drama about two people who can't escape their fate of being together, one way or the other. If your romantic streak is strong, you'll really enjoy it. If you head out for popcorn when movies get "mushy," stay away! Joe Carnahan's Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane is a true low-budget affair. No points for neatness. But a nifty performance by writer/director Carnahan and an over-the-top sensibility makes it a fun and bloody romp. I was shocked to enjoy this one, especially when it looks so, well, cheap. But I did. And if you can find it, you probably will, too. (And read my Q&A with Carnahan by clicking here.)

For all my predictions and the screen counts for the films I've mentioned, check out Box Office Extra. The Matrix should stay on top of the heap and look for 10 Things I Hate About You, Analyze This, Forces of Nature and The Out-of-Towners to fill out the Top 10. EDtv, Shakespeare in Love and Life is Beautiful should be fighting it out for the nine and 10 spots. But that's up to you all, right?

THE GOOD: If you are a regular reader then you know that I am a fan of the New York Observer. This week's reviews of Never Been Kissed and 10 Things I Hate About You by Andrew Sarris reminded me why. Sarris manages to give you a real good idea of what the movies are about and even a bit of what happens, without spoiling the movie with too much information. Sarris also writes on The Dreamlife of Angels and Metroland, neither of which I have seen. But it's the writing I respect, not that we agree on everything. (He likes Never Been Kissed a bit more than me and LOVED A Simple Plan, which I did not.) To read the reviews, click here. Also in this week's Observer, a great story on the embarrassment of joining the cell phone revolution, a problem that I identify with greatly. Read the story by Alexandra Jacobs by clicking here.

THE BAD: Sometimes, I wonder about my brethren over at Mr. Showbiz. They generally bring a bit of bite to their versions of the news stories they get from their deal with Daily Variety. However, their report "Opie Defends EDtv" failed to put two and two together. On Tuesday, New York Post gossiper Neil Travis reported that Howard was angry at Universal's marketing department and Edgar Bronfman Jr., in particular, for the financial failure of EDtv to light up the box office. The next day, shock of shocks, Daily Variety's Army Archerd ran a story about how Howard wasn't unhappy with the studio at all and that "(the Universal marketers) did a good job." Mr. Showbiz mentioned both articles, but failed to make the obvious leap. Travis pushed some hot buttons and Archerd provided a good place to spin. And spin it was. Lots of tongues are wagging, trying to figure out what happened to Ed. Outside of a certain lack-of-love for Matthew McConaughey or the public lesbianism of Ellen DeGeneres, everyone seems to agree about one thing: It wasn't the movie's fault. The ultimate irony should come next weekend, when Howard's Imagine Entertainment's Life, starring Eddie Murphy, opens to what will almost inevitably be a better start than EDtv. Having seen both films, I can tell you with certainty, it's not the movie's fault.

THE UGLY: Allow me to be the first person to spin the Dogma story, which seems to have played out, into a strong slap on Disney's enormous hand. Since I wrote about it on Tuesday for Wednesday's column (THB 4/07), Miramax finally took some definitive action on the issue. Basically, Disney made the studio dump the film, exactly as Universal forced October to dump Happiness last year. Now, Miramax's Harvey and Bob Weinstein were not about to take the abuse that October's toppers took nor were they prepared to back away from a homegrown member of their family of filmmakers, Kevin Smith. So, what they did was to create a company which would "buy" the film from Miramax. Step two is to sell the distribution rights, both to a domestic distributor and a series of foreign distributors (a process that started last week when they made a deal with the U.K.'s FilmFour to include Dogma in a package of five Miramax titles). This clever maneuver is smart business for Miramax, which, by maintaining their positions as the production company of record, can reap greater profits if the film hits than they would had they sold it outright to another studio. Likewise, they appear to be supporting Smith in full while standing up against the Disney monolith.

But the ugly is still ugly. A major studio has kicked a movie to the side of even their art-house arm for purely political reasons. And, unlike Universal, there was not even an NC-17 rating to be considered. At least not yet. It makes me wonder again what a company that got the joke (like Miramax) could have done with a film like Rushmore.

All this talk also has me thinking about the film itself. Based on all the reports, this film will either be brilliant or an embarrassment. If you are going to have a character accusing the Virgin Mary of not being a virgin at all has only those two options. Brilliant or crap. But I am rooting for brilliant, more than ever. I am not the world's biggest Kevin Smith fan, but this is by far the most serious topic he's attacked to date. Let's hope he hit the controversial mark as well as Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ did. That film also aroused the anxieties of religious groups. But if Kevin Smith is to be believed, his film, like Scorsese's, holds the religion even more sacred for having questioned it. I hope potential moaners and groaners will wait until they've seen the film to start screaming. Based on his openness on his Website, I bet Kevin Smith will even set up a screening just for y'all.

In the meantime, Smith let loose some news in his most recent missive on the situation, printed on the News Askew Website. Firstly, Kevin and his posse approve of the deal Miramax has made. Two, news on Cannes will come on April 22. And three, he wants his fans to give Miramax a break on this. (Neither he nor Miramax in their press release mentions Disney by name.) And one last note on all this from me: Brad Plevyak and Chris Alley. 'Nuff said.

THE CHAT: Ah... the chat! I know it's been a little quiet these last two weeks. That will be changing. In a big way. Stay tuned.

JUST WONDERING: Have any of you noticed that this is not Carrie-Anne Moss' first trip into The Matrix? She starred in a Canadian TV series called "Matrix" back in 1994. I could tell you what that Matrix was. You don't have to see for yourself. But it's an old failed TV show, so why would you care?

QUOTE WHORING USA: For Go: "Like Swingers, but without the Anthony Perkins impersonator!" "Sure Katie Holmes isn't really the star, but you will all show up to see her get jiggy wit' it, won't you?" "What the hell does this have to do with Ritchie Valens???"

HAPPY TRAILERS TO YOU: I need to see some new summer trailers. Once again, here's a reader's Happy Trailers. "Over the weekend I saw a good number of trailers, and I wanted to give my mini-reviews for some. The Thirteenth Floor looks a lot like The Matrix, which could be a good thing. American Pie looks dumb, as does Lost and Found. The 13th Warrior looks like a Braveheart rip-off. Tarzan looks great ( Love that Phil Collins song!), as does The General's Daughter. The Love Letter and A Midsummer Night's Dream look like movies I'd pass, but others in the theater liked them. Does Instinct look like a rip-off of Silence of the Lambs to anyone else? Life and Big Daddy seem funny, but I said the same thing about Holy Man last fall. Finally, The Mummy looks like it could be a fun ride, even though I've heard that it's corny. Well, those were my thoughts and I just wanted to share them. Larry."

BAD AD WATCH: Sony seems to have finally found their stride on Go. I haven't seen my "It's better than T2" on The Matrix yet, but Warner Bros. is getting it done there. And Never Been Kissed from Fox is all Drew all the time. Exactly right. All I can really complain about it the hideous logo for 10 Things I Hate About You which probably hurt the film almost as much as the nonsensical title. See, I'm Mr. Nice Guy! (Mwah-ha-ha!!!)

READERS OF THE DAY: From C.J.: "The deal with outdated critics... I find it insulting to me as a film wanna-be maker, a film enthusiast (seeing an average of 50-65 a year with a near minimum wage job), a some what intelligent human that these 'higher than mighty' individuals would deem their opinions so superior. So, perhaps my views are not always at the top of the wisdom heap of intellectual maturity. I do know what I enjoy, what seems to make a film go well and what is truly a brilliant piece of art work. I have this same problem with the Oscars® (and even bigger problem with the other awards shows like MTV)."

And a bit of butt-smooching from once and future tough guy, Krillian: "I hereby volunteer to be Ebert's intern. Most of his co-hosts seem like they belong on E!'s 'Gossip Show,' not seated next to the great one. Joel Siegel? Blecch! Please. No Gene Shalit, no Rex Reed, and even no Jeffrey Lyons, a man I used to like but who's become a quote whore the past few years. Ebert understands the movies are the stars, and that's the problem with most critics. The reason Owen [Gleiberman] and Lisa [Schwarzbaum] of EW often annoy me in their reviews is that they seem to derive more entertainment out of their own puns and metaphors in their articles than they do conveying what the movie experience is like. Ebert tells it like it is without flowering it up or trying to be 'witty.' There's a reason Siskel said Ebert's strength is his writing. There's a good reason Ebert's quotes carry more weight than any other critic in the world. I also appreciated Premiere devoting a page to directors who've appreciated what Siskel has done for them. P.S. I'd be curious to see how USA Today's Mike Clark would do."