What to watch this weekend?

I've been pretty psyched for the sequel to "28 Days Later" for some time now, and now that it's here, my excitement has hit fever pitch.

I'm ashamed to say that in the Macon Telegraph, because we have to rush our Friday entertainment section on to the press early in the week, we ran a one-and-a-half star review of "28 Weeks Later" from the usually very reliable Roger Moore. Mr. Moore is usually a geek at heart, so I'm just hoping he got this one wrong, because I've seen more than couple raves out there already too.

Given the other choices this weekend, anyway, it's definitely the cream of the crop. If I had a couple of hours to kill I could probably come up with a couple hundred very painful things I'd rather do than watch "Georgia Rule." There's an article in the fantastic new Oxford American Southern Movie Issue that tries to crown Lindsay Lohan as a "hillbilly heroine," but trash with a crown is still just shiny trash in my book.

And I've officially reached my breaking point with Zach Braff. Last night's "Scrubs," following a simply sublime episode of "The Office," was just plain bad. They apparently even managed to put the extremely likable Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman in "The Ex" and gave them exactly nothing funny to do or say.

And then, of course, there's "Delta Farce." What can you say about this one? I was happy to see that, rather than shipping Larry the fat redneck to Iraq to ridicule our fighting forces for real, they instead send him off with Bill Engvall and DJ Qualls to Mexico to ridicule our friends to the south. It's nice to see someone as geeky as DJ gets to keep working, but there's just no way I can see myself supporting this.

So, one good movie. Actually, if you live anywhere near Macon, there's another very appealing option this weekend. The Macon Film Guild is presenting Deepa Mehta's "Water" Sunday at 2, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Douglass Theater in downtown Macon. If I have this right, the movie is set in 1930's India and is about a young girl and other women forced to live in a home for widows. It's supposed to be epicly good viewing, so if you're going to the 2 p.m. show, I'll see you there.

So, actually two good movies on a summer weekend? I guess I can't really complain much about that after all.

The. U.S. vs. Michael Moore

You know an American presidential administration is in its final days when it does something as epicly stupid as this.

Michael Moore knows a thing or two about garnering attention for himself. It's what makes his otherwise entertaining and informative documentaries often a pain to watch. Now, even before the release of his new one, "Sicko," he's getting a big assist in this endeavor from an unlikely source: George Bush.

It seems the U.S. Treasury Dept. recently opened an investigation into whether Moore violated a federal travel ban to Cuba by taking "ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers" there for medical attention for a segment in "Sicko," according to the Associated Press. In other words, they've turned what sounds like a typical Michael Moore gimmick into a media event. Sheesh.

Don't get me wrong. If Lions Gate manages to actually play this wide enough to reach my little corner of the world when it opens June 29, I'll be there on opening day. Like a train wreck, Moore's movies just have an appeal that keeps me from looking away, even when he makes a royal ass of himself.

The funniest man in America?

I was going to say the world, but there may well be s Sri Lankan comedian whose funnier than Rainn Wilson. But I kinda doubt it.

He apparently has a role in Jason Reitman's next flick "Juno" (along with Ellen Page, Michael Cera, JK Simmons and Jason Bateman .. what a cast!), but he also has two other projects in the works that sound very funny. The first, of which I don't know the title, apparently answers one of the many burning questions that have plagued my overly busy mind: What does a ninja do in his downtime? He's also just been signed to star in something called "Rocker," about a Pete Best-style drummer who gets a second shot of fame.

Wilson's Dwight Schrute is the funniest character on the small screen, so I can't wait to see what happens when he finally gets to cut up on the big one.

P.S. I've mentioned it here before, but the script for "Juno" was written by Minneapolis City Pages scribe Diablo Cody, author of the very funny Pussy Ranch blog, so it's well worth supporting when it finally comes out. Peace out.