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If you're reading this, then congratulations. You're what some industry analysts in Los Angeles would call an "early adopter." But hopefully I'll be able to provide something that will keep you coming back to The Movie Filter, and talking back too. There's a feedback option at the bottom of this page. Use it to share your thoughts with the class.

So, hey. My name is Jeff, and I like to watch movies. Why do I feel like I should be in a morose semicircle with a timid hand raised when I say that? The creativity, the process, the final product, it all fascinates me. At least once a week I'll be logging on to write a DVD recommendation or short movie review or link to some ridiculous celebrity story. Those crazy celebrities, they're always getting into trouble.

This week, check out Thumbsucker on DVD. Yeah, yeah, it's another coming-of-age story about a drifting teenager. Difference is this kid hangs onto a habit most kick by kindergarten. The cast is also stellar and unusual. Vince Vaughn, Keanu Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Tilda Swinton do their best to spin the well-trod genre in unpredictable directions. Don't confuse it with The Chumscrubber, though, a pretentious Magnolia knockoff. That's right, more pretentious than Magnolia. I said it.

So yeah, are movies getting too long these days? Are all the New Wave-inspired auteurs indulging themselves too much? Honestly, who is going to tell Peter Jackson or Stephen Speilberg they ought to trim the fat off their films? Nobody who likes getting a paycheck. Even some two-hour films like Broken Flowers seem overlong. Do we really need all those dull driving shots, Mr. Jim Jarmusch? OK thanks. Bill Murray's on a roadtrip, we get it.

But the truth is ceaseless previews that expose the entire plot, Internet research and downloadable behind-the-scenes featurettes now do the job for many viewers that the first act of a film would traditionally perform. They set the scene, introduce the worldits rules and its charactersand prepare the viewer for the real action and conflict of Act 2. All of which makes moviegoers fidget more restless than Tom Arnold on a talk show, especially when King Kong's run time balloons to 3 hours and 7 minutes because Peter Jackson is too in love with gratuitous shots of a giant ape's oh so intricately-rendered ape face. But giving a blonde-fetching primate personified facial expressions that go "grrr," "You're purty, Naomi Watts!" and "whaaaa?" isn't going to keep me from wishing I had those three hours of my life back. A tighter script and character development might, but not computer-generated eyeballs. Word is a trilogy is in the works. So I wonder what Kong's face will look like expressing the obvious "I'm back! Hope you went to the bathroom."

With Daniel Craig (Layer Cake, Munich) wielding the Walter PPK, I have high hopes for Casino Royale, the next James Bond movie due this November. Check out the latest casting news at Commander Bond.

And finally, Joel Ryan has a real-time, blow-by-blow account of Oscar's cheeky gal pal, the Golden Globes at E! Online. Read about George Clooney restraining himself from an anti-Bush tirade, the spawn of Rachel Weisz getting screen time and Queen Latifah kicking the played out term "blingin'" to the verbal curb. Oh no she didn't.