Got to get a quick plug in for Rhett Miller's latest, "The Believer." If you don't own it, you should, and if you do own it, you should tell people about it. And whether you do or you don't, you should click here and check it out. Jon Brion plays on several tracks, and so does Gary Louris. What more do you need to know?

Movies always come in trends, and for some reason, pairs of movies dealing with the same topic seem to keep cropping up. Let's do a rundown:

Prefontaine (1997) vs. Without Limits (1998)
Hard to pick a winner here. They're both about Steve Prefontaine, but no one cares about running, so let's move on.

Volcano (1997) vs. Dante's Peak (1997)
Linda Hamilton and Pierce Brosnan ran around in a bunch of ash in Dante's Peak, which was gray and uneventful, though Grandma did get boiled in the lake, which was pretty cool. But Volcano had lava pouring through the heart of L.A., and there's nothing better than watching a river of fire slide past the place you get bagels.
Winner: Volcano.

Armageddon (1998) vs. Deep Impact (1998)
Almost too easy. Elijah Wood comes of age while a meteor heads to earth, compared to the Aerosmith-ballad-wielding, animal-crackers-on-the-stomach crapfest that had simple-minded girls everywhere bawling over Ben Affleck.
Winner: Deep Impact. (It barely wins, though, since it was directed by Mimi Leder, who also brought us Pay It Forward, who for doing so should be beaten and chastised.)

Now, the main event: Capote (2005) vs. Infamous (2006)
I feel bad for Douglas McGrath. An actor, writer, and director, McGrath is currently helming Infamous, formerly titled Every Word Is True, which Warner Indepent Pictures has slated for a fall 2006 release. The film follows Truman Capote as he researches the lives of two murderers in Kansas for his upcoming "In Cold Blood." This should sound familiar to you all. I feel bad because his film entered production at roughly the same period as Bennett Miller's Capote, but there's now no way his film can carve out its own identity. Despite its all-star cast, it will only ever be known as the movie that isn't Capote. Worse, it's the movie that came after Capote. And worst of all, while Philip Seymour Hoffman transformed himself for the film and gave an amazing performance, Toby Jones just looks creepy:



That photo scares the crap out of me. I see it in my nightmares. Also, I'm not buying Gwyneth Paltrow as Peggy Lee and Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee. Sandra Bullock was never talented, just popular, and it's a shame that too many people saw Crash and thought it meant something and that, consequently, its cast deserved newfound recognition. Shame on you.
Winner: Capote, hands down.