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Many people have wondered what the worst movie of all time is. According to Empire Online's list of the 50 Worst Movies Ever, the top spot doesn't go to Gigli, From Justin to Kelly, or Disaster Movie. Instead, it's Joel Schumacher's crappy stab at Bruce Wayne. Yes, Batman & Robin. Bad movie, indeed. But worst ever? It might make more sense this way: This was a voter's poll, and the nipply Batman and Robin got almost three times as many votes as the second film on the list -- Battlefield Earth.

Rounding out the top five, there's The Love Guru, Raise the Titanic, and Epic Movie. You've surely heard of most of them, but have you caught Raise the Titanic? It was a terribly expensive flop from 1980 where they, obviously, raise the Titanic. Empire notes that the film's one redeeming feature was the raised ship finally making its way to its final destination in New York, and they're definitely right. I didn't even realize that I'd seen the film until I read that, and it's the only part that sticks in my memory.

I won't run through the full list, but here's a quick glimpse at how the rest of the picks play out -- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen grabbed #25, Scary Movie scored #30 for ushering in the world of crap spoof, Superman IV: Quest for Peace got #40, and a superhero rounds out the list as well, with #50 going to the widely disappointing Spider-Man 3.

Weigh in below with your thoughts and please share -- what's the worst movie you've ever seen?

It's hard to pinpoint exactly when John Travolta stopped doing it for me. I wouldn't peg it during his famously rock bottom years (roughly between 1983's Stayin' Alive and 1994's Pulp Fiction, AKA the Look Who's Talking Years), but rather sometime in the past few decades, when Travolta decided he wanted to stretch himself by going increasingly, well, batshit crazy onscreen.

For the record, I'm no Travolta hater. He's excellent in earlier films, as Danny Zuko in Grease, Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (and even in the aforementioned Stayin' Alive), and Bud Davis in Urban Cowboy. The man's proven his talent and shown his range over the years, which is why it's particularly disappointing to see him hamming it up in films like the recent Wild Hogs and Old Dogs, two comedies that both star Travolta, have titles that coincidentally rhyme, and feature grown men getting hit in the crotch in their respective trailers.

But broad and painfully unfunny comedy is only one hallmark of the type of film John Travolta has become known for in recent years. The other is arguably worse: Travolta has somehow become Hollywood's go-to actor for over-the-top bad guy roles. The kind of roles that make you say "WTF?" as you sit in a darkened theater staring at the scenery-chewing, gleefully unpredictable one-man circus on display. The kind that might call for Travolta to shave his head, grow a goatee, shoot first and spout witty one-liners later, have sex with prostitutes, and act like he just does not give a f***, which is exactly what he does in this week's buddy-spy action-comedy, From Paris with Love.

Sadly, Live Wire Travolta no longer feels fresh. And whereas it used to amuse me, I now only feel a faint tingle of something – is it nostalgia? - coupled by an overpowering sense of sadness for what used to be. So take a trip down memory lane with me to explore seven of Travolta's most wacky, wild, and crazy roles and figure out when exactly he went from kooky to creepy.

The ultimate movie list junkie site, They Shoot Pictures Don't They? has recently updated their list of the 250 greatest films of the 21st century, based on a whole slew of critics' lists of the best films of 2009 and of the decade. Nitpickers insist that the century began in 2001 and not 2000, but this list goes back to January of 2000. The weirdest twist is that, after David Lynch's Mulholland Drive repeatedly won numerous polls and looked like a unanimous choice for the best film of the decade, it comes in at #2, behind Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love. Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, which placed at #2 on my personal list, but did not do well in polls, came in at #5.

The rest of the top ten now consists of: Yi Yi, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Spirited Away, There Will Be Blood, Talk to Her, A History of Violence and Y tu mamá también. Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker -- far and away the most acclaimed film of 2009 -- made its debut on the list at #13. The next highest-ranked 2009 film is Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, at #65. Of course, looking further down the list reveals some oddball choices, like Billy Elliot, King Kong, Kung Fu Hustle, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, and Crash.

There have been a lot of little strange and fun nibblets on the web this week while folks were busy in Sundance:

If you're a fan of Harry Potter, just wait -- Warner Brothers is planning to leave itself a permanent studio in the UK, where you can take tours of areas like the great hall. [Leaky Cauldron]

Do you think you could learn more about inner workings of the brain if it came directly from John Cleese? [Boing Boing]

If the whole muddled world of vampire lore has got you confused, Geeologie found Wikipedia's comparison chart of vampire characteristics, from Dracula down to fang-free Edward.

Jean Claude Van Damme is returning to Kickboxer! Okay, not quite. Instead, it turns out that the Muscles from Brussels wants to unleash his moves on "Olympian gold medalist Thai boxer Somluck Kamsing, age 37 who supposedly holds over 300 bouts under his belt. Some may recognized him for his film appearances in the Thai actioner Born to Fight and the Director's cut of Fearless with Jet Li." How will he fare all these years later? He's still tough, but those muscles aren't as ... robust these days. [Twitch]

Finally, I don't know about you, but I always wanted to see Susan Sarandon slap a pig on stage. Hit the jump to watch her law down the law to the porcine population.

The latest big studio romcom is about to land in our laps with When in Rome. It has the requisite lovey dovey elements: The earnest wishes for love, slapstick hijinks, siblings having all the romantic luck, ineligible suitors, grandiose displays of affection... You get the idea. It's all right there in the trailer (although I do find myself chuckling at that dark dinner clip).

There's nothing new about the typical romantic comedy, but this one does inspire me to wish about a world that could be. What if Kristen Bell's cinematic career wasn't filled with romantic turmoil, but rather fare that would make Veronica Mars proud? Instead of the wish-stealing, retreating couples, and kidnapped spouses, what if we got roles that continued to make Bell a name of note? She's the Nancy Drew-esque star who, under the hands of Rob Thomas, inspired Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon to appear on the show. Critics and fans heaped praise on her performance as the teen detective, but as the show was axed, so was the same magic.

However, I think it's still there, waiting to be tapped. In honor of Ms. Mars and Bell's potential, here are seven roles I'd rather see her in. Check them out and weigh in with your own picks below.

Yesterday the great Paul Newman would have been 85 years old, and I feel pretty confident saying that when it comes to an actor with the perfect balance of talent, humility and jaw-dropping good looks, there isn't an actor working today who can touch him. Newman's career spanned decades and he could play erotically-charged Alpha-males like Ben Quick or broken men like Frank Galvin with ease. He was a man's man who had a heart and a conscience and he brought that into every role he played, and when we lost him in 2008, I think we all knew that we'd never see anyone quite like him again.

Newman struggled against his good looks for most of his career and like the man of pure class that he was, he could even joke about it, famously saying: "I picture my epitaph: `Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown." Luckily, Newman was a talented actor and you can watch his films and witness one of Hollywood's greatest talents, or you can also watch those movies and let your mind wander to some less high-minded pursuits.

The one thing you can count on in this world is the power of a pretty face (whether it's a man or a woman), and Newman spent his career walking the tight-rope between being the handsome leading man and the serious actor. So, in honor of that tightrope, I've made a list of five films that are not only great performances, but are also your chance to develop a brand new movie crush. Because if you weren't already a little bit in love with Paul Newman, after watching these movies, you will be.

After the jump; five Paul Newman performances to make you swoon...

As a list junkie, I'm still having a great time combing over the lists of the best films of the decade. In particular, I'm enthralled by the polls conducted at Indiewire and Film Comment (neither of which I participated in). The polls agreed on seven of the top ten films, and they ranged from well-known films to a couple of titles that feel pretty obscure. One film that reached the top ten on both lists barely ever had any distribution or attention in the United States. It showed up in the spring of 2007 on no more than 2 screens at a time, and its total U.S. gross was about $16,000 (that's sixteen thousand, not million). I saw it on a DVD screener at my house, and to the best of my knowledge, it never opened for a regular run in my hometown. The film is Syndromes and a Century, from Thailand, written and directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. He studied for a time in Chicago, so if you can't pronounce his name, he doesn't mind being called "Joe."

If you spend any time with me, then you will quickly learn that I love movie dialogue. I memorize it, I quote it, and I'm sure I'm more than a little annoying as a result. But I don't care, because while some of us might go to the movies to see mind-blowing special effects, and others to see their favorite stars, for me it's all about the words -- which I guess shouldn't come as a surprise considering my line of work. Unfortunately in our fancy-schmancy Event Movie world, filmmakers sometimes forget how important the dialogue can be, and when it comes to letting your actor shine, there is nothing that can showcase their skill and talent like a well written monologue or speech.

So you might be wondering how I got on this tangent in the first place. Well, I recently stumbled across the website American Rhetoric, and before you knew it I had spent an hour reading some of my absolute favorite monologues and speeches from the movies. Usually when people talk about classic movie speeches, it tends to be the kind of speech that will accompany an epic like Patton, Malcolm X, or even Braveheart. But, 'prestige' films aren't the only source of great movie speeches. So I started to think about my most loved movie speeches, and like any movie fan with a need for hierarchies, I decided to put together a list.

After the jump: my top five (in no particular order), and your nominations for favorite movie speeches...

Welcome to the first installment of Keeping Score, Cinematical's new epicenter of coverage and commentary on movie music. In coming weeks you'll read interviews with composers, reviews, profiles, and critical analyses of entire genres and bodies of work. Before we get to that, however, as a sort of introduction we thought we'd take a look at the best of 2009.

The year was surprisingly full of really strong movie music, from hit-heavy compilations to original orchestral work and almost everything in between. Runners up to our Top Ten list included the soundtracks to Where the Wild Things Are, Funny People, A Single Man, and even New Moon, if only for Thom Yorke's throbbing, irresistible contribution "Hearing Damage." But the following ten were the year's cream of the crop – the best, most beautiful, and, ultimately, most moving pieces of music set to moving images in 2009.