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Last weekend I attended with my extended family a sneak preview of Cinderella Man, which we all enjoyed enormously for a variety of reasons -- my father-in-law because he grew up reading about Jim Braddock, my mother-in-law because she liked the Depression recreation, my kids because they thought the boxing was exciting and were charmed by Braddock's relationship with his kids, and me mostly because Russell Crowe was fantastic, though there was a lot else to enjoy as well: the cinematography was excellent, Renee Zellwegger was quite good despite having some dialogue nearly as bad as Natalie Portman's in Revenge of the Sith - can't ANYONE write dialogue for women in Hollywood?

But back to Crowe -- he managed to sound convincingly like he was from New Joisey for most of the film, he underplayed emotional scenes that would have been intolerable if he came on any stronger given the boo-hoo dialogue, and he looked amazing -- I don't mean gorgeous-amazing as boxing muscles and bruises don't do a thing for me, but his physical presence in the ring and in schlub clothes in the dock scenes was equally intense. It's hard for me to watch boxing even when I know how the matches will end, and in this case I not only knew the results but the injuries to expect - still, I couldn't look away. The supporting cast was all good, the preview was sold out and the audience applauded at the end.

Like Seabiscuit, Cinderella Man reminded me of The Natural, and of Seabiscuit itself only with more of an emphasis on hard work and commitment rather than fate and myth which I rather appreciated. The Depression was a very tough time to be an American, and Braddock talked about how it was easier facing people trying to smack you down in the ring where at least you could see who your adversaries were...fairly predictable but nicely done, which I'd say about most Ron Howard movies. Look, I love sports movies, I love historical biopics, I love Russell Crowe...the things going for this movie were far greater than the things I was likely to hold against it, boxing or no boxing.

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-To which planet should Berman and Braga be exiled?

-Which Star Trek moment most made you say, "What the...!"?

-Name your favorite Harry Potter novel.

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

These were some of the major news items from June 2003:

• Bakula: The Time Is Right For An Arc
  Scott Bakula (Archer) said he was "thrilled" about the changes in store for Enterprise's third season, especially the chance to explore a long-running storyline....it just feels like the right time to really get into something that has arc, that will survive not just the standalone episodes per se," he explained. "That will have something for the fans to really hook onto every week and really get involved with. So I'm very excited about it."

• Newest 'New Frontier' To Tell Character Stories
  Pocket Books announced the titles and authors of the short stories for the Star Trek: New Frontier anthology No Limits, edited by series creator Peter David and featuring 18 stories, most of which focused on a single character. "A Little Getaway", David's own contribution, told the story of the honeymoon of Captains Calhoun and Shelby.

• Armstrong On Becoming Human
  Vaughn Armstrong (Forrest) talked about finally landing his first human Trek role after years of playing Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, ex-Borg and others. He had tried out to play Ambassador Soval in "Broken Bow" but was told "they saw Admiral Forrest the minute I walked in the room. This made me very happy! A human, at last!"

More news can be found in the archives.

Poll Results

Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:

Now that they're all out...which was the best? Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 42.1% - (954 Votes) Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope 17.8% - (404 Votes) Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 17.5% - (398 Votes) Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi 11% - (251 Votes) The Star Wars Christmas special! 8.3% - (190 Votes) Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones 1.8% - (42 Votes) Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 1.1% - (25 Votes) Total Votes: 2264

Please vote in our new poll on whether you can figure out when the heck UPN is running Enterprise these days!

Today's Television Listings

Tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, UPN will be showing a movie. This weekend's rerun of Star Trek: Enterprise is "In a Mirror, Darkly". Here is a synopsis of the episode:

In the mirror universe, Commander Archer mutinies against Captain Forrest in order to capture a future Earth ship found in Tholian space.

Please check local listings for show times.

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