* Remember when you were a kid, and you'd finger paint, and you'd fight to get every single color of that smelly tempera paint on the 8.5-by-11-inch page, and sometimes they'd smear together and create new bright colors? That's "Speed Racer" looks like. In action. For more than 2 hours. Dude, the original shows were 22 minutes because that's about how long you can sustain action like that without inducing seizures. For people who like challenging themselves to not throw up, you can catch it at Edwards Ontario Palace Stadium 22, 4900 E. 4th St., Ontario.

* Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher are adorable and goofy on their own, so I'm gonna guess "What Happens In Vegas" is an adorable and goofy romantic comedy. I mean, we all know what's going to happen in the end, but that's why they call them romantic comedies and not romantic tragedies. "Romeo and Juliet" ain't exactly a feel-good plot.*

* David Mamet's "Redbelt," which looks like a cross between "State and Main" (a Mamet movie) and "The Karate Kid" (not a Mamet movie), opens wider this weekend. I love love Chiwetel Ejiofor (I better learn how to pronounce his name -- I sometimes throw in a "Q" sound for no good reason) and am intrigued to see any movie that casts him alongside Tim Allen and Joe Mantegna.

*Though some people might disagree, preferring a romance that ends in death to a romance that itself dies.

Yes, much of the game is spent shooting at people and exhibiting a blatant disregard for anything resembling safe driving.

But there's more to the game than the stuff that has parents' groups and other mediators mad at it.

For people willing to look beyond the ability to pick up ladies of the evening, there are redeeming qualities to this game.

For one, the design. The game takes place in Liberty City, a stand-in for New York, and the attention to detail is astounding. For example, rather than being a uniform asphalt gray, the streets show the wear and tear of city traffic: oil stains, random grit gathered along the curbs, repair patches that are darker than the rest of the street.

Shadows of bridges and buildings move as time in the game progresses. And each car in the game has its own realistic driving quirk: If you're driving that massively oversized SUV, it doesn't accelerate well, and handles like an elephant. If you're in a sports car, it jumps over hills with very little encouragement. And that long 1970s sedan will fishtail if you take a corner too quickly.

There is humor in the game, as well. Ricky Gervais and Katt Williams do stand-up shows in one bar in the city, and a Russian bar features an acrobatic cowboy show and a lounge act.

The ads and radio programs mock current TV shows and trends, including "America's Next Top Model" and talk radio.

In-game games such as pool, bowling and darts require real skill (the pool game in particular uses real-world physics, letting you make bank shots that will have you standing up with excitement ... OK, maybe that's just me).

The story is thought-provoking for gamers patient enough to sit through the cut scenes. Niko, a former Serbian soldier, comes to the United States to try to make his fortune. But he finds that the fresh start he thought he was getting by moving to America won't come without the violence he thought he was leaving behind.

Some critics have compared the game to the film "The Godfather," and while many people (myself included, at first) balk at the idea that anything about a video game could possibly compare to an American masterpiece of film, it's an idea that has merit.

There's the organized crime that Niko eventually must be part of, but there's also the idea that being successful in America comes at a higher price for some people than for others.

Niko is not happy that he's having to fall back on violence to get the money and power that he equates with success. And that's an important realization to make.

There's something wistful, almost naive, about his idea of America, and it is sad that, like Michael Corleone, he keeps getting pulled back into society's underbelly just when he thinks he's through with it.

One of the biggest statements the game makes is with its Statue of Liberty -- or rather, the Statue of Happiness.

Rather than holding a torch to light the way for immigrants, the Statue of Happiness is carrying a styrofoam coffee cup. In America, commerce equals happiness.

And according to game sites, inside the statue is a chained, beating heart.

Shooting people and stealing cars? No, the game is certainly about more than that.

The 3-D arena isn't new to the group. After all, they appeared in Miley Cyrus' 3-D concert film earlier this year.

Here's my question: Do you get special Jonas Brothers-emblazoned glasses to take home after the event?

Do you get a themed pillow should the 3-D experience prove to make you faint?

From an Associated Press notice on the story:

In a statement, brothers Kevin, Joe and Nick said: "We can't wait to start working on this film for our fans. It's going to be awesome and we really want to bring a totally unique and different movie experience to everyone whether they've seen us live or not."

So, I guess I was woefully incorrect in my extreme feeling that 3-D movies are just a fad.

How do you think the Jonas Brothers' movie will be?

The boys are playing at Wango Tango in Irvine on May 10, and will be back in Irvine on July 12. For more concert info, check their site.

The film's success was pretty well-predicted, even by people who tried to downplay it by saying that sure, it would be good, but nowhere near "Spider-Man's" numbers (*cough-Paul Dergarabedian-cough*).

And while that's true, it still did better than the $70 million open predicted by most experts.

Considering it's not even the most famous marquee Marvel character (the roster includes the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Hulk), it was still an impressive opening, raking in more than $104 million, about $1.08 million of that in the Inland Empire. It overperformed here, too, making $35,956 per theater. Nationally, it scared up $24,543 per theater.

Considering it's a PG-13 action movie, its success in this region wasn't too big a surprise. After all, the movie made money in every market, even foreign markets.

Then there's "Drillbit Taylor," about as far away from "Iron Man" as a movie can get: lower-brow humor, goofy plot, and made for less than 25 percent of "Iron Man's" budget.

Yet, the movie made a miraculous recovery on the IE charts this weekend.

The film opened in fourth place on March 21, but dropped from there, falling off the regional top 10 by April 11.

This weekend, however, it made enough money to score the sixth spot on the regional top 10, even though it's only showing in five area theaters, at least two of which are second-run theaters.

Its per-theater average in the Inland area was $7,504, second only to "Iron Man's" take and beating the per-theater average for "Made of Honor" at $5,387.

So, apparently, the IE's love for PG-13-rated slapstick comedies outweighed our love for romantic comedies and, well, almost everything else this weekend.

The movie saw an unprecedented uptick in attendance from last week: Its take had a 1,566.77 percent change over the previous week.

Thank you so much for following our coverage and commenting. It's been a crazy couple of weekends.

If you missed it, just scroll down.

I'm going to be out of town this week for family things, including my sister's college graduation.

I have a few tidbits I'm pre-writing to keep you entertained while I'm gone, but I'll be back and up to full blogging force on May 12.

It was supposed to be at 7:30 p.m., a half-hour after he finished at the Mustang Stage. At 8 p.m., the staff at the Borders booth turned away a dwindling line of 30 people, offering them refunds on their CD purchases.

Fielding Buck
fbuck@pe.com

Fred had a message for the fans about Big & Rich:

"These guys rock!"

They're performing a Western swing cover of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long."

Bucky Covington, this is how you do a cover!

And they've got the crowd singing one final chorus.

Kudos to you Big & Rich, you guys are working the crowd.

"Looks like 50,000 people out there shaking to me, John," "Big" Kenny Alphin said to John Rich.

We haven't gotten the official tally today, but there were 35,000 people here Friday and 35,000 people here today, according to the festival's publicists.

We are still waiting on Coachella numbers.

Half-way through his set he became much more recognizable, switching out a University of Texas Longhorn hat for the black cowboy hat fans know and love.

So about 15 minutes later she walked by, stopping to take a few photos with little kids and security kept pushing us to the fence.

Then she got in a van and presumably went backstage.

The artist compound is pretty cool. Everyone has a brightly colored homemade sign saying which trailer they're in.

Crazy cameraphone photo to follow soon.

She also played a new song, "Growin' Up Down South," off the album she is currently recording. Her fourth effort is due in September.

What strikes me as odd, though, is that while she sounds totally on, she's not really dynamic on stage and at least on the big screen, she looks a little tired.

My favorite part of her set was the rock cover break (because everyone does a cover at Stagecoach) when she asked the audience "Are you ready to rock and roll out there?"

She covered Journey's "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" and man, Journey should have hired her to replace Steve Perry. Not only did she sound awesome, but her hair is way better than the mullet Steve was rockin' in the 1980s.

Then she did Heart's "Barracuda."

As my colleague Fielding Buck noted--"Guitar Hero" has really changed the landscape of music.

Wilson is closing with her breakthrough hit "Redneck Woman" and is getting the crowd to sing along with the chorus.

He said that she told him, "I think I'm gonna have to change churches now."

He told her that it would answer the biblical question of "How do you think Eve got Adam to eat the apple?"

I think Sunday school teachers in the audience might have have cringed at that one.

There are a few bicycle taxis around, some golf carts willing to pick up passengers and an odd kiddie-like train called the "Western Express," but no formal shuttle.

A number of fans have mentioned that to me over the weekend, especially with the festival drawing older fans and people with young children.

And believe me, the hike to and from the parking lot is my least favorite part of the day.

What if they had people park at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and did shuttles over here?

All-beef hot dog: $4
Corn dog: $5
Pizza slice: $6,and a wait is likely for pepperoni.
Garlic fries: $6, $8 with crab topping
Tri-tip sandwich: $8
Chips and cheese: $50 (comes with vegetables)
Bottled soft drinks: $3
Orange slush: $5

In the VIP area, a booth called Burgerrito's has gotten a lot of attention all weekend. A burgerrito is a hamburger patty wrapped in a buritto with lettuce, tomato, cheese and the usual condiments. It will run you $10. You might want to wait and grab a double double later.

Fielding Buck
fbuck@pe.com