It's the Fourth of July weekend, and to many Americans that means cookouts and fireworks and sandy beaches. Unfortunately, it also means that it's as hot as balls. And so bright! It seems like we get closer and closer to the sun every year! This year, why not draw all the blinds, turn on the air conditioner, sit in the dark and watch movies that convey all the fun of the holiday, but without the annoying sunburns, sandy crevices and botulism risks? We've hand-picked the following movies for the complete 4th of July experience, or a reasonable facsimile.

The Fireworks! Independence Day (1996) This may seem a no-brainer, but this alien-invasion movie not only takes place on the 4th (Tagline: "On July 2nd, they arrive. On July 3rd, they strike. On July 4th, we fight back."), it also features enough explosions to vaporize Europe. Not only do the aliens create their own "fireworks" when they blow up Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C., they also become fireworks when their charred remains burn up while entering the atmosphere.

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When I hear Lauren Graham's name, I jump. Ever since Gilmore Girls, in which she played the chatty Lorelai Gilmore for seven seasons, I've loved the actress. So when I found out that Lauren would be starring in the new film The Answer Man, I had to know more.

The Answer Man is a romantic comedy starring Jeff Daniels as author Arlen Faber, writer of the world-renowned book, "Me and God," which is filled with all of life's apparent answers. Unfortunately, Arlen hasn't managed to figure out the answers to his own life.

When Arlen meets Elizabeth (Lauren Graham), a single mom, he's immediately attracted to her. Elizabeth, like all of Arlen's readers, hopes he has all the answers, but she soon learns he really doesn't have any idea about life at all.

Watch this exclusive clip of Elizabeth and Arlen's first date. It shows Lauren Graham in all her adorable, stressed out glory. Plus the chemistry between the two actors is quite sweet:



















The Answer Man hits theaters on July 24. If you can't wait that long to see it, the movie is now out on early release on VOD, Amazon and Xbox.

-- Jacki Garfinkel

... And that's when RunPee.com comes in handy. The Website, which has been featured on NYTimes.com, lists movies currently in theaters, and offers handy suggestions for exactly when during the movies' run times you can slip out to the bathroom or the concession stand without missing anything important. And if you want to know exactly what you'll miss, RunPee provides a summary, which is scrambled in case you don't want the spoiler.

Is this the best idea ever?! Actually, the site is only accessible via the Web for now, but the site promises it's "coming soon to an iPhone near you," which will absolutely make it one of the best, most helpful, ideas ever.  

Apparently very few moviegoers, since Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made killer box office dollars since opening last Wednesday. $201.2 million, by studio estimates, which puts it behind only The Dark Knight for the biggest four- and five-day openings ever.

Box Office Mojo's estimates for the June 26-28, 2009 box office weekend top five:

Rank | Movie Title (Distributor)
Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount (DreamWorks))
$112.0 million | 4,234 | $201.2 million | 1

2. The Proposal (Buena Vista)
$18.5 million | 3,058 | $69.1 million | 2

3. The Hangover (Warner Bros.)
$17.2 million | 3,525 | $183.2 million | 4

4. Up (Buena Vista)
$13.0 million | 3,487 | $250.2 million | 5

5. My Sister's Keeper (Warner Bros.)
$12.0 million | 2,606 | $12.0 million | 1

Source: Box Office Mojo

Looking ahead, the big releases for the July 4 weekend: Public Enemies (Johnny Depp and Christian Bale), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (which looks adorable) and I Hate Valentine's Day (or, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Part Deux, as I like to think of it).

What will you be seeing, besides fireworks, during the holiday weekend?

iVillage.com recently hit up the celebrity-filled New York premiere of My Sister's Keeper.

The new movie tells the story of a young girl who sues her parents for the right to her own body, after they want to use her kidney to help save her cancer-stricken sister's life.

Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Sofia Vassilieva and Jason Patric were just a few of the stars to walk the red carpet.

We caught up with Jodi Picoult, the author of the best-selling book -- which the movie is based on --to learn more about her work, family, and what you can do to get your kids writing.



















My Sister's Keeper is in theaters today.

While all of the attention is on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen right now, this August will see another 1980s toy property come to the big screen: G.I. Joe. Sadly, you may not recognize anything but the name, because visually it seems to have very little in common with the most popular version of its mythos, and unsubstantiated rumors have been circulating that the director, Stephen Sommers, has been pulled from editing the film. How did this happen? How did G.I. Joe, one of the most basic, straightforward concepts in 1980s children's television, become such a nightmare?

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When you go to the Fandango page for Jack Black and Michael Cera's Year One there's a small box where they list "Similar Movies You Might Like." Now, this box assumes that you like the movie whose page you're on. Considering that most people who go to Fandango haven't even seen the movie they're looking up yet, it's a strange feature. In this context, they're more like recommendations for movies you should stay home and watch instead of the movie you're about to buy tickets for. Dear God, how I wish I'd taken that little box's advice.

Instead of seeing Year One, the box told me to see Caveman, The History of the World Part I, National Lampoon's Stoned Age, Encino Man and Erik the Viking. Now, I can't speak for Stoned Age -- a movie I will likely never see, even if David Carradine is in it -- but the rest of the suggestions are not only apt, they're all much better than Year One, if only because Year One swipes elements from all of these films, including specific jokes. Mel Brooks should be particularly offended, since History of the World seems to have served as a major "inspiration" here.

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It's a well-known fact to anyone within earshot of my office that I didn't like the first Transformers movie. In addition to an apparent hatred of the original cartoon, I thought it showed a hatred of humanity, from the robot characters' utter disregard for human lives to the human characters' lack of anything resembling real emotion to, yes, the peeing-on-John-Turturro incident. (No, I will not let it go. John Turturro is a national treasure.) So seeing all of the cool-looking new robots in the trailer for Revenge of the Fallen (Devastator! Ravage! The Fallen!) has my insides churning like Devastator's sand-hole. Could it possibly be good, thereby redeeming the original film and, in fact, the entire Michael Bay film library in my eyes? Doubtful. But the robots certainly look awesome. We gathered as much information as we could about the new robots and got some updates on the four returning primaries for a gallery we like to call Robot Roll Call!

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Here at TWoP, cheesy romantic comedies are like our Kryptonite. We can take high-school musicals, twee indie dramedies and mindless mega-octane actioners, but have someone do a pratfall into a wedding cake or wind up accidentally naked in front of someone's grandma, and we get the dry heaves. So we're torn over The Proposal, which on the one hand looks like Green Card Redux, and on the other hand... looks kind of awesome. While you Green Card fans may be right there with us, the rest of you may wonder if we've lost our senses. But here's five reasons we're actually thinking about putting on some sunglasses and a trenchcoat and sneaking into this movie.

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