The "black hooker" speaks; Twentieth Century Fox fires back at some of the plaintiffs suing it, calling it a "fatuous" attempt to thwart free speech; two Romanian villagers sue for US$30 million and President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan encourages everyone to laugh along with Borat.

Why do I think Liam Lacey's review of Casino Royale, the latest instalment in the 007 sage, is the most perceptive?

Well, it plays to my biases, and my biases are that the action films Ong Bak and Banlieue 13 (District 13) are two very influential and very under-appreciated films in the genre.

And if people are packing theatres and leaving wowed because of the phenomenal chase sequence in Africa that occurs early in Casino Royale, the filmgoers should thank those two earlier films for giving the production team of the big-budget effort some ideas to work with.

The NYT Magazine asked a number of funny people which five comedies they'd take to a desert island (I'm assuming this would be for a planned shipwreck).

But, screw what those lesser lights like Will Ferrell and Christopher Guest think. You're at this blog because you're fascinated with what I think -- just like I am!

So here it goes, my top five:

1. Animal House

2. There's Something About Mary

3. This Is Spinal Tap

4. Dr. Strangelove

5. Blazing Saddles

And a few others:

The King of Comedy

The Wedding Crashers

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Withnail and I

The Blues Brothers

War of the Roses

Gozu

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world

The Party

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

More punk'd people in the Borat movie are stepping forward to proclaim their victimhood. The village in Romania that stood in for the victional fictional Kazakhstan home of Borat is considering suing, saying they were duped and that the production team took advantage of their poverty.

Two of the drunken frat boys filmed in a motorhome sequence in Borat claim they were duped and are suing 20th Century Fox and three production companies.

Did I mention Borat made $26.5 million last weekend? :)

There'll be no mocking Russia's allies. Russia will not issue a distribution licence for the Borat mockumentary. Here's why.

Oh, and Pam Anderson was in on the gag.

Erlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan's ambassador to Britain, says Borat made him laugh, but suggests there's one key component to the film's humour -- ignorance of Kazakhstan.

The Borat flick dominated this weekend, taking in US$26.4 million at the box office, according to the AP story on CTV.ca.

In talking to a few folks, it seems the crowds were definitely weighted to the 24-and-under set, and there's a strong possibility the last movie they saw was Jackass 2. :)

The consensus seems to be funny, yes, but not something people (at least those of us over age 24) would run right out and see a second time.

Here's my review.

Casino Royale, the Ian Fleming novel that started the James Bond franchise, is the first 007 movie to star blond Brit actor Daniel Craig. The Observer's Tim Adams got a first look.