How could this guy not steal a scene? Look at his competition in the movie!

I can, however, use this opportunity to comment on Metacritic, and not because it flouts the unspoken agreement against bean spilling before the opening. Worse, it assigns an overall ranking based on a limited number of reviews. Not only could this mislead the public, but probably influences other critics, no offense to fellow critics, unless you are the influenceable kind. Imagine you just saw the movie, and look on Metacritic to find a big 80 percent average score. You might take that to mean everyone else loves it, without noticing the score is only based on a few reviews (as of Wednesday April 8 anyway). Metacritic should change that policy and hold off on scores until it gets a number of reviews closer to the estimated total it’s going to include, depending on the movie. An average of four really doesn’t mean much.

Not to get all Ronnie and up in everyone else’s business or anything. Just saying.

Victor Mature in Bruce Humberstone’s “I Wake Up Screaming”

The series is over, but you can catch a rerun of the last episode this Saturday and Sunday night. Star Danny McBride is going to be in Will Ferrell’s adaptation of Land of the Lost, this summer.

This is not a follow-up to “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.” The timing is odd, but the newer one actually looks a little better.

The film is directed by Jody Hill, the man at least semi-responsible for Kenny Powers and Fred Simmons (he directed “The Foot Fist Way” and “Eastbound & Down”).

Observe and Report opens April 10.

For those who landed here looking for Neo, check out allmovie.com.

2. Despite the devotion to the space (children’s libraries) you can’t deny there’s something at least irreverent, if not perverse (purposefully I’d guess) about the Christoph Niemann T-Rex rearing to chomp the little boy with its book teeth. I mean I’d like to say I’ve been bitten by a book or two in my life, but still. Not disparaging it though. It’s great. – W.M.

From the New York Times.

Bukowski’s best work of fiction, which is what I like most of his writing, is “Factotum,” a hilarious first-person look at the different-job-a-week life of Bukowski’s alter-ego Henry Chinaski. It was recently adapted into a well-meaning but slightly off movie version starring Matt Dillon that missed the self-depreciating humor that makes the book such a fun, extremely funny read.

Probably not supposed to do this but here’s one of my favorite excerpts, from Chapter 3, Copyright 1975 by Charles Bukowski.

I went out on the street, as usual, one day and strolled along. I felt happy and relaxed. The sun was just right. Mellow. There was peace in the air. As I apprached the center of the block there was a man standing outside the doorway of a shop. I walked past.

“Hey, BUDDY!”

I stopped and turned.

“You want a job?”

I walked back to where he stood. Over his shoulder I could see a large dark room. There was a long table with men and women standing on both sides of it. They had hammers with which they pounded objects in front of them. In the gloom the objects appeared to be clams. They smelled like clams. I turned and continued walking down the street.

- W.M.

I rented “Australia.” It was on Blu-ray at the vid store and I couldn’t resist.

All I can say is… crikey.

I read a lot of reviews of this movie when it came out in theaters and can’t believe no one mentioned the tone, which is a throwback to American Westerns of the ’70s, with that faux rustic-symphony music you’d hear in a Broadway Western, and a similarly genial, light-hearted undercurrent running through most of dialogue. Cross that with “Legends of the Fall” and you have a good idea of what it’s like. Truly something for people who think Jay Leno is too controversial, and on too late anyway. Would have been much better with some tranquilizers. – W.M.