So apparently the voice of Wilbur in that live-action version of "Charlotte's Web" from last year is some kind of filmmaker (he's 11). Anyway, the kid -- his name his Dominic Scott Kay -- made this short about his dead dog starring Kevin Bacon, and wound up suing one of his "backers" (the one who gave him $11K) because she was a mad woman desperate for creative control. Obviously, this raises a few questions. $11K? (For real?) Who's so domineering that they have to take over some little kid's short film, even for $11K? How does an 11-year-old sue? Is there no one Kevin Bacon won't work with?

The AP explains.

Hello, blog. Long time no see. Sometimes a week gets away from a movie critic, and between all the screenings and the copy deadlines, the youngest child (that would be you, blog) gets neglected. Please don't go through a rebellious stage in a desperate bid to get attention.

Everyone will be going to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" this weekend. I mean everyone. Didn't you get the memo? This will assuredly break the box office record set by "Spider-Man 3," and it's everyone's duty to pitch in. Just go to the theater and throw money at the screen.

The critics are mixed-to-peevish, not that it matters with a juggernaut like this. Me, I liked it better than the second installment while acknowledging that it's not a patch on the first one -- but what threequel is?

If you want some beautifully noisy peace and quiet instead, I urge you to see "Once," the amazing Irish rock musical (sort of) romance (sort of) opening today at the Coolidge and the Harvard Square. All the actual human feeling that "Pirates" can't fit into its 168 minutes is here in half the running time, and, lord, the tunes soar. If you know the Irish band The Frames, whose Glen Hansard plays the anonymous male lead, you know what to expect. If not, think Damien Rice duetting with Keren Ann in a Dublin back alley.

"Day Night Day Night" is still at the Coolidge, too. Make it a double-bill and blow your mind out the back of the theater.

I haven't seen "Bug," but Wesley gives it three and a half and as a certified member of the Ashley Judd Guilty Pleasure Fan Club ("Eye of the Beholder"? A brilliant addition to world cinema) I consider it my duty to check it out in due time. Fans of the strange may want to as well. Warning: It's half horror movie, half Off Broadway play.

The Brattle is still acting like a grindhouse: Bruce Lee lands onscreen on Sunday. It's my personal opinion that if there's not a junkie shooting up in the third row, a couple having sex in the back, and a scary guy breathing hard in the seat directly behind you, it is faux grindhouse, not the real thing. But you take what you can get.

More Harold Pinter screenplays at the Harvard Film Archive: It's a good weekend to get your Joseph Losey freak on.

So far the Cannes Film Festival has toasted Michael Moore's new docu-provocation "Sicko" about the American health care system (well, some Canadians are annoyed, since he might be be overly smitten with their health care system).

Abel Ferrara's "GoGo Tales" was also well received. Apparently, it's a sentimental look at a sleazy nightclub and its denizens, with Asia Argento, who's also sleazy in Olivier Assayas's latest, "Boarding Gate." Hou Hsiao-hsien's new movie, "The Flight of the Red Balloon, is also there, with Juliette Binoche narrating a puppet play.

Here is the Village Voice's J. Hoberman's entertaining report from this year's festival, his appreciation of the Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's abortion drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days" is particular good.

And the New York Times has a somewhat daily podcast in which Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott talk to each other and to filmmakers like the Coens. It's worth subscribing to, if only to make you regret staying home.