Mike Tyson wants to act in Bollywood movies, according to AP reports. Don't hope for clarification from a Tyson interview in the India Times that sounds like it was run through Google's translation software backwards.

I think I'm supposed to say something snarky here, but, really, when surrealism comes on this fast and hard, additional commentary isn't necessary.

What happens when a studio puts all its energy into a monster opening weekend without the bother of a good movie to back it up? Right: It falls off a cliff. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" dropped 62% from its opening-weekend grosses, similar to the fate that befell "Spider-Man 3" a few weeks earlier. "Pirates" was still the No. 1 movie in the country with $43.2 million, but, truly, most of us had already moved on to the next glittering diversion.

Which would be "Knocked Up"? Sort of. Buoyed by reviews of glue-sniffing delirium and expectations of another "40-Year-Old Virgin," the movie pulled in $29.3 million, a good increase over "Virgin"'s $21 million two years ago. Still, that R-rating has to have made a dent and the movie's cheerful but unabashed raunch will keep it from going mom-and-pop broad. (It's fun to scroll through the user comments for the film over at IMDB and guess which posters are under or above the age of 35.) It's worth noting that the per-theater-average for "Knocked Up" ($10,199) beat the PTA for "Pirates" ($9,900), and that the Judd Apatow comedy cost $30 million to make versus $200+ million for the third swashbuckler. That means Disney will keep "Pirates" in theaters until next March to cover their investment.

The Kevin Costner serial killer movie "Mr. Brooks" opened with a mild wheeze: $10 million. The Shue family soccer flick "Gracie" sank without a trace: $1.4 million.

Some interesting numbers in arthouse land, though: Irish musical "Once" is up to 60 theaters and is still making an average $7,500 per, quite strong for a lovely little bit of low-budget perfection. Period immigrant saga "Golden Door" made an average $11,000 at each of the three theaters it played at. (Wesley saw it last week and is kvelling mightily; it opens here a week from Friday.) And Russian sci-fi sequel "Day Watch" ($9,260 PTA) and Japanese anime blow-out "Paprika" ($7,412 PTA) are playing nicely to their respective niches.

Further BO info at Box Office Mojo and Leonard Klady.

Games such as Super Paper Mario are all you need to justify buying a Wii. This is a true system seller, reassuring players that while Nintendo will milk Mario with disasters like Mario Hoops on the DS, there's always a way to bring him back. This is a game just shy of perfection.

After an overly lengthy text-based introduction, you'll soon forget that time waster as you run through a 2-D Mario creation, stomping on Goombas and hitting blocks for coins. With a sharp, clean graphical presentation, this superb throwback level immediately involves the player from the first time they begin moving the classic plumber.

There's depth here though, and that's to be taken literally. Mario can switch at anytime into a 3-D view of the level, radically altering the mechanics and leading to some of the most ingenious puzzles Nintendo has ever dreamt up. Since the switch always occurs directly behind Mario, there are no camera problems and the enhanced shadow keeps players on the right plane when trying to knock out an enemy.

The Wii Remote is held sideways, as it would be when playing some Virtual Console games. Actual uses of the motion sensing controls are relatively weak, such as pointing at the screen to reveal hidden object or to complete a series of motions to use a power-up. Still, while by no means revolutionary (they could have been handled by any controller), required uses of these moves opens up another avenue of exploration when trying to solve Paper Mario's levels.

During the quest, additional characters become available. Some are directly controlled (such as Princess Peach), and others are Pixls, creatures that grant the lead character a special skill. Swapping between these is the game's most significant hindrance. There's no option to swap between characters without digging into the menu system, stopping the game entirely while you make changes. Worse, the flipping into 3-D view is a Mario exclusive making the swaps more apparent.

It's definitely something you can grow used to over time. You'll be far too involved in the fun mechanics to notice the majority of the time regardless. Nintendo has managed a few basic concepts, kept the simplicity new players will appreciate intact, and still avoided feelings of repetition. Puzzles are crafted in a way that each one feels unique, even when at their core they're the same as the last one.

The game's story is riddled with comedy, and loads of references to the company's past. Boss fights always bring something different to the table, both in terms of advancing the story and their means of defeat. Some struggles can take an entire level to clear.

Paper Mario will surely be on "best of" lists when 2007 winds down. There's an exhaustive amount of content to find, explore, and play through contained on this disc. This is the best title in the Mario RPG/Paper Mario line by far.

Super Paper Mario is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB for Comic Mischief and Mild Violence.

Matt Paprocki is the reviews editor for Digital Press, a classic video game website which he called home after his fanzine (Gaming Source) published its final issue. The deep game collection which spans nearly 30 systems and 2,000 games line his walls for reasearch purposes. Really. He has also begun writing freelance for the Toledo Free Press.