Seek, and you might find

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies In animal scientist Temple Grandin's most recent book, Animals Make Us Human, she discusses the "blue ribbon emotions" her colleague, neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, believes guide human and animal behavior.

These primary emotions (typically rendered in all caps) are RAGE, FEAR, PANIC, LUST, CARE and PLAY. All animals need to experience the positive emotions, and too much of the negative ones leads to all sorts of neurotic behavior.

Perhaps the most interesting of these emotions is SEEKING, which Grandin says is "the pleasure of looking forward to something really good" as opposed to "the pleasure of having something good."

Grandin says SEEKING is such a gratifying emotion that researchers long misidentified the SEEKING system as the brain's "pleasure center." SEEKING - the positive side of wanting, anticipating and being curious about something that's coming up - feels great, even better than actually having the thing.

That's why coming attractions always seem better than the movies themselves. If SEEKING is as good as it gets, then we can't help but be disappointed in the actual experience. (Cue Peggy Lee: "Is that all there is?")

And so, with the cinematic flotsam of the first quarter of 2009 mostly out of the way and with the highly anticipated Watchmen now in theaters, it's a good time to look forward to movies that sound far more interesting than they probably will turn out to be.

For instance, Kyle Newman's Fanboys has finally made it into limited theatrical release, and it should pop up in Arkansas theaters within a few weeks. Chances are either you know a lot about this movie or you've never heard of it. Set in 1998, it's about a group of allegedly grown-up friends who have never outgrown their childhood fascination with Star Wars. Their SEEK systems are being stimulated by the impending release of George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, but they've reason to suspect that one of their number - a cancer victim - won't make it to opening weekend. So they drive across the country on a quest to break into Lucas' ranch and steal a print of the film.

The reviews have been mixed, with some critics observing that Phantom Menace didn't live up to its hype either. Still, I get as many queries about when this benighted, low-budget feature is coming as I do all the other movies mentioned here combined. Maybe soon. Maybe never. Don't get your hopes up either way.

Even James Cameron seems to understand the problems of elevated expectations - while he's been emphasizing the incredible technical complexity of his mysterious years-in-themaking project Avatar (scheduled for a Dec. 18 release), he's also said that he doesn't know if it "will be a great film from a narrative and critical standpoint." What he's promising is that the movie will "be an experience unlike other movies," and that its use of motion capture and 3-D technology will be cool. Having been knocked out by the 3-D effects in Coraline, I'm anxious to see how Cameron raises the ante.

A friend who pays attention to such things considers Coraline the biggest advance in special effects since Cameron's Terminator 2, but the real question raised by the approach of Terminator Salvation is whether Christian Bale's famous intensity (as evidenced by the recently leaked recording of his salty tirade against a hapless crew member) will translate into a brilliant performance. Were it not for the presence of Bale I wouldn't be holding out much hope for this McG-directed installment. It's scheduled for release May 21.

On the other hand, we were more excited about Monsters vs. Aliens (March 27) before we saw its now ubiquitous trailer; Planet 51 (Nov. 20) and Pixar's Up (May 29) may be better animation bets, and I'm hopeful Planet 51 will become my favorite Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson movie.

I'm not especially psyched about Race to Witch Mountain (March 13), which looks, from the trailer, like a banal remake of the forgettable 1975 Disney movie Escape to Witch Mountain. That's not to say it won't be great - I like to wait until after I've seen a movie before reviewing it- but it doesn't do much for my SEEK system.

But that's beside the point - I admit to being intrigued by X-Men: Origins: Wolverine (May 1), even though I haven't really cared much for the series to date, simply because Liev Schreiber is playing Wolfie's nemesis Sabretooth. I understand a lot of comic geek types are upset with Schreiber's casting because they think of him as an intellectual actor. Well boys, Hugh Jackman only looks big on the screen - Schreiber has personally assured me he could take Hugh in a street fight.

The less I say about Star Trek (May 8) the better. But I will say that Chris Pine, the new James T. Kirk, was the worst thing about Bottle Shock, a charming movie with a couple of weak spots. He should do better with this role.

A lot of people are looking forward to Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (June 26), but very few of them are middle-aged movie critics. That doesn't really matter very much, considering that Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox are back, now does it?

The same might be said for

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (July 17), which was pushed back from December. Normally that's not a good sign, but the built-in Potter audience ensures a robust opening weekend, and the fans are enthused by the trailer. So it'll probably be another sturdy installment in the series, which ought to end with next year's Deathly Hallows. Right?

I can't believe we've actually come to this, but G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra opens on Aug. 7. I'm more interested in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, (Aug. 21). Sure, it'll be sadistic and ultra-violent and saturated with movie brat brio and a genuine love for the form.

I'm also still interested in The Road, John Hillcoat's take on the Cormac McCarthy novel, even though it still doesn't have a U.S. release date (it is scheduled to open in Argentina on June 18 and in Finland in October, which can't really be counted as good signs). Another project deferred from last year, Joe Wright's The Soloist, with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx, is scheduled to open on April 24.

I can't imagine better casting than Benicio Del Toro as The Wolf Man (Nov. 6). And I can't imagine how a Martin Scorsese film, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer and Jackie Earle Haley could misfire. So I'm penciling in Shutter Island (Oct. 2) as my pick to click (even though I've heard the Dennis Lehane psychological thriller on which it's based is "practically unfilmable").

I'm also wired for Michael Mann's Public Enemies (July 1), which stars Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis.

Looking even further down the road, I'm really excited about what North Little Rock native Jay Russell will do with Steve Niles' graphic novel Wake the Dead, which should surface in the summer or fall of 2010. And then there's the Farrelly Brothers' The Three Stooges, which may or may not star Johnny Depp as Moe Howard and Sean Penn as Larry Fine. While the Farrellys reportedly have no idea who to cast as Curly, Mel Gibson would seem to be the obvious choice.

I'd SEEK that one out. Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies