If “Spider-Man 3” was the first “Spider-Man” movie, it would be the best “Spider-Man” ever.

I was out the door and en route to Tacoma Szechuan almost as fast as I’d answered the telephone.

Full of satisfying surprises, ‘Fracture’ stars Anthony Hopkins and comes close to being a perfect crime movie. As perfect-crime thrillers go, “Fracture” is close to perfect.

Modest Mouse has risen from being a popular Northwest band to one of the country’s favorites.

Everything about God of War 2 is epic.

Derek Choi purchased BBQ Pete’s a couple of months ago. But his is not the name that truly matters. These are the names barbecue lovers need to know: Evert. Duane. Neal. Monte.

The snakes followed St. Patrick to their watery graves. Your fate can be much more pleasurable this weekend. Just follow the green dots of the South Sound Pub Crawl as we check out two Irish pubs that celebrate their first St. Patrick’s Day in Tacoma this year.

First and foremost, “300” is a stunning visual achievement.

Clown cops converge on Miami, cause chaos.

ALL YOU CAN EAT

Taylor Swift may not have amassed a ton of life experience, having just turned 17 in December. But the rising star has found lots from her life that’s worth immortalizing in song, as fans will notice Saturday at the Tacoma Dome when she opens for country veteran George Strait.

A new year brings three nightclubs to Tacoma. Get the lowdown on the music, atmosphere and clientele at the Junkyard, the Garage and JD’s Wild West Saloon. Last year saw the addition of Syren and the Factory to Tacoma’s club scene. And recently three more potential hot spots opened in time for ’07.

“The Nativity Story” has everything you’d expect in a picture telling one of the world’s best-known stories: the Magi, the manger, the angel Gabriel, the light from the east, the shepherds descending from the hills to gaze upon the miracle, the slaughter of the innocents ordered by Herod. And of course at the story’s center, a man and a woman and, at the end, a baby.

Clint Eastwood’s incredible ‘Flags of Our Fathers’ honors the men who fought at Iwo Jima. The film shows the difficulty of being a hero. “Flags of Our Fathers” is above all an honorable picture.

They’re more massive than Montgomery Gentry. They’re bigger than Big & Rich. And there’s little arguing that Brooks & Dunn – Thursday’s main attraction at the Tacoma Dome – is the most successful country duo in history.

Tough guys.

There’s a new 12th Man in Qwest Field’s kitchen. In the offseason, the Seahawks replaced Pennsylvania-based food services vendor Aramark with Chicago-based Levy Restaurants, promising “a signature food experience” that “matches the glory of the team.”

A few weeks ago, the Entertainment Software Association, the group that regulates the video games industry, announced the dramatic downscaling of its annual games convention.

The idea of having someone take a whack at your head with a bamboo stick may not sound terribly appealing, but a growing number of people in the Puget Sound area find the idea attractive.

Hotrod-A-Rama is for cool cars, cool motorcycles and people with cool attitudes. Trailer queens (pampered cars whose wheels rarely touch the ground outside of showrooms) and Harley posers (motorcycle riders who maybe aren’t as bad-to-the-bone as they pretend to be) simply won’t fit in.

They call it “Cars,” and they’re not kidding.

They don’t call them “police procedurals” for nothing. In a movie like “The Sentinel,” procedure is everything.

Wanda Sykes may not be as popular as Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle or Jerry Seinfeld. But she has clearly been on a steady roll these past few years.

Let’s call it official.

Vamp. Rhymes with camp.

Meanwhile, back at the acorn …

Daniel Harrison and his partners were tired of turning people away at the door.

Midnight approaches at Area 151, and the party is jumpin’.

This part of the world is about as geographically removed from Southern soul food as you can get in the lower 48, but here you go: 11 South Sound restaurants specialize in soul food and/or Southern cooking with black American roots.

The bluegrass bands weren’t nearly as high-profile as, say, U2, Gorillaz or Kanye West. Nonetheless, a couple of acts that are scheduled to appear at next week’s Wintergrass Bluegrass Festival had big nights at the 48th annual Grammy Awards earlier this month.