Reuters - The raison d'etre for "Passchendaele" is a savage World War I battle by that name, a proud yet horrific moment in Canadian history that cost the still-young and underpopulated country so many of its finest young men.

Reuters - Indie film darling Darren Aronofsky stumbled with his most recent movie, "The Fountain," but he's back on track with "The Wrestler," which had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival and is seeking distribution.

Reuters - After she scored nine pop hits between 1999 and 2006, top 40 radio gave Jessica Simpson the heave-ho.

AP - Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

Reuters - Leave it to an enigmatic-after-all-these-years rock legend to play a 50-year-old creaky venue that hasn't been a concert hotspot for quite some time. Back in the 1970s and '80s, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium played host to shows from the Kinks to Queen to the Clash. The sound was never very good.

AP - The new TV season's official start date (Sept. 21) is weeks away, but one of the most anticipated shows, "90210," has already arrived.

Reuters - Mellow music king Jack Johnson gave summer a gentle sendoff Sunday night, turning a massive stage at UCLA's Intramural Field into a breezy beachfront shack. All that was missing was the sound of rolling waves and grains of sand, though some women kicked off shoes or sandals to dance slowly in the grass anyway.

AP - New Kids on the Block, "The Block" (Interscope)

Reuters - The title is something of a misnomer. "Disaster Movie," from the people who helped to concoct "Scary Movie," "Date Movie" and "Meet the Spartans," sounds as if it is going to send up such opuses as "The Poseidon Adventure" and "Earthquake."

AP - There weren't a lot of surprises on the premiere of "90210."

Reuters - In "The Duchess," actress Keira Knightley's latest period picture, a lavish melodrama of aristocratic foolishness and betrayal is designed around the colorful though not always happy life of an 18th century socialite.

AP - Young Jeezy, "The Recession" (Def Jam)

Reuters - After switching things up with "The Pacifier" and "Find Me Guilty," Vin Diesel returns to the action arena with "Babylon A.D.," a towering heap of nihilistic nonsense that plays like a cornball "Children of God."

AP - If you're like most sports fans, you haven't watched that much golf since June, when Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open ? and then announced he was getting knee surgery and was done playing for the rest of 2008. Since then, the PGA Tour has suffered from the absence of its most glamorous celebrity.

Reuters - The current youth generation certainly is entitled to its own version of "National Lampoon's Animal House," but "College" isn't it.