Time for a few more little blurbs. 1. FilmStew.com has a wonderfully insane idea. If Christian Bale — who is currently one of six actors playing Bob Dylan in I’m Not There — really does play John Connor in the next Terminator movie, then perhaps the studio could cast all the other actors who have played John Connor and hire I’m Not There director Todd Haynes to oversee the whole thing. It’ll never happen, but still. 2. German director Robert... Read more

You know those rumours about how Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will deal with aliens and stuff? They just got a little weirder. If what the guy at MovieWeb says is true, then it looks like George Lucas sure wasn’t kidding when he said last year that this new film might be “a little too ‘connected’“. Read more

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. American Gangster — CDN $10,290,000 — N.AM $115,774,000 — 8.9%Bee Movie — CDN $9,240,000 — N.AM $112,069,000 — 8.2%Beowulf — CDN $4,470,000 — N.AM $56,361,000 — 7.9%No Country for Old Men — CDN $1,250,000 — N.AM $16,640,000 — 7.5%Hitman — CDN $1,550,000 — N.AM $21,000,000 — 7.4%Fred Claus — CDN... Read more

I just saw this ad for an upcoming high-def James Bond marathon over at Facebook, and two things leapt out at me. One, there are 21 films in the “official” series produced by the Broccoli family, but this marathon will apparently feature only 19 of them — which two films were left out, and why? Two, there are 6 actors who have played Bond in these films, but only 4 of them are depicted in the art duplicated here —... Read more

Warning: There be spoilers here. There is an interesting tension in No Country for Old Men, adapted by the Coen brothers from the novel by Cormac McCarthy, between absurdism and fatalism. Fatalism tells us our lives are meaningless because nothing can change what’s going to happen to us, including the fact that we will die. Absurdism tells us our lives are meaningless because the things that happen to us are random and unpredictable, and ultimately there is no one who... Read more

I have not yet had a chance to see The Golden Compass, which opens in less than two weeks, and I am inclined to think I should avoid reading any reviews that might pop up between now and the local screening. Best to see the film fresh, and all that. (Until recently, I read everything I could because I was working on a few articles about this film and I needed to be as up-to-date as possible. But I recently... Read more

While the world waits with bated breath to see whether or not Christian Bale, who turns 34 in January, will play John Connor in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, I figured I’d round up some pictures of the various other actors who have tackled the role so far. Here they are, arranged from the youngest to the oldest. Note: Ever since Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) established that it is possible to change the past, or the future, or the... Read more

Just a few more items that have come up in the last few days. 1. CHUD.com says Watchmen director Zack Snyder plans to shoot some of the parallel storylines that were cut out of the main film, possibly in animated form, and release them separately, possibly on a DVD that would come out at the same time the movie hits the big screen. Chris at Movie Marketing Madness says they should take the idea a step further and release the... Read more

‘Lyra‘, the song that Kate Bush recorded for the soundtrack to The Golden Compass, was played on the BBC today, and it’s pretty underwhelming. It starts around the 44:20 mark. Among the lyrics: Lyra and her faceFull of graceTwo worlds collide around herThe truth lies deep inside her Lyra as a sort of Marian bridge between the human and the divine? Yeah, that won’t add to the debate over this film’s religious and/or anti-religious sensibility, will it. (Hat tip to... Read more