I'm sorry for being so cryptic with the title, but I would like to save those who haven't seen The Dark Knight yet from a few of the film's big reveals. That said, if you haven't watched the movie yet, I'd suggest not reading this post. Unless you don't care either way, here we go ... spoilers ahead ...

On the phone with Cinematical's Scott Weinberg last night discussing which jewelry we're bringing to Comic Con (I have the perfect, purtiest necklace for the Terminator: Salvation panel!), we got to talking about The Dark Knight. More specifically, we pondered Scarecrow's purpose in this film. Why was he there? Why bring Cillian Murphy on set for one scene with very little to do and then not come back to him for the remainder of the flick?

Now, the purpose of the scene itself was pretty clear: To re-establish Batman's war on crime and to show how the hero's popularity has spawned a number of copycat Batmans. So they bring these two drug gangs together for a secret meeting/transaction, and one of them is run by Scarecrow. And just as business is about to go down, a bunch of Batmans arrive on the scene -- all hell breaks loose -- and the real Batman eventually gets the job done.

Great. Wonderful. So why was Scarecrow there again?

Let it be known that little live but lies,
Love-lies, and god-lies, and lies-to-please. Dylan Thomas

Back in 2006, I couldn't say that I was itching to see The Edge of Love, which was then titled The Best Time of Our Lives. Keira Knightley was attached to star, which wasn't surprising since her mom wrote the script, but Lindsay Lohan was attached to co-star. LiLo was already getting into tabloid trouble and it seemed like a slap in the face to Dylan Thomas fans, and a moment of insanity within the casting powers that be. Luckily, she dropped out, and Sienna Miller stepped in.

Now, finally, we've got a trailer. I could do without the first pointless closeup of Keira's face, but the trailer soon goes through the basics of the story, and it's looking like a sweet literary drama. Edge focuses on the love triangle between Caitlin (Miller) and Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) and friend Vera Phillips (Knightley), and how this led Vera's husband, William Killick (Cillian Murphy), to open fire on the Thomas home with a machine gun and hand grenade in retaliation. Normally, I get a bit perturbed about literary dramas that focus on the romance rather than the writer, but this is a strange story, and it looks like it was captured well for the big screen.

I'd be remiss to not mention that this certainly has Atonement similarities (although one quote in the movie says that this flick is better!), but as a Thomas fan, I'm hoping it can shine in its own light.

The Edge of Love currently has no US release date, but is scheduled to arrive in the UK at the end of June.

Okay, so it's not exactly a photo of Aaron Eckhart from the actual movie, but it is a blurry photo (click on the image for a larger version) of the new Two Face action figure recently showcased at a restricted press event during the New York Toy Fair. Of course, throw up the word 'restricted' and there's bound to be at least one dude with a hidden camera phone. Dark Horizons nabbed the photos, which are indeed fuzzy, but enough to make out what the character will look like. This also means that, yes, Eckhart will most definitely make his transformation in The Dark Knight from Harvey Dent to the villainous Two Face. But when he does it, and for how long he's on screen, we do not know.

Some have suggested that Two Face will make an appearance at the very end of the film, for one or two scenes, as a teaser into the third installment. Seeing as it's been confirmed that Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) and Joker (Heath Ledger) will both be included in the film, it's my hope that this is the way they go. Last thing we want is a rushed Two Face storyline; I'd rather more focus on the Joker and for Two Face to team up with another Gotham baddie in the third installment. What do you think?

The Dark Knight hits theaters on July 18.

For those who were kinda bummed out after they didn't get to see Ellen Page be a real mom in Juno, you'll be glad to know that she's signed on to star as a young mother in the new psychological thriller Peacock for Mandate Pictures. Variety tells us Page will join Cillian Murphy in the film, and this one has nutty written all over it. Here's the description: "The title is derived from tiny Peacock, Neb., where Murphy's character, a split personality, fools the town into believing his two alter egos are man and wife. Page plays a struggling young mother who holds the key to his past and sparks a battle between the personalities." WTF? I mean, Murphy's taken on some f**ked up characters in his day, but this one has to take the cake. Yeah, I'd go see this, like, now if I could.

Newbie Michael Lander will direct off a script he co-wrote with Ryan Roy, and production will begin this May. Peacock marks the third film Ellen Page has signed onto in the last month; she'll first shoot Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell, then Peacock, and then take on the starring role in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It. Meanwhile, Cillian Murphy will do his best to practice playing both a man and a wife. On the role, he says, "Peacock stunned me as a script from start to finish. It offers an incredible challenge to an actor -- one I couldn't turn down." Come to think of it, Murphy does have a feminine quality about him, and so I can totally see him making this believable (heck, he's already played a transvestite cabaret dancer); to the point where an entire town would be convinced there were two separate people living under the same roof. But will he convince us? I guess we'll see when Peacock hits theaters at some point in the next year.

We might not know exactly what Sylvester Stallone is doing next, but we do know he's apparently got a thing for remaking old Charles Bronson films. Not long ago, Stallone expressed interest in remaking Death Wish, and now Dark Horizons tells us the aging action star will star in a remake of the 1972 Bronson flick, The Mechanic (and though they say nothing of the man also directing, other sites are jumping to that conclusion). DH also claims the film's budget clocks in at around $40 million, and that MGM is looking at folks like Ryan Gosling, Ben Foster, Cillian Murphy and Elijah Wood to co-star.

The original film revolved around an aging hitman (played by Bronson, and now Stallone) who befriends a young man that wants to become a professional killer. Over at IMDb, however, they claim the film will be totally re-imagined as a thriller in a post 9/11 world. A few days ago, Stallone struck a deal to star and produce two new action films, though there was no further info on what those two films would be. Perhaps Sly is off the Death Wish train and now setting his sights on The Mechanic? Could one of these (or both) eventually become the film(s) included in that deal? Which would you rather see Sly remake: Death Wish or The Mechanic?

At the press junket for Atonement in Manhattan on Tuesday, one brave soul piped up during the roundtables to ask Keira Knightley if she was or was not interested in returning for a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film. You may remember that the third one ended on that rather ambiguous note, but then sort of doubled-back with a pretty definitive, boxed-into-a-corner end-credit teaser. Knightley seemed to be ready for this question and had a very definitive answer. She quickly responded, with a tone of sadness and seriousness in her voice, "I can't imagine doing another one. That was an amazing experience, really was, totally extraordinary, but I think three for me is probably enough." This was probably to be expected. The Pirates series is subject to the same industry realities as the X-Men series -- the more money those movies make, the bigger the paychecks the cast members are going to demand for future installments. I think you can almost certainly say goodbye to Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner.

Regarding her other projects, Knightley reported that she has completed her work on The Duchess, as well as The Edge of Love, opposite Sienna Miller and Cillian Murphy. As far as future work, she had nothing to report on that front. Another interesting note: although Knightley showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for today's junket along with her co-star James McAvoy, director Joe Wright was a no-show despite being in Manhattan as recently as last night. Joe, are you sick of us press people already?

It's not as if this is the first time there has been talk of a live-action version of the anime classic Akira. Back in 2003, a script had been written by James Robinson and Stephen Norrington signed to direct -- but that did not last long, and there hasn't been a peep out of the project since ... until now. Bloody Disgusting's sources are reporting that Warner Bros. has not given up yet on the project. Far from it, in fact; they have now hired Irish director Ruairi Robinson to helm the flick. The 29-year-old has only directed two short films so far, one of which got him nominated for an Oscar. But it was his sci-fi short The Silent City starring Cillian Murphy that got the director noticed by WB, according to BD's sources.

Akira was released back in 1988 and was based on the manga series by Katsuhiro Otomo. Based on the original storyline of the comics, Akira centered on a post-nuclear Tokyo overrun with gangs and social unrest. If you haven't seen the film, believe me, it's a pretty complicated storyline and frankly defies a quick summation. But since it is considered one of the best anime films of all time, it's worth your while to give it a viewing. According to BD's report, WB is trying to get the film off the ground pre-strike (which sounds pretty ambitious if you ask me). This is all just speculation at this point, so stay tuned until we hear something official -- or until another four years have gone by and the rumor is resurrected one more time.

[via justpressplay.net]

Manoel de Oliveira's Belle Toujours is back on the charts this week, playing on one lone screen, in Denver, according to my information. Among its other qualities and achievements, it marks the fourth collaboration of director Oliveira and actor Michel Piccoli (a fifth, a short segment in an anthology film, appeared earlier this year). At 81, Piccoli is practically a living legend, having worked with Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Louis Malle, Mario Bava, and many other greats. He also appears in Jean-Pierre Melville's 1962 Le Doulos, currently re-released on 2 screens. It's a delicate relationship between director and actor; Piccoli and Oliveira seem to be developing a comfortable working relationship in which each brings out the best in the other. This has happened relatively few times over the past century. When it happens, it can be very exciting, but when a director and an actor don't click, everything can fall to pieces.

Milos Forman has coaxed and guided some great performances over the years, notably Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus and Jim Carrey in Man on the Moon. But he has rarely been praised for directing women, as evidenced by his awkward handling of Natalie Portman in the awful Goya's Ghosts (37 screens). The movie earned advance attention for its nude/sex scene, but will probably be remembered for fitting Portman with a set of humorously bad fake teeth and for her self-consciously dazed walk, newly released from prison, through a chaotic town square. Forman may be to blame, but Portman is out there, on the screen, all alone and in front of everyone.

The good parts keep coming for Cillian Murphy. The Hollywood Reporter tells us he will officially be starring opposite Al Pacino in the film adaptation of Dali & I: The Surreal Story. The book Dali and I was originally written by Salvador Dali's (you know, the guy who paints things that melt?) real life protege Stan Lauryssesn, who Murphy will portray in the film. The movie concentrates on the span of twenty years in Dali's life where he was already an established iconoclast in the surrealist world, and his eccentricities in both personality and appearance drew more attention to him than his work. Throughout these years is when Dali (Pacino) met Lauryssesn (Murphy), an art dealer and artist who looked to Dali as a mentor.

Bio pics are such a tricky genre of film. I definitely have my favorites (In Pollock, Ed Harris and Marcia Gay Harden were brilliant!) and ones I hated (Frida was beautiful, but like so many others it packed in every life detail, forgetting that the audience has no time to care about the person on screen.), but I'll give them a fighting chance before I see each film. I'm glad to see Pacino is finally taking on what could be a great role. It's been years since I've seen him do something worthy of his talents (S1m0ne, sigh) and I crave for something as candid and profound as in his youth -- another Dog Day Afternoon please, Mr. Pacino! Dali & I: The Surreal Story will be directed by Andrew Niccol and starts shooting in Spain and New York at the beginning of next year.

A conversation arose in the screening room the other day about the sorry state of young, romantic performers in movies today and the overwhelming blandness slathered across our movie screens. Pretty, plastic, chiseled faces smile at one another and sometimes kiss, and their efforts leave everyone cold. Critics and audiences often use the word "chemistry" to describe these encounters; either the characters have it or they don't. Strangely, there's really no way to tell if it's even there until the movie is finished. You can put two actors in a room together, or screen test them, but none of it comes together until the audience becomes a factor.

One reason most movie couples have been so bland lately is the ever-increasing control that studios are demanding of their product. Every aspect of filmmaking must be regulated and stabilized, and so, to make the most of their romantic stories, these same studio people very simply cast the most beautiful actors they can find. Beautiful people sometimes explode on the movie screen with lots of personality and star power, but just as often, they don't, looking more like polished statues without so much as a heartbeat. James Dean was very handsome, but he had a surprising element, a kind of unpredictability, as well as world-heavy sadness. But James Franco, who played Dean in a TV biopic, has only the looks. As shown in his most recent film, Spider-Man 3 (151 screens), where there should be passion and danger and excitement, there's only grooming. At times I honestly can't tell the difference between him and Paul Walker.