Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

More video game spoilers! The video game closely follows the plot of the movie, and climaxes with a fight against Devastator in Cairo. The Decepticon known as Demolishor, by the way, makes up the bulk of Devastator's chest, as you may be able to glimpse in this photo. [MTV]

And here's a new image of the film's official "standee," a cardboard cut-out that stands up in movie theaters. Bigger version at the link. [MTV via Cinemablend]

Also, talking to MTV, Michael Bay explained about the personalities of the film's new robots. The Fallen is "the ultimate bad boy," who "goes way back in the Transformer world. He's one of the first Transformers." And the Twins (Skids and Mudflap) are really fun: "I just kept thinking, ‘What if we have two dumb Transformers that are young and dumb?' … They are just irreverent, dumb Transformers." Devastator, meanwhile, is the most complicated digital model ILM has ever made. The new characters run the gamut from funny to devious to "little teeny ones that are a little irreverent," says Bay. Video at the link. [MTV via Transformers Movie Chronicles]

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

IESB has the "extended synopsis" of this mutant solo outing:

Movie audiences will meet Team X, a covert military cadre comprised entirely of mutants. Its members are: Wolverine; his brother Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth, a feral being of unimaginable power; Wade Wilson, later to be known as Deadpool, a high-tech mercenary skilled at swordplay; Agent Zero, an expert tracker and lethal marksman; Wraith, a teleporter; Fred J. Dukes, also known as The Blob, a morbidly obese and super-strong behemoth; and Bradley, who can manipulate electricity. Leading them is William Stryker, a figure introduced in "X2" but whose origins and motives are now fully explored, for it is Stryker's complex relationship with Wolverine that defines much of Logan's past ...and future.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE also explores Logan's tragic romance with Kayla Silverfox. Kayla's fate triggers Logan's involvement with the ominous Weapon X program, a top secret, billion-dollar military experiment, in which Wolverine and other mutants are key players. They include Gambit, a young Scott Summers (later to be known as Cyclops); a beautiful young mutant named Emma Frost; and the aforementioned Deadpool, against whom Wolverine faces his ultimate challenge...

The main story of X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE begins with Logan seeking solace from a past rife with darkness, working as a lumberjack in the remote Canadian Rockies. Finding love and contentment for the first time in his very long life, Logan leads a seemingly idyllic existence with schoolteacher Kayla Silverfox. "He couldn't be further away from the past he's so long been trying to escape," says Jackman. "Kayla is a catalyst for the biggest changes Logan's ever faced," says Lynn Collins, who took on the role after Jackman had seen her on stage in "The Merchant of Venice," opposite Al Pacino. "She leads him to think differently about the conflict of being human and being a mutant. Their relationship leads him to try and heal old wounds, and experience the consequences and risks of love."

But as Logan searches for the peace that has eluded him more than a century, "the world he's been trying to escape keeps drawing him back in," says Jackman. "As with anything in life, unless you've really dealt with a problem, unless you're really at peace with it, the problem tends to recur. And it's clear from the beginning that Wolverine has run away from things he needs to face. And one of them is Victor, his brother."

Victor Creed, also known as Sabretooth, possesses powers similar to Logan's. They are both virtually indestructible and have a feral, super-human strength. Victor's ferocity encompasses a feline-like fighting style and leaping ability; at times, he'll race to the attack on all four limbs.

As we learn in flashbacks, Logan (born James Howlett) and Victor did not learn they were brothers until their teens, in the aftermath of a family tragedy that leads to the emergence of Logan's signature berserker rage and claws that power their way through his flesh as razor-sharp spikes, turning him into something more and something less than human. Logan and Victor flee their home, forming a bond that transcends even brotherhood. As indestructible warriors, they fight together through major conflicts spanning two centuries, including the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam. "Logan and Victor are a team," says Jackman. "They go through a journey together."

But Victor relishes the fight much more than Logan. "Victor is incredibly brutal and has a bloodlust unlike any character I've ever played," says Liev Schreiber. "This guy is a real killer." Victor's savagery in battle leads the two to face a firing squad - but of course mere bullets cannot stop them. Recognizing their unique abilities, a military officer, Col. William Stryker, asks them to join a special team he is putting together - a covert, black ops unit known in comics lore as Team X, comprised of mutants possessing powers that make the team unstoppable...

But in telling this story of "origins," no mutant has greater impact on Logan's journey than his brother, Victor Creed. Appalled by Stryker's ethically-challenged directives, Logan had abandoned Victor and Team X, but the two brothers cannot be separated by time or by distance because they are two sides of the same person. "I think of Victor as Logan's doppelganger, his darker side," says Liev Schreiber. "What drives both of them is their desire to find their place in their world - to belong to something. And that one thing that Victor belongs to is Logan. When that bond is broken, Victor looks to reconnect with his brother, for better or for worse."

It is Victor's brutal murder of Kayla that triggers Logan's quest for revenge. When they are reunited, Logan and Victor fight, leaving Logan battered and wounded. Stryker, again entering Logan's life and again forever changing it, offers what he calls the only solution: the top-secret Weapon X program ("X" denoting the Roman numeral for ten). In the procedure, Logan's entire skeleton will be bonded to adamantium, an impenetrable metal alloy that will make Logan virtually indestructible -turning him into the Wolverine we know from the previous X-Men movies. "To beat Victor," Stryker tells Logan, "you're going to have to embrace the other side of you. Become the animal."

But to undergo this transformation, Logan has to suffer more pain than any man could ever endure. Audiences had seen tantalizing flashes of the Weapon X procedure in "X2," but here its full power - and horror - is fully unveiled. As Logan lies in a water-filled plexiglass tank the size of a lidless coffin, robotic arms that taper into foot-long needles spin at high speeds, entering his body, bonding his bones to the adamantium. Wolverine has suffered and survived gunshots, knife wounds, car crashes, executions and explosions - but he's never suffered like this.

Wolverine emerges from the ordeal to face yet another betrayal and an epic showdown with Victor and with the next generation of Stryker's military experiments. Undeterred by Logan's escape from Alkali Lake as the now indestructible Wolverine, Stryker has abducted mutants to fulfill his twisted mandate of turning them into weapons. The unwilling participants in this work are teenagers Scott Summers (Tim Pocock) and Emma Frost (Tahyna Tozzi). Scott, who can emit a powerful beam from his eyes, grows up to be Cyclops, a leader of the X-Men; Emma, another major figure in X-Men comics lore, is telepathic and possesses a diamond-like skin that is indestructible.

Together, the mutants face off against an enemy who has sworn to see them destroyed, in a battle - a revolution - that will set the course of the epic war that lies ahead.

The reference to "flashbacks" is intriguing. I wonder if that means the film has been edited so it begins with Wolverine being a lumberjack, and then we flash back to the events that drove him to wear flannel? [IESB]

Crank 2: High Voltage:

Porn star Jenna Haze plays one of the porn stars on strike, in this film. Here's how she describes her role:

Jason Statham was driving a cop car with Amy Smart in the background, and I jump on the cop car and start screaming stuff, and I flash my boobs while he's looking at me. I don't know how much of me they left in it, but they left some dialogue that I said. They had me scream into the camera, saying all this stuff. We were porn stars on strike, so we had to protest. It was hard for me to protest because I was like, "But, I like my job! I make good money. I wouldn't really be protesting." The camera would come to me and they would say, "Jenna, scream something!," and I'd be like, "You guys wanna see me suck that dick? You know you do! I know you wanna see it! You've gotta pay my rate!" It was really funny.

[IESB]

Dollhouse:

There may be one more surprise from November, the Doll programmed as Paul's neighbor/lover Mellie. And Paul goes to a really dark place, that's not the dark place we (or he) expected him to go to. It's really twisty, and Paul gets tortured a lot more, says Joss Whedon. Also, because Dr. Claire Saunders has a history with Alpha, we get to see her run into him before the season ends.

If the show gets a second season, we'll get to see whether Adelle sticks to her resolution to stop seeing Roger, the personality programmed into Victor. And meanwhile, we'll continue to see the Victor/Sierra relationship develop, even though they're both mindwiped puppets. [Zap2It]

Episode 13 feels like an epilogue to the show, so if it doesn't air, it may actually make it easier to continue the show in a second season, says Eliza Dushku. And she says episode 12 shows Echo getting to have some fun but also being in serious pain - and it opens a door for the character that's startling. It leaves open lots of "cool and twisted" things the show could do in its second year. It involves the Echo/Paul relationship. [Sci Fi Wire]

Could that surprise have something to do with this "April Fools" video? (Which we mentioned before but couldn't find an actual copy of previously. Thanks Test!)

Chuck:

Here are a couple of clips from next Monday's episode, "Chuck Vs. The Colonel."

Lost:

Will we see the smoke monster again? Michael Emerson hints we may not. [Doc Arzt]

Here's an image from the next episode, from the Lost Untangled video. Poor Phil! [Lyly Ford]

Heroes:

In the season finale, Sylar turns into Nathan in order to shake hands with President Worf. And once he's touched President Worf, Sylar can transform into him. Also, Sylar proposes marriage - to Claire. Says Tim Kring:

Sylar corners Claire and springs a proposal on her... He has this theory that she will come to love him because he can never die and she can never die - and thus, they're destined to be together.

Uh huh. The episode ends with a teaser for the next arc, "Redemption," which starts three months in the future and features the return of a character we thought we'd never see again. And Sylar shape-shifts again, says Kring, and "who he becomes is a real shocker. It's the goofiest thing we've ever done - and I mean that in a good way!" [TV Guide via Heroes Television]

Jason Statham has one hour to live in this exclusive spot that can only be found at io9 right now…and it looks like he'll rub up against anything to stay alive.

I am so ready for Crank High Voltage to come out, we desperately need more Chev. I especially enjoyed the moment where our dear anti-hero is getting tasered by a group of cops and then proceeds to take down all five of them in one swift movement. Or is it Bai Ling running around in a bikini with guns? No, it's definitely getting glimpse of what I'm hoping is another segment of gettin' busy in public with the delightfully dirty Amy Smart.

Crank High Voltage opens April 17th.

In this episode Chev isn't dead (despite that whole deadly fall in the first Crank) and Statham wakes up mid-surgery. His heart gets replaced with a mechanical ticker, and now Chev has to jolt his body every hour or so to keep it running.

Crank 2: High Voltage opens April 17th.

Chev (Jason Statham) gets scraped off the ground and thrown into surgery. A mob boss starts harvesting off his organs starting by replacing his big heart with a mechanical one. He escapes, but now he has to charge up his fake heart every so often with electricity — or else wild, wild sex with Amy Smart.

Crank 2: High Voltage opens April 17th.

[IGN]

Crank 2 is one of those ratshit insane movies that makes me proud to be alive. The plot follows Statham's character, Chev Chelios, who is going to die unless he does something to keep his heart pumping at an insane speed, which means grabbing onto exposed electrical wires and having wild sex with his lady friend Eve (Amy Smart). Even the mighty bad boy Statham is nervous about how far this movie goes. During the Death Race press junket he said:

Poor Amy Smart, that's my concern. There is a very indulgent sex scene on a race track. I don't want to give too much away.

But deep inside he knows this movie will be top-notch ridiculous action. He added:

They have all the capabilities of making it the crazy action movie that they wanted. It's like Crank 1 but times 1,000.