Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, writer/directors of Crank, Crank: High Voltage and Gamer are working on a potential new hourlong drama for NBC called Zeroes, which will focus on a team of operatives called in as last resorts to solve high-intensity situations. According to Taylor, it'll be the kind of non-stop ridiculousness you'd expect from them:

[We wanted to do] a crisis show that doesn't bore you with all of the buildup leading to the crisis... We want to drop right into it and sustain the absolute most berserk state of crisis, when all of the options have been exhausted. We want to take that last 60 minutes and sustain it for the entire show.

Neveldine and Taylor are currently writing the pilot, which they also plan to direct. We may have found our new favorite show of the 2010/2011 season already.

NBC has 'Zeroes' interest in drama project [Hollywood Reporter]

September 4th
Gamer
...this one, which Annalee loved. Even if you've not seen the movie, you'll have seen the trailers enough to be familiar with the idea behind it: In the not-too-distant future, mad scientist Michael C. Hall has invented a way to remote control people, which allows gamers to live out their fantasies in reality... which makes us wonder if Bruce Willis' Surrogates should be a little worried about this coming out first. Gerard Butler makes with the explodo, and if you liked the Crank movies - made by the same people - consider this right up your inevitably aflame, full of over the top action, alley.

September 9th
9
For those who won't be spending Wednesday in a Beatles Rock Band-induced musical coma, consider Shane Acker's CG-animated post-apocalyptic movie (with voices from Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly and Jennifer Connelly, amongst others) that tries to make "stitchpunk" into a real genre. Existential angst meets the Island of Misfit Toys, as creatures made up of the remnants of a destroyed society try to discover the truth behind their origins. As you might expect, Tim Burton is executive producer on this one.

September 18th
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
AKA the film that Meredith is trying to convince me I must see as soon as possible. Adapted from the 1982 classic children's book by the writers of television's How I Met Your Mother, the CG-animated Cloudy lets the voices of Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris (of course), Andy Samberg and more explore why science can be trouble when it means that foodstuffs replace raindrops.

Jennifer's Body
You know all about this one by now: Juno's Diablo Cody writes a horror movie in which everyone's worst fears about Megan Fox come true - as long as your worst fears involve her turning into a literally-maneating she-demon dispatching various unfortunate boys in high school. Director Karyn Kusama directed the bigscreen version of Aeon Flux, so maybe this is a chance for her to earn back some movie karma.

Pandorum
Spacemen Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster wake up without their memories and adrift in space in director Christian Alvart (who also co-wrote the movie with Travis Milloy)'s mysterious space horror. What has happened to the crew, and what does it have to do with the future of the human race? And, more importantly, how excited should we be about Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson being attached as producer for the movie?

September 21st
The Age Of Stupid
A "crowd-funded" movie about the dangers of climate change? This drama-documentary-animation hybrid offers up Pete Postlethwaite as a man in the year 2055, looking back at "archival footage" (ie, documentary material) from our time and wondering why more wasn't done to stop the environmental damage that humanity was causing. Animators on the project include Gorillaz' Passion Pictures, and music comes from Radiohead, amongst others.

September 25th
The Invention of Lying
Ricky Gervais continues his attempt to break into movies (And the less said about Ghost Town, the better) with this movie set on an alternate Earth where Gervais' character invents the entire concept of lying in order to win the heart - or, at least, the body - of Jennifer Garner's character Jennifer. As long as it stays away from a sentimental ending, we've got high hopes for this... but maybe that's just because we're swayed by Tina Fey being amongst the cast.

Surrogates
Bruce Willis rues Gamer in this adaptation of the Top Shelf comic wherein humanity have retreated to better living through robotics, only for someone - or something - to abruptly put an end to that happy shared delusion. Go for Bruce's wig, stay for the fact that, if it's anything like the original, it'll end up being a taut and exciting thriller that doesn't go for the easy answers.

With September already underway, we're a little late in providing this guide, but try not to hold it too far against us. We've split everything up month-by-month, to help you fill your calendar without too much worry - Just click on the links below.

September
October
November
December

Made by sleaze auteurs Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who previously brought you the Crank series, Gamer perfectly captures the horror and appeal of videogames. Set a few years in the future, Gamer is about what happens when biotech advances make videogames completely real. Psychotic inventor Ken Castle – played by Dexter's Michael C. Hall in an inspired bit of casting – has invented a scientifically preposterous form of remote-controlled cell that can replace your brain cells. Inject some of his goo, and your brain turns to "Nanex," a nanotech cortex that gives your brain a unique IP address and lets people control you remotely.

Castle introduced Nanex to the world via a game called Society, which is a thinly-veiled reference to massive multiplayer game Second Life. Filled with ravers and vamps, Society is an alternate world where remote-controlled actors go to be controlled by gamers who sit at home dictating their every move. (In one horrific scene, we see a vamped-up woman in Society who is controlled by an obese man sitting in front of a bank of monitors. As he slurps up a pile of greasy waffles, he forces her to fuck everything in sight.) The game makes Castle unbelievably rich. With a creepy smile, he explains to a TV journalist, "People pay to control, and they pay to be controlled."

Now, however, Castle has released a new game called Slayers. Gamers control convicts in a deadly combat scenario, and game revenues go to maintaining the prison system. The government is a big investor in the game, and our hero Kable (an appropriately badass Gerard Butler) is its biggest star. Controlled by 17-year-old game champion Simon, Kable is on his way to getting out of jail because he's survived so many rounds in Slayers. But, of course, Castle doesn't want Kable ever to get out.

Meanwhile, a group of biohacker subversives called the Humanz are interrupting the Nanex system, sending out pirate protest broadcasts and working on ways to shield people's nanobrains from mind-control signals. They want to help Kable escape and get back to his family. And of course Kable's wife – who works as a fuckdoll in Society – wants nothing more than to get her unfairly imprisoned husband back.

Like Neveldine and Page's previous films, Gamer is awash in the balletic, stuttering violence of videogames. The scenes of combat in the Slayers game are intense, gory, and shocking. This is the kind of movie whose first line of dialogue is, "You fucking teabagged him!" Though we're given ample opportunity to revel in the violence and cheap sex of Castle's gameworlds, we also never forget that an all-emcompassing degradation seeps out of them into the real world. Gamer is intensely conflicted about the pleasures afforded by gaming.

And in the end it's that conflict that makes this movie such a winningly demented satire. The bad guys, covered in gore, sing little songs about how they're about to frag the good guys. A warehouse full of blanged-out ravers from Society get soaked in day-glo viscera when Castle's goons attack. Even Castle has an incredible zombie dance number, surrounded by his mind-controlled videogame-slurping minions, who follow his every little shufflestep because he's beaming his moves straight to their Nanex.

Will Kable escape and rescue his sexbot honey? Will the Humanz bring down Castle? Can anything ever really be resolved in a world where all our brains have been replaced with nanogoo that broadcasts our IP addresses over the Nanex network? These questions, and their resolutions, may be predictable. But every other part of Gamer is bizarre and original, from the ugly-beautiful concept design to the odd relationship that forms between gamer Simon and meatpuppet Kable. Go see Gamer for the lulz, but stay for a burning vision of your fucked up future.

Gamer opens wide across the US today.

We chatted with lovely Amber Valetta about the cold and cruel futuristic world Crank's Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor created for Gamer. A world where people can control others like puppets, and believe you me, that's hardest on the ladies. Especially when your user makes you dress up in tiny blue short-shorts and crazy orange wigs. Valetta talked about what it all means, and what the Grey Goo theory has to do with Gamer.

So you were a sociology major ... what do you think you learned about people in general in this whole experience?
I think first and foremost films are for enjoyment. The arts in general are for two things: they're for entertainment purposes, but they're also to reflect our dreams, our hopes, the present, the future, the past. Whether it's good or bad.

So, I think that this movie says a lot about what's going on today and also where we could possibly be moving to in a darker future. And I think that on a psychological level, if you look at the scheme of maybe a wider consciousness, there is this lack of intimacy, this acceptance of exploitation, this desensitization to violence and sex. And I think that's what this movie is really, on a deeper level, really showing and saying.

To what degree would you sell yourself? I would give my life for my son; and in this movie my character would give her life for her daughter, and she does. She's willing to be brutally ... I mean, they softened it a bit, but she's brutalized. And Gerard Butler's character is fighting for his life. So there are two people who are going to the most extremes to get back to one another and to their child, so I think there's something unique and interesting about those characters in the movie, but there's also something interesting about the bigger social commentary of what the film's saying. And it's ... disturbing, it is disturbing.

How do you think people will react to it overall?

I think there are going to be different reactions. I think people are gonna totally get off on that it's a ride; the film looks like a video game in the sense that it's constantly moving, and angles are all over the place, and so I think there's going to be that aspect. I think there's gonna be people who just love action, I think there's gonna be people who are so into the futuristic element of it, with the nanotechnology [the tech Gamer uses to control humans], and then I think there's some people who will just get into the whole thing of it, you know? And I'm sure it's gonna not be for everybody. This movie is not for everybody.

When you say 'not for everybody,' do you mean the violence?
Yeah, I mean, I would never show it to my son. Maybe when he's like, a teenager or something, but I would never show it to my son.

Are you worried that ... there's a 'humanist thesis' to the film, but it's an awful lot of blow-shit-up action?

Oh yeah, but the thing is - that [thesis] in itself is a satirical point of view. It's also showing you how, we don't give a shit. We'll just blow shit up and everybody will be all "Yay!" you know?

How much of it the satirical aspect was discussed on set?

I think the directors [Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor] knew exactly what they were doing; in fact I know they knew what they were doing. We talked about nanotechnology, we talked about the kind of subtext that was going on. But then, at the same time, they know they're there to entertain. It's not like we're all trying to get on a soapbox and be like, stuffing some message down people's throat. I think the point of an artist is expressing different ideas and showing different things, whether it's through this kind of avenue or something else. But I definitely know they knew what they were doing. I know they thought it was funny because that's the kind of guys they are. They laugh, but I think they also think it's ... I mean, we talked about how nanotechnology is terrifying.

I don't know, I think this movie definitely pushes some buttons; it pushes my buttons even.

You've got one strange futuristic ensemble on for most of this film. Were there any other favorite little world-building moments?

They let me be extremely involved with costume, hair and makeup and we all got to share ideas and from day one when we tested different looks it was really clear to me that when I was in society, there was going to ... those aspects were going to be so important to me, (like) the costume.

My gamer creates an avatar; so it was vital to the character. When my character, Angie, is in her real life, I had to be as raw and scrubbed down - I was like, please don't put any makeup, as little as possible; the hair, I would (say), 'Let's not wash the hair' - we tried to stay as true to form as we could.
And then all the sets were just amazing. I mean really really cool. Like the scenes with Milo were great. It was really crazy; and then the club scene, the raves -

Gamer went through a lot of edits, what got cut that maybe you wish or you can't wait for people to see in the DVD release or bonus features?

Emovie gets cut, but this movie in particular, the way they wanted the movie to look ... was like this constant movement and action, so I don't think the movie was cut because of this or that. I think it's the way they wanted the movie to speak to people. Those things coming out on DVD? I think there are extended scenes with Milo and I that are great, some of the rave, I think there was some really great stuff in the rave that they didn't show because the rave's only 20, not even, maybe 10-15 seconds?

On the in-game nanotechnology....

I think the scary thing is is that nanotechnology is so ... we just don't know that much. We don't really know what it can do if it gets inside of you, the human body. It's not intend to go inside the human body, and they're already putting it out on the market. And there's the whole Grey Goo theory [that is referenced in the film].

Can you elaborate about that?

You should ask (Mark an Brian) about the grey goo theory. It's just the theory that nanotechnology because it's so tiny can pass even the membrane of your brain, but it can do that with anything. So they would take over. It's kinda like that book Crichton wrote, Prey.

So this cup of coffee could just become a mess of cells because nanotechnology is screwing up the molecules?

Exactly.

Gamer comes out this Friday September 4th.

Kick-Ass

This one might be a spoiler for the comic book as well: John Romita Jr., who does the artwork for the Kick-Ass comic, contributed artwork for an animated sequence. Romita explains that, in the film, Nic Cage's character Big Daddy has drawn a comic book to commemorate his vigilante adventures. At one point in the film, Big Daddy is hauled off to prison and his partner discovers the comic, and when he opens it, the animation sequence begins, revealing the origin of Big Daddy. [MTV]

Also, Kick-Ass has finally gotten a release date. Expect it in theaters April 16th, 2010. [/Film]

Gamer

A new Gamer TV spot is heavy on the action:

[MTV]

IGN has a clip that reveals the socioeconomic woes in Gamer, and below are interviews with the cast:

Plus, a few more sexy images:

[IGN]

Supernatural

Executive producer Eric Kripke says that God Himself (or Herself) will enter the apocalyptic battle at some point late in the season, although he's mum on the how and the who's-going-to-play Him (or Her). Until then, it's going to be all-out Armageddon; it's 2014 and the Croation virus has spread across the world, Sarah Palin is president of the United States, and the hunters live in the woods, trying to protect the survivors. Castiel has now been cut off from heaven and as his powers start to fade, he becomes more and more in touch with his humanity — with sometimes funny, sometimes poignant results. As we mentioned before, Ellen, Jo, Rufus, and Chuck will all appear this season, and there's a chance we'll see Papa Winchester as well, but only if Jeffrey Dean Morgan is available. And the nature of Titus Welliver's role has been revealed: he'll be playing one of the muscle-car-driving Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. [TV Guide Magazine]

The Vampire's Assistant

We get a fresh poster with a fresh grave for the Cirque Du Freak movie:

[IGN]

The Blair Witch Sequel

Eduardo Sanchez, who directed the original Blair Witch film, says the sequel will probably be set rough 15 years after the characters in the original film disappeared. [IGN]

The Host 2

This monster movie prequel is an eco-horror take based on the 2003 Cheonggyecheon stream restoration, during which a highway was removed and the river stream left nearly dry. The movie will be set during the 2003 project and will feature multiple monsters, including the fellow below:

[ShockTillYouDrop]

Stargate Universe

In episode 17, "Lost," we will see a young Ronald Greer and his father Reginald in flashbacks. Reginald was once a proud military man, but his service in the Gulf War left him with severe PTSD, and he suffers from both mental and physical illness. He is quiet and frightening, and he mistreats Ronald because he believes that he is preparing him for the cruelties of life. Ronald's mother Angela is, by contrast, strong and loving, and she stays with Reginald because she blames the war for his behavior and believes she is the only person who will care for him. Angela's love also helps Ronald grow into a strong and intense young man, one who single-handedly rescues both of his parents from a burning house. [Spoiler TV]

Fringe

The birthday Walter and company will be celebrating in the season premiere is Peter's. [Fringe Television]

Paul

Seth Rogen just finished filming for Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Paul, where he plays an alien who befriends two scifi geeks. He wore a motion capture during filming, so even he doesn't know what his alien avatar will look like on screen. [MTV]

FlashForward

Here's the first appearance of Dominic Monaghan's character, Simon:

[Lyly Ford]

Defying Gravity

New promo images come from the eighth episode, "Love, Honor, Obey:"

[Spoiler TV]

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

The latest round of images feature Lex Luthor, who, as President of the United States, declares Superman and Batman enemies of the state and recruits other superheroes to hunt them down. When that fails, Luthor and his classic mecha suit get in on the action:

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown and Charlie Jane Anders.

Thanks to Graeme McMillan, Meredith Woerner, Annalee Newitz, Lauren Davis, Briana Cavanaugh, Chris West, Jeff VanderMeer, Andrew Liptak, Pete Gofton, James McGirk, Dennis Woo, Rachael Parker, Brian Williams, Rina Weisman, Chris Hsiang, Jessy Randall, David Fraser, Tim Todd, Chris Newman and Kiriko Moth, plus anyone I missed.

Tron

This is the all-time classic of trapped-in-a-game stories, and it's the first type of story that you see a lot — hero gets sucked inside the digital/computer world, and turned glowy or avatar-y. In this case, the evil Master Control Program is trying to keep the users from monitoring its functions, because it wants to gain absolute power. So when Flynn challenges its rule, the MCP digitizes him and then forces him to take part in a series of deadly disc-throwing, bike-racing, tank-battling games against computer programs.

Running Man

There's the "guy gets sucked inside video game" story, which is like Tron. And then there's the "condemned prisoner gets forced to take part in brutal gladitorial games in an ugly unitard" story, and this is the most perfect example. Partly because it features Arnold Schwarzenegger bringing his A-game, acting wise. But also, it gets major points for use of chainsaws and barbed wire and stuff.

Star Trek: "Gamesters Of Triskelion"

And this is the third type of "trapped in a game" story. There are some vaguely superior aliens (except that they kind of suck) and they kidnap other species and force them to compete/fight for their amusement. There needs to be a gangsta rap about hustling for the quatloos.

Doctor Who: Vengeance On Varos

Doctor Who has done many, many "trapped in a game" stories. There's "Vengeance On Varos," which is pretty much the classic "prisoners forced to take part in deadly games" scenario. There's "The Five Doctors," which is the epitome of "superior aliens kidnap lesser species and play deadly games with them for amusement, with the added wrinkle that the superior aliens are the Doctor's own species. There's also "The War Games," which is what it sounds like. And "The Celestial Toymaker," which features a superior alien games master who's inexplicably Fake Chinese.

Gemini Game by Michael Scott

This is another classic standard — teenage twins Liz and BJ create a hot-selling virtual reality game called Night's Castle. But then it gets invaded by an evil virus, causing havoc. Liz and BJ are trapped inside the game trying to fix it.

Death Race 2000

In a dystopian future, the totalitarian Bipartisan Party keeps an iron grip partly by distracting the people with its televised deadly cross-country race — and top racer Frankenstein is the latest person in a long line to bear that identity, having no choice but to race and/or die. In the recent remake starring Jason Statham, it's more like Running Man — another "felons forced to take part in deadly games" type deal.

Lexx, "The Game"

Kai plays against Prince in a deadly game of chess — and if Kai loses, his crewmates will die. But if Kai wins, he gets reunited with his soul. So Kai accepts Prince's terms, and Stan and Xev get turned into literal pawns.

Deep Space Nine, "Move Along Home"

Quite possibly the most annoying episode of DS9 ever, this episode features the Wadi, aliens from the Gamma Quadrant who force Sisko, Bashir and their friends to play really dumb games, with the refrain of "Move along home," every time they complete one of the asinine challenges. And then there's also the DS9 episode where O'Brien befriends the Tosk, an alien who's been bred to be the prey in a lifelong hunt.

Dungeons & Dragons (cartoon)

A group of kids gets on a spooky roller-coaster fairground ride at a fair, and winds up pulled into the dark world of D&D, where they must play the game in order to escape. Here's a clip from "The Dragon's Graveyard," the most controversial episode, which was almost banned because of its violence and because they contemplate killing their nemesis.

"Arena" by Frederic Brown.

This famous short story is basically the same deal as the Star Trek episode of the same name: Humans are fighting a bunch of lizard aliens, so super-powerful godlike beings pick one representative of each side and force them to fight in a barren landscape. The solution to the puzzle is different, and the human actually does take the opportunity to kill his enemy. You'll have to get your entertainment right here! There's also an Outer Limits episode with a similar premise, "Fun And Games," according to Wikipedia.

Legend Of Neil

We've raved about this webseries, about a guy who gets sucked into a World Of Warcraft-style online game world, before. Neil gets drunk and plays Legend Of Zelda, and decides to masturbate while asphyxiating himself with his Nintendo game controller, which somehow leads to him getting trapped inside the game, where he hangs out with psychotic fairy Felicia Day.

Arcade

From Albert Pyun (the director who brought you Cyborg and the original Captain America), and writer David S. Goyer comes this great movie, about a video game that takes over your brain. You must win the game — or get sucked inside it forever. Or something. It's all because they used human brain cells in making their new game console. Video game developers — do not do that. Human brain cells do not belong in your wii controller. They will turn Wii Boxing into a deadly death sport. Seriously!

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

Two men enter — how many leave? (How many do you think?) This is another subset of the "hero forced to compete in a deadly arena" genre — here, it's humans forcing each other to take part in ritual combat in an arena. Mad Max is pitted against Stevie Wonder's second worst song, Master Blaster, and there can be only one victor. The "trial by combat" thing is a common feature in science fiction, including many many television episodes.

Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone

You know what's cooler than Arnold Schwarzenegger having to navigate a deadly maze of games and traps? Molly Ringwald having to do the same thing! Okay, maybe not. It's the handiwork of the evil Robodog, whose deadly maze is almost unescapable, even for classic brat-pack actors at the start of their careers.

Stargate SG-1, "Avatar."

There are at least a couple classic Stargate episodes featuring a deadly game of death — but "Avatar" is our favorite, because Teal'c kicks major ass in it. He gets stuck inside a V.R. game training module, where every time he dies, he's brought back to life. The only way out is to win or get inside the Elevator of Surrender. And every time Teal'c dies in the game, his chances of dying in real life due to a heart attack increase. Here's an awesome music video of the episode's events, to the sounds of Michael Jackson.

Philip K. Dick, Game Players Of Titan

It's a dystopian future, and the last inhabitants of a depopulated Earth amuse themselves by playing a board game known as the Game, for huge amounts of property as well as each other's wives. (Um, yeah.) The game is administered by the Vugs, amorphous gambling-loving aliens from Titan, who turn out to have different factions with their own agendas. The rules of the game start to change, and it turns out the endgame is a lot more sinister than you'd realized. Other notable Dick works: Maze Of Death, and The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch.

Farscape, "John Quixote"

Chiana brings back a fancy virtual-reality game, and Crichton gets sucked into it, finding himself reliving his exploits in the Uncharted Territories, and then moving on to a scary fantasy world. The game plays out Crichton's fears, and he encounters dark reflections of people knows in the real world.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Game."

We've already made fun of the silliness of this game once before. Trust Riker to get everyone on the ship addicted to a time-waster.

Vivian Vande Velde, Heir Apparent

Fourteen-year-old Gianne is connected to a virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, only to find it has a malfunction and she must win quickly, or it will kill her.

Ben 10, "Game Over"

Here's another one we featured in our list of suckiest fictional video games. Ben gets stuck inside a really weak game involving flying discs and aerial combat — and if the game controller is turned off, he'll be trapped there forever.

X-Files, "First Person Shooter"

In this Wiliam Gibson-scripted episode, Mulder and Scully find themselves inside a VR game with sexy-but-deadly cowboys. Good thing Scully's got riot gear and funky goggles. And a virtual machine gun.

Scooby Doo And The Cyber Bunch

A group of computer nerds makes a special video game about Scooby Doo, and our heroes get digitized and beamed inside the game in a very Tron-inspired sequence. There they must face killer video game icons, deadly tests... and computerized versions of themselves.

Lost In Space, "The Deadly Games Of Gamma 6"

Faux Klingons challenge Dr. Smith and the Robinson family to a series of games of death — and if they lose, the Earth is forfeit. Here's a great scene of Daddy Robinson playing Russian Laser Roulette (which turns into a bong if it doesn't shoot) with one of the Kling-nots, who blinks first.

Existenz

This is the total classic "sucked into a video game" movie — you never quite know if our heroes have escaped from the game or not, and the scene of down-and-dirty spinal installation of a weirdly organic-looking video game port in the guy's spine is pretty memorable.

series 7: the contenders, are you afraid of the dark "tale of the pinball wizard"

Charles Stross, Glasshouse

This one is sort of a social experiment as well as a game — a group of people volunteer to be ported into random bodies inside a simulation of 1990s Earth. The better they do of embodying their pre-ordorained roles, the more points they get. But there's no way out of the game, and over time it becomes clearer that the people running it are actually trying to create a new society.

The Game

It's vaguely five minutes into the future, and Michael Douglas applies to take part in an alternate-reality game where the game intersects with your real life. He can't ever quite escape from the tentacles of intrigue and stuff. Notable for being one of the first pieces of fiction about ARGs, as well as for its sinister game/life overlap.

Saw

People are trapped in a game by a psycho who makes them do puzzles. It's like every psycho GM you've ever gamed with, rolled into one.

Cube

In this classic by Vincenzo Natali, director of the upcoming genetic thriller Splice, a group of people wake up in cube-shaped rooms in a building that turns out to be cube-shaped in turn. They have to navigate a series of deadly traps to escape from the mega-cube, but their sanity starts to come apart.

Hellraiser: Hellworld.

In the umpteenth Hellraiser movie, there's an evil game, and someone commits suicide while playing it. And then all the other players get invited to a mansion where everything is the game, and (wait for it) you can never quit playing.

Nightmares

This early 1980s horror movie features four different stories wrapped together, and one (which we featured previously) shows Emilio Estevez taking on the "Bishop Of Battle" video game — only to find that if you win, the console blows apart, and the video game monsters come into the real world and attack you.

Jumanji/Zathura

In this Robin Williams vehicle (and its quasi-sequel, directed by Jon Favreau), there's a board game and stuff from the game becomes real and invades the real world, menacing our heroes' lives. In the second movie, the board game is actually an outer space game, and the entire house gets whisked out into space, where the kids are menaced by aliens and helped by a friendly astronaut.

Evolver

Wow. How did I not know about this movie already? Every time the video game system Evolver is activated, it learns and "evolves" becoming more powerful... and more deadly. And Evolver is played by William H. Macy. And in this trailer, John "Q" DeLancie explains to us how Evolver hates to lose and will just get smarter and harder to beat, until...

Gamer, the feature film about multi player games where other humans are your Avatars, will be theaters on September 4th.

[via Teaser Trailer]

Surrogates:

Director Jonathan Mostow showed off some footage from the movie. The opening credits show the evolution of Surrogate technology, mixing real-life news footage with fictionalized stuff in a montage of robotic development throughout history.

And then there's a scene where Bruce Willis in his robot body chasing a suspect — but he chases the suspect into a Reservation for non-Surrogatists. Some people refuse to use Surrogates, so they have special zones where the robot bodies are forbidden. Bruce almost catches up with the suspect, even though he loses a couple limbs in the chase, but just as he's about to get his man, one of the Reservation residents shoots his robot body with a shotgun, bringing him down. Bruce wakes up in his human body again, and has to leave the house for the first time in years.

In another scene, Willis, in his human body, comes home to find his wife hosting a party as her Surrogate self, and all the guests are also robotic Surrogates. The human-controlled robots are giving each other electric shocks — like a kind of drug use, sort of — and Willis gets pissed. He tries to get his wife to come talk to him alone, in their human bodies. She refuses, so he gets so angry, he smashes one of her guest's faces, revealing the robot parts underneath.

And later in the movie, there's a scene where the military has to go into one of the Surrogate-free Reservations to collect some crucial device — and the army has to go in in their real human bodies. The Reservation is led by a spiritual leader, The Prophet, played by Ving Rhames, and the residents grow their own food and stuff. [Coming Soon]

9:

Elijah Wood explains his character, the ragdoll known only as 9:

He comes into the world late. So 1 has already established a kind of rule over the other characters, largely due to fear, staying away from the machines, not getting any answers and living cloistered in a tower. I love the fact that 9 comes into that world sort of naively but sort of wisely, and sees that that's not necessarily the way for them to live, and they're actually putting themselves in greater harm. If they simply asked the greater questions to find out who they are and what they are, they can get at what's ultimately keeping them cloistered away.

[Sci Fi Wire via TrekMovie]

2012:

Three new posters show different famous landmarks being destroyed by boredom. I mean nature. [Yahoo! Movies]

Gamer:

So we may have mentioned that in addition to the killer video game Slayers, there's also a sexy Second Life-esque game called Society, in which living people serve as your avatars. And apparently there's a Running Man shout-out at one point, where one of the people in Society wears one of Arnie's costumes from the earlier movie. [AMC]

Dollhouse:

When we see Victor next, his face will have been repaired from Alpha's slash attack. [E! Online]

The bit where Echo marries the visiting businessman played by Jamie Bamber leads to a fight scene so intense, Eliza Dushku cried real tears. There are "beaucoup bumps and bruises" this season, she says, and generally the new season is darker and rougher, and the show has fully hit its stride. Knowing the dark places that the characters go to in the horrendous future gives people a confidence to play with their characters more, she explains. Also, Echo beats up bad guys using a private jet as a weapon. And she handles actual babies in another scene. Tahmoh Penikett says he just read the script for episode four, and it's the darkest thing Joss Whedon has ever done. [TV Guide Magazine and TV Guide Magazine]

A sneak peek at the new season shows us an awkward, horrible moment between Echo and Whiskey/Claire.

And here's a new promo photo. [SpoilerTV]

Doctor Who:

The amazing Alun.Vega uploaded some better quality versions of the audio files he got from the recent location filming. I have to say, this new thing of getting to hear snippets of dialogue is a mixed blessing — some of the acting probably sounds way more over the top than it will in context. Here's one of the audio files, and the rest are at the link. [Alun_Vega on Flickr]

Supernatural:

Not only will Ellen Harvelle be back in one episode, but so will her daughter Jo. And the appearance of 70-year-old Dean is being described as a "flash-forward," although that may just be speculation. [E! Online]

A new sneak peek from season five went up on itunes for U.S. audiences only, and here's a somewhat scrungy copy:

Lost:

A new casting call for episode 6x03:

[MELKY] Male, 30s to 40s, any ethnicity. Dangerous looking guy that can be surprisingly calm. Runs a seedy chop shop and not someone to be messed with; has handled many dicey situations and is not thrown by anything...NICE CO-STAR

[JENNY] Female, early 30s, any ethnicity. Yuppie, sweet, happy and well off. Never had any problems until she receives heart-breaking news that tears her world apart. While dealing with her personal crisis, she then has to deliver bad news to someone else knowing it will hurt them, too...CO-STAR

[RUSSELL] Male, late 20s to early 40s, any ethnicity. Tough guy who takes no gruff from anyone. Executes orders efficiently but has a nice, compassionate streak that surfaces from time to time...CO-STAR

[SpoilerTV]

Warehouse 13:

A source tells io9 that after you see tonight's episode, you won't ever expect to see Joe Morton's character appear on the show again. And also, Alison Scagliotti gives an absolutely "magnetic" performance.

Meanwhile, here's a new clip from tonight's episode:

Fringe:

Here's a new promo...

Luke Goss is playing a bad guy named Lloyd Parr, but he's not a psychopath or mindlessly evil — he has reasons for what he does. [L.A. Times via SpoilerTV]

FlashForward:

A new casting notice for 1x07 seeks an attorney who delivers bad news about a legal case over the phone, but doesn't appear in person. [SpoilerTV]

Smallville:

So remember how we mentioned Ollie would be getting a new sidekick? Apparently it is Speedy — but she's based on the latest version in the comics, Mia Dearden. She's even HIV-positive like her comics counterpart. (Ah, Judd Winick.) She has a "sordid past" and encounters Ollie in some shady places, but she has great martial-arts skills, so Ollie steps up to train her. She dons the red-and-yellow comics costume in episode six. When we meet the JSA, its members will include Hawkman, Spectre, Doctor Fate and the Atom. And Perry White may finally be joining the Daily Planet. [TV Guide Magazine]

True Blood:

So Maryann is planning to marry the god Dionysus whom she's conjured up, or something silly like that, with Sookie as a bridesmaid. And Sam turns to an unlikely ally to save the day. [E! Online]

Stargate Universe:

In case it wasn't clear, Col Telford (Lou Diamond Philips) was supposed to lead the expedition to explore the ninth address, but instead he wound up stuck back on Earth while the unqualified people go off to explore. So he's desperate to get on board the Destiny as well as getting those people home. But he can only visit the Destiny by exchanging his consciousness with other people's. One of the people whose bodies he inhabits most is Everett Young, which leads to a love triangle between Telford, Young, and Young's wife. [Sci Fi Wire]

Chuck:

When the new season picks up, it's right after the end of the previous season, so Chuck is still new to his abilities. And Morgan is in Hawaii working on becoming a hibachi chef, so the Buy More is firmly in the grip of Emmett, and things aren't going that well without Morgan and Chuck. [Sci Fi Wire]

Jeffster will definitely perform again in season three. And maybe they'll do more of an 80s hair metal thing. [E! Online]

And director Jeremiah Chechik twittered some pics from the set of episode 3x03. [ChuckTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Doctor Who

A poster at Gallifrey Base claims to have gotten a good look inside the new TARDIS set, which we'll see in 2010. Supposedly, the interior of the TARDIS will have two different levels, joined by a spiral staircase, and we'll be seeing a console room, a lab area, a sitting room, a long corridor, and "numerous other little nooks and crannies." The set is designed to be modular, so that pieces of the set can be moved around and double as other parts of the ship, when we visit other rooms inside the TARDIS.

The console room itself is a shaped like a hexagon attached to a square rather than being circular, the color theme is mostly silver and gold, and the coral finish has been replaced with marble. The roundels decorating the walls are now inverted hemispheres, and while they appear throughout the set, they do not appear on every wall. The roundels have different color schemes for each room: gold in the console room, silver, gray, and blue in the lab, and brown in the sitting room.

You should, of course, take this with several truckloads of grains of salt. [Gallifrey Base, Thanks Bluehinter!]

Iron Man 2

As we've mentioned, Sam Rockwell's character, Justin Hammer, is actually a fan of Tony Stark, but doesn't get the attention he craves from Tony. But Rockwell tells Comic Book Resources that Hammer is also "in cahoots with a couple of people," and "kind of a shyster." And when Hammer feels deprived of Tony's attention, "that's where I think it starts to go wrong for Justin a little bit." He also says that Hammer is more insecure and ambitious than Tony Stark, which may be his downfall. [Comic Book Resources]

Zombieland

In the international trailer, we get a few more of Columbus's rules for surviving the zombie apocalypse and some hints of Jesse Eisenberg/Emma Stone romance:

The Lovely Bones

A new image shows another surreal image from Heaven as Susie Salmon looks out at a figure in the gazebo where she goes to watch the living world:

[MTV Movies Blog]

The Hobbit

Supposedly, the role of Bilbo Baggins has been cast, though just who will play the fur-footed protagonist hasn't been revealed. Some fans speculate it might be Martin Freeman, who played Tim in the UK version of The Office. [Cinema Blend]

Astro Boy

The final poster for Astro Boy has been released:

[CinemaBlend]

Gamer:

Gerard Butler explains the philosophy behind this living-video-game movie: Gamer is "a comment on science, technology, medicine and entertainment. ... How far away are we from people actually saying, 'We can create that. We can create a mini-war every day on our TVs and use people that are useless to us.'" And there's a scene where his character, Kable, confronts his nemesis (played by Terry Crews) stepping out of an elevator — and Kable pounces on him. [USA Today]

Paul:

Jason Batemen explains his character, federal agent Lorenzo Zoil:

He is the government agent that is sent to go out and grab Paul the alien and drag him back to Area 51. He's a very humorless and expressionless government agent, very similar to either Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive or even Men in Black and also Yaphet Kotto in Midnight Run. I've got a couple of ne'er-do-well deputies, Joe Lo Truglio and Bill Hader. It's just really, really fun. It's a road movie. These guys, Simon, Nick and Paul, are in a motor home, and I'm in a late-model black Crown Victoria in hot pursuit.

And he says they did one take of a scene where Zoil says his full name and suddenly realizes that his own name is a joke on "Lorenzo's Oil," and one take where he doesn't. [Sci Fi Wire]

Eclipse

Some blurry set photos have surfaced of Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria seducing Xavier Samuel's Riley:

[Lainey Gossip]

Supernatural

The fifth episode, which will feature Paris Hilton, was known on audition and draft scripts as "Celebrity Skin," but has been officially titled "Fallen Idol." [Spoiler TV]

True Blood

A still from Sunday's episode shows Bill hanging by the pool with Evan Rachel Wood's character, Queen Sophie. But what's up with the sunglasses?

[True Blood Net]

Chuck

New Malibu-based set photos from the first two episodes of the season indicate that Zachary Levi does, eventually, lose the beard:

[Chuck TV]

Smallville

In the seventh episode "Crossfire," Clark accompanies Lois when she auditions to host a television show on WGBS, "Good Morning, Metropolis." The show's producer recognizes the chemistry between Lois and Clark, and decides he won't hire one without the other. As a bit for the show, Lois and Clark are each set up on dates with other people, with Lois talking into an earbud in Clark's ear on his date and vice versa. Although Lois teases Clark that his admission that he grew up on a farm will earn him either a country mouse or a cougar for a date, he actually ends up dining with a stunning blonde, who leaves Lois shocked and jealous. Lois is intent on making Clark just as jealous during her date, but apparently ends up tipsy as Clark at some point whispers in her ear "The last thing you need is a drink, Lois." At the end of Lois' date, Clark tells her date he's a lucky man, which pleases Lois.

At some point during the episode, Tess is in Zod's mansion, and Zod tells one of his people that if Tess won't reveal who the Blur is, he should kill her. Also, Oliver will meet Mia "Speedy" Dearden, who wears an awful lot of red and yellow. She also happens to be a hooker with a nasty tattooed pimp named Rick, and Oliver tells her he wants to help her. And when she takes Oliver out in his Lamborghini, he jokingly calls her "Speedy." Oliver will also briefly meet up with Lois and the Ace of Clubs. [KryptonSite]

Better Off Ted

In the sixth episode "What Lies Beneath," Veridian Dynamics decides to genetically match up employees with their perfect romantic partners, figuring that they will produce children that will cost the company less money. Ted is matched up with the beautiful and charming Danielle, and though he is initially resistant to Veridian's plan, he finds himself falling for her. Meanwhile, Linda is matched with Greg, who is also attractive and charming, but has one tiny little eccentricity. When working for Veridian makes him feel small and insecure (as it would anyone), he dresses in a bear suit and goes to the park to make himself feel mighty. And a receptionist at the Veridian health clinic has difficulty keeping Phil's medical records from Veronica. [Spoiler TV]

Heroes

The eighth episode of the new season will be called "Once Upon a Time in Texas" — perhaps the episode where Hiro goes back in time to save his sweetheart Charlie? [HeroSite]

Defying Gravity

It's Halloween in stills from the seventh episode, "Fear:"

[Spoiler TV]

Eastwick

In the fifth episode, Roxie will fill in for Bun, the Eastwick tour guide, when he suffers a bout of memory loss. She may not be the best choice, though, as the tourists question her historical accuracy, and at least one thinks she's an outright weirdo when she has a vision mid-tour. One of the tourists also asks about Eastwick's tradition of burning coffins at Halloween to symbolize the release of burdens.

Apparently, the tradition doesn't go well, because later Roxie screams that there is someone in the fire. She begs a fireman to put the fire out, but he misunderstands her because of the loud music playing at the Halloween celebration.

Also during this episode, Kat and Joanna have a fight after Kat kisses Will, which Mrs. Greenberg, an elderly patient at the hospital where Kat works, overhears. Mrs. Greenberg then steps in with her two cents. And Penny approaches a group of folks outside the Eastwick Cafe and asks them if they've seen Joanna recently. When one boy, looking at Joanna's picture, comments that he'd "tap" that, Penny retorts that he's never tapped anything other than himself. [Spoiler TV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown and Charlie Jane Anders.

It's going to be very hard for me not to bust out the "Cool" and "Crazy" West Side Story call outs during Gamer, because the user-controlling movements make me laugh every single time. In fact I think there is an off button that makes the avatar slump over with one elbow protruded out "no stings attached" style, and then it's all about N'Sync, and well, I'm just going to be singing through this flick about death row inmates being forced to kill each other whilst being controlled by their teen users.

What I am enjoying about this futuristic film is the rolodex of ladies available, how many of those women you wanna bet are being controlled by the machine, or one really sick puppy pimp who just has an army of mind-wiped prostitutes. All speculation, of course, but the possibilities are endless! Gamer is out on September 4th.

Wolverine 2:

Another snippet of Hugh Jackman, apparently from the same interview as yesterday's report. This time around, Jackman says Logan's second solo outing won't be his darkest, because he gets pretty dark in other movies.

I'm going to go out on a limb right now and say it will be the sexiest, though. Because if you read that [comics storyline], there's female companionship. Not just one — for Wolverine. There's quite a bit going on. My wife might have an issue with it, but I think the fans will be happy with it.

I'm embarrassed to admit my memory of the Miller/Claremont Japan story is hazy, but there's a tragic love affair with Mariko Yashida, right? Who are the other women he romances in Japan? [MTV]

I found a pretty decent set of speculation about the Japan story arc, from back in May, including the idea that the amnesiac Wolverine takes part in cage fights, run by Mariko's father Shingen. And maybe Shingen pays Silver Samurai, his illegitimate son, to beat Wolverine in the arena. The wounded Wolverine gets rescued by Shingen's right-hand ninja, Yukio, who has a thing for him — but she knows Wolverine and Mariko are really in love, so she brings the two of them together. Unfortunately, Mariko gets poisoned, and Logan grants her a quick death, just like in the comics. Then Shingen, believing Wolverine killed Mariko, sends both Silver Samurai and his cousin, Sunfire, to kill him. The whole thing is here, and it's way more detailed. [Geek Corner]

Gamer:

Gerard Butler hotwires a car in a fun new clip from this living-video-game movie. [IGN]

Iron Man 2:

Scarlett Johansson describes her character, Black Widow:

I think the character is a shape-shifter so it was kind of like playing two different characters. One character is more mysterious and — I don't want to say submissive but she's kind of blending in with the crowd, I suppose you could say. The other part of this character is someone who knows their shit and is able to say, "I'm going to fight this head on."

[Comic Book Resources]

Star Trek:

Tiniest scoop ever. Chris Pine says he thinks the movie is coming out in 2011, and he believes the whole cast will be back. (But no clue whether that includes Greenwood and Nimoy.) [L.A. Times]

Paul:

Simon Pegg and the gang bring us a video blog with a bit of an update on the filming of this alien road trip film. Plus meet new character Keith Nash, a fearless nerd. Who tries to land a "nut shot" on the alien. [What Is Paul via Cinemablend]

Twilght: Eclipse:

Jack Huston (Shrink) will appear in the third movie, playing Royce King II, a human who lived during the Great Depression and has a bit of history with Rosalie Hale. [MTV]

Dollhouse:

Eliza Dushku tweeted yesterday about second-season filming:

Dress me up Dollhouse day! Whoo-daddy we're adding a new feature this year y'all r gonna LOVE

Wonder what she was getting dressed as... and what this "new feature" is. [Twitter]

Doctor Who:

A page from the 2010 Doctor Who Storybook found its way onto a discussion forum. It appears to be the Tenth Doctor's garbled transmissions about his whole tenure as the Doctor, with quotes from past and future episodes. It includes an upcoming storyline (probably from the Sarah Jane Adventures) where something called the Pantheon Of Dischord is targeting Sarah Jane Smith. Another quote is "Scanning, but it must..." And then there's "...E water! Get away from the wat...", which obviously comes from "The Waters Of Mars." And then, probably from David Tennant's final two parter, there's "Can't be alive! No! The Gate!" (And I'm guessing it's either the Master, or Timothy Dalton's Time Lord, who "can't be alive.) And then there's "One last look... Got to see..." which could refer to the dying Doctor's trip to see Rose Tyler before she'd even met him. And finally, the plaintive "Don't forget me." (Which people are speculating may be Tennant's final words as the Doctor. As if we could ever forget him.) [GallifreyBase, thanks Troy!]

Supernatural:

In episode four, we'll find out what Sam would like if he was "totally evil." [EW]

Caprica:

Joseph Adama "is going to go through a real neoclassic Greek tragedy arc," says Esai Morales. [Sci Fi Wire]

Stargate Universe:

Lou Diamond Phillips says his character, Col. Telford, is kind of a jerk who needs to do things by the book. And he explains how he gets involved in the action:

I'm supposed to go through the Stargate into this unknown address. The base is attacked, and a lot of people who should not be in charge are stranded on this ship out in the middle of nowhere called the Destiny. I get stuck on Earth, and it's my mission to try to get to these people ... back, but I have no way to physically get on the ship. ... [So I] keep using these telecommunications stones, exchanging bodies with people and trying to take over and ... get them home.

The body-exchanging technology, discovered in the two-part episode "Arena," leads to what Phillips believes will be the most talked-about love scene of the fall. [Sci Fi Wire]

True Blood:

Sookie will be planting her lips all over Eric's body in Sunday's episode. [EW]

Smallville:

Apparently, Lois and Clark really do "make love" in the season, as many people gleaned from the recent trailer. But meanwhile, there's no movement on bringing back Michael Rosenbaum. [EW]

Warehouse 13:

An upcoming episode involves "nipple clamps," and Pete and Myka do some kissing. But it's a strange kiss. And it sounds like the nipple clamps are an artifact from inside the warehouse? [EW]

Heroes:

Ghosbusters' Ernie Hudson will appear in several episodes as Captain Bullock, a Los Angeles detective who's on the trail of one of the show's super-powered characters. [TV Guide]

Greg Grunberg, never given to hyperbole, says an upcoming episode of Heroes involves "the craziest shit EVER". And apparently it includes a cockroach. And it's "incredible." [EW]

Vampire Diaries:

Marguerite MacIntyre (Mama Trager on Kyle XY) will play Sheriff Forbes. Meanwhile, Robert Pralgo will play Mayor Lockwood and Susan Walters will play Mrs. Lockwood. Finally, Chris Johnson (South Beach) will be playing Logan Fell, the character originally called Logan Mills in the show's casting calls.)

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Avatar:

MarketSaw's description of the Comic Con footage from this film includes a few new details. Like, the disabled Jake Sully muscles his way out of his wheelchair and into his control bed, grabbing each of his legs in turn by the pants leg and swinging it over. Then, his mind is transferred into his alien Avatar body, and everything is different. The technicians tell him "Welcome to your new body," and he tries touching his thumb with his fingers. He steps down onto the floor, and we focus on his giant blue feet. Jake gets startled by his own tail, which wraps around him, and causes havoc in the lab. Jake, unused to his new Avatar body, goes a bit berzerk, and the technicians try to sedate him, but Jake rips off his electrodes and leaves the lab, with the technicians giving chase. [MarketSaw]

Star Trek:

Nero won't fiddle while the Federation burns. Eric Bana confirms he won't be back for any sequels, and his character was just a one-off for the first movie. [MovieWeb]

Iron Man 2:

A couple more tidbits from Marvel's set reports. SHIELD agent Coulson (the guy who couldn't come up with an acronym in the first movie) will be back, which seems surprising since we have Nick Fury now. As for Fury, all that Kevin Feige would say is that his role will be at least comparable to his appearance in the first film — which is an odd statement, given that he was in the first film for 20 seconds, and we've already seen more footage than that featuring him.
[Marvel]

The Time Traveler's Wife:

Warner Bros. released a slew of promo pics from this time-crossed romance film, coming August 14. [Warner Bros.]

Gamer:

There's a new trailer for this deadly-video-games film, plus a new TV spot... and a new trailer in German, which I think is the same as the other one. Only more Teutonic.

Jennifer's Body:

Fangoria visited the set of this film, and watched a scene where Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried visit a bar, pretending to be over 21 when they're still in high school. Also, writer Diablo Cody says her screenplay references horror masters Herschell Gordon Lewis and Dario Argento. And the film is definitely a callback to 1970s-early 1980s horror films, rather than a straight-up gorefest. The movie's horror conceit is a metaphor for what's happening in the relationship between Fox's and Seyfried's characters. Fox's character has to feed on human flesh, or else she wastes away — which only has the effect of making her look like a lot of typical girls. [via SpoilerTV-Movies]

[Rec] 2:

A new trailer for this Spanish horror sequel includes some new footage. [Bloody Disgusting]

New Moon:

Apparently that thing about the ancient and powerful Volturi sitting around stark naked in one scene was just a joke on the part of actor Jamie Campbell-Bower, says director Chris Weitz. [Bella And Edward]

Lost:

A new Italian trailer for season six makes the show sound all suave and sophisticated. And reveals, ummm... that there'll be an island. And stuff.

Dollhouse:

Joss Whedon explains that in the new season, Echo (Eliza Dushku) will start out being aware that "As a person, she exists, and she has a mission. She has something she wants. This year, we're going to see the results of everything she went through... We're going to find her to be a great deal less passive and more directed in what she wants. And that's going to make her life a good deal harder." [New Jersey Star-Ledger]

Fringe:

Here are a set of new promo pics of our cast members. [Fringe Bloggers]

Smallville:

Here's a new teaser for season nine, plus the spoilery clip they showed at SDCC. [OSCK]

Vampire Diaries:

Here's a new trailer for the most hotly anticipated show with "diaries" in the title:

And there are some casting script pages from the third episode, where Jenna meets her old flame Logan, who's in his late 20s and they trade insults and barbs that prove they have tons of unresolved sexual/romantic tension. Like she tells him he has a receding hairline. Smouldering! [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Iron Man 2:

IGN has the same set visit report Marvel.com had earlier, but with a couple extra details. Like Vanko aka Whiplash has daddy issues just like Tony Stark — his father was a famous scientist named Anton.) And it turns out that in addition to coming out as Iron Man, Tony Stark has been trying to revive the Stark Expo his dad started, and use it to promote new energy sources. And Tony's trying to control his own technology and only use it for public benefit.

When we catch up to him six months after the first movie, things are just starting to go to hell. Halfway through the sequel, Tony hits "rock bottom," which doesn't have anything to do with alcohol, but is more related to trying to do everything and losing control over it all. Tony's imperious, I-can-do-it-all-myself attitude will cause tension with Pepper and Rhodey.

Also, Tony's workshop included a German passport, newspaper articles, a map of Antarctica, and a diagram of Captain America's shield. And there were several boxes marked "Project Pegasus," which is an energy project in the Marvel Universe that often attracts supervillain involvement. [IGN]

Avatar:

Here's a new production photo showing James Cameron on the set of his space mega-movie, tinkering with one of his huge guns. A bigger version is in the new issue of Empire Magazine, and on Empire's site. And there's also a piece of concept art at Slashfilm, which looks a bit familiar to me but may actually be new. [Empire via Slashfilm]

Predators:

Robert Rodriguez confirms this movie takes place on an alien planet, and says he hopes Arnold Schwarzenegger could come back, at least for a cameo. And he says the movie's title has a double meaning:

the predators, are you talking about the creatures or are you talking about this group of humans that are actually going in there against them. Are they going to kill each other off if there were no predators?

[MTV]

G.I. Joe:

ComingSoon/SuperheroHype visited the set of this movie and observed the filming of the scene where Duke carries the Baroness to safety, though explosions, gunfire and jets of water shooting up into the damaged MARS base. And producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explains exactly what's the deal with those nanotech-enhanced Vipers:

One of the experimentations that they're doing in this movie is on this human experimentation and can they make you not have no fear, have no hesitation of orders, increased endurance and things like that. One of the things that The Doctor character in this movie is [doing is] he's experimenting on these Vipers and Neo Vipers too see how invulnerable you can make them.

And it sounds like Snake Eyes has a scene where he walks on his fingertips. [SuperheroHype]

Splice:

Stargate's David Hewlett says his character doesn't do much in this movie, but "he's definitely a thorn in our heroes' side." And he says the movie, which director Vincenzo Natali has described as "The Bonnie and Clyde of genetics," is going to push the boundaries of both science fiction and good taste. The sexy human-animal hybrid film is very dark, and so shocking it's almost a comedy, but not quite. "It almost mimics a dysfunctional family. It touches on religion, sex, aging, the quest to be the first."[Sci Fi Pi]

New Moon:

The movie whose main selling point seems to be large amounts of shirtlessness will have a nude scene. Actor Jamie Campbell-Bowers, who plays one of the Volturi, says they just added a scene where he, Michael Sheen and Christopher Heyerdahl sit around naked for a few minutes. [Access Hollywood]

Gamer:

Here are a few new stills from this deadly-video-game epic. W00t. More at the link. [Slice Of SciFi]

Battle: Los Angeles:

The exciting alien invasion movie, which substitutes Baton Rogue for the City of Angels, cast three more stars alongside Marine Sergeant Aaron Eckhart. Michelle Rodriguez will play Cpl. Adriana Santos, a member of a radio battalion. Michael Pena plays the father of a little boy the marines find along the way. And Bridget Moynihan plays a veterinarian. (And no, I don't know why you'd need a veterinarian when fighting alien invaders. Maybe they're cat people? One can but hope.) [Hollywood Reporter]

Lost:

It's official (if you believe unnamed sources, anyway) — Dominic Monaghan will be back. And he'll be in at least three episodes. [E! Online]

Fringe:

Yay! Here's our first glimpse of season two. Although it may be fake, since most of the clips are old. What do you think?

Also, a new season two poster (plus matching banner) includes a few clues. Like a leaf, a six-fingered handprint and a seahorse. Click on the link for more details about where these show up in the poster. [Fringe Bloggers]

And there's a new casting call. Episode 2x05 features Dr. Nayak, an East Indian or Middle Eastern doctor, who's sort of a Jekyll/Hyde character. He's dedicated his life to his work, but he's hiding a deep-seated addiction.[SpoilerTV]

Warehouse 13:

Leena, the lovely B&B owner, has some secrets of her own, and she turns up in four more episodes this season — including the finale, which she figures in prominently. [TV Guide]

And here are some pics from episode seven, "Implosion." Gun-totin' Artie! [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Additional reporting, pictures and writing from Julia Carusillo, Ray Wert and Cailtin Petrakovitz

I have no Earthly idea why these women were recruiting for V. I mean, it's got aliens in it. That should be enough. No need to bring out the T&A just yet, are we that desperate already?

Kotaku reported on Dante's Inferno boob marketing fiasco called "Acts of Lust." A contest asking Conners to "snap photos of themselves with hot women at the comic-con," they later apologized.

What do surgically-enhanced women dressed in slinky, silver unitards have to do with a kid's game called "Mind Flex?" We don't know, but hundreds of interested convention-goers pushed the tykes out of the way to find out. Wait, what was that question we were supposed to be thinking about again? Sorry, we're distracted.

Speaking of petroleum-derived plastic orbs, SciFi SyFy has some serious balls touting their name change like this at Comic Con. Just look at 'em. They're huge!

Well, you certainly won't become the caped crusader wearing those hats.

Speaking of hats — "choose my identity?" Am I supposed to believe I really need a hat to tell me whether I'm good or evil? What is this, Harry Potter?

I would be seriously pissed off if I came outside to find a slew of "Dragon Age: Origins" decals adorning the side of my plumber's van. I know I certainly wouldn't be buying the video game!

A convention filled with people who draw things for a living, and this is the best Batman you could come up with? Really?

Wondering why this NBC Store moving billboard's included as an example of badvertising? It's a good-for-the-environment GEM electric car. The billboard? It's running off the huge gas-powered generator underneath it. That's like using a Tesla roadster to haul a HEMI dragster to the track.

What do roller-derby girls have to do with promoting District 9? No idea. We're going to assume they don't know either as they were also promoting Whip It. Which one is it ladies which one, I'm so confused.

Playboy and Comic Con? Sure, we see a match there. Playboy, Comic Con and ice cream? Not so much.

Save the cheerleader, save the popcorn? A Heroes carnival set up across the train tracks from the Convention Center? Next up SNOW CONE OF DEATH.

Clever. Kudos for taking it all the way my friend. Picture from the awesome Rad Nerd flickr stream. Funny crew over there — well done gang.

Nothing says "respect me" more than a Team Jacob or Team Edward Burger King Crown. Especially since the Where The Wild Things Are Crown showed them what was really up.

A SciFi SyFy fan gets the last laugh.

Gamer Raver Gear, sadly tragically unsexy in real life too.

Enough with the clever menu items, this was in an Indian restaurant.

Great, until someone stole my room key for the free episode.

I believe this funeral was for Criss Angel's new show, but I'm not 100% sure because when I hear the words Criss Angel I run in the other direction. But seriously, guys — super fun campaign.

Nothing says, let's kill a Nazi like a segway. Peace to you too man.

Additional reporting, pictures and writing from Julia Carusillo, Ray Wert and Cailtin Petrakovitz

It turns out there's a second game within this movie, apart from the deadly war-game that Kable (Gerard Butler) is trapped in. And the other game involves avatars who are living, breathing sex dolls.

This other game in the world of Gamer is described as a "fetishistic 'society' game" - an Adult Sim where players can play dress up (and undress) their living avatars. While the characters of 'Slayer', the first-person shooter within the film, are all death row inmates, this first-person porn is populated with participants who are being paid to do unspeakable things while under someone else's total control. Amber Valletta plays Kable's wife, Angie, who becomes ensnared in the sex slave Sim game.

Mark Neveldine admits:

Angie is a tough role. There's the pain Amber has to go through being controlled, the sexual things the script put her through and the emotions grief and all that stuff.

Brian Taylor describes the game's dynamic as "much like the adult industry", with people being paid to enter into various sexual situations, some willingly, and some less willingly. Regardless, within gameplay these human sex dolls must surrender completely to the gamer's control. Despite the game's vibrant candy colors and glittery aesthetic, Taylor confesses "it's a very dark place."

Gamer:

Here's a sneak peek from this deadly video game movie, showcasing the rapport (or lack thereof) between Kable and his young "player":

G.I. Joe:

New TV spots cover the basics. Legs, boobs, nanomites, disaster, explosions, super-power-armor, grim faces — it is on.

Green Hornet:

The Green Hornet's car will be the original 1966 model, but with huge massive weapons that weren't around in 1966, like Gatling guns and stuff. And Seth Rogen talks how campy the film will be. [Cinematical]

Jennifer's Body:

Here's another new image of the sexy-but-deadly-but-sexy Megan Fox. [Cinemablend]

The Time Traveler's Wife:

Here are a few new TV spots that show off this movie's tormented love story:

Asteroids:

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura says he was attracted to this film because "it tells you that there's going to be this big thing in space." And he explains more about the film's storyline:

We've crafted a really strong, deep mythology for the thing. Without divulging too much about it, it's two lead characters – two brothers – who have to go through a seminal experience to figure out their relationship, against this huge backdrop.

[Sci Fi Scoop]

2012:

Some new stills, plus a new poster. [Sci Fi Scoop]

G-Force:

They're guinea pigs. And they fight evil. Behold:

Harry Potter:

And finally, a Harry TV spot:

The Prisoner:

Wired had a one-on-one interview with Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Number Two — although, really, he's actually Number One. And this version of Number Two has a wife and son, and his family is crucial to the reason for the Village's existence. McKellen described his character:

Number Two is very ironic. At times, he's very loving and bewlidered, because he's confused. He's not convinced that he's doing the right thing, because it causes him a lot of pain. And that's the sign of a mature script. Jim was saying in an interview that it is easy to see Number Six is right and that Number Two is a dreadful man. But then, in the next scene, one can see it from a different point of view.

[Wired]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Iron Man 2:

Yahoo! Movies posted a new still featuring ScarJo as Natasha Romanoff, plus higher res versions of some stills we'd already shown you. (Click the link for a bigger version of the ScarJo image.) [Yahoo]

G.I. Joe:

A new overseas poster shows Storm Shadow without his ninja hood on. The whole thing is over at the first link. [JoBlo via Cinemablend]

Gamer:

The movie "makes 300 look like a picnic in terms of violence," says Gerard Butler. But there's a cool story going on, which comments on the future and technology and morality, and the fact that our reality-TV culture is constantly asking, "How can we degrade people more?" It's become okay for the human video-game avatars to "shoot the shit out of each other" while the whole world watches. [Collider via SciFiScoop]

Kick-Ass:

Nic Cage says we'll see his character, Big Daddy, in full costume, including cape and "the whole shebang." But his costume isn't the standard superhero outfit. "[It's] not spandex, but more high-tech, military, commando-style apparel." [MTV via Comic Book Resources]

The Book Of Eli:

Here's a much higher res image of a still we've shown you before. [Movies-Spoilers]

Doctor Who:

The BBC actually posted a super-short video of the first day's shooting involving the new Doctor and companion, and you get a sort of panoramic sweep of the beach location, including that crashed rocket. [Sci Fi Wire]

And thanks to everyone who pointed this out — yes, another batch of new set pics includes our first look at the new sonic screwdriver! W00t! Plus we get a nicer look at that wreckage, which apparently is a ship called the Byzantium. (And sharp-witted fans recall that River Song mentions the crash of the Byzantium when she meets Tennant's Doctor.) Also, what's with the military fatigues all of a sudden? Does she have them on under her huge flouncy dress? And why is the Doctor screaming? More pics at the link. [BlogtorWho]

Fringe:

Some more new set pics, showing Lance Reddick giving an impromptu briefing on the street. More pics at the link. [On Location Vacations]

Heroes:

Episode 4x05 will be called "Hysterical Blindness." We'll avoid making any cheap shots about that being the ailment viewers will wish they suffer from. [Herosite]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

G.I. Joe:

There are a bunch of early test-screening reviews of this film, and they're all quite glowing, except for one. The one damning review is also the most detailed and spoilery — so that may be why some of these details seem a bit negative.

Anyway, the film starts in France in 1641, when a guy with a fake Scottish accent is forced to wear a mask when it's still piping hot. Then we jump forward to the "not too distant future." We meet James McCullen, who sells warheads full of green goop to NATO, and they're guarded by Duke, Ripcord and some cannon fodder. They get ambushed, and the cannon fodder all die. The Baroness grabs the warheads, but Duke can't shoot her because they have history together. Instead, he just chases after her shouting her name over and over.

Then the Joes turn up, and save the day. Except Heavy Duty stops shooting at the Baroness and says, "Don't make me shoot a lady." She gets away, but without the warheads. Then General Hawk appears via hologram, and tells Duke and Ripcord to come to GI Joe headquarters in Egypt, under the sand. The base has hundreds of extras wandering around doing Joe-stuff. Ten nations are joined together to make one G.I. Joe unit, sharing intel. Then McCullen appears via hologram and accuses Duke of not doing his job. Duke wants to punch the hologram, but Ripcord holds him back. General Hawk gets to say "Knowing is half the battle."

Duke wants to join the team, but Hawk says no. So Duke changes Hawk's mind by sharing everything he knows about the Baroness, cueing a huge flashback in which we see him propose to her and agree to protect her egghead brother Rex when they go off to war together. In the flashback, Ripcord tells Duke and the Baroness, "You two look like the little white couple on the cake." After Rex gets blown up and is presumed dead, Duke shows up at Rex's funeral on a motorcycle, wearing sunglasses in the rain. Duke and the Baroness just randomly stop talking to each other. But shockingly it turns out Rex is actually the Doctor, and he's injected his sister with nanomites that mean he can control her like a robot.

Duke and Rip get tested as possible Joe recruits, and Rip hits on Scarlett. Snake Eyes beats on Duke a lot, but then Duke jumps Snake Eyes from behind after the match is over, and everyone's impressed, because nobody's ever been able to hit Snake Eyes before. Duke has another opportunity to shoot the Baroness during the bad guys' raid on the Joes' HQ, and he can't do it. Storm Shadow steals a jetpack from the Joes' base.

The flashback involving Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes shows them beating the crap out of each other as kids, and it's totally solid. Later, we see how the young Storm Shadow killed their master for favoring Snake Eyes.

Zartan isn't really a master of disguise, "just a guy who will trade clothes with you after he kills you." We see Rex/The Doctor injecting Zartan with chemicals to let him change his actual appearance, interspersed with shots of the U.S. president. What can they be planning?

After the baddies destroy the Eiffel Tower, they also capture Duke. And the good guys get nabbed by the French police. They have to promise never to return to France again before they can get released. They figure out McCullen is in the North Pole, where the Baroness still manages to show off her cleavage. Everyone else wears jeans and light jackets at the North Pole.

The Doctor reveals that he's actually the Baroness' presumed-dead brother, and he prepares to turn Duke into a nano-controlled slave. The Baroness breaks free of her mind-control and tries to save Duke, but gets knocked out. McCullen asks Duke which he'd rather do: stop the bad guys, or save the Baroness. Duke says both. Something blows up, and McCullen's face gets burned off.

The nanotech missiles blast off, and Snake Eyes shoots down one of them. The others are headed for Moscow and Washington. Ripcord flies a fighter jet he's never even seen before, with an encouraging kiss from Scarlett. The plane's controls are all voice-activated and in Celtic, so he has to learn how to say "Fire" in Celtic.

Meanwhile, the U.S. President has been taken to a secure bunker, but one Secret Service agent turns out to be under the Doctor's control, and he shoots all the other Secret Service agents. Zartan shows up, apparently looking like the President, who says "So that's your plan!"

The Doctor and McCullen escape in a sub, and Duke and the Baroness (who's now at least temporarily cured of being evil and nano-controlled) follow. The Doctor injects McCullen with some nano-goop, which turns his burned face into super-hard metal, and the Doctor tells McCullen he'll be called Destro from now on. And Destro can refer to the Doctor as "Commander" from here on out. Once he becomes Cobra Commander, he's sort of Darth Vader-esque.

Duke confronts Cobra Commander underwater and says he'll take him in. "You and what army?" Cobra Commander says. All the other Joes pop up behind Duke. "This one," he says. Ripcord destroys the last missile and parachutes onto the White House lawn, where he's under suspicion until he shouts "Same team! Same team!" We end with Destro and Cobra Commander locked up. The Baroness is in prison too, but she gets conjugal visits from Duke while they work on getting the nanomites out of her body. The U.S. President is welcomed back to the Oval Office, but he whistles and puts his feet up, revealing it's really Zartan. D00d! [AICN and Latino Review and <a href="Collider">Collider and ComicBookMovie]

Harry Potter:

The last two films will be called Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2, says Daniel Radcliffe. [MTV]

Gamer:

Gerard Butler says Gamer doesn't let up for a minute, and the intense pace is "what you'd expect if you lived in that world." And he explains the storyline a bit:

Kable is actually in a prison, where they've instituted this new game, where pretty much nobody survives. And within the parameters of the game we are controlled by the gamers. This is watched globally. So I'm trapped in that and, meanwhile, trying to make my way through the game without being killed and, at the same time, down the system so that I can get back to the family I have.

[Sci Fi Cool]

Lost:

Someone talked to producer/director Jack Bender, who said it's deliberate that the scene when our heroes meet Ben at the Marina has different dialogue when the scene is shown from different perspectives, and there's a reason for that. Also, he calls the series ending "thrilling and satisfying," and reiterates that season six will re-focus on the core world of the series.

Separately, a casting director claims the show is trying to line up availability for all of the departed cast members, including Cynthia Watros,Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Clancy Brown, Daniel Roebuck, Mira Furlan, Andrew Divoff, M.C. Gainey, Brett Cullen, and Bill Mapother. And Dominic Monaghan, Maggie Grace, Ian Sommerhalder, Elizabeth Mitchell, Michell Rodriquez, Harold Perrineau and Rebecca Mader could be back for multiple episodes. But nobody's signed up yet, even if this rumor is true. [The ODI]

FlashForward:

Sources are claiming that Dominic Monaghan has definitely joined this show's cast as of episode three, playing a character named Theo starting with the second episode. [BuddyTV]

And here are logos for this series and V. [SpoilerTV]

There's a casting call for episode three, including a lot of characters. Attaf is a nine-year-old African American boy who experiences family upheaval in the wake of the "flash forward," and he could be a recurring character. We'll also meet Attaf's mother, but she won't actually speak.

There's also a brace of Germans. Rudolf is an octogenarian German, who uses a cane to get around and is a manipulative old sod. He gets into a challenging situation and has to talk his way out of it. Stefan is a fortysomething German American who helps with interviewing a witness. Helmut is a fiftysomething German attorney who negotiates a deal for a client. And then there's Schultz, an avuncular fortysomething German who's "content with the status quo."

Another attorney we meet in the episode is Zoey, a thirtysomething defense attorney who's probably African American. She has a sharp sense of style and a finely honed intellect. We also meet Felicia, an African American friend of Olivias, who's in her forties and both beautiful and intelligent.

We meet two bartenders at a local watering hole, the pretty but frayed-around-the-edges Kate and another nameless male bartender who informs her of a shift change. There's also Ann, a pretty but opportunistic Asian woman who gets into jams with her short fuse, and has irritable bowel syndrome. A strange man approaches Ann in the ladies' room. And Jerome, an overweight slacker who dances in his underwear, Risky Business-style.

Finally, there's Tomasi, an emotionally unstable pessimist; John, a nervous businessman; Sarah, who's quick-witted and engaging even when she's ordering a sandwich; and Joel, a DMV employee who's happy to take a bribe. [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

9:

Here are a couple more stills from this post-apocalyptic ragdolls-vs-killer-robots epic, directed by Shane Acker. [SpoilerTV-movies]

Gamer:

The new international trailer for this Gerard Butler-is-a-playable-character movie includes some new footage, especially at the start, and gives you a nice rundown of this film's weird premise:

G.I. Joe:

A new poster shows a power-suited Scarlett (Rachel Nichols) posing seductively in front of an explosion. Do you think they're trying to tell you something about this movie? [SpoilerTV-movies]

Sarah Jane Adventures:

We already showed you some set photos of Sarah Jane having dinner with the new man in her life, played by Nigel Havers. But now there's official confirmation (albeit from an unreliable newspaper) that Havers appears in two episodes of this Doctor Who spinoff, and he plays Sarah Jane's new love interest. [The Sun]

Torchwood:

The new miniseries "Children Of Earth" begins with a mysterious occurrence in 1965, before zapping forward in time to the present day, with those spooky chanting kids. And then we get reintroduced to the three surviving leads. We catch up with Jack and Ianto in a banter-filled hospital sequence involving a nasty hitchhiker. And there's a Twin Peaks in-joke involving a real estate agent. An alien entity is arriving on Earth, using the world's children to announce its intentions. The first episode ends with one of the best cliffhangers ever.

The second episode shifts to the British governments perfidy and attempts to wipe out Torchwood, spearheaded by a "uber-mean bitch baddie" played by Liz May Brice. We meet a young NHS doctor named Rupesh who's "eager to please Captain Jack" (oh yes?), a man with a disturbed past named Timothy White, and a personal assistant at the Home Office named Lois, who discovers a disturbing clue on her computer — a blank page. Episode two also allows us to spend time with PC Andy, Rhys, Ianto's family, and someone close to Captain Jack. (Probably his daughter.)

And then episode three features the fiery arrival of the alien visitor. We glimpse a creature lurking in the mist, with spooky sound effects. But we don't really get to see the alien properly until episode four. Also, at some point during the first three episodes, someone says "Have you gone bender?" And there's an action sequence involving Ianto and a JCB. And Jack angsts (surprise!) over his immortality. And there's a "jaw-dropping revelation" at the end of episode three, showing us that someone's been a naughty boy. [Digital Spy]

FlashForward:

The "selll sheet" for this series offers a new plot synopsis:

When an unexplained, cataclysmic event knocks out the entire population of the world at the exact same moment, for two minutes and 17 seconds, everyone glimpses their own future. Then they wake up to chaos. From his flash forward, LA FBI Agent MARK BENFORD is desperate to stop what's coming – because it's a future he doesn't want to see. Before long, everyone starts asking themselves and each other, "What did you see?" As Mark and his team struggle to fgure out what caused this bizarre event, the only thing they have to go on is a huge mosaic of people's flash forwards.

So it really is about changing the future. Also, in case it wasn't clear, Sonya Walger is playing Olivia, the wife of Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes). John Cho is playing FBI agent Demetri Noh, Jack Davenport plays Lloyd Simcoe, Brian F. O'Byrne plays Aaron Stark, and Courtney B. Vance plays Stan Wedeck. [SpoilerTV]

Lost:

Matthew Fox gives some hints to a French magazine. He says Jack will fight someone "more powerful than Ben" in the final season. And he believes that the tortured Jack will find the redemption he's searching for. There'll be no more flashbacks or other time-jumping in season six, just a linear storyline going forward. And Fox never believed in Jack/Kate, and doesn't believe they'll ever be in each other's arms again. Season six will answer all your questions, and prove that the show's creators knew the ending all along. And that ending? Will be sad, beautiful and liberating. [Lyly Ford]

Smallville:

The season opener is called "Savior," and we'll meet a few new characters. The show put out a casting call for a character who's being referred to as "Allia," who's "beautiful, sexy femme fatale assassin with mysteriously intimate ties to Clark and Krypton." (Could this be Ursa?) She's an expert fighter, good with a throwing star and a sword, and they're seeking an actor with a martial-arts background to play this krypto-ninja, who's a recurring character. Also, there's "Fiona," a female soldier who's "sexy and hot" in her faded military jacket — but "Fiona" turns against her leader. "Fiona" and her fellow soldier "Basqat" imprison their leader. And "Fiona" may recur as well.

Also turning up in the season opener? Field journalist John Corben, who's filling in for the missing-in-action Clark Kent.

The season's second episode is called "Metallo," and that's when we meet Brian Austin Green as the titular villain. [Kryptonsite]

Heroes:

We haven't run a heart-crushing Heroes report in a few days. How's this? Apparently, you won't even be able to tell who's who next season, because shapeshifters Sylar and Peter Petrelli keep turning themselves into various characters and "day-players." Doesn't that sound great? And Cristina Rose says Angela Petrelli goes through another huge change in the third episode of the season, having to do with Sylar/Nathan's shapeshifting. Adrian Pasdar explains (sort of):

It's classic Mama Petrelli. It's more on her consistent behavior than it is on mine. I have a little bit of a shift going through my character, so she's more solid. It more resonates around her gravity pull than mine.

Do you have any idea what that means? Me neither. Also, Pasdar says he's not going to play Sylar — he's going to play someone pretending to be Nathan. And this will involve tics and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. And Pasdar says we may finally see Nathan redeemed this year. Even though he's dead. [Sci Fi Wire]

Chuck:

Carina, the super sexy spy and Sarah's former partner, returns in season three. [ChuckTV]

Eureka:

Syfy's Craig Engler Twittered that filming is almost done on this mad-science series — except that they still need to build the world's longest truck. [Twitter]

True Blood:

This show is going to get even darker and weirder going forward, says Carrie Preston:

It gets more bizarre. Like, truly dark and bizarre. It was pretty explicit last year, but I guess they have to go somewhere from last season... Oh, my gosh, you're going to see characters do things that you would never expect them to do. You're going to see them do things they would never expect themselves to do. It goes to a pretty crazy place.

And she says Arlene will discover there are some things that are truly beyond her control. [Sci Fi Wire]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.