I never expected to be saying this, but I'm actually sort of eager to see Transformers: Revenge OF the Fallen. I actually liked the first one, which was a fun, silly romp as long as you took it on its own terms. But I held fairly low expectations for TF2, whose script Michael Bay allegedly worked on during the writers' strike. It's like the first one, only sequel-ier. So I wasn't that pumped.

But the more I've seen of the summer's other movie offerings, the more they've felt like Michael Bay foreplay. (Bayplay?) I'm being teased by faux Bays.

The mark of the Bay-manqué is the explosion as mission statement: every movie I've seen lately, pretty much, has had like two or three really amazing action set-pieces, and then nothing else going on. Knowing? There was the plane crash and the train crash, and some stuff going boom towards the end, and the rest of the movie was just Nic Cage emoting with his forehead. Wolverine? There was the awesome African strongman-pwnage, the helicopter-motorcycle-truck dance, and some fun super-fighting towards the end, and the rest was all jaw-acting. Terminator had a couple of helicopter smashing bits, the truck-motorcycle-hunter-killer dance, and the rest was people shouting. And so on.

I was thinking to myself the other day, the thing these movies all had in common is that they had a few really killer action bits, which obviously consumed most of the director's attention, and probably most of the budget as well. And those bits get heavily featured in the trailers, so we'll think the whole movie is like that. And I was thinking, maybe in five years, the whole movie will be like that. They'll make CG effects cheap enough, or they'll be clever enough, to have the whole movie be just trucks and helicopters and motorcycles and maybe guitars smashing into each other and going BWATHOOM!. And then I thought, who would be able to make a movie like that? Pretty much only Michael Bay.

In Transformers 2, there will be crazy explosions. People will possibly be peed on. There will be sexy chicks, some of whom — spoiler alert — will turn out to be robots in disguise, with tentacles. (Including the one above.) Airplane carriers will be tossed like bath toys. What's not to love?

Just look at these ridiculous stills from the film, which positively scream Baynia:

But also, there's another factor at work. I've noticed something about our recent crop of movies: they divide into two categories, fun and ohmygodthepainwhy. In the first category, you have films like Star Trek, which may have the occasional serious moments but are basically just a fun ride with good guys defeating bad guys and exhibiting some smidgen of personal growth along the way. In the latter category, there are movies like Terminator 4 and (yes, I'll say it) Watchmen. Even Wolverine seemed to be trying too hard to be taken seriously.

This year, the fun movies have seemed better than the movies that have groped for gravitas in the dark. Maybe that's because I'm willing to give more of a free pass to movies that just want to be a fun ride, and I'm harsher on movies that demand to be viewed as something grander. Or maybe it's just because this year's crop of dark, serious films hasn't been that interesting? Last year, The Dark Knight was possibly the year's most fascinating movie, and Iron Man had some real darkness among the hijinks. But I haven't been feeling the weighty science fiction films of 2009 so far — maybe it's the recession, maybe it's the writers' strike, maybe it's just randomness.

Whatever the reason, I'm enjoying fun fluff more than weighty journeys into the darkness of the human soul lately. And I'm actually feeling a bit pumped for another helping of giant smashing robots with urinary incontinence. Including an ice-cream truck robot and a pink lady motorcycle robot (whom Bay kills off because hates lady robots, bah) and a bunch of robots representing new car models that you probably won't ever be able to buy because the auto industry is being eaten by Decepticons. And Shia LaBoeuf gets tortured, although probably not enough.

And of course, it's written by the Star Trek scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (plus Bram Stoker nominee Ehren Kruger, and whatever demented scribblings Bay did while Orci and Kurtzman were on strike.) I'm cutting Orci and Kurtzman a lot of slack right now.

Plus, Michael Bay blows up the pyramids! The actual pyramids, in Egypt! He's destroying our precious cultural heritage for our momentary amusement! How could there possibly be anything wrong with that?

But seriously, I'm actually kind of excited for Transformers 2, and every time I walk out of a movie that feels like an inferior Bay knockoff, I get a little bit more Transformed by excitement.

Talking during an interview to promote Knowing, Cage expressed a rethink about violence in film:

At this point in my life I have made a series of movies with a hieroglyphic of my face and a gun. I had a serious look at a couple of movies, one that I pulled out [of], because I felt, at this point, I didn't want to kill a person on camera... I was trying to think about ways I could entertain you, hopefully give you some sort of escape, which I think in this day and age is very important, without having to resort to gratuitous violence. Science fiction is a way that I can go into the abstract, go into the imagination, and audiences are still willing to go along for the ride.

Does this mean that Cage sees science fiction as a gateway drug to take audiences into indulgently abstract movies? I hope so, if only because I'd love to see just how abstract the man behind Ghost Rider, Bangkok Dangerous and Adaptation can get when he puts his mind to it.

Nicolas Cage wants sci-fi career [Press Association]

At least that's the impression I came away with after watching this Nicolas Cage vehicle. The film, directed by Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City, iRobot) tries hard to impress you with its deep themes about the meaning of our existence, but it's let down by a sledgehammery script, and one of Cage's worst performances on record. (And bear in mind, I liked Ghost Rider. Yeah, really.)

Oh, and there will be spoilers in this review. I'm predicting it, because I have a giant sheet of random numbers, and if you circle some of them randomly you get the words "SPOILERS AHEAD".

Nic Cage plays John Koestler, an MIT professor who's the worst astrophysicist in the universe. Early on, we get to watch him teaching a class, and it's like a bad freshman philosophy bull session, taught by a burned-out stoner. For some reason, instead of actually, you know, teaching some astrophysics, Koestler wants to ramble about predestination versus total randomness in the universe. "Tell me about the sun," Cage says, tossing a model of the sun at one of his students. "It's hot," the student says. Dude, no way. So, is it just random chance that we're exactly the right distance from the sun to allow complex life to develop? (This is what's known in the business as foreshadowing.)

Koestler is obsessed with questions of fate versus free will, because his wife died in a hotel fire, leaving him alone with his precocious son Caleb, who's got that form of aspergers that smart kids always have in the movies. The movie tries hard to give us a lot of character development by shorthand. Like, John and Caleb have a weird hand-jive thing they do while they chant "You and me, together forever." Except that John is never actually there for Caleb, because he's an alcoholic screw-up. One of John's colleagues wants to fix him up on a date with a female professor whom he calls "Miss Ph Double-Ds." Oh, and John is estranged from his own father, a pastor who talks with a fake Boston brahmin accent. "Oh, the son of a pastor, the son of a pastor," John chants at one point while pulling a face. John doesn't believe in God, because of that hotel fire thingy.

So yes, eventually the plot kicks into gear and we're all glad the painful character development is over. Caleb's school digs up a time capsule, which we saw being buried in 1959, and Caleb gets a sheet of numbers which a crazy Wednesday Addams girl scrawled 50 years earlier. Somehow, John figures out all those numbers predict every major disaster of the past 50 years, plus a few disasters yet to come. (You're not supposed to wonder how so many disasters could fit on one piece of paper.)

At this point, the film starts referencing 9/11 pretty heavily. Remember when it was considered a huge taboo for movies to touch on 9/11? Watching parts of this movie, I felt nostalgic for those days. The first disaster that Koestler identifies on the sheet of numbers is 9/11. And then he gets caught up in a plane crash that's somewhat reminiscent of UA 93. Then Koestler figures out that another disaster is due to take place in Manhattan, and meanwhile the terror rating has been raised. So John tries to notify Homeland Security about his prediction, to no avail. He goes to New York, and spots a shifty-looking Arab man, whom he chases through the subway. The Arab turns out to be a guy who stole some DVDs, and then the subway train crashes due to driver error. Cage and the other survivors climb out of the ruined subway, in a cloud of smoke and ash, and they're all covered with white ash, so that they look like postapocalyptic mimes. And then we see shots of heroic firefighters. Other movies I've seen recently which touched on 9/11 have felt interesting, or cathartic, or tasteful, but this just felt a bit gratuitous for some reason.

Actually, though, the movie really only comes to life when there's a disaster taking place. During a few great set pieces - the plane crash, the train crash and one or two others - the movie gains a sense of life and becomes fun to watch. We follow Cage as he runs through flames and rubble and screaming people, in long tracking shots that reminded me of the end of Children Of Men. The disaster sequences only account for about 15-20 minutes of the movie's two-hour running length, but they're almost worth the price of admission. Proyas obviously puts most of his heart into those moments.

Meanwhile, the other big strand in the movie is that spooky shit is going down. The creepy girl who wrote down those numbers heard scary cacophonous whispers in her ears, and John's son Caleb hears them too. So does the girl's granddaughter, whom John and Caleb meet up with at some point. (Oh, and Rose Byrne plays the 1959 girl's daughter, who's been tormented by her mother's weird Cassandra complex.) And there are weird goth albino dudes hanging around the kids, staring at them and trying to claim them or something. Also, there are weird pebbles. It all turns out to be something different than you expect, in a very woo-woo "spiritual" ending that reminded me of Mission To Mars or the Keanu version of Day The Earth Stood Still. There was one fantastic moment when the kids are each handed white rabbits - and I thought maybe bunnies would turn out to be the movie's secret villains. (What if Anya from Buffy was right? Bunnies! Bunnies! It must be bunnies! But sadly, no.)

One of the great pleasures of Knowing is picking apart all of the movie's weird plot holes and bits of unprocessed nonsense. For a film that insists, over and over, that everything makes sense and that you could predict the future if you only knew enough facts, the movie actually depends on the audience not thinking very hard about its premise, especially once the big twist in the premise is revealed.

But that's not the film's biggest problem - plenty of movies make no sense, and are still awesome to watch. (Like, say, Push, from the same distributor, which came out last month.) Rather, the biggest problem is that the film is such a genre smorgasbord, it sort of loses cohesion. It's a mystery thriller, where we have to figure out what these numbers mean. No, wait, it's a horror movie, with the staring albinos and their deranged whispering. Or, no, it's a disaster movie about planes trains and automobiles going FOOM. Or no, it's a spiritual growth movie, where we finally open up and discover the meaning behind everything. To be fair, some of my favorite movies are genre mashups, and I like a movie that changes gears in the middle. But it just doesn't quite work in this film, because the shifts are handled awkwardly, and none of these individual segments feels that original. It all felt like a mashup of several movies I'd seen before.

For all that, I didn't hate Knowing, or even dislike it that much. It had a certain energy, and Nic Cage's dopey facial expressions are always fun to watch, and the disaster segments really are first class. There are a couple of genuinely surprising twists here and there, and the part of the ending that's not "spiritual" is weirdly satisfying. Proyas keeps upping the ante, until the apocalyptic finish feels genuine apocalyptic and huge. Rose Byrne doesn't have much to do in the film, but she's engaging whenever she's on screen.

Plus, I suspect that if you really love random spooky shit, or apparently meaningless clues that turn out to be the key to everything, or spiritual endings, then you'll be more drawn into this movie than I was. You may even find that it explains everything - and find that its apparently random tonal and narrative shifts form a secret pattern, which you can use to predict everything in the universe. Or maybe not.

Thor:

Not only is Kenneth Branagh pumped up to direct the Thunder God's saga, but he's also thinking about ways Thor connects to fellow Marvel heroes Iron Man and the Avengers, so his movie will properly tie in to the other Marvel films, according to Marvel's Joe Quesada. [MTV via Cinemablend]

Knowing:

You may have thought Nicolas Cage's main adversary in this movie was random scary number strings, or weird staring albinos, but according to Reuters, he's actually up against Mother Nature. [Reuters]

Also, a review in the Daily Herald gives away a ton of plot points. Nic Cage is John Koestler, an MIT professor who's still grieving for his recently departed wife, and who says things like, "Life is just a series of random acts and chemical mistakes." After his son Caleb gets a page of numbers from a 1959 time capsule, Koestler realizes it predicts every major disaster since 1959. "The numbers are the key to everything!" he says. A plane crash and subway disaster confirm it.

Meanwhile, little Caleb is receiving weird messages on his hearing aid from weird looking blond men who stand around the house looking like Matrix wannabes. Also hearing from the albinos is Abby, the grand-daughter of the girl who wrote down those numbers in 1959. Just when you think the movie is turning into a Biblical prophecy story, it darts into a different genre, which is foreshadowed by the fact that it's super hot for October, and there are weird flares on the surface of the sun. "How am I supposed to stop the end of the world?" shouts Koestler. But at least he gets religion, starts believing in the afterlife, and reconnects with his estranged pastor father. [Daily Herald]

The Thing:

Ronald D. Moore offers another smidgen of info about how his movie will connect up with the John Carpenter film. "We're telling the story of the Norwegian camp that found the Thing before the Kurt Russell group did, so it's very buried in the continuity [and] it's supposed to be the other story that you saw part of." [IGN]

Dollhouse:

More reports that Friday's episode is mind-bogglingly awesome and will restore your excitement about this series. Also, Joss Whedon spills some details. Like, the series' big love story is between Victor and Sierra, despite their mind-wiped status. Even for brain-erased Actives, it turns out love conquers all. Except it's never quite that simple. Meanwhile, we won't exactly find out in season one why Paul Ballard is so obsessed with the Dollhouse, but we will delve into his backstory a bit, before seeing him go forward. His obsession will become even more painful and disturbing. Also, Paul's cute manicotti-making neighbor is at the center of Friday's most disturbing scene.

As for Boyd, Echo's handler, he cares about Echo more than his job requires, and their relationship is going to have to shift. Meanwhile, in Friday's episode, a crime goes down inside the Dollhouse, and it's suddenly handy to have an ex-cop around. And finally, expect a lot more Amy Acker in the next few episodes as we discover how she came to "this fabulous career." [E! Online]

And remember how we said episode eight was about Echo, Victor and Sierra remembering who they are and mounting an escape attempt? Here are some pics. Including some shirtless Tahmoh. Rejoice! [SpoilerTV]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Here's the official synopsis for the season finale:

Born to Run: Fate is changed forever on the explosive season finale episode! The Connors come face-to-face with Weaver in a confrontation that shakes John to the core and changes his reality. Nothing will be the same.

And here are two awesome clips from tomorrow night's episode. Dude! [Fox]

Battlestar Galactica:

A few more snippets about "The Plan," the Cylon-centric TV movie which Edward James Olmos directed. Apparently, a big chunk of it takes place before the attacks. We follow the Cylons, especially Cavil, and find out why they did what they did. [E! Online]

K-9:

Exactlly how silly will the Doctor's tin-dog former companion look in his new series? Really, really silly, judging from these promo images released for an international television content convention. [Wired]

Lost:

Radzinsky will be in next week's episode, then miss the following two, and then he'll be in the final five episodes of the season. And he's got a really great character arc to play out. [Doc Arzt]

And here are some new pics from episode 5x10, "He's Our You." [SpoilersLost]

Smallville:

Here's a new trailer for the next three episodes, including our first glimpse of Lois in her superhero identity as Stiletto. [EW]

Also, John Schneider, Annette O'Toole and John Glover will be back for the flashback episode that deals with Davis' backstory. (The one with young Lex, I guess.) [EW]

Heroes:

Here are some promo pics from episode 3x21, "Into Asylum," showing Peter and Angela Petrelli holeing up in a church. Also, sources say Baby Matt is the heroes' "salvation," and he'll somehow cause Hiro to stop time once more. [The ODI]

Also, despite your fondest wishes, Claire will be back in season four, for sure. [EW]

Chuck:

Here's what happens in episode 2x20, "Chuck Vs. The First Kill":

After Chuck's father Steve (guest star Scott Bakula) is kidnapped by Fulcrum, Chuck learns the only chance he has to find him is by putting his trust and life into the hands of the person he trusts the least-his ex-girlfriend Jill Roberts (guest star Jordana Brewster). Meanwhile, the Buy More team tries to sabotage Emmett's (guest star Tony Hale) corporate evaluation.

[SpoilerTV]

Reaper:

Here's a ton of pics from episode 2x05, "I Want My Baby Back" and 2x06, "Underbelly". [Reapersite and SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

Terminator Salvation:

A new character toy poster reveals that John Connor will be really, really grim. And kinda grayscale. [Terminator Chronicles]

Also, Ryan from TheArnoldFans.com wrote to us and said Arnie's comments didn't actually rule out a brief cameo in the new film. The way Ryan interpreted Arnie's statement when he spoke to the Governor was that Arnie was initially reluctant to be involved in the film, and he still has the final say when the effects are done. But most likely, Arnold will be in the film for a cameo. There'll probably be a short of two of CG Arnold, possibly talking or possibly not. But either way, it'll be a surprise for fans, since they haven't promoted the movie as having Arnie in it.

G.I. Joe: Rise Of Cobra:

Some new toy pics reveal exactly what Destro is likely to look like, plus some of the film's other characters. More pics at the link. [GeekTyrant]

Knowing:

Director Alex Proyas says this film is like nothing you've seen before, although it shares some elements with his noir SF masterpiece Dark City. Proyas pushed the film away from its disaster-movie beginnings, towards a more science fictional version. [MTV]

Also, star Nic Cage says when his character, Professor Koestler, gets together with Diana (Rose Byrne), he's terrifying to her but she stick with him because he brings those tell-tale numbers. Diana's mother had "this calling and this ability," and "she was living with the curse, if you will, of feeling that she was going to die on that particular date." And then Koestler brings her the numbers, and "that's what brought her back." [Sci Fi Wire]

And it sounds as though these prophetic numbers, or some of the events they describe, may actually be connected to aliens. The ending turns into something "spiritual instead of scientific," says Byrne. [Sci Fi Wire]

Battlestar Galactica:

Because you frakkin' demanded it, I spent ages digging for BSG spoilers. As you already know, Crewman Specialist Prosna (who died in the original miniseries) and Zak Adama will both be back, probably in tomorrow night's episode. Also coming back, with a non-lawyerly role: Romo Lampkin. Also, there's at least one scene on Caprica next week, where President Roslin wades barefoot into a pool.

Also, in tomorrow night's episode, the Cylons blow a hole in deck 21 and enter the CIC, which is in really bad shape. Cavil gets inside the CIC. Also, Katee Sackhoff tells TV Guide they found Earth halfway through the season - and doesn't mention anything about finding a second Earth in the final episode. [Battlestar Wiki and BuddyTV and TV Guide via SpoilerTV]

Doctor Who:

The Radio Times (Britain's television listings magazine) uploaded a gallery of photos from the Easter special, "Planet Of The Dead." (Better known as, "the last new Who we'll get until Christmas.") [Radio Times via Kasterborous]

Lost:

In addition to the semi-major character who's going to die in an upcoming episode, an actual major character will also bite the bullet. It's a series regular, who's beloved by many viewers, and it's not Kate. And it won't be undone via time travel or Locke-esque shenanigans. [E! Online and EW]

Fans spotted the filming of one scene where Locke carries a boar (on his shoulders) to Richard Alpert, who's camping in that primitive new encampment on the beach. (Which may be where the "hostiles" camp while they're waiting to overrun the Dharma people.) Also there: Ben, Sun and Juliette. Another fan saw the filming of a beach scene with Locke, Ben, Sun and Alpert, but no boar. Also filming a scene elsewhere: Sayid and new character Ilana. Also, a bakery was made up to look like someplace else, and there were two little girls there, one of whom was playing a young Kate Austen. More pics at the link. [Hawaii Weblog]

And TV Guide says the plan is still for Claire to come back as a series regular in season six. [TV Guide]

Fringe:

Peter's shady past will catch up with him, says producer Jeff Pinkner. In particular, the work he was doing in Iraq at the start of the series will have direct consequences to the Fringe team. And Olivia will learn more about the experiments she underwent as a child with the drug Cortexiphan. And she'll meet a guy who also went through the same experiments - but who can't control the dangerous results. [EW]

Chuck:

EW's Ausiello lists tons of stuff happening this spring, some of which we haven't mentioned before. In particular, Bryce will be back and so will the Awesomes. There are "multiple weddings." Morgan leaves the Buy More. And Chuck and Sarah "go further than they ever have before" (hopefully in opposite directions). [EW]

More hints that Chuck's dad (Scott Bakula) may be the mysterious "Orion," or at least may be connected to him/her. Also an old pal of Casey's will play a huge role in the game-changing finale. [TV Guide]

Heroes:

The "Fugitives" arc all kind of leads up to the next (Tracy-centric) episode, in a nice way, says writer Bryan Fuller. Tracy's arc has a really nice twist in it, and she ends the season in a "fantastic way." And it's absolutely not true that Ali Larter wants to leave the show - she's totally committed to the show, and vice versa. [EW]

I feel like Twitter spoilers are the new toy spoilers. David H. Lawrence, aka Doyle, Twittered to Greg Grunberg that he couldn't wait to see Grunberg in THE scene in next week's episode. And he added, "you and she are going down in history for it." Everyone's assuming "she" refers to Daphne. [SpoilerTV]

And here are some promo photos from "Cold Snap." [SpoilerTV]

Smallville:

The events of the season finale should please Lois fans and make up for the lack of Lois in some recent and upcoming episodes. Also, it's possible Lois will be one of the two big deaths at the end of the season. [TV Guide]

And here are some promo photos from episode 8x17, "Hex." Just how skanky will Zatanna look? [OSCK]

Supernatural:

A huge death is coming up, says Misha Collins. And his character, the angel Castiel, will be a regular character in season five. We're most likely going to see Castiel flirting with the possibility of developing human emotion. In the meantime, towards the end of this season, we'll see Castiel get in a couple of fights where he either wins or holds his own. And we're going to meet Castiel's "angel boss." And we're going to meet the guy whose body Castiel possesses. [Sci Fi Wire and TV Guide]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

Star Trek:

A new image from TotalFilm shows Kirk and Spock coming face to face with the movie's Romulan villain, Nero, via the Enterprise viewscreen. Bigger pic at the first link. [TotalFilm via Slashfilm]

Wolverine:

Here are a couple of French posters, which show Wolvie emoting and clawing and stuff. [Cinemablend]

Knowing:

One of the movie's huge set-pieces, besides that plane crash, is a subway train crash. Says director Alex Proyas, star Nic Cage is hunkered down in one of the carriages while all the carnage happens around him. The train leaps off the tracks and goes sliding along the subway platform at a hundred miles per hour. And in case you missed it, here's the clip. [Sci Fi Wire]

Battlestar Galactica:

A sneak peek from tonight's episode. Are they really going to put Boomer on trial? And if so, will Romo defend her? They should just install Romo in a permanent spot. [Galactica Sitrep]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

A couple clips from tonight's episode. Is Sarah finally losing her shit? I really like John explaining dreams to Cameron, and her amazing rapport with the snack machine. [Shockya.com and Sarah Connor Society]]

Lost:

Another casting call. The season finale will introduce us to Mitch, a security guy who's smart and strong enough to be good at his job, but isn't management material. [Spoilers Lost]

Fringe:

After the show finally returns April 7, the third episode back will deal with Olivia's personal history. And we'll learn that Mr. Jones really is human. And, says producer Jeff Pinkner, the show is going to be more careful about revealing the answers to indidual episodes' mysteries too quickly after the teaser, because some of the answers have felt like let-downs. [Houston Chronicle]

Life On Mars:

The time-travel cop show is developing its own mythology separate from the original British version, with the mysterious Project Aries and the Mars Rover that seems to be haunting Sam. Moving forward, it'll be getting further and further away from the British version. But elements of the British version will still pop up here and there. [Newsarama]

Batman: The Brave And The Bold:

Not only is Bats meeting his evil alternate-universe counterpart, Owl Man, he's also teaming up with the Red Hood (who I'm guessing is an alternate universe Joker) and the real Joker, in the two-parter that begins tonight. And Bat-Mite is on his way too. And there'll be a musical episode. But no Superman any time soon. And here are a some sneak peeks from tonight's episode, plus next Friday's. [Newsarama]

Heroes:

In episode 3x20, "Cold Snap," we'll meet John Epstein, a successful Wall Street Entrepreneur who may help Angela Petrelli escape from the government. And "he thinks Angela likes him." [The ODI]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

IGN interviewed Proyas, and also featured a new plot synopsis for the film:

In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fifty years later, a new generation of students examines the capsule's contents and the girl's cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb Koestler. But it is Caleb's father, professor John Koestler (Cage), who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years.

As John further unravels the document's chilling secrets, he realizes the document foretells three additional events-the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve John and his son. When John's attempts to alert the authorities fall on deaf ears, he takes it upon himself to try to prevent more destruction from taking place.

With the reluctant help of Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne) and Abby Wayland, the daughter and granddaughter of the now-deceased author of the prophecies, John's increasingly desperate efforts take him on a heart-pounding race against time until he finds himself facing the ultimate disaster-and the ultimate sacrifice.

I knew Rose Byrne was in this film as the daughter of the prophecies' author, but I didn't realize she had a daughter as well.

And apparently Nic Cage's character starts the movie believing the world is random, and then has a spiritual transformation when he realizes everything is pre-ordained. The "core relationship" of the film involves Cage and his son, but Cage also has a troubled relationship wth his own father, says director Alex Proyas.

And here are some new promo pics, from Celebutopia:

Alex Proyas' new movie Knowing follows Nic Cage's journey, unscrambling a numeric code that predicts every single tragedy in the world. Now It's up to Nic to foresee the next disaster, and save as many people as he can. But will they listen, or lock him away as a crazy-pants? Knowing hits theaters March 20.

[Yahoo]

In the first scene, Cage's character John Koestler is sitting in a traffic jam in the pouring rain. Frustrated, he consults his GPS for an alternate route to his son's school. With a sigh, he calls his friend, Phil Bergman, and gets his voicemail. "I'm sorry I freaked out on you," he says. "I'm not ready to meet someone in a special way, but I'll take you up on your offer for dinner."

Suddenly, the coordinates on his GPS catch his eye. Frowning, he pulls out the sheet with all the numbers on it. He notices that one set of numbers exactly matches the coordinates on the GPS. "Some of the numbers are locations," he murmurs.

After eying the police barrier blocking off an accident ahead, he gets out his car, braving the rain. He approaches the barrier, asking what happened, were there any deaths? The officer assures him that there were only minor injuries. They are both suddenly distracted by a strange noise. The camera whips around a freaking plane bursts from the sky, crashing by the side of the rode, its wing bursting into flames as it grinds against the ground.

John runs frantically toward the plane, which has completely erupted in flames. Passengers have caught on fire and some run at him, their burning arms outstretched. He finds a blanket and pats down a man lying on the ground. Three passengers flee a chunk of the cabin, but something behind them explodes and they are completely consumed by a fireball. A woman runs up to him, screaming for help, but pulls away from him. Amid the screams, John spots a man who is still trapped inside a piece of the plane. He drags the man out as two emergency workers grab arrive, ask John if he's okay, then pull him off the passed out man.

In the second scene, John walks through a crowd of people on a sunny street, looking confused. He spots a policewoman and demands to know why this intersection hasn't been sealed off. As the woman tries to calm him, he spots a black van in the distance. After glancing at the van a few times, he decides to go down into a subway station instead.

When he gets down to the platform, John spots a man standing behind a column. The man glances about, as if he thinks he's being watched. When he realizes John can see the giant bulge beneath his sweatshirt, the guy bolts, sending John on a chase through the crowds. A subway cop sees them and signals for backup.

The guy with the bulge ducks into a subway car. As John races past the passengers, he pauses at the sight of a young woman with a baby. He yells at the woman, "Take the baby, get off the train." The subway cop catches up with them and points his gun at John. John points at the guy with the bulge, who is standing, wild-eyed at the back of the car. "It's not me. It's him."

Terrified, the guy with the bulge raises his arms in surrender...and a pack of DVDs fall from his sweatshirt. John realizes, to his horror, that this man does not cause the disaster predicted today.

We look outside the train and see that the subway has skidded off its tracks. As the cars begin to jostle, John tells everyone to get back. The train crashes into a subway stop, taking out the concrete columns. Broken glass, metal, and concrete rain everywhere, as John hugs the young woman and her baby protectively. Outside, we see the train mowing over scores of suit-wearing commuters in a horrifying, but oddly bloodless scene.

Knowing director Alex Proyas, told Shock Til You Drop that he's involved with two new projects. One being a retelling of Dracula which we're semi-stoked about, but the other, way more exciting, development is Tripods.

"I'm working on a bunch of different things and the two projects I'm excited about are an adaptation of John Christopher's The Tripod stories that I've co-written with Stuart Hazeldine, who is one of our writers on 'Knowing', and the Dracula project," the Australian filmmaker told Shock Til you Drop. "Both are very exciting projects but at this stage, we're still in the budgeting process for both, so I can't really tell you much more than that."

Hooray, who doesn't love a movie about an already dominated and docile human race that is being controlled by mind caps? Even though there was a Tripods series on the BBC the first book, at least, deserves its own special movie.

In Knowing, Nicolas Cage plays a professor whose son digs up a time capsule that was buried at his elementary school in 1959. The capsule contains a sheet of paper full of numbers, which appear to be purely random. But Cage deduces that each number refers to a major disaster, including the date and the number of people killed. And he begins to suspect that he and his son have an important role to play in the apocalypse, which is coming soon.

Knowing opens March 20, and a couple of the film's biggest disaster set-pieces will be shown off at New York Comic-Con.

We're attracted to stories where little details and clues turn out to be the key to everything, says Proyas. "The devil's in the details." He says he was intrigued by the film's basic premise, that someone could have buried information "like a message in a bottle," years and years ago, with a code that predicts disasters with total accuracy. "It feels like an urban myth," and has an immediate appeal, he says. "It touches on something in our psyche that resonates in some way. It feels true." And it feels instinctively creepy, even when you hear just the bare-bones summary. "That's certainly the way the film functions in the first third to a half," before it takes a sharp turn in another direction, says Proyas.

The movie's latest trailer hints at a much broader picture, with some spooky scenes of scary white men in the forest (referred to as the "whispering ones,") and some scary apocalyptic moments as well. Even though his film features Nic Cage unraveling clues and trying to figure out secrets from the past, Proyas said it's the "absolute polar opposite" of Cage's National Treasure movies. (He adds that he's enjoyed those films, but his couldn't be more different.)

According to Proyas, his film mixes huge wide-screen action sequences with quieter moments to create an unpredictable blend. He says he was originally attracted to this movie because

I could see a story taking shape... that would the audience on a very unexpected and emotionally resonant ride, and that's what got me. The hook of a story where I thought I could see where it was going, but then suddenly it's not going in that direction. It's going in a far more interesting direction.

The biggest challenge of creating Knowing was keeping all of those twists and turns, and the huge set-pieces, going while still preserving the core of the film.

Proyas has talked before about how he felt pressured to crank up the pace of his earlier film Dark City, and it wasn't until the recent release of the director's cut on DVD that he was able to restore some of the quieter moments that lent the film a lot of its depth.

In the case of Knowing, Proyas stuck to the idea that

the spine of this story is a very intimate personal drama, a story between a father and a son, and they are the vehicle that carries us through this escalating series of events that evolve into quite an epic scope by the end of the story. That is quite a challenge, but also why the film is so effective. It does give you a very solid grounding, a very solid path through this story. And so what was challenging was also ultimately the key to why I think the film will hold an audience. It gives us a human face to all this stuff.

Cage's character is trying to protect his son from the consequences of the knowledge inside the time capsule, but Proyas hinted that some of his efforts may end up backfiring.

There are tons of post-apocalyptic stories and movies coming out, but Knowing is part of a rising tide of pre-apocalyptic tales (similar to the original Terminator films) in which people know an apocalypse is coming. Proyas says the fear of a coming apocalypse seems to be part of the zeitgeist right now. "We're all concerned about where things are heading." Back in the 1950s, genre films tended to focus on the spectre of nuclear armageddon. But now, annihilation could come from so many different directions, it's hard to know which type of destruction to be scared of.

At the same time, the 1950s was a more optimistic time. Proyas' film includes some scenes from the 50s, when the fateful time capsule is being buried, and everyone is talking brightly about the promise of a shining future, with the proverbial flying cars and personal rocket ships.

The movie's biggest set piece is the giant sequence where a plane crashes into the highway, and Cage rushes to rescue survivors from the burning aircraft. Proyas filmed the whole thing as one continuous two-minute take, and it was the hardest part of the film to realize, he says:

I really wanted to put the audience in the scene. I think we're becoming so blase about slick visual effects. I'm trying to make them not seem like visual effects. The way we did that, in that instance, is [that] in one shot we create this entire scenario, where Nic sees a jet airliner crash into a field, and he runs into the maelstrom and tries to rescue people. It was a very challenging sequence to create, becuase it was this combination, on a major scale, of stunts, people on fire, exploding fuselages — real mechanical effects — and also CG augumentation to that. And I had my leading man running through this situation for this continuous amount of time. Oh, and it was raining, as well.

When you're editing a film in post-production, sometimes the studio will ask for "alternate coverage" of a scene for television broadcast. But in this case, there's no alternate, less gruesome version of the jet crash sequence, because it's literally one camera following Nicholas Cage through the carnage. And after all that, Proyas nearly didn't get the scene at all:

When you put all the stunt sequences, all the effort on the one lens running through the situation, and there is no backup plan, that is where all sorts of things can go wrong. We set it up for two days. We spent two days shooting it, even though it was one continous shot. I think we did three takes over the two days. After we blew everything up, we had to reset it, which would take half a day. On the first couple of takes, because it was raining, the lens fogged halfway through the shot — which was the most depressing, disappointing thing, because you couldn't see a thing. It was just fogged out. So we were literally on our last take with the sun going down. I knew I was only going to get one more shot at it. I was actually calling the studio from the set, saying we're not going to get this, we're going to need to come back the next day, which would have cost $300,000 or something. And I hung up. And I was told everything was ready. And I yelled action, and somehow miraculously we got it, just at the end of the day.

Before Proyas got involved with Knowing, writer/director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) was lined up to make the film. I asked Proyas if any of Kelly's vision of the film survived in the final version, and he said not at all.

Finally, I had to ask Proyas about comments he's made in interviews before about wanting to make a big space opera film. He was one of the people bidding to make a movie version of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, and he lost out to Roland Emmerich. But he's also said several times that he'd like to make a film of Alfred Bester's Stars My Destination. I asked him if he might still make a big space opera film, and he replied:

I hope so. I keep trying. I like Stars My Destination, and and that may happen sometime in the future. Who knows?

Big Man Japan
A nobody who moonlights as a giant superhero has to battle all sorts of beasties but also has to deal with a growing mob of superhero haters, and an Alzheimer’s-stricken grandfather. BMJ will be out in March.

Pandorum

The amazing, astounding, fantastic Ben Foster is stranded on a spacecraft with his coworker Dennis Quaid — and there's something aboard that wants them dead. Release date is September 4.

The Princess and the Frog

Hooray for old timey animation! Disney returns to the princess animations with a New Orleans set Princess in the Frog fairytale out December 25.

Push

It's like Heroes, the movie. Everyone has a brain power in Push, be they Movers or Sniffers (sadly, no Shakers) The powered film comes out February 6.

Crank: High Voltage

Wow Crank 2 just got a whole lot more insane. Will they be stop motion animating Jason Statham, but huge? God, I hope so. Crank 2 is out April 17.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Kristin Kreuk masters the high-kicks, in her own Chun-Li Street Fighter origins story, due out February 27.

17 Again


Matthew Perry gets shrunk back down to the age of 17, and injected into his own teen's high school, to try and "fix" his crumbling family. That's in theaters April 17.

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian


Bill Hader and Amy Adams join the museum cast as General Custer and Amelia Earhart (or rather, the wax figures of these historical figures that come to life after the museum closes). Museum 2 is out on May 22.

Fanboys


A group of serious fans try and break into George Lucas' Skywalker ranch, and mayhem ensues, on February 6.

Coraline


Neil Gaiman's story about a young girl who visits an alternate world comes to life in breathtaking 3D stop-motion animation, out February 6.

2012


John Cusack cools his heels while the wold ends around him, in one terrible natural disaster after another, in 2012. It's out on July 10.

Knowing


Nicolas Cage uncovers a time capsule that details in numbers when everything awful will happen on Earth. Knowing will be released on March 20.

They Came From Upstairs


Ashley Tisdale and her family have an awesome spring break, before an alien invasion happens. Or maybe after, it's hard to tell. Either way, we'll find out on July 31.

Race to Witch Mountain


Dang teens and their alien abilities to move things with their minds. This reboot of a an old Disney classic is released on March 13.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


The magic boys and girls are back in school, and ready for the fight to end all fights, yet again. Harry is out on July 17.

Cirque du Freak


John C. Reilly is a vampire who runs a circus with Salma Hayek, and your chances of seeing Hayek do something sexy are pretty much guaranteed. There is no release date yet.

More pics at the link. [L.A. Times]

Note: As always, this includes a few fantasy movies that are set in the present day, involve technology, or feature an urban setting. Feel free to let us know what we missed!

January:

Outlander (Jan. 23)

What's it about? An alien (Jim Caviezel) crashlands in the middle ages, and has to rally a bunch of Viking warriors to fight an escaped alien monster. Dude.

Early indications: The long, long delay in its U.S. release may not be the best sign for this film, or it may just mean the Weinsteins don't know what they have on their hands. Early reviews have been sort of lukewarm. Clips look fun and cheesy, mostly in a good way. My guess is, it's either a fun ride, or it's this year's Doomsday. Either way, I'll be there on opening day.

February:

Coraline (Feb. 6)

What's it about? Based on the Neil Gaiman book, this stop-motion animated movie follows a girl (Dakota Fanning) who finds a secret door to an alternate version of her real life.

Early indications: Meredith just saw it and said it was amazingly beautiful and cool. John Hodgman seems to be having a blast as both versions of Coraline's dad. Check out this trailer:

Push (Feb. 6)

What's it about? Teens with mental superpowers (like telekinesis and clairvoyance) flee from a secret organization that wants to exploit them. Luckily, they wind up in Hong Kong, where cool fight scenes just naturally happen. (It's true. I used to live there.)

Early indications: At first it looked like Jumper meets Heroes, but everything I hear about this film's weird use of mental powers (false memories, spontaneous embolisms, telekinetic gunfights) sounds more and more fun.

Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li (Feb. 27)

What's it about? It's a Street Fighter spinoff, focusing on the kicky young fighter (Kristin Kreuk).

Early indications: Well, we just posted the trailer at last. And apparently, there's a whole coming-of-age story about Chun-Li overcoming her thirst for revenge. Best case scenario: it could be a fun-but-dumb action movie. You don't really want to know what the worst case scenario is.

March:

Watchmen (March 6)

What's it about? Like you don't know. The graphic novel, by Dave Gibbons and that guy who wants nothing to do with it, gets an adaptation by Zack (300) Snyder. In an alternate 1985 where Nixon is still president, someone is killing current and former superheroes, and it turns out to be part of a bigger coverup.

Early indications: The footage looks very, very pretty. Snyder, and all the actors, are totally committed to presenting the story and characters as they are in the graphic novel (with one important change.) The only question, really, is will all of those random pieces of brilliance build up to a shining mosaic, like they do in the comic, or will they remain just random pieces of brilliance? (Oh, and will Fox let the movie come out on time?)

Race To Witch Mountain (March 13)

What's it about? A reboot of the classic old series, where a cab-driver (The Rock) picks up two telekinetic kids who have to get back to their spaceship before the government (and a Master Chief-looking guy) hunt them down.

Early indications: The trailer is cute, with the requisite robo-talking kids. It's a Disney movie starring The Rock. What do you want?

Knowing (March 20)

What's it about? Nic Cage is a guy whose son digs up a time capsule that includes some mysterious numbers which some kid wrote down in the 1950s. They predict every disaster that's ever happened — including some doozies that are on the way.

Early indications: The trailer hasn't wowed me; it looks a lot like National Disaster. On the other hand it's Alex (Dark City) Proyas.

Monsters Versus Aliens (March 27)

What's it about? A 3-D animated adaptation of the comic book Rex Havoc And The Ass-Kickers Of The Fantastic, this film follows a group of monsters (including Hugh Laurie's Dr. Cockroach PhD) who have to defeat an invading alien (Rainn Wilson).

Early indications: We couldn't possibly be more excited about this one, based on the trailer and featurette we've seen.

April:

Dragonball (April 8)

What's it about? Goku (Justin Chatwin) has to hunt down seven Dragonballs before the evil Lord Piccolo (the weirdly made up James Marsters) gets them. They fight, and fight, and fight and fight and fight.

Early indications: Every time we post about this movie, the collective eye-rolling sounds like a million Dragonballs rolling toward a bottomless money pit.

Crank: High Voltage (April 17)

What's it about? Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) didn't die at the end of Crank, all indications to the contrary. Instead, he had his superpowered heart stolen by an elderly Chinese gangster, and replaced with a car battery or something. Chev has to keep jolting himself with electricity to stay alive, but he still finds time to hang out with strippers.

Early indications: This movie is the reason Jason Statham exists. Forget dross like Death Transporter — he should be shocking us and his battery heart at the same time. If this film isn't a disgusting, bizarre mess that I want to see three times, I'll be terribly disappointed.

May:

X-Men: Origins: Wolverine (May 1)

What's it about? What it sounds like — the origin of Marvel's stabbiest mutant, whose skeleton (and claws) get replaced with super-hard adamantium in a military project. And then he goes rogue. Of course.

Early indications: Well, it has a Wolvie jumping from a burning truck onto a helicopter. And merc-with-a-mouth Deadpool shows up. My guess is, it'll be slightly better than X-Men 3.

Star Trek (May 8)

What's it about? We get to see James Kirk (Christopher Pine) evolve from arrogant flakewad to suave leader of men and women. Plus, Leonard Nimoy's elderly version of Spock shows up to help out the younger, prettier version played by Zachary Quinto.

Early indications: You already know if you're excited for this shiny, retro-looking Trek, complete with an "Apple Store" bridge. On the one hand, some of the comedy sounds pretty broad and Pine's Kirk may actually be too immature for his own good. On the other hand, the space battles look better than any we've seen in years, and Quinto actually seems to work better as Spock than he does as Sylar these days.

Terminator Salvation (May 22)

What's it about? It's 2018, and John Connor is stepping up to lead the fight against Skynet. But the presence of another time traveler named Marcus (Sam Worthington) throws all of Connor's convictions into doubt.

Early indications: Lots of skeptics seem to have been converted by the early footage, and our first glimpses at the Harvester, the Moto-Terminators and the Hydrobots. At the very least, there will be cool robot attacks in a ruined wasteland, and there may actually be a meaty story about John Connor struggling with his destiny amidst alternate timelines.

June:

Land Of The Lost (June 5)

What's it about? A remake of the Krofft Superstore show about explorers who find of dinosaurs and reptilian Sleestaks.

Early indications: We read some of the script, and it read like a standard Will Ferrell buddy comedy, with Anna Friel along for the ride. The Sleestaks look cute, at least.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (June 26)

What's it about? A sequel to the Shia LaBoeuf vehicle about big robots that turn into cars, among other things.

Early indications: If you disliked the first Transformers, you'll probably hate this one like eye cancer. I kind of liked the first movie, but this one may or may not deliver. On the one hand, it has more robots and bigger robots, plus more delving into Transformer mythology. On the other hand, Jonah (Superbad) Hill took one look at the script and bailed out of the film.

2012 (July 10)

What's it about? John Cusack is a cab driver/aspiring writer who discovers the world is ending, in this movie by Roland (Day After Tomorrow) Emmerich.

Early indications: Well, the trailer looks kind of silly, but the early script reviews are totally damning. At this point, an Emmerich film would need glowing early buzz to get me excited anyway.

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (July 17)

What's it about? The latest film (delayed from last December) in the Harry Potter series follows the young wizard as he finally learns the secrets of the virtually unkillable Voldemort.

Early indications: It's directed by David Yates, also helmer of 2007's Order Of The Phoenix and next year's Deathly Hallows. The featurettes and trailer look pretty great.

They Came From Upstairs (July 31)

What's it about? A group of teens on vacation (including High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale) discover an alien invasion is happening, and they're the only ones who can stop it. Because everyone else is under alien mind control. Or something.

Early indications: Well, it's got a cute chick, and a cute CG alien (right). If you like HSM and alien invasions, it might be pretty good.

G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra (August 7)

What's it about? An elite squad of soldiers (wearing power armor) face off with the terrorist organization Cobra, which wants to unleash a nano-bomb full of nanites that will eat everything in their path. And there are ninjas. And a Baroness.

Early indications: It has silly costumes. It has Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, in a comedy subplot. It has Christopher Eccleston and Joseph Gordon-Levitt acting their little hearts out as the villains. The only person who's seen a trailer so far called it "horrible."

September:

Game (Sept. 4)

What's it about? This delayed film follows Gerard Butler (300) as a convict forced to take place in a real-life video game, where he's controlled by viewers thanks to a chip in his head. But there's an underground movement, led by Ludacris, fighting to end this injustice and close Thunderdome or whatever.

Early indications: Early reviews say the film is beyond boring.

9 (Sept. 9)

What's it about? A group of rag dolls struggle to survive under attack from deadly robots, in a world where humans have died off. It's an expanded version of an acclaimed short film, produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Tim Burton.

Early indications: Few people had even heard of this film a month ago, but since the trailer came out, it's suddenly become a hotly anticipated film. Weirdly, it does look like the sort of thing both Bekmabetov and Burton would love.

The Surrogates (Sept. 25)

What's it about? Based on a little-known graphic novel, this movie takes place in a future world where nobody goes out — instead they use robotic "surrogate" to interact with the world. A cop (Bruce Willis) is forced to venture outside himself, for the first time in years. Complete with horrible wig.

Early indications: The first images look intriguing, and our exclusive first look at the robots was intriguing. Producer Elizabeth Banks (star of Zack And Miri) says it's Blade Runner-ish. On the other hand, director Jonathan Mostow is best known for Terminator 3.

October:

Zombieland (Oct. 9)

What's it about? Weirdly, there are two movies called Zombieland in production. This isn't the zany Woody Harrelson movie, which comes out in 2010. Instead, this one stars Brad Dourif (the psycho from Star Trek: Voyager and many horror movies) as someone who turns a funeral home into a zombie tourist attraction.

Early indications: No clue. Brad Dourif gives good psycho though.

Astro Boy (Oct. 23)

What's it about? A CG animated movie based on the anime classic about a Pinnochio-bot who gets turned out of his home and goes on wacky adventures.

Early indications: The super-brief teaser trailer looked fun, and the concept art promises some demented-looking robots and painterly vistas.

November:

The Box (Nov. 6)

What's it about? Based on a Richard Matheson story (and a Twilight Zone episode), this film follows a young couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) who get a box with a button. If they press the button, they get a jillion dollars — and someone they don't know dies.

Early indications: It's directed by Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko). Maybe having to stick somewhat more closely to a Matheson short story will lift Kelly out of his Southland Tales delirium. We can hope.

The Wolfman (Nov. 6)

What's it about? Benicio Del Toro is a wolfman. Grrr.

Early indications: Yet another movie hit with delays, this time due to post-production problems with the transformation effects. Judging from the quotes on IMDB, it sounds like Anthony Hopkins and Del Toro get to gnaw scenery, with lines like "I am what I say I am. A monster," and "The prodigal son returns," and "I will kill all of you!"

New Moon (Nov. 20)

What's it about? The second movie in the uber-successful Twilight series, based on Stephenie Meyer's mega-selling books.

Early indications: Well, director Catherine Hardwicke got dropped, supposedly because she wanted to spend more than 50 cents and a few minutes on special effects. I honestly don't know how they can have this film in theaters by November.

Planet 51 (Nov. 20)

What's it about? Another animated film. The Rock is an astronaut who lands on an alien planet where it's the 1950s and everybody's xenophobic. Everybody thinks he's an invader. So he has to befriend a little alien boy.

Early indications: Well, it might be better than Space Chimps. The early stills look sort of cheap but cute. See above: it's a kids' movie with The Rock.

December:

Avatar (Dec. 18)

What's it about? The film James Cameron has been working on for the past ten years, where a disabled ex-marine (Sam Worthington) takes on an "avatar," or alien shape, that lets him walk among the aliens on a distant planet. Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana co-star.

Early indications: Cameron has been talking up the enormous technical breakthrough in 3-D filming and motion capture his film will involve. Weaver sounds jazzed about her character and the overall storyline. But even Cameron himself warns: "I don't know whether it will be a great film from a narrative and critical standpoint. The experience of Avatar will be an experience unlike any other movies." My guess is, it won't be as great as Aliens or Terminator 2, but it could still be the best film of the year.

No release date:

The Road (??)

What's it about? The adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel about a father and son struggling to survive in a world where everything's fallen apart.

Early indications: Yet another delayed film, because of post-production issues. It looks like the film will really push the bleak setting and dissheveled protagonists to the limit. Early script reviews say it could be the most important post-apocalyptic film — and the darkest — of all time. If they don't ruin it in the editing room.

In this Alex Proyas-directed movie, Cage plays a super-smart numbers guy, whose son unearths a student time capsule from 50 years ago. Inside, Cage's son finds a letter that's just a list of numbers, Cage realize it's actually a code to every bad thing that's ever happened, or will happen. And oh noes, the biggest crisis ever is headed our way. It's like National Treasure, except it's National Disaster instead.

Also, the new Knowing trailer reveals these scary albinos who know how to point creepily like the best of them. Oh, I do not have high hopes for this film — even with Proyas attached to it.

Knowing will be released in March of 2009.

[Apple]

Iron Man 2:

Don't expect the sequel to be more comic book-y and fantastical than the original film, warns writer Justin Theroux. It has to stay within Tony's world, which is the world of technology. And he and Jon Favreau have already settled on a villain. [IGN]

Terminator Salvation:

Here's the UK trailer for Terminator Salvation, which is basically the same as the U.S. trailer, just with a couple of shots from the Japanese version. [IGN]

Dragonball Evolution:

We already showed you the new international trailer for Dragonball Evolution, but now IGN has posted it in high quality sparkly video. [IGN]

And here are some new posters as well. [DBTheMovie]

The Day The Earth Stood Still:

Here's an extended clip that showcases a sequence you may have seen before, where Jennifer Connelly's character gets dragged out of her home to help investigate the arrival of a mysterious alien sphere.

Also, apparently I'm not the only person who didn't hear Keanu say "Klaatu Barada Nikto." Keanu and director Scott Derrickson got very bummed when Sci Fi Wire asked about it, because they recorded that line 20 times. Apparently Keanu says it backwards and forwards at the same time, or something. [Sci Fi Wire]

Knowing:

Here's a new pic from the Alex Proyas-directed film about a guy who finds a time capsule full of numbers that predict disasters. Like the previously released pics, it deals with a big plane crash, that confirms that the guy (Nic Cage) is onto something. Bigger pic at the link. [JoBlo]

Fringe:

The next batch of episodes will up the emotional stakes, as Peter's past bites him in the ass and Olivia's kid sister shows up, after being abandoned by her husband and four-year-old kid. We'll get to see sides of Olivia we've never seen before, but action is always a big part of the character's DNA. And she'll keep investigating her dead partner John Scott, who will reveal a huge wrinkle in the Pattern. [TV Guide via Fringe Television]

So what's going on with John Scott? Actor Mark Valley has some ideas. [Fringe Television]

Dollhouse:

Mind-wiped puppet for hire Echo can have as many as four assignments per episode, says Eliza Dushku. And the reason the dollhouse has no windows is because it's actually deep underground. And that giant Muay Thai boxing scene she mentioned shooting recently? Is between Echo and Paul (Tahmoh Penikett.) [SpoilerTV]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

The last nine episodes of season two will pay off all the stuff we've learned this fall, promises producer Josh Friedman. That includes the Summer-bot's malfunctions and the relationship between John and Riley. And a major character will die before the end of the season. [TV Guide via SpoilerTV]

So why exactly did Jesse travel back through time? It's because she has certain ideas about how things should be done, says Stephanie Jacobsen. [Sarah Connor Society]

Smallville:

And here's a new pic of the Legion of Superheroes, who see Clark as a pioneer in making the Earth a safe place for aliens. [OSCK]

Heroes:

A couple of new set pics from next spring's "Fugitives" storyline. Looks like Claire's making a little pitstop at Sam's Comics. Does this mean more Seth Green? Also, she just filmed a scene with the Puppetmaster guy, Doyle. [TenGossip and The ODI]

And here's a sneak peek from Monday's episode, where Ando schemes to rescue Hiro from his latest blunder. [Heroes Television again]

Also, in Monday's episode, heroes team up against each other, and villains reveal their inner angels. Peter and Nathan square off. Sylar has HRG, Claire, Meredith and Angela held captive inside the Company. Sylar and Claire face off, and one of Claire's parents will die — probably Meredith.

And in this spring's "Fugitives" arc, Matt's wife Janice will reappear, and Matt will realize that anyone who's in the heroes' lives is in danger as much as the heroes. There won't be much time travel, but we'll still somehow see more of Ando's past, and also possibly see the founding of the Company, in 1977. Mohinder will have an "uphill battle" to remove his powers. Sylar will search for more answers about his past, and this will (surprisingly) lead him to do more "awful and scary" things. [Heroes Spoilers]

Supernatural:

The show returns in January with four stand-alone episodes. The brothers investigate a haunted house. Then they meet a trio of aging magicians (including one played by Barry Bostwick.) They investigate a ghost at their high school and we see flashbacks to the brothers, aged 14 and 18. (We had some script pages from that episode a while back.) And then a dangerous siren enthralls the boys and makes them turn on each other, allowing them to say some stuff they've been bottling up all season. And in the longer run, Ruby pushes Sam to uses his supernatural powers, and Dean learns what the angels want from him. And it's not a good thing. [SpoilerTV]

Star Wars: Clone Wars:

In January's two-parter, George "Sulu" Takei plays Lok Durd, a creature who devises a nuclear weapon that kills organic life forms but leaves droids unharmed. And the peace-loving inhabitants of the grassy planet Maridun, the Lurmens, refuse to shelter Anakin and Ahsoka, because they think the Jedi are war-mongers — even though Lok Durd plans to test his weapon on their planet. The Lurmens are like Lemurs with an Irish accent. [TV Guide via SpoilerTV]

Batman: The Brave And The Bold:

January's episodes include even more awesome team-ups. A full-fledged Green Arrow teamup. Batman's mentor, the boxing hero Wildcat. An appearance by the original Blue Beetle (voiced by Wil Wheaton!). The Atom (Ryan Choi version) has to shrink down to microscopic size to battle a toxic infection inside Batman. The strait-laced Atom will have a hard time collaborating with the jovial Aquaman. [TV Guide via SpoilerTV]

Kyle XY:

Season three will be the most action-packed, as Kyle gives up on trying to be normal and starts using his powers more. Kyle goes looking for his girlfriend Amanda (who was kidnapped by the Latnok organization) and immediately gets himself captured by Latnok as well. Kyle fights his way out, then goes and finds his fellow test-tube kid, Jessi, and they team up to rescue Amanda. Kyle becomes more sneaky and tricky as he fights against Latnok. We meet a new Latnok leader, Cassidy, who wants Kyle to join them. And a Latnok scientist, Nate, who sees Kyle as a threat. Also, Kyle realizes he and Amanda can never share the bond he has with Jessi, even though he can't trust Jessi. Jessi, meanwhile, goes through some heavy stuff, and we learn to appreciate her more. [TV Guide via SpoilerTV]

Wonder Woman:

Here are some new stills from the direct-to-DVD animated movie, which premieres at New York Comic-Con. Wonder Woman is pissed, Steve Trevor is resolute, and Ares is kind of a bastard. Actor Alfred Molina, who voices Ares, says he went for "suave" rather than rough with the character. [Warner Bros.]

Additional reporting by Katharine Duckett.

The globe poster is about as over done as the looking-though-the-hot-lady's-legs shot (or A-frame posters). I know what you're thinking: "Meredith this isn't fair some of these movies are set in space - what is Apollo 13 to do?" I call shenanigans on that. The close-up of astronaut Tom Hanks is worlds more interesting than the space shot of the Moon and Earth.

Knowing follows Nicolas Cage as he unearths an old time capsule from a group of 1950s era tykes and discovers one of the letters is actually a set of bad numbers that predict all of the terrible disasters in the world, but uh oh there's one big disaster still yet to happen.

Knowing poster via AICN.

Maybe because pre-apocalyptic stories are more interesting, and meaningful, than post-apocalyptic ones. We may or may not be living in a pre-apocalyptic world right now, but most of us are definitely not living in a post-apocalyptic one. The only thing post-apocalyptic stories tell us is that some of us may survive the end of everything, in whatever reduced circumstances. But pre-apocalyptic stories have a lot more meaning — they tell us how to use our last days, and whether it's worth struggling against the looming disaster.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which started its second season on Monday, is all about living in the shadow of an impending apocalypse. Half the show's cast consists of refugees from a fucked future. In particular, Brian Austin Green's Derek Reese is a semi-basket case with PTSD from events that haven't happened yet. We're constantly being reminded that "Judgement Day" is around the corner, and our heroes probably won't be able to stop it, given that they've already failed a few times.

And meanwhile the show Heroes performs the same trick every year, having one or more protagonists hop forwards in time, into a future that's been scuppered. Scuppered! Usually because of bio-terrorism or regular splodey terrorism, on the part of one of our incestuous band of angst-mutants. The way the future gets messed up changes from year to year, but we never see a future that's not pretty horrid. Also, the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood is constantly dropping hints that something huge and unstoppable — and probably pretty horrendous — awaits the human race in the early 21st century.

And then there are movies like Knowing, where Nicholas Cage discovers that the world is going to end next week, thanks to some incomprehensible number chart that he finds in a time capsule. And a new Spanish film making the festival rounds is Before The Fall (3 Dias), in which the United Nations announces that a meteor will hit Earth in three days and wipe us out. Unlike in Armageddon or Deep Impact, there's no heroic solution in the offing, just certain doom.

And in real life, it's pretty easy to find examples of fairly specific doom-saying. Many people seem to be obsessed with the looming doomsday of the year 2012, which the Mayan calendar promises will be the end of days. Roland Emmerich, the creator of "diaster for dummies" film Day After Tomorrow, is working on an end-of-the-world film called 2012, which will be out before 2012. Plenty of environmentalists foresee a global catastrophe that will render our current civilization pretty unfeasible within the next half-century. And then, of course, there are all the people who believe we're living in the Biblical end times.

So what's pre-apocalyptic art about? A message board (called "Anus Of Evil") debated that very question a while back, in a drive to come up with a pre-apocalyptic art manifesto. Writes one person:

It's all around you. People are getting ready for the last dance as the walls fall around them. Joy, sadness, pleasure, fear, hate —it's all there.

Also, the Onion had a satirical (duh) article back in 1999 suggesting that "pre-apocalyptic" is what comes after "post-modern."

I do think it's part of our condition, in an era of economic dislocation and melting icecaps, to feel as if we're on a conveyor belt, heading for the furnace of history. The thing that all of the aforementioned stories seem to have in common is a theme of mystification (except maybe Before The Fall.) The impending end of the world isn't a clear-cut fact that you either accept or struggle against — it's a mystery to be unraveled. You have Nicolas Cage, circling numbers in an effort to discern the pattern, or the Connors searching for a chess-playing computer, or Hiro Nakamura interrogating his cryptic skinhead future self.

Of course, that's partly because of the demands of an ongoing or unwinding narrative. But it's also because of the conviction that our impending doom can't be a simple thing. There have to be clues, there must be hidden messages, there must be a meaning somewhere in the middle of our unstoppable obliteration. It can't just be a sheer fact, bearing down on us, without anything to tell us before it wipes us out. Because where would the fun be in that?

Star Trek:

Star Trek: Enterprise star Dominic Keating tried out for a minor role in the new Trek movie (and didn't get it.) But this weekend, he spilled the beans: he was up for the role of James Kirk's "evil stepfather." That admission, plus the fact that Papa George Kirk wasn't in the scenes of Jim's Iowa childhood being filmed in Bakersfield, CA, makes people think something unfortunate befalls poor George. (Maybe on the USS Kelvin?) [Trek Movie]

Knowing:

Here's a new promo pic for Nicholas Cage's clairvoyant apocalypse movie Knowing. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Star Wars: Clone Wars:

Here's a new Clone Wars trailer, which shows a lot more of dark Jedi assassin Asajj Ventress and her master, Count Dooku. (And it's nice to hear Christopher Lee's voice again, honestly.) I got just a tinge of the old Star Wars goosebumps watching this, something that hasn't happened with most of the Clone promos so far.
Also, I'm not sure if this featurette is new or not, but it was new to me:

And IGN has an exclusive clip showing Obi-Wan trying to find Anakin. [IGN]

The Spirit:

In case you were wondering, the villain of The Spirit, The Octopus, isn't connected to the number eight or sporting tentacles or anything. But he's called that because he has his tentacles wrapped around everybody's business in the city, explains actor Samuel L. Jackson. He's also indestructable, insane, flamboyant and a snazzy dresser. Oh, and Frank Miller says the Spirit is an "urban Zorro" who relies on his fists instead of gadgets. [Comic Book Resources]

Green Hornet:

Star and co-writer Seth Rogen has completed a draft of the Green Hornet movie script, and says it'll be similar to True Lies, in that there's lots of action but "the relationships are all personal, and that's where the comedy comes from." Rogen jokes that he'll play the Hornet with four-foot dreadlocks, looking like P-Funk leader George Clinton. But later, he admits the character will be "clean cut" because he's a "media mogul." [MTV]

Fringe:

Fox sent out this behind-the-scenes clip of a publicity photo shoot for Fringe, J.J. Abrams' new don't-call-it-the-X-Files show. It includes the actors talking about their characters, and tossing out dark hints that some of the good guys may turn out to be bad guys. (And one actor actually does compare Fringe to the X-Files. Months of PR work undone!)

Life On Mars:

The American remake of British cult time-travel show Life On Mars did some filming over the weekend, and here are a couple of set pics showing your first look at Lisa Bonet as Sam Tyler's colleague/girlfriend Maya. [Spoiler TV]

Heroes:

Noah Bennett aka HRG filmed a scene with Elle (Kristen Bell) recently, in which it looks like the duo arrives somewhere together, and then Elle gets a cab on her own. (I miss Veronica Mars!) And then in another scene, HRG and Elle are both at PrimaTech Paper. (More pics at the link.) Meanwhile, Milo Ventimiglia filmed a scene where Peter Petrelli falls off a building, and here's a behind-the-scenes video. And here's a promo showing Hiro versus his new arch-nemesis Daphne, that's been showing during the Olympics. [Heroes Spoilers]

Oh, and here's an NBC Fall TV promo which includes people from Heroes and Chuck.

Sarah Connor Chronicles:

The Terminator TV show's second season's episode titles will include "Samson & Delilah," "No Good Deed," "The Mousetrap" "Goodbye To All That" and "Alpine Fields." [Spoiler TV]

Knight Rider:

You may want to call the new version of Knight Rider's talking car all sorts of things, but here's a new 10-second promo that lets you know what to call him. [Knight Rider Online]

The Middleman:

Here are some promo pics from tonight's episode, featuring Kevin Sorbo as a 1960s Middleman who's awoken from cryogenic suspension. [SF-Fandom forums, apparently from IGN but I couldn't find the original source]

Stargate Atlantis:

Producer Joseph Mallozzi posted a bunch of photos from the Stargate Atlantis episode "Whispers," and here are some of the best ones. [JosephMallozzi]

Additional reporting by Lauren Davis.

Battlestar Galactica:

Some new details about the BSG TV movie, to be directed by Edward James Olmos and written by Jane Espenson, have emerged. As we suspected from the cast list so far, it's very cylon-centric. It deals with the attempts of the cylons, and two cylon agents in particular, to grapple with the remnants of humanity right after the cylon genicide. It takes place partly on Caprica and other planets, and partly in the fleet. [L.A. Times]

Knowing:

Knowing, the movie where Nicholas Cage finds a time capsule from 1958 that predicts everything that's happened for the past 50 years — up until the apocalypse next week — is about deep philosophical questions, says director Alex Proyas (Dark City). It's about the power of knowledge, and the responsibility that comes with hit. And the movie deliberately has a small cast, because it focuses on the relationship between Cage's character and his son, who actually finds the capsule. Also, Cage's character has lost his faith in the workings of the universe, and rediscovers his faith in the course of the movie. [Sci Fi Wire]

Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Some casting side pages for the Terminator TV show have leaked out, but some fans believe they're fake. My guess? They're real casting sides, but they don't look like actual pages from the show's script. (You can tell when casting sides are actual script pages, because the pages have the tail ends of other scenes, and stuff crossed out and scribbled on them.)

But assuming they're real casting sides for new characters in the show, the seventh episode will introduce a screwed up family in an Alpine cabin. David is a banker who's gotten involved in an illegal deal to help a tech company, Teledyne, buy another company and cover up its debts. Sarah tracks him down and asks him about it, while Terminators fight outside. Meanwhile, David's wife Anne is disappointed with her married life, and is a bit of a slut. And their daughter Laurel is a brat who uses David's computer to look at lesbian porn. (Again, these may be scenes written to try out actors, not necessarily exactly what the characters will be like in the show.) [Spoiler TV]

Sarah Jane Adventures:

Remember that two-parter we mentioned, where Sarah Jane travels back to the 1950s and meets herself as a baby, plus her parents who died when she was too young to remember? Well, here are some set pics that have just turned up. And sadly, I have to say Rose's 1950s outfit was cooler than Sarah Jane's. More pics at the link. [Cassandra O'Brian]

Fringe:

Here's a new trailer for Fringe, J.J. Abrams' new mad-science-conspiracy show, plus a viral video about "The Pattern" and sheep acting weird and the gummint and stuff.

Smallville:

Clark won't be teaming up with Jimmy for any journalism-ish stuff any time soon, but he will be doing lots of investigative journalism with Lois. [TV Guide]

Lost:

Jack and Juliet will be reunited — perhaps as soon as this coming season, sources say. And meanwhile, Juliet will play an important role in season five. [TV Guide again]

True Blood:

Here are a couple of new trailers for HBO's new series about vampires and synthetic blood.

The Middleman:

Tyler is around as Wendy's boyfriend for a while. Meanwhile, we won't witness any hanky-panky between the Middleman and Wendy's roommate Lacey "just yet," but their romantic paths will cross again soon, with an unexpected twist. [TV Guide again]

Eureka:

Nathan will be moving more towards the good side and becoming less of a divisive figure in Eureka season three, just as other people dabble with the dark side. Nathan will become more a part of Allison's life and the scientific community in general. [Media Blvd]

Spectacular Spider-Man:

Here's a first peek at the cartoon versions of Mysterio and Kraven The Hunter from the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series. [IGN]

Transformers: Animated:

A new toy gives the first glimpse of the "jet mode" of the voyager class Skywarp in Transformers: Animated. [TFormers]