Celebrated film director Martin Scorcese may dip his feet in the TV pool by directing a new project for HBO.

The HBO drama pilot is for Boardwalk Empire. Scorsese is already an executive producer of the show, which is based on Nelson Johnson’s book that revolves around the gambling operations in Atlantic City during the 1920s.

If ever Scorsese agrees to the project, this is going to be his first TV drama gig. His only other TV credit is directing one episode in the Amazing Stories series.

It’s official.

Brad Pitt is going to join the Inglorious Bastards production as the American soldier who forms a team of Jewish-American soldiers to fight the Nazis.

More details have also emerged on the casting for the other roles. Nastassja Kinski is in negotiations to play the role of German movie icon. Simon Pegg has been locked for the role of an English lieutenant While David Krumholtz and BJ Novak will be Pitt’s lackeys.

Tim Roth was supposed to be part of the movie but apparently he couldn’t work out a schedule because of his new TV series.

Production of Inglorious Bastards will start on October 13.

One interesting rumor surrounding the filming of Terminator: Salvation is that Linda Hamilton will be appearing in the movie. Her character, Sarah Connor, will reportedly feature in a series of flashbacks. Her rep has not given any statement regarding the matter but the buzz is still strong.

Hopefully, she does get to appear in McG’s movie.

Quentin Tarantino has chosen Roth to play a role in his upcoming movie Inglorious Bastards. Unfortunately, it’s not Tim Roth but Tarantino’s friend, director Eli Roth.

Roth is being wooed to play Sgt. Donnie Donowitz, a baseball-wielding nazi hunter. I have to admit that I am disappointed that a different Roth has been in talks to star in this movie. I think Tim Roth should be cast as he is one talented actor. I am still hoping that this is actually a miscommunication and that they are referring to Tim Roth all along.

Brad Pitt is still in negotiations to play Aldo Raine but it looks like Leonardo DiCaprio will not be involved in the movie as Tarantino decided that the part of SS Col. Hans Landa should be played by a German actor.

Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland is set to film this coming September in England.

The new movie will be a mixture of both performance-capture and live action. The shooting in Plymouth is expected to take two weeks  and will star Mia Wasikowska. The projected debut for the movie is on March 5, 2010.

Alice in Wonderland and Tim Burton… a more perfect match I have yet to see.

The world of Batman is one that I love to revisit time and time again. To say that I am a fan is an understatement. Obsessive is more like it. I have a modest toy collection that is solely based on Batman figures. I have started collecting collectible statues of Batman and I have been reading Batman comics since I’ve learned to, well, read.

Like many Batman fans, I was eagerly anticipating the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Forget about Heath Ledger (and I respectfully say that), I was looking forward to another live action excursion to Batman’s world. Anyone who has read my reviews know that I can be extremely critical but the child in me was quite excited about the buzz the film was getting. I kept reading accounts of how great it was—that it is the best Batman movie ever made, the best crime drama ever. The superlatives were just so much that I was beginning to buy into the hype. So I fixed my schedule last week in order to catch the movie in a theater near my home. And I left… deflated.

Don’t get me wrong. I liked the movie, it was quite entertaining and I can safely say it was one of the better Batman movies I’ve seen. But the greatest? I’ll have to disagree.

First, the good things. Christopher Nolan has grown as a filmmaker. The maturity is evident in how he conveyed atmosphere and emotion in well placed shots and camera angles. The first few minutes of the movie can be considered as one of the best first 15 minutes that I can think of in recent years. There was a kinetic fluidity there that reminds me of Michael Mann in Heat. And it was really great start. The acting was superlative across the board. Yes, Heath Ledger managed to turn in a very disturbing, psychopathic performance of the Joker that really went near the edge but never fell into the world of parody. I think that was the ultimate power of Ledger’s performance, the level of abandon that he brought to the role but with still a conscious restraint that prevented his portrayal from getting too cheesy. I have to say though that Aaron Eckhart may have stolen the show from all of the other actors. His Harvey Dent was a driven character who sees everything in black and white, much like Batman. But his strength, and unfortunately also his weakness, is his love for Rachel and his determination to rid Gotham of crime no matter what.

Technically, I have to give props to the cinematography, the whole thing is amazing to look at. It was a great interpretation of how Gotham would’ve have looked like in an actual real-world city.

Christian Bale is a consistently good actor but in this movie, he has acquired for exaggerating his mouth movements that is, frankly, too distracting. Another complain is Nolan’s ability to direct an action sequence. For the life of him, he still cannot direct a proper fight scene. It’s too bad because the film would have been elevated to a higher plane with properly shot fight sequences. The script was also quite cliché-ridden. There were just too many lines that you’ve heard before and the psycho-babble is just not written with any kind of credibility.

So is The Dark Knight a good movie? Yes it is, unequivocally. Is it a great movie? Definitely not.

Rating: B

Pierce Brosnan has revealed that they are working on the sequel to The Thomas Crown Affair.

The sequel will be directed by Paul Verhoeven and will have a theme that is similar to the 1964 heist movie Topkapi. Brosnan has assured though that only a “sliver” of Topkapi will be used, among them being the setting, which is Istanbul. This time around the object of the caper is a rare diamond and not paintings.

Renee Russo will not be returning in the sequel but there is talk that Angeline Jolie is in the running for the role of the female lead.

The prospects of a Spider-Man sequel is still up in the air but Sony Pictures is not willing to wait anymore and has unveiled the possibility of spin-off movies being produced instead.

The first spin-off could be the Venom movie. The plan is to extend the life of the Spider-Man franchise, which is already showing its age. This is the same tactic that’s been used on the X-Men franchise with the upcoming Wolverine movie.

A script has already been commissioned and casting is a no-brainer with Topher Grace, who played the role of Venom in the third Spidey sequel. But agents are also eyeing the role for other actors because of the belief that Grace still cannot carry a picture on his own.

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards is shaping up to be one hell of a movie.

The as yet to be shot movie is now with Universal Pictures and has recently signed an agreement to partner with the Weinstein Company to produce the movie. Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein actually met with five studios weeks ago and chose between Paramount and Universal. The final decision eventually went Universal’s way.

Tarantino is now meeting with Brad Pitt for the role of Aldo Raine and Leonardo DiCaprio for the role of the Nazi Hans Landa.

Shooting is expected to commence this fall.

Tyrese Gibson revealed in an interview that he is actively involved in bringing the popular 80’s cartoon series Thundercats to the big screen. Gibson has intimated that the deal is about to be closed but he remained mum on what character he would most likely play.

Actually, a Thundercats project was announced last year by Warner Bros. The movie is supposed to be a CG-animated feature.