Newspapermen occupy that movie middle ground between detectives and action heroes. They dig up clues, but the clues are hard-won, based on experience and the building up of contacts and sources. The clues are rarely left at the scene of the crime. Newspapermen rarely get into danger, but when they do it's not something they're really prepared or trained for. Coming face-to-face with a deadly killer, Washington Globe reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) can barely make eye contact. Cal doesn't fight or outwit the bad guy; he just runs and hides. It's not important that he try to be a hero. It's more important that he survive to write the story.

Of course, real reporters don't get to solve murders and uncover international corporate conspiracies every day, and that's where Hollywood comes in. The new film State of Play is based on a six-hour BBC mini-series from 2003. I haven't seen the original, but I'd bet that it's much distilled and sped up, and no one is going to argue that the new film is any kind of improvement. But taken on its own, it's probably the best newspaper/journalism movie in years -- perhaps since Shattered Glass (2003) -- even if it falls far short of the purity of All the President's Men (1976). It's also the first movie of its kind to address the inherent feud between sturdy, superior, old-fashioned print reporting, and reckless, inexperienced, sloppy blogging. (Guess which side the movie is on?)

Thirty years ago, a political crisis and two movie stars inspired thousands of young people to pursue a career in journalism. Now that the profession may be dying, is it foolish to hope that an economic crisis and three movie stars could revive interest?

Opening tomorrow, Kevin Macdonald's State of Play stars Russell Crowe as a world-weary reporter investigating a murder in which his old friend, politician Ben Affleck, may have been involved. Rachel McAdams also stars as an up-and-coming blogger. Obviously, that's a very different kind of movie than Alan Pakula's All the President's Men, which starred Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who helped uncover the full extent of the Watergate conspiracy in the 1970s. In the wake of that movie, The Atlantic commented: "Today's generation of young Americans is flocking to journalism schools in unprecedented numbers ... the extraordinary popularity of 'communications' has been attributed to 'the Woodstein Phenomenon,' the effect of the Woodward and Bernstein feat of exposing and unseating the Nixon gang in the White House."

Ever since, there has been no shortage of qualified journalists; the problem is that jobs for journalists are drying up faster than a water hole in the Sahara. Without getting into a discussion of why the newspaper and magazine industries are dying, my questions are:

• Will anyone look beyond the murder thriller trappings of State of Play?
• Will it cause anyone to think about why good, solid investigative journalism is still so important -- in part, to hold elected officials, government workers, and corporate executives accountable for their actions?
• Will anyone be prompted to come up with viable solutions to sustain and support a valuable profession before it's gone forever?

Cinematical is absolutely, positively pumped up to be bringing you the debut teaser trailer for Mike Judge's Extract, starring Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig and J.K. Simmons. I'm a huge Judge fan; been following the dude since way back during his Beavis and Butthead days, and haven't really disliked anything he's put out. Folks have told me that Extract finds the writer-director returning to his Office Space-ish humor, and this teaser definitely shows some signs of that -- from the workplace mishaps to our hero's random romantic woes, classic Judge hilarity is watermarked all over this sucker.

Extract follows the personal and professional problems endured by the owner (Bateman) of a flower-extract plant, including a wife who won't sleep with him, a new hottie temp and ... Ben Affleck as a major stoner? Believe it. I think it's safe to say Judd Apatow's Funny People now has some serious competition when it comes to funniest film of the summer because this little sucker just shot up to numero uno on my anticipation list. What about you? Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think. Extract hits theaters on September 4.

Living lives of loud desperation for the sake of your entertainment / enjoyment / enlightenment (a generous assessment on all three counts) are Rachel from Friends, the Mac Guy, Firestarter, Daredevil, and a dozen other familiar faces and names, all of them hell-bent on telling you that if He's Just Not That Into You, all one merely has to do is swap out that target of affection. In a weird way, it's a strategy that the film itself seems to employ: If you don't like what supposed relationship insights we have to offer up across 10 blocks of Baltimore and 130 minutes of running time, just wait -- we all change our tune to make each other happy eventually.

Since this romantic omnibus already has too many characters for its own good, let's go ahead and get their introductions out of the way real quick like. There's the desperate-to-date-and-then-some Ginnifer Goodwin, who is blown off by Kevin Connolly in favor of the company of Scarlett Johansson, and who is friends with Jennifer Connelly and Jennifer Aniston and, now, Connolly's frank pal Justin Long. (With me so far?) Connolly buys ad space in the local paper from Drew Barrymore and yet flirts with Barrymore's friend, Johansson, who is herself more interested in tempting Bradley Cooper, who is currently married to Connelly (Jennifer, not Kevin) and happens to be friends with Ben Affleck, who refuses to propose to long-time love interest Aniston, and oh, great, now I've gone all cross-eyed.

You've probably heard folks talk about the atrocities being committed in the Congo, or skipped through a commercial featuring a slideshow of poor, dirty, unhappy faces in an effort to win your donations -- but the problems aren't going away, and perhaps you'll take a few minutes to check out this new short film from Ben Affleck to see if there's anything you can do to help. Affleck teams up with UNHCR and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in a new campaign (which includes the following short, directed by Affleck) to "help raise funds and awareness about the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the work of the UN refugee agency." They hope to eventually raise $23 million in 2009 to help pay for stuff like clean water supplies and emergency humanitarian assistance kits.

From UNHCR: "In November, Affleck visited Africa to shoot footage in DRCs strife-torn North Kivu province, where tens of thousands have fled their homes since fighting resumed in August. He also visited Uganda, where some 30,000 people have sought refuge and are receiving help from UNHCR. The result is a short film entitled Gimme Shelter, set to the classic Rolling Stones song of the same name, which Jagger and the group donated to the campaign."

Watch the short below, then please head on over to the UNHCR website to see what you can do to help.

Ben Affleck is gearing up to slide his tuckus back into the directorial chair -- The Hollywood Reporter posts that he's in negotiations to direct the story of slain journalist Don Bolles, from a screenplay by The Longest Yard scribe Sheldon Turner.

Bolles was a reporter for the Arizona Republic, digging into the mob and political corruption, when he was lured to a hotel by an unknown source back in 1976. No one showed up, and as Bolles left, his car was blown up by a remote detonator. He survived for over a week, suffering amputations until he finally succumbed to his injuries eleven days later. The wake of Bolles' death not only led to justice being served for the crime, but also inspired fellow journalists coming together to complete his work and expose corruption in Arizona.

It's funny -- I remember people saying a few years ago that Matt Damon was the man behind his and Affleck's success with Good Will Hunting, and how ol' Ben was just along for the ride. I always knew there was a bit more to him, and that under that goofy comedic gleam and Jennifer addiction lay something more.

Now I just wonder who they'll get to play Bolles....

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit tough on the film and the trailer. After all, it seems every few years we need one of these films -- the kind that reminds us how hard it is to connect and communicate with the opposite sex. Or do we? Maybe it's the star-studded cast that's turning me off, then, or maybe it's just that I feel like we've been down this road time and time again; relationships are tough, we know, and they're painful, unfortunately -- so does throwing in a blackberry joke and a few lines of dialogue about MySpace make it all seem fresher?

Anyway, there's a new trailer out for the rom-com He's Just Not That Into You (in theaters February 6), which itself is based on a book full of relationship advice and not a real, solid story -- and so what you get is pretty much what you see in this trailer: A mish-mosh of different romantic situations and people (ie: pretty famous faces) looking for advice from other famous faces. "Should I call? When should I call him back?" I don't know, didn't we decide this, like, 37 movies ago? Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Justin Long and Scarlett Johansson star. Check out the trailer below, and let me know if I'm being too rough on this one.

Tomorrow brings Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott to the screen as Role Models. Energy drink and driving bandits, they crash the company truck, and get one of two choices as punishment -- sign up to mentor children, or go to the slammer. Of course, they choose mentoring, having no idea what they're really getting into.

It's always been an interesting idea -- make ne'er-do-wells change their ways by making them do good deeds and be role models. But sometimes it's not such a good idea. In the world of film, there are MANY characters who should never, ever be allowed to act as role models to impressionable youths. Menaces to children everywhere, they'd most likely do the exact opposite of what was intended. This list is, by no means, complete; but consider it a starting point. Read on, reminisce about these bad influences and then comment below about who you would include.

And be warned: These clips may include strong language, and all sorts of adult conduct.

"I liked the idea of doing something about porn, but mainstream porn had been done and done very well by Paul Thomas Anderson in Boogie Nights. So no point in doing that. I'm not trying to go in there and throw my d*ck down and be all like, 'I'm better than Paul Thomas Anderson.' We all know I'm not." -- Kevin Smith

Last month, I traveled to Red Bank, New Jersey and enjoyed a very cool lunch with a very cool dude by the name of Kevin Smith. While we scarfed down some tasty Italian food, I recorded roughly an hour and a half of our conversation -- all of which would be way too much to read in one post. Thus, I've decided to break some stuff up into sections and post them separately, then I'll be back with much more in the coming days leading up to the October 31st release of the pretty hilarious Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Here, Smith talks about the origins of Zack and Miri, who made up his original cast, how Seth Rogen became involved and why he decided to shoot it in Pittsburgh, of all places.

On the Original Idea and Original Cast

"The idea -- and different permutation's of it -- had been germinating since the end of Chasing Amy. The end of Chasing Amy we wanted to make this movie called Name that dealt with the porn industry, peripherally, as one of the main characters has kind of gone off to work in porn and then returned home years later. And I wanted to do it with Joey [Lauren Adams], Jason [Lee] and Ben [Affleck]. Then, after Chasing Amy, me and Joey broke up, so suddenly I didn't know whether I wanted to work with Joey Adams right away and then also we got the opportunity to move forward on Dogma. So I was like, f*ck it, let's do this.