I dug John Cusack in Grosse Point Blank, and many other actors who have taken on the role of hit man. However, none of them really compare to the thought of Gary Oldman getting down with his bad self once again. As Peter mentioned yesterday, the actor is in talks to join the cast of the Japan-set thriller Rain Fall. Should the negotiations go well, Oldman will play John Rain, "a hit man who is forced to protect the daughter of one of his victims against assassination by the CIA." It's a role that could be good, but with Oldman, can be great.

Unfortunately, don't start dreaming of a new Professional quite yet. While the film is adapted from Barry Eisler's best-selling novel, it's a Japanese production that will be shot mostly in Japanese, with only 15% of the dialog being English. I'm not quite sure how that works, but I guess we'll see soon enough. Eisler's book follows Rain, a Japanese American half-breed who used to be part of the US Special Forces. As a hit man, he's got a skill for making his hits look like natural death. He performs a hit for a computer disc, that many are looking for, and happens to fall in love with the hit's daughter. Oldman will be joined on-screen by Shiina Kippei and Akiho Hasegawa.

I love Oldman's recent stints in Harry Potter and the new Batman series, but really, is there anything like bad-ass Oldman? Which baddie do you prefer?

*Gah. In my fangirl haze, I mistaken misread the piece as Oldman being the assassin. My apologies! Jonathan is probably right, but still, this could be a creepy role for the actor. Bring on the creep!

Remember David Goyer's Jewish-themed thriller that Scott told us about back in February? About the dybhuk -- "an angry, undead spirit that possesses a human being?" The spin was that it would be the dybhuk of a boy who died in Auschwitz, and is now terrorizing a young woman played by Cloverfield's Odette Yustman. Gary Oldman signed on to play a "spiritual specialist" and The OC's Cam Gigandet took the role of the haunted girl's boyfriend. Now, The Hollywood Reporter posts that the film has a name -- Unborn -- and more cast -- Meagan Good (Stomp the Yard), Carla Gugino (Sin City), Jane Alexander (Fur), Idris Elba (American Gangster), and Rhys Coiro (24).

With the players in place, this is how it's breaking down -- Yustman's haunted girl is getting Good as a best friend, Coiro as a college professor, and Gugino as a mother. Meanwhile, Alexander is playing a Holocaust survivor and sister of the slain boy, and Elba will be a priest helping Rabbi Oldman with the exorcisms.

Oldman is enough to have me intrigued, but more in a Hebrew Hammer sort of way -- a down-and-dirty Rabbinical Spiritual Specialist. Dig it? Heck, I'm even itching to see Alexander as the sister. However, a serious Holocaust spook story? I'm not so sure. Eh, we'll see soon enough -- principal photography got underway today.

According to Jewish folklore (or at least according to a really scary story my rabbi once told me), a "dybbuk" is an angry, undead spirit that possesses a human being. So perhaps writer / director David S. Goyer pitched this concept to his new Plantium Dunes bosses as "Poltergeist meets The Exorcist, only Jewish." Seems unlikely he'd start the meeting with "Hey, anyone remember any ghost stories they once heard in Hebrew school?"

Either way, The Hollywood Reporter is (ahem) reporting that Goyer and three actors have signed on to an as-yet-untitled "supernatural thriller" about "a 19-year-old girl who is haunted by a dybbuk, the soul of a dead person barred from heaven, in the form of a young boy who perished in Auschwitz." (Glad to see the Holocaust can act as inspiration for a Platinum Dunes supernatural thriller.) The young lady will be played by Odette Yustman, who is currently wowing audiences as "that really hot girl who looks a little like Jennifer Connelly" in Cloverfield. Also on board is the always-busy Gary Oldman as a "spiritual specialist" and someone called Cam Gigandet as the hot girl's boyfriend.

Fingers crossed on this project. If there's anything lamer than a flat PG-13 thriller, it's probably a flat PG-13 thriller that invokes memories of Auschwitz. Still, after flicks like Dark City, Blade and Batman Begins, DSG has earned some benefit of the doubt by now. Production begins a few weeks from now in Chicago.

Most of us are probably painfully aware of the stress of the holidays when it comes to familial relationships. Films about families tell the one story that practically anyone can relate to. So in the spirit of feeling better about ourselves I've compiled a list of some of the most dysfunctional families in film. Maybe after taking a look at some big-screen dysfunction, we can sit back and take a little solace in that at least none of us have to sit down to Christmas dinner with any of the people on the following list.

1. Spanking the Monkey

Before he was famous on You Tube for his demented freak-out on the set of I Heart Huckabees, David O. Russell was famous for making the unthinkable; a comedy about incest. Monkey stars Alberta Watson as Susan Aibelli; a lonely and depressed mother who develops a sexual relationship with her son after they are left alone together for the summer. Jeremy Davis stars as her son and the subject of this unlikely coming-of-age story. The film might not be for the weak of heart, but it did manage to win an audience award at Sundance in 1994, and was responsible for turning Russell into the megalomaniac we've all come to know and love.

2. Ordinary People

Besides going down in infamy as the film that beat Raging Bull out of a 'Best Picture Oscar', this 1981 drama about a family dealing with the loss of it's 'favored son' was the directorial debut of Robert Redford. Timothy Hutton stars as the younger brother who is readjusting to life after a botched suicide attempt. Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore also star as the parents to Hutton and Judd Hirsch as the prototypical 'earthy NY Jewish' psychiatrist. So for anyone who watched Mary Tyler Moore as the epitome of 'chirpiness' during the seven year run of her self-titled series, get ready to be blown away, because her performance as a cold and repressed suburban mom is one of the best there is.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I don't think that I've ever been half as impressed with a series of films as I've been with Potter's trip to the big screen. It's the sort of franchise that instigates excitement and still pays off in the face of huge expectations. This time around, the kids finally have enough of the stodgy adults who won't believe that Lord Voldemort is back. In the face of Dolores Umbridge's rapidly-growing rules, they take matters into their own hands. It's got great action, and that undeniable fire of good-guy rebellion. But it's also got one heck of a supporting cast that is not only powerful due to the likes of actors such as Gary OIdman, but the new, quirky faces that have popped up -- namely Evanna Lynch's Luna Lovegood.

No DVD of wizardry would be complete without a slew of special features, and for this installment, there are the usual treats, plus one really sweet extra feature for those getting the HD version: the option to have a "Live Community Screening" where a number of Potter fans with the HD DVDs can all watch the film together through web-connected players.

There's also a Limited Edition Gift Set of movies 1-5 hitting shelves today.

Check Out Jette's Take and Kim's Take | Buy the DVD

The Bourne Ultimatum
It took five years, but the travails of Jason Bourne on the big screen have finally come to an end -- as much as "end" ever means what it is supposed to in the world of cinema. I must admit that I'm not the hugest fan of the series (I miss Franke!), but it's easy to see why many flock to it, and rave about it. And heck, how many action movies get a 93% positive review rating over at Rotten Tomatoes? In this third and final installment, Matt Damon's Bourne is still raving around trying to put together the pieces of his past -- this time spurred on by a reporter trying to do an Operation BlackBriar expose. And he's also being followed by an assassin -- just to make life more difficult and action-packed.

For action-laced extras, you get to taste some director's commentary, deleted scenes, and five featurettes.

Check Out James' Take and Scott's Take | Buy the DVD


Other New DVD Releases (December 10)

High School Musical 2 (Extended Edition)
December Boys
Interview
Silent Night, Deadly Night
And we can't forget... Bikini Bloodbath!

Check out Peter Martin's Indies on DVD for even more new releases.

Yes, this is Gary Oldman week for me and retro cinema, but you won't see me complaining. Usually, the chameleon Oldman morphs and slides onto the screen for one of his many diverse supporting roles. Most recently, he's taken on heroes like Sirius Black and Lt. James Gordon, but he's got a past that includes the little person Rolfe, the creepy Mason Verger, Pontius Pilate, Zorg, a Russian hijacker, and as I shared earlier this week, Ludwig van Beethoven. 1993's Romeo is Bleeding, however, marks one of the few times like Immortal Beloved where we can see him shine in the lead.

Oldman plays Jack Grimaldi, a cop who has been lured by the dark side in a noir '90s landscape. (Think Twin Peaks' timeless quality and haunting music, but set within a violent urban environment.) To supplement his low-pay job as a sergeant, Grimaldi is working for the mob -- directing them to the locations of different witnesses under protection. For his efforts, he gets thousands of dollars, which he hides in the back of his yard. But this is only the tip of Jack's moral failings. While he has a wife named Natalie (Annabella Sciorra) at home, he's also acting out fantasies with his grating girlfriend, Sheri (Juliette Lewis).

I came into the world of Immortal Beloved very late in the game. I had been meaning to see it for years, to see what Gary Oldman did with the epic maestro, but I never got around to it. Then, one summer night in 2005, I had a long conversation about the film with a friend of mine. Instead of the normal, surface recommendation one is apt to get in cases like these, his eyes lit up as he began to list off the reasons I should see it. He didn't just vaguely like it; the film stuck with him and inspired him. He talked about how wonderfully the film portrayed Ludwig van Beethoven's music, and he sent me on my way to discover one particularly moving scene for myself.

Since he wouldn't tell me about this moment until I had seen the movie, I had assumed there would be one obvious and moving scene that stuck out above the others. Instead, I was faced with a partly true, partly fictional biopic that presented a number of well-crafted moments that matched perfectly to Beethoven's work. But really, they do not so much match his music, as live it. Many films can team music with a certain mood, but few actually embody the life of the music itself -- the story that it is telling. This film is a doorway into the world of symphonies -- not to notice their power, but to take the first step towards recognizing the story being told by the collection of notes.

The hunk ... He's a fairly disputed figure in the world of cinema, subjected to the taste and whims of anxious, heterosexual women everywhere. The hunk's popularity is often fleeting -- the beefcake stud for one year is often forgotten by the next. But most importantly, the hunk is entirely, and completely, subjective. One woman's pearl is another woman's stale, salty oyster.

One might argue that some tastes are, therefore, off, but subjectivity and sex are one of the world's big blessings. We don't all lust for the same people, and thus, the earth can stay safe. Otherwise, imagine a world-wide Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. It wouldn't be pretty. So, what follows are my list of hunks.

I am sure you will question some of my picks, and I will admit -- some don't have the stellar physique that the others do. That being said, each of them have been in horror movies, and they've done their fair share of testosterone bewitching. But this is just my own, subjective taste, which will probably bother and bewilder some. But that's where the comments come in. Share your horror hunks, who have chased, or been chased, on-screen -- extra points if they're a little surprising. This is Halloween, after all, which is all about a world that's just a little different...

Sources have told Comingsoon.net and and some other outlets that a teaser trailer for The Dark Knight will make a double-premiere on July 27, both on prints of The Simpsons Movie as it hits theaters across America, and during the Warner Bros. ComicCon presentation earlier that morning. For the last few weeks, we've been hearing that it was simply too soon for anything of substance to be unveiled at ComicCon for The Dark Knight, but really, how hard is it to cut a teaser together? If it's cleverly done, you can get by with only seconds of useable footage from the film, and it doesn't have to be money-shot footage. Looks like the powers-that-be have come around to that way of thinking. If all of this is legit, it would, of course, be the first time footage from the film has been seen anywhere, although some fans have gotten so impatient that they've actually crafted some fan trailers to keep themselves satiated in the meantime.

So what secrets are left about the production? We're still not completely sure who Anthony Michael Hall is playing, although source after source has claimed to know that he is playing Edward Nygma, a.k.a. The Riddler. It's also still up for debate whether Aaron Eckhart will transform into Harvey Dent in this film, or whether that's being saved for the next one. We're also fairly sure that Harley Quinn will not be making an appearance in the film, despite some earlier rumors that Sarah Michelle Gellar was up for that role. What about the role of the cop, Renee Montoya? Still no word on that either, although it's likely to be a small part even if its cast. Stay tuned to Cinematical for all the latest.

In what I hope is fleeting, Luc Besson-sort of earnestness, Gary Oldman seems to be fed up with acting. Although he's had some super-successful mainstream stints recently in the Harry Potter and Batman franchises, the spark appears to have dimmed for the actor. He says: "I've had a great career, and I'm very lucky to do what I do. But I've been doing it a long time, and you can get tired. You might say I want to change careers or to do something else." He's tempted to return to the stage, but he fears that it's not just a movie-related disinterest: "I get misty-eyed about it, yeah. And I get offers. My love for acting... It's withered."

It has been 21 years since Oldman had his breakout role as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy. While two decades is a decent chunk of time, is it really enough for him to say adios? Since starring as the troubled music icon, he's made a great career, morphing into a myriad of roles -- one of the few chameleons that we actually have in the movie biz. He played Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, vamped out for Dracula, took on dreadlocks for True Romance, became the maestro for Immortal Beloved, modernized as Zorg in The Fifth Element, played a Russian terrorist in Air Force One, tried a stint as Pontius Pilate on television, played a little person named Rolfe in Tiptoes and of course, he also plays a great Sirius Black and James Gordon. I really can't imagine a movie world without him, although it would be nice to see him in the meaty, gritty films of his past. While shining a bat signal or helping Harry Potter is fun, perhaps he'd feel better about his career if he could sink his teeth into another Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, or Leon.

With so many of Britain's acting legends appearing in the Harry Potter films, it isn't easy for just one to stand out, but I think this summer's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will feature one performance that shines above the rest. Imelda Staunton, who plays the cruel new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Dolores Umbridge, seen in this new publicity photo hovering above Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, will be a definite center of attention -- and not just because her pink wardrobe sticks out amongst the mostly black costumes worn by her fellow cast members. There is a lot of hype regarding her appearance in the film, and I for one am hoping that she lives up to it. I've even thought about how wonderful it would be for the actress to be so good that she gets another Oscar nomination (what a nice surprise it would be for the Academy to recognize the consistently good acting of this popular franchise!).

Of course, it is probably better for the film as a whole if no actor or actress stands out. Also, according to what we heard from the first test screenings, it is Gary Oldman and newcomer Evanna Lynch who rise above the rest. Regardless, I am happy enough that Staunton is garnering a lot of attention for this role, especially after seeing how good she can be even in a simple supporting part in the fantastic family film Nanny McPhee. According to her statements to the new issue of Newsweek, she put a lot of "proper acting" into her Potter performance. While I doubt any awards will come from this movie, she will hopefully be praised enough that she finds it worth returning for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

When it comes to exuding evil out of every pore, either you have a knack for it or you don't. Some actors are just good at being bad, to the point that they seem miscast when playing a hero. For the life of me, I cannot fathom what Gary Oldman is supposed to be doing in the new Batman series, playing a kind-hearted desk cop who pops up every now and then to tell Batman he's doing a heck of a job. If Oldman's character doesn't turn into a bedbug-crazy villain by the end of The Dark Knight, I'm cashing in my chips. John Travolta is a good example of an actor who can swing both ways -- he played a perfectly good villain in two John Woo films, but doesn't carry any of that over to his comedies or dramas. He has the knack, and can turn it on and off.

Of the younger generation, Tim Olyphant is an up-and-coming actor to watch for his villain-chops. He tested them out as a memorably slimy porn-guy in The Girl Next Door and as the shiftless drug-dealer in Go. He'll next be testing his mettle as a traditional kingpin villain in Live Free Or Die Hard, or as the rest of the world knows it, 4.0. Today, I'm making a list of actors who fit a particular mold -- the ones that do villainy superbly when they do it, but hardly ever do it. Maybe they don't realize how much eye-gouging, evil-eyeing, venom-spewing potential they have, or maybe they just need new agents who will give them a great horror or action script that requires an awesome antagonist.

1. Drew Barrymore

The only thing I could think while watching the Pyro character do his thing in X-Men: The Last Stand was "why don't the X-Men track down Charlie McGee, who is probably some 30-year old scarred-up outlaw biker chick/freelance hitwoman, and have her show up and fire-battle this guy into the next life?" There's nothing I'd jump in line to see faster than a hard-edged sequel to Firestarter, with Drew Barrymore's character now completely warped by her childhood experiences, and basically available to flame-broil anyone you please, if the price is right. I didn't exactly dig Barrymore's trailer-park-Lolita Poison Ivy phase, but I maintain that she has some great villainy in her future. There's something in her eyes that screams the polar opposite of the hippy-dippy, bright-eyed 'human sunflower' image she so aggressive pushes on us. We're talking about Drew Barrymore here -- doesn't anymore remember 1985 through, like, 1996? She still has major issues, and she needs a role that will give her a body count.

The role of Harvey 'Two-Face' Dent in The Dark Knight will be played by Aaron Eckhart, the trades reported late yesterday, although no formal announcement has been released. Eckhart joins Heath Ledger as the film's main villain, The Clown Prince of Crime, as well as returning players Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Christian Bale. No word yet on whether Morgan Freeman will be reprising his role as the Q-like tech whiz Lucius Fox. Eckhart, most known for his collaborations with Neil LaBute and for recent films like Thank You for Smoking and The Black Dahlia, will presumably report to work soon, as the film is gearing up production.

The comic character, which dates back to 1942, is a criminal defense attorney who gets a face full of acid and deteriorates into a crime lord known as Two-Face who decides whether to do good or evil based on each random flip of a coin. He was previously played by Billy Dee Williams in Tim Burton's Batman and, in full-villain regalia by Tommy Lee Jones in the down-market sequel Batman Forever. Eckhart's casting leaves at least one major role unfilled -- Batman's love interest. The rumor mill is tilting as strongly as possible towards Maggie Gyllenhaal to take on the role of Rachel Dawes, formerly played by Katie Holmes. Other potential female roles that could require casting include Selena Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman, Talia al Ghul, Harley Quinn, or another new love interest character that's as yet undisclosed. Eckhart's next role will be the romantic dramady No Reservations, co-starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Ah, Lionsgate. Thank you for keeping the horror film torch burning by bringing us films like the Saw franchise, Hostel, The Descent and so many more to come (as our own Scott reported recently). In the world of modestly budgeted splatter-fests you guys pretty much rule. And now, according to Variety, you've picked up yet another potential winner from your old friends at Filmax -- the horror/thriller The Backwoods, starring Gary Oldman.

When we wrote about this film wayyy last year, it was just a mention regarding the casting of Oldman in the film. And now, over a year later, the film is in the can, getting picked up by a major horror-friendly distributor and is slated for a U.S. release next year. Not bad. Although, it's not that unusual for Lionsgate to acquire product from Filmax considering the long-standing relationship between the two companies. Since 2000, the distributor has picked up quite a few films from the Spanish producer -- including Arachnid, Dagon, Faust and one of my faves -- Beyond Re-Animator.

The Backwoods, directed by first-time feature helmer Koldo Serra, is an English-language thriller set in Basque Country in 1978 which tells the story of a couple on vacation who stumble upon a deformed and seemingly helpless girl trapped in a cabin. Of course, the couple tries to help her and ends up fighting for their lives against the local villagers who have imprisoned the girl. The film co-stars Paddy Considine (who was so good in Jim Sheridan's In America), Aitana Sanchez-Gijon and the super-hot Virginie Ledoyen. Plus, as Gary Oldman happens to be in it and I'm a huge fan of his, I plan on catching this film when it's released. Lionsgate, keep up the good work. For more on The Backwoods, check out its official site.