Here's what we currently know about Christopher Nolan's between-Batmans project, Inception:

• It is not, as initially asserted by a commenter, concerning "a war for the colonization of Venus."


• It is more likely along the lines of a sci-fi action film "set within the architecture of the mind" (which, coming from the brains behind The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and Memento, is a scary-thrilling thought).


• Currently on board are Leonardo DiCaprio (as some sort of CEO), Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, and Michael Caine...

...and, according to THR, rounding out the ensemble (for now) are Ken "Batman Begins" Watanabe as a blackmailing villain and Tom "apparently awesome in Bronson" Hardy as a colleague of DiCaprio's.

Sorry to be Avatar-level vague, but with a cast like this and a crew like that, there's little left to do but twiddle our thumbs and hope for the best between now and next summer. Either that, or Nolan just recast most of the third Batman film and doesn't want Christian Bale to know...

To believe or not to believe:

MTV has posted an exclusive that says Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, and Matthew McConaughey are teaming up for a new heist thriller. However, the news doesn't come from the most reliable source -- Mr. Caine himself. Last time he mentioned an upcoming film, he was confirming the casting of Johnny Depp and Philip Seymour Hoffman in a new Batman movie, which MTV later debunked. Spotty memory or not, I'm inclined to believe this. Having a crappy memory might make you misremember conversations about future projects, but not completely create them out of thin air (unless he's going crazy!?). Besides, the project Caine is most likely referring to is the heist thriller Brilliance, starring Scarlett Johansson, which we first reported all the way back in September 2007.

I am both intrigued and repelled by this news. Should this go the fluff route that most of McConaughey's flicks have taken lately, it could be shite. However, if they can whip up something funny, but more charismatically subdued (like Dazed and Confused), I'm there. I better stop musing though -- thoughts of Wooderson with some snarky Rebecca will only leave me disappointed.

What can we say -- it's MTV hour here on Cinematical. While grabbing any and every actor ever involved in a superhero film during the Toronto International Film Festival, MTV managed to get a kinda sorta confirmation from Michael Caine that both Johnny Depp and Philip Seymour Hoffman were being considered for the roles of Riddler and Penguin in the next Batman movie. I know, we've gone over this already -- they're just rumors -- but according to Caine, a Warner Bros. executive backed it all up.

Here's what he told MTV: "I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, 'Are we going to make another one?' They said yeah. I said, 'How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says 'I'll tell you how you top Heath - Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.' I said, 'S–t, they've done it again!'"

Of course, said exec could be talking hypothetically, in a "We top Heath by bringing on two more A-listers to play two popular villains" sorta way. Seeing as there's no script and no deal for Christopher Nolan (yet), I'm pretty sure they're not at the stage where offers are going out. But it is reassuring to see the studio listening to the fans and actively pursuing a way to "top Heath" -- know what I mean? Then again, maybe both Depp and Hoffman know more than they're letting on ...

Whaddya think?

These people just landed a part in a movie and you didn't:

Sorry boys, but Jessica Alba has officially become a math nerd. Oh yes, Variety tells us the actress has signed on to star in An Invisible Sign of My Own, based on the book by Aimee Bender. Marilyn Agrelo (Mad Hot Ballroom) will direct the flick, which follows a woman who becomes obsessed with numbers and math ... and then lands a gig as a second-grade math teacher. Hot, steamy gratuitous love-making scene not included.

Val Kilmer has decided he needs more action in his life, as the dude has hopped onboard the crime thriller Fake Identity for Nu Image/Millennium Films. The film, to be directed by Dennis Dimster-Denk (or Triple D, as I like to call him), tells of a doctor (Kilmer) who, while working in Chechnya, helps a woman escape from her would-be assailant and then watches a whole movie's worth of crazy stuff happen to him. (Variety)

I know, I've totally been waiting for Michael Caine to kick some serious ass too! Luckily, Variety tells us the actor has joined the British crime thriller Harry Brown. Who's Harry Brown, you ask? Well, he's an "elderly former serviceman drawn to vigilantism while living in a run-down 'burb rife with gangs, guns and drugs." Daniel Barber directs, while Emily Mortimer co-stars as a policewoman. And LL Cool J raps ... "Caine gonna knock you out ..."

Right about here is where all the gushing and excitement and enthusiasm should begin, because I'll tell you right off the "bat" that Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is cause for celebration indeed. But then you'll figure out -- after only one sentence -- that I pretty much loved this movie, and then you'll head off to another, more unpredictable film critic. But it's the WHY that interests me so much. What I enjoyed about Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Hellboy 2 could probably be covered in one lengthy -- and inevitably nerd-tastic -- conversation between the two of us. But The Dark Knight... Well, clearly we're approaching a whole new level here.

Several of the pre-release gushings are accurate. Some say "Scorsesian" and others reference Michael Mann. Many spend paragraphs on the (truly amazing) penultimate performance by Heath Ledger, while others will revel in the grown-up tone or epic scope of the film. What amazed me most about The Dark Knight, among several things, is that the flick's got more layers than an onion farm -- and yet it never loses touch with the idea of FUN. True that we're talking about a comic book fun that's decidedly more melancholy than the cinematic exploits of The Marvel Gang, but dang if TDK isn't supremely satisfying for about a dozen different reasons.

The pop-culture appetite for Batman seems inexhaustible; thousands of comic books, several movies, endless animated iterations, some of which are quite good and some of which are rather bad. Is there any real need to return to the character beyond the profit motive, though? After the financial and critical success of Batman Begins, the powers-that-be behind The Dark Knight could have made a safe bet of a sequel; a little more action, a few more actors, more of the same and a few extra explosions.

What's telling about The Dark Knight, though, is how risky it is -- how it's bold and brave and truly exciting, full of rich and strong performances and some real ideas along the way. Why return to Batman? It turns out that for Christopher Nolan, the reason to come back is that there's something to say about, and with, the character even after decades of stories and multiple reinventions. I was hoping The Dark Knight would be good; I had no idea that director and co-writer Christopher Nolan was going to make a film that not only addressed the philosophical and political conflict between the rule of force and the rule of law but also takes on the timeless clash between order and chaos ... and, along the way, evokes everything from Michael Mann's Heat to John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. ...

In telling the story of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, director Anton Corbjin focuses on his wife Deborah (Samantha Morton) as much as the singer (Sam Riley) himself. Control hits DVD today courtesy of The Weinstein Co.; Corbijn contributes an audio commentary and a conversation. Other extras include a "making of" feature, extended live performances, and music videos from Joy Division and the Killers. James Rocchi reviewed Control and so did Christopher Campbell.

Mr. Rocchi also saw Olivier Assayas' Boarding Gate, but he noticed one problem: "The film has no motor to drive it. " Even the more adventurous and/or devoted fans of director Assayas may wish to proceed with caution. Asia Argento and Michael Madsen star. The DVD from Magnet Releasing includes interviews with Ms. Argento and a feature entitled: "Boarding Gate: In Touch with Asia."

Michael Radford's heist film Flawless inspired Eric D. Snider to write a glowing guarded recommendation; he concluded: "Michael Caine and the rest of the mostly British cast are serious enough to pull the job off, and they make the flick eminently watchable." Look for the DVD from Magnolia.

Do you really need to know what Twisted: A Balloonamentary is about? The title alone justifies a rental, but if you insist on knowing more, I refer you to Richard von Busack's recent post on the film's theatrical success. The DVD includes an audio commentary, deleted scenes, and much more.

Between Forgetting Sarah Marshall last week, and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay this week, the comedy world is all aflutter with dangerous vacations, whether that danger is watching your newly ex-girlfriend snuggle up to her raunchy new pop-star boyfriend, or heading to Amsterdam to get some Maria lovin'.

So this time around, I figured I would dip into vacations that go bad. We could break into the smaller-scale travel films, where protagonists only go a town or state over, but Harold and Kumar already did the close traveling. Now they're going a heck of a lot farther. Interesting adventures, strange people, and romantic dysfunction are the players in this game, and for this week's double feature, I give you: Blame it on Rio and Joe Versus the Volcano.

And, just to be clear, me choosing two infamously bad movies says nothing about my thoughts on H&K. I swear!

Nearly a year after its international premiere at Cannes, My Brother is an Only Child (ThinkFilm) opened at the top of the indie weekend box office returns, according to Box Office Mojo. Playing at just one theater in Manhattan, the film grossed $10,500. My Brother "follows two brothers through years of Italian history, with their personal and political travails echoing down the years," Cinematical's James Rocchi wrote last year. "Even with it's merits as a light-but-sentimental story of family in 1960's Italy, it also reminded me of the soaring, sweeping, astonishing La Meglio Gioventù (The Best of Youth) -- and wound up completely winning me over." The film will roll out to other cities over the next three weeks, per the distributor's web site.

Immigration family tale Under the Same Moon (Fox Searchlight / The Weinstein Co.) continues to perform well, earning $5,771 per screen as it expanded to 390 theaters in its second week. Leonard Klady at Movie City News commented that the film is "playing in a mix of Hispanic, art and mainstream locations but with rare exception is working best in the former venues." Also in its second week, Love Songs (IFC), Christophe Honoré's French-language modern musical, held onto most of its audience, averaging $6,800 at two Manhattan theaters.

I guess it was because I grew up with Michael Caine as the star of such fantastic flicks as Jaws: The Revenge and Blame it on Rio that it took me awhile until I really understood why everyone thought he was such a genius. For me, the revelation came about 10 minutes into Sleuth, by far one his best performances. Guardian reports that two of Caine's early works are getting the HD treatment. In honor of Caine's upcoming 75th birthday, Zulu and The Italian Job will be re-mastered and aired on Britain's Sky Movies for television.

Released in 1964, Zulu was the story of outnumbered British soldiers battling Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift. This was Caine's first starring role in the true-life story (albeit with some creative license) as Lt. Gonville Bromhead. The Italian Job is the more famous of the two films. Peter Collinson's caper about a plan to steal Turin gold starred Caine as master thief Charlie Croker. It was another iconic role for Caine, who was already the epitome of Swingin' London. It also led him to some his most famous roles in the 1970's including Get Carter and Sleuth.

Expect to see a lot of retrospectives in the coming year as Hollywood continues to reformat their back catalogs for HD. For movie lovers it comes as a relief that these classics are being preserved for future generations. According to Sky Movies' Ian Lewis: "Watching a classic title re-mastered in HD is like viewing a restored painting." Luckily, Caine was a little more pragmatic about some of the downsides of HD resolution: "I love HD ... of course, it's very unforgiving, especially on young beautiful ladies, but thank God I'm old, I don't care."