Us critics, we don't hate Michael Bay. Well, not all of us, and not all the time. I wasn't a fan of his Transformers, nor Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and I haven't watched The Rock or Armageddon in their entirety in years, but I distinctly enjoyed 2005's The Island during its ill-fated theatrical run (gross: $35 million, cost: between three and four times that), and I still do as a decent sci-fi/action matinee outing.

But how?, I've been asked. It does after all bear every other trademark of a Michael Bay outing: explosions, rampant product placement, blatant racial stereotypes, explosions, perpetual dusk lighting, explosions, and a female lead constantly flattered by her wardrobe (yeah, a real woe-is-us scenario).

Two more have been added to the ever large Iron Man 2 roster, according to The Hollywood Reporter and with production all nice, quiet and secret save for Jon Favreau's Tweets, we can speculate endlessly on what their additions might mean.

The first is a no-brainer, as Clark Gregg is returning as Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. Having hammered out the acronym, he gets to come back and try to keep Tony on the straight, narrow, and heroic. I think that's nice. You could just have any old agent, but they're keeping Gregg.

The female addition is what's really interesting. Kate Mara has joined the cast in an unspecified role. I'm going to just throw out a random guess (based largely on her looks) that she's playing Bethany Cabe. I can't believe they'd throw another love interest or action chick into the mix, but Cabe helps to defend Tony against Whiplash and Justin Hammer. She also suits up in some old Iron Man armor alongside Rhodes' War Machine to battle the giant robot Ultimo. The groundwork is there, but it's an awful lot of action and romance for one film. Perhaps Cabe will simply show up as Stark Industries' Head of Security, ready to do her part later on? Maybe she's just a love interest for Hammer? We'll know soon enough.

But wow, three redheads in one Marvel film? I thought it was Wolverine who had that particular fetish. Go Tony!

In an ideal world, I would want to see a fiery Russian play Black Widow in the upcoming Iron Man 2, but this is Hollywood, and nationality usually has little to do with casting. So, the spotlight turned to the UK, and the talented Emily Blunt became the IT-girl. However, there's also this little project called Gulliver's Travels, and the Jack Black-led little project might force Blunt to back out of the sequel.

Who could possibly take her place? According to Entertainment Weekly, it could be Scarlett Johansson, who has been in talks to take on the role.

Either the casting Powers That Be took the stupid pills, or this rumor is very false. (Or, they talked to her just to appease her interest.) By now, it's fairly obvious that big names + big talent is what makes these superhero projects so successful, and Johansson certainly hasn't made a "big talent" name for herself. Superstar presence, yes. Woman with acting chops ... not so much. After the mess surrounding Terrence Howard (a man with much more cred), you'd think they'd be even more picky than usual.

Therefore, in light of this news, you might want to start helping Marvel find a suitable replacement, or hope that these projects don't interfere. I'd imagine there's a good chance for the latter (production on Gulliver's starts on April 15, but Iron Man 2 doesn't even have a shooting script yet), but it's better to be safe than ScarJo sorry. Share your casting ideas below!

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.

Cinematical has received three (count 'em three!) exclusive Christmas-related TV spots for The Spirit, directed by Frank Miller (300, Sin City), and starring a whole crop of pretty faces like Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Paulson, Jaime King and Samuel L. Jackson. Each of these TV spots look the same, except a different character is featured. One puts Sand Sarif (Mendes) front and center, one focuses more on The Octopus (Jackson), and one teases us with a little Ellen Doran (Paulson). Check out the first spot below, and the other two after the jump.

The Spirit slides its way down your chimney on Christmas Day.

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.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive final poster for The Spirit, which sports Frank Miller's (300, Sin City) solo directorial debut and stars Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Paulson and our favorite fangirl, Jaime King. Based on Will Eisner's famed comic book series. The Spirit tells of a rookie cop who returns from the dead to fight crime in the shadows of Central City and square off against the villainous Octopus (Jackson), who kills anyone unlucky enough to see his face ... all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader. Check out a larger version of this poster in the gallery below.



The Spirit is due in theaters on Christmas Day.

Gallery: The Spirit

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.

Embedded above is the trailer for New York, I Love You, an anthology of shorts from the producers of the similar Paris, Je T'aime, and going off this taste alone, I'd be willing to say that this might turn out to be just as winsome as that film was.

Several directors -- among them: Mira Nair, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and, um, Brett Ratner -- and even more actors -- including Bradley Cooper, Chris Cooper, Julie Christie, John Hurt, Ethan Hawke, Orlando Bloom, Shia LaBeouf, Kevin Bacon, Maggie Q, and again, Portman -- come together with tales of love and life in the various neighborhoods of NYC.

The film is scheduled to make its world premiere at the fast approaching Toronto International Film Festival next month, and if IMDb is to be believed, it'll open in the States next February and eventually be followed by the likes of Shanghai...

For those who've always wondered what movie bloggers talk about late on a Sunday night, look no further as last night my buddy Peter over at Slashfilm emailed me a tip on a film featuring Scarlett Johansson at 13. No, we're not pervs, Peter had come across the awful kids flick on TV and thought it would make a fine Stars in Rewind post. I had never heard of My Brother the Pig, and so upon checking out the clip I was (pleasantly?) surprised to not only see Scarlett doing her 13-year-old thing, but also early Eva Mendez before she changed her last name to Mendes. Better yet, she's playing Johansson's nanny Matilda with a thick Spanish accent. Thankfully Mendes eventually grew up and became hot, removing her from a Hollywood life full of playing the nanny for rich white folk.

My Brother the Pig sort of reminds me of Adventures in Babysitting, except one sibling was accidentally turned into a pig and there's no male teenager to crush on Johansson or her almost-but-not-quite-hot-yet nanny Eva Mendes (ie: This isn't the Johansson threesome you want to see). Also making an appearance as the clueless dad? Yup, Judge Reinhold! You know it's bad when the six different pigs used in the film are credited on the movie's IMDb page. Damn, I can probably do another 500-1000 words on this sick flick, but I'd rather stop here and let you enjoy the clip above.

Anyone have fond memories of My Brother the Pig?