It's hard to say which event in midtown Manhattan on Thursday night was cooler: New German Cinema legend Werner Herzog in conversation with director Jonathan Demme at the Times Center, or the two crazed climbers who attempted to scale the New York Times building right next door just a few hours earlier. In some ways, the two occurrences worked together: It was later announced that one of the climbers did it in order to raise awareness about global warming, a relevant issue for anyone interested in Herzog's latest film, the remarkable Antarctica odyssey Encounters at the End of the World. Like most of Herzog's documentary work, it's a brilliant amalgam of gorgeous imagery and Herzog's personal philosophies. Not a scientist himself, he spends time in their company down south, seeking to understand their behavior ("Is this a big moment?" he asks when they nonchalantly announce the discovery of a new bacterium).

Demme, admitting that he and Herzog had just met earlier in the evening, opened the conversation by reading an effusive letter to Herzog written by Roger Ebert after the critic discovered that the director dedicated Encounters to him. Herzog seemed displeased that Ebert printed the letter ("Those things should stay between two men") but had only praise for his friend. "I salute him, a good soldier of cinema," he said. "We have very few left."

I really feel like I have to start a Minimates collection. I really dig these uber-cute things -- especially when they pick movies that seem unlikely. Currently, you can get everything from Marvel zombies to Marty McFly. Now /film reports that there's going to be Minimates for the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs. How cool is that!?

The figures to be included in the box set: Clarice Starling sporting her smart business suit, Dr. Lector in blue, the crazy Hannibal Lector with bite-proof mask, straight jacket, and gurney, and of course, a topless Buffalo Bill with his creepy, Death's Head moth. Don't worry, the latter has pants on, so there's no package-tucking with these toys. From one of the released pictures (check out /film), it also looks like the accessories include Bill's night-vision goggles. I wonder what else is in the set!

And those aren't the only tiny toys coming out this year under MGM Movie Minimates. There's also The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, Fistful of Dollars, and Platoon. (Which of these things is not like the others?) This should satisfy Clint Eastwood fans, but now I can't help but wonder what will come next. I have my request...

To the Minimates powers that be: please put out Heathers!

We're a few hours late with this report -- and when I say "we" I actually mean "me, Scott" -- but Sundance saps a whole lot of strength from even the most ardent movie freak. With apologies we I now offer you this week's big fat DVD titles ... and a few old-school pieces of ultra-cheese.

Catch a Fire -- Philip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence) goes political again and delivers a fast-paced and very efficient thriller that focuses on the ways in which governments often create the very enemies they're trying to thwart. (Governments are ironic that way.) Tim Robbins and Derek Luke contribute some very fine work. Extras include a multi-filmmaker commentary and a few deleted scenes.

Farce of the Penguins -- From what I've been hearing from reliable sources, this simplistic spoof is way too little way too late. But if you simply must see a movie in which Bob Saget, Samuel L. Jackson, Dane Cook, Jim Belushi, Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Lovitz and the rest of the Friar's Club provide raunchy voice-over dialogue for a bunch of innocent penguins, hey, here's your dream come true. Extras include a Saget-track, deleted scenes, featurettes and a bunch of other penguin-related silliness.

Flyboys -- Big-budget derring-do war flick ... that dropped absolutely dead at the box office. (Budget: $60 million / Domestic Gross: $13 million) I've yet to see the movie myself, but I do look forward to giving it a fair shake -- even if that "running across the blimp" sequence looks like something out of a post-apocalyptic anime story. Extras include a Tony Bill / Dean Devlin audio commentary, more than a half-dozen featurettes and some deleted scenes.

Gymkata -- Yes! Mid-'80s kung fu wackiness combined with hardcore Mitch Gaylord gymnastical stuff! I swear this movie's funnier by accident than most comedies are on purpose. Extras include the knowledge that you now on Gymkata on DVD.

Last time we talked about Hannibal Rising, it was when a German teaser trailer hit the interwebs and informed us that our favorite cannibal has somehow always had a thing for creepy bite-masks, but now with the arrival of this more traditional theatrical trailer, we seem to have a better grasp on what the prequel's all about. (And by "traditional" I mean "it gives away all the good stuff.") Basically, take the most obvious prequel concept you can imagine (he's younger ... and he still kills people!) and just go from there.

Y'know ... I've been pretty down on this project from the word go, but I'd be lying if I said the trailer did absolutely nothing for me. Even if the flick's just a well-shot period-piece slasher-type confection, I bet I could have a pretty good time with Hannibal Rising. (Maybe.) Written by Thomas Harris (adapted from the novel by, yes, Thomas Harris) and directed by the man who last brought you Girl with a Pearl Earring, HR seems to promise (at the very least) a juicily slimy lead performance by Frenchman Gaspard Ulliel as, yes, Hannibal Lecter. Well, the young version of Hannibal Lecter who stalks, slices and snacks on the evil bastids what killed his family in the war, anyway. And since it's an absolute certainty that this hero villain will survive the slaughters, I guess Hannibal Rising WILL exist as just a well-shot-period-piece slasher flick. We shall see. ...

Plus the supporting cast is suitably colorful: We got Dominic West, Rhys Ifans, Gong Li and Kevin McKidd, so that helps a little. The flick opens (wide, get it?) on February 9, and if you're worried about the content, gorehounds, you needn't bother: Hannibal Rising is rated R for "strong grisly violent content and some language/sexual references."

(Feedback request: What did you think of the new trailer? I want to hear from the long-time Lecterites and the series newbies as well.)

When a movie is as awesome, celebrated and profitable as Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs is, it shouldn't come as a shock when the thing gets a "double-dip" on DVD. (Hell, even flicks like American Pie 2 have been re-released on DVD a half-dozen times!) If you're a hardcore fan of the multiple-Oscar winning horror thriller, then you almost certainly own a copy of the DVD already. But which one? Maybe you have the (now out-of-print and rather valuable) Criterion Collection edition, which offers a phenomenal audio commentary but a non-anamorphic transfer), the Image DVD version (bare-bones, bleachy and mercifully out-of-print as well) or MGM's really solid Special Edition from a few years back. (That's the one I own.)

But since MGM recently signed a home video deal with Fox, you can expect a bunch of their high-end A-list titles to get a digital re-issue some time soon. Case in point: On January 27 you'll be able to purchase an all-new Collector's Edition of The Silence of the Lambs, which, don't forget, was the first film to win the "Top 5" Oscars since 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. (The only other film to accomplish this feat was 1934's It Happened One Night.) I remember being absolutely thrilled when Lambs mopped up that Oscar tele-cast, just like I was elated when Sigourney Weaver earned a nomination for her work in Aliens, basically because I like it when horror films are treated like, y'know, legitimate movies.

So yeah: One of the finest and creepiest serial killer thrillers ever made is about to hit DVD for the fourth time. The new 2-disc set looks to be a Lecter fan's new obsession: Three documentaries, several featurettes, 22 deleted scenes, outtakes, trailers, a booklet and some Hannibal Lecter recipe cards. (Yep, recipe cards.) Unfortunately, Criterion still owns the rights to their superlative old commentary track, which means it won't be appearing on this new release. Darnit.

When you make a list of the top septuagenarian iconic actors, Sir Anthony Hopkins has to rank very near the top. His work in films like Magic, The Bounty, Howard's End and, of course, The Silence of the Lambs has shown his tremendous depth of talent and won him many awards, including a best actor Oscar for playing the suave, sophisticated sociopath Hannibal Lector.

Lately though, his work has seemed -- how should I put it -- uninspired. It's as if he feels he's proven all he needs to prove and doesn't care to work so hard anymore. Or maybe its just his choice of films lately (like Hannibal and the equally forgettable Bad Company and Alexander) that makes me think Hopkins has decided it's okay to rest on his impressive laurels?

Whatever may be happening with Hopkins at the moment, there may be hope for the man yet because he's returning to familiar ground with his latest choice of projects. According to Production Weekly, Hopkins will re-team with frequent collaborator James Ivory and star in The City of Your Final Destination for the director. The film, based on the novel by Peter Cameron and adapted by another longtime Ivory collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, tells the story of an Iranian-born student who travels to Argentina to seek permission from a deceased author's family to write a biography of his life.

Once there, he confronts the family and by doing so forces them to take a hard look at their lives and face one of their greatest fears -- the future. Hopkins joins Omar Metwally, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Hiro Sanada and the terrific Laura Linney who are already cast in the film. This marks Hopkins' fourth time around with director Ivory. Their three previous collaborations on The Remains of the Day, Surviving Picasso and the previously mentioned Howard's End have resulted in Hopkins delivering some of the best performances of his career. Maybe this fourth go-around will inspire something in the actor and will help him return to the form that made him the icon he is today. As a fan of the man and his work, I hope so.