After starting her career only a handful of years ago, German actress Diane Kruger has made a recognizable career out of her face. She's starred as Helen of Troy in the pretty crappy Troy, the mysterious other woman in Wicker Park and the sexy estrogen in National Treasure. In promotion of her new film, Copying Beethoven, Kruger spoke with The Sydney Morning Herald and had some interesting things to say. The most notable: she should have been cast in Cate Blanchett's role in The Good German. It seems that the actress just can't get over the fact that she wasn't given a chance.

According to the actress, she tried for over a year to convince the producers of the film that she "was the only woman who could play the part." She continues: "I mean, it's the good German, right? Cate Blanchett is definitely my favourite actress, but it's frustrating to not even get the opportunity." According to the article, this statement was followed by "an exasperated 'Aaaggghhh'." Sure, there is a point buried in there -- I can understand the argument for using the right ethnic background for a role. It saves us from the dreaded accent slips (Kruger has been slighted herself for that), makes things more authentic and allows some great talent to get wider recognition.

But really, she's putting her foot in her mouth. Her career is based on her French and English roles, not German ones. Essentially, she's put herself above every notable German actress, and has chastised the process that has made her career. Topping all that off, her career really isn't something that she can hold up to Blanchett's. She should take her own advice: "I keep bringing that up in interviews, which I probably shouldn't." She's got the choice to make. Does she want to hone her craft and follow in the footsteps of Blanchett, or take the route J-Lo did with that infamous Movieline article?

The World War II movie Days of Glory opens today on 3 screens. That's not to be confused with another movie called Days of Glory, from 1944, or the other one from 1945. Nor is it to be confused with Hope and Glory, Paths of Glory, What Price Glory, Bound for Glory, Days of Heaven, Days of Thunder, or just plain Glory.

In the past, war movies used to be about something. By the titles alone, you could go to a movie expecting to see Attacks, Battles, Bridges, Boats, The Big Red One, Bullets, Dawn Patrols, Dirty Dozens, Fighting Sullivans, Fixed Bayonets, Flying Leathernecks, Great Escapes, Guns of Navarone, Merrill's Marauders, and even Full Metal Jackets. Titles like these make you want to roar and holler and tear around the woods, ripping right through enemy cover with thunder and trumpets driving you on.

Tooling around online this morning, I came across a cutesy little story on Variety in which Robert Vernini tells us (with a wink and a nudge) which recent films will eventually be remade, who will star and how the whole thing will go down. He begins in the year 2012 where, according to Vernini, we will see a new version of Volver set in New Orleans, and starring Halle Berry. Ooohh, and Dakota Fanning takes over the Anne Hathaway role in a remake of The Devil Wears Prada (with John Travolta in drag as Miranda Priestley), while the Olsen twins attempt an updated version of The Holiday ... but the project gets canned when the girls keep forgetting who is playing who.

Having fun yet? Next up is the year 2017, where Steven Soderbergh remakes his own The Good German -- but this time, he finds a way to digitally add in performances by Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Berman and John Hodiak. After Happy Feet: The Musical hits Broadway, folks think it's time to bring that box office beast back to the big screen. Al Gore teams up with Aardman for An Inconvenient Truth: The Animated Musical, with Billy Crystal as the voice of Carbon Dioxide. And, whaddya know, Ms. Fanning is back -- this time as director -- for a remake of Dreamgirls, rewritten to follow the story of the Dixie Chicks.

It keeps going from there -- 2032 and 2057 make appearances -- and the remakes turn even more bizarre (Flags of Our Grandfathers?), but it poses an interesting question (one I shall ask you): Which of todays films have the potential to be remade in five, ten or twenty years from now?

It's official. Berlinale has announced the six contenders in their film competition. Those in the running include some Berlin favorites as well as American repeats. Here is the list of nominees:

• The Good German -- which has received mixed reviews in America -- is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars George Clooney (a Berlinale regular), Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire. The film takes place in a post war Berlin where an investigative reporter finds himself in the center of a murder mystery. The controversy continues when unexpected people from his past become inconveniently intertwined.

• The Good Shepherd is an interesting pick to say the least. Robert DeNiro both stars in and directs a film that has yet to receive any noteworthy appreciation. Matt Damon (not my favorite) and Angelina Jolie (strangely miscast) play a couple who is ultimately torn apart by Damon's occupation with the CIA. It also takes place in the 1930s; maybe Berlinale is dwelling in this era a bit this year?

• German director Christian Petzold will be showing his second Berlinale nominated film Yella. The storyline profiles a woman who wishes to escape a life that refuses to stop following her no matter where she relocates.

• Irina Palm starring Marianne Faithful is the second film made by Belgian director Sam Garbarski. Faithful plays a struggling widow who takes a sex position in order to survive.

• Goodbye Bafana is an intriguing true-life story about the prison guard who protected Nelson Mandela during his internment. Billie August directs as Joseph Fiennes plays James Gregory, the prison guard.

• Last but not least is a film from South Korean director Chan-wook Park. I Am A Cyborg But That's Ok tells the story of a woman living in a psychiatric hospital who believes she is a cyborg (this may be about me soon due to my recent obsession with Battlestar Gallactica). During her stay she falls in love with a man suffering from mental ailments of his own.

From the outset -- slanting credits in white over grainy, shuddering stock-footage -- The Good German declares itself a product of a bygone age. And we're seeing an age gone by; Berlin, June, 1945, as broken people walk broken streets and an uneasy peace is built while fighting in the Pacific goes on. Army journalist Capt. Jake Geismer (George Clooney) is here to report on the Potsdam conference, as Stalin, Truman and Churchill meet to partition Germany. Before the war, Jake was in Berlin; it's a different city now, rubble run by guys like his motor pool driver, Tully (Tobey Maguire). Tully's having fun and making money, playing everyone in the city for a patsy aided by the air of chaos and doom: "The whole city spread its legs for you -- that whole eat, drink and be merry bullshit, seize the day -- It didn't make anyone smarter. ..."

Tully doesn't think of himself as such a bad guy; he's more than willing to help the girl he pimps get out of the country. Maguire's work -- coupled with Paul Attanasio's screen adaptation of Joseph Kanon's novel -- make it clear that Tully is one of those men who finds in war a chance to be someone -- or something -- that peace would not afford him. And, as fate would have it, Tully's new girlfriend is Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett, eyes dark and voice husky), a German who used to work for Jake when he was in Berlin. Jake and Lena were also lovers; now, they're just two people who used to know each other.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, The Good German isn't a badly-made film; just the opposite. The problem is that it's so well-made -- camera work, vocal recording techniques, process shots and film stock are all carefully manipulated to make The Good German look as if it was made around the time it's set -- that every time I felt The Good German's story and characters pull me in, some incredibly movie-conscious movie moment would be so strongly crafted and cut that it would make me acutely aware I was watching a movie; it's hard to be enmeshed in a character's emotional journey when your brain is screaming out what a great, retro-styled insert Soderbergh (who also served as his own director of photography) just put into the scene.

It's a fairly rare and always interesting phenomenon when a filmmaker releases two films in the same year. John Ford made three in 1939, Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln and Drums Along the Mohawk. Alfred Hitchcock released two in 1941, the thriller Suspicion and the romantic comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Howard Hawks had a one-two punch in 1952 with his Western adventure The Big Sky and a screwball comedy Monkey Business. And in 2002, director Phillip Noyce impressed critics everywhere with two politically-tinged dramas, Rabbit-Proof Fence and The Quiet American. But in these and other cases, one can always see the connection, if nothing else a particular sensibility or personality in each work.

I'm hard pressed to think of two more different films than Steven Soderbergh's Bubble and The Good German, released at the far opposite ends of 2006. The shot-on-video Bubble seemed to push the edges of the future of cinema with its astonishing deep-focus cinematography, its impressive working-class settings and its captivating characters (played by amateur actors). Additionally, the film tried a new stunt, being almost simultaneously released in theaters and on DVD. Whereas The Good German gets its inspiration entirely from the past, presented in luminous black-and-white film, set in post-World War II Berlin and featuring good old-fashioned movie stars.

With so many movies crowding the box office these days, distributors have to try to produce marketing for their films that will cut through the cacophony of TV, radio, iPods and ringing cell phones. It can be hard to produce a poster that is eye-catching enough to make you stop and give it a second look. What's the last poster that really caught your eye? The blog Sam's Myth has a nice collection up of his favorite five posters from the past year. While we don't agree with all of his choices (Nacho Libre, really?) -- for the most part they're nice picks from the absurd amount that were seen plastered around a town near you.

Check out the poster for Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which proves that a movie doesn't have to be great to have a fantastic poster. This is basically a concert film, but the poster really pops and has a 60s/70s feeling to it. Plus, a film like Hard Candy, which was barely a blip on the radar, has what is probably the most visually arresting poster from the entire year. I'm a huge fan of retro art and magic, so naturally I rushed out to see both films that were set in the world of turn-of-the-century magic. I thought The Illusionist was extremely engaging, but The Prestige fell a bit flat for me. The same is true for their posters, as well. In fact, The Illusionist is probably my favorite poster from this year, besides the Superman Returns poster that pays homage to the amazing artwork of Alex Ross.

However, this year has also produced some posters that weren't worth the adhesive they were hung with. What's with The Good German directly ripping off Casablanca? That's a classic movie poster that shouldn't be imitated, and there's a fine line between homage and copying.

Look for my inner Grinch to come out as I post the Worst Movie Posters of 2006 just before Christmas. Bah, humbug!

I have to admit that I'm a pretty big fan of the original Stargate film. Sure, there are one or two cringe-worthy moments -- particularly the one where the "mentally challenged" guy tries to run to safety in glorious slo-mo during a firefight but instead, gets blown up. I'm sorry, but that sequence made me chuckle instead of cry. It was just so much unexpected cheese --- almost as if it came from another movie. I know, cynical and jaded, right? Yeah, that's me. Other than that, and one or two minor issues, the film was a solid piece of Sci-Fi / Action filmmaking that I've watched several more times and continue to enjoy.

I found it a little strange that no sequel to the film was ever produced. Maybe it was too hard to get Kurt Russell and James Spader in the same room? For whatever reason, the producers of the film decided that the interests of the story and the fans would better be served on television -- and thus, Stargate SG-1 the TV series was born. After its debut, the series became a monster hit lasting eight seasons so far and spawning a spin-off of its own called Stargate: Atlantis. And that pretty much brings us up to date on the world of Stargate. That is, until actor Beau Bridges recently let slip some details concerning developments in the Stargate world.

According to our buddies over at Coming Soon, Bridges, while at the premiere of Steven Soderberg's The Good German, was asked what's in the future for the long-running Stargate SG-1 series. His answer: movies. According to Bridges: "They're talking about doing a couple of movies. I haven't actually signed on the dotted line, but there is talk about it." As you may know, Bridges plays Major General Hank Landry on Stargate SG-1, so it makes sense that he would probably know at least some details concerning any future theatrical plans for the current series. According to Bridges, he hasn't actually seen a script yet but when asked if the scripts were finished, he said: "Yes, I think they must be. Yes." So Stargate fans, if you've been waiting for the franchise's glorious return to the silver screen, you just may get you wish.

While browsing around online this morning searching for a good poll topic, I happened upon The Movie Blog where our buddy John was pondering (when is he not pondering?) the decline of Denzel Washington's career. Sure, Deja Vu opened third this weekend with a respectable $20 million, but there was a time when it was all about Denzel -- you couldn't mention the words 'black actor' without his name coming up, while women everywhere fantasized about Denzel sweeping them off their feet. However, and John points to this as his possible downfall, ever since the man took home a Best Actor Oscar for Training Day, his star power has slowly faded and, now, his appearance in a film does not guarantee it a number one slot at the box office. That's not to say his acting has gotten worse -- in fact, he's one of the only actors who consistently makes good films. But something is missing. Denzel is no longer Denzel.

Personally, I feel we're at an interesting time right now, and those huge, A-list box office champs are slowly fading from power. In its fourth week, Babel has only grossed $12 million, despite the fact that Brad Pitt is in it. Granted, it's only played in over one thousand theaters for two of those four weeks, but that's still a low figure for such a big name. They're offering Will Ferrell $29 million to do Elf 2, but Stranger Than Fiction tanked in theaters (only $22 million). Pretty soon George Clooney will find his way back onto the big screen in The Good German, though there's a pretty good chance that film won't do too well either. And what about Blood Diamond -- will Leo DiCaprio attract a decent audience for that pic? Probably ... not. So, is it that these men are still popular, but only when surrounded by three or four other supposed A-listers? Have we gotten so used to ensemble pieces (Ocean's Franchise, The Departed), that one man just can't carry a film anymore? Or, are our favorite hot shots on their way out?

So, I ask you: Does the power of an A-List actor still exist? Or, does it only exist when it's surrounded by two or three other A-list actors?

It's a little strange to hear one of the pioneers of independent film long for the old days of the studio system. In a recent New York Times article, Stephen Soderbergh talks about how and why he recreated the golden age of film making with his new pic The Good German.

Soderbergh decided to run his production using techniques of classic Hollywood film making. The attention to detail included dialog recorded with boom mics rather than modern body microphones, using period lenses, less camera movement and fuller frames. It all added up to a film that has gone way beyond homage and has transformed into a full-fledged reproduction. Soderbergh's inspiration for the film was Casablanca director Michael Curtiz, "I often think I would have been so happy to be Michael Curtiz, making a couple of movies a year of all different kinds, working with the best technicians. I would have been in heaven, just going in to work every day."

The classic studio system was a mix of art and mass production -- they didn't call it the Dream Factory for nothing. It did, however, give filmmakers the chance to make all kinds of films. Well, Soderbergh might not have the safety net of the old system, but he seems to be doing all right in finding a variety of projects for himself. Coming up for Soderbergh is Guerrilla, a biography of Che Guevara (2008) and, of course, the next installment in the Ocean's series, Ocean's Thirteen. The Good German opens December 15.