Yesterday, Scott posted a terrific month-by-month report card looking back the 2008 movie scene from the halfway point. With the interval between theatrical and DVD release dates shrinking steadily, a lot of the movies from January through June are either already available on DVD, or soon will be. For your consideration, here are what I consider to be seven underseen, underexposed, and/or unfairly overlooked gems from the year to date. Something to consider next time you log on to Netflix.

In no particular order:

1. Charlie Bartlett - I'll clamber out on a limb and call Charlie Bartlett the most valuable movie for young teenagers this decade (despite its R rating). Most films for kids and teens unthinkingly implore them not to worry about being popular -- do your own thing! Don't worry about what your peers think of you! Good advice in the abstract, maybe, but completely detached from reality for most school-age kids, who have to, you know, go to school, and eat in the cafeteria. Charlie Bartlett is smart enough to realize this. Rather than imploring kids to "be themselves," it wants to say something about what the ones who are actually popular should do with their popularity. For once, it's a movie with a message aimed not at the misfits but at the leaders: the kids who are smart, charismatic and capable; the schoolyard trendsetters and tastemakers. It powerfully suggests the importance of using that influence for good instead of evil. Oh, and it's bright, sincere, and very funny, with a downright miraculous performance by Anton Yelchin.

Came across a blog post over at the New York Post today that talked about a sequel for The Other Boleyn Girl, based on another novel from Philippa Gregory called The Boleyn Inheritance. They claim producers have approved the sequel and are moving ahead on it, despite the fact that the first one hasn't even made a profit yet. Strange, for sure, though keep in mind there's nothing official yet and, um, it's the New York Post we're talking about here.

Boleyn sequel aside, they did remind me of this fabulous SNL Digital Short featuring Natalie Portman as a hard-edged, gangsta version of herself. This is an older clip from one of their earlier digital shorts, but it's so awesome, so funny and so adorable that we just had to throw it up as the video of the day.

Question: Which Natalie do you prefer? The Boleyn girl or the rapper chick? (I should probably also ask if you'd like to see a sequel to The Other Boleyn Girl, too?)

The Other Boleyn Girl, based on Philippa Gregory's novel about the relationship between Henry VIII (Eric Bana) and Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary (Scarlett Johansson) Boleyn, gives you everything you've come to expect from a modern historical drama. The costumes are gorgeous; the lighting's suitably muted. The drawing-room scenes are like something out of Rembrandt; the kitchen scenes like something out of Bosch. There are a great number of shots of people striding purposefully out of dark rooms, or of horses racing across the landscape, their speed unimpeded by the gravity of the news their riders bring. Personal squabbles turn into political struggles; moments of passion are contemplated as possible foundations for 100-year dynasties. There are fights and tights, gowns and frowns, tears and blood and sweat.

But, at the same time, The Other Boleyn Girl fails to give you anything other than what you've come to expect from the modern costume drama; it doesn't have that little something extra that could make it truly exceptional. The film lacks the baroque lunacy of Elizabeth, or the moral weight of A Man for All Seasons, the silken sexual gamesmanship of Dangerous Liaisons or the rich metaphors of Girl with a Pearl Earring. The Other Boleyn Girl, to quote another great costume drama, has no spur to prick the sides of its intent; it just sort of goes from happy days at the family estate to grim ones at the chopping block, drifting like a lazy sailboat whose sails are occasionally filled with enough shouting to nudge the plot from one scene to the next.

I wouldn't consider Henry VIII to be tasty Valentine's fare, but that's just because I don't find anything sexy in a gluttonous, pissy decapitator. However, well before he became that jerk, Henry was quite the ladies man, and just in time for the day of love, Empire has thrown up an exclusive clip from The Other Boleyn Girl. The film stars Eric Bana as Henry, Scarlett Johansson as Mary, and Natalie Portman as the classic Anne. The tale -- that's simple. The two ambitious sisters fight for the love of King Henry VIII.

Man, Mary got the better deal there. Sure, she was later banished for marrying beneath her station, but it's better than the guillotine. Anyway, in this scene, Mary is getting the royal press from Bana's Henry. He brings her to his room, flatters her, plays the understanding 2nd-child bit, and goes in for the kiss.

For some reason, Scarlett always distracts me in period pieces. It never happens in her present-day work, but when she gets that long hair and old clothing, it seems more dress-up than a look back in time. Still, I really like how she lightly shakes her head for a moment before he leans in -- subtle and nice. The film hits theaters on the 29th.

Some enterprising journalist at today's Manhattan junket for The Other Boleyn Girl decided to pull Natalie Portman's chain on issues of women in film, and well ... she has a lot to say on that subject. I'll let her take over. "I've recently been getting frustrated. [turns to Scarlett Johansson] I don't know if you've had this experience, but we're probably seeing a lot of the same variety of what's out there, but I mean the number of roles for strippers or prostitutes -- or the opposite -- which, is like, 'She's the moral center of the film! She's the pure one. She's the one that makes the man realize who he should be', you know? That sort of dichotomy exists so strongly, it's like the virgin/whore thing evident to the greatest extent. So that's really been bothering me. Sort of finding a character who is complicated, like the women in this film, is very, very exciting. Also, I love comedies so much, but any kind of comedy the girl's like 'in fashion' or she's really into clothes, or like, she just wants to get married. Those are not values that I care to jump on the bandwagon of. I'd love to do a comedy. I'd love to do a romantic comedy, but you don't find something where the woman has, like, a real job.... so yeah, it is frustrating, but I also don't want to bitch about it."

Portman was much more circumspect when asked what we could see from her next on the big screen. She did say that she's already completed her work on the heavy romance-triangle drama Brothers -- wow, that was fast -- but said nothing about any future projects, like the Francis Lawrence martial arts fantasy she had been linked with a while back, or anything else. And I was nice enough to spare her the question about when she'll do a sequel to The Professional -- she gets that one at every junket.

Aussie thespian Eric Bana was on hand at today's junket for The Other Boleyn Girl in Manhattan, and no surprise -- he was peppered with questions about his recent, confusing comments regarding his role in the upcoming J.J. Abrams film adaptation of Star Trek. Bana was recently quoted in an Australian newspaper as speaking of the part of Nero -- thought to be the film's main villain -- as only a "cameo," so after a few polite questions about TOBG were tossed around today, I broached the subject with Bana. Isn't Nero the main villain in this movie, I asked? To which he replied: "Well, I guess he kind of is, but I guess what I mean is that in the context of the roles I usually do, the weight is firmly on other areas, you know what I mean? It's not one of those roles where you're carrying the movie, is what I'm saying. I feel like I'm very much in a supporting role, not one of the main guys. So 'cameo' is a way of saying I don't feel like, as I am in this film or some other films, where you're clearly carrying a lot of the film. It's a luxury to not be in that position. It's nice to be offered a part like that."

Bana went on to say that he had not filmed his part yet. "They started shooting quite a while ago," he said. "I've got the plum gig on that film, I've gotta say. I haven't even started yet. I just go in at the very end and do my cameo." When asked if he was a 'Trekkie,' he responded thusly: "I like the show, I liked the original as a kid. I loved it. I haven't seen a lot of the movies since, but I was a fan of the original series. But that wouldn't have been enough, even if I was crazy about the original series it wouldn't have been enough to make me sign on to a film I didn't want to do. I just read the script and I went 'that is an awesome script' and it's J.J. and it'd be a good time, to play a character like that. It was a very easy decision."

Sometimes I wish I had a large, waiting-to-be-used stash of money that would allow me to go to every film festival that caught my fancy. The other option would be to convince a patron of each fest to wear a mini camera on their lapel, but that would be, well, illegal, so let's stick with the other fantasy. Like many of the big fests, Berlinale is looking to be all sorts of tasty. We've already had some previous screening announcements, and now Reuters has added even more eagerly-anticipated films to the fest list.

In the realm of Berlin's competitive films, Kristin Scott Thomas' I've Loved You So Long has been added to the roster. In the "out of competition" offerings at Berlinale, filmgoers can delight in a who's who of big names. There's Fireflies in the Garden, the Julia Roberts-starring film about a town devastated by an unexpected tragedy. (It's also a film that co-stars the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hayden Panettiere, and Ioan Gruffudd.) Or, if you want to dip back into history, there's Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman's The Other Boleyn Girl. And, what could be better to wrap up the festival than a movie for fans of film? Berlinale will perfectly close with Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind. (Check out James' Sundance review!)

The festival will run from February 7 to 17.

Imagine a world in which women like Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman compete against one another for your affection. I assume it didn't take long for Eric Bana to sign on the dotted like -- heck, they probably just showed him a mock-up of this newly-released poster, and simply said: "C'mon dude, you know you want to be that guy." Yup, that's the new poster for The Other Boleyn Girl (click on it for a larger version, courtesy of Empire Online), a film in which Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman play sisters who compete to win over the love of one King Henry VIII (as played by the very lucky Eric Bana). It's a period piece, set during a defining moment in European history, and based on the poster it looks to have all the right ingredients: a) lots of color b) lots of intrigue and c) lots of sex.

And what's Bana doing with his left hand? It certainly appears as if he's feeling up Portman in the poster. What a guy! Ah, but as great as this scenario would appear on paper, things don't turn out so good in the end. According to the film's official synopsis, "While both women eventually share the king's bed, only one will ascend to the throne for a brief and turbulent reign that ends tragically with a swing of the executioner's sword." Hmm, I guess the term "a nasty break-up" worked a bit differently back then. The Other Boleyn Girl is set to sex its way into theaters on February 29, 2008.

Perhaps I'm stating the obvious here, but in case there was ever any doubt Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman are both very beautiful women. In addition, they also have some pretty decent acting chops, particularly in the case of Portman. Although, with the right material and director, Johansson has been very good too. No matter what, in any movie they appear, from Revenge of the Sith to Match Point, their mere presence lights up the screen and in many cases makes some not-so-great movies very watchable.

So imagine my happiness when this new artwork for the movie The Other Boleyn Girl appeared over at Joblo today. Not only is Johansson in the film but Portman as well -- and there's a big picture of them from the film too. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the film. But in case you're not, here's a little info. This pic, based on the huge bestselling novel by Philippa Gregory, concerns the trials and tribulations of Mary Boleyn (played by Johannson), sister to the more famous Anne Boleyn (played by Portman) and her life and affairs with various kings, including François I of France and England's Henry VIII.

There is also a great deal of rivalry between the two sisters, especially when Anne becomes Queen and does all sorts of not-so-nice stuff to her sister. This all leads, as these stories often do, to tragedy. What that tragedy is and for the rest of their story, just go see the movie when it comes out in December. Both the novel and the film offer an interesting premise: the overlooked story of the more interesting sister to one of the most infamous Queens in history. A potentially interesting story indeed. Although, seeing as how both Johansson and Portman are in the film, the story probably isn't really so important.