At what point do you stop taking a movie blog seriously? Can you ever take a movie blog seriously? And, most importantly, what is a movie blog? I like to think an opinion-based website that allows readers to comment is probably the best definition of a blog. Thus, Cinematical is a blog, JoBlo is a blog, AICN is a blog, and so on. But at what point does the "movie blog" become the "marketing blog" -- a site somewhat controlled by the studios; one that has no problem pimping out certain projects if it means they'll be on the "extra special" list when it comes time for interviews, scoops, etc. That's what The Guardian thinks happened to AICN (or Ain't It Cool News) right around the time AICN chief Harry Knowles began receiving private advanced screening invites and phone calls from folks like Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis. The site for fanboys, written by fanboys, had become (in The Guardian's words) "smug and pedestrian." Essentially, they jumped the shark.

Still, though, folks run to AICN for the latest "test screening" review, major inside scoop and/or ridiculous foul-mouthed banter between the site's authors and their brain-damaged commenters. All that's really changed, in my mind, is that the site is now being used by Hollywood as a go-between -- they don't know how to communicate with today's youth, and so they'll use this site (and its young-at-heart writers) to translate for us. But it's not like this doesn't happen at other spots around the net. Folks call us out all the time for being a part of a major corporation (which, in all honesty, we are), but that does not (and will not) stop us from telling you what we really think. Just the other day, a fellow online writer was telling me how a studio publicist took a bunch of other online writers out to dinner. I wouldn't be surprised if they walked away with a few hats and t-shirts as well. It's kind of like a parent trying to buy their kid's love (with a bunch of flashy items, like an iPhone or what have you).

And if that's what "jumping the shark" is, then AICN is definitely not the only website guilty of it. In the end, though, it's a catch-22. As with most things in life, if you don't scratch their back, they won't scratch yours. And everyone, including The Guardian, is guilty of taking one for the team if it means your readers would really like a particular piece of content ... like an interview with Stallone, or a gallery of Harry Potter photos.

For all those people (myself included) who have spent hours or even days trying to crack the codes included within those two mysterious Cloverfield websites -- EthanHaasWasRight and EthanHaasWasWrong -- I've got two words for you: Stop now. That's because producer J.J. Abrams stopped by AICN and told the fantastical Harry Knowles that those sites have "nothing to do with us" (meaning the film). Yup, I'm not kidding. We've received a ton of emails from folks wondering how we knew in the first place that those sites were linked up to Cloverfield. Well, the short answer is ... we didn't. We were following a rumor that another reliable site had posted -- coupled with the fact that Paramount was removing those Ethan Haas-related videos off YouTube and every other movie blog on the planet was reporting the same stuff, all lead us to believe that what we were looking at was in some way related to Cloverfield (or Slusho).

Interestingly enough, Abrams alludes to the fact that there are more websites out there and we just haven't discovered them yet. He tells AICN: "Regarding the online stuff you posted: yeah, we're doing some fun stuff on the web. But, obviously, if the movie doesn't kick some massive ASS, who gives a rat's about what's online? So as you can imagine, we're focusing mostly on THAT. For what it's worth, the only site of ours that people have even FOUND is the 1-18-08.com site." He doesn't tell us anything else about the film, but I'm glad he showed up to put the kibosh on Ethan Haas once and for all. So now you have a new mission: find those other sites. But beware -- now that this news is out, you know there will be several people out there creating fake sites to throw you off. In the meantime, those of you who missed the official trailer can now check it out over here (in glorious HD). Oh, and if you do stumble across a legit Cloverfield site, don't forget about your friends here at Cinematical. Smiley face.

I need to be real careful before writing this story because, as much as it sucks, pure honesty can get a man in a whole lot of trouble round these parts. So here's the facts: Not long ago, an AICN (Ain't It Cool News) henchman (who goes by the name of Memflix on the site) wrote into AICN with an early review of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. To say it was just a tad negative would be a major understatement -- essentially, dude ripped the flick apart. Now since I'm seeing the film tonight (which kind of stinks, because I then have to run home and stay up till all hours of the night writing a review so it's done in time for you folks to devour first thing in the morning), I can't tell you whether or not Memflix's review was spot on or not. But regardless, whether the guy was telling the truth in his review has nothing at all to do with this story.

Turns out Memflix is Jesse Morrison; a projectionist working in Memphis who helps screen films early for the press and such. Therefore, he's able to catch these movies long before they're set to hit theaters. But unlike those folks in the theater (who are usually requested to wait until the week of or day of to shell out their review) Memflix isn't a professional critic, and so it's his belief that he can run over to AICN to dish all the dirty details without consequence. Until now. Apparently, 20th Century Fox wasn't so happy about that review (and who can blame them), so what they did was track down the identity of this kid, call up his boss and (according to Morrison) "threatened to take away the press and trade screenings" at the theater(s) in question, which happens to be part of the Malco Theater chain in Memphis.

I'm not sure how many of you have been following the Bruce Willis chat over on AICN. Scott mapped the whole thing out for us yesterday; initially, it all started when Vern ranted about the PG-13 rating that was given to Live Free or Die Hard. Eventually, some dude named Walter B. showed up in their talkback section alluding to the fact that he was indeed Willis. After about a day or so of back and forth (keep in mind no one from AICN was able to confirm that it was him), Walter B. posted his iChat name and was willing to prove his identity. Needless to say, some dude connected up with him, managed to snag some photos and a lot of us were amazed to find out that, yes, Bruce Willis had been leaving comments in the talkback section on AICN at 4am for two days straight. And God Bless the guy!

However, during one such comment, Bruce mildly bashed Michael Bay (as you know, the two worked together on Armageddon). Here's just a brief taste of what Willis said about Bay and his experience working on Armageddon: "It was a great crew, but a screaming Director does not make for a pleasant set experience. But look, we were all big boys, and we got thru it. A little to MTV-camera cutty for my taste, but the shots of meteors crashing into the WTC was pretty prescient." And yes, that's Bruce's bad spelling and grammar, not mine. Now, for those who aren't aware, Michael Bay is like the Hollywood version of that kid from high school who, if you accidentally glanced in his direction, would immediately get in your face and go, "What are you looking at? You got a problem?" Yeah, that kid. Thus, it didn't take long for the director to issue a response through his own blog (which you can read in its entirety here).

Here's a sampling of the Bay response in all of its schoolyard bully glory: "I mean it would be sad if he felt this way - he's never one to hide his feelings - I say sad, in that he wouldn't be man enough to say it to my face. But truly sad that such a big time actor would have to hide on a little talk back section." I can almost here the AICN talkbackers chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Bay also admits that Bruce's people called him awhile back to see if he'd be interested in directing Die Hard 4, but he couldn't take the gig because of Transformers. Therefore, he cannot understand why Willis would throw out the cheap shots. Personally, I think the entire thing is hysterical -- Willis said some pretty harsh things (he reminded me of the drunken friend who's too stupid to just shut the hell up), and I'll be curious to see if there's an official apology issued to either Joel Silver or to the producers of Perfect Stranger (a film in which he says he was "disappointed" with). Yet, one thing Willis (aka Walter B.) is sure about -- to a point where he kept saying it over and over -- is that Live Free or Die Hard is going to rock, regardless of its PG-13 rating. And boy, do I hope he's right.

Now here's some very amusing news. Remember last week when I pointed you towards an AICN rant about the new Die Hard flick being rated PG-13? Well, it looks like no less than Bruce Willis also checked in to enjoy that particular diatribe, and he didn't stop there: After a long and winding confirmation process, AICN was able to state that, yep, global movie star Bruce Willis was posting comments in their talkback section. (I'm not always a real big fan of AICN, but I gotta say the thread makes for some pretty fun reading -- and kind of a historic moment.)

Topics covered by Mr. Willis include: a few nasty words pointed towards Joel Silver; a mild defense of Hudson Hawk; a flip of the bird to Striking Distance, Sunset and Color of Night; a sense of disappointment regarding Perfect Stranger; a mild jab at Michael Bay; and tons of reassurances that, despite the now-locked PG-13 rating for Live Free or Die Hard, the movie's "as good as, if not better" than the original Die Hard. Now, I'm sure Bruce is telling the truth when he says he likes the new flick, but possibly "better"? No freakin' way, Bruno. No way.

Anyway, the mammoth reading assignment begins here and continues here. And here's where the confirmation was locked up, courtesy of iChat and FreezeDriedMovies.com. The confirmation that Bruce Willis likes to leave comments at movie site message boards at three o'clock in the morning. I'll just add this knowledge to the very long list of "things I love about Bruce Willis." (The list dates back to episode two of Moonlighting.) And chin up, McClaniacs. I'm still not thrilled about the rating, but to be fair, there's plenty of PG-13 action flicks out there that don't skimp on the goods (I'm thinking Bourne, Smith, ROTK, etc.) -- plus I'd bet you ten thousand shares of Nakatomi stock that when Live Free or Die Hard hits DVD ... there will be an "unrated" version. Book it.

When those blurry shots of Heath Ledger as the Joker hit the net late last week, AICN linked to them, but refused to post them up. I believe their exact words were, "I'd rather wait a few weeks and see what Warner is going to come up with as an official image, because I want some sense of context and lighting. I want to see the Joker the way he's going to look in the movie." Well, it appears they weren't "waiting a few weeks," they were just waiting until someone sent them a pic. This way they can leap out with their own exclusive, no matter how bogus it is. Case in point: This morning, we get two new pics -- one of which has already been called out for being a fake, while the other is apparently real. However, neither one has been approved by Warner Bros and/or recognized as being a legitimate shot of Ledger as the Joker.

Is this really Heath Ledger as the Joker? Or is this just another photo-shopped mock-up of what some fan thinks the Joker will look like? Hell if I know, but we're bringing it to you anyway. And, not for nothing, but who the hell is leaking these photos? Obviously, it's someone inside the production -- I mean, is it that hard to keep these images under lock and key? Regardless, here is your Joker; he's a little Goth meets heroin addict, but I dig it. Of course, this pic does not and should not represent what the Joker will look like all dolled up on the big screen, but it's certainly an interesting taste. With the way these pics are hitting the net, it appears I'll be writing a new Joker post every day this week. How fun! What do you think of all these images? Are they real? Fake? Do you like where Nolan is going with Ledger's look?

Who knew that Frank Darabont was going to be giving us a sneak peek at the making of his upcoming film in his self-documented webisodes? I didn't, but I'm so glad it's happening. The first webisode, published by Darabont himself, gives you a look at what's happening on the set of The Mist. Specifically, we get a glimpse at one of the horrendous earthquakes that shakes its way through the film. Also featured in the webisode is comic book genius Eric Powell -- creator of The Goon -- who offers up a little help with the special effects by shaking some shelves to make the scene more real. After watching playback on what he sees as a successful scene, Darabont exclaims, "Just like being at home in L.A.!"

The Mist is based on the Stephen King novel, in which a terrible storm hits a small town in Maine, creating a large engulfing mist. Within the mist lives horrifying creatures that cause a group of people to fight for their lives while seeking shelter within a convenient store. Darabont is not only directing, but wrote the screenplay and is producing. Now we must wait -- impatiently, since the earthquake scene looks so good -- for its arrival in theatres later this year.

Since John Carpenter's theme music for Halloween is probably one of the most recognized theme songs in movie history, you can imagine the outcry when a MTV interview with director Rob Zombie reported that he was not using the original music in his "re-imagining" of Carpenter's film. In the interview, Zombie was quoted as saying, "The plan was at some point to [remake it], to change it around, the actual way it sounds now doesn't really work with what we're doing." But it looks like all that upset was in vain as Ain't it Cool News has since reported that Zombie has corrected the article on the MySpace page for the film.

Zombie posted "Now I get it, MTV misunderstood what I was saying about the music. Oh well, I am still shooting and haven't even begin to explore the music side of things yet. I always planned on using the original theme since the beginning." Zombie is still promising plenty of changes; including no cameos from original cast members or re-creations of some of Carpenter's famous shots. But he seems determined to keep the music in one form or another -- although I can't help but worry another "re-imagining" could include "Halloween: The Dragula Remix."

Nice to know that after so many almost-starts, the movie version of Stephen King's The Mist is moving (quickly!) forward -- especially with a cast this solid and a director like Frank Darabont at the helm. AICN's Quint just spent four juicy days on the Mist shoot and he's come back with a whole bunch of very thorough reports AND some fairly nifty photos from the supermarket set.

I suppose it's fair game for Quint to dole out a few minor spoilers, considering that the Mist story has been in print for over fifteen years -- but if you want to enjoy The Mist as a totally new experience, I'd probably skip this report. As I've read this particular piece of source material (twice), I had no problem digging through the details of some minor characters and the presence of the Lovecraftian tentacle monsters. Check out the fourth and final set report to get your juices flowing on The Mist. I always get excited for big-budget monster movies, so this flick is already high up on my Gimme Gimme list. (And if you haven't read the source material just yet, I recommend that you do so.)

Everyone knows I'm a big fat sucker for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, so you can probably expect a whole lot of Pirate-related booty to churn out of my keyboard over the next four-plus months. Case in point: AICN just got their hands on a half-dozen rather nifty promotional pics for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. And obviously I think they're awesome.

We get single character posters for the dashing William Turner, the lovely Elizabeth Swann, the exceedingly eccentric Captain Jack, the wonderfully resurgent Barbossa and -- oh, cool -- our first good shot of Chow Yun Fat as Captain Sao Feng -- whom I'm willing to bet is a baddie.

The coolest promo piece by far is one that collects all five characters into one fairly slick pic. Click right here to enjoy the piratical promotionals. (POTC3 opens on May 25, don't forget. I'm trying to drum up a little support for this little series.)