Those with Comcast OnDemand were treated to two brand new Dark Knight videos, with one coming in the form of an alternate trailer and the other as a Gotham City news program hosted by Mike Engel, as played by Anthony Michael Hall. Both videos have hit YouTube, though keep in mind they were recorded by people with cameras held out at their television sets -- so, yeah, you'll get a little breathing and a chuckle from time to time. Hopefully Warners will make these available to all of us on one of the thousands of Dark Knight viral sites at some point in the near future. Until then you can watch the videos after the jump ... and we've also included a fourth Dark Knight TV spot (which I don't believe we've posted yet).

If all this isn't enough to get you jazzed up for Batman's return a month from now, I don't know what will. (And, by the way, I like the release date choice for the new trailer and news program -- the day a certain Marvel property is set to hit the big screen. Wink, nudge.)

The Dark Knight hits theaters on July 18.

Since we're all impatient buggers who can't wait until The Dark Knight opens to see who is playing who and what the plot will be like, there's some more scoop to chew on. Obviously, if you're sensitive about spoilers, skip the post -- this info talks about a specific scene and side-plot to the film. In May, Erik Davis posted that Anthony Michael Hall, currently being freaky on The Dead Zone, had signed on for a part in the movie. The actor said he wouldn't say who he was playing: "I signed a confidentiality agreement, and I can't say which part I'm playing because it affects the story. I can't give away the suspense - it's a $200 million surprise, and I don't want to be the guy to ruin it."

It seems like that expensive surprise is out of the bag, if some inside scoop shared with Hollywood Chicago is to be believed -- but I don't think it's that expensive of a revelation. Hall will play a reporter for the GCN who is really jealous of the lovely Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale). The guy must be one heck of a reporter, or come from money too, because he has the same car as Wayne -- a Lamborghini Murcielago. He finds out that Bruce is Batman and wants to use his work to out the secret (as an antagonist rather than a villain). The Joker (Heath Ledger*) isn't happy about this and sets out to stop him. Really, the source could've said that Hall's character challenges him to a sumo-suit duel and I would be happy -- the film has got a great cast and should be one heck of a ride.

[via IGN]

*Name corrected thanks to mbstrlbstr.

Note: Summer is coming to a close, and I don't have the budget to do much traveling. So I decided to take some Vacation time with the Griswolds instead. All this week and next, I'll be reviewing the Vacation movies, one of the most loved (and uneven) comedy franchises in modern film.

I think you're all f**ked in the head. We're ten hours from the f**king fun park and you want to bail out? Well I'll tell you something. This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. It's a quest for fun. I'm gonna have fun and you're gonna have fun. We're all gonna have so much f**king fun we'll need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles! You'll be whistling 'Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah' out of you're a**holes! I gotta be crazy! I'm on a pilgrimage to see a moose. Praise Marty Moose! Holy S**t!

-- Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase)

Clark Griswold is my father circa 1988. The glasses. The Izod shirt. The too-short shorts. The unrelenting and misguided enthusiasm for all things family. The barely concealed rage. It's all there. What makes National Lampoon's Vacation work so well, all these years later, is that everyone thinks Clark is based on his or her father. Some of the funniest comedy comes from recognition, and this movie is almost like watching home movies from my youth. Except for the dead aunt on the roof of the car, but we'll get to that in a moment.

They assembled a real dream team for this movie, three giants of comedy at their primes. Behind the camera, you've got Harold Ramis, fresh off his directorial debut (Caddyshack -- not a bad start!). He clearly came to play here, and I'd imagine he had something to do with keeping Chevy Chase's tendency to overact in check. The script was written and based on a short story (click here to read it!) by John Hughes, unquestionably the finest film comedy writer of the 1980s. Disagree with me? Take a look at this list of Hughes scripts produced from 1983 to 1990: Mr. Mom, Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Some Kind of Wonderful, Planes Trains and Automobiles, She's Having A Baby, Uncle Buck, Christmas Vacation, and Home Alone. The man was a god.

Yes, in case you're curious, I will only be writing about The Dark Knight today. And I apologize to those who are tired of hearing about the film, it's just there's so many juicy little nuggets hitting the internets that it's impossible for me to ignore. Brendon over at Filmick has received an email from someone who claims to be very close to the production, so much so that he's read the shooting script (or parts of it) and can confirm certain aspects of the film. Since Brendon told us to take all this with a grain of salt (he's still trying to get firm confirmation on whether this spy is legit), I'm going to tell you folks the same thing. Oh, and if you absolutely hate spoilers, then you might not want to read on.

According to the email, the biggest news is that Anthony Michael Hall (who we recently reported had been cast in the film) will be playing "a good guy named Mr. Edward Nygma." On the surface that doesn't mean a whole lot, but if you're at all familiar with the comics then you'll know that Edward Nygma is The Riddler. Could it be that Christopher Nolan is setting up a third film to feature both Two Face and The Riddler, just as Schumacher did for Batman Forever? If this info is correct, it would certainly appear that way.

The scooper also confirms that the private detective Jason Bard also plays a role in the sequel, and that he's introduced when a drug addict (selling the same type of chemicals that gave Scarecrow his powers in Batman Begins) is apprehended (no word yet on who is playing Bard). Now this could go one of two ways -- either it means the Scarecrow himself will once again make an appearance, or the rumors that have suggested he is in the film are confusing the part with the drugs -- meaning Scarecrow is gone, but his chemical mix has stayed to wreak havoc on Gotham City. Interesting stuff; make with it what you will. The Dark Knight (currently filming in Chicago) is set to be released on July 18, 2008.

Yes, the dude from The Breakfast Club has officially signed on to play a part in The Dark Knight (and it's funny because my friends and I were just talking about Anthony Michael Hall last night; how he's gone from this scrawny wimp to a beefed-up manly man). The LA Daily News reports that Hall (who currently stars in the TV show Dead Zone) has already shot some stuff in London and will rejoin production this August. Of course, the man is remaining tight-lipped on his role: "I signed a confidentiality agreement, and I can't say which part I'm playing because it affects the story. I can't give away the suspense - it's a $200 million surprise, and I don't want to be the guy to ruin it." However, he does add that his next filming dates are in Chicago with Morgan Freeman. So, if Hall is shooting some solo stuff with Freeman, one has to assume that his character might be some sort of assistant to Lucius Fox; maybe an employee of Wayne Enterprises who is beginning to dig up more than he can chew?

Additionally, Hall admitted that production will take place in Chicago, London and Hong Kong (three locations we already knew about) and that in order to shoot for one day in London, the crew on Dead Zone had to agree to take a three-day weekend so that Hall could do his thing? He says, "It was just a thrill. I felt like a rock star leaving the set, flying to London, going to shoot on a Saturday, you know? My crew really gave me a gift because they had to all vote union-wise to agree to not take a day's pay to help me out." For anyone that saw last night's Entourage episode, that scenario sounds pretty familiar, huh? This past weekend was pretty packed with Batman-related news; first there was that Vote for Harvey Dent website, and then another Joker-fied Dent site popped up giving way to our first look at Heath Ledger as the infamous villain. I like how Warner Bros. is pre-emptively attempting to beat all the leaked fanboy nonsense (set pics, etc ...), and if my sources are correct, we'll also be getting a larger taste (via the pic's first teaser) real soon.

No doubt some will say this ranks up there with Lost Boys 2 in the bad-idea-based-on an-80s-film-department, but I'm keeping an open mind. Word from Moviehole is that there are plans afoot to remake Weird Science, that ode to adolescent hormones and computer geekery directed by John Hughes. The remake will be penned by Johnny Rosenthal (who is also attached to a proposed feature version of the criminally underrated Arrested Development series) for Universal. The original film, of course, starred Kelly LeBrock as the perfect woman created on the computer of two socially challenged teenage boys played by Ian Mitchell-Smith and 80s uber-geek Anthony Michael Hall.

Maybe it's because I didn't see the movie until years after its release, but I never thought this was Hughes' best work, and I think the concept could stand a 're-imagining.' I've long thought that rather than classic films, movies that didn't work perfectly the first time around should be the subject of remakes, and I think Weird Science qualifies. Even if the original was not a masterpiece, it has certainly left its mark. The theme song by Oingo Boingo has gone on to be pretty well known in its own right, and the film was adapted into a TV series which debuted in 1994 on the USA Network and ran for 88 episodes, with Vanessa Angel in the Kelly LeBrock role. Casting the new object of computer-generated perfection will obviously be the big challenge.

Remember when Anthony Michael Hall was the adorably dorky, scrawny little kid who wanted Samantha's panties? And the guy who wanted to kill himself with a flare gun because he failed shop? Well, the Anthony Michael Hall of the 21st century would kick that loser's ass! As we saw for the first time when he bullied poor Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands, Hall is now a freakishly large creature who also happens to star in USA's The Dead Zone, a show that's made him a star (at least among people who watch USA) once again.

The call of the silver screen remains strong, however, and Hall has started telling anyone who will listen about Life and Death in Las Vegas, a movie he wrote and is currently casting, with the goal of getting it in front of the camera by the end of the year. Apart from the fact that Hall is apparently trying to get Paris Hilton to play a role, the movie actually sounds sort of funny -- it's about "a bunch of people chasing an inheritance that they're all screwed out of by Wayne Newton." I mean, anything with Wayne Newton is comedy gold. Right?