Amy Poehler certainly didn't look pregnant when she showed up for a chat at the Apple store in Soho last weekend (as part of a series of talks taking place during the Tribeca Film Festival), but in retrospect, the Baby Mama star had the sprightliness of a gal with a special secret. Along with moderator and Saturday Night Live co-star Fred Armisen, Poehler really worked the room, gently mocking the crowd ("I think all these guys are waiting to get into the Genius bar") while slipping in occasional hints that she actually has an authentic strategy behind her career.

"I would like to do more serious acting," she said, not mentioning her recent voiceover work for Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil. "I've been doing sketch comedy for a long time, and it'd be nice to turn the volume down a little bit and try other stuff. I have a secret desire to be on Law & Order, but I wish I could be on an old Law & Order, with Jerry Orbach." Armisen, somewhat facetiously, said he would never tire of comedy. "It's like eating to me," he claimed.

If you read online film writing regularly, you've probably heard about (if not bookmarked) the sites of David Poland and Jeffrey Wells. Poland runs Movie City News, but shares his personal views on film-related happenings over at The Hot Blog. Wells's one-man site Hollywood Elsewhere includes a range of movie topics, from reviews to thoughts about Nikki Finke to discussions of studio politics.

The two writers are notorious for feuding with one another on anything and everything, which helps boost interest in their sites (and likewise, traffic). It's always a bit of a shock when they actually agree on something, and when one goes so far as to promote the other's writing, it certainly draws your attention to the issue under scrutiny.

The issue in question concerns press/preview screenings, embargoes on film reviews and, specifically, problems in these areas that Chicago critics encountered with Twentieth Century Fox movies. If you're not a film critic, you might wonder why this matters, but it does affect the timeliness of movie reviews. If I don't see a movie until the night before it is released, either my review will appear late or it will be hastily written, and that's not helpful if you like to read reviews before deciding whether you want to see a film. On the other hand, studios are worried that if I review the movie too early, any negativity could impact box-office, and it might spoil some of their marketing strategies.

They're claiming that none of their films are ready yet, but is that the real reason 20th Century Fox has decided to pull out of next week's San Diego ComicCon? The studio was previously scheduled to hold a "star-and-filmmaker-studded panel" next Friday in the main hall, featuring exclusive first looks at films like Aliens vs Predator, Jumper, Babylon A.D. and Hitman. While practically every other major studio (Warner Bros., Paramount/Dreamworks, Lionsgate, New Line, Sony Pictures, Universal and Walt Disney) still have plans to appear, Fox has officially pulled out. Or have they? According to The LA Times, the studio was reconsidering that decision yesterday afternoon -- meanwhile, ComicCon organizers were scrambling to fill their much-coveted slot.

This hasn't been the greatest of weeks for Fox. Earlier, there was a whole big stink going on in Chicago over Fox's apparent snub of some film critics when it came to invites for advanced screenings of their films. From what I understand, The Chicago Film Critics Association has instituted a boycott against Fox releases. The boycott won't affect reviews; instead, they'll be staying away from additional coverage like features, interviews, etc ... Personally, I'm a bit peeved as well after finding out yesterday that the only Simpsons Movie screening happening in the New York City area (that I'm aware of) is taking place the night before the film will be released. And, as far as I can tell, the same goes for the rest of the country. So, while I usually like to have a day or so to sit with a film before I review it, I now have a few hours.

Whether or not this ComicCon pull out has anything to do with the aforementioned boycott -- I don't know. I do know, however, that Fox has become a major player when it comes to fighting movie piracy (they're one of the studios who wanted to ban advanced screenings in Canada), and so perhaps it's not a question of whether their footage is ready -- but, instead, has to do with them being afraid that same footage will be on YouTube within the hour. Oh, and I should note that Fox Atomic will still be attendance ... handing out raffles, or something. Yay! Raffles!

Apparently, someone is having a blast with their cell phone camera on the set of The Dark Knight, which is currently shooting in Chicago. Tipster Paul pointed us towards a site that is currently hosting what appear to be the first photos of Batman on set. Based on both pics, I'm going to be careful about announcing to the world that Christian Bale is inside that bat suit -- since we never actually see his face, there's a chance it's a stuntman. Regardless, does the dude look jacked or what? We got our first chance to see Bale in full costume the other day when folks scanned a full page photo of the new and improved Batman from out of EW magazine. However, the pics today are the first to show the man in action.

Based on what we see, it looks like Batman is hanging around in some alley waiting to jump off a set of wooden stairs. There's one shot of him from the front (featured right), as well as one from behind and off to the side. Artistically, I really dig the second shot (it would be better if that shampoo-like bottle wasn't in frame), but when it comes to spy photos I'm not so sure we're looking for fancy angles. This new set of photos join a host of other pics that have shown up online in recent days while the much-anticipated sequel shoots in Chicago. We've already received what appears to be a first look at the Joker's purple clown car, as well as shots of both Maggie Gyllenhaal (as Rachel Dawes) and Aaron Eckhart (as Harvey Dent). With spies situated all over this set, it's only a matter of time before a crystal clear pic of Heath Ledger as the Joker makes its way onto computer screens across the world. Stay tuned folks, there's a lot more coming down the pipeline ...

Michael Keaton is one of my favorite actors. He is that all-too-rare performer who can make each line and every action feel as if it is happening for the first time. He's genuinely exciting to watch. The only grievances I have with him are that a) he works much too infrequently, and b) when he does work, it's too often in projects that are beneath him (Jack Frost, Herbie Fully Loaded, White Noise...let me just say Jack Frost one more time.) He hit his creative stride in the late 80's, showing his range in under-appreciated gems like The Dream Team and Clean and Sober, and with a very fruitful Tim Burton collaboration. That pairing brought us one of the all-time great comic performances in Beetlejuice and of course, Keaton as Batman in -- for my money -- the two best superhero films ever made. As far as I'm concerned, no other film Batman even comes close to Keaton, and I immediately associate him with the role. Kilmer sleepwalked through it, Clooney looked embarrassed (rightfully so), and Christian Bale bored me to tears. Keaton played the role largely straight, but it's the flashes of madness and manic energy that brought his Bruce Wayne and Batman to life. "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts!"

And now it seems Keaton has been spending time around the Chicago set of The Dark Knight! I did some hunting online and found that Keaton is shooting his directorial debut, The Merry Gentleman in Chicago right now, so it's possible he just stopped by to say hello. But the kid in me who saw Batman at the dollar show eight times can't help but hold out some sliver of hope that Michael Keaton might make some sort of appearance in the new Batman flick. I'm being realistic, I don't expect him to suit up and high-five with Christian Bale, or for them to fight crime side-by-side, but wouldn't it be a great touch to have a little winking cameo from (apologies to Adam West) the real Batman? Keaton did a similar fun little reprise of his Jackie Brown character Ray Nicolette in Out of Sight, so why not this? The fans would love it. Of course this is all pure speculation and dreaming, but we'll find out if it comes true when The Dark Knight hits theaters on June 18th of 2008.

It looks like we're getting another big-budget musical from the Weinsteins -- probably not a bad idea, since the last one they made won six Oscars. Variety recently reported that Rob Marshall has signed to direct the film version of the Tony Award winning musical Nine. The musical debuted in 1982 with Raul Julia and beat out Dreamgirls that year for Best Musical. In 2002, Antonio Banderas took on the lead and *won a Tony for Best Male Performance. The story was inspired Federico Fellini's 8½, and centers on an aging director suffering from his romantic entanglements and a creative dry spell. This is the first project for Marshall with the Weinsteins since Chicago, and he was eager for another film after Memoirs of a Geisha, saying, "I began looking intensely at (other projects), including remakes of movies, originals and Broadway musicals." Marshall will also help with the choreography for the film along with John DeLuca.

The project is still looking for a screenwriter, and casting has yet to begin -- there is no word on whether Banderas will return. Marshall warned that "This one needs to be created specifically for the talent involved, to suit their strengths, casting will be a big issue here, and if commitments complicate things, it will be 2009." We're not quite sure what that means since any movie that he started prepping now wouldn't likely arrive in theaters until 2009 anyway, but I'm sure the Weinsteins won't mind waiting, since it seems that their reputation at the box-office could use a little help.

*Correction: Banderas was nominated but the award went to Harvey Fierstein.

I haven't picked up an issue of Premiere Magazine in quite some time, but a friend of mine recently recommended I visit the publication's newly refurbished website. So I did. Pretty solid content across the board, I'm happy to opine -- but one particular article caught my eye, tickled my fancy, and squatted in my brain long enough to recommend it here.

Basically, a bunch of the Premiere writers were asked to come up with their picks for Most Overrated Film of All Time -- and while most of the sacred cows slaughtered here are pretty darn obvious ones, the opinions and explanations as to why each film was chosen, well, I thought they were fairly compelling. Frankly, I'm thrilled to see someone call Field of Dreams "just too on the nose," because it absolutely is.

Fully prepared for the onslaught of How Dare YE!! hate mail, the Premiere posse has wisely decided to add an equally pithy rebuttal in defense of each movie. So when someone has the audacity to impugn The Wizard of Oz, we sane people have a defender who'll say Dude, Please. I've placed the 20 titles under the jump, just to help spark discussion, but do not let that stop you from reading through the whole article. It might make you think a little differently about some of those Unquestioned Classics that everyone's afraid to admit they don't really dig. (Yep, 2001: A Space Odyssey is overrated; I said it and I'm proud.)

Ready for this one my dear Cinematical readers? Apparently, the folks running Chicago's German Christkindlmarket this year have decided to drop New Line as a sponsor because they're afraid advertisements for The Nativity Story will offend non-Christians. WTF? Oh yes, a festival that has the word 'Christ' in its name refuses to have anything to do with a movie about the dude's birthday. This is the same event that kicks off its month-long festivities with a "holiday" tree lighting ceremony presented by the one and only Christmas Fairy. No, it's not a Christmas tree, it's a Holiday tree -- and the Christmas Fairy just happened to show up because Chanukah Harry was too busy that day. Right? Not for nothing, but something tells me the PC Fairy showed up a bit early, high as a kite. And, personally, I'd love to ask the PC Fairy two questions: What are you on and can I have some please?

The entire situation was perfectly summed up by a rep from New Line, who said, "We don't understand why our sponsorship would be rejected for religious reasons, particularly considering the fact that our film details the story that inspired the holiday season that the Christkindlmarket was created to celebrate." Can I get an Amen to that! I mean, how much harm can a movie poster cause? I assume New Line wasn't going to set up a booth and use some of its staff to re-create the birth of Jesus -- although something like that would have been fun to watch. Besides, anyone who attends a Christmas-themed festival and complains about an advertisement for The Nativity Story should lay off the egg nog, put down the American Express card and look up the word 'moron' in the dictionary -- because there's a good chance their picture would be right there beside its definition.

I can barely keep up with indie filmmaker Joe Swanberg's projects. He's had films screen at SXSW two years in a row: Kissing on the Mouth in 2005 and LOL in 2006 ... and I'm wondering if we'll see Hannah Takes the Stairs in Austin in 2007. The Chicago-based filmmaker co-produced a multi-episode webcast for Nerve called Young American Bodies, and that's received a lot of praise. On top of that he's made a number of short films that he distributes through his website. And in his spare time, for fun, he's starring in Austin filmmaker Bryan Poyser's upcoming short film, Best Birthday Ever. I've met Swanberg and he always seems to be bursting with energy.

Swanberg's latest project is one that could totally make or break him: the in-house trailers for SXSW 2007. If you've ever attended a film festival, you know about these trailers. You end up seeing them multiple times -- if you attend enough films, you're sick of even the best trailers by the end of the festival. They're also the only films that will be watched by every single film festival attendee, so it's great exposure for filmmakers.

SXSW has a long tradition of good in-house trailers: the Burger Hut shorts, considered some of the best, are available to view on YouTube. I can still practically recite from memory the 2005 trailers, directed by Bob Odenkirk (Melvin Goes to Dinner), which featured Jeff Goldblum and Ron Livingston. The trailers were a little repetitive, but they were better than in 2006, when SXSW relied solely on a single IFC-branded in-house trailer that was annoying even the first time. Matt Dentler, producer of SXSW's film festival, says that the festival may include another IFC trailer next year as a "policy trailer" (telling you not to smoke or use your cell phone), but also will use the Swanberg trailers.

So we're all relying on you, Mr. Swanberg, to entertain us in those brief moments between the house lights dimming and the films beginning next March. If we can make it through four days without groaning and wanting to throw things, you'll be a success. If we can make it through the entire film festival without hating the trailers and cursing your name, you'll be a genius.

If you're a resident of New York City, there's a good chance you take in a healthy assortment of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows each year. In the past few years, I cannot remember a more enjoyable experience (okay, Avenue Q was pretty rad) than when I saw Wicked. First off, the show is in The Gershwin Theater which, if you've never been, is the Madison Square Garden of Broadway theaters. Yes, the place is freaking gigantic. I love it.

Besides its massive home, Wicked is, quite simply, a fantastic show. For those of you who aren't aware of Wicked (seriously, where have you been?), its story revolves around the witches from The Wizard of Oz and what happened to them before, during and after that whole Oz adventure. The thing I enjoyed most about the show was its story and the many layers presented throughout. For a Broadway musical, I was very impressed to discover some solid substance behind all the singing and dancing.

So, like with the latest film version of The Producers, Chicago, Rent and the upcoming Hairspray, will Wicked ever find its way to the big screen? Playbill.com presented the question to composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz who, in turn, had absolutely no idea. He felt that, eventually, Universal (who produces Wicked) will get around to discussing a film version, but so far folks behind the scenes are too busy expanding the production to locations outside the United States. If you want my opinion, it's only a matter of time before this sucker shows up on screen and, yes, I will be first on line for a ticket. But don't tell that to any of my guy friends.

Those of us who don't like looking at Renée Zellweger's ribs tend to agree that one of the best things about Rob Marshall's Chicago was Catherine Zeta-Jones' appearance as Velma. Not only is she unashamedly shaped like an actual woman (Look -- curves! Holy crap! Is that allowed?), but she also has a strong background in stage musicals and can actually sing and dance. For these reasons, it's unsurprising (but nevertheless exciting) to hear that she's in the thick of the rumors that are circulating about Marshall directing a screen version of Gypsy for The Weinstein Company. Though the piece (from the New York Post's eminently *cough* reliable Liz Smith) offers no details on which role Zeta-Jones would play, one assumes she's more a little bit old to play Gypsy and would mostly likely play Mama Rose, a role that has been described as "the pinnacle of all diva roles in musical theater."

Assuming they didn't cast freaking Jessica Alba or something as Gypsy, a movie with Zeta-Jones as Mama Rose has tons of potential, and you know she'd love it -- after all, what musical theater actress doesn't secretly want to take on Ethel Merman (who originated the role on Broadway)?

• Bee Season - Richard Gere as a rough-boy sailor in An Officer and a Gentleman? OK. Richard Gere as a singing and dancing attorney in Chicago? Convincing enough. Richard Gere as a Jewish husband (of Juliette Binoche) and father exploring the mysteries of God through the flawless spelling of his daughter? Oy. Many parts of this existential drama about the ways in which a brilliant 11-year-old (Flora Cross) affects her family are sketchy, as no one of the characters is well-drawn enough for us to care about them too much. Genius was captured far better in films like Little Man Tate and Searching For Bobby Fischer.
 

Just a few weeks after the ugly Crash producer debacle went public, another best picture-winning film is finding itself in court. According to Martin Richards, founder of The Producer Circle Company, Miramax is screwing him out of $10 million (give or take a few million) of profits that his co-producer credit for Chicago should have earned. In his lawsuit, Richards claims that his company owned the movie rights to the musical, and that co-producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have refused to pay him the percentage he is owed. The core of Richard's suit is his claim that, though his contract terms guaranteed him a percentage of gross profits (figured before expenses are taken out), the Weinsteins are trying to pay him based on net profits (with expenses taken out - obviously a much smaller figure). So far, Richards claims he has been paid only $500,000 ("$300,00 as a producing fee and $200,000 when the movie passed its 'first cash break even level'").

According to overnight ratings from Nielsen, this year's Oscar telecast could go down as the second lowest-rated of all time, behind only 2003's show which produced Chicago as its Best Picture. With roughly a 10% drop from last year's ceremony, it appears as if the stampede of Oscar advertising did nothing to save this ship from sinking faster than Ryan Seacrest's interviewing ability.

Throughout the night., ABC averaged a 27.1 household rating, down from last year's 30.1, yet miles above 2003's disgusting 25.5. Even though the telecast progressively became more boring as time went on, ratings still managed to slowly climb each half hour, ultimately leveling off in the last hour. I'd be curious to know what exactly could have been added to attract more viewers?

For example: If Batman Begins was up for more awards, would you have tuned in? Sure, all of the films nominated weren't as commercial as say, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, but you'd think, with all the controversy swirling around Brokeback Mountain, it would at least bring in more eyes. I guess we're lucky there was no singing and dancing in Brokeback Mountain because then, well, Ryan Seacrest would be our only highlight. Geez, talk about the end of the world, huh?

 

Now that we're just minutes away from this year's Academy Awards, I'm absolutely silly with anticipation. Who will win? Who will lose? Who will cry? Who will use their acceptance speech to try and save (insert random third world country here)? What about Jon Stewart? Will he bomb? Will he rock better than, well, Rock? Who will make the first Jack Nicholson joke? Oh, and am I the only one who wonders whether or not Ang Lee and Eric Bana will simply ignore that great big green monster mocking them from the corner? Perhaps they'll discuss a sequel during the commercial break - Jette's little brother would appreciate that.

While we here at Cinematical have done our best to predict the outcome of the Oscars, now it's time to sit back, relax and see who Isaac Mizrahi will decide to fondle on the red carpet. For this special Oscar Sunday edition of Trailer Park, I've decided to count down past Best Pictures, starting with A Beautiful Mind and leading up to this year's crop. By analyzing what's come before, will it be easy to choose the film that fits amongst Oscar's elite?

After checking out the following trailers, while you at home make your final predictions, be sure to stick around for my totally kick-ass red carpet coverage, followed by our live-blog of the actual ceremony. Sure, we're not as intelligent as Ryan Seacrest, but I'm positive we're better looking. Hell yeah, it's Oscar time on this week's Trailer Park...