I hesitated before writing this post. There's been quite a bit of Uwe Boll on this blog lately, and I share the opinion that Boll-haters have inflated the man's importance out of all proportion. Had this been a story about Boll adapting another stupid video game, I'd have let it alone, but it's at least interesting in a howling, head-clutching sort of way.

Boll is moving away from his stock-in-trade to make two films for a more limited audience. (I snickered a little as I typed that last part.) The first, called Stoic, has already wrapped and is about a 2006 incident in which three German inmates, incarcerated for minor offenses, raped and tortured a cellmate for 10 hours before inducing him to commit suicide. The film stars Edward Furlong, Sam Levinson, and Shaun Sipos, the latter of whom has a scene in which he licks his own vomit off the ground. Boll, speaking like a proud father, explains that "[w]hen the actor licks his puke off the ground, he will be seen eating it for a minute, not just a little bit." The puke Sipos consmes will be fake, but the actor did, apparently, eat a real tube of toothpaste. Though Boll hopes the film will squeak through with an R rating "for [its] social commentary," he suspects it might merit an NC-17 and have to be released unrated.

The Christmas Day indie releases were sparse, but the schedule for New Year's Day looks positively barren. Still, I have a couple of recommendations

Indie Sex is a four-part series that was created for the Independent Film Channel, which is where I first caught it. The interview subjects include a good range of well-known indie directors (John Waters, Atom Egoyan, Catherine Breillat) and actors (Rosanna Arquette, Peter Sarsgaard, Ally Sheedy). Filmmakers Lisa Ades and Lesli Klainberg examine each of their topics ("Censored," "Taboos," "Teens," "Extremes") with respect and cover all the bases. It's both a good primer and a reminder of the industry immaturity that still tends to rule the day. The two-disk DVD includes all four episodes.

Jimmy and Judy features Edward Furlong and Rachael Bella as two kids on the run who film their own bloody -- and sometimes naked -- exploits. Jeffrey M. Anderson didn't think there was much new in the film, despite that gimmick; Eric D. Snider felt it might be worth watching out of curiosity "and for Furlong's compelling performance, and that's about it." Mmm, decisions, decisions ... The DVD includes an audio commentary with the filmmakers, deleted and extended scenes, and two trailers.

I'm both intrigued by and wary of Solstice, which went into production in 2006 but is just now getting released direct to DVD. Daniel Myrick (The Blair Witch Project) remade the Danish/Swedish thriller Midsommer with an attractive cast (Elisabeth Harnois, Shawn Ashmore, Tyler Hoechlin, Amanda Seyfried), plus the great R. Lee Ermey. But it's another PG-13 "horror" film, not to mention the long delay in getting released, so it's got huge question marks plastered all over it. Proceed with caution.

Okay, it's only in rumor form right now, but AICN is reporting that Christian Bale has signed on to play an adult John Connor in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (aka Terminator 4), which will most likely be directed by McG. Harry himself shelled out the news, which he claims comes from an "extremely trusted source who has never been wrong before." Bale signing on to play Connor means the character will indeed be significantly older in the next film; unlike the teenage version who showed up in the form of Edward Furlong (Terminator 2) and Nick Stahl (Terminator 3) in previous films. It also means Bale will jump from one high-profile franchise (Christopher Nolan's Batman flicks) to another that, according to reports, will contain at least three films. Will Bale star in all three?

Here's the film's plot synopsis from IMDb (though we're not sure if it's entirely correct): "After the drastic effects of Terminator 3, the story continues as John Connor and soon to be wife Kate Brewster realize they must create a resistance organization with Earth's remaining survivors against the army of robots slowly being built up by Skynet. As they are building this resistance, one survivor happens to be a traitor in disguise, and has a secret that nobody would ever come to suspect." Though I'm not crazy about McG taking over the franchise, I absolutely love Christian Bale ... especially in this role as a rogue warrior up against an army of machines. Who will take over for Claire Danes and play Connor's wife (if this synopsis is correct)? Any suggestions? We'll let you know more as soon as information is available.

I know I'm not completely in the minority with this, but I have to admit first off that I loved Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. I really thought Jonathan Mostow did a great job delivering the action -- obviously not close to as good as James Cameron would have done, but better than many others could have. When it was revealed that a fourth Terminator was in the works, I hoped Mostow would be rehired for the gig. But I guess he's either doing something else (Swiss Family Robinson perhaps?) or for some reason he's not welcome back. According to CHUD.com, his replacement on the franchise may be McG, who I find to be one of the most annoying guys working in Hollywood these days. Really, though, I just hate on the guy because of his stupid name. I guiltily kinda enjoyed his two Charlie's Angels movies. Apparently, McG is currently in talks to take the helm of the sequel, for a pre-strike production start, but it isn't for certain that he'll get the job.

I'm sure many of you will probably be upset if McG officially signs on, even if you too just criticize him for his name. It could be the nail on the coffin for a lot of fans already nervous about the continuation of the storyline without any definite sign of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes or anyone else who has previously starred in the series. From what we've so far heard, it seems part 4 will focus on the post-apocalyptic period involving the war between the machines and John Connor's army. Everything else, regarding an Arnie cameo, or whatever, I'm still considering to be hearsay. Anyway, all I care about now is that at least Terminator 4 has been scripted by T3's Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato, a duo I'm sure are well-enough-versed in the Terminator universe to make this next installment interesting and worth seeing.

Has any writer ever gotten through an article about the Terminator series without making an "I'll be back" reference? I'm going to give it a shot. As Scott told you a few months back, the merchandising, licensing and film rights to the Terminator franchise were recently sold from producing partners Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna (how'd you like to go through high school with that last name?) to a company called Halcyon. Halcyon formed a corporation called T Asset to make Terminator 4, aiming for a Summer 2009 release. T3 screenwriters Michael Ferris and John Brancato were brought on to write the script. The studio even has designs on making T4 the first film in a whole new Terminator trilogy. But yesterday, Halcyon filed a lawsuit accusing MGM of "wrongful and malicious threats to disrupt T Asset's absolute right to negotiate with other motion picture studios regarding the distribution of T Asset's planned production and distribution of the fourth sequel in the highly valuable Terminator franchise."

So what does that all mean in layman's terms? In a nutshell, T Asset wants MGM to butt out. MGM is claiming that they had "the right to an exclusive 30-day first negotiation with respect to the distribution of T4." Negotiations went over 30 days. T Asset says MGM's negotiating period is expired, MGM disagrees. Boom, pow, you got yourself a Hollywood lawsuit. T Asset also accuses MGM of including the assumed financial success of T4 in economic projections that MGM is using to raise money. Apparently MGM is so high on the prospect of Terminator gold, they offered nearly $200 million dollars for the production and advertising of T4 on June 14th. Look, I love the Terminator movies (the first two anyway), but does anyone really think T4 will be as big a smash as previous installments? James Cameron leaving after T2 hit the series pretty hard, but at least T3 still had Schwarzenegger and it made money. All we know about the cast of T4 is that Marcus Schenkenberg is in it (PLEASE don't let him take over for Arnold), and that name's not going to light up a marquee. IMDb has Edward Furlong rumored to be attached, and I certainly hope they're not banking on Mr. Brainscan putting asses in the seats. They'd have to really up the ante on special effects or something to make this proposed trilogy something that will excite the public. I'm going to grab a sandwich and give this some thought. But...I'll be back. Damn it.

What happens when a group of armed robbers suddenly finds the tables turned? In Jon Keeye's Living and Dying, which can perhaps best be described as Western-meets-heist-film-meets-thriller, three armed robbers take refuge in a café after their heist getaway, only to find themselves trapped with a pair of sociopathic killers. When the killers take the situation over and start killing hostages, it's up to the robbers to turn hero and save the day before anyone else gets hurt. One of the robbers is killed in the takeover, leaving Sam (Edward Furlong) and Nadia (Bai Ling) to figure out a way out of the mess.

Sam decides to sidle up to the bad guys, who are known in the local criminal circle as "the Blood Brothers." Karl (Curtis Wayne) is the smart one, relatively speaking, and Max (Trent Haaga)is the stupid follower; both of them are mean as rattlesnakes, with no regard for other people or human life in general. Fortunately for Sam, he used to do some work for Karl's brother, and that connection keeps Sam from getting a bullet in the head -- for now.

Though it will be awhile before George Lucas shovels out his much-anticipated Star Wars-themed live-action TV show, the casting rumors are beginning to heat up. After all, with something like Star Wars, casting is everything. (I'm still not crazy about them bringing on Hayden Christensen to play Anakin, but what are you gonna do? We'll let that one slide for now.)

According to an interview with TV Guide writer Michael Ausiello, Edward Furlong might be in the running for a part. At first, you'd think the dude would be interested in reprising his role as John Connor in the Sarah Connor Chronicles, but no -- he's looking to travel to a galaxy far, far away instead. When asked what he has coming down the pipeline, Furlong said, "Some CSI, and then maybe the Star Wars TV series, man." Could Eddie be training as a Jedi? I can't even remember the last time I saw this guy in anything (apparently he's doing a little indie work now), but their casting choices could be worse, right? Heck, he's better than Hayden.

[via Movie Blog]