The complete line-up for the second edition of the AFI Dallas International Film Festival has been announced, and beyond the galas and the glitter, the programming team has assembled an intriguing schedule. Robert Wilonsky of Unfair Park was the first to post the news and highlighted several of his recommendations.

First, though, the stars: Helen Hunt will appear in support of her directorial debut Then She Found Me, which will serve as the Opening Night Gala on March 27, and Charlize Theron and Woody Harrelson will walk the red carpet for the closing night presentation, Battle in Seattle. Sometime in between, Robert De Niro and Barry Levinson will come out hustling for their latest, What Just Happened? Special awards will be given to Hunt, Theron, Jack Lemmon (in care of the late actor's widow, Felicia Farr), Mickey Rooney (?!), and Todd Wagner.

AFI Dallas established itself on the local social calendar last year as a premium civic-boosting event. That's good for the city, but as a film buff, I'm glad to see more international films in the narrative competition, more docs, an expanded and ace-looking section devoted to music docs ("Deep Ellum Sounds"), an entirely recommended six-film "Mavericks" section (featuring the French Chrysalis and the Japanese Vexille), and a ton of shorts. There's a fair share of titles that are dragging around lukewarm notices (see What Just Happaned? above), but I'm glad that local audiences will have a chance to decide for themselves. Cinematical will be covering the festival, which begins on March 27 and runs through April 6.

What perfect timing, after 68 years, for the Munchkins of Oz to get their very own star on Hollywood Boulevard. This is the time of year when most of us would watch The Wizard of Oz on television. Of course, this year it doesn't seem to be airing on Thanksgiving. Why this is, I don't know, but in honor of the diminutive actors who appear in the film as Munchkins, I think we should make an effort to watch it anyway (maybe you own it, or can rent it from somewhere?). The Munchkin's star was unveiled in a ceremony Tuesday, attended by seven of the nine surviving actors (there were 124 Munchkins total). They included lollipop guild member Jerry Maren, town crier Mickey Carroll, sleepyhead Margaret Pellegrini, main trumpeter Karl Slover, soldier Clarence Swensen and coroner Meinhardt Raabe, who certifies that the Wicked Witch of the East is dead. Apparently the Munchkins received their star thanks to Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Mickey Rooney and Chicago movie theater owner Ted Bulthaup, who began its campaign.

This certainly isn't the first time a group of people received a star, nor is it the first time characters have gotten one. Honestly, though, I could have sworn the Munchkins already had one. In fact, that's the same response Bulthaup had when he found out. It actually makes me wonder how many significant people and characters aren't among the thousands who have their own star. Guess what? Bert Lahr (aka The Cowardly Lion) doesn't have one. Nor does Toto, at least according to Wikipedia's list. Who else, non Oz-related, could be absent from the Walk of Fame?

I didn't catch the press screening for Night at the Museum (321 screens) in December. I was busy with my San Francisco Film Critics Circle duties, seeing more "important" films that were worthy of awards consideration. After Christmas, I was assigned to catch up with it, and so I hauled myself down to the local multiplex and sat through a matinee. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed it. So did the rest of America; it was the number 1 box office attraction from December 22 through January 7.

I have to admit, there was something of a perverse thrill about this hit movie. It gave us the opportunity to say -- without lying -- that the new Mickey Rooney movie was the biggest hit in the country. Rooney plays one of three aged janitors in the film (along with Dick Van Dyke and Bill Cobbs) who loses his job to the younger Larry Daley (Ben Stiller). Many people may not know this, or even believe it, but Rooney was the biggest box office star in the country for three years running, 1939-1941. (He surpassed Shirley Temple, and was later surpassed by Abbott and Costello!)

Biographical cinema usually comes from piles of research, books, and stories that have come from the legend in question. If the figure is recent enough, there just might be a person or two to glean information from -- maybe a friend or child. Going back a few more years, it might be a fairly close descendant, as is the case with the Duchess of York helping along a film about Queen Victoria. But has there ever been a family who has dug into their family tree and filmed the story themselves?

The Last Confederate: The True Story of Robert Adams (or Strike the Tent) is a biopic that is, surprisingly, straight from his family. Julian Adams, Robert's great, great grandson wrote, produced, co-directed with A. Blaine Miller and starred in the epic labor of familial love. It's a real-life romantic version of North and South -- the man who was torn between his national duties and his love for a girl from the North. He met Eveline McCord at the start of the Civil War, and the film takes them through their passion and the tragedy that came from their lives and love. Gwendolyn Edwards stars as Eveline, and the rest of the cast includes the likes of Mickey Rooney, Tippi Hedren, and Amy Redford, who has since turned to directing. The film, which was originally screened a few years ago, has now been picked up by THINKFilm for US distribution, but there's no word yet on a release date. We've got a lot of Civil War dramas and biopics out there -- but it's rare to get it completely from the hands of the person's family.

Could Shawn Levy's  Night at the Museum have a more packed cast? Man alive. In addition to star Ben Stiller, the movie's got Hollywood legends Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney, goddess Carla Gugino, and the recently-added Robin Williams, who will get to fulfill the dream we all have of playing Teddy Roosevelt. Now Levy has revealed that Ricky Gervais has also come on board, apparently to repay Stiller for his appearance on Gervais' Extras. Gervais will play the director of New York's Museum of Natural History, a character who, according to Levy, is "very uptight."

Just the thought of Gervais playing someone uptight is funny - this movie has so much potential that it's sort of scary to think about what a freaking disaster it could turn into. I mean, let's keep in mind that it's mixing live action with CG work, and is about "an ancient curse that causes the animals and insects on display to come to life and wreak havoc." Finding the right tone for this one just seems like it's going to be really, really hard.

The Ben Stiller comedy Night at the Museum has been in the news a lot lately: just the other day, old school studs Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney agreed to make their triumphant returns to the big screen in the film, and now yet another big name has been added to the cast. It was announced today that Robin Williams will appear in the film as - wait for it - Teddy Freakin Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt! (Seriously though - there's no way Roosevelt was that hairy. Williams just might have to revisit the full-body shave he got in Hook.)

It turns out that TR founded the American Museum of Natural History (where the movie is set), so naturally there's a display there featuring him. And, when the movie's crazy, magical medallion starts bringing stuff to life, Roosevelt is one of the lucky affectees. Needless to say, the role should allow Williams to perform at his most manic level, and to talk a lot about carrying a big stick. That, combined with getting to see him wearing a neat little TR-style mustache, might just make the movie worth seeing, regardless of actual quality.

Shawn Levy's Night at the Museum (a "live-action/computer-animated comedy" about a curse that brings the creatures in a natural history museum to life) got off to a rocky start, with star Ben Stiller allegedly refusing to appear in the movie if it was shot in Montreal. Now, though, things are settling down, and the movie is preparing to start shooting next month (in Vancouver, in case you were wondering).

Just added to the cast - which, in addition to Stiller, already includes the criminally under appreciated Carla Gugino - are two men who know their way around a movie set: Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney. Van Dyke, who hasn't appeared on the big screen since 1990's Dick Tracy (speaking of under appreciated), will play a long-time museum guard who sees a "magical pharaoh's tablet" (found by Stiller's character) as his key to perpetual youth. Along with sidekick Rooney, he sets out to steal the tablet and, presumably, crazy accidental magic things result.

Hopefully the fact that Van Dyke and Rooney (who has been away from the movies since Babe: Pig in the City) decided to appear in this film means that it's going to be really great, and not that they were both offered so much money that they don't care if the screenplay sucks. Hopefully.