Here's the setting: You just arrived home after saving a country from an evil mastermind hell-bent on taking over their supply of chewing gum and using it to create mayhem. During that time, however, you missed your Cinematical and all the stuff that happened during the week. Well, you showed up at just the right time -- may we now present [drum roll please] ... Cinematical's Stuff That Happened This Week!

Fanboy Stuff
Kenneth Branagh is Directing Thor
Transformers 2 is Shooting in IMAX
Eagle Eye Writer Wants to Make a Blade Runner 2?
Zack Snyder Talks 300 Sequel
But Then Jon Favreau Talks Iron Man Sequel
Check Out Early Art for Pixar's The Incredibles
Star Wars Steampunk and Reservoir Dogs = Hella Cool!
Are They Rebooting Daredevil?

Exclusive Stuff
Bolt Poster Premiere
Pray the Devil Back to Hell Poster Premiere
Clip from Bill Maher's Religulous

Stuff to Talk About
Will Smith vs Will Smith
Five People Who Should Star in PG Porn
Who's More Uncomfortable with Onscreen Nudity?
Which Upcoming Marvel Film Shows the Most Promise?
How Saw V Could Actually Be Good
Is Roku's Netflix Player Tempting You Yet
When Talking Animals Attack
Horror Remakes That Don't Suck

Reviews and Stuff
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Religulous
Rachel Getting Married
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Flash of Genius
Appaloosa
An American Carol
Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Oct. 3

More stuff after the jump ...

Early last month, Variety published a rather scathing look at 20th Century Fox's summer receipts and mentioned the studio was digging through its collection of superheroes with an eye on getting some of that blockbuster mojo back. It wasn't surprising to see more X-Men spin-offs and sequels being talked about -- but what did raise a few eyebrows was the inclusion of Daredevil. The Man with No Fear had a pretty disastrous debut in 2003, and his girlfriend/nemesis Elektra fared even worse.

IESB caught up with Fox's co-chairman, Tom Rothman, and pressed him on the subject of revisiting Daredevil. It's more than a passing fancy in the trades -- Fox is thinking "very seriously" of a reboot. Says Rothman: "I think that the thing the Hulk showed, although it did what it did, is that it is possible that if you really do it right the audience will give you a second chance. That it is possible. And I think that you see that when they did Batman Begins, the first Nolan movie, that you can have made some mistakes along the way or movies that the audience wasn't that crazy about and then given the proper amount of time and the right creative vision behind it, you can, to use your word, reboot."

I'm finally writing a post here that my sister will read. You see, she adores Russell Brand almost as much as Brand adores Cinematical and Scott Weinberg (see image above as proof of this fact). Maybe even more, because unlike most Americans, she was avidly following his British career via his podcast and BBC America. There have been many humbling moments in my Cinematical salad days, but none quite so humiliating as when I told her Brand was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. "I know. I followed the filming on his podcast." At least Weinberg promptly humiliated her by getting all cozy with her favorite Englishman.

As my sister wasn't one of the casting directors for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Brand had to make an audition tape to convince them of his weirdly-coiffed worthiness. In honor of its DVD release, MTV has the exclusive, and I've embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. And if you're like my sibling and can't get enough, I've also included the karaoke version of his in-film music video, Infant Sorrow.

5-1 my sister writes "I've already seen both of those videos" in the comments. Hopefully, you'll be more appreciative.

I already smell Oscar nominations for this one. According to Variety, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro are re-teaming for I Heard You Paint Houses, based on Charles Brandt's book. And another Scorsese alumni is writing the script -- Steve Zaillian, who not only scripted Gangs of New York, but won an Oscar for Schindler's List. See what I mean? A contender for Best Picture, and it isn't even filmed yet.

The topic is familiar stomping ground for Scorsese and De Niro -- organized crime. De Niro will play the main man of Houses, Frank 'the Irishman' Sheeran, who reportedly committed more than 25 mob murders. One of these was supposedly Jimmy Hoffa, who he confessed to killing and dismembering on the orders of mob boss Russell Bufalino. And if you're wondering about the title, it has a wonderfully gruesome origin: it's mob slang for a contract killing, due to the mess left behind on walls and floors when you carry one out.

Sheeran confessed all to Brandt, who befriended him before his death in 2003. While this seemed to clear up the mystery surrounding Hoffa's disappearance, controversy still reigns. Other hitman have confessed to the crime since Sheeran, and lacking conclusive DNA evidence or a body, nothing can be proved or denied. The FBI stopped looking for Hoffa's body in 2006. But Hoffa's fate is like the identity of Jack the Ripper -- no one will ever stop confessing, wondering, or looking.

As I said at the start, this movie has a perfect pedigree. But for the sake of argument, do you think it's just too safe? We all realize Scorsese knows a mob thriller like the back of his hand, and we know De Niro can play a guy who, well, paints houses to chilling perfection. I'd love to see Scorsese court some of that Last Temptation of Christ controversy again, but perhaps that's just too cocky of me to question.

I know, I know -- "sequelized" isn't a word, but it's the most fitting label I can come up with. Ever since 300 hit theaters in March 2007, there has been talk of creating some kind of spin off. Would it be a prequel? Would it be a sequel? Would it be some demented fever dream invented by one Cinematical blogger on a late Colorado night?

Well, someone finally asked a 300 alumni other than poor Gerard Butler. IESB.net caught up with director Zack Snyder, who revealed that 300 would receive the sequel treatment. Snyder did the impossible, and actually spoke to Frank Miller about it, and learned he's writing a graphic novel that takes place between Thermopylae and the Battle of Plataea which is seen at the end of the film. There's a mere year in between waiting to be populated with new Spartan heroes (though David Wenham's lone survivor, Dilios, could return) by way of Miller's pen. Snyder promises to direct the adaptation when Miller finishes the book.

There's certainly historical material to draw from -- the time between Thermopylae and Plataea was marked by several battles -- the naval Battle of Artemisium, which occurred alongside Thermopylae, and the Battle of Salamis. Both were victories for the Greek states (although Artemisium could be argued to be a draw), but not without cost. Several Greek cities, including Athens, suffered severe Persian attacks.

But while the Greco-Persian Wars are ripe for many stories and movies, I don't see any of them fitting the hyper-stylized mold of the original graphic novel or the film. The insanity of it all worked because it had a legendary story and king to anchor it down, and shine through the blood-splatters and giant rhinos. Why water that down? As fond as I am of Snyder, Miller and violent boys in leather pants, I wish they would just let the Spartans lie.

Liam Neeson's thriller Taken hasn't hit stateside yet -- but it looks like its director, Pierre Morel, already has another job. Relativity Media acquired the rights to Arne Schmidt's screenplay Hunter-Killer, based on Don Keith and Commander George Wallace's novel Firing Point.

Hunter-Killer fills a giant gap in today's cinema -- there just aren't enough movies set on submarines. (Have you ever toured one? If you can stop yourself from imitating Sean Connery or Das Boot, they really are terrifying places to be.) The story follows an American submarine commander and a team of Navy SEALS who must avert all-out war, rescue the Russian President in the midst of a coup, and defeat a renegade Admiral. No word on casting yet, but it will be fun to see what up-and-coming action stars land the macho parts -- particularly since American cinema is reportedly quite short of them.

It sounds a bit like The Hunt for Red October, which isn't a bad thing -- and it's a pretty timely choice for Relativity in light of recent geopolitical events. After Eastern Promises, I thought we were going to see Russian mafia dramas replace the Italian and Irish ones ... but instead, the Russians are making a huge comeback as the villains of action cinema. Coincidence, or savvy optioning on the part of Hollywood? Who knows? It definitely feels like 1980 again ... and I'm okay with that. Are you?

Those folks with plans to see Fernando Meirelles' Blindness this weekend may find themselves blinded by ... protesters? That's because activists from the National Federation of the Blind were pretty ticked off after learning the premise behind the flick: that, essentially, a blindness epidemic strikes leading most folks to go absolutely apesh*t on one another. It would probably be in poor taste to criticize the group for not seeing the film before they protested against it, however I should point out that this all came about after seven NFB staffers watched the movie (three of which were sighted) at a screening.

The NFB claim the movie is offensive, and that it "portrays blind people as monsters ..." A spokesman for the organization added, "We face a 70 percent unemployment rate and other social problems because people don't think we can do anything, and this movie is not going to help ... at all." See, I tend to disagree. First of all, people who aren't smart enough to realize that it's a movie deserve to be repeatedly kicked in the head by a one-armed monkey on steroids. Second of all, if an entire city full of citizens suddenly became blind and couldn't see a thing, you bet your ass people would freak out -- after all, how could they keep up with this season of Dancing with the Stars if they're blind!?

The NFB plan to protest at 75 theaters across the country this Friday, carrying signs that read: "I'm not an actor. But I play a blind person in real life." Where do you stand on all this?

Happy New Year to all my brothers and sisters. May 5769 kick a whole lot more ass than 5768. While over 98% of Hollywood takes the day off, here's what's happening:

Variety reports that Michael Bay has taken a page from Christopher Nolan and will shoot "at least three action set pieces" using IMAX cameras during Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Usually I'd reserve this spot for a Bay joke, but I truly think this is a great thing for a film like Transformers. The action scenes in the last one felt claustrophobic (especially toward the end), and so utilizing IMAX would allow Bay and Co. to open it up and really have fun with the thing. Visually, this could add a lot to the film. Hopefully they'll use it for some massive robot battle. Other films also mentioned in the article as possible contenders for a similar IMAX approach include Iron Man 2 and Y: The Last Man.

Looks like the old gang is making a play for Spider-Man 4 (and 5?), as Kirsten Dunst told MTV that she's "in" when asked whether she'd be returning to the mega-franchise as Peter Parker's old lady, Mary Jane. However, she did follow that up with "I'm not saying anything. I know there's rumors ..." -- which, in actor-speak, means "We're still negotiating and I'm not really allowed to open my big mouth." I'd expect a big announcement soon stating the return of Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst for a back-to-back shoot of Spider-Man 4 and 5.

Thomas Dekker (aka that dude who stars in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) is in talks to snag a lead role in MGM's remake of Fame, so says The Hollywood Reporter. The original 1980 film, which was nominated for six Oscars, follows several aspiring young performers and teachers at the prestigious New York Academy of Performing Arts. Considering the times we live in, I envision this update to feel like a mix between Step Up, You Got Served and American Idol: The Movie.

Much more after the jump ...

The wires (yes, I still think of them like that) were buzzing all weekend with MTV's big scoop -- that while Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott were out promoting Body of Lies, the network cornered them about the long-delayed Nottingham, Scott's revisionist Robin Hood story. There have been a lot of names attached to the role of Robin Hood, ranging from Christian Bale to newcomer Sam Riley.

Forget all of that because now, from Scott himself, comes the announcement that Crowe will be playing both roles. Mum on the details, the director would only say it was "a good old clever adjustment of characters. One becomes the other. It changes." I would take that to mean that the Sheriff of Nottingham becomes Robin Hood after having to steal from the poor one too many times ... or they're twins, which would be pretty lame, especially for Scott and Crowe.

But wait -- there's more! CHUD points out that in reading the original screenplay, they noticed the Sheriff was caught between a tyrant king and a less-than-heroic Robin Hood. Nothing in this script indicated the Sheriff and Robin Hood could be played by the same actor. Now, Brian Helgeland came in and did a rewrite, and much depends on that.

The medievalist in me suspects this is less shockingly revisionist than a return to the old medieval legends, where Robin Hood was merely an outlaw who beheaded people from time to time, not the Robin of Locksley we all know and love. It's a pretty flexible legend, and I'm very anxious to see what Scott does with it ... when it finally heads into production, that is.