Can't make a whole lot from David Fincher's upcoming film with the teaser so far, but it has a very ominous tone to it. My interest in the project was tepid until I found out Aaron Sorkin was writing the script and Fincher was directing, finding out Eisenburg would be the lead was icing on the cake. Let us hope that it does not end up a cookie cutter downfall movie.

A nihilist whose final offering echoes the sentiments of life at the beginning of Mann's best effort of the decade. In a city that is so disconnected who will notice the dead man circling the Los Angeles subway system?

It looks like Nathan Fillion might be playing a superhero afterall. After being considered for roles in Green Lantern, and Captain America, Fillion (most remembered as Malcolm Reynolds in the cult-hit Firefly) is reportedly in final negotiations to play Dr. Hank Pym in the new Avengers film. It hasn't been stated whether Pym would be Ant-man in the film, or just a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, but we're holding out hope.

The Avengers hits theatres in 2012.

Spoilers ahead if you want to see The Killer Inside Me with no knowledge beforehand as discussion of the film's crucial plot points will be mentioned.

Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me has been vilified across the nation. A piercing look directly inside the mind of a murderous sociopath with a good ole boy exterior.

Lou Ford (played to eerily perfection by Casey Afleck) is a young, good looking sheriff trusted by everyone in his quaint little Texas town. He is living with his high-school sweetheart Amy (Kate Hudson - she's actually great in this despite her rom-com pedigree) and everything in his life is going swimmingly, until he runs into Joyce (Jessica Alba). Joyce is a prostitute being run out of town and Ford is the man sent to make sure she is gone by daylight. What starts out as a slap turns to Ford lashing Joyce with a belt in a merciless manner turns to kinky sex and then when we think all is well in Lou's affair he beats Joyce to death.

Not a single shot on celluloid is spared in Lou's attack on Joyce. We are forced to watch this event take place in its entirety from the point of view of our unstable narrator. Jessica Alba, a renowned beauty according to most, is disfigured right in front of our eyes. Kate Hudson's Amy suffers the same fate as between blows she professes her love to Lou, who only keeps hitting her harder.

Similar to the Gaspar Noe film Irreversible, Killer Inside Me is unflinchingly realistic in its depiction of violence toward the film's central characters in  Joyce and Amy. Violence against women has been handled before in films like Dogville, Antichrist, and others but neither of those films had source material to fall back on for blame. Jim Thompson's pulp novel was made for the big screen with Stacy Keach in 1976, but that film never conscientiously mirrored the intent of the book.

The Killer Inside Me is so effective because it utilizes the violence through the central character as a way of showing the audience we are all close to the breaking point sometimes, some of us are just on the edge constantly.

Luke Wilson in something besides AT&T commercials is heart-warming. He always seemed to get the shaft when it came to doing projects with Owen and maybe Luke's career will take off again.

That opening is familiar enough to fans of the television show, but director Joe Carnahan starts from scratch, throwing Hannibal, Face, Murdock and Baracus together during an operation in Mexico.

The Special Relationship is an important dynamic in world politics. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, Macmillan and Kennedy, Clinton and Blair, and perhaps most influential Tony Blair and George W. Bush.

Michael Sheen, now on his third take playing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has his role down pat. When the camera starts rolling all trace of Sheen is gone. Only Blair's perma-grin and inclination to always do right remains. Like Frank Langella in Peter Morgan's other effort Frost/Nixon, Dennis Quaid doesn't particularly look like the former president he is portraying, but nails the attitude - and even the accent.

Tony Blair is in awe of Bill Clinton at the beginning of the film, a candidate for Prime Minister he seeks the backing that President Clinton has made for himself in the United States, a foundation built on center-left policies. Clinton advises the young candidate that while policies are important, the image is where your future lies (foreshadowing at its best). The two get on quite well, sometimes to the playful belittling of Blair's wife Cherie (Helen McCrory who reprises her role from The Queen). All of this changes when the Lewinsky scandal comes to light.

Now this portion of the film is where Hope Davis dashes the carpet under the feet of her co-stars. Davis, who without the aid of a second glance would almost assume is the former first lady, really shines during the Lewinsky portion of the film. It could have been a weepy, woe-is-me performance but Davis gives it the resilience that Hillary Clinton is best known for.

Blair's friendship comes crucially to President Clinton at his time in need and all is made well. Their friendship is put to the test again, however, when military intervention in Kosovo is suggested only to be slapped down by NATO and President Clinton. My biggest complaint with the film is its blow-by-you runtime of only 93 minutes. More could have been made of the Kosovo conflict between the two world leaders, but the resolution feels rushed and the film suffers for it.

**1/2 out of ****

My interest in The A-Team was tepid at best, previous to the extended tv spots FOX put out, but this sneak peek has me interested now.

Regardless of who went home with the trophy Oscar night Downey solidified his status as an actor unafraid to seek roles outside the norm. What's most remarkable about the portrayal is that at no point during the film did the concept seem offensive at all. Lazarus's borderline obsessive devotion to his craft is sent up so well we forget that it's Iron Man, Charlie Chaplin and countless others under that make-up. At that point the only Thunder in the film belonged to Downey.