Movie Minesweeper - The Volume Thirty Eight Edition

- Cinematical have spoken to Sheri Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, directors of American Splendor and The Nanny Diaries. A pair of smart cookies and no mistake.

- Pop Candy have discovered some of the numbers on the Darjeeling Limited soundtrack. A mini-heap of Kinks amongst other things.

- Dan Weiss is the latest screenwriter atached to adapt Neil Strauss' The Game into a feature film. Strauss' guide to dating techniques struck me as utterly reprehensible, but like a car crash between two soft covers, I found it bizarrely magnetic and hard to put down.

- David Schwimmer has joined the cast of Rod Lurie's Nothing But the Truth. Kate Beckinsale, Alan Alda, Matt Dillon and Vera Farmiga were already in place. The 'Vera Farmiga Factor' is enough to make me quake in my chair - if I'm not very much mistaken, she's only been in one good film in the last five years.

- Scoring movies in Hollywood may never be the same again. The Todd-AO recording stage is to close at the end of the year and Variety have a piece on the possible repercussions.

- Terrence Howard has joined the cast of Dito Montiel's next as a veteran streetfighter.

- News of a new Atom Egoyan film always cheers me up. Adoration is to deal with teen characters reinventing themselves through modern technology (no surprises there) and will star Scott Speedman, Rachel Blanchard and Arsinee Khanjian (again, no surprises there).

- Mark Tonderai - yes, that Mark Tonderai - is to direct Hush for Warp X. Set on a deserted motorway (huh?) this is a variant on Duel/Joy Ride/Roadkill/The Hitcher shot on the cheap and shooting for cool.

- Josh Olson has confirmed an important detail of his Oz plans: the film will have nothing to do with McFarlane's daft toys.

- The Transformers pirate has been dealt with appropriately.

- Carla Gugino has jumped aboard Righteous Kill as a 'crime-scene inverstigator with a dark personal life'. film ick likes Carla a lot, but we do wish she'd get some truly great roles.

Time for a House double bill. I will return.