McG is certainly an unusual person. I wrote "insane" in big letters in my notebook, and underlined it, but I think it is actually enthusiasm. Anyway, he helmed the most rip-roaring panel that I attended this weekend at Comic-Con. He was in the biggest room, with a hugely critical crowd presenting eight minutes of his take on the Terminator franchise just days after the Christian Bale rant leaked out all over the internet and basically made it look like an out of control set. But McG strutted out in front of the masses who had waited hours on line to see this panel (OK, and Watchmen too) and right out of the gate started talking about why he wanted to make this movie, and when a bit of feedback interrupted his tale and an audience member shouted, "that's fucking unprofessional," he laughed it off, and said simply, "I'm good." At least this wild and unpredictable director who riled the crowd by calling Christian Bale at home via cell phone (Bale's wife answered and told McG he was crazy... he readily agreed), plucked a member of the audience out to ask his question on stage simply because he was wearing a Cyberdyne T-shirt and him screaming to the projectionist that the trailer had "better be loud" got this girl in the mood to see how Skynet takes over the world.

If you've been hearing the rumors about including Robin in the next Batman sequel, it might put your mind at ease to know that Christian Bale has come out against the idea. Firmly against. Starpulse quotes him as saying he'd be chaining himself up and "refusing to go to work" if Dick Grayson bounded his way into the script.

It's hard to blame the guy for feeling that way; thus far, Robin's live-action incarnations have taken up residence at the camp end of the spectrum, while Christopher Nolan's vision in the new films is situated more at the realistic end. It's hard to imagine a situation where Robin wouldn't be a disastrous addition to the movie franchise. Comic book legend and Boy Wonder advocate Jeph Loeb is more optimistic. He told MTV News that it could work if they were to "[t]ake the time to tell the story properly."

As you've undoubtedly read by now, Christian Bale was arrested (and later released without charges) in London earlier this week after police responded to reports of verbal assault that were allegedly called in by Bale's sister and mom. WTF, Christian? Just because no one's singing your praises for being the straight man in the excellent-as-all-get-out new Batman flick doesn't mean you have to freak out on your mom and sister, dude. That old chestnut about all publicity being good publicity? Doesn't really extend to domestic abuse.

Ever since his sophomore feature Flirting with Disaster, I've been rooting for David O. Russell to score a big, fat commercial hit. (I also enjoyed his debut, Spanking the Monkey, but a dark comedy about incest is never going to be Top 10 box office material.) But when the writer/director finally achieved that goal with last year's Silver Linings Playbook, I found myself in the odd position of feeling happy for him while also being disappointed that it wasn't for a better movie. (Granted, The Fighter earned a fistful of dollars as well, but it didn't join the same financial weight class as its successor.)

The 2012 summer movie season has had its fair share of hits so far (The Avengers, Ted, The Amazing Spider-Man) but one film has loomed large over the multiplex landscape ever since the spring breeze gave way to summer heat: The Dark Knight Rises. The premiere of the third and final chapter in Christopher Nolan's genre redefining Batman series is now just two weeks away and Hollywood is clearing the way for his arrival: between now and the film's July 20th release date, the only major movie opening in wide release is the fourth Ice Age adventure. Yup, even the other studios are dying to see what Nolan has come up with.

In just five days, The Dark Knight has already grossed $200 million, besting 2004's Spider-Man 2 which got there in eight. The box office juggernaut is so big that it's gotten its stars perhaps a little too excited.

Filming for Terminator Salvation is about half complete. Optimism has been cautiously building for this film since Christian Bale signed on late last year, and the impressive cast just keeps growing with additions like Josh Brolin and Helena Bonham Carter, along with rising star Sam Worthington. The main thing that's been keeping some franchise fans (myself included) from looking forward to this one with abandon is its director. Here's a guy who reimagined Charlie's Angels as an action-filled cheese-fest of fun, then followed it up with a sequel that was an action-filled snooze-fest of noise. Bigger and louder seemed to be the order of the day. Even with the well-received We Are Marshall now under his directorial belt, McG still wasn't winning a lot of converts. That may start to change, now, thanks to McG's own words, as written in the movie's official blog.

Let's get the hype out of the way: Yes, The Dark Knight was hyped, hyped, hyped. Yes, it's opening on about seven gazillion screens (more than 4,300, to be precise). Yes, the hype got even more deafening after Heath Ledger's tragic death. The hype factory for this movie was working at such volume, in fact, that the rest of the movie sort of got lost in all the white noise. (For example, Aaron Eckhart? Fantastic in his own right, but there's nary a mention of his performance in the media coverage up to this point.)

Okay then, hype acknowledged -- about the movie, and about Ledger's performance in it. And to think I foolishly worried the movie couldn't live up to it all.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Helena Bonham Carter is the latest casting coup for the producers of Terminator Salvation.