Ain’t It Cool News is reporting that inside sources working on the post production of The Dark Night have confirmed that Heath Ledger had indeed finished all of his post production work before his death. The reason Ledger had already completed his work for the film before the other principles was due to scheduling constraints related to the Terry Gilliam film Ledger was working on when he died. No word yet on what Gilliam plans to do with the production of his film.

Three major critic associations have named the Cohen brothers’ latest epic ‘No Country for Old Men’ the top film of 2007. The National Board of Review, Boston Society of Film Critics, and the New York Film Critics Online association rated No Country above other 2007 critic favorites ‘Atonement’, ‘Sweeney Todd’, ‘The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford’, and ‘There Will Be Blood’. No Country is also on pace to become the highest grossing Cohen brothers’ film to date. The brothers’ previous best was the 2000 hit ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ which pulled in $45m domestically. No Country is currently at $30m and had double the average take per theatre on opening weekend than O Brother . However, Miramax still hoped to see a bigger box office after putting much more in the marketing end than earlier Cohen brothers’ efforts. Expect to see less enthusiasm from distributors on future Cohen projects.

Even though ‘Justice League of America’ is in early pre-production, it’s already garnered plenty of groans and gripes from comic book fans. From the casting of unknowns after more familiar names ran from the project like the plague to the decision of director George Miller to helm JLA, Happy Feet 2, and Mad Max 4 (Miller directed Happy Feet and all three Mad Max films) - all concurrently - few have any hope that Fox Studios is going to produce anything that’s not embarrassing for the DC Comics franchise. Now comes news that the studio may have changed the name of JLA to ‘American Heroes’. What in the world could execs be thinking if this rumor is true? Do they hope to attract a wider audience who would otherwise be turned off by another comic book movie? I think they’ll realize what kind of film they’re watching after the first couple of minutes. Once again out-of-touch bean counters in Hollywood make another moronic decision.

For the full scoop on the source of this rumor check out moviehole.net and cinemablend.com.

Slowly, but surely, media companies are figuring out how to market they’re products in the non-traditional digital world. Sony has posted online the first 10 minutes of ‘Walk Hard’ as a long trailer here. The star of ‘Walk Hard’, John C. Reilly, is also launching ‘Cox Across America’, performing live as Dewey Cox, the comedies lead character. More studios should take a lesson from Sony and learn to take advantage of the unique marketing landscape that is the world wide web.

After months of rumors, Jeff Bridges himself has confirmed that Hollywood is going try and cash in on generational nostalgia. In an interview with cinemablend.com, Bridges not only said a sequel of the 1982 sci-fi hit Tron is in the works but that he’s considering taking part in the film. When I heard about the possibility of a sequel, my eyes rolled at the thought of studio executives trying to cash in on the emotional ties of the 30 something demographics increasing spending power. Do such motivations ever result in decent films? Don’t worry about this pollution taking your money yet, the project is in the early stages and won’t see screens any time before 2010.

Dark Knight promos, primarily featuring Heath Ledger as the Joker, have been posted on the Internet. To view the full images click here.

UPDATE:

The Dark Knight Promo images are no longer available from the link above. Warner Bros. has taken action against web sites which published the photos.

Oh boy! Another video game adaptation! This time its Eidos Interactive’s Hitman, a video game franchise that produced four games in the series. While gamers have enjoyed Hitman, movie reviewers are widely panning the film - its script, its visuals, its casting. Taking a page from numerous predecessors Hitman, directed by Xavier Gens, follows an assassin known only as “agent 47″ played by the respected, but miscast, Timothy Olyphant. Agent 47 is tasked with assassinating the Russian President but is double crossed. He spends the bulk of the film trying to track down who crossed him while simultaneously being hunted down by other assassins and Interpol. Not exactly a genre shattering plot and to all accounts a poor script (penned by Skip Woods) to boot. Though its bloody violence and gratuitous boob shoots, courtesy of co-star Olga Kurylenko, will appeal to preteen boys, its R rating will keep them out of theatres. Visit the Hitman offical website.

Why didn’t I hear more about The Painted Veil?  After keeping it at the bottom of my Neflix queue, I finally moved it up, not thinking it would be anything special.  To my delight, I was mistaken! This story by W. Somerset Maugham, starts in London, then moves to China during the 1920’s.

First, the excellent photography captured the breathtaking scenery.  Second, the story keeps you fascinated, wondering what the next turn will be.  (Not surprising, since it’s based on such a wonderful author’s book.) Third, the acting is above the usual performance by all, but especially by Edward Norton.  Yes, I’m an avid fan, but he rose above my expectations.  For the first part of the movie he seems a background player, there for contrast with Naomi Watts.  But when he goes to rural China to help with a cholera epidemic his strength emerges.  Norton plays this part with such depth and sensitivity!

If you missed this one, go back and rent it.  It won several awards, but should have won more.  If only for the scenery it’s worth seeing, but its value is in the story and acting.