Critics given a peek of the summer blockbuster at the weekend have given rave reviews about Ledger’s performance as The Joker.

The Australian star completed work on the film shortly before his death from an accidental drugs overdose in January, aged 28.

He was nominated for an Oscar once during his career - for Brokeback Mountain in 2006 - and is being hailed as a serious contender once again.

(UK Telegraph)

Like a lot of 12-year-olds, Abigail Breslin might want to be a veterinarian when she grows up.

“I love animals, and I’ve had dogs, cats, a turtle,” she says. “And it’s weird, but I collect elephants. All kinds. Not the living kind. Not yet.”

She just joined Girl Scouts, and she says “Oh my gosh!” a lot. Especially about American Idol or the iPod she just lost.

(Houston Chronicle)

Disney/Pixar Writer/Director Andrew Stanton, whose last film, Finding Nemo, won the first-ever Best Animated Film Academy Award for a computer-generated movie, is back with Wall-E. Although Finding Nemo currently holds the record as Disney/Pixar’s highest-grossing movie, Wall-E, which is riding a rocket of critical acclaim, could give that film a run for the money. That’s good news for THQ, which has shipped Wall-E games for every gaming platform in tandem with the theatrical run.

(Business Week)

The film director Jonathan Levine never sold marijuana in high school, though he may have inhaled some. “Possible,” he said recently, fighting a smile. “It’s possible.”

Nor did he ever trade weed for sessions with a psychiatrist, as the protagonist of his new movie, “The Wackness,” does. But in other respects “The Wackness” — Mr. Levine’s second feature, which opens Thursday and stars Josh Peck as Luke, the teenage dealer; Ben Kingsley as the shrink; and Mary-Kate Olsen as a spaced-out hippie chick — is largely autobiographical. Set in New York in the summer of 1994, when the first Giuliani term was in full swing, and rap was pulsing from headphones everywhere, it’s a portrait of the artist as a young stoner who can see only the “wack,” or dismal, side of things, and never the “dope,” or bright and uplifting, stuff.

Mr. Levine, who just turned 32, is small, intense, a little nervous. He looks less like a movie director than the eager-to-please guy who fetches the director’s coffee.

(New York Times)

Last month, Maureen Ryan was the first to report that as many as three “Battlestar Galactica” TV films were under discussion at the Sci Fi network. She noted that “it would make sense to make more ‘Battlestar’ TV movies while the show’Â?Â?s creative team and actors are still all in one place.”

Well, too late for that now — the cast is being flung far and wide.

(LA Times)

Sony announced Thursday that it will launch a movie download service for the PlayStation 3 this summer in the U.S. market.

The movie-themed announcement came from Kazuo Hirai, who is the head of Sony’s video game unit. Hirai said the service will be offered in Japan and Europe at later dates. Further details on the service will be available until next month, he said. GamePro Hint: Think “E3.”

(IDG)

Hollywood loves a good sequel, but here’s one it could do without: Another union strike just months after the town got up and running again from a devastating walkout by writers.

The contract between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expires Monday, and negotiations have dragged on for weeks with no apparent headway.

SAG leaders have said they are willing to continue talking beyond the contract deadline. Yet their hard-line rhetoric and a squabble with another actors union could put performers on the sidelines, taking electricians, set-builders, caterers and other Hollywood working stiffs along with them.

(Yahoo Movies)

Read it aloud, make sure there’s a favourite bit - and don’t fall into the ‘German funk trap’. Frank Cottrell Boyce who scripted 24 Hour Party People and A Cock and Bull Story, lays down his screenwriting golden rules.

(The Guardian UK)

WALL-E

Director: Andrew Stanton
Stars: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The Plot: A trash-compacting robot learns there’s more to life than cleaning up the planet that humans polluted when he falls for a sleek, female droid, then sets out on an intergalactic journey to be with her

READ REVIEWS OF ‘WALL-E’ 

WANTED

Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Stars: Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman
Studio: Universal Pictures

The Plot: Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) is rescued from his miserable existence by the gun-toting Fox (Jolie), a member of the Fraternity, a group of assassins to which Wesley’s recently murdered father belonged. As their new recruit, Wesley learns he’s truly a chip off the old block as he is trained by Fox and the Fraternity’s leader, Sloan (Freeman) — but what secrets are they hiding?

READ REVIEWS OF ‘WANTED’ 

GUNNIN’ FOR THAT #1 SPOT

Director: Adam Yauch
Stars: Jarryd Bayless, Michael Beasley, Tyreke Evans
Studio: Oscilloscope Pictures

The Plot: A documentary that follows eight of the top high school basketball players as they compete in the first “Elite 24″ tournament at Rucker Park in New York City.

READ REVIEWS OF ‘GUNNIN’ FOR THAT #1 SPOT’ 

FINDING AMANDA

Director: Peter Tolan
Stars: Matthew Broderick, Brittany Snow, Maura Tierney
Studio: HDNet Films

The Plot: A television producer (Broderick) with a penchant for drinking and gambling is sent to Las Vegas to convince his troubled niece (Snow) to enter rehab.

READ REVIEWS OF ‘FINDING AMANDA’ 

Judd Apatow had a problem. The test screenings for his movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin were killing. But the jokes that were really landing were the ones featuring pot. Sophomoric, Cheech-and-Chong-y cheap yuks about weed. But funny ones. He called his old friend Garry Shandling to ask whether he should leave them in. They went with the only responsible choice: comedy comes first.

The film opened, and nobody made a big deal about the pot. Nor did Apatow get called out when the lead character in his next big hit, Knocked Up, was an inveterate stoner. And on Aug. 8, Pineapple Express, which he produced, arrives; it’s named after a particularly potent (and fictional) strain of Cannabis sativa.

(Time)