You Were Driving Circles.

In what’s looking to be a particularly dismal summer for movies (Toy Story 3 is the only other virtually-guaranteed bright spot on the horizon), Christopher Nolan’s Inception is arguably the pick of the litter. With that in mind, today, seven new character posters dropped — See also Ellen Page (“The Architect”), Tom Hardy (“The Forger”), Ken Watanabe (“The Tourist”), and Cillian Murphy (“The Mark”).

The Good (or maybe Evil) Shepherd.

“‘Mass Effect is a tremendous property ripe for translation to the big screen,’ said Thomas Tull, Chairman and CEO of Legendary Pictures. ‘Mass Effect is a prime example of the kind of source material we at Legendary like to develop; it has depth, compelling characters and an engaging back story.’” In probably inevitable news, Mass Effect is coming to the big screen, with a script by Mark Protosevich (I am Legend, Thor.) Eh, I’d be happier just to see an earlier release of Mass Effect III.

Render unto Vader.

“Aside from cleaner ships, a shuttle sequence, a meaner Wampa, and a makeover of Cloud City, The Empire Strikes Back: The Special Edition remains relatively unchanged from its 1980 cut, when the film unwittingly helped to launch the Reagan era. When Americans who saw the team who ended 1977’s A New Hope beaming in triumph now scattered, desperate, and pursued by a much more menacing Empire, the national mood sagged. With Luke Skywalker crashing twice and Han Solo as conspicuously absent from the final scenes as the hostages in Iran were from U.S. soil, the Dark Side must have seemed so much quicker, easier, and more seductive at the polls that November. It may have been easy to write it off as Morning in America, but people knew deep down that it was a dark time for the Rebellion, indeed.“

“The Force is with you, young Skywalker…but you are not a Jedi yet.” Today marks the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, pretty easily my most formative film, and one of the main reasons I still love going to the movies every weekend. (Two of my earliest very-vivid memories are seeing the Empire costumes on display at Harrods before the opening — who is this Boba Fett character? — and later going to see Empire near Piccadilly Circus, with a big Vader billboard overhead.)

The quote above is from my 1997 review of the Special Edition re-release, and what I said then stands. For thirty years now as of today, I’ve been aspiring to be a Jedi, Zen-master, and/or scoundrel, in the stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerfherder sense. Eh, one out of three ain’t bad.

Quixote v. Kenobi.

“‘Robert Duvall is one of the greats, no question – and he can ride a horse!’ laughed Gilliam. ‘And Ewan has gotten better over the years. He was wonderful in The Ghost. There’s a lot of colours to Ewan that he’s not been showing recently and it’s time for him to show them again. He’s got a great sense of humour and he’s a wonderful actor. He’s wonderfully boyish and can be charming – when he flashes a smile, everybody melts. He wields it like a nuclear bomb!“

While currently busy with The Damnation of Faust for the English National Opera, Terry Gilliam reveals he has a cast ready for his second attempt at The Man Who Killed Don Quixote: Robert Duvall and Ewan MacGregor, in the Jean Rochefort (Quixote) and Johnny Depp roles respectively. Shooting begins this September.

Until the Crystal Cracked.

“You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven [Spielberg, who directed]. But the actor’s job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn’t do it. So that’s my fault. Simple.“

While on press tour for Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, Shia LaBoeuf offers a public mea culpa for the misfire that was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. “I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished…We [Harrison Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn’t happy with it either.”

The Bradbury Chronicles.

“Thanks to Fahrenheit 451, now required reading for every American middle-schooler, Bradbury is generally thought of as a writer of novels, but his talents–particularly his mastery of the diabolical premise and the brain-exploding revelation–are best suited to the short form.” As the writer’s 90th birthday approaches this August, Slate‘s Nathaniel Rich pens an appreciation of sci-fi standby Ray Bradbury. “Bradbury is an optimist at heart, but his head knows that hope may not be enough. He’s seen the future, and it’s not all grand pink-stoned chess cities on Mars and houses that tidy up after you…It’s only on reflection, after the stories take up residence in your head and crawl deep into the dark cracks and corners, that the wonder mutates into something closer to dread.“

The Vampires (Back) Next Door.

Hit-Girl trades in butterfly knives for fangs (and a Rubik’s cube) as the first stills emerge from Matt’s Reeves forthcoming Let Me In, i.e.,the potentially-unnecessary American remake of Let the Right One In, with Chloe Moretz ((500) Days of Summer, Kick-Ass), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road), and the venerable Richard Jenkins (The Visitor, Six Feet Under.) Well, so far it looks a lot like the original, I’ll give it that. (Although, as an observant AICN’er noted, why is Eli/Moretz wearing a hoodie? That was part of the eeriness of the original, that this tiny girl was somehow not feeling the frigid Swedish winter.)

And, elsewhere on the neighborly vampire re-make front, Anton Yelchin’s Charlie Brewster now has his Jerry Dandridge: Apparently, Colin Farrell is taking Chris Sarandon’s role in the remake of Fright Night. (Toni Collette also joins as Charlie’s mom.) Well, I would’ve preferred Mark Strong, but that works too. Now, on to casting the crucial part of Peter Vincent, nee Roddy McDowell. (And perhaps Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Evil Ed?)

The Power of their Source? The Crystal.

“Set hundreds of years after the events of the first movie when the world has once again fallen into darkness, Power of the Dark Crystal follows the adventures of a mysterious girl made of fire who, together with a Gelfling outcast, steals a shard of the legendary Crystal in an attempt to reignite the dying sun that exists at the center of the planet.”

Once more, they will replenish themselves…(omg this is the best). First announced in 2005, the much-anticipated Power of the Dark Crystal is finally out of development hell with a brand-new pair of directors, the Spierig brothers, recently of Daybreakers. I’m all for it. Hey Tron and Clash of the Titans are back in 2010, so why the heck not? Let’s complete the trifecta…in 3D.

Update: The Spierigs speak: “To be honest, the first film is, when I was young, pretty scary stuff. This will certainly have scary elements to it. It’s not a horror film by any means, its just got a really solid mythology and solid idea.“

If I Had a Hammer…

As Iron Man 2 launches in one week (and, if you’re feeling spoilerish, the post-credit sequence has leaked), the next Avenger down the pike, the Mighty Thor, gets ready for his close-up. That’s Chris Hemsworth (formerly Papa Kirk in Star Trek) as the Asgardian in question. Joining him in Kenneth Branagh’s film are Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Jaimie Alexander (Sif), Rene Russo (Frigga), Kat Dennings (Darcy), Stellan Skarsgard (Selvia), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Ray Stevenson (Volstagg), and Colm Feore (a villain to be named later — possibly the Destroyer?)

So, What Have You Got For Me This Time?

“What are all these knobs? What these? Instruments. These are for controlling our flight…You see, we travel around in here through time and space. Oh, no, no, no, no. Don’t laugh. It’s true!” The Doctor lands Stateside…again (and the much-anticipated Moffat era begins), tonight at 9pm on BBC America.

Update: Still a mite campy for my tastes, but you can see good, creepy ideas by Moffat — the secret room, the floating eyeball, Prisoner Zero’s disguises — all over the show. And Matt Smith is certifiably great — The guy was born to play the Doctor. I’m definitely looking forward to this season.