I'll probably be disowned by everyone I know for saying this, but I think Leonardo DiCaprio is overrated. By no means am I saying that he's not a decent actor -- he can hold his own -- but I've never really thought the guy could transform himself into other people. He can emote with the best of them, and the man can deliver a line, but whenever I see him onscreen, I see Leonardo DiCaprio, not whatever character he's playing. Then again, I was sitting in the very front row directly in front of the air conditioner output when I went to see Titanic, which got coincidentally frigid right about the time Jack was freezing to death in the water, which made for a seriously miserable movie experience, so maybe I have a DiCaprio mental block. Anyway, whenever Leonardo decides on a role, it's always big news, and his latest pick is no exception.

Let me start off by saying that I am not a big fan of Smallville. It's done some interesting things lately by bringing in more superheroes and supervillains from the comics, but before this season, I hadn't watched in years. So I am not some kind of Kreukaholic. I think Kristin Kreuk is pretty, and has a pleasant speaking voice, and I would like to see her in other roles, but that's about it. So when I found out that she was cast as Chun Li in the new Street Fighter movie, I was excited, since I love that game. Little did I know that the studio would later decide that they had made some kind of mistake.

It's hard to believe that a few years ago, Sylvester Stallone was pretty much off the radar, playing a villain in a Spy Kids movie with his glory days largely behind him. Now, after making another Rocky movie and another Rambo movie, all of a sudden everyone wants to work with him. (Let this be a lesson to all those actors out there who don't want to be in franchises.) As previously reported, Sly has written a new action movie for himself to direct and star in, and the cast he's assembled so far -- combined with the actors he's still going after -- is mind-bogglingly awesome.

Even though 2008 was a good year for the box office, budgetary concerns remain foremost in many studios' thoughts. What better way to help shore up cash intake than to make movies with huge merchandising potential? Look at the blockbuster Transformers, for example. Hasbro will be following up with a sequel, as well as movies based on their board games, like Candy Land, Monopoly, and the ol' party-pleaser, the Oujia board. Not to be outdone, Mattel will be getting into the action with a live-action Barbie movie and a movie revolving around their Hot Wheels toy line. Man, it's like the Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour come to life.

The end of the week brings you updates on your favorite (and maybe not-so-favorite) superheroes and what they're up to these days. First up to bat, so to speak, is The Dark Knight. Word just came down from Warner Brothers that the megahit will be re-released in theaters and IMAX on January 23. So if you're one of the handful of Amish people who didn't see it, or you just wanted to watch it for the second or twenty-second time on the big screen, this will be your chance. This will allow The Dark Knight to gain entry into the very exclusive billion-dollar club where the only other members are Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. That ought to make Batman happy. Relatively speaking, of course. Not coincidentally, the re-release happens the day after the Academy Awards nominations are announced.

Is there something like the SPCA, only for action stars that maybe aren't quite as youthful as they once were? I can't help but think someone, somewhere needed to step in where The Spy Next Door is concerned and get Jackie Chan out of there. As some former knock-'em-out stars start heading toward their fifties and beyond, they try to transition into more mainstream roles. This isn't always easy, and some missteps will be made. In Chan's case, the missteps are becoming full-fledged leaps, as news come down the wire that Billy Ray Cyrus and George Lopez have just been cast to co-star with him in the comedy about mistaken identities. The two latest additions play CIA agents. The lineup, the premise... the whole thing has a "direct-to-DVD" sort of feel to it.

According to CHUD.com, John Carpenter is developing a movie that script writers Jeremy Passmore and Andre Fabrizio say came about because they "were trying to do Unforgiven as a gangster movie." Titled The Prince, theirs is a story about a Vegas gangster who's left behind his life of crime to try to lead a normal life with his family. This echoes Clint Eastwood's character in Unforgiven, who tried the same thing, only to find himself in the middle of bloodshed and violence all over again. Passmore called the project "a bit of a departure" for Carpenter, who's made a name for himself directing horror movies like The Thing and Halloween. It's not hard to see how you'd get from horror to gangsters, though.

To no one's surprise, James Bond dominated the box office, raking in $70.4 million for Quantum of Solace in its opening weekend. That's a record for a Bond film opening weekend, beating the previous top opener, Die Another Day, which brought in $47 million in its first weekend back in 2002. (Even when adjusted for ticket price inflation, Die Another Day would have a $57 million take, still lower than Quantum.) That's also the fourth-highest opening weekend of the year, after The Dark Knight, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Iron Man.

Ah, there's nothing quite like the scent of a sequel on the morning breeze. Like the lingering aroma of yesterday's leftovers, mixed with the heady perfume of a flower about to open. Depending on the sequel, there might also be a whiff of something coming from the bottom of your shoe. Today, at least, it looks (and smells) like the crap is pretty minimal. There's been a lot of news in the last day or so about follow-up movies (Alvin & the Chipmunks 2, anyone?), but let's start with the most obvious and go from there.

When I found my seat at the advance screening for Quantum of Solace (well, relatively advance -- the Brits exercised their Queen-granted right to see it two weeks ago) I was warmly greeted by my neighbors, two New Yorkers who were fans of all things Bond. One had sat in Connery's original Aston Martin DB5 the week Goldfinger came out; the other had seen nearly half of the Bond title song musicians, including Tom Jones and Paul McCartney, perform their Bond songs live. Both were excited for the new film, although I was surprised at how little of the media blitz they had been subject to. The music lover was a fan of the White Stripes, but he hadn't heard the Jack White-Alicia Keys title track, "Another Way to Die." The other had loved the stunts he'd seen in the commercials, but he hadn't read anything about all the injuries Daniel Craig acquired doing them. Part of me wished I was going into it as spoiler-free as they were, but the rest of me didn't care -- after the wake-up call that was Casino Royale, I was just looking forward to more brutal violence, more Dame Judi Dench and more shots of Mr. Craig's dreamy blue eyes.