From Pacman to Public Enemies, he's had more ups and downs than most other actors of his generation. Christian Bale has careened between extreme highs and deep lows, in the view of the folks at MovieFill, and they decided that a rollercoaster was the most apt visual metaphor for his career. A reduced-size version can be seen above.

They squeeze most of his films into the chart, though they left out a few. Before his sensational role in Mary Harron's American Psycho, he was very appealing in Metroland and got good notices in Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine; pre-Batman Begins / The Dark Knight, he was fun to watch as a frisky villain in John Singleton's Shaft and an uptight, would-be psychiatrist in Laurel Canyon. I don't agree with every notation in the chart. Harsh Times, for example, is cited as one of his "lows," but Bale was riveting. Two notorious off-screen incidents are included, which both affected his public perception, though it seems somewhat unfair to lump those in with his films.

Still, the rollercoaster graphic provides an easy way to look back and consider the range and daring of what he's done, especially earlier in his career. Recently he's been in more big-budget productions than anything else, and next up is David O. Russell's boxing biopic The Fighter. I'd love to see him in a couple of smaller indie flicks. What are your thoughts on Christian Bale's career so far? More ups than downs?

Above: Is this our first good look at The Runaways?

Though neither girl was alive during the 1970s or 1980s (both were born in the '90s), that's not stopping Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning from losing themselves in the time period and doing some serious rocking out for their upcoming flick The Runaways, which is a biopic about the women who breezed in and out of the famous band -- including Joan Jett (Stewart), Cherie Currie (Fanning), Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Sandy West (Stella Maeve), among others.

Just Jared nabbed a few photos from the set that show both Stewart and Fanning clowning around all retro'd out, sporting some pretty spectacular gear. It must've been fun to be in charge of wardrobe for this film because these ladies totally lit it up with style. I'm not entirely sure which girls are featured in the image above; I know Stewart and Fanning are in the back, and I think that's Scout Taylor-Compton in the blue and Stella Maeve up front, though I'm not positive so feel free to correct me. Check out a larger version of the image above down below along with a couple others, and more over at Just Jared.



The Runaways is due in theaters next year.

Oh, Chris Klein. In the beginning, he made a decent go of things. He was in that little American Pie flick, and he found the perfect role in Election. While almost every square inch of that film held greatness, I'm not sure it would've been nearly as fun without his innocent yet horny Paul Metzler. But just like Michael Cera has to grow up one of these days, Klein can't play the innocent sensitive teen forever.

So he grabs a gig in Street Figher: The Legend of Chun-Li. It didn't go so well. In fact, when William Goss alerted us to some YouTube goodness about Klein's role, he said: "I can see the [Razzie] for-your-consideration ads now: 'Can only be described as epic in its awfulness' ... 'I can't remember the last time I watched an actor fail to walk into a room convincingly' ... 'So wooden that he makes Keanu Reeves seem like Don Knotts.'"

Perhaps it's wrong to kick a guy when he's already down; however, I couldn't help but alert you to a little gem over at Latino Review. They screencapped a bunch of the wonderful faces Klein dons during the film. There's lots of jaw-dropped shouting, but my favorite is the creepy snap to the right. I'm thinking he can team up with Christian Slater for a big-forehead buddy film. It's gotta be a better fit than these action movies...

Some more concept art from Tim Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland film has arrived online, courtesy of the French website, The Art of Disney. Some of the art you'll remember from the recent USA Today spread, but then there's other stuff -- like Alice's trip through the giant mushroom patch -- that we haven't yet seen. I attempted to translate the French text on the site (if you speak French, feel free to correct me here), and I believe it talks about how this film will be a continuation of the classic novel, with Alice traveling back to Wonderland 10 years after her original trip.

Directed by Tim Burton, and starring folks like Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas, Christopher Lee, Crispin Glover, Alan Rickman and newcomer Mia Wasikowska as Alice, the film will be a mixture of live-action and animation, and will arrive in theaters on March 5, 2010.

We've added a few of the images to our Alice in Wonderland gallery below, and you can scope out the rest over at The Art of Disney.

[via AICN]

Not long ago a friend of mine caught a super secret advanced screening of the Diablo Cody-scripted horror flick Jennifer's Body, starring Megan Fox as a demonically-possessed cheerleader who begins to off the male students at her school in what I can only imagine are very creative ways (knowing Cody's mangled sense of humor). The verdict from my friend was ... "eh, it's what I expected -- though I was surprised at how lesbian-ish it was ... not that there's anything wrong with that." Granted, my friend isn't a big fan of Cody's work, and so that's probably part of the reason why he was lukewarm to it -- but then he pulled out a whole bunch of stills from his magical briefcase, and, well, regardless of how "good" this movie is, my Megan Fox fixation went into hyper-drive.

While I unfortunately do not have any of those photos to show you today (one included Fox wearing next to nothing while holding her tongue out over the open flame of a lighter, and another showed Fox's bloody-as-all-hell mouth full of whatever poor human boy she just tore apart), Empire Magazine did premiere a few images in their latest issue and our friends over at Film School Rejects scanned them for us to see. I'm sure more clearer versions of these will arrive online this week, but for now check out two of them below and the rest over at FSR.



Jennifer's Body is due out on September 18.

It's not like my love of British comedian Ricky Gervais is a secret around these parts. No worries, though I'll be keeping my inner fangirl at bay, and you don't need to worry about this turning into a 'gush-fest'. The first trailer for The Invention of Lying has debuted over at Yahoo! Movies UK and we have our first glimpse at the story of an alternate universe where human beings have never learned the art of deception. Gervais plays a man working in the film industry who becomes the inventor of lying, and quickly uses his newfound skill for romantic and financial gain.

Gervais seems to have no trouble inspiring praise from his peers, and the cast list for Lying is proof of that comedy clout. Just some the names in the Lying cast are; Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., John Hodgman, Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jason Bateman. Gervais has even gotten his first advance review for Lying from J.J. Abrams, who said, "The Invention of Lying' is as funny as it is biting, wholly original, and surprisingly moving. Is there such thing as an important comedy? Turns out there is, and this is it." It's an unlikely source of praise, but after watching the trailer, I guess the big question is: could Abrams be right? The Invention of Lying arrives in theaters on September 25th, 2009.

After the jump: Gervais' working class 'dramedy', Cemetery Junction, goes into preproduction and Gervais stalks the paparazzi...

This week we've got more to look forward to than just Public Enemies. According to USAToday, a collection of concept art and publicity images for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland will start wallpapering movie theaters. And they're a lot better than the blurry Hatter pic and first concept pieces!

Luckily, we won't have to die of impatience to see them, because the site included all the images -- a bunch of huge concept pictures that you can drag your mouse around to explore (like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum), our first official peek at Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter, plus our beloved royalty: Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen and Anne Hathaway's White Queen. The leaked Hatter pic doesn't do the full-color version justice, with Depp rocking a killer clown look, and Hathaway looks excellent. But Bonham Carter really takes the cake (and coolest bobblehead ever prize) with her digitally swelled noggin and heart-pursed lips. (Check it out in the gallery below.)



In this incarnation, Alice is a 17-year-old girl who flees a snooty party when she learns that she's about to be proposed to. She follows a white rabbit down a hole, and re-enters Wonderland. It's been ten years since that first visit, and she doesn't remember a thing.

Alice in Wonderland is scheduled to hit screens on March 5, 2010. Excited yet?

UPDATE: Movies.ie discovered the first image of Matt Lucas as both Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Check it out in the gallery above and in larger form over at Movies.ie. [via Slashfilm]

Get ready all you Twispians, because Cinematical has just received this exclusive teaser poster for Youth in Revolt, which stars Michael Cera as the ultra-angsty (and legendary) Nick Twisp and is based on one of my favorite books of all time. Ah, what can you say about Youth in Revolt? The book, written by C.D. Payne, has amassed a huge, cult-like following partly because we can all relate to being an awkward teenager who'd do anything to capture the love of that special someone, and also because it's just damn funny.

For those who haven't read the book (seriously, read it -- the thing is hilarious), Youth in Revolt follows the misadventures of a love-sick teen who stops just short of destroying the world in order to win the love of one Sheeni Saunders. Cera plays said teen, Nick Twisp, while newcomer Portia Doubleday plays Sheeni. The film also boasts a pretty impressive supporting cast, including Steve Buscemi (as Nick's seedy, trailer-trash father), Zach Galifianakis, Justin Long, Fred Willard, Ray Liotta, Jean Smart and Ari Graynor. Needless to say, I cannot wait to see this cast bring some of these wacky, ridiculous (and memorable) characters to life, and I'm sure you Revolt fans are right there with me.

Youth in Revolt hits theaters on October 30. Click the image below to view entire poster.

Back in April, we received some cool and spooky character posters for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince -- the dark and foreboding sort to tingle the spine and pucker the goosebumps. Now a whole new set have hit the the film's UK site, and this time around, they're all about the plot. Or rather, a few glimpses at Draco and the wonderful Luna Lovegood, and the rest being all about the tumultuous looks of love and teen yearning.

There's Draco opening the vanishing cabinet, Luna with those excellent glasses, Harry and Ginny getting their stare on, and two are focused on the little love triangle of Ron, Hermione, and Lavender. With the addition of this latest set, there's about a billion different images and posters released to eager fans, and by this point, they should just sell the images on wallpaper. There's probably enough to fill ten rooms!

With Half-Blood Prince the Potter world is on the regular track for adolescence and increasing wizardry. Voldemort's power is increasing, Hogwarts is a safe haven no longer, and Dumbledore is trying to prepare Harry for the impending battle against darkness. Meanwhile, however, nothing can stop puberty as most of the kids fall to the power of hormones.

Prince will finally hit the screens on July 15.