In Premium Rush, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a bike messenger that picks up a dangerous package that has him chased all over New York City. The result is a bit like Torque without the engine crashing into Enemy of the State. At least that’s what the trailer makes it feel like. This isn’t the first film from director David Koepp, even though he’s more well known as the writer of films like Jurassic Park, Death Becomes Her, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man and two dozen others. His bread and butter is broad entertainment with flair. Cue applause from fixed-gear enthusiasts. What potentially sets this high concept apart is its cast. Gordon-Levitt is a hell of an actor, and he’s joined here by Michael Shannon playing (surprise) a bad guy and Jamie Chung playing (surprise) an attractive ex-girlfriend who gets him into the mess. Check it out for yourself:

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s the only post-dusk movie news column you’ll need. At least until tomorrow night. We begin tonight with more photos from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the one by David Fincher. Why? Because even though we’ve shown Dragon Tattoo photos before, I still find them interesting. More interesting than any other visual stimuli released on this rather drab Tuesday, at least.

I’ve reported on the Thin Man remake that Johnny Depp is attached to star in a couple times before. First, there was the news that “Permanent Midnight” author Jerry Stahl would be writing the new screenplay for the film. Then there was word that past Depp collaborator Rob Marshall would be stepping in to direct. A new round of updates on the development of this project seem to confirm that, yes, Marshall is still attached to sit in the director’s chair. However, it seems that Stahl never actually did any writing for the film, so the suits have gotten a new guy to start a script from scratch. According to Deadline Rockland, veteran screenwriter David Koepp has now been charged with the duty of updating the exploits of married P.I. team Nick and Nora Charles. Koepp’s name doesn’t really tell me much about what to expect from this movie. He’s responsible for completely acceptable literary adaptations like Jurassic Park, but he’s also responsible for completely unacceptable literary adaptations like Angels & Demons. I guess his involvement is going to be a bit of a crapshoot.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it… During an undercover mission in Prague, IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) witnesses his spy team picked off one by one—including his mentor and friend, Jim Phelps (Jon Voight). With the blame of sabotage and treason on his head, Hunt goes on the run to clear his name, entrap the real conspirators and deliver the perfect dose of tentpole bravado.

Even in normal situations, director Ron Howard is usually one of the busiest working in Hollywood. But with his possible Dark Tower series looming, one that will theoretically span three films and two television series, it’s not likely that he’ll have time to do anything other than Dark Tower related stuff for quite a while. But that project has to go through one more rewrite before the studio signs off on funding it, so there is time for Howard to sneak a movie in before the goliath gets going. More than likely that project is going to be Rush, a film about a formula one racer named Niki Lauda, but now another contender has entered the field for consideration.

Every week, Landon Palmer and Cole Abaius log on to their favorite chat client of 1996 as SecretWindowNotSoSecret and iDuddits in order to discuss some topical topic of interest. This week, the question of who exactly made the movie gets front and center treatment. Why do we treat directors with authorial authority when it comes to assigning ownership to a film? Why not the writers? Why not the gaffers? Who really is the true author of a movie and has the auteur theory ruined everything?

By now, you should all know that Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, 500 Days of Summer, The Lookout) is awesome. So it’s double awesome news that he’s in negotiations to star in TWO action thrillers!

‘Premium Rush’ is the title they’re going with here? Really? Pair this with the recently announced Duncan Jones film ‘Source Code’ and you’re halfway to programming an early-nineties action film festival.