Acclaimed directors often drop in to shoot the pilot for a TV series. They don’t often stick around for seconds. Director David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) is one of those rare film directors who must love brains and chianti a lot. He went from directing the pilot of Bryan Fuller‘s Hannibal to serving as an executive producer and moving on to direct more episodes, fully immersing himself in the world of Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter. The material for Hannibal is right up Slade’s alley, a director known for having a moody and atmospheric eye. It’s very much in the genre mold we’ve seen on television in recent years, the type of television Slade says he’d prefer to see more of. We recently had a long-form interview with Mr. Slade regarding Hannibal and many, many, many more subjects. As you can tell by our chat below, Mr. Slade isn’t exactly a man ever at a loss for words. Because of that, we’ve got two big interviews with the filmmaker on tap. For now, here’s what director David Slade had to say about Hannibal, how digital can’t touch film, the obsessive nature of filmmaking, and why The Man Who Fell to Earth is really an allegory for working in Los Angeles:

The wait is over. The saga is nearly complete. The second half of Breaking Dawn comes to theaters this week, and the estrogen will flow. Twi-hards and Twi-moms around the world will be watching all four Twilight films leading up to the sure-to-be unepic conclusion. You may be forced to sit through one – or all – of these films before attending a showing of the new film this weekend. If that sounds like hell on Earth, you might want to have a drink… or two… or fourteen while watching the films with your significant other.

Ladies and open-minded gentlemen, this is the weekend for which we have been waiting ever so patiently. Years of watching our fellow sisters remove clothing and undulate for the good of “story” has finally paid off, and we will have our day in the sun. Our fearless prince, director Steven Soderbergh, has reached into the depths of his vast (yet dwindling) bag-o-tricks and presented us with a simple masterpiece that has been on the tip of wagging tongues for months. Magic Mike is the product of a genius, and while it isn’t a perfect film, Soderbergh’s dedication to objectifying his male cast is reassuring and welcomed. It is about time ladies get a fluff movie that isn’t about shopping, shoes, or relationships, but instead two hours of glorious female gaze. These men are hotter than this Texas drought I’m currently suffering through, and I appreciated every moment I had with them. But what makes Magic Mike something of dreams is the film’s playful self-awareness that it is, in fact, meant to be a sort of man droolfest. Soderbergh knows what he’s doing, and instead of alienating his audience he embraces them, offers up a beer, and presents six sexy, shirtless men on a platter for the world to see. I’m sure a discussable plot is in there somewhere (and I will leave that to our film review), but I am more interested in reflecting on a handful recent films that paved the way for this glorious moment of shirtless wonderment.

This week’s Culture Warrior gives an exhaustive review of the decade that you won’t find anywhere else on the Interwebs.

He’ll be going ahead with his next project, sure, but it looks like comments about quitting the business came in the heat of the moment.

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, we blather on and on for no real reason until the end credits and, for some reason, a ton of 14-year old girls camp out to get tickets.

Kevin Carr heads out to the movies this week, giving his take on New Moon, Planet 51, The Blind Side and Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

Neil squeals about Team Jacob in his review of the highly anticipated The Twilight Saga: New Moon while Kevin struts around the Magical Studio in the Sky with no shirt on, desperately hoping people will mistake him for Taylor Lautner. There’s also a bizarre discussion of where Somali Pirates might fit into one of this week’s movies… how does that all work? Listen and find out!

Hello again movie fans! You may have noticed that there was no Movie Watcher’s Guide to October. There are several completely legitimate reasons for this, but instead of boring you with details please allow me to give a quick recap of the month’s box-office releases… The Invention of Lying, Whip It, Amelia, Astro Boy, Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, and Saw VI all pretty much bombed, while Zombieland, Couples Retreat, Law Abiding Citizen, Where the Wild Things Are, and Paranormal Activity all did fair to brisk business. There, now you’re caught up through October. On to November! November 6th The Box Who did it? Directed and written by Richard Kelly; starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella What is it? A young couple receives a mysterious box containing only a button and a note. Press the button and two things will happen… one, they’ll receive $1 million dollars, and two, someone in the world will die. Will they press the button? Duh… What about it? Kelly has taken a classic short story by Richard Matheson (“Button, Button”), which was previously made into an episode of “The Twilight Zone,” and turned it into a movie. It’s not always a wise move to stretch something from a much shorter medium to a feature film, and early reviews (like the one at Gone Elsewhere) have been fair to meh about it which doesn’t bode too well for the movie. Or for Kelly… who some are starting to suspect was nothing but lucky with his debut film, Donnie Darko. Watch

It turns out that there’s going to be a lot of girls at Comic-Con this year, but promoters still have no concept as to what to do with them and some film sites are decrying the Twilight panel as making life difficult for all involved – including Twilight fans.

Columbia Pictures is doing a little release date shifting this week, including a strategic 2-week push back for Michel Gondry’s Green Hornet.

Remember Twilight? That modestly budgeted movie released last year with vampires and some such? Well, it has officially begun casting for its next round and its bringing on a somewhat bigger name.

The young star would, ironically, become the biggest name in the movie series, but we’re pretty sure she can handle being small and creepy.

For some reason, Rob Hunter remains totally obsessed with Twilight so you don’t have to. Luckily, he’s also obsessed with barely legal hotties.

Debate rages on as to which beau is best for Bella Swan. However, whether you’re rooting for fangs or fur, fear not! Jacob Black remains as cute, cuddly and Taylor-y as ever before.

Summit Entertainment has set a release date for their Twilight sequel, New Moon. The film will bow November 20th, 2009, the same pre-Thanksgiving weekend occupied by Twilight this year.

Summit Entertainment is looking for a director to appeal to teenagers and they may have found their man, Chris Weitz, who helped direct American Pie.

Word is getting around this evening that Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke has been cut loose from the franchise.

Androgynous teen sensation Kristen Stewart was on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show recently chatting up her new movie, Twilight. She spoke about her introduction to acting, fan obsession, and more. Seacrest also asked her for any information on Twilight’s inevitable sequel, New Moon.

Summit Entertainment has officially green-lit the Twilight sequel New Moon, which will be based on the second book on the extremely popular series from author Stephenie Meyer.