Arnold Schwarzenegger Confused by New 'Terminator' Footage, Robot Ambiguity

Busy accepting Bollywood paychecks, offering tank rides to children, and occasionally running the state of Colly-fornia, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has somehow carved time into his schedule to screen footage from the upcoming, unessential McG sequel Terminator: Salvation, starring Christian Bale as John Connor (and virtual unknown Sam Worthington as an amnesiac maybe-Terminator). So, does he give the new film a molten steel-dipped "thumbs up"? According to the LAT, not so much:

"I still don't know how it will play out with this one," said the star-turned-politician, who said he was given a private screening of early footage from "Terminator Salvation" by producers of the franchise reboot directed by McG. "They showed me some footage, but I don't have a feel for the movie. I didn't see enough. I wasn't sure who the Terminator was. I don't know if there is one or if he's the star or the hero. These are the things that determine the success and how the strong the movie will be."

Biff! Bam! Pow! The 'Dark Knight' Backlash Hits Full Swing

Undeterred by a signal on the moonlit sky shaped like a persnickety film critic hanging from a noose, a few courageous media voices are rising up in opposition to The Dark Knight, daring to suggest that the greatest movie ever made might actually, y'know, not be. First came the AP, which devoted a whole article to Christian Bale's throaty Batman voice, asking, "Why so sonorous?" Now, in a scene that recalls The Dark Knight's ferry-set climax, even more brave souls are daring to speak up, suggesting continuity goofs and asking important questions like, "No, seriously: what was up with that Scarecrow cameo?" The Detroit News breaks down ten of The Dark Knight's biggest head-scratchers, excerpted after the jump:

John Mayer And Josh Brolin Shear Their Locks, But Does A Buzz Cut Always Clean Up A Star's Image?

The Night Is Darkest Before The Dawn

Welcome to the latest edition of Defamer Attractions, your regular Friday guide to another oversaturated summer weekend of new movies. While The Dark Knight sets up Batcamp for another week at number one, another brooding franchise goes up against Team Apatow in the also-ran camp. A British classic gets a fine art-house face-lift, meanwhile, and a windfall of new DVD's will keep the agoraphobes among us busy for a while. As always, our opinions are our own, but they're bulletproof, so read on for the only filmgoing advice that matters.

WHAT'S NEW: The primary competition for The Dark Knight's second weekend will be... itself. You have to feel for Sony and Fox for dropping Step Brothers and X-Files: I Want to Believe opposite History's Greatest Film, but that's just the kind of extraordinary season it's been. Those films will perform decently enough, though — roughly $30 million for the Judd Apatow-produced Ferrell/Reilly comedy, $21 million for the sci-fi franchise adaptation — which is another bummer for Fox, which has only its overachieving The Happening to show for a long, lean summer at the box office.

Yo, JCPenney: Eat. Our. Shorts.

Batman Don't Do Handouts: Christian Bale's Attempted Momicide Might Have Been About £££

As part of our ongoing commitment to bring you incremental updates in the Christian Bale Acting Huffy Towards Some Female Relatives story, we now have word on the actor's first public acknowledgment of The Incident at a Spanish press conference:

The Welsh-born actor brushed off questions about the alleged family dispute, saying he preferred to focus on the blockbuster movie "The Dark Knight," which had its premiere in Spain on Wednesday.

"It's a deeply personal matter," Bale told The Associated Press at a news conference at a luxury hotel in Barcelona. "I would ask you to respect my privacy in the matter."

Would that we could—but the Daily Mail thinks they have gotten to the bottom of what caused the ugly row:

Batman Vs. Momzo the Clown: Your Christian Bale Kin-Assault Round-Up

We return you live to the frontlines of the Dark Knight Dark Publicity™ campaign, where the comely star of the highest-opening movie of all time—we swear we're looking for any photo that registers less than "sweltering" on the Bat-Hunk Meter, and coming up short— is facing down his most formidable foe yet: His professional clown mother, Momzo. Here's all the latest:
· The Daily Mail is reporting that Bale "flew off the handle" when his mother said "some outrageous things" about the actor's wife, makeup artist Sandra "Sibi" Blazic. He responded by calling her some very heated, un-Batmanly-like things, and was charged with Class 5 verbal assault, the least aggravated of all verbal-assault classes. (Class 1 is when you start entering the "You farty nincompoop!!!"-area. Thank god he didn't go there.) [Fox News]

Christian Bale Denies Kin-Assault Allegations, Retreats To Bat Cave For Marathon Brooding Session

It was the Blockbuster Scandal That Ate the Morning! There it was, splashed across the pages of every paper from The Gotham Times to the Gotham Mirror: Batman was behind bars for allegedly attacking his own sister and mom—in a sense turning him into the very kind of societal ill he'd committed his life to ridding using a wide variety of bat-shaped objects. Out on bail and charged with no crime, Bale's lawyer told reporters the accusations aren't true:

Bale said the allegations were false Tuesday, hours after the Wales-born actor was arrested, questioned by London police and released on bail. The 34-year-old actor spent four hours talking with authorities but was not charged.

'Even I Draw The Line At Hitting My Own Mother,' Says Outraged Joker About Recent Christian Bale Arrest

The unstoppable Dark Knight Dark Publicity&trade campaign—what Terry Gilliam describes as a "great white shark which devours whatever it can"—continues to feed hungrily on bad-news chum. We're still waiting for more specific details on what Christian Bale did, exactly, to his mother Jenny, 61, and sister Sharon, 40, that led the two to file assault charges against the actor, ultimately leading to his arrest today at London's Dorchester Hotel. As The Sun first reported, the actor, in town for the European premiere The Dark Knight, "lashed out" at the family members at the hotel Sunday night. Both lodged a complaint yesterday, but officials apparently held off for Bale to attend a series of press conferences and last night's premiere in Leicester square. A police spokesperson would only offer: "A 34-year-old man attended a London police station on Tuesday by appointment and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault. He currently remains in custody."

The Dark Knight's record-breaking opening left us entranced by not only its tsunami of cash, but also by the news, commentary and other unclassifiable phenomena we spotted in its wake around the Web. For your Monday morning convenience, here's a glimpse at what the biggest three-day box-office weekend in history will get you:

1. All-Time Greatest Film on IMDB: Fanboys continue to make their voices heard this morning as nearly 50,000 voters pushed The Dark Knight to the top of IMDB's definitive list of international classics. Better even than The Shawshank Redemption, though? Well, these viewers have seen everything, so... congratulations, Christopher Nolan!

'Mamma Mia' Narrowly Outpaces 'Dark Knight' in Close Race For Gayest New Release

Defamer Reviews 'The Dark Knight': Same Batman, Bleaker Bat Channel

After surviving months of Dark Knight hype, viral outreach and tastefully overblown praise for late co-star Heath Ledger, Defamer finally got its chance at a screening Tuesday to see what all the Bat-fuss was about. And as editor Seth Abramovitch and senior editor S.T. VanAirsdale discovered in their second installment of Defamer Instant Reviews, not everybody is ready to validate its Second Coming status quite yet. Is it good? Absolutely. Is it the best film of the summer? That's where things get complicated — on AIM, of course, because this watershed cultural moment deserves no less.

Follow the jump for their respective two cents — mostly spoiler-free for even the most casual followers of the film, and naturally among the finest criticism available anywhere online.

'Dark Knight' Raves No Match For Michael Bay's Caped Crusader Who Never Was

After more than four months of hype, it's getting to feel like there's increasingly less to discover about The Dark Knight except whether or not it's good. Variety pretty much took care of that on Sunday, overriding David Letterman's early, spoilerrific review with a bit more textural rave. That was preceded in the LA Times by more Heath Ledger superlatives and requisite bleakness reinforcement from director Chris Nolan. But Anne Thompson has an even better showing at her blog, featuring expansive Nolan quotes from a recent screening/discussion and, far more impressively, a look at Michael Bay's little-known original stab at the Dark Knight screenplay:

EXT. A HIGHWAY — DAY ...

The Batmobile races off into the distance. Finally, BATMAN catches up to the JOKER's zeppelin.

JOKER
Howdy, Batman. Got time for a little... prank?

Jake Gyllenhaal and Flash Gordon Battle For Most Hauntingly Evil New Franchise

Colin Farrell Becomes Latest Member Of 'How To Gain Acting Cred By Losing Weight' Club