During the late 1980s, a generation of American boys went to war in Vietnam. Doing so, however, didn’t require any basic training or an actual tour of duty. Nope, all that was required was a working VCR and a VHS copy of any one of the squad of Vietnam War-era movies available at the local mom and pop video store. Seriously, I can’t remember a single birthday party from that time that didn’t involve a screening of Good Morning, Vietnam or Hamburger Hill or Platoon. But the Vietnam War movie that has always lingered strongest in my memory – the one that looked different and felt different from the others – was Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.  Hit the jump for my review of the 25th anniversary Blu-ray.

It’s safe to assume that close to 99% of this site’s readership will be sitting in a theater late tomorrow night, preparing to finally see the closing chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.  Though we’re just one, long, excruciating day away from the release of The Dark Knight Rises, Warner Bros. has released yet another batch of images from the film just in case you weren’t already doubly excited to see the film.  There’s nothing really revelatory here, but we do get some glimpses of what I can only assume is the highlight of the film: Mr. Matthew Modine.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  As you well know, The Dark Knight Rises opens on July 20th.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this afternoon.  First up, director Roland Emmerich (2012) continues to impress with his casting choices for his next film, White House Down, as Maggie Gyllenhaal is now considering the project.  The story is described as “Die Hard in the White House” and stars Channing Tatum as a secret service agent who must protect the president when a group of parahijackers infiltrate the White House.  We learned yesterday that Jamie Foxx is being courted to play the president, and now Deadline reports that Gyllenhaal is in talks to take on the female lead role (which I’m assuming is some sort of White House staffer).  Production on White House Down is set to begin this August, with the film racing another similarly plotted pic called White House Taken starring Gerard Butler.

Hit the jump for news concerning the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs.

The onslaught of the latest marketing push for The Dark Knight Rises began with a trio of simple character posters for Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy.  They featured the aforementioned actors in costume being pummelled with raining debris, while one of the film’s unofficial taglines, “Rise”, graced the background.  Being the obsessive and enthusiastic group that they are, Batfans have now taken it upon themselves to give a few other characters their own “Rise” posters, culminating in these fan made “Rise” posters for Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard and, funnily enough, supporting cast member Matthew Modine.  Also included is another character that could possible be considered a spoiler, so I’ll make no specific mention here on the front page.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The Dark Knight Rises opens on July 20th.

Earlier last month, it was reported that Christopher Nolan and his team were considering filming a few scenes at Occupy Wall Street during some location shooting in New York City. The plan was unconfirmed at the time, and how the logistics of the shoot would work was anyone’s guess. Now star Matthew Modine has revealed that they indeed were considering a OWS shoot, but ultimately decided it wasn’t a great idea. The police raid of Zuccotti Park now makes it an impossibility, but the actor says they came very close to the decision. Hit the jump to find out why Nolan and his team decided against it.

Just yesterday production began on what will be director Christopher Nolan’s final film in his Batman trilogy: The Dark Knight Rises. Today, the viral campaign for the film kicked off, giving us our first look at Tom Hardy as Bane, and now two more actors have been added to the cast. Variety reports that Matthew Modine and Tom Conti have signed on to the film. With the plot under lock and key, there’s no word on who the two actors will be playing. However, since this is Batman and every piece of news is greeted with fanfare, I wouldn’t be surprised if the two play fairly minor roles. Nolan similarly cast known actors in smaller parts for the last two Batman flicks (Anthony Michael Hall, Rutger Hauer, etc.).

The Dark Knight Rises also stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine.  It opens July 20, 2012.

[Update: Variety's story has been updated to say that 11-year-old Joey King (Ramona and Beezus) has joined the cast as well]