Best news of the day (besides spotting “Highlander” on Blu-ray for $15, warm weather being forecast for San Diego this weekend, and “Inception” doing gangbusters at the box-office), DirecTV has swooped in and rescued laudable legal drama “Damages“. The series, which was on life support after fx let it be known that they were contemplating axing the “expensive” show, will see it’s fourth season air exclusively on DirecTV. Unlike the DirecTV/NBC “Friday Night Lights” arrangement, fx won’t be screening “Damages”‘ new season after it airs on the former. Glenn Close and Rose Byrne are expected to be back. Unfortunately, being that he has a new show, Martin Short likely won’t be involved this season.

Gregory Itzin, so fabulous as President Charles Logan on the last couple of seasons of “24″, has joined the cast of the fab “Big Love“.

There’s new photos from “Thor“, featuring most of the cast, “Machete“, featuring Lindsay Lohan-in-full-Nun-get-up, and “Hatchet II“, featuring Danielle Harris, online.

Australian actor Dustin Clare (“Satisfaction”, “Underbelly”) will lead the cast of the “Spartacus” prequel series, “Gods of the Arena”. According to THR, Clare will play Gannicus, the champion gladiator in the House of Batiatus before Spartacus came along. Fellow Aussie Andy Whitfield, who stars in the “Spartacus” series, will make a brief appearance in the prequel.

Tim Burton will likely follow up his feature film adaptation of TVs “Dark Shadows” (which, I believe, starts filming in January) with “Monsterpocalypse“, says /Film. Based on the video-game of the same name, and penned by “Charlie’s Angels” scribe John August, “Monsterpocalypse”, says the official site, is “fast-moving, action-packed strategy game played with high-quality collectible miniatures portraying the most fearsome giant monsters on Earth! Each battle takes place in a city that you and your opponent construct by placing buildings on a city map. Players choose their forces from their respective collections of figures and then battle one another with giant monsters and supporting units such as tanks, flying vehicles, and all manner of creatures. Charge your monster into the city to fight for supremacy, and be the last monster standing!” Paging Johnny!

Bryan Singer has confirmed that he did indeed offer “Twilight” fave Taylor Lautner a role in “X-Men : First Class“, but due to a scheduling clash, Sharkboy had to pleasantly decline the offer to bunk at Professor Xavier’s (It isn’t said, though I believe Lautner was asked to replace Ben Walker as ‘Beast’, when the young theatre actor opted out of the super-sequel for another stage stint).

“Bruno” director Larry Charles will direct Jim Carrey in ”Pierre Pierre”, a comedy that has ”Carrey playing the role of a Frenchman who transports a stolen painting from Paris to London, behaving more obnoxiously than any waiter you’ve ever encountered at Cannes”, according to Deadline. Sounds like it could be Okay… in a “Revenge of the Pink Panther” way.

Rob Lowe – who I hear was one of the many middle-aged men who wanted a chance to play dress-up as ‘The Hulk’ when it was announced Marvel had sacked Edward Norton (From “The Avengers”) – has joined the cast of Mark Pellington’s modestly-budgeted ensemble thriller “I Melt With You“, according to Deadline. Lowe will play a ”doctor struggling with deep personal loss and a growing drug addiction” in the movie, which also stars Thomas Jane and Jeremy Piven. (Still disappointed this isn’t a documentary on the cult classic, “Valley Girl”).

Hammer Films tell us that “Harry Potter” and “December Boys” actor Daniel Radcliffe will take the lead in ”The Woman in Black”, the cinematic transfer of Susan Hill’s best-selling novel. To be directed by James Watkins (”Eden Lake”) and written by Jane Goldman (”Kick Ass”, ”The Debt”) ”The Woman in Black” follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), who is ordered to travel to a remote corner of the UK and sort out a recently deceased client’s papers. As he works alone in an old and isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover its tragic secrets, and his unease grows when he discovers that the local village is held hostage by the ghost of a scorned woman set on vengeance. Production is expected to begin in the Fall of 2010.

Director Dante Tomaselli has provided us with the first stills from his upcoming goosebump evoker “Torture Chamber” starring Vincent Pastore (‘Big Pussy’ from “The Sopranos”) and Christie Sanford. “Chamber” is described as “a horror shocker about a possessed 13-year-old boy who escapes from an asylum and discovers an old abandoned castle with a secret passageway to a cobwebbed torture chamber.”

The on-again off-again on-again feature film adaptation of “Dirt Music“, which my mate Phil Noyce (“Salt”) has long been attached to direct, may shoot next year. Writer John Collee tells Encore, “We’ve now got a draft that works structurally really well. There are less and less changes between the drafts and we’re hoping to shoot next year.” Russell Crowe is attached to play the lead role (a role the late Heath Ledger was originally going to play).

Footage from “The Goon“, the upcoming Paul Giamatti-starring film adaptation of of Eric Powell’s comic book series, is up at MTV (via ScreenRant). Two other clips, which premiered at Comic Con last year, have not yet been made available online.

A photo from the “Lost” epilogue (that’s been added to the final episode for the upcoming season 6 DVD Box Set) is up at EW.

Sony is planning for their upcoming “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” trilogy – which David Fincher will helm – remake to be “Very R-Rated” films. Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal tells TheWrap she’s not planting on taking to the pictures with some dilute. ”We’re doing the book. That’s why we hired David Fincher. We’re going to really do this, in all their glory. Otherwise why do it? They’re very R-rated movies. It’s the shock of what’s really going on underneath the surface of society. If you don’t actually make good on that, you haven’t told the story.”’ Though Daniel Craig is said to be the frontrunner to play the film’s male lead, Pascall won’t confirm the rumour.

Several test screenings for the upcoming Darren Aronofsky/Natalie Portman Ballet thriller “Black Swan” have reportedly been held across the country – and word is, it’s very, very good. Here’s one article attesting to its stupendous-ness. My good friend Kristina Anapau (who most of you know from “Cursed”; she’s also a part of the “First Howl” cast, a flick I wrote…more on that soon) has a part in this one and I’ve a sneaking suspicion this is the flick that’s going to make her a star – she’s just got an amazingly delicious character at her disposal for one, but more so Darren Aronofsky usually milks the best performance that one can give from his respective actors – and I know Anapau would’ve brought her A-Game to it. Yep, I’m convinced she’s going to be ‘buying the coffee’ from here on out!

Kylie Minogue is, according to The NY Post (via Watch Out For), attached to play a role in the on-again off-again on-again lemon-werewolf pic “Jack & Diane“. The flick, which both Ellen Page and Olivia Thirlby were attached to at different times, tells of two young women who fall in love – one of them, a werewolf. Minogue, in Australia this week for a series of media appointments, will play a lesbian tattooist. “Donnie Darko” star Jena Malone has the lead role.

Last week some set pics from the Russell Brand-starring remake of “Arthur” (I won’t be swayed until it’s confirmed that Christopher Cross is again doing the music!) popped up online – and to most people’s surprise (and glee!) one featured the ‘Batmobile’ (from “Batman Forever” in it). Another set pic has emerged, this time featuring – wait for it – Brand and co-star Luis Guzman (“Waiting”) as Batman and Robin! Yup, safe to say “Arthur” 2010 is going to differ significantly to “Arthur” 1982.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I really don’t think “Ghostbusters 3” is ever going to happen. Why? Because Bill Murray is just so dead against reprising Venkman for it – even if it is for a five-minute sequence at the beginning of the film (in which his character is killed). Murray’s now telling GQ hat he doesn’t expect the film to ever happen – not because of his reluctance to be in it, but because both it’s director and writers were behind the atrocious bomb “Year One”. ”It’s all a bunch of crock. It’s a crock… Harold Ramis said, Oh, I’ve got these guys, they write on The Office, and they’re really funny. They’re going to write the next Ghostbusters. And they had just written this movie that he had directed…Year One. Well, I never went to see Year One, but people who did, including other Ghostbusters, said it was one of the worst things they had ever seen in their lives. So that dream just vaporized. That was gone. But it’s the studio that really wants this thing. It’s a franchise. It’s a franchise, and they made a whole lot of money on Ghostbusters.” Ya know what, could we actually live without seeing Murray in “Ghostbusters 3″? Surely there’s a way to make this work without him? Could we possibly promote Sigourney Weaver’s Dana to Ghostbuster, instead? Heck, maybe they just bring in Brian Doyle-Murray to play Venkman? Or someone can trick Murray into thinking he’s recording lines for “Garfield 3″ when he’s really supplying a voice-over for a “Ghostbusters” film!? Just ideas…

A telemovie based on the video-game “Red Faction” is in the works over at SyFy. The plan is, should the two-hour special be a hit, the network may expand “Faction” to series.