Eric and J.D. tackle the epic proportions of Christopher Nolan’s second Batman movie “The Dark Knight” in this on-camera review, featuring clips from the much-anticipated movie. Can the film possibly live up to the enormous amount of pre-release hype? If you saw the movie, tell us what you thought here. Also, due to the overwhelming response of our weeklong advance screening giveaways, the movie studios have bumped up our ticket counts to 50 more for “Pineapple Express” and “Step Brothers” in KC! Look for more “Tropic Thunder” passes next week. A second chance is a beautiful thing.

With “The Dark Knight” coming out this weekend and all the hype surrounding somebody other than the guy playing the title character, it’s not hard to figure out why this list is timely. Putting a ranking a list of tragic deaths seems kind of tasteless, but that’s the format of this column, so I’ll stick to it, I guess. Forget the numbers and look at this as a tribute to some very talented people who were gone much too soon. Click here to see Eric’s Untimely Actor Deaths list.

Eric and J.D. review “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” starring Ron Perlman and directed by Guillermo Del Toro. This review features tons of extended clips from the film, showcasing some badass special effects and creatures, which is something Del Toro is known for. But does the storytelling match Del Toro’s visual inventiveness? Watch this on-camera video review and find out.

Why is this flyer being used as the image to promote this week’s Hollywood Clip Joint? I thought that was the place to go for the coolest, most interesting movie news of the week as hand-picked by Eric from Scene-Stealers–not the destination for $1 beers, cage fighting, and hot women. I’d rather learn something about “Wall-E,” Ben Stiller’s new spoof movie “Tropic Thunder,” and Werner Herzog’s remake of “Bad Lieutenant.” I am so confused. I guess I’m going to have to click on this link to the newest installment of the Hollywood Clip Joint to find out what the hell is going on.

Need we remind everyone that today is the last day to play our “Dark Knight” scavenger hunt to win free advance tix to next week’s early screening in KC? While you ponder that, take a look at one of J.D.’s long-term obsessions: artificial intelligence. Smart machines. Robots, that is. He’s lovingly crafted a new top 10 list that further showcases his love for serious sci-fi ideas…and one that’s not-so-serious but worth defending. Check out J.D.’s Top 10 Artificial Intelligence movies.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! For today’s update we go offsite for some Scene-Stealers-written content. The explosion of online video continues to reshape the movie industry. From Here to Awesome is an online discovery and distribution film festival that’s cahllenging what we know about they way movies are promoted and released, and Eric has written a feature about it for Digital Content Producer magazine. Catch it online here, and support indie filmmaking!

Ever since Will Smith punched an alien in the face in “Independence Day,” he has been the king of the 4th of July-weekend box office. Did “Hancock” measure up? The Scene-Stealers Army won lots of free tix to the screening and they sound off here. Eric has some hilarious “Go America!” videos in this Thursday’s Hollywood Clip Joint, and if you live in the KC area, don’t forget to enter our contest to win free advance tix to “The Dark Knight.” Happy Birthday, USA!

Top 10 Tuesday is put on hold as we present Part 3 of 3 of Eric’s full-length interview with Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne following the exclusive, festival-only screenings of the new Flaming Lips movie, “Christmas on Mars.” Eric caught up with Wayne before The Lips took the stage Friday June 6, 2008 at the Wakarusa Music Festival in Lawrence, KS. This is the part where you can hear about “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” on Broadway! View Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

It seems like the summer has just been one big buildup to the main event, right? Well, guess what? That event is here and it is called “The Dark Knight.” Christopher Nolan’s follwup to “Batman Begins” is almost here and we have just 10 admit-two passes to see the movie before anyone else does at the Olathe Studio 30 on July 16 at 10:30pm. 10 winners who successfully complete the Scene-Stealers Dark Knight Scavenger Hunt will be picked at random to receive the tickets. To see the actual BatPod from the movie in KC on Thursday, click here for more info.