1. Adam McKay to direct a biopic about that other tricky Dicky

Apparently deciding that the heady days of the (second) Bush era will cheer us all up, Adam McKay has reportedly finished his script about Dick Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States. According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures will host the project with a look towards a late 2017 release date. It’s unknown at this point which period of Cheney’s rich life and career the picture will focus on; why, it could be his two DUIs, his strident hawkish beliefs despite applying for five deferments during the Vietnam War or even his tenure at the head of the multinational corporation Halliburton, a company which received an uncontested $7 billion contract in the runup to the Iraq war. Plus he also shot that guy. Truly, McKay is digging in fertile ground.

2. Psst, Alien: Covenant has a message for you…

According to 20th Century Fox it’s time to bring one leg forward and shift your weight forward, onto it, before quickly bringing your rear leg forward and transfering body mass onto the new leading leg. Repeat this process in quick suc- you know how to run, right? Well, Fox will have us do so a lot sooner than we expected, as the studio has moved Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant forward by three terrifying months. Also, in a more mysterious move, an untitled film from James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment has been penciled in for December 21 2018. Could it be Avatar 2?! Probably. [via Deadline]

3. We love the look of Silence. Also: The Look Of Silence, but that’s unrelated

After more than 20 years in the making, it looks like Martin Scorsese’s Silence is almost here – with its Vatican City-set premiere now just under a month away. An adaptation of Shūsaku Endō’s 1966 novel, Silence follows two Jesuit priests who travel to Japan in search of their mentor. Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield play the men on a mission (eh? eh?) and Liam Neeson the mentor who seems to have abandoned his faith. We’ll see if ours is rewarded on January 1.

4. Ben Wheatley and Tom Hiddleston might be reuniting

While we eagerly await the release of Free Fire, it looks like director Ben Wheatley is busy mulling over a deal to direct Hard Boiled, an adaptation of Frank Miller’s (slightly odd) comic miniseries. Though Deadline is keen to stress that nothing has yet been signed, there are strong hints that Warner Bros. have tapped Wheatley to helm the project, and that the director is keen to reunite with his High-Rise lead by having Tom Hiddleston play the role of Carl Seltz, an insurance investigator who realises he’s actually a tax collector. He also thinks he’s a robot and sets off on a quest for vengeance via a whole lot of killing. Really, it sounds perfect fodder for Wheatley so fingers crossed.

5. Choose your destiny, New Line Cinema

Despite the fact that 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation failed to set the box office alight (see also: every video games adaptation), New Line Cinema is apparently ready to pour all of its quarters into another instalment of the MK movie franchise. This news comes from Variety, who are reporting that the production company are in talks with director Simon McQuoid to helm the project. McQuoid’s best known for his pretty great commercials, many of which actually feature a lorra lorra video games references, which is convenient. And, considering the first Mortal Kombat film helped turn a little-known director named Paul Anderson into a bizarrely profitable director named Paul W. S. Anderson, we could be witnessing something special.

6. Robert De Niro looks to be funny, funny like a clown in trailer for The Comedian

Robert De Niro. Harvey Keitel. Danny DeVito. Billy Crystal. If this were any other decade (specifically the 1970s, ’80s or ’90s) Taylor Hackford would have assembled himself one helluva cast for his latest picture. As it is, it’s got us at least a little interested, not least because De Niro playing a comedian of sorts worked in the past. This time out we follow the life of Jackie Burke, a comic icon whose schtick on a community service gig somehow woos Leslie Mann – why yes, they are nearly 30 years apart in age – and launches him headfirst into the modern world of “viral” content he at first seems relatively ill-equipped for. We’ll find out whether De Niro can make audiences sit down for his stand-up early next year.

7. David Leitch ready to dive into Deadpool 2

After losing its director and composer in quick succession, things looked surprisingly rocky for Fox’s premier superhero—especially considering that Deadpool 2 is already in production. Fortunately, it looks like Fox has found a new behind to sit in the fancy chair labelled “Director”: David Leitch. Leitch was the rumoured frontrunner for the role soon after Tim Miller left the sequel and already has superhero chops, having served as action director on X-Men Origins: Wolverine. No, they’re not universally revered chops, but that film did star a certain Ryan Reynolds as a certain Merc with a Mouth, so that’s something. [via Variety]

8. Go on, watch the trailer for Goon: Last Of The Enforcers

Whereas the first Goon movie was a surprisingly lovely tale about a surprisingly lovely loser who learned to respect himself via the medium of fighting in an ice rink, the sequel looks to really mix things up. This time out, Doug “The Thug” Glatt (Seann William Scott) will be just as lovely, but forced to unite with a number of new players during a pro lockout—then he’ll fight in an ice rink. Directed by costar and cowriter Jay Baruchel, Goon: Last Of The Enforcers also stars Liev Schreiber, Elisha Cuthbert, Alison Pill and Kim Coates. Oh and, as they’re reuniting, here’s a picture of Cuthbert and Baruchel from when they were wee babbers presenting a show called Popular Mechanics for Kids. Glorious.

– SON