terminator salvation

What is it about cameos we love so much? The surprise factor? The chance to see actors and real people sending up their set-in-stone images? Or just the hilarious disconnect we get when someone as famous as, say, Harrison Ford, strolls into a film that's clearly not ever going to show up on his official resume? How about all of the above?

We tried to keep some of these plot twists intact for you here, but if you don't want to know which mellow musician went blue in 'Funny People,' which unlikely 'Saturday Night Live' alum popped up in between Nazi bloodbaths -- or which comedy legend made this year's most-talked-about (and best kept secret) cameo -- then for the love of Mike Tyson, don't read any further!

"I'll be back" is the most iconic line from the original 'Terminator,' but it might be a while before the man-vs.-cyborg saga is back in theaters.

Variety reports that the 'Terminator' franchise and all its properties -- future films, DVDs, TV series, merchandise -- are set to go on the auction block Feb. 1 as part of Halcyon Holding Group's bankruptcy proceedings.

Three divergent releases this week explore what it means to be human: There's robots vs. humans in 'Terminator Salvation'; there's museum exhibits that come to life in 'Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian'; and then there's the old-fashioned romance of 'Paper Heart.' Read on.

Looks like someone's gunning to be the next big sci-fi/fantasy icon, judging from a recent report by Mania. After having blasted his way through last summer's 'Terminator: Salvation' and James Cameron's upcoming 'Avatar,' not to mention slicing off heads in next year's 'Clash Of The Titans' remake, 33-year-old Aussie actor Sam Worthington has signed on to co-star in the movie version of Rick Remender's upcoming three-part Radical Comics miniseries 'The Last Days of American Crime,' according to a report in Variety.

'Terminator' looks to fight another day -- or it will cost someone a whole lot of money to sit on the shelf. And some uber-geeks around Hollywood -- including Joss Whedon -- are stepping up for their stab at getting a piece of it.

Auction rights to the 25-year-old 'Terminator' movie franchise are on the block later this month, according to England's Financial Times, with a change in ownership expected by January. The estimated price tag? More than $60 million, linking its sale to Viacom/Nickelodeon's purchase of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.'

Let's be honest: You see humans every day and, frankly, it's getting a little old. Sometimes you just want an android's cold, emotionless logic and perfectly formed visage to get you through the day. Maybe you've always secretly dreamed of erotically rubbing C-3PO's shiny head or romantically cooing those three little words -- "Klaatu barada nikto" -- into Gort's tin ear. Whatever your desire, movies have provided us countless androids, cyborgs, robots and mechas, sent to love ('A.I.'), help ('Aliens') and destroy ('Terminator') us.

In honor of 'Surrogates,' Jonathan Mostow's new sci-fi flick about isolated humans interacting with each other through their better-looking robotic selves, we manufactured a list of the 14 sexiest androids to give you, dear human, the definitive list of machines that raise our blood pressure and power us up.

Folks, please try to hold back those tears ... but the summer movie season is officially over. That means that for quite some time to come there will be a distinct lack of $200 million-budgeted movies about Megan Fox's chest, er, gargantuan robots or about a boy wizard grappling with a messianic calling (and puberty) or about an iron-clawed mutant suffering from memory loss. And while for some moviegoers, any tears shed would be of joy over this fact, of one thing there is no doubt: Summer 2009 was epic at the box office. Get the scoop on this summer's B.O. winners ... and losers.

'Terminator Salvation' has a big opening day, Michael Moore's new documentary about the economic crisis lands an October release date and Lyndsy Fonseca joins John Cuscak for some time traveling in 'Hot Tub Time Machine.'

'Empire' king, 'Dark Knight' and the 'Salvation' of McG ...

In his 23-year career, Christian Bale has played a 'Swing'-dancing Hitler Youth, a mass-murdering 'American Psycho' and a crime-fighting 'Dark Knight.' He's dropped and gained tons of weight for roles, lit up the screen in both indies and blockbusters, and starred in the second highest-grossing movie of all time.

With two huge roles on tap this summer, in the man-vs.-robot reboot 'Terminator Salvation' and the John Dillinger shoot-'em-up 'Public Enemies,' we look at Bale's greatest moments of all time.

Before 'Terminator Salvation' hits theaters, we catch up with casts of the first three 'T' flicks.

Where has the cast of the first three 'Terminator' movies -- 1984's 'Terminator,' '91's 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day,' 2003's 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' -- gone? Mostly they've been terminated. In fact, only two actors (Arnie's one, do you know the other?) have appeared in all three films.

As we approach the release of the fourth movie in the series, 'Terminator: Salvation' (May 21), we catch up with the faces -- human and not so much -- that have populated the franchise.