When Kimberly Peirce gave us Boys Don't Cry, it was a critical explosion. She came, she moved us, and Hilary Swank came out of it with an Oscar. The film raised our expectations, and they rested there as Peirce moved out of the spotlight and worked behind the camera. The wait lasted almost a decade, but after nine years, she was finally back with Stop Loss -- another film in the cinematic, Iraq War whirlwind. While it was destined to fall under the weight of Iraq apathy, it was another example of Peirce's commitment to personal stories.

Stop Loss is the fictional account of a real problem: over a hundred thousand soldiers have been denied release when their time in Iraq is up. Instead of best wishes, they're sent back to Iraq, and life beyond the war's struggles becomes a distant, vague hope, rather than a present reality. Ryan Phillipe stars as Sgt. Brandon King, a man who is headed towards the end of his time in Iraq, or so he thinks. First, his unit is tricked and attacked. He loses some of his men, and struggles with the realities of warfare -- dead friends, and the fact that no matter how hard you try, innocent people will fall in the fight.

After an explosive entry to the cinematic world with the hard-hitting, Academy Award-winning Boys Don't Cry, Kimberly Peirce backed away from the movie spotlight. However, it wasn't a vacation. During her hiatus, she worked on a project that came to be Stop Loss, which hits DVD shelves today. Last week, Cinematical got the chance to talk to the director about the film, how she approaches filmmaking, and what her plans for the future are. It's a great discussion about how her life influences her work, and vice versa, and it's quite interesting when she discusses casting with a military metaphor.

However, her work's not done in the world of stop loss. While the movie is out to audiences, she continues to champion the soldiers suffering due to this practice. She's speaking in Washington, D.C. on the matter, and helping the cause through stoplossmovie.com -- where you can check out a collection of videos made by soldiers and their families.

(Note: We're re-posting our Stop-Loss review from SXSW to coincide with the film's theatrical release this weekend.)

It's been almost nine years since Kimberly Peirce's breakout film Boys Don't Cry, so expectations for her new project were bound to run high. Alas, she doesn't do herself any favors with the self-serious, emotionally hollow Stop-Loss. Why would someone who's so selective about the films she makes choose something so uninspired?

The title refers to the U.S. Army's policy of renewing soldiers' enlistments against their wishes, a necessary step when new recruits are in short supply and there's a war going on. Technically, the war in Iraq ended years ago, but this hasn't stopped the military from hanging on to thousands of soldiers who were supposed to have gone home when their time was up.

Stop-Loss is a fictional story about a real crisis, written by Peirce and Mark Richard and starring Ryan Phillippe as the soldier who gets stop-lossed. His name is Brandon King, and he has just returned to his hometown of Brazos, Texas, after a firefight in Tikrit that left some of his men dead or wounded. Brandon is a model soldier and staff sergeant, even to the point that his saintliness strains credulity, but he snaps when he learns he's being sent back. He tells his commanding officer (Timothy Olyphant) that he refuses to go, then flees the Army base.

Well, it looks like we might finally have our next Real American Hero. Ain't it Cool News is reporting that Channing Tatum (star of She's the Man and Step Up) has signed to play Duke in the feature film version of Hasbro's iconic military men, G.I. Joe. News that Tatum was in the running for the part first sprung up on Latino Review, but AICN claims that they now have word that it's a done deal and Tatum will be playing the second in command for Team Joe.

G.I. Joe will be directed by The Mummy's Stephen Sommers, and while some of the details have been tinkered with ever so slightly in Stuart Beattie's script, for the most part it looks like fans will be getting the Joes they know and love. Just last week, some plot spoilers were leaked, so if you can't wait, you can check that out here. So far, the cast includes Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (LOST), Said Taghmaoui (The Kite Runner), Sienna Miller as The Baroness, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marlon Wayans -- and I don't think I'm alone in thinking that this is one eclectic cast to say the least.

If it's true, this will be a big role for Tatum, who so far has starred in some pretty crappy teen fare. Tatum's career is on an upswing lately, and has the upcoming Iraq drama Stop Loss hitting theaters this year, as well as a role in Michael Mann's Dillinger film, Public Enemies, with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. G.I. Joe is set to start shooting in Los Angeles in the next month, so we should get some official word soon.

MTV Movies Blog has the brand new poster for Stop-Loss, the upcoming film from director Kimberly Peirce. Outside of an episode of The L Word, Peirce hasn't directed anything since her highly acclaimed 1999 feature debut Boys Don't Cry -- the film that won Hilary Swank her first Oscar. The script for Stop-Loss was written by Peirce and Mark Richard (Huff), and the film stars Ryan Phillippe (whom I had never liked until last year's excellent Breach), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (one of the best young actors working -- see Brick, Mysterious Skin, and The Lookout!), and Channing Tatum (I intentionally missed Step Up, but he was great in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints).

Stop-Loss deals with soldiers who are "stop-lossed," meaning they are ordered to return to combat, even though they have completed their enlistment contracts. Phillippe plays a soldier who stands up to the government and refuses to return to battle. It is an MTV Films production, and the poster plays up the cast's beefcake angle, making the film look like Dawson's Creek Goes to Iraq. But I have a feeling it's going to be much better than that. I've been waiting to see another film from Peirce for a long while, and the trailer gives me goose bumps every time I see it. Stop-Loss is set for release on March 28th.

If there is one thing you can say about director Kimberly Peirce, it's that she likes to keep things fresh and interesting. She found huge success with Boy's Don't Cry, and now she's following up the story of Brendan Teena with Stop Loss -- a war story of all things, about a soldier who refuses to return to battle. If you thought that was a bit of a theme change, get a load of the other project she'd like to helm -- a big-screen adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. Yes, that's sci-fi, folks.

She recently talked about the possibility with MTV and says: "I love Childhood's End. That's a phenomenal book. We have a draft of that and we'll see if Universal wants to make it." What does she have in mind? "If you're going to launch something that big, you need a big movie star. It's probably not less than a 70 million dollar movie. You go to that movie with a certain appetite for spectacle." For those of you who haven't read it -- it's a different kind of post-apocalyptic future. In Clarke's world, aliens come to earth and help end wars, get people happy, and prolong life, which brings the Earth into a utopia. The twist -- these aliens look just like Satan.

But right now, it's just a script and a hope. Meanwhile, she's penning a "dark, sexual story" set in New Orleans that follows "the rise of a great American gangster." So, would you like to see Clarke's world hit the big screen, and can Peirce pull it off?

I've been a fan of Abbie Cornish for a couple years now, since I first saw her in Somersault, and have followed her career closely since then to see if she'd live up to the promise she showed in that film. I saw her last September at the Toronto International Film Festival in Candy, in which she played opposite Heath Ledger as a good middle-class girl turned heroin addict hooking for her next high, and was impressed with both her range of emotion and the chemistry she and Ledger had as the lovers tragically addicted to both heroin and each other.

Checking in with Cornish through IMDb, I was happy to see she has a slew of upcoming projects coming up with some impressive directors and co-stars. Like another of my fave young actresses, Ellen Page, Cornish is making some smart script choices and working with the right people -- plus she's just got the spunk and the talent to rise above the fray. Next up for Cornish is the just-completed The Golden Age, which reunites director Shekhar Kapur and Cate Blanchett, who once again plays Elizabeth I, this time in a storyline exploring her relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen -- yum!). Cornish takes on the role of Elizabeth Throckmorton, lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I -- and wife of Sir Walter. Sounds delish.

Odds and ends from Thursday:

• According to the Hollywood Reporter, two more actors will be joining Ryan Phillippe in Kimberly Pierce's (Boys Don't Cry) drama Stop Loss. Pic, which revolves around a solider (Phillippe) who returns home from Iraq, only to be called back through the military's stop-loss program, has enlisted Timothy Olyphant and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to join its cast. Olyphant will play a "no-nonsense military man," while Gordon-Levitt takes on the role of a returning solider whose personal life is falling apart.
• THINKFilms has nabbed all North American distribution rights for 10 Items or Less, directed by Brad Silberling. The character comedy, which stars Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega, revolves around a picky big-time actor whose reluctance to take on certain roles leaves him suffering through a dry-spell. While considering a role as a supermarket manager, he slowly develops a close relationship with the shop's feisty cashier and, based on the description, it appears the two learn some life-lessons along the way.
• Okay, the best line from the new Casino Royale trailer definitely belongs to Eva Green. While sitting across from Bond (Daniel Craig) on a train, talking business, she goes "I will keep my eye on our governments money and off your perfectly-formed ass." Brilliant! Best. Line. Ever. And that's just a tiny bit worth of this fantastic trailer. If you're one of those people who still needs to be convinced of Casino Royale's awesomeness, then you simply must check out the new rock-your-socks-off preview over on Moviefone. Trust me on this ... it's worth it.