“No, I’m not kidding,” he told Extra when his statement was met with confusion.

Today, he confirmed his decision in an interview with AP at the premiere of his latest film, Two Lovers.

“I think it’s just moving on. It’s rediscovering something else,” he explained.

“It’s like greener pastures, you know what I mean?” Phoenix continued. “And so, I’m just going to try and like, I’ll just be doing the other thing. … Hopefully, I will emotionally impact you with that, as well.”

He certainly wouldn’t be the first actor to prematurely retire — but let’s see how he feels about it after a substantial period of time has passed.

Amazon’s Kindle first hit the scene last November and if the new screenshots by The Boy Genius Report are the real deal, it looks like a new improved model will be before long.

As is apparent from the above shot, the new version will be slightly larger in both length and width. However, the Kindle 2 screen size is almost exactly the same. Instead of the clickwheel, it looks like Amazon has moved to a joystick, which their source describes as taking a little while to get the hang of.

Kindle’s buttons used to cause some frustrating accidental page turns, but this time around the buttons will be slightly larger in order to avoid jumping the gun. Another perk is that Amazon has ditched their own charger and the unit will be chargeable with a generic miniUSB cable.

No pricing information has been released to date, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that K2 will be a bit more friendly to the wallet. After all, an e-book reader, as cool as it may be, really shouldn’t cost more than a PlayStation 3.

More details and a plethora of screenshots can be found at The Boy Genius Report.

Earlier this year, Steve Swasey, VP of Corporate Communications at Netflix, pointed the blame at Apple.

“Let’s talk to Apple about that, because it’s the DRM, the digital rights management issue. And Apple owns the rights to their DRM and won’t sell it to anyone else, so right now it’s Windows Media based. But Netflix’s goal is to get movies delivered to you in any way you want to watch them, on any screen,” he said in an interview with HackingNetflix.

But during the recent announcement of the Starz deal, the company revealed that a solution is in the works.

“And, for all of you Mac users (of which I am one) we’ve been busy working getting a solution that will allow you to watch instantly on your Mac. So hang in there - we’ll have something for you by the end of the year,” explained Brent on the official blog.

Now that the impossible is seeming utterly possible — how about Linux, people?

Today, a false story on CNN’s iReport of Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs suffering a heart attack caused stock in the company to temporarily stumble by more than five percent.

“It’s not true. There is no truth to the rumor,” said Apple spokesperson Katie Cotton.

It appears that sometimes all it takes is a simple headline to send uninformed stockholders to jump the gun and sell their holdings. Almost a month ago, United Airlines stock free falled 75% when a bankruptcy story from 2002 resurfaced on Google News, six years after its original posting.

But we’re glad to know that Steve Jobs is doing just fine and that reports of his demise, to paraphrase Mark Twain, have been greatly exaggerated.

There are at least two major movies with a political bent scheduled for a theatrical release within in the year.  Oliver Stone’s W. promises to be more from the left side of the spectrum, while David Zucker’s An American Carol is a no-holds barred flick from the conservative side.

Michael Moore decided to go the more low-key route, opting instead to release his Slacker Uprising as a free download on the net.

“It is the first time ever that a major feature-length film is debuting as a free download on the internet — legally,” proclaimed Mr. Moore.

The DivX AVI download is a hefty 1.3 gigs, so for those still living with dialup or bandwidth caps, a DVD version is also available for less than ten bucks.

Details on everything Slacker Uprising-related can be found on the official site.

Like most Mamet directed films, the mixed martial arts flick unfortunately flew under the radar and grossed a little less than $2,500,000 domestically in the USA.

Redbelt did well with the critics, however, garnering a solid 72% with the ”top critics” over at Rotten Tomatoes.

“The glue that holds it together is Ejiofor’s muscular performance as a man whose principles may be about to feel the brass knuckles of reality,” gushed the Toronto Star’s Peter Howell.

“Watching Redbelt is like watching a chess game. As Mamet manipulates his characters, it’s involving and occasionally thrilling, but it never makes you feel much,” bemoaned Chris Hewitt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Redbelt on Blu-ray will carry an SRP of $38.96. Full specs have yet to be announced.

The director of Night Watch and Day Watch certainly understands why people would compare the two superstylish films, but he insists that the two are wholly different animals.

Asked whether his first English language movies was the next level of the John Woo and The Matrix style, the director pointed out the differences.

“No, it’s just different. It’s very different because it’s drama driven. Drama drives the action and entertainment. It’s an ancient Greek tragedy dressed as an action movie,” said Bekmambetov.

“It’s another type of food. It’s a different meal. It’s not the same,” he told Moviesonline.ca later in the interview.

“There’s no sense of humor in The Matrix at all. It’s very serious. It’s interesting. It’s totally inhuman. We are very funny.”

The game was originally one of the last titles to hit the Game Boy Color, and while critics adored the game, it didn’t do particularly well with the masses.

Being released on September 12, 2001 probably didn’t help matters. Hopefully gamers will give it a real chance to succeed on WiiWare.

Toki Tori (Two Tribes, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Toki Tori is his name, and collecting eggs is his game. In this puzzle/platform game, players use a variety of items such as the Telewarp, InstantRock™ and Slug Sucker. Clever use and combination of these items are needed to solve all the game’s levels, of which there are more than 70. Levels range from easy to brain-teasingly hard, resulting in dozens of hours of puzzle play time. Toki Tori makes the most of what Wii has to offer. It uses the Wii Remote for a unique control scheme, which offers players a new and more relaxing play style. A second player can help you out by drawing hints while you are playing. The game even uses the Wii Message Board in a unique way.

The other WiiWare title released today was Protöthea:

Protöthea (UbiSoft, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Fantasy Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Protöthea is a top-down scrolling shooter game with free movement that puts players in complete control of a last-generation spaceship. The mission is to destroy the asteroid called Maqno 01 and finish with the plans of The Core. UbiSoft’s Protöthea introduces new concepts to a beloved, classic game style while mixing genres and utilizing the full capabilities of the Wii console, from graphics to controls. Players of all ages and experience levels will enjoy taking command of their ship, blasting through four different worlds in 10 challenging missions. Use your weapons arsenal and the special bonus items to help you accomplish your mission, and don’t forget to slow down time and take an edge over the enemy.

And lastly, we’ve got one Virtual Console game:

Ninja Combat (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated E 10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Mild Suggestive Themes, Fantasy Violence, 900 Wii Points): Released in 1990, Ninja Combat is a side-scrolling combat-action game. Take control of the ninjas Joe (one player) and Hayabusa (two players), and enter into battle against a group of evil ninjas called the Kage Ichizoku. Make your way into their home fortress, Ninja Tower, which dominates a big city of the near future. Fight using normal attacks, jumps, special movements and ninja materials that deliver damaging blows to all enemies on the screen. In addition, you’ll find weapons and items to aid you along the way. Even better, as you progress in the game, reliable allies such as Musashi, Kagerow and Gembu will emerge to fight alongside you, allowing you to choose a new character in each stage. Ninja Combat also supports simultaneous play with two players, so you can grab a friend and defeat the Kage Ichizoku together.