Time to begin updating with some of the latest news we’ve missed during my absence! Kicking off today’s news and media updates is Jim Sheridan’s Afghanistan War drama, Brothers, which according to some sources was originally slated for a December 2008 U.S. release. Well, December is almost at an end, and no sign of a premiere. So what’s going on with Brothers?

In a recent interview with Herald.ie, director Sheridan gave us some insight into the upcoming theatrical release of the film, which currently looks to be sometime in August 2009. Damn! From Herald.ie:

But Sheridan, who is renowned for making off-beat movies, looks set to score another critical hit in 2009. He revealed how he has just completed filming on a big-budget film starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire. A remake of Susanne Bier’s acclaimed Danish flick Brothers, it tells the story of a man, played by Maguire, who is sent to fight in Afghanistan while his black-sheep brother (Gyllenhaal) cares for his wife and child. It co-stars big names including Natalie Portman and Sam Shepard.

Sheridan continued: “We were in Santa Fe in New Mexico filming it for more than five months and we had a fabulous time. It’s a great town and was good fun to make. I think that we’re going to release that in August of next year.“

Meanwhile, the film’s Internet Movie Database page has been updated with new release date info: while the December 2008 U.S. premiere date estimate has been replaced with the rather generous timeframe of “2009″, according to the site, Brothers has a UK premiere date of February 27 2009, while countries such as The Netherlands and Denmark will have to settle for a late Fall ‘09 release. Honestly, though, how likely they are really to release Brothers in the UK 5-6 months before the U.S. premiere?… I remain skeptical. Sorry, guys! I wish I had better news to offer.