There are two tales of soldiers of fortune on the run from the government coming to multiplexes later this year. The better known project is the adaptation of the 80s actions series The A-Team, but for my money the one that might turn out to be the better movie is The Losers. Based on the DC Comics/Vertigo series by writer Andy Diggle and artist Jock, The Losers is about a group of Special Forces operatives who were betrayed by their CIA handler, Max, and left for dead. The group now fights back to get revenge on Max, but discover that his reach into the halls of power is far greater than they expected. The series ran for 32 issues between 2003 and 2006 and featured five storylines that could serve as the basis for sequels if this first film does well.

From the trailer below, it looks as if director Sylvain White is shooting for a breezy, if slightly edgier, variation on the recent Ocean’s 11 pictures. Watchmen‘s Jeffrey Dean Morgan is heading up the cast as the Loser’s leader Clay, with Star Trek and Avatar‘s Zoe Saldana as Aisha, a woman who joins up with the Losers who has her own vendetta against Max (Jason Patric). The Wire‘s Idris Elba, the Fantastic Four‘s Chris Evans, Columbus Short and Oscar Jaenada round out the cast.

In addition to the trailer, a new promotion picture for the film has been released. If you’ve read the comic, than it should look familiar to you, as it is a variation of of Jock’s cover for issue number 12 of the book, which he had previously reworked for a promotional poster for the film handed out at last summer’s San Diego ComicCon. You can see all three below. Click on each to enlarge.

It’s that time of year again. This Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.

Every year there are snubs and surprises, thrills and controversies. There is no way of knowing who will be nominated, but we here at FilmBuffOnLine, who believe the day nominations are announced should be a National holiday, are going to try and handicap the process for you.

We will try to tell you who we think are Almost Certain to get a nomination, who Definite May Be nominated, and whose nomination is a Outside Shot in the major categories (the four acting categories, Best Director, and Best Picture). We are trying to cover all bases, but don’t come to us if you lose money on your Oscar Nomination pool.

Best Actor:

Almost Certain:

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart; George Clooney, Up in the Air; Colin Firth, A Single Man;  Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Definite May Be:

Morgan Freeman, Invictus;

Outside Shot:

Robert Downey Jr, Sherlock Holmes; Matt Damon, The Informant!; Tobey Maguire, Brothers

Four of the five spots should be locked up, as Clooney, Firth, Bridges, and Renner have been nominated for all the other awards this season and have pretty much split up the winnings. Freeman should be nominated, but could also have some backlash headed his way. Downey Jr. won the Golden Globe for comedy acting, and there is some buzz for Damon.

Best Actress:

Almost Certain:

Sandra Bullock, The Blindside; Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire; Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia

Definite May Be:

Helen Mirren, The Last Station; Carey Mulligan, An Education

Outside Shot:

Amy Adams, Julie and Julia; Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria; Ellen Page, Whip It; Hilary Swank, Amelia

Bullock seems to have set off a siren with critics and her fellow actors as per her acting ability. Sidibe’s debut won raves and that should make her a lock for a nomination, Mulligan has won her fair share of awards, but will Oscar nominate two relative unknowns in the same year? The Academy should just make a rule that Streep is automatically nominated whenever she puts a movie out. Julia and Julia seem more Oscar worthy than It’s Complicated. But I wouldn’t be surprised if her co-star from the former gets a nod. Amelia was a poorly received Oscar bait, but the Academy seems to like Swank.

Best Supporting Actor:

Almost Certain:

Christoph Waltz,Inglourious Basterds

Definite May Be:

Matt Damon, Invictus; Woody Harrelson, The Messenger; Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones

Outside Shot:

Ben Foster, The Messenger; Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles; Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

It’s Waltz’s Oscar to lose, so he’s pretty much guaranteed a nomination. Damon, Harrelson and Tucci have received enough acclaim elsewhere that they should be nominated. Plummer has received a number of nominations, but Foster and especially McKay were strong in their roles and could surprise.

Best Supporting Actress:

Almost Certain:

Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

Definite May Be:

Penelope Cruz, Nine; Vera Fermiga, Up in the Air; Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air; Samantha Morton, The Messenger

Outside Shot:

Mariah Carey, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire; Diane Krueger, Inglourius Basterds; Julianne Moore, A Single Man; Sigourney Weaver, Avatar

Like Supporting Actor, Mo’Nique is enough of a front runner that a nod is a given. However, her performance isn’t the only surprisingly good one in the film, so a nod for Mariah Carey is not outside the realm of possibility. Both women from Up in the Air should be nominated, but Kendrick has the edge if they only choose one. The Academy loves Cruz, so she should get a nomination for a poorly received movie. And I can’t see Avatar not getting one acting nod, and the most likely candidate is Weaver.

Best Director:

Almost Certain:

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker; James Cameron, Avatar; Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

Definite May Be:

Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire; Clint Eastwood, Invictus; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Outside Shot:

Tom Ford, A Single Man; Pete Docter & Bob Petersen, Up

The big three of Bigelow, Cameron (who were once married to each other–keep an eye on each other’s face if the other wins) and Reitman should get nods. Daniels and Tarantino have other nominations to their credit and the Academy loves Eastwood. But Docter and Petersen are more than worthy.

Best Picture:

Almost Certain:

Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, Up in the Air

Definite May Be:

An Education, Inglourious Basterds, Invictus, A Single Man, Up

Outside Shot:

(500) Days of Summer, The Blindside, Crazy Heart, District 9, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Hangover, Julie and Julia, The Messenger, Nine, A Serious Man, Star Trek, The Young Victoria

Since this is the first time in decades that more than five films will be nominated for Best Picture, this has become one of the most unpredictable categories. Any film nominated for Best Director should have a good chance at making the ten, but what about sci-blockbusters like Star Trek and District 9? How about comedies like The Hangover? Do poorly received films like Nine and The Blindside have a chance? This all adds up to a test year for the new system and the list of nominees being anybody’s guess.

1. Edge Of Darkness (Warner Brothers, 3,066 Theaters, 117 Minutes, Rated R): Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the attempted comeback of Mel Gibson.

I say attempted because, really, it should be really hard to come back from blaming all Jews for starting all wars while being arrested for drunk driving. Not saying he won’t get back in moviegoers good graces, but it shouldn’t be easy and it should take more than this.

The ads portray this as a revenge thriller, with Gibson as a cop looking to avenge the murder of his daughter. Other descriptions portray it as more of a conspiracy thriller. Either way, it should tap in to the angsty rage he employed in Ransom, which is good and bad. Good meaning that you know he can play these kinds of roles well. Bad because, well, why don’t you just rent Ransom instead?

Comic film fans might be interested in this one, as it’s directed by Martin Campbell, who is at the helm of the Green Lantern movie. So, if you never saw Casino Royale or The Mark of Zorro and want to check out his directing style, well, here’s your opportunity. 

2. When In Rome (Touchstone Pictures, 2,456 theaters, 91 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Screwball romantic comedies were once all the rage, oh, several decades ago. Why did they die out? Well, probably because they were hard to do well. I’m sure this film will prove that fact one way or another.

Kristen Bell stars as a harried, unlucky in love businesswoman who gets more than she bargains for when she steal some change from a fountain while on a trip to Rome. See, when you do that, you cause whoever threw those coins in to fall madly in love with you. You’d think they’d have a sign warning that.

Lucky for Bell, she doesn’t pick a quarter from an ax-murder, a priest or even a woman. She does pick coins from a wide range of weirdos. 

I like Bell and I’m rooting for her first star vehicle to be a success, and she is surrounded by a pretty interesting and, in some cases, good cast. But I fear that this film might not be all that good.

Another reason why quality might be lacking (and keeping with the comic book movie theme) is that this one is directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the man who wrote and directed Ghost Rider and Daredevil. He didn’t write this one, so you’re safe in that aspect, but be warned anyway.

Pre-production for Warner Brothers’ superhero film Green Lantern continues to move forward. Variety has reported that Sony Pictures Imageworks, who have worked on Watchmen, Superman Returns and Sony’ Spider-Man franchise, have been brought aboard the production as the lead visual effects house for the picture, with Jim Jim Berney (I Am Legend) serving as visual effects supervisor for Imageworks.

Meanwhile, production designers are busy trying to determine exactly how many of the alien members of the alien police force known as the Green Lanterns which Ryan Reynolds will join in the film. A few of these designs have escaped into the wilds of the internet, and they look pretty good to this long time fan of the comic franchise. They definitely take the limitations of the comic book line art and extrapolate them into real life and 3 dimensions.

First up are two looks at the Green Lantern Kilowog. As he is the drill sargent of the Green Lantern Corps, he will probably play an important part in the first film as Reynold’s Hal Jordan slowly learns the ropes of his new responsibility as a Green Lantern. I’m not sure how they’ll bring Kilowog to the screen – The production crew probably isn’t sure how they’ll do it yet – but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were some combination of makeup and CGI, the way that Davy Jones was created for the Pirates Of The Caribbean films.

Next up is a look at how tow other alien Green Lanterns – Sinestro and Abin Sur and Tomar-Re- will look. For the uninitiated, I won’t spoil things about Sinestro’s storyline, but you might be able to take a clue from his name…

It should be noted that it is probably that none of these designs are final- note the differences in the uniform styles between each design. However, until the film goes in to production, this will have to hold us over until some official pictures get released.

Via CosmicBookNews and The Green Lantern Corps Forum.

Earlier this week, Cartoon Network announced a production deal with pop culture satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic. In a post on his blog, Al explained that the deal calls for him to develop for the cable outlet anything his brain can concoct. And that even includes a feature film.

Unlike his first film, UHF, Al concedes that he won’t be the star of this new feature, though he will appear in it. Instead, he will be concentrating his energies on writing and directing the feature. The film is still in the early stages of development, with Al just starting work on a third draft of the script. Understandably, he was close-lipped about the film’s plot.

But hey! It’s the first film from Al since 1989′s satire of television and movies UHF.

It’s hard to believe that it has been now over twenty years since UHF was released. Although the film didn’t do so well with critics or at the box office (I’m probably one of the very few people who actually saw it in a theater), it did grow itself a cult audience over the years. While the trailer below does giveaway some of the film’s better jokes, it does give you a taste of what the full length feature is all about. And yes, that is a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards in there.

They sing. They dance. And evidently, one of those crazy, talented high school kids on Fox’s popular freshman series Glee can now add screenwriter to her list of talents.

Dianna Agron, who plays the dimwitted cheerleader Quinn on the musical dramedy, recently told StarPulse, “Recently, I got the confidence to write a screenplay – a story about a guy who can’t say ‘I love you’ – and it’s been optioned!”

No word as to whether the film is a straight romantic drama, a comedy or even a musical. Come to think of it, we don’t even know what the script is titled.

While this is Agron’s first feature screenplay sell, she previously wrote, directed, starred, costumed, set decorated and quite possibly made lunch for the short film A Fuchsia Elephant. I would say it is a good bet that Agron isn’t content with just being an actress and may be looking to become a multi-hyphenate threat.

In the meantime, Glee returns with new episodes this spring and Agron will be next seen on the big screen in the indie drama Bold Native later this year.

Denzel Washington may be coming on board Will Smith’s long in development remake of the 1974 comedy Uptown Saturday Night according to a source for Empire Online.

The original film starred Sidney Poitier and a bearded Bill Cosby as two friends whose night out at a popular nightclub is interrupted by a robbery. The next day, one of them realize that their stolen wallet contained a winning-lottery and the pair set out to track down the thieves. (Check out the trailer for the original, below.)

Smith originally purchased the  remake rights to comedy back in 2002, but has not been able to get the project in front of the cameras. Previously, Smith had approached Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence about co-starring in the film.

According to Empire’s sources, studio Warner Brothers is looking around for a writer to take a rewrite pass through the script written by Cop Out screenwriters Mark and Robb Cullen. Is this an indication that the studio is moving forward?

So I’ve never watched an episode of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, but it seems to have its fans who have been vocal about every little bit of information that has leaked out about the upcoming live-action film adaptation. What excites me about the film is that it marks the first time since he worked on the script for 1999′s Stuart Little that writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has worked on a film that didn’t originate in his own imagination. And let’s face it, maybe he needs some time away from his own sandbox in order to recharge his creative batteries (to horribly mix metaphors).

We’ll find out if the change does Shyamalan any good on July 2. In the meantime, enjoy these two new promotional posters for the upcoming movie.

Via Yahoo.

Is Repo Chick a sequel from director Alex Cox to his 1984 punk cult classic Repo Man? Not officially, as Universal Studios tried to point out to Cox when they filed a cease-and-desist after the director announced the project was in active production last year. However, as none of the characters from Cox’s original film appear in Repo Chick, it’s hard to argue that it is a direct sequel. However, it’s lo-fi aesthetic and what we see of the plot strongly suggest that it is in spirit cut from the same cloth as Repo Man.

Much like the new Star Wars trilogy, much of Repo Chick was filmed in front of green screens with backgrounds added in post-production. Unlike the Star Wars films, Cox has gone for an interesting, funky lo-fi look for those backgrounds that has me anxious to see the completed film. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival last September, but hasn’t been picked up for distribution here in the States yet.

If there is one craze in Hollywood right now that has surpassed reviving old franchises, it is burning desire to film every new feature in 3D. Now, according to a report from MarketSaw, it looks like we’ll get a collision if those two schools of thought with a possible return of Joe Dante’s `80s classic Gremlins to the big screen.

The report is remarkably vague, just that a new Gremlins movie is coming soon and it will be in 3D. That’s it. Nothing about a screenwriter or director being attached to the project or if it will be a retread of the first film or a new installment. Honestly, at this point it could have been two low-level development execs sitting around at lunch spitballing movies that might look good in 3D.

One thing for sure is that the director of the first two films, Joe Dante, won’t be back. He is too busy with his ongoing series of motion capture, computer animated features to want to return to live action. Also, in the past, Dante has said that the charm of the two Gremlins films has been the use of puppetry and animatronics to bring the title creatures to life. I can’t imagine a studio exec going for such an approach today.