Set the bar low enough, and it can only be exceeded. That's how I feel about the upcoming big-screen version of The A-Team, a 80s television series entirely beholden to the staid formula of the day and ripe for reinvention. I didn't hate the series so much as I found it routinely mediocre. My colleague Monika Bartyzel loved the series as a kid, yet still questioned the casting choices that were being entertained: Liam Neeson as Hannibal? Bradley Cooper as Face? Adding fuel to the fire, rapper The Game is being considered to play the role of B.A. Baracus, according to blackfilm.com, which quotes "a very highly reliable source in the entertainment industry."

For me, the only thing that made The A-Team watchable was the bantering between the characters, and the choices so far all indicate that director Joe Carnahan is aiming for a more straightforward action picture, based on a script by Wanted's Michael Brandt and Derek Haas. Which is crazy, like moving Miami Vice to Seattle or transforming the lead character in Get Smart into a fairly bland, somewhat competent secret agent. (Even though the latter still made money.)

The mistake would be in confusing brand recognition with brand loyalty. If you're promising fans of the TV show that you're going to deliver the same thing, only bigger and better, then you damn well better deliver something in the same spirit. I haven't seen The Game's work as an actor (Waist Deep, Street Kings) yet; is he any good? If this rumor is true, could he wear the mohawk of the immortal Mr. T?

Same-sex love is most definitely in the air. I already wrote about Julianne Moore and Annette Bening were coupling up for a new film today, but they're not the only ones. In a Thelma and Louise meets The Bucket List move, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Oscar winners Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker will star in a new road trip comedy from Thom Fitzgerald called Cloudburst.

Dukakis and Fricker will play a couple who have been together for 30 years. Itching for a little adventure, the two "break out of a nursing home and head to Canada to get married, picking up a young, male hitchhiker along the way." I can't begin to count the ways these two films are great. Both have long-term lesbian couples, played by women with oodles of talent, and in this case, feature an older generation of actresses -- a theme which seems to be slowly gaining momentum in Hollywood as the boomers get older.

I've got to wonder -- are these gigs thanks to the anger incited by Prop 8? It's rare to get one LGBT film, let alone two at the same time. Whatever the case, it's a nice and refreshing change to see some originality heading towards Hollywood. Think Dukakis and Fricker can give Sarandon and Davis a run for their money?

Hot Hollywood star Amy Adams is negotiating to star in The Fighter, along with Terminator Salvation's Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg. David O. Russell is directing the biopic of the boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, which will call for Marky Mark to dust off his tough-guy Boston accent and don boxing gloves to fight his way to the championships with help from his trainer and brother Dick Eklund, who will be played by Bale. Multiple Oscar nominee Adams will be playing Ward's love interest, a tough-talkin' bartender in Lowell, MA.

The Fighter, which will be distributed domestically by Paramount, is supposed to begin filming this summer, although with Russell's track record, whether that will really happen is anyone's guess. The project has been through several incarnations, which you can read about here, and Russell is infamous for his on-set outbursts, as is Bale. Russell's last project, Nailed, is in a holding pattern indefinitely.

So will The Fighter make it to the ring? Will Bale and Russell have a shouting match that will find its way to YouTube? Will Mark Wahlberg say "how's your mother?" And will Amy Adams, star of the upcoming Ephron flick Julie & Julia, be totally awesome? I'm voting yes on all counts!

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

It looks like things are getting more interesting each day when it comes to the music biopic The Runaways -- and I'm not talking about Joan Jett making Kristen Stewart cry. No, instead, there is news that Alia Shawkat (who will forever be known as Maeby Fünke) is joining the cast as famed bassist and 'Bangle' Micki Steele ... or at the very least an approximation of Steele. Latino Review is reporting that Shawkat has joined the cast as an 18-year-old bass player named Robin (aka Steele), and judging by the photo above, you have to admit that Shawkat would be a great choice to play the sexy bassist. I mean, just look at those lips.

Rather than get into a long and convoluted explanation about the awesomeness that is Steele, here is a little primer: Steele was one of the first members of The Runaways when they were touring the club circuit in L.A. and was considered the 'feminine' one in a group of bad girls. By 1976 she had left the band after the addition of Lita Ford (played in the film by Scout Taylor-Compton) and Cherie Currie (played by Dakota Fanning). Steele would go on to join another famous girl band, The Bangles, and create music history by teaching the world about 'Manic Mondays'.

There has been no word on why Steele isn't going to be named in the film; possibly because the film makers didn't secure the rights to use her image, or maybe her split from The Runaways wasn't an amicable one. My guess is that the character of Robin will be based on Steele, but also be an amalgam of some of the other band members that won't be featured prominently in the film.

The Runaways is still filming on location in L.A., but will arrive in theaters in 2010.

What do you get when you mix Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo in a comedy? A same-sex couple and one eager sperm donor. (Bet you weren't expecting that!) Variety reports that the trio, plus Josh Hutcherson (Bridge to Terabithia) and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), will star in a new film called The Kids Are All Right.

Bening and Moore are playing a couple who long ago used donated sperm to start a family. Years later, when their son and daughter (Hutcherson and Wasikowska) have grown up, they want to find the man behind the sperm. So, they hunt down Ruffalo's character, and he "totally upsets their family dynamic once he enters their lives."

This project is coming from Lisa Cholodenko, which bodes particularly well for the already-unique story. You might remember that she's the writer and director of Laurel Canyon, one of the few films to show the lovely Frances McDormand as a beautiful and carefree woman, rather than a quirky gal steeped in kitsch.

So, a filmmaker who can challenge the norm, a same-sex couple played by two multi-Oscar-nominated actresses, and an original storyline to boot? Pinch me, I must be dreaming. The film just started production, so I can only hope we get to see how this all pans out soon.

With his film due out in a couple of weeks, Harry Potter is beginning to make some waves. First up is an update on the Potter IMAX delay. Long story short, Half-Blood Prince won't be arriving on IMAX screens the same day the film hits conventional theaters because of a deal IMAX made with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for an exclusive four-week run. However, three theaters will be getting Harry Potter in IMAX on opening day, July 15th, but if you don't live in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, you're out of luck. Collider tells us those three theaters are as follows: Century City IMAX (Los Angeles), Henry Crown (Chicago), and AMC Loews Lincoln Square (NYC). The first 12 minutes of the movie have been converted to IMAX 3D, and so I'm sure it's worth the trip for those who live in the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, everyone else will have to wait another two weeks.

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

As much as I enjoyed the shaky-cam mayhem of Cloverfield, I'm pretty bummed about the idea of Matt Reeves helming a remake of the 2008 vampire film, Let the Right One In. Even before the original film had hit theaters stateside, there were deals in place for Reeves to remake the film for U.S. audiences -- and that's what has me worried. Whenever something is remade for North America, what it usually means is that a little 'sanitation' is in order. For better or for worse, audiences tend to react badly to seeing children in a decidedly non-childlike way, and that's what made The Right One so memorable. But I guess I better get used to the idea, because Reeves recently told the L.A. Times that he's been scouting locations and that a second draft of the script has already been completed and now has the new title, Let Me In.

Let the Right One In was the story of Oskar, a young boy living in the suburbs of Sweden who begins a friendship with a vampire child named Eli who has moved in next door. For Reeves' remake, he's kept the time period in the 80's, but relocated the story to Regan-era Colorado. Most importantly, he's promised that he won't be making his Oskar and Eli any older in an attempt to appeal to the 'Twilight Crowd', and the success of his remake will all come down to who Reeves casts for his two leads. The director has already started working with Avy Kaufman to try and find the perfect cast, and luckily, Kaufman has experience when it comes to casting 'creepy kids', having been the casting director for The Sixth Sense and The Ice Storm.

After the jump: the original film's director and screenwriter give their two cents...

With a few new musical biopics headed our way, there's a question to consider: Just how musically inclined should an actor be when they take on the role of a musician?

We expect a lot from the pros -- good chemistry, believable delivery of lines, sincere emotion -- but what about musical aptitude? We'll discuss whether the actor looks the part, but less often challenge whether they can hit the right notes. Sometimes it surely doesn't matter. If the band's music is simple enough, the skills can be learned before shooting. Thanks to the wonder of dubbing, if it's just singing, only the showmanship and performance matter. (Although there are times that actors can surprise with both, like Val Kilmer's stunning embodiment of Jim Morrison in The Doors.)

But when it comes to more talented musicians, it's not so easy to fake. If one is iconic enough to be immortalized once again on film, shouldn't the performance show that artistry? Some itch for James Franco to become Jeff Buckley in that upcoming biopic, but he's the one hopeful without any musical talent -- and no matter what he could learn on the fly, it wouldn't come close to Buckley's, well, Grace. Why bother with the project if we can't watch the notes flow through the fingers as they grasp the strings or pound the keys?

Guy Pearce just doesn't do enough movies for my liking. It's not as though he's vanished, but he seems to maintain a fairly low profile every time he blows everyone away with a big, meaty part like L.A. Confidential or Memento. But he has a lot of great projects coming up (the most exciting of which has to be The Road), and he's added a very intriguing one to his slate: the remake of 1973's telepic Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pearce and Bailee Madison have joined Katie Holmes in Troy Nixey's remake. It's a fairly loose adaptation of the 1973 original, which was centered around a couple, Sally and Alex, who inherited an old mansion from Sally's grandmother. Sally accidentally uncovers a hellish portal that allows a bunch of demons to escape and wreck bloody havoc. Naturally, no one believes her, and is convinced she's having a nervous breakdown thanks to all that home repair. Because it was the 1970s, it didn't even end well for Sally who just wanted a new fireplace. For those tired of seeing "remake" tacked onto everything, and for fans of the original, you'll be happy to know that the new Dark isn't so much a remake as a story "inspired by" those demonic creatures of old.

Check out the rest of the story at The Horror Squad

It sounded promising when Jason Lee was set to get Thicker back in 2008. Perhaps we'd finally get another taste at the old Lee, the one that made every Kevin Smith movie he graced all the tastier, especially when he'd rant away with all of his comedic snarkiness. He may have left that film, but Lee found an even better project to fill his now Earl-free days. Variety reports that he, along with Michelle Trachtenberg, have signed on for roles in A Couple of Dicks -- Kevin Smith's first project not written by his own pen.

The film, which stars Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, focuses on two cops who search for a stolen baseball card, rescue a sexy Mexican woman, and face gangsters. With the buddy cop roles long-filled, Lee won't have much face time, but hopefully it will be quality face time. While Trachtenberg plays Willis' daughter, Lee will play her stepfather.

At least it's something. Not a lot, but a hell of a lot more interesting that the family fare that Lee keeps doing. That being said, and even loving Willis' classic cop ways, I wish Lee was taking the role. Wouldn't he make an excellent gruff detective? (If he can't be the new Fletch, he could at least get a blockbuster buddy cop film! Willis and Morgan are already a far cry from the originally cast Robin Williams and James Gandolfini.)

But maybe better fare is on the horizon. What sort of starring role would you like to see Jason Lee take on?