When last we reported on Running Scared-director Wayne Kramer’s Pawn Shop Chronicles, the picture had attached Paul Walker to star with Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst set to direct.  That’s old news.  What’s current is the casting of Elijah Wood, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser and Vincent D’Onofrio in the dark comedy.  The plot seems pretty much the same, which involves a local pawn shop in a small Southern town that is a link between a man searching for his kidnapped wife, two white-supremacist meth addicts and a down-on-his-luck Elvis impersonator.  Production on the Adam Minarovich screenplay is underway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Hit the jump for more casting news on Pawn Shop Chronicles.

It’s nice to see a down and dirty action movie, and Contraband offers a number of things that are fun. It’s got Mark Wahlberg in the lead, and a supporting cast that includes Kate Beckinsale, J.K. Simmons, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, and Lukas Hass.  It’s got a no-nonsense plot about smuggling, and at least one good shootout. But it’s also imminently forgettable. Our review of the Blu-ray of Contraband follows after the jump.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share with you today. First up, Royal Pains star Mark Feuerstein is set to join the romantic sci-fi indie In Your Eyes. Written by Joss Whedon, the film centers on two people (Michael Stahl-David and Zoe Kazan) who live on opposite sides of the country but are able to see and hear each other despite having never met. Variety reports that Feuerstein will play Kazan’s “cold, controlling husband.” It’s certainly an intriguing story and I’m a sucker for low-budget/indie sci-fi. Production is set to begin soon in Los Angeles and Boston.

Hit the jump for casting news regarding the horror film Dark Was the Night.

The trailer for Contraband has gone online and I have no idea what differentiates it from other Mark Wahlberg crime movies.  He’s either a cop or a good-guy criminal and in this movie he’s the latter.  He plays a former smuggler who’s called back into the game when his brother-in-law (X-Men: First Class‘ Caleb Landry Jones) steals from the wrong gangster (Giovanni Ribisi with a bizarre, distracting accent).  Wahlberg then puts together a team of crooks (including characters played by Ben Foster and Lukas Haas) and it looks a little like The Italian Job with smuggling and cool duct tape masks.  Hopefully, the film will have something to make it stand apart from other movies where Wahlberg plays a frantic, hard-nosed character.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and a number of new images.  The film also stars Kate Beckinsale, J.K. Simmons, and Diego Luna.  Contraband opens January 13, 2012.

From the outset, Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood sounds kind of… great? Seriously. Her best film is easily Thirteen, which dealt with young girls coming to understand their sexuality (and power therein), and Hardwicke brought the right temperament to the first Twilight film – she got the sexuality right and winked at the audience about the material’s inherent silliness. For Red Riding Hood, she has a great cast (Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie), the idea of the wolf as sexual predator, and the same sort of romantic triangle. If the film had done anything right, it might have – if nothing else – achieved cult status. Too bad the film is garbage in any cut. Our review of the Blu-ray of Red Riding Hood (which offers an Alternate cut of the movie) follows after the jump.

There’s a strangeness that creeps along the edges of Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood.  It’s a PG-13 teen soap opera that wants to sneak in some surprisingly R-rated content like cannibalism and torturing the mentally handicapped.  But what’s surprising and creative in the film is always smothered beneath convention, simplistic design, and insulting themes.  There are directors who could blend a classic fairy tale with a teen drama and a modern attitude, but Hardwicke is not one those directors.  Red Riding Hood feels unbalanced and its stranger elements never feel organically blended into the larger narrative.  The result is an off-putting affair that owes more to Twilight than it does to the Brothers Grimm.

The first set photos from the crime thriller Contraband have gone online.  The film is a remake of the acclaimed Icelandic picture Reykjavik-Rotterdam.  Mark Wahlberg stars as a struggling security guard who must return to his life as a drug smuggler for one last job.  So what exciting photos have onlookers snapped?  A gun fight?  A main character dying on the street?  Even better!  Mark Wahlberg and costar Lukas Haas sitting and standing in the back of a truck.  These are set photos that will blow your mind (provided your mind is easily impressed).

Hit the jump to check out the set photos.  Contraband is currently filming in New Orleans and also stars Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Diego Luna, and Giovanni Ribisi.  The film is currently set for release on March 16, 2012.

We’ve got casting news for a trio of films for you today. First up, Elle Fanning (Somewhere) and Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) are set to star in the indie drama Pure Life. Directed by Van Fischer (Neo Ned), the film a 13-year-old girl in search of romance. Living in poverty, she finds a “bad boy” she deems worthy of taking her virginity. The Playlist reports that Farmiga will play the girl’s “hard-working and short-tempered” mother.

Hit the jump for casting news regarding UFC fighter Randy Couture joining Bruce Willis and Ryan Phillippe in Set Up, and Lukas Haas and Diego Luna signing up for Contraband.

Christopher Nolan’s Inception came across as the man’s payout for having directed The Dark Knight, a film that grossed a billion dollars worldwide, recharged the franchise, and is inarguably one of the best superhero movies ever made. His follow-up brought in Leonardo Di Caprio to play Cobb, who works as an “extractor.” His profession is corporate espionage, stealing secrets from successful men through their dreams. Structured in some ways like a heist film (in others like a Bond movie), Cobb is given a “one last mission” situation where instead of stealing, he has to give someone an idea in their dreams. This situation will allow him to finally go home to his family. Supported by the likes of Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe and Dileep Rao, he’s got a team to take on the hardest job he’s ever done. My review of the Inception Blu-ray follows after the jump.

The first behind-the-scenes photos from Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood have surfaced online.  The film is a gothic re-imagining of the fairy tale and has the title character (played by Amanda Seyfried) attempting to protect her village from a werewolf.  She’s joined by Father Soloman (played by Gary Oldman), the “Witchfinder General” whose mission is to find and kill the werewolf.

These photos give you a good sense of the film’s costumes and I think they the look pretty amazing.  Don’t let the fact that the actors are holding food from craft services or iPads distract you.  Hit the jump to check out the images.  Red Riding Hood is slated to open on March 11, 2011.

We have three pieces of casting news for you this morning.  First up, Channing Tatum has signed on to star in 20th Century Fox’ “sci-fi-romantic-epic” Ion.  According to Heat Vision, “The plot revolves around a man who travels to different Earths and dimensions in order to find his reincarnated lover.”  Of course, the movie is being compared to Avatar because it like involves space and love and it’s really long and stuff.  I will say that the concept sounds pretty cool and I have to give Avatar some credit for pushing studios to consider making movies that aren’t based off an existing property.

Hit the jump for news about Lukas Haas joining Red Riding Hood and Jason Biggs and Joel David Moore signing on for Grassroots.

Kirsten Dunst’s short film Bastard will be premiering on the closing night of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and two high-resolution images from the film have come online.  Co-written and directed by Dunst, here’s what she said about her movie:

“This film explores what makes the unbelievable believable. When we hear a story that seems mysterious or far-fetched, we put more trust in its accuracy the longer ago it took place. As the centuries pass, the truth becomes more malleable. We grow less skeptical of what we might otherwise dismiss as incredible. Our perspective changes. This film addresses the eerie transformation of a familiar myth when displaced to the present.”

Bastard stars Brian Geraghty, Juno Temple, Lukas Haas, Joel David, Moore Lee, Thompson Young, and L.M. Kit Carson.  Hit the jump to check out the high resolution images.