We’ve got a couple of quick casting stories for you this afternoon.  First up Samuel L. Jackson is set to star opposite Hailee Steinfeld in the indie, Barely Lethal.  According to Variety, “the story follows a 16-year-old international assassin yearning for a “normal” adolescence who fakes her own death and enrolls as a senior in a suburban high school. Jackson will play her mentor who trains her in the program.”  I’m curious to see how director Kyle Newman will handle his follow-up to the surprisingly enjoyable, Fanboys.  I’m also interested to see how it will compare to the recent “teenage assassin” flick, Hanna, even though this is a comedy.

Hit the jump for news on John Slattery‘s directorial debut, God’s Pocket.

We’ve got a few casting stories to share today.  Briefly:

• Michael Caine and Jennifer Garner have boarded the aging rock star film Imagine, joining Al Pacino, Annette Bening, and Bobby Cannavale in the cast.
• Samuel L. Jackson will play the President of the United States in the actioner Big Game.
• Jennifer Jason Leigh (Weeds), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), and Tom Noonan (Heat) will reprise their roles from the stage play version of Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa in the animated feature film adaptation, which Kaufman is co-directing.

Hit the jump for more on each of these projects.

As part of AFI’s Night at the Movies, Samuel L. Jackson was on hand to introduce and present a screening of writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 cult classic, Pulp Fiction.  Since I was only about 10 when the movie originally came out, I had never seen it on the big screen before; hard to believe it’s been almost 20 years.  While I cut my teeth into Tarantino’s world with a viewing of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction is easily my most-watched of his movies.  Being able to see it in a real theater with an audience full of fans who appreciate and anticipate every scene was just a pure joy.  Not to mention hearing some behind-the-scenes details about the movie’s production from Jackson himself!  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

If you missed the opening salvo of set images from Anthony and Joe Russo’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, don’t fret!  We’ve still got them here for you, plus these new shots of stars Scarlett Johansson staring angrily at paparazzi and Samuel L. Jackson dressed in Nick Fury’s colorful weekend wear.  The upcoming sequel will not only feature Captain America (Chris Evans) but also Black Widow (Johansson) in what sounds like a co-lead role as the two hunt down the mysterious Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan).

Hit the jump to check out the set photos. The film also stars Cobie Smulders, Georges St-Pierre, Frank Grillo, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Emily VanCamp, Maximiliano Hernández and Robert Redford.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens on April 4, 2014.

Marvel has sent out a press release announcing that filming has begun on Joe and Anthony Russo‘s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Few details about the film are known, but the press release provides a brief yet informative logline: “Captain America: The Winter Soldier will pick-up where Marvel’s The Avengers left off, as Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and teams up with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), aka Black Widow, to battle a powerful yet shadowy enemy in present-day Washington, D.C.”  That’s a lot of new information, including the large role for Black Widow, and the setting, although we know there will be flashbacks to World War II.  Also, for those who don’t know, the “shadowy enemy” is the eponymous Winter Soldier, a.k.a. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan).  The press release also confirms our earlier report that Hayley Atwell will return to play Peggy Carter.

Hit the jump to check out the full press release along with the first image, and click here for recently released concept art.  The film also stars Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Georges St-Pierre, Frank Grillo, Toby Jones, Emily VanCamp, Maximiliano Hernández, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens on April 4, 2014.

A new trailer and poster have been released for DreamWorks Animation’s Turbo.  The story follows a snail (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) who dreams of being able to go fast, and gets his wish after a freak accident.  He then goes to pursue his dream of racing in the Indy 500.  The trailer looks cute, but I’m not sure if the movie has an antagonist.  I hope it’s salt.

Hit he jump to check out the trailer and poster.  The film also features the voices of Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Kurtwood Smith, Snoop Dogg, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Turbo opens in 3D on July 19th.

Every year, Jimmy Kimmel Live follows the Oscars with a star-studded sketch.  Last year, audiences were treated to a trailer for Movie: The Movie, which featured dozens of movie stars parodying every film genre and cliché.  Naturally, every hit needs a sequel, and JKL has delivered with Movie: The Movie 2V.  I’ll let you be the judge between which trailer is better, but I would say the sequel surpasses the original when it comes to the obligatory Matt Damon joke.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Movie: The Movie 2V opens Arbor Day.

We’re only a short week away from the 85th Academy Awards, and with the close of Oscar season approaching, we’d thought this would be a nice opportunity to take a look back at how some of the races have played out, chronicling the ebbs and flows of the past 12 months or so that got us to where we are today.  We’re kicking things off with one of the more open categories: Best Supporting Actor.

One important thing to keep in mind when looking at the Oscars is that the race is incredibly fluid.  A film could be the clear frontrunner in a category one week, then might stumble to second or even third place in the ensuing weeks.  With this series of articles, we’ll be looking at exactly how much each race has changed, starting with Best Supporting Actor.  Hit the jump to read on.

[With A Good Day to Die Hard set to open this Thursday, we'll be taking a look back at the first four Die Hard movies.  These reviews will contain spoilers since the movies have been out for years.  Click on the respective links for my look back at Die Hard and Die Hard 2.]

I like to consider Die Hard with a Vengeance the true sequel to Die Hard.  It’s bigger, bolder, darker, but still retains the same sense of desperation, humor, and intensity of the first movie.  Unlike Die Hard 2, the purpose of Die Hard with a Vengeance isn’t to copy the plot elements of the first film, but to take the spirit of the original and paint it on a broader canvas.  Die Hard with a Vengeance takes what could have been a stolid, safe entry, and instead shakes up the formula to keep John McClane (Bruce Willis) alive and kicking, which is impressive for a guy who should have died many times over.

The Avengers was the highest-grossing film of 2012, so it’s no surprise that some of its cast would be presenting at this year’s Academy Awards.  The film is nominated for Best Visual Effects (although the momentum seems headed in the direction of Life of Pi), and the Academy has sent out a press release announcing that most of the superhero team will be presenting this year’s awards.  Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, and Mark Ruffalo will be presenting together, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re presenting for the technical categories (Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing).  I assume Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson were unavailable.  In any event, I hope the guys will have some witty banter, and even if they don’t, I’m sure Downey will make it entertaining anyway.

Hit the jump for the press release.  The Academy Awards will be held on February 24th at 7pm (EST) on ABC.

The sudden passing of director David R. Ellis came as quite a shock, but it looks as though his final unfinished project will still come to fruition.  Ralph Ziman has come on to take over as the director on Ellis’ remake of the 1998 Japanese anime Kite, which was gearing up to begin production before Ellis passed away.  The story centers on a young girl whose parents are murdered in a gruesome double homicide and is taken in by two corrupt detectives who train her as an assassin.  Samuel L. Jackson is still set to star, and it was announced this weekend that India Eisley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager) and Callan McAuliffe (I Am Number Four) have now joined the cast.

Eisley will be playing the young girl at the center of the story, Sawa, and McAuliffe is set to play Oburi, a childhood friend of Sawa’s who sets out to save her life but also may harbor some dark secrets.  Filming is set to begin in South Africa later this month.

At last, Oscar is upon us.  Back in November I shared a look at the early awards season race by way of our 2013 Oscar Preview articles, and now nearly two months later there’s still quite a bit up in the air.  This truly is one of the more exciting awards races in recent years, as 2012 is so stacked with quality that there are a surprising number of uncertainties this close to the Academy Awards ceremony.  Nevertheless, I am once again foolishly going to attempt to predict how the Oscar nominations will shake out when they’re announced tomorrow morning, January 10th.  Hit the jump to check out my predictions.

While Jamie Foxx plays the title character in Django Unchained, Leonardo DiCaprio steals the show as the villainous plantation runner and slave owner, Calvin Candie.  This new featurette shows director Quentin Tarantino and cast members Foxx, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson commenting on the amazing performance by DiCaprio.  It interesting to see how the veteran actor approached the difficult subject matter and to hear the actors talk about his transformation.  The featurette also highlights some footage from the movie, so if you haven’t seen Django Unchained yet, this may have a few spoilers for you.  Otherwise, hit the jump to watch the video.

A new trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained features a track from hit recording artist, John Legend. We also get a little bit of new footage that shows Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) training up Django (Jamie Foxx) in the ways of gun-fighting and bounty-hunting.

The film also stars Kerry Washington, Leonard DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, M.C. Gainey, Walton Goggins, Garrett Dillahunt, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, and Tom Savini.  Django Unchained opens on Christmas Day. More information on the Django Unchained soundtrack can be found right here. Hit the jump to watch the new trailer and listen to Legend’s track, “Who Did That To You?”

Yesterday, we reported that toymaker NECA was planning to release action figures based on Aliens as well as a replica of the gravity gun from Half-Life.  Now they have even more good stuff on the ways: Django Unchained dolls!  Yes, you can play in your very own Big House with dolls for Django (Jamie Foxx), Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), Butch (James Remar), Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), and Broomhilda (Kerry Washington).  While NECA are calling these “action figures”, these toys are dolls.  Dolls have cloth clothing.  The only thing missing is a pull string that makes the dolls utter racial epithets.

Hit the jump see images of these toys and find out where you can buy them.