The international trailer for the hockey comedy Goon has gone online. The film is currently screening as part of the Toronto Film Festival, and centers on a bouncer with a penchant for fighting who joins a downtrodden hockey team. The trailer is decidedly goofy, with the flick looking a bit like an R-rated version of The Mighty Ducks. The cast of Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Liev Schreiber and Alison Pill is impressive, with Pill getting the bear’s share of laughs from this trailer. Matt caught the film at TIFF and was a fan, calling it “just the right mix of sweetness, vulgarity, and offbeat humor.”

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Magnolia’s Magnet Pictures recently picked up the film for distribution (via Heat Vision). Michael Dowse (Take Me Home Tonight) directs from a script by Baruchel and Evan Goldberg.

Hockey, as viewed through the eyes of Michael Dowse’s Goon, is 60 minutes of fighting occasionally interrupted by moving a puck around on an icy surface.  It shouldn’t bother hockey aficionados or anyone else too much since the film is delightfully crass, painfully funny, and grounded by a cuddly performance from Seann William Scott.  The movie has a big place in its heart for George Roy Hill’s Slap Shot but it’s not trying to upstage its predecessor or make itself the heir-apparent.  It’s just trying to make you hurt from laughing so hard.

Two new posters have been released for the hockey comedy Goon. The film centers on a bouncer who discovers his talent for both skating and fighting and joins a downtrodden hockey team. Seann William Scott plays the lead role, with Liev Schreiber, Jay Baruchel, Eugene Levy and Alison Pill rounding out the cast. Baruchel co-wrote the script with Evan Goldberg, with Michael Dowse (Take Me Home Tonight) directing.

Hit the jump to see the posters, which feature the bloodied faces of Scott and Schreiber. Goon will screen as part of the Toronto Film Festival that kicked off yesterday.

The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival has announced the films playing in their Canadian Features line-up and the seven films from first-time filmmakers in the “Canada First!” line-up.  Notable movies in the Canadian Features program include Edwin Boyd (starring Scott Speedman, Kevin Durand, and Brian Cox), Goon (starring Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, and Liev Schreiber), and Guy Maddin’s new film Keyhole (starring Jason Patric and Isabella Rossellini).  Previously announced films A Dangerous Method and Take This Waltz will play as part of the Canadian Galas program.

Hit the jump to check out the full line-up for the Canadian Features and Canada First! programs.  Click here for the Galas and Special Presentations and click here for the Documentaries, Midnight Madness, and other TIFF programs.  The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 – 18th.

Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber and Christina Hendricks are set to star in the boxing drama The Bleeder.  Per Variety, the film is based on the story of Chuck Wepner, the New Jersey heavyweight boxer who fought 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali and inspired to Sylvester Stallone to write Rocky.  The biopic is the natural transition for documentary filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig (The Devil and Daniel Johnston) to directing narrative features.  Feuerzeig co-wrote the script with Jerry Stahl (Bad Boys II).

Studio home Hyde Park International is shopping The Bleeder at the Cannes Film Festival this week along with Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vegneance, The Double, Echelon, and Our Idiot Brother.  If I were a billionaire cinephile hanging out in the French Riviera right now, I’d have a hard time passing up the Watts/Schreiber/Hendricks package.  Hit the jump for more on Wepner.

Two upcoming Relativity Media films may not have titles, but they now have release dates.  First up, James McTeigue’s Untitled Raven Project (previously titled The Raven) will open on March 9, 2012.  Per the press release, “The film is a gritty thriller in which Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders.”  The untitled movie also stars Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

Relativity has also set the date for the Untitled Farrelly/Wessler Comedy that has an absolutely ridiculous cast starring in a series of interconnected stories.  Just some of the names on board include Johnny Knoxville, Gerard Butler, Anna Faris, Seann Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Halle Berry, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet, Terrence Howard, Liev Schreiber, Elizabeth Banks, Justin Long, Kristen Bell, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Stephen Merchant.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

Here goes my best shot at getting everyone up to speed on the indie hockey comedy Goon via a ton of info that may or may not be news to your ears.  For starters, Liev Schreiber and Alison Pill have joined the film.  While Schreiber’s role is unknown as of now, Pill will play the female lead.  Additionally, Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, and Marc-Andre Grondin have landed roles as well.  According to THR, Goon tells the story of “Doug Glatt, a bouncer (Scott) who has been touched by the fist of God. Upon discovering both his right hook and skates, he joins a downtrodden hockey team and inspires them into new heights.”  That in mind, Baruchel will play Scott’s best friend whereas Grondin will play a French-Canadian hockey star.

Goon was written by Baruchel and Evan Goldberg with Michael Dowse directing.  For more info on the film, including Baruchel’s own description, hit the jump.

When we first heard that Nicolas Cage had signed on to star opposite Nicole Kidman in director Joel Schumacher’s Trespass, the general reaction wasn’t too positive due to the notably spotty track record of the three parties involved in recent years.  Yet we tend to love Cage around these parts, warts and all.  So it gives me no pleasure to pass along the news that Cage appears to have dropped out of the production just two weeks shy of the start date.  Details after the jump.

With Columbia Pictures junketing director Phillip Noyce’s  action thriller Salt in Washington D.C. this weekend, the studio has released four clips from the movie and you can check them out after the jump.  As you might imagine, the clips focus on the action and put Angelina Jolie front and center.  The film also stars Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor,  and Andre Braugher.  Salt gets released July 23rd.  Synopsis also after the jump:

Sony has released a bunch of new high resolution images from some of their big summer movies.  Included in the bunch are Salt (starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andre Braugher), The Karate Kid (starring Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan and Taraji P. Henson) and Eat Pray Love – which stars Julia Roberts, James Franco, Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis, Billy Crudup and Javier Bardem.  Hit the jump for detailed synopses and tons of high resolution images.

A new trailer for Angelina Jolie’s action movie Salt has come online.  The tagline of the marketing campaign asks, “Who Is Salt?”  After seeing this trailer, I would like to venture a guess: Salt is a woman who is framed as a Russian spy and then goes on the lam to save her kidnapped husband and clear her name.  Oh, and this woman kicks lots of ass along the way.

I’m not sure if there’s much more of a plot in there and the action doesn’t impress me as much as it does in the the new A-Team trailer, but I hope that it’s as good as the Bourne movies it looks like it’s trying to emulate.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer along with the official synopsis. Salt hits theaters on July 23rd.

Repo Men is confounding mess of a movie.  It wildly throws itself between genres, tones, and styles.  What’s so frustrating is that some moments are tons of fun, others are irritatingly melancholy, and then there are moments where the film is so bad it’s good.  It’s a whirlwind of a picture that sweeps you up and then smashes you back into the ground.  It’s fun and painful at the same time and those sides draw a stalemate in the story of guys who will murder you because you can’t make a payment on your artificial organs.  It’s a kind of story that could go in any direction, but it’s amazing how far it tries to go in every direction.

The science-fiction action thriller Repo Men opens this weekend, starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker and Liev Schreiber. Set in the not-so-distant future, Repo Men centers around Remy, played by Law, an employee of The Union, a company that sells healthy organs to those in need and then repossesses the organs if the customers are unable to pay for them.

Collider caught up with the stars and director at a junket in New York, where they discussed the making of the film, it’s obvious political messages and whether Law or Whitaker was better at kung fu.

And to clarify, this is not a comedy that’s currently lacking a title. Untitled Comedy is the title. The film, which is currently in production, will be composed of a series of loosely related comedic sketches, featuring a plethora of different actors and directors. If you think it sounds a little bit like those atrocious Movie movies (you know, the ones brought to you by 2 of the 6 writers of Scary Movie), rest assured that Farrelly and co. have assembled a heap of high-end talent to bring their sketches to life. Stepping in front of the camera will be Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Sean William Scott, Tony Shalhoub, Emma Stone, Matt Walsh, Patrick Warburton, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet. Behind the camera, Elizabeth Banks, Bob Odenkirk, Brett Ratner, Griffin Dunne, and Farrelly himself have already helmed sequences, with more directors and cast slated to climb aboard as things progress.

The film is said to be in the mould of classic sketch comedies like John Landis’ The Kentucky Fried Movie, the 1977 flick penned by spoof masters David Zucker and Jim Abrahams (Airplane!) and Ken Shapiro’s 1974 skewering of television, The Groove Tube. Hopefully, that paints a picture for you. Hit the jump for the full press release and my thoughts on the project.

Universal has released seven movie clips from their upcoming futuristic action-thriller Repo Men.  Starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Liev Schreiber, RZA, Alice Braga, and Carice van Houten, the film takes place in a future where you can buy replacement organs from a company called The Union.  But if you can’t pay your bill, the company sends Repo Men and they’ll take back your organ without any thought to what happens to you.

As most of you know, Repo Men was supposed to be released awhile back, but for whatever reason, it got bumped.  Usually when that happens, it’s a cause for concern.  But I have to say, after watching the clips, I’m a lot more interested in the film as it looks pretty cool.  Hit the jump to check them out for yourself.  Repo Men arrives in theaters March 19.