After yesterday’s brief teaser, the full trailer for Oliver Stone‘s Savages has gone online.  The film stars Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson as two Laguna Beach marijuana kingpins who encounter a world of trouble when their shared girlfriend (Blake Lively) is kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel.  The movie looks like a fun change of pace for Stone, and a bit of a throwback to Natural Born Killers, but without the muddled message on violence and media.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Stone has worked in a comment on America’s War on Drugs, but at least it looks like he’s surrounded it with a slam-bang action flick.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars The film also stars Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Demian Bichir, Emile Hirsch, Uma Thurman, and John Travolta.  Savages opens July 6th. [Updated: We've updated the article with a new image from the film]

Earlier this week, we showed you the first poster for Oliver Stone‘s crime-thriller Savages.  Today, teaser footage from the film has been released.  The film stars Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson as two Laguna Beach marijuana kingpins who encounter a world of trouble when their shared girlfriend (Blake Lively) is kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel.  You won’t gather any of that from the 15-seconds of footage, but you will pick up that Stone has taken a page from Tony Scott‘s playbook of sweaty characters and over-saturated cinematography.

Hit the jump to check out the footage.  The film also stars Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Demian Bichir, Emile Hirsch, Uma Thurman, and John Travolta.  Savages opens July 6th.

We’ve got a few release dates to share with you today. Briefly:

• Welcome to People – The directorial debut of screenwriter Alex Kurtzman starring Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks is dated for June 29th.
• Hick – The adaptation of Andrea Portes’ novel starring Chloe Moretz and Blake Lively hits VOD on May 8th and theaters May 11th.
• For a Good Time Call… – The Sundance comedy centering on phone sex operators opens September 14th.

Hit the jump for more on each film.

Oliver Stone‘s adaptation of Don Winslow‘s crime novel Savages has been moved up from September 28th to July 6th.  Deadline reports that Universal changed the date after a test screening late last week.  The film centers on two Laguna Beach marijuana kingpins (Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson) who encounter a world of trouble when their shared girlfriend (Blake Lively) is kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel.  The film’s impressive cast also features Benicio Del Toro, Demian Bichir, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek, and Emile Hirsch.

Hit the jump for an official synopsis and what Savages will be up against at the box office.

Last week, we reported that Steven Sodebergh‘s psychopharmacology thriller Side Effects might lose lead actress Blake Lively because financier Annapurna Pictures didn’t like her in the role.  Actresses rumored to replace Lively included Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams, Emily Blunt, and Imogen Poots.  Today, Deadline reports that Mara will play the role of “a troubled young woman who develops a dangerous love triangle between her doctor (Law) and her newly paroled husband (Tatum).”  The film also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Filming on Side Effects is set to begin in April.  The only other role she’s taken since her breakthrough (and now Oscar-nominated) performance in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is in Terrence Malick’s Lawless co-starring Ryan Gosling.  The Girl Who Played with Fire is slowly moving through the pipeline, but it won’t start shooting until the end of 2012/beginning of 2013 at the earliest.

The first image from director Oliver Stone’s Savages has been released, and it’s heavy on the carcinogens. Based on the novel of the same name, the film centers on two Laguna Beach marijuana kingpins (Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson) who encounter a world of trouble when their shared girlfriend (Blake Lively) is kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel. This image shows a battered Lively being taunted by a smoke spewing Benicio Del Toro, who plays the cartel’s leader. While Stone has been pretty hit-or-miss the past few years, he seems like the perfect guy to take on the world of drug trafficking. The logline and fantastic cast (John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek, and Emile Hirsch co-star) already had me intrigued, and this new image firmly cements the film as one of my most anticipated of the year. I sincerely hope it harkens back to the more ballsy material of Stone’s early career.

Hit the jump to check out the image. Savages opens September 28th.

In Novemeber, we reported that Steven Soderbergh had left the adaptation of the 1960s spy TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and turned his attention to The Bitter Pill with Scott Z. Burns (The Informant) writing the screenplay.  The Playlist now reports that the film—now titled The Side Effects—has locked down financing and cast Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Channing Tatum in the lead roles.  Lively will play, “Emily Hawkins, a woman who turns to prescription meds to cope with the anxiety of the upcoming release from prison of her husband.”  Tatum will play the husband and Jude Law will play Hawkins’ new psychiatrist.  This will be Lively’s first film with Soderbergh, but it will be Tatum’s third collaboration with the director (Haywire and Magic Mike) and Law’s second (Contagion).

Hit the jump for more.

This summer we got a comic-book origin tale about a man with father issues accepting his role as guardian and protector of the universe fighting against his someone he thought was a brother, with the film featuring an unnecessary love interest and a supporting cast that should have had more to do, on top of sequences set in outer space. Actually, we got two of those.

Superficially, the resemblances between Paramount/Marvel’s Thor and Warner Brothers/DC’s Green Lantern are hard to ignore, but Thor was a modest hit (or at least not a belly flop), while Green Lantern was the weakest performer of the summer’s comic book films. Both aren’t that good, but both have similar things to recommend: the world, and their villains. Here Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan, the cocky pilot who takes on the mantle of galactic defender, and must fight Parallax and Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) to keep Earth safe. Our review of Green Lantern on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

As the adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s gimmick novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has cycled through directors (first David O. Russell, then Mike White, and now Craig Gillespie), multiple actresses have passed on the lead role of Elizabeth Bennett.  Natalie Portman was originally attached to star, but then she dropped out.  The part has been offered to Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone, and there have been no takers.  Now Twitch reports that Blake Lively is getting offered the chance to play the rebellious daughter who eventually gives her heart to Mr. Darcy, but she now also slays zombies.  No word yet if Lively will take the part.

No offense to Ms. Lively, but she’s not A-list, at least not yet anyway.  Yes, she stars on Gossip Girl which is one the CW’s highest-rated shows, but it’s the CW so that’s a lot like being the world’s richest hobo.  If she’s been offered the role, it may be a sign that the production is accepting that they can’t get a marquee name to sign on.  Lively recently co-starred in the awful indie Hick (although she’s not why it’s awful) and she’ll be co-starring in Oliver Stone’s adaptation of Savages.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the book.

Walkouts are common at film festivals, especially at press and industry screenings.  Why waste your valuable time watching a movie if something better could be about to start in the next auditorium?  Walkouts tend to occur for one of two reasons: 1) the film is so divisive that it offends the sensibilities of some viewers and they simply can’t continue on.  Those tend to be the good movies, or at least the ones worth seeing through to the end; or 2) the film is such a dull, ill-conceived messed that there’s no end in sight to the tedium.  Hick is latter.  I don’t walkout on movies, but I was so bored with Derick Martini’s wretched coming-of-age tale that I started counting walkouts just to stay awake.

After Kick-Ass, Chloe Moretz became the It girl of the Age 18 & Under division.  Based on tabloid presence, Blake Lively is a strong contender in the 18-28 age group.  As the co-leads of Hick, Moretz and Lively’s combined It factor is off the charts.  And we haven’t even touched on the fact that Lively is sporting a heavy Southern drawl.  The drama directed by Derick Martini premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, but we have a first look (and listen) tonight.  The clip shows 13-year-old Nebraska girl Luli (Moretz) turn to the “troubled but spirited” Glenda (Lively) for help when she recognizes a drifter (Eddie Redmayne) she met one unfortunate night on the road.  The clip hints at the darker elements of the drama, but looking at the synopsis—spousal abouse, alcholism, underaged drug use, armed robbery—there’s plenty more where that came from.

Alec Baldwin, Juliette Lewis, and Rory Culkin also star.  Watch the clip after the break.

If you’re a movie fan, today is a great day.  That’s because thanks to the Toronto International Film festival announcing some of their 2011 schedule, we’ve been inundated with a tremendous amount of new movie images for some of the biggest films arriving later this year.  And continuing our coverage, after the jump you can check out the first images from Derick Martini’s Hick (which stars Blake Lively, Chloe Moretz, Alec Baldwin, Juliette Lewis, Eddie Redmayne and Rory Culkin), Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass Jeff, Who Lives at Home (which stars Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer and Susan Sarandon) Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt (starring Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Elle Fanning and Ben Chaplin) and the first clip and images from Killer Joe (which stars Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church and Gina Gershon).

Director David O. Russell is readying his follow-up to last year’s The Fighter, and he’s begun searching for his lead actress. Russell will next tackle an adaptation of The Silver Linings Playbook, which already has Mark Wahlberg set to star as a former high school history teacher who has just been released from a mental institution and plans on reconciling with his estranged wife.

Now Risky Business reports that Russell will be testing a number of actresses throughout the weekend to find his leading lady. Those meeting with Russell include: Elizabeth Banks, Kirsten Dunst, Blake Lively, Rooney Mara, Rachel McAdams, Andrea Riseborough and Olivia Wilde. Jennifer Lawrence is also mentioned, but her status is unclear. Filming is set to start in August. Angelina Jolie had recently been mentioned as a possibility as well, but she’s not included in this report. Hit the jump to read a synopsis of the book.

Director Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern exists in a time when rainbow bridges aren’t laughed at and secret agent mutants enhance the drama, which is why the newest entry in DC Comics’ long lineage of films feels like a regression. The talent amassed for this origin story can understandably excite onlookers, but the end result won’t make many want to come back for more. A disjointed plot that may alienate audience members instead of pull them in is a bad start to Warner Brothers franchise kick-starter hopeful. The real shame is that Ryan Reynolds is a natural choice for Hal Jordan, and the rest of the cast exude similar confidence, but the material they are working with hinders the film from ever lifting off the ground. Even Campbell seems to be unwilling to commit to the material. Short, choppy, and overpopulated with CG and not enough heart, this is one comic book film you might want to skip this summer. Hit the jump for my full review.

With Green Lantern hitting theaters this week, Ryan Reynolds is the latest actor taking on a superhero for the big screen. As the gifted and cocky test pilot Hal Jordan, Reynolds is charming, witty and likeable, taking audiences on an adventure, as the first human chosen for the Green Lantern Corps. Warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him the ability to create anything his mind can imagine. Unfortunately for Hal, he doesn’t get much time to enjoy his recruitment before he learns that a terrible enemy called Parallax is threatening to destroy the balance of power in the Universe. With the fate of Earth in his hands, and encouragement from fellow pilot and childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), Hal must quickly master his new powers and find the courage to save all of mankind.

During a press conference at the film’s press day, co-stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong (who plays Sinestro) and Peter Sarsgaard (who plays Hector Hammond) talked about bringing this story to life, having a strong leading lady, getting to portray the journey of Sinestro, the prosthetics required to create the look for Hector Hammond, and how they were all honored to be a part of such a special project. Check out what they had to say after the jump: