We have new posters for a pair of films I'm really rooting for in 2011.  The first is Something Borrowed, an adaptation of the first in a series of novels from Emily Giffin.  Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield, and John Krasinski star.  Hudson's name is a big red flag, but there are hints that Something Borrowed could be more than your average romantic comedy.The second is A Better Life (formerly titled The Gardener), the latest from Chris Weitz.  For a brief minute, Weitz was the promising co-director behind the charming About a Boy before he was swallowed up by the big budget filmmaking of The Golden Compass and New Moon.  A Better Life scales things back down to the indie level: a gardener (Demian Bichir) and his son (Jose Julian) scour Los Angeles for a stolen truck vital to their livelihood in this tale inspired by The Bicycle Thief.  Hit the jump to view both posters.Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door) directs Something Borrowed from a script by Jennie Snyder (90210).  Something Borrowed opens on May 6.  Click for high resolution.something-borrowed-poster

As she waits to enter her 30th birthday party, Rachel White (Ginnifer Goodwin) can’t escape the feeling that her life has not turned out like she thought it would. Sure, she has a good job at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, but she works long hours and her boss is a tyrant.

She has her childhood best friend, the beautiful and vivacious Darcy (Kate Hudson), but seeing her flirt with her handsome fiancé is just another reminder that at the end of the party, like every other night, she’ll be going home alone. Except this time…she doesn’t. Rachel wakes up the following morning next to Dex (Colin Egglesfield), her law school study partner…and Darcy’s fiancé. Both of them are horrified. How could they let this happen?

They try to move on, but as the wedding approaches Rachel begins to realize that it wasn’t a mistake after all and maybe Darcy isn’t the friend she thought she was.

Now Rachel has to make a painful choice: her best friend or the love of her life?

A Better Life is due sometime in 2011 courtesy of Summit Entertainment.

a-better-life-poster

Here's the synopsis seen at the American Film Market:

Carlos Galindo (Demian Bichir), a simple, decent, 40-year-old Mexican man, doesn’t ask much from life – just to keep tending the yards of L.A.’s wealthy and to give his estranged son  Luis (Jose Julian) a better life than he had. But when a business opportunity that would have allowed him to take control of his destiny is stolen from under his nose, his life is thrown into chaos. Directed by Academy Award nominee Chris Weitz, A Better Life is an original, moving and, at times, heart-pounding drama that follows father and son as they scour L.A. in search of a stolen pickup truck that represents their only chance of a better life and of healing the growing riff between them.

When Galindo’s boss offers to sell him his pickup truck and gardening business, Galindo has no choice but to refuse – even though it will mean going back to begging for work on a street corner. He simply can’t afford it. But when his sister Anita (Dolores Heredia) comes through with a last-minute loan, Galindo suddenly finds himself with a shot at the American Dream,. Not for long, though. On the first day of his new life, while he is high in a palm tree pruning fronds, hew newly hired helper, Santiago (Carlos Linares), makes off with the pickup – and with it, Galindo’s shot at a better life for himself and Luis.

What follows is a colorful, often nail-biting odyssey as Galindo and Luis make their way across an urban landscape as full of surprises as it is diverse, piecing together clues as to the whereabouts of Santiago and the pickup. The stakes could not be higher: like the new green fronds on the palm trees Galindo prunes and so carefully leaves intact, Luis is extremely vulnerable – always in danger or falling into the gang-banger lifestyle that surrounds their East L.A. home. That’s something that Galindo will do anything to prevent.

Forever tied to the Twilight fanbase, Weitz earnestly pitched his new movie to the devoted fans via Cinematical:

"Look, let's be honest: There's not a single vampire, not a werewolf or star-crossed romance in sight. Jose is quite a heartthrob but just doesn't have Jacob's abs. Demian plays an amazing Dad but doesn't have to deal with quite the same issues as Charlie Swan. But if a fan of Twilight came away from watching New Moon with a sense that that movie has been done well by me and my crew, they might be interested in seeing another film that deals with some pretty intense feelings and, frankly, packs a tremendous emotional wallop. I'll put it this way: I bet that Bella would go see A Better of Life. I bet she'd make the drive out to Port Angeles. And I bet she'd like it."