For a movie about a man who championed innovation, Joshua Michael Stern‘s Steve Jobs biopic, jOBS, is awfully safe and conventional.  By the end of the movie, most viewers will know as much as they previously did about the tech innovator or possibly even less.  Stern and screenwriter Matt Whiteley‘s depiction of Jobs makes one of the most influential figures in American business seem like nothing more like a savvy salesman who bullied people into following his vision.  Ashton Kutcher‘s lead performance veers between convincing and distracting, and while Josh Gad impresses as Steve “Woz” Wozniak, jOBS is a bland biopic that never provides any insight into the man behind the Apple.

We’ve got a pair of first clips from the following movies to share today:

• jOBS – Starring Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs and Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak, this first clip shows off the passionate vision and understated genius of the respective Apple co-creators.  jOBS opens this April.
• Bullet to the Head – Starring Sylvester Stallone as hitman Jimmy Bobo, this first action-packed clip reveals Bobo’s bathroom brawl with Keegan (Jason Momoa), a precursor to the eventual ax fight.  Walter Hill’s Bullet to the Head opens February 1st.

Hit the jump to watch both clips.

We’ve got another round of Sundance-bound biopic images today:

• jOBS – Starring Ashton Kutcher as the late Steve Jobs with Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak, jOBS chronicles the rise of the titular co-founder of Apple Computers.  Look for this picture to open sometime in April.
• Lovelace – A biopic of porn star Linda Lovelace (Amanda Seyfried) reveals the darker side of her rise to infamy.  Lovelace debuts at Sundance on January 22nd.  The report also tells us that Sarah Jessica Parker’s role as feminist Gloria Steinem has been cut.

Hit the jump to see the new images.

The upcoming Steve Jobs biopic jOBS is slated to premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, but it appears that the film has already secured distribution ahead of its public screening.  Open Road Films announced today that it is partnering with Five Star Feature Films to distribute the film, which stars Ashton Kutcher as the legendary innovator.  Directed by Joshua Michael Stern, the pic covers Jobs’ life from 1971 through 2000 and promises “an immensely personal portrait” of the Apple guru.  Open Road has slated an April release date for the film, so fans won’t have to wait too long to see Kutcher’s portrayal.  Sony has a competing Jobs biopic in the works from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, but that project is still a ways from coming to fruition.

Hit the jump to read the press release.  jOBS will serve as the closing film for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 17 – 27th.

Today, Sundance announced their stellar Premieres line-up and we have the first images from a few of the movies playing in the category:

• Big Sur – Written and directed by Michael Polish, starring Jean-Marc Barr, Kate Bosworth, Josh Lucas, Radha Mitchell, Anthony Edwards, and Henry Thomas.

• Breathe In – Written and directed by Drake Doremus, co-written by Ben York Jones, starring Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, Amy Ryan, and Mackenzie Davis.

• The East – Written and directed by Zal Batmanglij, co-written by Brit Marling, starring Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgård, Ellen Page, and Patricia Clarkson.

• jOBS – Directed by Joshua Michael Stern, written by Matt Whiteley, starring Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons, and Matthew Modine.

Hit the jump for the images and synopses.  The 2013 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17 – 27.

New images from the respective sets of Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street and Joshua Michael Stern‘s (Swing Vote) jOBS have found their way online. The Wolf images give us our first look at Leonardo DiCaprio in his turn as Jordan Belfort, a former financial rock star of sorts whose own memoir of the same name is the basis for the film. While we’ve already seen pics of Ashton Kutcher doing his best Steve Jobs impersonation while wearing a turtleneck and on LSD, today’s images give us a better idea of how well he can pull of the “button-up, cardigan, sweater vest” look.

Check out the images after the jump. The Wolf of Wall Street is aiming for a 2013 release and also stars Matthew McConaughey, Jon Favreau, and Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead). jOBS co-stars Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Matthew Modine, Ahna O’Reilly, and Lukas Haas while also staring down an unspecified 2013 release.

Emboldened by the success of Valentine’s Day, Garry Marshall took another crack at the holiday-based all-star anthology in 2011, with similarly repulsive results. This time, though, movie-goers commendably ignored him (and hopefully quashed plans for Columbus Day or whatever the hell was coming next). Of course, it’s never a good idea to interpret the commercial failure of a terrible movie as anything more than an aberration. But in this case, there was an encouraging sense that the world had finally revolted against a sub-genre populated by cynical, bald-faced cash-grabs.

And indeed, New Year’s Eve is the romantic comedy distilled to its basest form; a film that trots out a dizzying array of A-listers and expects applause, while abandoning time-consuming chores like character, story and dialogue. Hit the jump for the full review.

A few set photos from the Steve Jobs biopic jOBS have surfaced, giving us a look at Ashton Kutcher doing his best “Steve Jobs on acid” impression.  The Apple visionary made no secret of his past experimentation with LSD, and it appears that director Joshua Michael Stern’s indie biopic has at least one scene in which Kutcher’s Jobs goes tripping in a field.  Noah Wyle did a hell of a job portraying Jobs and tackling his fascination with LSD in the TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, so Kutcher has his work cut out for him.

Additionally, a couple more images of Angelina Jolie in character in Disney’s Maleficent have surfaced.  The story centers on the Sleeping Beauty villain and “reveals the events that hardened her heart and drove her to curse the baby, Aurora.”  Yesterday some set photos landed online that gave us a look at Jolie performing some flying stunts, but this batch is much less death-defying.  Hit the jump to check out the set photos from both jOBS and Maleficent.

Here are some recent casting additions at a glance with more information after the jump:

• James Marsden (X-Men) will board Universal’s 2 Guns, joining Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington.
• James Woods (Casino) and Ron Eldard (Sleepers) join the Steve Jobs indie biopic jOBS, starring Ashton Kutcher.

Hit the jump for more on each picture.

Some easy on the eyes casting additions today.  Here they are at a glance:

• Malin Akerman (Watchmen) will star as “Blondie” front-woman, Debbie Harry in director Randall Miller’s indie, CBGB.
• Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) is in talks to join Plush, a psychic story from director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight).
• Ahna O’Reilly (The Help) will star opposite Ashton Kutcher in the Steve Jobs indie picture, Jobs, from director Joshua Michael Stern (Swing Vote).

Hit the jump for more on each film.

Tonight’s batch of set photos is connected by a That 70s Show theme.  Not only are Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher featured, but both are again styled in the fashion of the 70s for their respective period piece:

• Kutcher is playing Steve Jobs in the biopic Jobs: Get Inspired, which covers the Apple founder’s life from 1971-2000.
• Kunis stars alongside Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard, and Zoe Saldana in Blood Ties, which centers two brothers involved in organized crime in 1970s Brooklyn

Hit the jump for the set photos and details on each project.

Earlier this month, we learned that Ashton Kutcher was poised to play the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in an indie biopic.  The news made sense for some reasons (the physical similarities), but came as a bit of a surprise for other reasons (he’s Ashton Kutcher).  At the time we didn’t really know much about the project beyond the fact that Joshua Michael Stern (Swing Vote) is directing, and the film, going by the terrible working title Jobs: Get Inspired, will chronicle the innovator’s life “from a wayward hippie to co-founder of Apple.”

Now producer Mark Hulme has spilled a few details about the project, including how they feel about Sony’s competing Jobs biopic and why they think Kutcher is their man to play the lead role.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Given the rather odd casting choice, I feel the need to preface this story with the assertion that this is not an April Fools’ Day joke; this story is (as reported) 100% real.  With that in mind, Mr. Ashton Kutcher is apparently readying to play the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in a biopic called Jobs.  The notion of a Jobs-centric biopic isn’t exactly new, as Sony began developing such a film merely days after the innovator’s passing.  Last we heard, The Social Network scribe Aaron Sorkin was considering penning the studio project, but Jobs is an entirely separate film.  Hit the jump for more.

It wasn’t that long ago that Ashton Kutcher stepped in to replace Charlie Sheen for the ninth season of Two and a Half Men. But now that the season finale is scheduled to shoot next week, it’s up in the air whether or not the show will return at all. Complications arose when the network offered two-year deals to both Kutcher and co-star Jon Cryer but did not include raises in the deal. If nothing else, this sticking point will prolong negotiations, while at worse it may be enough of an excuse for the actors to walk away altogether. Insiders report that Kutcher, Cryer and series creator Chuck Lorre would prefer to end the show after the next season, but could be convinced ($$$) to continue for another two years after that. Or perhaps they will come to the realization that about $700,000 an episode isn’t bad for a day’s work. Hit the jump for a further breakdown.

We’ve been provided with 12 clips from Garry Marshall’s upcoming romantic comedy New Year’s Eve to share with our readers. The film features a ginormous ensemble and tells a number of intertwining stories that all take place on New Year’s Eve in New York City. The cast includes Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger, Seth Meyers, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, and Carla Gugino.

Hit the jump to watch the clips. New Year’s Eve opens December 9th.