Universal has released the first trailer, poster, and a few new images for director Baltasar Kormakur‘s (Contraband) actioner 2 Guns.  The film is based on the graphic novel of the same name and stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as operatives from competing government bureaus who are disavowed and forced to go on the run together after a mission goes wrong.  I’m happy to see that the pic doesn’t take itself too seriously, as there’s a nice sense of humor blended in with the more action-geared aspects of the story.  Washington and Wahlberg have some very promising chemistry, and 2 Guns looks like it could be a nice breath of fresh air in a sea of gritty, dark, and unrelenting action films that populate the marketplace.  Also, Bill Paxton as the villain?  Yes please.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, poster, and some new images.  The film also stars Paula Patton, James Marsden, and Edward James Olmos.  2 Guns opens August 2nd.

Toymaker NECA has revealed the first images of their upcoming Aliens action figures as well as a 1:1 replica of the gravity gun from the videogame Half-Life.  The Aliens figures include Hicks (Michael Biehn), Hudson (Bill Paxton), and an alien warrior.  The Hicks and Hudson figures are nearly 7″ tall and feature over 30 points of articulation.  Hicks and Hudson also come with multiple heads, but why you would want to use anything other than the “Game over, man!  Game over!”-head is beyond me.  As for the alien warrior, it’s 9″ tall and has over 30 points of articulation including a bendable tail, hinged jaw, and sliding inner mouth.  It’s perfect for destroying tiny Lance Henriksen.

As for the gravity-gun replica, it’s currently in development, and the image NECA has released is a model, not the final version.  However, it should still do a good job of taking out head-crabs.  Hit the jump to check out images of the toys.  The figures and the replica are due out in the spring.

Warner Bros. has announced that they’ll release Doug Liman‘s sci-fi action film All You Need Is Kill on March 14, 2014.  The film, based off the manga of the same name, stars Tom Cruise as a soldier in a war against aliens who relives the day of his death over and over.  His repeated battle experience hardens his resolve and makes him a better soldier.  The March 14, 2014 release date will put All You Need Is Kill up against Disney’s Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie.  Mark your calendars for March 15, 2014 when every box office report is about the “Clash of the Titans” between Cruise and Jolie.

Hit the jump for the synopsis for All You Need Is Kill.  The film also stars Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton.

Universal Pictures has released synopses for their upcoming films 2 Guns and Identity Thief.  Briefly, 2 Guns is an action flick that stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as operatives from competing government bureaus who are disavowed and forced to go on the run together after a mission goes wrong.  As for Identity Thief, the comedy stars Jason Bateman as a man who goes to great lengths to get his identity back from a con artist (Melissa McCarthy).

Hit the jump to check out the synopses.  2 Guns opens August 16, 2013.  Identity Thief opens February 8, 2013.

The first unofficial images of Denzel Washington, shiny of tooth and spiffy of hat, on the set of 2 Guns have made it to the Web.  Based on the pulpy Steven Grant comic, it stars Washington as Trench (a DEA agent) and Mark Wahlberg as Steadman (a naval officer), who team up to rip off the mob.  Neither realizes the other is undercover nor that they’re actually being set up to steal from the CIA.  Wahlberg’s Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur is helming the pic, which is described (in the novel, at least) as “a light-hearted crime romp in the vein of Ocean’s Thirteen and The Italian Job.”  The solid supporting cast includes Edward James Olmos as a villainous drug lord, Paula Patton as Washington’s fellow DEA agent and love interest, Bill Paxton as a high-ranking CIA operative and James Marsden as a naval commander. The script comes from Blake Masters (Showtime’s Brotherhood). Hit the jump to check out the pics.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this afternoon.  First up, Bill Paxton is lining up a big project to follow the success of his History Channell miniseries Hatfield & McCoys.  Variety reports that Paxton is in talks to join the crime actioner 2 Guns.  Based on the graphic novel by Steven Grant, the film stars Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington and centers on a DEA agent and an undercover naval intelligence officer who unknowingly investigate each other as each is stealing money from the mob.  Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur is onboard to direct, and we recently learned that Paul Patton is also in talks to star.  Paxton will apparently play a high-ranking CIA operative.

Hit the jump for promising casting news concerning the West Memphis 3 film Devil’s Knot, starring Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth.

Steven Soderbergh approached Haywire as a chance to turn Gina Carano into a movie star. As she’s been cast in the next Fast and Furious movie, it’s likely that we’ll see more from her. But Soderbergh approached doing an action movie as an art project, so he played with the structure and style of the modern action film. It’s ambitious, and not entirely successful. But he was right on the money that Carano can carry a movie. Haywire costars Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Ewan McGreggor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas and Bill Paxton, and our review of the Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Memorial Day is still quite awhile off, but that’s not stopping the History Channel from teasing you with a sneak peek trailer at their forthcoming drama series Hatfields & McCoys, the chronicle of one of the most infamous family rivalries in American history. Kevin Costner plays “Devil” Anse Hatfield and Bill Paxton plays Randall McCoy in the three-part miniseries from that hits cable this summer. This trailer looks damn good, and seems like a fine return to the Western genre for Costner who has delivered such classics as Dances with Wolves. Check out the trailer after the jump along with a short synopsis of the conflict between the Hatfields and McCoys.

With director Steven Soderbergh’s spy-action pic Haywire opening January 20th, we’ve been provided with three clips and almost forty images from the film.  Staring MMA fighter Gina Carano as a burned spy who takes revenge against her handlers, Haywire also stars Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Angarano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, and Bill Paxton.

I’ve seen Haywire twice now and it’s fantastic.  On top of Carano’s star in the making performance, the action scenes are some of the best I’ve seen in years.   It’s absolutely something you should see in a theater.  Hit the jump for the clips and images and look for my exclusive video interviews with the cast next week.

A new trailer for director Steven Soderbergh’s spy-action pic Haywire has gone online. The movie centers on a burned spy (MMA fighter Gina Carano) who takes revenge against her handlers. Soderbergh has surrounded Carano with a stellar ensemble of familiar faces (including Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, and Michael Douglas), and the action scenes here look absolutely brutal. This new trailer delves a bit more into the plot, and it’s actually a tad spoiler-heavy by way of revealing a couple of the deaths that take place onscreen. Soderbergh’s an incredibly interesting director, and I’m intrigued to see how he handles a film this action-heavy  so it’s safe to say I’m anticipating Haywire quite a bit.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Channing Tatum, Michael Angarano, Antonio Banderas, and Bill Paxton. Haywire opens January 20th.

New posters have gone online for The Avengers and Haywire.  Marvel seems to be taking a page from Warner Bros’ Harry Potter playbook by churning out as many character posters as possible between now and the arrival of the movie.  We’ve already seen the character banners, but now Marvel is disassembling these banners into individual posters.

There’s also a new poster for Haywire and it shares the same eye-catching design as the previous one-sheets.  It even makes the actors’ face-boxes look cool.  Hit the jump to check out the new posters.  Haywire opens January 20, 2012.  The Avengers opens in 3D on May 4, 2012.

Paramount has released a trailer for James Cameron’s 3D update of his 1997 film Titantic.  I think the verdict is in on this movie, and since the trailer is on my computer, I can’t really comment on the 3D.  However, I was reminded of how much I hate “My Heart Will Go On.”  Click here for what Steve though of the footage he saw last month.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Jonathan Hyde, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill, David Warner, Gloria Stuart, and Bill Paxton.  Titanic opens in 3D on April 6, 2012.  It will also be re-released in 2D.

A new trailer for Steven Sodebergh‘s spy-action flick Haywire has gone online.  The film stars MMA fighter Gina Carano as a burned spy who takes revenge against her handlers.  The new trailer again sells the basic concept: here’s a woman who’s really hot, and she’ll hit you so hard that all of your progeny will feel pain.  The plot looks like standard spy-movie fare, but it appears that Soderbergh is setting his movie apart by embracing the brutality of the fight scenes between Carano and her male co-stars, and questioning how far the audience is willing to go when it comes to seeing a woman getting hit even though she’s holding her own in the fight.

Hit the jump to check out the new trailer.  The film also stars Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Angarano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, and Bill Paxton.  Haywire opens January 20, 2012.

In the early 1970s, a TV series called Kung Fu followed a Shaolin monk as he journeyed across the American Old West in search of his half-brother. The classic show is now making a move toward the big screen and Deadline reports that Bill Paxton is in talks to direct. In Kung Fu, the late David Carradine played the original Kwai Chang Caine, a Chinese-American orphan brought up in a Shaolin monastery. There is no word yet as to who will take over the role for the film adaptation.

Paxton has previously directed feature films Frailty and The Greatest Game Ever Played. Kung Fu will be written by John McLaughlin (Black Swan) and will shoot partially in China next summer under Legendary Pictures. Hit the jump to get familiar with the Kung Fu TV series.

Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire has reportedly landed a release date.  According to The Playlist, the film is set for release on April 22, 2011.  The movie boasts an outstanding cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton, Michael Angarano, Matthieu Kassovitz, and Antonio Banderas.  MMA fighter Gina Carano leads the film as a “black ops soldier on mission of revenge after she’s double crossed by one of her team-mates.”  The Playlist says that the script by  Lem Dobbs (The Limey) was “taut, lean, and mean.”

If the April 22, 2011 holds, Haywire will be going up against the documentary African Cats, the Adam Sandler-penned comedy Born to be a Star, the Steve Carell/Ryan Gosling comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love, and Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family.