Though this action film seems to be a long way off, the two leads announced as of yet are worth noting: Jason Statham and Clive Owen.

The name of the film’s The Killer Elite, based on the novel The Feathermen by Ranulph Fiennes.

Here’s the synopsis:

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Clive Owen started off last year with the disappointing International, but then went on to follow it up with two underrated films, Duplicity and The Boys Are Back. This year he has David Schwimmer’s Trust and supposedly Spike Lee’s Inside Man 2 is happening, but now we have a new project he has been attached to star in. Production Weekly reports that Owen will lead in Patrick Alessandrin’s Protection, an action thriller with a script debut by Brandon Noonan. Last May Screendaily reported that Paul Walker was set to star with Simon West to direct, but it looks like that fell apart. If that synopsis is right, the film is about “a disgraced former Special Forces soldier who takes on Mexican gangs in an attempt to rescue a judge’s daughter.” Noonan was previously attached to a script to be directed by Neil Labute, but that was way back in 2005. You may know Alessandrin from his directing work on District B13: Ultimatum (check out our review here).

I’d love to see Owen return to something in the vein of Shoot ‘Em Up and with this looking like something out of the Luc Besson mindframe, I couldn’t be more excited.

What do you think about the project? Are you a fan of Clive Owen?

For his next directorial project David Schwimmer is straying away from comedy and heading into dark territory with Trust.  Clive Owen and Catherine Keener will play parent’s of a 14-year old girl who “discover she has been victimized by an adult who gained her trust posing as a teenager on a chat room.” Variety reports Liana Liberato will play the daughter in the film that is more about the effects of such an event.

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News of a  remake is circulating at Variety and AICN of the 1981 Sean Connery science fiction movie Outland, to be directed by Shoot ‘Em Up director Michael Davis and scripted by Chad St. John, who, according to IMDb, has no previous writing credits, but according to FilmJunk, wrote a script entitled The Days Before which is in development to be released in 2012.  The movie is being distributed by Warner Bros. and produced by Hollywood Gang Productions.

The original Outland was about a police officer (Sean Connery) stationed on a remote mining colony on Jupiter’s moon of Io, who discovers a drug trade conspiracy, and is soon targeted to be killed.  The original film was directed by Peter Hyams, who also did sci-fi films Capricorn One and 2010 (aka the sequel to Kubrick’s 2001).  Hyams also scripted the original movie.

I really don’t know if I have much of a reaction to this story other than disinterest.  I’ve never seen the original Outland, and I don’t know if that many places that consider it to be an “essential” movie.  With a remake on the way, however, I may give that movie a shot and see how it holds up to today, including it’s own remake.  As for who would take the lead role, Quint at AICN suggested Clive Owen, whom Davis previously worked with on Shoot ‘Em Up. To me, that sounds like an interesting choice to replace Sean Connery, and such a casting would definitely pique my interest.  What’s interesting is many people pointed out that the original movie is essentially a science fiction remake of High Noon, the western starring Gary Cooper, so this could be considered a remake-of-a-remake-of-a-remake.  It’s like going down a rabbit hole of unoriginality!

What do you think of the prospect of an Outland remake, and who would you want to see in the lead?

by Jordan Raup

In honor of Crank: High Voltage hitting theaters this weekend here is a rundown of the Most Over-the-Top Action Movies of the Decade. Some of these are actually decent films that hold their own (Transporter, Kill Bill Vol. 1) and others are awful, but over-the-top worthy (Rambo, Punisher: War Zone). I will try and be as spoiler-free as possible when describing the scenes, and include YouTube clips if available. Check out the full list and below:

300 (Snyder, 2007)

Why It Is On This List: This visually astounding, but narratively overwrought film features more bloodthirsty half-naked men running around in slo-motion that anything else on the list.

Most Over-the-Top Scene: The decapitated head flying through the air is good but the scene below fulfilled my over-the-top action fix for the year:

Check out the rest of the list >>

By Eugene Golant

Nicolas Cage’s newest film, Knowing came out atop of the box office this past weekend grossing just shy of $25 million in ticket sales domestically according to Box Office Mojo. This marks a strong showing for Cage considering the numerous competition he faced from films like the comedy I Love You, Man, which debuted in second place with $18 million and the thriller Duplicity with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen which came in third place grossing about $14 million. This also makes a win for Knowing’s distributor Summit which has been on a hot streak after produced last year’s hit Twilight.

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By Jack Giroux

Duplicity is Tony Gilroy’s follow up to one of 2007’s best films, Michael Clayton. Tony Gilroy, once a renowned screenwriter is now one of the best directors working today. Duplicity is a slickly hilarious espionage caper. This is a film that demands attention, and if you happen to pay enough of it you will surely be awarded.

Clive Owen and Julia Roberts star as Ray Koval and Claire Stenwick. They were once spies for the government, and at the beginning of the movie we see them working on the corporate side of things. They both work for C.E.O.’s named Dick Garsik and Howard Tully, who are played by the always wonderful Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson. During the film we learn through numerous flashbacks that Julia Roberts and Clive Owen’s characters are actually conning both C.E.O.’s with a very complex plan to steal a secret product idea from one of them and reap the benefits.

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Not sure what is coming out this month? Here is a run-down of my eleven most anticipated films:

11. The Great Buck Howard (March 20th) (limited)

Plot: A law school dropout (Colin Hanks), much to the chagrin of his father (Tom Hanks), becomes the new assistant to an illusionist in decline (Malkovich). Can the fledgling partnership lead to the comeback of a lifetime?

Trailer

Why You Should See It: Pretty impressive cast and a somewhat interesting premise, this is should be a decent indie comedy/drama.

Check out the rest here >>

By Dan Mecca

During a recession, a paranoid political thriller in which the bad guy is a debt-collecting international bank seems like an easy sell. Unfortunately, The International never takes the time to figure out what exactly it’s trying to say or how exactly it’s trying to say it. Although directed by the perennially-promising Tom Tykwer, the German director who gave us Run, Lola, Run over a decade ago, the film was doomed to fail, first and foremost, on the printed page. Written by first-timer Eric Warren Singer, the BIG messages rampant throughout the plot of this thing are as ambitious as they are convoluted, and it appears there was nothing Tykwer could do to distract viewers from this fact. There are no small lines in this film, just large lines comprised of altruisms that sound like the worst version of Robert Frost (“Sometimes a man meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it”).

Clive Owen stars as Louis Salinger, an Interpol agent bent on taking down IBBC, an evil multi-national bank with countless ties to terrorists, bombs and the like. The poorly cast, or simply under-utilized, Naomi Watts stars as Eleanor Whitman, a Manhattan D.A. also bent on taking down IBBC. There is literally nothing else about her character established – oh wait, she has a family, so I guess that was Singer’s sympathy angle.

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ReelMovieNews reports at the Sundance Film Festival, Spike Lee told MTV the original cast will return for the movie, including Clive Own, Denzel Washington, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jodi Foster. “If the script is up to snuff, we’ll be shooting it,” Lee said. “Here’s the thing: if everything lines up—people’s schedules are open, [we’ll begin in] late summer, early fall.”

It looks like the film won’t see a release until 2010. I absolutely loved Inside Man, but Lee’s most recent film, Miracle at St. Anna was very disappointing.

Are you looking forward to an Inside Man sequel?