For a project that was once slated to be a buddy comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, 2 Guns has come a long way. Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur is now directing, and though Mark Wahlberg has been attached for a long time, it looks like an even bigger star will be teaming up with him.

Deadline reports that Denzel Washington is in talks to star. Washington next appears in Safe House this weekend and recently wrapped filming on Flight, Robert Zemeckis’ return to live action filmmaking for Paramount.

2 Guns is based on a comic book written by Steven Grant. From the comic’s official website:

In the vein of Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job, Two Guns is a pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between. Trench has targeted a local bank to rob, and asked Steadman in on the job. Trench figures it’s a great way to score – considering it’s a cover for mob money. They’ll be thieves ripping off thieves. But what Steadman doesn’t know is that Trench is a DEA agent. And what Trench doesn’t know is that Steadman’s got his own secret and isn’t who he appears to be… Classic two gun safe-robbing action delivered with wit and charm from the writer-creator of Whisper!

I actually read the first issue of the comic a few years ago, and to be honest, it seemed pretty run-of-the-mill. I’m mixed about a movie version, though: Denzel and Wahlberg could make for an explosive combination, but Kormakur didn’t impress me at all with Contraband. What do you all think? Does 2 Guns sound good to you, especially with this cast?

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Ed Harris is about to reunite with the director of The Rock while starring opposite The Rock. The veteran actor is reportedly joining Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain, the director’s smaller budget departure from the Transformers franchise.

Vulture has the story, and a pretty good rundown of the plot:

[It's] about several boneheaded Miami bodybuilders whose plot to kidnap, rob and murder a wealthy businessman yields decidedly mixed results: The left-for-dead victim recuperates in secret, and then hires a private detective to track down his kidnappers and exact revenge.

Harris is in talks for the detective role. This could very well turn into a situation in which Paramount gives Bay the funding for this passion project in return for the director helming another Transformers film afterwards. Bay has said before that the third film would be his last when it came to the robotic action flicks, but I’d imagine you can only say no for so long when they dump millions of dollars on your lawn as incentive. (Metaphorically, of course. Then again, we ARE talking about Michael Bay, so maybe he’d actually have them do that.)

Johnson is set as one of the bodybuilders. Mark Wahlberg was once in talks to play the other bodybuilder, but there’s no word yet on whether that part has been filled. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Captain America: The First Avenger) wrote the script, and with a spring shoot date lined up, we’ll know more about casting soon.

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Contraband is a typical January release. Which is to say, it’s a movie – and that’s about it. It meets all the qualifications necessary to be a movie, and does absolutely nothing interesting along the way.

In fact, the most interesting thing about this movie is who is behind the camera. Baltasar Kormakur was the star of an Icelandic action film called Reykjavik-Rotterdam back in 2008, and now he’s directing Contraband, which is a remake of that film. And…that’s about the extent of anything fascinating you’ll find in this movie. The film itself is a by-the-numbers thriller about a former smuggler (Wahlberg) and his best friend (Foster) who get called back for “one last job” to save Wahlberg’s screw-up brother-in-law from a local drug dealer (Ribisi). Wahlberg’s wife (Kate Beckinsale) is threated for leverage, blah blah blah. You’ve seen this movie before. It’s basically Gone in 60 Seconds without the cars.

Wahlberg hooks up with a team of guys to smuggle millions of dollars in counterfeit money from Panama on a freight ship, and for a while, the movie desperately wants to be like The Italian Job or Ocean’s 11. But the main characters’ situation is so robbed of significance that it fails on every level. We know Wahlberg is going to make it back to protect his threatened wife, so every tumultuous scenario that happens in Panama is mind-numbingly boring because we already know the outcome. And the secondary guys on his team – including Lukas Haas, whose talent is totally wasted here – are given a piss poor introduction (in one of the most mundane montages I’ve seen in a while) and aren’t fleshed out as real characters, so I didn’t care if they lived or died. I barely knew who they were. There’s no emotional connection in this film, and even the stuff with the wife back home feels contrived just so we’ll root for the hero.

The setting was another missed opportunity to do something to make the film stand out. Set in a post-Katrina New Orleans, Kormakur occasionally provides us with a few shots of the city, but never turns it into a character the way, for example, Ben Affleck does with Boston in Gone Baby Gone or The Town. Same thing with Panama when the story eventually gets there: it seems as if the filmmakers are trying to evoke Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (or similar big budget blockbusters) in the way they depict the skyline here – brief helicopter shots that paint the city from the side – but, like the rest of this movie, it’s a half-assed effort that ends up meaning nothing.

There was one point in the film where I thought it had a chance to elevate beyond it’s mediocrity. A main character nearly dies – something that was shocking, ballsy, and an actual twist that I didn’t see coming – but it’s immediately revealed that this character is still alive, deflating all the excitement I felt as the film returned to its boring conclusion. If you watch two or three movies a year, you might think Contraband is good. Otherwise, you’ll see everything coming as it plays out in the most banal way possible.

For those of you who hated the ending to The Town, this is way worse. Contraband apparently can’t be bothered to deal with things like “consequences.” It ends exactly the way you think it will, and doesn’t care to explain how the main characters get around some pretty major problems that would arise if this movie cared about plot holes. (I’m dancing around the ending to avoid spoilers). Put it this way – “Breaking Bad” devotes a multi-episode story arc to something that isn’t even addressed in this film. It’s not mentioned here because these people are the most basic of action movie characters, given such minimal characterization that it ultimately doesn’t matter what happens to any of them. Contraband? More like Contra-bored. (Sorry. That had to be done.) Until next time…

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Universal Pictures has released the official trailer for the neo-noir/heist thriller Contraband. The film catapults Mark Wahlberg into tough guy hero mode (a role that’s recently become his signature), with this going back to his Italian Job roots. The film also stars Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi, Caleb Landry Jones, J.K. Simmons and Ben Foster.

Watch the trailer below:

Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best—running contraband—to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills. Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Beckinsale), and sons become their target.

Contraband seems to be going for a potent cocktail of a dark and gritty crime thriller mixed with multiple surges of heist action that puts all players involved at high risk. As mentioned above, Wahlberg is paying his usual self, so don’t expect big life changing character acting to occur, especially when the action and bloody conflicts seem to be the main attraction here.

The movie is actually a remake of the 2008 Icelandic thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam, and it looks like it’s getting an American makeover (similar to the contemporary makeover that the Italian job spawned in 2003). Regardless, there hasn’t been many decent heist thrillers recently,so hopefully Contraband will satisfy in that department.

Contraband hits theaters on January 13, 2012.

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At ease, Uncharted fans. Director David O. Russell has left the film adaptation of the videogame series, and one could speculate its a distinct possibility that the not-so-popular casting of Mark Wahlberg as Nathan Drake, could go with him.

Russell’s next picture will be The Silver Linings Playbook, which Wahlberg is attached to star in, and considering that Russell’s take on Uncharted wasn’t going down well with fans at all, this could be a very good thing. Better start a bigger campaign to get Nathan Fillion in the role.

Sony is reportedly still very keen to go forward with the project, and the studio is currently seeking a writer to redraft the film’s script. Russell’s take on the games was going to see a “family dynamic,” featuring Nathan Drake’s father, and roles for Joe Pesci and Robert de Niro. I had nothing in particular against that; in fact, seeing de Niro in such a film could be really fun. And I guess we still could – we’ve yet to see if any of the concepts for Russell’s film will be maintained. The director didn’t seem to show any care towards the wishes of the game’s fans though, and I hope his replacement will be more receptive.

But I’m more excited about the prospect of Wahlberg no longer playing Nathan Drake. I just couldn’t see him playing the lively character, and like a lot of people, I’d love to see Nathan Fillion play the lead. Time will tell.

Fans of the Uncharted series: are you happy or unhappy about this?

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The Fighter has been a critical success with its Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Supporting Actor/Actress wins for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. But not only that, it made money. On a budget of $25 million The Fighter pulled in $110 million worldwide, which is probably why Mark Wahlberg is now talking about making a sequel.

From Extra:

“Now we’re gonna talk about doing No. 2,” Wahlberg explained. “We’re gonna do the Ward /Gatti trilogy and make it real,” referring to the real-life Mickey Ward’s three fights with his most fierce opponent, Arturo Gatti.

Making a sequel, or even a trilogy, to an Oscar winning film will be difficult as it will have to be better. There’s so point making it otherwise (other than money I suppose). The Fighter was mainly a story about family and the relationship between half-brothers Micky and Dickie. With Walhberg’s intention to focus on Mickey Ward’s fights with Arturo Gatti the sequel may be more of a sports movie than the first film.

Would you be interested in seeing a sequel to The Fighter?

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Empire sat down with The Fighter director David O. Russell to discuss his Best Picture-nominated movie and also his upcoming projects: namely, his highly-anticipated adaptation of the PS3 video game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Though Russell acknowledges that no paperwork has been drawn up yet, the director mentions a few names he has in mind for the character of Elena, a main force in the movie alongside Mark Wahlberg’s Nathan Drake.

ComingSoon provides the conversation below:

What is the situation with your Uncharted movie script? It seems such a natural game to turn into a movie…
The game is very cinematic; there’s no question about it. That’s what I’m working on real hard and I’m writing it as we speak and I’m really excited to make it. I’d love Mark to be in it, I’d love Bob De Niro to be in it; I love the idea of growing them into a cinematic family; I think that’s a really cool idea, but… I guess you’ll have to wait until you see the script.

What thoughts do you have about the love interest, Elena?
Ah, Elena. I’ve cultivated her quite a bit and I think I’ve added a lot of dimension to her so that’s all I’m going to say. I love the woman characters and the more robust they are, the more robust the movie.

From watching The Fighter, we would love Amy Adams to play Elena…
Oh I would love that too, I love Amy. I also love Scarlett Johansson; there’s a lot of great actors I think might suit. Hopefully, we’ll see how it works out with everybody who are being scoped to do that role…

[We should mention that in the original article at Empire, they want to make clear that these are just rumblings and nothing is set in stone yet. So this post is just for the sake of discussion; don't go around telling your friends this is a done deal just yet.]

Since Uncharted is my favorite video game series of all time, I’m really looking forward to seeing how Russell brings this story to the big screen. I think Adams and Johansson are both fine choices for Elena, but I think Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) would be the perfect choice. I’m guessing that won’t happen, but who knows? From the sound of it, Russell didn’t even seem sure about the casting of Wahlberg and De Niro. Uncharted fans, speak your minds – who do you think would be a good Elena in the eventual movie version of this story?

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Is it just me or does it seem like the Golden Globes are winging it this year?

The categories for Drama films are full of the expected names, with most nominations echoing the majority of the awards given out so far this season. The only surprises here are Mark Wahlberg’s nomination for The Fighter (suggesting that Marky Mark’s performance in The Departed probably wasn’t a fluke and he might have some acting chops after all) and Halle Berry popping up out of nowhere to grab one for Frankie and Alice.

The fact that there is a surprise in the Best Actress in a Drama category actually isn’t all that surprising, seeing as Julianne Moore and Annette Bening are hanging out in the Comedy/Musical category for their coupled performance as lesbians mothers in The Kids Are All Right, leaving room for someone unexpected to fill in the Drama ballots.

Speaking of the Comedy/Musical nominations – who came up with these? There is an awful lot to scratch your head about, namely the Johnny Depp vehicles, Alice in Wonderland and The Tourist. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Depp and eagerly await each one of his films, but I’m not delusional enough to think every single performance of his is award-caliber; yet he managed to get nominated for both of his this year. Let’s face facts: while his Mad Hatter rendition was giggle-worthy, it was his eyebrows that stole the show. And The Tourist? Well…no one is even too sure what qualifies it as a Comedy/Musical in the first place, never mind how it grabbed Best Actress, Actor, and Picture nominations. It currently sits at 19% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Of course, the Golden Globes don’t exactly have a great track record in predicting who will come out on top at the Oscars, so they can’t be taken too seriously. Hopefully the upcoming SAG nominations will clarify things a bit.

Click here to see the full list of nominees!

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Today the nominations for the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards were announced, and as well as the usual suspects such as The King’s Speech, Black Swan, and The Social Network there were also nominations for Alice in Wonderland, Red and The Tourist.

Read the full list of nominations below:

BEST PICTURE: DRAMA
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

BEST PICTURE: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are Alright
Red
The Tourist

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronosfsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

BEST ACTOR: DRAMA
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

BEST ACTRESS: DRAMA
Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST ACTRESS: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Anette Benning, The Kids Are Alright
Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are Alright
Emma Stone, Easy A

BEST ACTOR: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp, The Tourist
Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version
Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Michael Douglas, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful
The Concert
The Edge
I Am Love
In a Better World

BEST SCREENPLAY
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, The King’s Speech
Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland
A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Hans Zimmer, Inception

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Bound To You” (Burlesque)
“Coming Home” (Country Strong)
“I See The Light” (Tangled)
“There’s a Place For Us” (The Chronicles of Narnia)
“You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me” (Burlesque)

The Golden Globe Awards will be handed out on Sunday, January 16, in a ceremony hosted by Ricky Gervais.

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Two upcoming romantic comedies once shared the title Friends with Benefits, and now a similar thing is happening elsewhere in Hollywood. Not to be confused with James McTeigue’s upcoming Edgar Allan Poe thriller starring John Cusack, this version of The Raven will star Mark Wahlberg as a super-powered man on the run from police drones in a futuristic Los Angeles. More info after the jump.

The movie will be based on Ricardo De Montreuil’s short film (watch it in its entirety right here) and follows in the wake of other short film projects being scooped by studios after the tremendous success of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9. A bevy of other talented filmmakers took to YouTube attempting to impress studios, and De Montreuil’s short made an impression on Universal. And though the studio hasn’t hired him to direct the feature version of his own short (as was the case with Blomkamp), the up-and-coming director scored a gig directing another movie, a coming-of-age drama called Lowriders.

To be frank, I didn’t find the short to be particularly enticing as subject matter for a feature film. It looked like a low-budget version of Paul McGuigan’s Push, and I honestly can’t imagine Wahlberg in the lead role. Seems like they should go with someone much younger. In my opinion, this doesn’t seem like a smart move for Wahlberg, who is gaining some popularity in the film community with his work on The Fighter. In any case, the former leader of the Funky Bunch will produce and star in the feature.

Another potential negative for this movie? The script will be written by Justin Marks, a writer whose name has been attached to a seemingly endless list of fanboy properties (including the awesome-sounding Super Max a few years back), but whose only real credit so far has been Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. I think I’ll pass on this one.

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