Hard to believe, but it has been over 10 years since we have had a theatrical release starring The Muppets. That film was Muppets in Space and had a pretty stellar (no pun intended) cast for 1999 with names like Jeffrey Tambor, David Arquette, Andie MacDowell, Ray Liotta, and Rob Schneider joining in the felt wackiness.

Hard to believe it, but it looks like Jason Segel may actually be able to top that cast with the list of cameos for his upcoming Muppets film, tentatively titled The Greatest Muppets Movie Ever Made.

Just to drop a few names, the film promises to have appearances from Emily Blunt, Zach Galifiniakis, Neil Patrick Harris, Ed Helms, Jack Black, Danny Trejo, Amy Adams, Ricky Gervais, Katy Perry, Donald Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, and dozens of other names.

Needless to say, that title may just fit this film. The very first poster has arrived for the unnamed project, and much like the tagline in it, the film is much closer than you think, as the current release date is set for November 23rd of this year.

Check out the full poster after the jump, and be sure to keep it here as we bring you more news on the upcoming film.

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Matt Damon plays David Norris, a young politician who rose to prominence from “telling it is like it is” and now facing a lag in his career having lost his passion. As often occurs with politicians, his fire is reignited in a restroom by another human being. This time it’s the free-spirited Elise Sallas (Emily Blunt), who’s on the run from hotel security for crashing an upstairs wedding. The two flirt for a few minutes before kissing, and she scampers off without so much as dropping her name, and David goes on to deliver your standard “stick-it-to-the-phony-baloneys” speech, and, naturally it’s a hit with the voters.

Cut to three years later, when David takes the bus one morning and runs into Elise, much to the mysterious consternation of Harry (Anthony Mackie), a well-dressed gentleman who carries a tome that looks like a living circuitry grid. While he chases down the bus, David and Elise pick up their banter and he even gets her number.

However, when David shows up to his office, he walks in while it’s in a state of suspended animation, complete with scary-looking men in hazmat suits apparently performing some kind of containment. The men give chase, and David finds himself in a large room getting talked down to by the white-haired Richardson (John Slattery), who works for the shadowy-named Adjustment Bureau and evidently possesses the ability to control the environment. He tells David to stay away from Elise or else he’ll erase his mind.

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Who wouldn’t want to see a movie starring the dream cast of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine and Maggie Smith, with cameos by Ozzy Osbourne, Dolly Parton, Patrick Stewart and Hulk Hogan? They had me at James McAvoy.

Throw in some Shakespeare source material and music by Elton John, and one would think we were set. But Gnomeo and Juliet does the seeming impossible—takes all of these phenomenal elements and churns out a movie that’s only sporadically entertaining and completely forgettable. Unlike its durable garden decoration characters, this movie will wash out of your brain with the first drizzle.

Gnomeo and Juliet’s first and biggest problem is its lack of original, engaging characters. Gnomeo, Gnomeo, wherefore art thou, Gnomeo? Who knows, but he’s just your standard love-stricken youth determined to prove himself to the world and win his girl, while Juliet is your standard spunky heroine who’s trapped in a narrow female role but has the ninja skills to fight out.

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It’s that time of year again. The time when actors and actresses are honored for all the hard work they piled together in the 12 months leading up to one moment of pay off and a tiny little statue. We’re speaking, of course, about the Razzie Awards. These are the awards given out on the eve of Oscar night to those actors, actresses, and fimlmmakers who have produced some of the worst film projects to hit theaters in the past year.

Many remember last year’s big Worst Actress winner being Sandra Bullock, who went on the very next night to win an Oscar for a role in a completely different film. This year’s potentials could have the same luck, but we doubt it. Here’s the shortlist of actors from LA Times.

Among movies and actors shortlisted for the Razzies are Jessica Alba, who is eligible for worst supporting actress for four films (“The Killer Inside Me,” “Little Fockers,” “Machete” and “Valentine’s Day”), and Emily Blunt, eligible in the same category for her work in “The Wolfman” and “Gulliver’s Travels.”

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Is there any performer more in love with his job than Jack Black? He’s not the greatest actor, he doesn’t choose the best scripts, or work with the finest directors, but he has a sheer and infectious ebullience that elevates the material, no matter how mediocre it is.  Thirty or so years from now, people probably won’t remember Gulliver’s Travels, but they’ll remember Jack Black—it’s no joke to say he’s the Fred Astaire of this generation.

And it’s no joke to say he’s the best part of Gulliver’s Travels, just as he’s the best part of Shallow Hal, Orange County, and a bunch of other vehicles that are all our guilty pleasures. They’re not great, or even really good, but there’s enough smiles to keep you watching.

And that’s Gulliver’s Travels, albeit it’s much more of a kid’s film than Black’s usual saucy romps (Kung-Fu Panda notwithstanding). Here he plays the titular Lemuel Gulliver, slacker mail-room drone for a New York newspaper and secretly in love with the travel editor Darcy (Amanda Peet).

One day, through a series of coincidences, he ends up claiming to be a travel writer to impress Darcy, and she puts him on assignment cover the Bermuda Triangle, and a hop, skip, and waterspout later, he washes up on the island of Lilliput, where all the residents are about 1/10 his size.

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Muppets are becoming more of the “hip” thing, as big stars keep finding themselves cast in the newest film. Ricky Gervais and Emily Blunt are the latest high-profile celebrities to join the growing list of cameos in Disney’s newest Muppets movie. The specifics behind their cameos have yet to be announced.

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that the duo are joining a packed lineup that includes Alan Arkin, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Zach Galifianakis and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who have appearances in a story that reunites the Muppets in order to save their movie studio from a developer. I smell musical numbers!

The new Muppets flick, directed by James Bobin, is currently being filmed in various locations around Los Angeles. Jason Segel, who co-wrote the script with Nicholas Stoller, is the human lead (no surprise here after his vampire number in Forgetting Sarah Marshall) while Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and Rashida Jones round out the cast of human leads.

Stay tuned to The Flickcast for the latest developments on the new Muppets movie.

Pixar and Dreamworks may monopolize the film animation market, but relatively small effects company Starz Animation is looking to creep up with their latest film, Gnomeo and Juliet. The film is even getting a Disney bump by being distributed through their Touchstone subsidiary. Starz is best known for producing 9 and Space Chimps, unfortunately

The name leaves little to the imagination in terms of plot, but just in case you need it spelled out, the official synopsis should help.

The greatest love story ever told, starring…garden gnomes? In “Gnomeo & Juliet,” Shakespeare’s revered tale gets a comical, off-the-wall makeover. Directed by Kelly Asbury (co-director of “Shrek 2″) and showcasing both classic and original songs by Elton John, the film features the voices of James McAvoy and Emily Blunt as Gnomeo and Juliet, who have as many obstacles to overcome as their quasi namesakes when they are caught up in a feud between neighbors. But with plastic pink flamingos and thrilling lawnmower races in the mix, can this young couple find a happy ending?

Produced in the US with a mainly British cast and music by Elton John, what could possibly go wrong? Check out the full trailer after the jump, and be sure to catch the family-friendly laughs of Gnomeo and Juliet on February 11th.

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In the world of Marmadukes and Meet Daves, it was bound to happen that we would see something like the movie Gulliver’s Travels on the horizon. And why wouldn’t they make it even better by adding Jack Black as Gulliver?

In the newest film, from animation director Ron Letterman (Shark Tale, Monsters Vs. Aliens), Black plays Lemuel Gulliver, a nerdy, going-nowhere mail clerk who gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to write for a travel magazine by investigating the Bermuda Triangle. After a boat crash, Gulliver wakes up in the classical land of Lilliput where he’s gigantic and everyone else is tiny.

Black doesn’t really bring anything new to the role that we haven’t seen him do before, from his googly eyes to his outrageous flip outs, it’s all been done. We do get an interesting side cast consisting of Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, and Romany Malco, which could save the film, but don’t have gigantic (pun not intended) hopes.

Check out the newest trailer for the film after the jump. Catch Gulliver’s Travels in theaters on December 22nd, 2010.

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With every big-budget original idea, there always seems to be another film with a similar plot right behind it. In this case, we’ve got Chris Nolan’s Inception hitting theaters this summer, and now, along the same lines of psychological thriller, we’ve got Matt Damon in The Adjustment Bureau.

Granted, this idea came first in the form of a novel by Philip K. Dick, but it still doesn’t excuse Universal for releasing the film a few months after Inception. In Bureau, Damon plays Senate candidate David Norris who falls in love with the quirky Emily Blunt. They get together, get it on, and Damon is visited by a group of greyhairs in suits who explain that they “control how things work” and his relationship was never supposed to happen.

The film has  elements of The Matrix, Dark City, and Inception, with some potentially great performances from Mad Men and Iron Man 2′s John Slattery and Superman’s Terence Stamp. The film also comes from writer/director George Nolfi who worked with Damon on 2007′s Bourne Ultimatum, so there’s a little bit of history too.

Check out the trailer after the jump, courtesy of Yahoo Movies, and keep an eye out for The Adjustment Bureau when it hits theaters on September 17.

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I had some major reservations going into the screening of The Wolfman. For those of us who followed the film’s production, there were frequent rumors of strife on the set, and then there was an ominous release date switch at the last moment. However, once the film began, those reservations were put to rest. I had a blast seeing this new vision of the classic movie monster brought to life.

Director Joe Johnston manages to deliver an atmospheric Gothic thriller, full of foggy London moors, mythical beasts, and buckets and buckets of blood and gore. When all was said and done, I was willing to forgive some story flaws, because this was just so much fun for the horror fan in me. The film is a nice throwback to the monster movies of the 40′s, and has a distinctly nostalgic feel.

A perfectly cast Benicio Del Torro (who has a very feral look in real life) plays Lawrence, who has been living in America, but has been summoned to return to London because his brother has gone missing.  By the time Lawrence reaches his family’s dilapidated mansion, his brother’s mutilated body has been found in a ditch.  Lawrence’s father (a diabolical Anthony Hopkins) seems curiously nonplussed by the whole ordeal, and clearly harbors a deep-rooted dislike of his remaining son.

Lawrence makes a promise to his brother’s grieving fiancé Gwen (Emily Blunt) that he will solve the mystery of what happened to his brother.  His quest takes him to a nearby gypsy camp that has fallen under the suspician of the townspeople. While he is talking to some of the gypsies, a creature attacks the camp with undiscriminating zeal.  Sheer mayhem occurs as decapitations, amputations, and slashed throats lay in the wake of the beast’s assault.

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It looks like today is Trailer Day, after Fox released the first teaser trailer for Avatar earlier. Now Universal has released the first trailer for their Wolf Man reboot starring Benicio Del Toro. The film, which finished it’s production a few months ago, looks to be a pretty fair reinterpretation of the original Universal Monster movie.

Company favorite Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park 3) took the helm for this film, which is the last project he is doing before taking the director’s seat over at Marvel Studios for The First Avenger: Captain America. The writing team consisted of David Self (Road to Perdition) and Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en).

The film also stars Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Anthony Hopkins, along with Benicio Del Toro, who is doing an American accent for the first time. Check out the brand new trailer, courtesy of Yahoo Movies,  after the jump.

Universal’s The Wolf Man hits theaters February 12 of next year.

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