I’ve got three words for you. Big. Dumb. Fun. Isn’t that the way we like our summer fare here in the states? Apparently a cohesive plot was sacrificed  in The A-Team so that explosions, fist-fights and implausible technology could abound. Yet somehow, as mindless entertainment, it kind of works. I won’t lie. I had fun.

I never watched the 80′s television show that served as the source material for this movie, but being a child of the 80′s, I was aware of it. The theme song, Mr. T, and that infamous opening line (If you have a problem, and you can find them, maybe you can hire The A-Team!) were ubiquitous on the pop culture landscape back in the day.

The movie begins with an extended flashback showing how the four A-Team members (all former Army Rangers) became a team. Now, eight years later, the men are serving in Iraq and are recruited for a secret mission. They are to circumvent an armored convoy that will be transporting currency printing plates, and approximately one billion dollars in printed currency.

The Department of Defense gets wind of the operation and bristles, believing that the A-Team has overstepped their authority. Additionally, some mercenaries for hire unimaginatively named “Black Forest” want a piece of the action.

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If like me, you have survived the onslaught of witty repartee between Iron Man and War Machine, time standing still in Robin Hood, and the hot mess of CGI and Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia then you are ready for what awaits you in June. Make no mistake, you may not have the monster in Manolo’s, otherwise known as Carrie Bradshaw, to suffer through but you do have a mêlée of 80’s rehashes that studios happily throw money at.

So, suit up, grab your popcorn, and prepare yourself for the next adventure that await you.

JUNE

June 4th

Ondine

Were you expecting a description of The A Team perhaps? At this point, anyone who is seeing The A Team on Friday already has their tickets, and even my words of wisdom will be unable to stop them. Instead I’ll spotlight a film that deserves attention.

Ondine is an independent film starring Colin Farrell as a fisherman who pulls up a beautiful woman in his nets. His sick, precocious daughter believes she is a Selkie, a Scottish seal who becomes a human wife on land. Time will tell if she is really as she seems.

Geekiness Factor: As a fairytale set in the modern era, it combines Splash and Heroes with a dose of romanticism and second chances. This movie works because it doesn’t use CGI, in fact the only special effects it uses comes from your very own imagination in overdrive. Its sense of wonder on faith, entrances you back to a time when you still believed in Santa Claus.

Screen Steamer: Colin Farrell has served me a heap of B movie bad boy charm in past films like The Recruit, S.W.A.T., not to mention a harmonious turn in Crazy Heart. Here he takes off his shirt only once, but seems well cast as a fisherman down on his luck and striving to be sober. Alicja Bachleda keeps you guessing as Ondine, which means “from the water.” She is alluring with a subtle sensuality in ocean soaked dresses, only coming up for air to coyly flirt with a scruffy Colin.

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The buzz has only been getting louder since the first trailer for Joe Carnahan’s The A-Team hit a few weeks ago. The first glimpses of the TV-to-film remake split fans, as some were excited, and some annoyed. Thankfully, most of us around The Flickcast offices are excited, and even more so when six new stills from the film got released.

The film looks to have all the excitement we remember from the original series, and then some. Carnahan is known for his explosive and “in your face” directing style, which is exactly what this property would need in order to do it justice.

Check out these all new images from the film after the jump, starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, “Rampage” Jackson, and Jessica Biel. The A-Team is set for a June 11th release date.

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As they say out in the world, get it while its hot. This brand new trailer for Joe Carahan’s upcoming reboot of The A-Team can’t last long so be sure to check it out after the jump. In case you’re not familiar, the film features Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley and “Rampage” Jackson as a team of mercenaries convicted of a crime they didn’t commit who now fight for the little guy (or girl) while hiding out in the Los Angeles underground.

We really love this cast, although Rampage Jackson seems to not have much of a sense of humor — much like his character should probably be. The trailer also features a voiceover narration nearly identical to the TV show’s (which is pretty cool), and the action is what you’d expect until the end when it kinda goes too far when a parachuting tank shoots down an airplane. Hey, that could happen, right? But all is pretty much saved, at least for me, with the tag line “There is no plan B.” Nice.

Anyway, check it out and judge for yourself. But hurry.

Update: As we said, the video went fast and is now gone. Look for the “official” one to be released shortly.

Update 2: And now the trailer is “officially” out and if you click through you can see it.

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Over the last few weeks we’ve had the first looks at the The A-Team’s brand new van, the assembled team and Bradley Cooper’s “Faceman” showing his skills with automatic weapons. But until now, there was one other piece of the casting puzzle that was missing: Jesssica Biel’s character. Now, thanks to the fine folks at Geek Tyrant, we’ve got the fist pics of her as well.

As Biel’s character wasn’t in the original series, I’m not as interested to see what she looks like in the movie — other than the more obvious reasons. It was more important to find out how closely the film’s new team, which includes Liam Neeson, Sharlito Copley, “Rampage” Jackson and the aforementioned Bradley Cooper, would stack up to their series originals. Fortunately, they stack up very well.

With all the great pics coming out showing how much director Joe Carnahan seems to be both paying homage and modernizing the look of The A-Team, really only one other question remains about the cast: Does “Rampage” Jackson’s character sport a Mohawk like Mt. T did in the original series? As they say, inquiring minds want to know.

With all the info starting to come out now about the film, its just a matter of time before we find out the truth behind this very important piece of info. My guess right now? He does.

The A-Team hits theaters on June 11, 2010. Check out a larger pic of Biel’s character after the jump.

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As more and more news comes out about Joe Carnahan’s upcoming remake of The A-Team I’ve grown very interested, and anxious. When I first heard about the film I was skeptical. Was this to be another comedic derivitive of a somewhat serious show much like the Starsky and Hutch movie starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson?

Alright, I realize there was something inherently funny about the original A-Team series, but it was the Eighties and that’s what television was like back then. Strip away the one liners and jabs and the core of the show made an effort to follow a somewhat serious vein.

To that end, it appears Carnahan is determined to make this a great action film (If you’ve seen Smokin’ Aces, you’ll know what I’m talking about) based on some more set photos. Testament to this are the shots of Bradley Cooper rehearsing on set with an assault rifle in hand.  It looks pretty intense and…okay, I’ll just say it, awesome!

Fortunately, as serious as Carnhan may take the film it certainly looks as though he’s preserving the original look.  Seeing the cast of Liam Neeson as John “Hannibal” Smith, Bradley Cooper as Templeton “Faceman” Peck, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as B.A. Baracus, and Sharlto Copley as H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock in costume instantly invokes images of the series I refused to miss each week.  I can almost hear the theme song playing in my head when I see the pictures.

While it remains to be seen if Jackson actually has a Mohawk under his cap, Neeson’s grey hair, Cooper’s suit jacket, and Copley’s baseball cap make it clear to me this film will pay proper homage to the series I grew up with. Granted, it’s still hard to gauge without seeing some actual footage but so far I’m sold!

The A-Team opens in theaters June 11, 2010. Check out some bigger photos after the jump.

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Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later because you can’t really hide anything from the Internet these days. In spite of the best efforts by studios and their minions, important things have a way of getting out — like a new photo of The A-Team team that recently surfaced at ComingSoon. Previously, we had a photo of the team’s van in action and now in this new pic we get our first real glimpse at the new team, which includes Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlito Copley and “Rampage” Jackson.

After seeing this pic I gotta say they all look pretty darn good. Although, with Joe Carnahan at the helm I was sorta hoping for a pic of the team doing what it does best: shooting machine guns, flipping cars and blowing stuff up. Still, this is a pretty cool image anyway and I’m sure sooner or later (Probably sooner) we will get photos like that. Plus, we’ll probably get a photo of Jessica Biel in uniform at some point as well.

With this kind of cast and knowing what Caranahan can do with action, this movie is shaping up to be one I’m excited to see. Unfortunately, like the rest of you, I’ll have to wait until June 11, 2010 to do that. Well, at least we can look forward to more photos like this along the way which, given the nature of things, is almost certain to happen.

Check out a larger version of the pic after the jump.

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