We try not to be cynical, but sometimes it isn’t easy. It’s sad, too, because we really like Jeff Bridges and we can usually tolerate Ryan Reynolds.

Unfortunately, this trailer for Universal’s upcoming R.I.P.D. doesn’t do much to fill us with confidence. Sure, it does feature Bridges and Reynolds in a story about “two cops dispatched by the otherworldly Rest In Peace Department to protect and serve the living from souls who refuse to move peacefully to the other side.”

And yes, Bridges looks pretty cool plus we do like the comic this is adapted from. But sorry, no. It just doesn’t do that much for us. At least not yet.

Judge for yourself after the break. Look for R.I.P.D. to arrive on June 28th.

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Silly, silly fun. There’s not much of a plot — The Croods are a family of cave-dwellers whose home is threatened by earthquakes; the dad Grug (Nicolas Cage) is over protective; the daughter Eep (Emma Stone) is curious; they meet up with a smarty-pants guy named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who teaches them the secret of fire, among other things; and they set off to find a new home.

Grug, whose mantra is “Always be afraid!” immediately dislikes Guy while Eep is immediately attracted to him, and in the background are the rest of the Croods, who have their moments but are played for jokes; maybe they could have been something more, but before they can, the earthquake chases them off. There’s two running gags that persist the entire film, and there’s some ugly character design, but those are the biggest flaws.

And they’re easy to overlook because everything else looks so good. Granted, this doesn’t need to be in 3-D, as the lusciousness of the backgrounds, from crags to forests to plains to dried-out oceans encircle and captivate on their own, without added gimmicks. More fun is the creature designs, which must have had even the animators laughing. Each one is a Darwinian nightmare, conjured by a gaggle of mad scientists.

There’s flying turtles, land-whales, two lemurs attached by a single tail and a flock of birds that look like toucans, though their mouths open right below the eyes. Cute at first, then they swarm on one of the land-whales and pick it clean.

Despite that, the emphasis is clearly on the visuals, as are the gags. The talents of Cage, Stone, and Reynolds, as well as Cloris Leachman and Catherine Keener, aren’t necessary. None stand out, but then there’s little the film requires of them. Of course we have the requisite familial tensions and affirmations of love between those who need to hear it — they aren’t earned and slow the movie down considerably whenever they’re brought up, but they’re not often and don’t last long.

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Since the abomination that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, word has been that a Deadpool movie would be on its way. Since Wade Wilson’s appearance at the beginning of the movie was pretty much the only salvageable part of the film (and we can all just pretend that everything at the end didn’t happen), it does make sense to bring Ryan Reynolds back to take on the role. In current Marvel continuity, Deadpool has lost his healing factor which means the scars that cover his face are gone and he can appear as a normal person.

This is a huge asset to any film with a known actor taking on the headline role as it gives legitimacy to him being seen without the full costume on at all times. Frankly, no one was really looking forward to seeing the fully scared up Deadpool face on screen when the mask came off anyway. But in some ways the actor portraying Deadpool is low on the list of concerns in regard to what is needed to make this character actually work for a full feature length film.

One of the most challenging aspects of Deadpool is going to be his inner dialogue that goes on between Wade and the two insane voices in his head. One reason it works so well in comics is the visual cue. Deadpool has his own distinctive speech bubble and each of the two voices has their own design to their respective caption box as well. Even when ‘Pool is talking under a mask, it is easily identifiable which of the three is talking. The problem that appears in a movie is that when the film is in motion and Deadpool is talking under a mask, it is going to be a challenge to identify three different voices on screen.

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When the initial rumors of Ryan Reynolds circling the role of Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod rose, people were skeptical that he could do the part justice. Those people must not remember what Highlander is as a franchise.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a bigger Highlander fan than you normally encounter, and Christopher Lambert’s Connor is an iconic genre character. There just isn’t a ton of hollowed ground in this franchise, which should be obvious to anyone who has seen one of the 13 different versions of Highlander 2.

Now those rumors are becoming reality as The Tracking Board is reporting that Reynolds has finally signed on to the reboot:

After roughly a month of negotiations, Ryan Reynolds has officially been cast in the lead role for Highlander. Reynolds will play Conner MacLeod, a Highlander who discovers he is one of a dwindling group of immortals who wander the earth and kill each other in combat for the final “Prize” – mortality.

Of all the 80′s era properties that are getting reboots today, this is one that makes a ton of sense. Reynolds is a good actor, and has shown some real action chops in three unfortunate comic book movies. Hopefully this franchise will finally be the one that suits his specific talents.

With Valentine’s Day hitting on Tuesday, it only makes sense that the box office would reflect that feeling of love we’re smelling in the air. It looks like guys and gals together made sure Valentine’s Day won the weekend, as Screen Gems’ The Vow starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams managed to take the weekend with an estimated $41 Million.

In a very close second, the Denzel Washington vs. Ryan Reynolds flick Safe House brought in an estimated $39 Million, which wouldn’t be bad if the film’s budget wasn’t a total of $85 Million. Right behind that one was another financial conundrum, Dwayne Johnson’s Journey 2, which cost about $80 Million and only only netted $27 Million here in the states.

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For those who weren’t completely burned out on this year’s cornocopia of big-budget super hero flicks, you may have truly enjoyed Warner’s shot at an intergalactic actioner in Green Lantern.

There were some mixed emotions about the flick, but overall it was a solid adaptation of the timeless comic protagonist, and only boosted the credibility of rising actors like Ryan Reynolds and Peter Sarsgaard.

For those who missed the movie, you’ll get to experience the whole thing for the first time on Blu-Ray in both an extended cut and its original theatrical cut. Here’s the lowdown.

“Green Lantern” will be available on Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, featuring a 3D hi-definition, a hi-definition, a standard definition and a digital copy of the theatrical film, for $40.99, Blu-ray Combo Pack, featuring a hi-definition, a standard definition and a digital copy of the theatrical film, for $35.99 and on single disc DVD for $28.98.   The extended cut will be in hi-definition on the Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and Blu-ray Combo Pack only.

Not only will the film be released on Blu-Ray and standard DVD, but the new UltraViolet Digital Copy will be included in the release. Check out details of what’s on the discs after the jump and catch the release on October 14th.

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Probably the best thing you can say about The Change-Up is that it’s not as bad as it looks. Actually, no, the best thing you can say is that there’s a lot of surprising and sweet nudity.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The plot is largely what’s laid out in the trailer: Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds are two friends, one’s married, one’s a swinging bachelor, respectively. One night they get drunk and take a quick squirt in an enchanted fountain while simultaneously declaring their mutual desire to be the other.

Morning comes, and they get their wish. Hi-jinx ensue as Reynolds struggles with the pressures of fatherhood and the big, lawyer-ish-looking account that’s looming, and Bateman rediscovers the downsides of bachelor life. A plot recap is unnecessary because it’s just something on which a string of gags involving baby excretions, pregnant women, masturbation, baby nudity, dancing vegetables, and silly walks to make you grow at least six pairs of hands.

Director David Dobkin (The Wedding Crashers) tries to get a laugh from nearly everything and, for the audience I saw it with, it worked. To the extent that their reaction to film became more interesting than the film itself. At first I was fascinated by the comic beats they ate up and the extent to which they were involved.

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Last weekend, the world was taken by surprise as Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger blew past the final Harry Potter film and made it to the #1 spot in its very first weekend. Since then, the film has grossed over $115 million here in the US and upwards of $170 million worldwide. Not bad for the best superhero film of the year (according to Rotten Tomatoes).

This weekend, Cap may have gotten knocked off the top spot and only made roughly $24 million, but the more interesting part is the battle between Universal’s Cowboys & Aliens and Sony’s The Smurfs. Both films opened with an estimated $36.2 million in the domestic, and while Smurfs may be the winner overseas, with a total of $40 million worldwide, that’s simply because it’s the only film to have a foreign opening.

Not a very strong opening for either film (unless you consider Smurfs to be a small film), but the true champion will be determined tomorrow afternoon when the official numbers arrive for the domestic box office.

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Here we are, less than a month into one of the biggest summer blockbuster seasons we’ve had in years, and not a single big-studio film has failed to live up to the expectations set forward by those studios.

It seems that the mid $50 million range is just where every film hits in the first weekend, as Warner Bros’ Green Lantern pulled in an estimated $52 million against its $200 million production budget. Not a complete letdown, as Warner’s are still looking to move forward with this toyetic film franchise.

In second place this weekend, Super 8 had less than a 50% dropoff from last week, pulling in an estimated $21 million this weekend, and topping the film off at $72 since its debut.

Another first weekender, Mr. Popper’s Penguins rose to the occasion in third place this weekend with an estimated $18 million, which isn’t bad considering the film was one of the only non-franchise family films hitting theaters this summer.

Finally, Fox’s X-Men: First Class is still holding strong in its third week, with an $11 million pull for the weekend and over $280 million worldwide since the release. With a turnout like that, you can expect to see Fox prepping Matthew Vaughn and his cast for a second film in the very near future.

All things considered, next week looks to be quite tame. Pixar’s Cars 2 will likely take the weekend, with upwards of 4,000 theaters showing the film. On the other end of the spectrum, adults get Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel in Bad Teacher from Sony.

Green Lantern is a comic-book movie that’s ripped straight from the comic book. To some people, that will be a plus, to others a minus; more specifically, those who enjoyed the cartoonyness of The Fantastic Four movies can appreciate it; those who didn’t and want a half-hearted “message” to justify their camp will not.

The premise is ridiculous: The Green Lanterns are a gang of buff aliens sworn to protect the 3,600 sectors of the universe. One day a nasty alien called a “Parallax” shows up and starts bumping off the Lanterns, including one Abin Sur, apparently the protector of earth’s sector, who escapes to our planet, mortally wounded.

Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a test pilot and “man without fear” (fearlessness being a big plus to the Lanterns) who’s chosen by Abin Sur to take up his mantle, or ring, or lantern, or whatever. Soon after Hal’s traveling through the galaxy to the planet Oa, where fish men and talking brick shit-houses explain the origins of the Lanterns.

There’s the obligatory scenes of Hal’s cross-training, which introduces us to the power of the Lanterns—basically anything goes so long as it’s green and comes from the ring all Lanterns wear; they can fly, construct objects of any size and shape, and, presumably, whip up some dynamite green eggs and ham.

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Ryan Reynolds may be running around in a computer-generated suit all weekend on the big screen, but you don’t need to rush out to the theaters to join in on the Green Lantern Corps fun, because MIMOBOT has got you covered with their brand new line of Green Lantern-themed USB drives.

With characters like Hal Jordan, Tomar-Re, Sinestro (seen here) and Kilowog, you can purchase all of your favorite Corps members and have them storm your data storage dilemmas with their capacity of up to 16GB.

The drives also come with some pretty sick features already pre-loaded, such as tons of wallpapers, icons, avatars, and even a killer animated desktop screensaver for you diehard fans out there.

These drives can carry some of your most important and bulky files, and they even come at a pretty decent price. Ranging from 2GB all the way up to 16GB, you can get these from anywhere to $22.95 to a solid $59.95 for the top-line capacity drive.

You can pick these drives up right away over at the MIMOBOT website, and check out some of the high-res images of each character after the jump. Green Lantern’s Light!

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Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned sneak peek? Everybody does, which is why we’re bringing you a heaping chunk of clips from next weekend’s super hero blockbuster Green Lantern.

In the clips, we’ve got just about everything you’ll be looking forward to in the film (minus any big spoilers, of course) such as the origin of Hal’s oath, the introduction of Dr. Hammond, some great moments with the aliens on Oa, and a few bad ass ring manifestations from GL himself.

The clips are just enough to get any fan on the fence about seeing the film, especially after seeing the first shots of Reynolds’ CGI mask. For the die-hards, this will only make you want to see the film a little more, again without spoiling anything.

Be sure to check out the full 7 minutes of clips after the jump, and catch Ryan Reynolds, Mark Strong, Peter Sarsgaard, Blake Lively, and many more in Warner Bros’ Green Lantern next Friday, June 17th.

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When people talk about movies they are most excited to see, they will normally stick to the big budget action adventures, raunchy comedies, or thrillers.  It is rare to see a grown adult get publicly excited about the newest children’s animation or cheesy chick-flick.  But when all is said and done, and we are alone in our living rooms browsing Netflix, most of the time we are actually in the mood for something light and fun.  Just admit it, we all love the occasional cartoon for family comedy.

This week we have two classic family franchises getting rebooted, a trailer for a superhero film that just doesn’t seem to want to ever come out, and a guilty pleasure indie flick.

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Just in time for the weekend and, perhaps, the end of the world as we know it comes this brand new Green Lantern trailer from Warner Bros via Yahoo Movies. In it we get a lot more action and see what that power ring can do in the hands of an expert.

Plus, we get a lot more about the origin of the Green Lantern Corps as well as a bunch more footage not seen yet, at least to the general public. This trailer will be shown in theaters in 3D. Sadly, we only go 2D here (for now).

Check out the brand new trailer after the break. Green Lantern arrives on June 17th.

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You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, right? Well, not exactly — at least in this case. Warner Bros. has released a brand new trailer for the upcoming Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds as the title character.

In this new one we get a much more complete picture of what the movie is trying to accomplish both visually and story-wise. More Reynolds, more bad guys, more Oa and more action are, with each new trailer, making this look like one of the films to beat this Summer.

I don’t know about you but this is really starting to look darn good. Having not seen it yet we can only guess how it compares with Thor, Captain America and more but if the movie holds up as well as the trailers seem to indicate it will, we’ve got a real fight for comic book movie supremacy this Summer.

This Summer seems like a great time to be a nerd, geek or fanboy/girl.

Check out the new trailer after the jump. Green Lantern hits theaters on June 17th.

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