Given the bad stigma it’s gotten in the past with such actors like George Reeves and James Gandolfini, but if the role is worth it, typecasting isn’t necessarily a bad thing when the role is that good. That seems to be what True Blood actor Stephen Moyer has going for him in the new feature The Double.

The film is chock full of other stars, such as the film’s focal point, Richard Gere, Martin Sheen, Odette (former Yustman) Annable, and Topher (don’t call me Venom) Grace. Here’s the film’s intricate plot for you to attempt to digest.

In The Double, the mysterious murder of a US senator bearing the distinctive trademark of the legendary Soviet assassin “Cassius,” forces Paul Shepherdson (Gere), a retired CIA operative, to team with rookie FBI agent, Ben Geary (Grace), to solve the crime. Having spent his career chasing Cassius, Shepherdson is convinced his nemesis is long dead, but is pushed to take on the case by his former supervisor, Tom Highland (Sheen).

Meanwhile, Agent Geary, who wrote his Master’s thesis on Shepherdson’s pursuit of the Soviet killer, is certain that Cassius has resurfaced. As Shepherdson and Geary work their way through crimes both past and present, they discover that Cassius may not be the person they always thought him to be, forcing both to re-examine everything and everyone around them.

Check out the trailer, featuring Gere and Moyer in a duel, after the jump. Catch The Double in theaters on September 23rd.

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If Ferris Bueller’s Day Off got really drunk and fell into bed with Less Than Zero, their fetal-alcohol-syndrome-afflicted offspring might be Take Me Home Tonight, a movie that aims to be to the 80s what Dazed and Confused was to the 70s. And after all, it’s high time: Michael Douglas has already revisited Wall Street.

Take Me Home Tonight takes place in LA and Beverly Hills and hits all the era’s tags—RayBans, pastel popped-collar polos, pushed-up jacket sleeves, Preppie bow ties vs. New Wave skinny ties, frizzbomb perms for girls and spiked mullets or Gordon Gecko mousse-backs for guys, video stores, red sports cars, cocaine, wild house parties, evil bankers, and, of course, a sinister and sexually perverted fat German businessman in shoulder-padded black leather. Wouldn’t be an 80s movie without one of those.

The story, one of those “guy grows up in the course of one wild and crazy night” deals, hits all the plot buttons too. Our too-straight hero manages to finally bust loose and somehow to fulfill both his parents’ expectations and the anarchic instincts of the loser sociopathic guy who’s inexplicably his best friend. It goes without saying that he gets the girl too.

There are fibs and other deceptions, grand theft auto, cocaine abuse, dance-offs, police encounters, light sadomasochism, youthful irresponsibility and more. It’s all pretty silly and not to be taken seriously. There are absolutely no consequences for stealing the expensive sports car, bankers are prima facie arrogant and evil, and the moment of  moral triumph comes when Tori decides to quit her banking job, because, of course, she hates it. Believe me, I’m no fan of the banking industry (see last paragraphs), but most of these ideas are simply juvenile.

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Topher Grace recently went on a mini-city tour to promote his upcoming film, Take Me Home Tonight. Look for our review on Friday. In the meantime, we had the opportunity to sit down with Topher and talk about the film, which takes place in the eighties.

Synopsis: As the summer of 1988 winds down, three friends on the verge of adulthood attend an out-of-control party in celebration of their last night of unbridled youth.

The Flickcast: You are not a product of the eighties, so how did you come to do a movie about the eighties?  I know this was kind of your project. You helped conceptualize and produce the film, and acted  in it as well.

Topher Grace: I grew up watching Dazed and Confused, which was made in the nineties, but it was about the seventies. There’s also a movie made in the seventies, which was about the fifties, it was American Graffiti. We thought, ” This generation doesn’t have that kind of movie.”

There will be another movie about the nineties in about 10 years. Right now, no one has done this for the eighties. We’ve had movies that came out closer to the eighties, like The Wedding Singer, which I love, but which makes fun of the eighties, or spoofs it.

To be honest, you couldn’t really do that movie about the nineties yet. You need about twenty years in order to look back the same way George Lucas did or Richard  Linklater did with those other two movies. Right now if we tried to do a nineties one, it would probably be grunge, and those big jackets-you could figure some stuff out, but I think it would be more like The Wedding Singer.

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This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt dive right in and discuss a whole bunch of new and exciting topics. Some of these new and exciting topics include the new Predators film, the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, Edward Norton out as Bruce Banner in The Avengers, various casting news, The Expendables, Inception, Johnathan Nolan directing the Superman reboot, Zachary Levi as Clark Kent/Superman the awesomeness of Alfred Molina and a whole lot more.

You favorite co-hosts also made some great picks including Matt’s pick of the new sci-fi action film Predators and Chris’ pick of the new game Singularity.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

While its 1987 predecessor Predator took its sweet time setting up the action, Predators starts off at breakneck speed, with a man hurtling through air,  frantically trying to get his parachute open.  The wind whips around him, and as he plummets toward a certain death, he appears to be a goner.

Of course, at the last second, he gets it to open, and it breaks his fall enough to allow him to survive.  All around him, other people are falling out of the sky, but some of them are not as lucky,  and die upon impact. It’s a thrilling action sequence, and immediately sets this film apart from the original.

The first thirty minutes of this movie has a distinct Lost-like vibe to it. The survivors start rounding up one another, and it becomes apparent that nobody knows how they got to this jungle, or where they are.  One man even asserts that they must be in hell.

They discover that they are all combatants of some sort.  Most are military mercenary types, one is wearing a prison jumper, and one claimed he worked for a drug cartel.   It’s a bad-ass assortment of individuals, that much is true.

Everyone has landed with appropriate weaponry and ammunition strapped to their bodies.  The lone exception is Edwin, a bookworm type who claims he is a doctor, and seems woefully out of his element among the soldiers.

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I have to admit that we were all pretty excited to hear about the Robert Rodriguez reboot of the Predator franchise known as Predators and directed by Nimrod Antal. Sure, the original Predator has a lot going for it, including such memorable Arnold Schwarzeneggar lines as “Get to the chopper!” and “You are one ugly motherf***er.” Still, with all that great stuff, a new movie with even more awesome predator action could be a good thing.

In the past we’ve brought you some cool info about this new Predators film including casting info and the first look at the trailer. Now, curtesy of the fine folks at CinemaBlend, we’ve got a new featurette to share with you today.

I admit I was a bit skeptical about Adrian Brody and his ability to be a convincing action hero. But after seeing the recent trailer and now this new video, I’ve changed my mind and think he will be able to pull it off. After all, he’s a gifted actor who should be able to play pretty much any role so fighting predators should be a walk in the park, er, jungle for him.

Judge for yourself and check out the featurette after the jump. Predators hits theaters on July 9th. What do you guys think? Does Brody make a convincing action star?

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Last week during Austin’s South By Southwest film festival, producer and co-writer Robert Rodriguez unveiled the first footage from his upcoming film, Predators. We got to see lots of chatter from the cast, including stars Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne. Unfortunately, there was very little seen of the titular alien race.

Now, a brand new trailer has hit the web, this time giving us just the right amount of violence, Predators, and Danny Trejo that we could possibly ask for. The new film is set as a reboot/prequel to the original Predator franchise, which first gave geek-cred to stars like Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover, and Gary Busey.

Check out the official trailer after the jump, and be sure to catch Nimron Antal’s Predators, starring Topher Grace, Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, and Alice Braga, in theaters on July 7th.

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I liked this movie quite a bit  when I first saw it in 2003, and it was called Love, Actually.  This is nothing but a watered down and americanized version of the British movie, and it is mired in mediocrity.  Just think of this as the ugly stepsister of Love, Actually.

Despite a massive ensemble cast (Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Taylor Swift, Taylor Lautner, Julia Roberts, Shirley MacClaine, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Emma Roberts, and George Lopez) the film lacks any real zip, and for a film about Valentine’s Day, it lacks heart. Don’t let all that star power fool you.

There are a myriad of storylines woven throughout the movie, which takes place on Valentine’s Day, in Los Angeles.  Most of the principals are connected to one another in one way or another, and their connections are slowly revealed throughout the movie.  Some of the stories work quite well, and others just don’t work at all.

Ashton Kutcher plays Reed, a florist who proposes to his less than thrilled girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba.)  His best friend Julia (Jennifer Garner) is giddy over her new boyfriend (Patrick Dempsey), who is actually a two timing married man. Her best friend Kara (Jessica Biel) is the desperate and lonely career girl with no one to spend Valentine’s Day with.

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Sci-Fi Wire reports that while visiting the set of the new Nimrod Antal (Armored) directed film, Predators, they discovered another person joining the already amazing cast. Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus in The Matrix films), has joined Adrien Brody, Danny Trejo and Topher Grace in the Robert Rodriguez produced sequel to the classic 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, and half a dozen more.

According to the article, Fishburne will be playing “Noland, a character being compared to Yoda, who has used his Zen-like abilities to survive among the alien Predators on a deadly hunting planet.” Some filming has already taken place in Hawaii and has now moved to the Austin based Troublemaker Studios to finish it’s production.

The basic plot of the new film reads: “A group of elite warriors are hunted by members of a merciless alien race known as Predators.” With Brody playing a character known as “a hunter of men,” Grace is an “accountant type whose calm demeanor hides a serial killer underneath,” and the various other character roles are interesting in that cliche kind of way, yet I still am interested in this film.

Predators is scheduled to be released on July 9, 2010, and despite my opinion on the character descriptions, I’m looking forward to what these fun filmmakers do with the franchise.

Spider-Man 3 was far from great but I will say Thomas Haden Church gave a pretty good performance as reluctant villain Sandman. Like Alfred Molina (Dr. Octopus) before him and Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin) prior to that. Church brought a tragic element to the role. Yes, they all ended up portraying villains but you kind of felt sorry for them. I’ll even go so far as to say as much as Venom sucked in the last film, Topher Grace had an ounce of that innate misery in his portrayal of Eddie Brock.

Well, perhaps we’ll see that again in Spider-Man 4 as Dylan Baker will be reprising his role as Dr. Connor. While we have yet to see his true villain side manifest as The Lizard in the films maybe it will finally happen. Collider reports:

“Baker joked with “Trick-r-Treat” writer/director Dougherty about his role in the film, with Dougherty saying that Baker’s character was “just appearing in the background” and that the possibility of the Lizard would just be “a cocktease for another year”. Baker apparently joined in the joking, but it’s unclear whether he was actually confirming a small role for Connors or if he was giving a wink and a nod.”

Come on Sam Raimi, give the fans what they want: The Lizard!  You’ve teased us for three films now, it’s time you gave Baker some green scaly skin and sharp fangs to do battle with Spider-Man. Perhaps more importantly, Baker fits the bill for that tragic quality I talked about above.

Speaking of actors that are due a real role in Spider-Man 4, Raimi confirmed that Bruce Campbell will also return for the film, “I promised him we would write something because I really love putting him in the pictures,” he told the network, adding, “I promised him a good meaty role.”

So, just what kind of “meaty role” do you give a guy who has played a different character in every film?  If Internet rumors hold any water Campbell could dawn the mask of Mysterio.  It would be a perfect role for Campbell when you consider the origins of the character (from Wikipedia):

“Debuting in Amazing Spider-Man #13, Mysterio is Quentin Beck, a special effects wizard and stunt man working for a major Hollywood studio with dreams of making a name for himself in the film industry. However, he came to see his career in special effects as a dead-end job, but realized that his expertise in illusions could make him an effective supervillain.”

Gee, a guy trying to make a name for himself in the film industry? Sure, Campbell is already a name in the industry, but this sounds like the perfect downtrodden character Campbell could really get into.  Here’s hoping this is one Internet rumor that will pan out.

Spider-Man 4 is set for a May 2011 release date.

Oscar winning actor Adrien Brody is joining the cast of Robert Rodriguez’s upcoming reboot of the Predator franchise, currently entitled Predators. The film, directed by Nimrod Antal, may also get another cast member soon, in the form of Topher Grace who’s currently in negotiation to join Brody in the cast.

In addition to Borday and potentially Grace, Rodriguez and company have already assembled a cast that includes Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The 4400), Walt Goggins (The Shield), Danny Trejo and UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov. In case you’re not familiar with the reboot’s story, written by Rodriguez, Alex Litvak and Michal Finch, it concerns a group of elite warrior-types who have the table turned on them when they become the hunted.

Once this happens, they must struggle to survive as a group of deadly Predators set about decimating their group. According to the trade, Brody ends up inheriting the mantle of leader and is known as a hunter of men. Grace would play an accountant-type whose meek nature masks a dangerous serial killer. Braga is the tough female killer.

Ali is a man not afraid to die, Goggins is the loose canon of the group and Taktarov is a former Russian special ops agent. Trejo, already cast, is Cuchillo, a hardened warrior with twin uzis strapped to his back. Of course he is.

Shooting begins next month in Hawaii then moves to Austin at Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios. Predators hits theaters on July 9, 2010.

Spider-Man 3 was not the greatest installment of the franchise. It seemed for every great moment there was an equally bad one. Take Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Venom (Topher Grace) for example. Sandman was a compelling character you could get behind. Venom was a gimmick, tacked onto the last third of the film. That isn’t to say Grace was not brilliant as Eddie Brock, he was, but Venom just felt forced into an already busy plot.

Worse yet was having not one, not two, but three nods to The Lizard throughout the franchise by Dr. Curt Connors (Dylan Baker) but that villain never emerged. What a waste. Whether you love or hate Venom, writer Paul Wernick confirmed that Sony is working on a Venom spin-off:

“We’ve written two drafts of Venom, and the studio has it, and they’re pushing forward in whatever ways they push forward.”.  Of course, this begs the question how will this relate to the upcoming Spider-Man 4.  Wernick provided a very vague response, “Basically, the studio and Marvel and the Arads are taking our drafts and going beyond and figuring out what’s the next step.”

There is a silver lining to this.  Paul Wernick, along with co-writer Rhett Reese, wrote the highly anticipated Zombieland film.  While I’ve only seen the previews the movie looks brilliant. If they can bring that same sense of humour mixed with prevailing dread to Venom, I for one think the film may just work. No other details at this point but you’ll find them here as they develop.