I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I have to say that whoever worked on the poster for Al Pacino's new thriller 88 Minutes did one heck of a job on photoshopping the 67-year-old actor -- the man doesn't look a day over 40. The Movie Insider now has the new poster for John Avnet's (Fried Green Tomatoes) film about a man who has the aforementioned 88 minutes to solve his own murder -- a plot that sounds a lot like the noir classic D.O.A, but with just enough differences to avoid a lawsuit.

Pacino plays Jack Gramm, a womanizing forensic psychiatrist and college professor. After testifying against a serial killer and putting him on death row, Gramm receives a phone call from the condemned killer, who tells him that he only has 88 minutes left to live. Gramm is then forced to re-visit the gruesome case in hopes of stopping a copycat and hopefully saving his own skin.

Joining Pacino are Leelee Sobieski, William Forsythe, Deborah Kara Unger, and Alicia Witt -- judging by the sheer number of chicks in the cast, I guess Pacino really is a ladies man in this flick. The script was written by Gary Scott Thompson, who was also the writer for 2 Fast 2 Furious and Hollow Man II. I have to be honest with you; those two credits alone are enough to make me think that this movie might not be up to Pacino's usual standards -- although lately it seems like those have been slipping ever so slightly as well. 88 Minutes hits theaters on April 18th.

One of the most ridiculous lawsuits I've ever seen come out of Hollywood is Frank Davis' claim that he was fired from the crew of 2 Fast 2 Furious because he's black. The assistant director, who had previously worked on Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Se7en and Next Friday, was officially canned by Universal because of "poor job performance," but Davis insisted that racial discrimination was the main reason he was let go. After five years of apparent unemployment, Davis' case, which was filed on his behalf by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, finally went to trial this month. On Thursday, a federal judge sided with the studio. Davis had already reached a confidential settlement with Universal, though, and it was likely only the EEOC that lost out. According to Nikki Finke, the main problem with both the EEOC's and Davis' claim was that 2 Fast 2 Furious director John Singleton sided with Universal on the issue.

Obviously. This is a movie that employed a black director, black stars (Tyrese Gibson; Ludacris), and I'd bet plenty of other black crew members. What next? Someone claims he was fired from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift for being Asian? I have to say one thing on Davis' behalf, though. Couldn't there have been some way for the assistant director to shape up and keep his job? He had filled the same position on many major productions for ten years and had even worked with Singleton on Baby Boy. Was his job performance really so terrible as to ruin his career? Personally, having seen 2 Fast 2 Furious, I think a lot more people should have been fired for poor job performance, especially Singleton, who was definitely not up to snuff on this one. And I haven't yet seen Paul Walker exhibit good job performance as an actor. Maybe Universal knows what I'm talking about and that's the reason they had to settle with Davis but not the EEOC.

The last time we heard about Luke Cage, back in February, director John Singleton (Boys n the Hood) said the comic adaptation is developing slowly because of the main character's skin color. Sure, such a statement makes little sense after the popularity of the Blade franchise, but then again, for every Blade movie, there's a Spawn or Steel or Meteor Man to make studios wary about black superheroes. Apparently, though, it may be even worse for a black superhero movie that also deals with black issues. Black Panther, which for years was said to be in the works with Wesley Snipes (before he became Blade), is another project that couldn't seem to get the greenlight, possibly because its main character deals with problems in Africa.

The person most rumored to play Luke Cage in Singleton's pic is Tyrese Gibson, and in a new interview to promote Transformers, the actor has confirmed that he's set to fill the character's shoes. He also says the movie is continuing development, with the script (by Ben Ramsey) currently in a rewrite stage. Gibson will be meeting with Singleton and others soon, though, to present the project to Sony and see if they can move forward. Personally I was hoping the project would add Cage's old partner Iron Fist in order to widen the appeal, but otherwise I'm excited about the progress, and I hope Sony is into what they have. Between his Shaft remake and 2 Fast 2 Furious, Singleton is losing a lot of credit as a good filmmaker, but if he can at least make a hit with Luke Cage, if not a great film, then he might be able to save himself from becoming a hero director for hire in the future.