Whatever you do, don't throw Michael Mann's Heat (or God forbid, The Godfather II) into the DVD player prior to venturing off to your local theater to see Righteous Kill. Part of you might want to watch the film that last featured Robert De Niro and Al Pacino opposite one another to get you in the mood, but you'll surely be disappointed when the popcorn's run out and what you're watching on the big screen doesn't even belong in the same conversation as the film you just watched at home. That's because Righteous Kill is a predictable pile of pass me the paycheck, with both De Niro and Pacino phoning in a combination of past performances -- of men with tough, no-nonsense New York City exteriors and sly, slickly-delivered one-liners. This isn't the De Niro and Pacino of old ... it is, unfortunately, the older De Niro and Pacino.

Since Righteous Kill was written by Russell Gewirtz, there are definitely similarities between this and his last script, Inside Man -- both films are about men who do bad things for the good of the people. Righteous Kill opens with a voice-over from Detective Turk (De Niro) against some grainy, black-and-white video. Turk tells us he's killed 14 people during his years as an NYPD cop ("most people respect the badge ... everyone respects the gun"), but they were all lowlife thugs who deserved it. After some quick-yet-stylish (and somewhat annoying) cuts back and forth through time, we finally arrive at a pretty standard whodunnit with both Turk and his partner Rooster (Pacino) hot on the tail of a serial killer who leaves the equivalent of third-grade poetry with each of his victims. Roses are red, violets are blue ... I guessed all of Act III and so will you.

***NSFW WARNING: The F-bomb gets thrown around a bunch in this clip of "The End."***

There's an interesting rumor going around that Val Kilmer is teaming up with 50 Cent for a little music. According to Ace Showbiz, the actor stated in a recent interview that 50 Cent liked one of the songs he had written and said "I want to help." How much the pair (who recently worked on Microwave Park together) will collaborate on the tune remains to be seen, but it did get me thinking of old-school Kilmer.

Seventeen years ago, he pretty much morphed into Jim Morrison for Oliver Stone's take on The Doors. Above is a clip of Jim-Val singing "The End" and shocking everyone with his unabashed language. Aside from it being a great song, it's a good example of just how spot-on Kilmer was.

Last Rewind Answer: This time around, the majority got it right -- Jason Segel was the guy.

... and they say to the bartender, "Bet you never expected the three of us would team up on a film?" The bartender takes a good look at the three, goes back to cleaning a glass and replies, "Nah, I kinda expected it." Then Dylan McDermott, Brian Presley and Charles Winkler (son of Irwin Winkler) walk into the bar, and go, "Now what if we told you the three of us were involved too -- with Charles directing! And it's called Streets of Blood!" The bartender, tending to his glass, simply replies, "Nah, expected it." Fed up, Charles Winkler throws down his fist and shouts, "And it's gonna be a damn good film too!" Bartender drops his glass in a fit of laughter, looks up and cries, "Now THAT'S something I did not expect!" Everyone laughs and Erik will never become a comedian. The end.

Variety tells us the film centers on two cops dealing with "the lawlessness of New Orleans in the post-Katrina environment." Production begins next month. Another post-Katrina story, huh? Is it just me or is Hollywood really milking Hurricane Katrina? Perhaps I see more of it because I attend a lot of film festivals, and currently there are tons of Katrina docs and narratives on the fest circuit. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you, it just seems like a lot and we're getting close to overkill. This one, however, does sound like it has promise. Plus I've always wanted to see Kilmer, 50 Cent and Stone together in one film. Why not, right?

Some new images from the film Righteous Kill have popped up over at Collider, and we finally get our first look at Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and the legendary 50 Cent together ... in the same scene! Talk about a cinematic wet dream. And is it just me, or does Fitty look like he's about to drop a smackdown on poor Robbie D? And Pacino is all like, "You ain't no Raging Bull anymore buddy. Step off." And De Niro is like, "Step off? You tell this rapper-turned-wannabee actor to step off. I ain't steppin' off." And then Fitty is like, "I can, and will, tear you in two with my eyes."

Righteous Kill, which arrives in theaters on April 18, stars De Niro and Pacino (in their first on-screen pairing since Heat) as two New York City detectives on the hunt for a killer that may or may not be one of their own. Fitty? Wanna fess up to somethin' here? The flick also stars John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy and the ultra sexy (but not as popular as she should be) Carla Gugino, who you can see snuggling up to a very lucky De Niro in the photo below. I kid, but I actually think this film will turn out pretty good. Even if the plot covers the same old generic serial killer whodunit territory, how can it not be fun to watch this cast interact with one another? I'm definitely "game" (but don't mention that word around Fitty or else you're in for a world of pain).

I thought long and hard on whether we should post this because, frankly, this promotional trailer doesn't excite me too much. I thought, ya know, the actual official trailer will probably be so much better -- with more work put into it, better editing, better sound mixing, etc -- that we should save our time and energy for that. But ... I just couldn't do it. It's Pacino, De Niro ... 50 Cent ... I can't hold stuff like that back on you fine folks. That said, the peeps over at cinemanotize (could be a huge site, never heard of them until now) got their hands on what looks like a promotional trailer for Righteous Kill, the film we shared pictures of yesterday. Don't know where they got it, don't know whether it's supposed to be out there yet -- don't know jack. I do know that it's kind of like that promotional trailer for Valkyrie, only not as good.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching De Niro throw on his "Goodfellas" face at the end (shows the guy's still got a set; know what I mean), but the friggin' thing is so choppy and all over the place, it's hard to get a read on it. We fly from scene to scene (some from the film, some behind the scenes); several shots of Pacino, De Niro -- titles comes flying at us -- De Niro looks mad and it's over. And the titles? "Two Screen Legends ... Starring Together As Never Before." What do they mean by that? "As Never Before?" But they starred in Heat together. That was ... before, I think. And why do they have to keep making such a big friggin' deal about the Pacino/De Niro pairing? Can't they just go? Can't they just get on with it, produce a kickass movie and let us decide whether them starring together was a blessing or a gigantic mistake? I don't know ... what do you think? Maybe I'm just bitter.

[via Slashfilm]

Hmm, does this newly-released photo from the film Righteous Kill remind you of anything? A scene from another film, perhaps? One that starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro? Anyone? Anyone? Kilmer? Empire Online has the first batch of grainy stills (what's up with the quality?) from the flick Righteous Kill, starring "Say hello to my little friend" and "You talkin' to me" opposite one another for the first time since Heat. However, in this film they're on the same side, which means we'll get to look forward to tons of face-to-face "So, how much did they pay you for dis?" action.

In Righteous Kill, Pacino and De Niro star as two NYC police officers investigating a string of murders committed by a serial killer. Directed by John Avnet, and written by Inside Man's Russell Gewirtz, Righteous Kill also stars Carla Gugino (whose character has romantic ties to De Niro -- lucky old bastard!), 50 Cent, Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg (both of whom play fellow detectives). The film is currently in post production and no release date is set -- though I imagine we'll be seeing it hit theaters in March (maybe April) of next year ... I hope. Regardless of what people think about this film -- and what they think of the aging Pacino and De Niro -- I'm pretty stoked to watch both men together again on the big screen. How about you?

Ahem ........

Is it bad that part of me doesn't care whether Righteous Kill turns out to be the crummiest, most overly-hyped piece of garbage this side of the equator? Is it wrong for me to say that I'll probably enjoy it for the simple fact that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino will finally -- after all these years -- be able to share some quality screen time? And is it horrific of me to believe that these two guys could play hop-scotch for an hour and a half, and I'd still leave the theater with a smile on my face? Probably not, since I have a feeling a lot of you are in the same boat as I. I think. Yup, thanks to some dude named Sean Henri, we get a first look at De Niro and Pacino together on the set of Righteous Kill. As of now, Henri only has two pics up on his blog (although he does promise more), in which both De Niro and Pacino can be seen walking up to what appears to be an apartment door, as well as one showing them standing in front of a Tow Away Zone sign (which is the pic you see to the right of your screen -- click on it for a larger version, courtesy of Sean Henri).

Directed by Jon Avnet (who helmed the still-unreleased Pacino flick 88 Minutes), and written by Inside Man scribe Russell Gerwitz, Righteous Kill follows two veteran detectives (De Niro, Pacino) who team up to track down a serial killer. The film also stars John Leguizamo, 50 Cent, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy and the very adorable Carla Gugino (who I just happen to have a major crush on). Martin Scorsese is also rumored to have a cameo in the film as Lt. Winnfield, although nothing official was ever announced. But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he showed up for a brief scene just to have the opportunity to square off in a room against his old pal and a guy who, surprisingly, has never starred in one of his films. Go figure there, huh? Anyway, enjoy the pics and look out for Righteous Kill to hit theaters sometime next year.

[via JoBlo]

There you have it. Not only is Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino back together, making cinematic history but rapper 50 Cent might be wedged between them. The impending production of Righteous Kill has people more excited than Paris Hilton's release, but we'll have a long time to wait, since the script is sitll being dreamed up by Russel Gewirtz, who wrote Inside Man with the smokin' hot Denzel Washington and Clive Owen.

50 Cent's participation in the film is not yet finalized. According to Hollywood Reporter he is in "final negotiations" to co-star. If all contractual agreements run smoothly, 50 will portray a drug dealer who aids DeNiro and Pacino -- detectives who are working to track down a serial killer -- in finding their wanted person. I can't yet comment on 50 Cent as a casting choice since his only prior acting role was as a close-to-life character in Get Rich or Die Tryin' in 2005. Still, he has announced (not including Righteous Kill) three projects to be filmed in the coming months.

Gewirtz is known to be writing the script in such a way as to give Pacino and DeNiro as much on screen time together as possible. The two, in their prime, starred in The Godfather II and then in Heat in 1995. The latter was the only flim they've ever actually shared screen-time in, however. It's almost a joke that two of the greatest actors of our time have never shared more than a single scene on the big screen. Righteous Kill is expected to reach theatres in 2008.

Surely there was a way to capitalize on Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's recent automobile issues, and what better way to do so then to stick him behind the wheel in a new drag racing flick. Universal Pictures has tapped the rapper-turned-actor to star in Live Bet, to be helmed by Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Lozano. Mary Parent and Scott Stuber will produce along with G-Unit Films; they'll be working off a script originally written by brothers Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, but re-written by Chris Lighty Lozano and Tony Dalton. The latter has starred in two Lozano-directed films (Matando Cabos, Sultanes Del Sur), co-writing one and penning the other by himself.

Pic, which marks Lozano's English-language debut, covers familiar territory for the director. It's a heist film set in the world of underground clubs and illegal car racing; Lozano's other two feature films also revolve around a gang of young criminals who get wrapped up in a crime gone wrong. While Live Bet was originally set to take place in New York, the re-write has tacked on some additional cities such as Philadelphia and Las Vegas. Studio is eying a late summer production start. Producers Billy and Fernando Rovzar (who collaborated with Lozano on his break-out hit, Matando Cabos) have been brought on to exec produce. Even though Mexican talent is all the rage this year (sort of reminds me of that Latin explosion a few years back), assembling an all Mexican team is still somewhat of a risk for a major studio.

Personally, I welcome the new talent pool ... though I'd rather not shell out my heard-earned cash to watch 50 Cent in anything -- the guy has about as much personality as a rock, and he's more interesting to watch on the evening news than the big screen.

Fresh off his stint on the venerable soap General Hospital, and appearances in films such as End Game with Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Home of the Brave opposite super-hot Jessica Biel and my man Samuel L. Jackson, young up-and-comer Brian Presley is poised to land a new role -- starring with Robert De Niro and rapper 50 Cent in the thriller Microwave Park (which our own Erik wrote about before) -- at least according to a recent Production Weekly article.

The film, directed by Tim Hunter and scripted by Eugine Hess, centers on a cop (played by De Niro) who thinks his partner died during Hurricane Katrina. Later, he discovers this is false information and that his partner, a cop accused of corruption, was actually murdered. After he finds this out, De Niro's character decides to investigate the case even though his bosses are not very happy about it. To further complicate things, he's assigned a new partner (played by 50 Cent) and as the two begin to investigate, and decide if they can really trust each other, they soon find themselves neck-deep in a conspiracy that involves police corruption and even more murders.

As much as this sounds like a pretty interesting story, I just have to wonder about 50 Cent's acting ability. Sure, there are rappers who've successfully made the transition -- Will Smith, Ice Cube, Mos Def and Ludacris being prime examples -- but that doesn't mean every rapper needs to start an acting career. Unfortunately, after seeing 50 Cent's work in Get Rich or Die Tryin' I have to say that I don't hold out much hope -- after all, in that film, he had trouble playing himself. But hey, maybe he'll surprise us all. It could happen. Besides, whatever happens with 50 Cent, I'm sure it won't take away from the stellar work Brian Presley will do in the film -- and that De Niro isn't so bad either. Production on Microwave Park (or whatever it ends up being called) is set to begin on January 15th in New Orleans and Shreveport, LA.