There's nothing like a good movie poster to pump up your Monday after weekend shenanigans and hours of Oscar coverage. Over to the right, you can see the poster for La Linea. MoviesOnline says that an anonymous scooper sent them the image, and I'm betting that they got it over at IMDb. Whatever the case, it's looking just as sweet as it sounds.

I first blogged about the movie back in September. While it isn't a recreation of that animated line drawing, it is a new drug movie that has one hell of a cast. Ray Liotta stars as Mark Shields, a veteran assassin who is hunting down Pelon (Esai Morales), the head of the Salazar Cartel, while also getting close to a local gal named Olivia (Valerie Cruz). Set in Tijuana, the film has got these men to back up the action: Andy Garcia, Armand Assante, Bruce Davison, the Machete himself, Danny Trejo, and last but certainly not least -- Joe Morton.

The movie is set to hit screens this October, and I imagine that we'll get a trailer soon. Or, at least, I hope so. Every time my eyes read "Welcome to Tijuana" on that poster, I get a head full of Al Pacino following that line up with: "Say hello to my little friend." Whether it will actually be comparable to Scarface, we'll have to wait and see.

Having ranted my fingers off under a coffee high over some Jessica Simpson/Grease casting rumors, I'm going to try and calm down with some less-incendiary casting nibbles from Variety:

• Ugly Betty co-star Vanessa Williams has signed on for a role in Paramount Pictures' NowhereLand. Unfortunately, there's no word on who she will play, although IMDb says her character is called Lori Struthers, but that doesn't help too much. The film, which has Eddie Murphy dipping into his daughter's fantasy world to fix his work issues, already has Nicole Ari Parker signed on for his estranged wife. The flick is currently filming, so we'll probably hear lots more about it soon enough.
• He's been Spawn. He voiced Doomsday in one Justice League series, and the Green Lantern in another. He's currently taking a stab as Gamble in The Dark Night, and now Michael Jai White has also signed on to star in an indie action movie called Blood and Bone. While it's got a 2007 date over at IMDb, Variety says that it has just started lensing in LA. I guess he's already finished shooting his part of the latest Batman then. Whatever the case, he might just be an example how how you can do hero projects over and over without having to stick to just one.
• Finally, there's a new role on the way for Jordi Vilasuso, who you might have caught in his stint as Tony Santos on The Guiding Light, or Eddie Zarouvian in Fashion House. Now the actor has signed on to play Diablo in La Linea. That's the picture I told you about in September that already has guys like Danny Trejo, Joe Morton, and Ray Liotta. Centering on assassins, drug cartels, and Tijuana, Vilasuso's character is a "homosexual drug lord." That's gotta be tough with all the testosterone surrounding this pic.

First, I must disappoint some of you by warning: This film is NOT some strange remake of the classic line-animation La Linea. Remember that? It's the cartoon about a line that becomes a little guy who walks around, often walking into things and always either making requests of the artist, or yelling at him for something. While we won't see a big line on the big screen, this new La Linea incarnation is looking like it's worth the time. The Hollywood Reporter posted that Ray Liotta has signed on to star in the crime drama with Esai Morales and Valerie Cruz, and they've got one heck of an ensemble cast in final talks. There's two of my favorite actors, Joe Morton and Danny Trejo, as well as Armand Assante, Kevin Cage (the porn star, or did THR typo?), and Jason Connery. Plus: Andy Garcia is in early talks for a small role.

The film, loosely-based on the Arellano Felix drug cartel, is about a lieutenant of a drug cartel (Morales) who takes over business and becomes a loose cannon. (Garcia would play the ill kingpin of the cartel.) An LA-based assassin, played by Liotta, is hired to kill him. Cruz, meanwhile, will play a woman named Olivia, who is a meth addict in Tijuana trying to get clean for her kid -- how she fits into the rest remains to be seen. The feature was written by R. Ellis Frazier, who is also producing with Geoffrey Ross, and will be directed by James Cotten. Production is scheduled to begin next month in LA and Tijuana.