The first time I came across a trailer for the Diane Lane/Thomas Jane/Mickey Rourke hitman thriller Killshot (only remaining on an AICN archive page and the errant DVD release), it was back in September of 2006. Since then, the Elmore Leonard adaptation has endured reshoots in January of 2007 and countless changes in release dates after that. Of course, there's also at least three test screening reviews that bring to light the entire removal of a character played by Johnny Knoxville from the film.

Now, not long after the Weinstein Company issued its latest round of supposed scheduling, Killshot's most recent date -- November 7, 2008 -- has been dashed away by this Los Angeles Times piece, and as pointed out, how does one struggle to release anything that John Madden, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack and Quentin Tarantino all had hands in at some point? How does one struggle to even sell off domestic distribution rights to a film with this cast and that crew? The obvious answer is, of course, that the film is a downright dud, though the general pedigree and harshest reviews seem to suggest that it's not a total turkey.

The best-case scenario at this point is that the film rides the awards buzz of Rourke's performance in December's The Wrestler as suggested and gets a theatrical release in the early winter dumping grounds (through the Weinsteins' Third Rail arm, I'd bet), while the worst-case scenario is the film being directly downgraded to the level of a Blockbuster-exclusive curio. We shall see...

The first trailer for Will Smith's new flick has just arrived online, and it's called Seven Pounds ... and it was directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness) ... and it definitely looks like one of them tear-jerkers. (For those obsessive, need-it-right-now folks, you can watch the trailer after the jump.) In the film, Smith plays a guy who's feeling guilty about mistakes he's made over the years, and so he decides to help change the lives of seven total strangers. In doing so, he winds up falling in love with one of the aforementioned strangers, played by Rosario Dawson. So here we have a movie about giving to others, it comes out December 19 (right in time for Christmas), and it stars our most precious A-list actor. Mmmm ... makes you just wanna wash it all down with a slice of apple pie.

Seven Pounds marks Big Willie's second trip to the multiplex this year, after first starring in the summer superhero action/adventure Hancock. A quick glance at his previous two films spots a similar pattern of action blockbuster and quiet drama -- and even though Smith will always guarantee you great numbers on opening weekend no matter the genre, one wonders which version of the man you all prefer? For ten bucks, would you rather spend it watching Will Smith kick ass on a $200 million budget, or would you prefer to spend the time with his gentler, Oscar-nominated side? Or, would you rather watch the man star in more straight-up comedies, a la Hitch?

How do you like your Will Smith?

Related: Fan Rant: Will Smith Needs to Play a Villain

When two people walk away from a high-speed car crash with nary a scratch on them, you know you're watching an action movie. When an innocent, ordinary citizen is suddenly thrust into the middle of a national security crisis, you know you're watching a paranoid conspiracy thriller. When both these conditions have been met, nothing makes much sense, and things go "boom!" every 8-10 minutes, you know you're watching Eagle Eye.

Re-teaming star Shia LaBeouf and director D.J. Caruso from last year's immensely popular, faux-Hitchcockian Disturbia, Eagle Eye, which had a special screening at Fantastic Fest with Caruso in attendance, might welcome comparisons to The Man Who Knew Too Much or The Wrong Man but is actually closer in spirit to The Net, Irwin Winkler's 1995 attempt to wrestle with identity theft and other perils of the information age. Like that movie, Eagle Eye exploits the all too common fear of technology, but shoves the premise way past common sense, positing a world in which an anonymous voice on a cell phone holds the power of life and death over complete strangers.

With this role, LaBeouf ascends definitively into the Hollywood firmament of stars. While this may be good news for his legion of young fans and his accountant, it's bad news for the moral possibilities of the character he plays. Looking like Seth Rogen's younger brother with a scruffy beard and threadbare clothes, Jerry Shaw is a prodigal son living on the cheap in Chicago. He's devastated when he learns that his twin brother has been killed in an accident, but reconciliation with his stern father (William Sadler) is impossible.

Have you seen the recently-released trailer for the animated Wonder Woman? If not, you can check it out above.

Firstly, I must admit that they certainly did a great job portraying Wonder Woman's toughness, although it's a bit tainted by the lone piece of dialogue in the trailer: "It's not polite to hit a lady." There's nothing to weaken the muscles of toughness like references to ladies and impoliteness. If they changed "lady" to "goddess," then I'd be good -- it would be a nice play on words.

Anyway, what really surprises me is that there's no dialogue, save for the above quote. Sure, it's important to show the action, but considering the voice talent connected to this project, I see no better way to get people interested. Keri Russell is Wonder Woman, Virginia Madsen is Hypolyta, Nathan Fillion is Steve Trevor, Alfred Molina is Ares, Oliver Platt is Hades, Rosario Dawson is Artemis, and David McCallum is Zeus.

Now that's the sales kicker for me. The feature will hit shelves in February of 2009.

Even though the inevitable backlash against Shia LaBeouf has already begun, you have to respect a guy who made his start in flicks like Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd and made his way to the coveted spot of Spielberg's go-to leading man. Plus, he has a way of making me enjoy films that I normally wouldn't plunk down my hard-earned dollars for. Trust me when I say that it took a lot of restraint not to throw things at the screen during Transformers, so, I really hand it to the guy. Hopefully some of that magic will rub off on the Dreamworks action thriller, Eagle Eye. JoBlo now has the first look at the poster and Mr. LaBeouf seems to really be working the 'intense look' this time around.

LaBeouf plays Jerry Shaw, a slacker who returns home after the mysterious death of his successful twin brother -- gee, do you think there will be a case of mistaken identities? Along with a single mother played by Michelle Monaghan, the two are framed as terrorists, and are threatened into becoming members of a cell plotting to assassinate a politician. Joining in on the fun are Rosario Dawson, and Billy Bob Thornton as the two government agents that are a step behind.

Eye reunites LaBeouf with Disturbia director, D.J. Caruso, in an action thriller that was originally on Spielberg's to-do list. Now that we got a better look at the film, the longer trailer helped ease some of my concerns that instead of Rear Window, Caruso and company were looking to rip-off North by Northwest this time around.

Eagle Eye hits theaters on September 26.

Finished with my jury responsibilities, I managed to check out some features. A favorite of mine was Chelsea on the Rocks, by Abel Ferrara (director of Bad Lieutenant and a terrific little mob flick called The Funeral). It's a documentary about the infamous Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, but it's far from traditional. There are lots of odd transitions and edits, the interviews are beyond casual (Ferrara says something along the lines of "No shit!" every ten seconds while listening to the stories of those living in the building), and there are some utterly ridiculous and unnecessary re-enactments of notorious events in the hotel's past (actors play Sid and Nancy, Janis Joplin, and assorted hangers-on). Truth be told, the whole thing was kind of a mess. But watching it felt a lot like spending a night in the hotel, and it's a ride I'm glad I took. I didn't learn a thing, but it brought me inside a place full of fascinating characters, a place I walked past countless times in Manhattan without a second thought.

When a movie shows up and takes a clear political stance, I find it's easier to judge its successes and / or shortcomings than when a flick dips a toe into the pool of social commentary and just waggles it around for a few minutes -- which probably explains why I both enjoyed and respected Mark Webber's Explicit Ills, an Altman-esque indie drama that has something to say about poverty, health care, and the importance of basic human kindness.

Brief, honest, and admirably to-the-point, Explicit Ills follows a group of seemingly unrelated South Philadelphia folks who try to lead normal, happy, anonymous lives -- but their station on the lower rung of the income scale means that even the most basic requirements remain frustratingly out-of-reach. (In one key scene, an excellent Rosario Dawson is denied asthma medicine for her sick little boy -- because she cannot afford the $55 price tag.) Alternate plot threads involve a pair of young druggies in love, a mega-clean couple who aim to open a health food store, and a cocky adolescent who (slowly) learns how to treat a lady.

Click on image above for full version.

Waiting outside the Explicit Ills premiere last night, the holy-smokin' Rosario Dawson walked up to say hello. Her and I go way back; she had a major crush on me back in the day (sparks just weren't there), and so we've kept in touch ever since. I wish. No, she's in the film and was hanging out right next to us prior to heading into the theater. Our friend Jason Whyte had his giant camera out, and he was gracious enough to snap these pics for us. So I called RD over and JW snapped away. I must say, in person Rosario is unbelievably beautiful. Ya know, they tend to rough her up in some films, but last night she was absolutely stunning. It's safe to say my group of renegade writers fell in love last night for the five minutes she was hanging by our sides. Check out one other pic of Rosario after the jump.

Photo credit: Jason Whyte

Another long day here in Austin ... but definitely a fun one. Went to see two films today: Mister Lonely and Explicit Ills. I was lukewarm on both films; the first was completely out there -- about a Michael Jackson impersonator who hooks up with a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, as well as a group of impersonators, who live out their days in a house -- together -- in the middle of nowhere. Shot beautifully, I still haven't quite wrapped my head around it, but it was peaceful, meditative and pretty. Four words: Werner Herzog is awesome. Explicit Ills, on the other hand, was a film starring folks like Rosario Dawson and Paul Dano (who's nabbed top billing even though he appears in all of about seven minutes of the flick), and it jumps between several different "urban" stories -- some more developed than others. There's a message there about poverty and health care (I half-expected the film to fade to black with a message to vote for Hilary Clinton), but parts of it were daunting, while Mark Webber did a heckuva good job behind the camera.

From there, I headed over to this party for the film Bi the Way -- a party which took place outside on some sort of hippie commune. I kid you not; there were campfires, face painting and burlesque dancers (who deserve major kudos for taking off their tops in the freezing cold). At one point during the party, this girl walks up to me and goes, "Hey, you interviewed me in Berlin!" I turned and it was none other than the very awesome Jess Weixler (who starred in Teeth) -- apparently she was there hanging with filmmaker Joe Swanberg (whose Nights and Weekends premieres here tomorrow night). I told Jess that I couldn't believe she remembered an idiot like me, but she did ... and we chatted until Joe pulled her away. Great girl, great actress ... and I wouldn't be surprised if she showed up in the next Swanberg film. (But you didn't hear that from me ....)

Finally made my way back to the hotel, and as I was getting in the elevator Seann William Scott was getting out. He's here (I imagine) promoting his new film The Promotion, which also screens tomorrow night. I almost yelled "Stifler!" but unfortunately I was way too tired. Good times, we'll catch you on the flip side.

Oh crap. I just realized it's time to turn the clocks ahead. Thank God -- I actually thought I blacked out for an hour. Phew.

Chalk up another missed opportunity for Lindsay Lohan, as it now appears the gal will not be starring in the upcoming flick Poor Things, no matter what Shirley MacLaine tells us. Lohan originally dropped out last year when she was admitted to rehab (first or second trip for her, I forget?), and now according to The Hollywood Reporter, they're looking at Brittany Murphy as a possible replacement. I say 'looking at' because negotiations with Murphy haven't even begun yet; she's just one actress they're eying for the role. Poor Things also has a new director in Scott Marshall (Blonde Ambition), who replaces Ash Baron-Cohen after the dude dropped out over "creative differences."

Poor Things tells the story of two female con artists who befriend and then murder homeless men for their insurance policies. Sounds interesting enough, although I never knew the homeless were known for their phenomenal insurance policies. The film already stars Shirley MacLaine and Olympia Dukakis (as the two female con artists, I believe), as well as Rosario Dawson and Channing Tatum. HR also says that Murphy was cast in Sin City 2; a project we haven't heard much about as of late. I assume she'll be reprising her role from the first film. No word on when Poor Things will finally go into production, but we'll let you know.