Nothing fancy this week. I'm tossing darts at the latest trailers and writing up whichever ones I hit. Time now for a random sampling.

Righteous Kill
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino doing a cop movie together? Sounds like a license to print money. The last police drama I saw was the tepid We Own the Night which really soured me on a genre that has already been beaten to death on television, but the star power behind this one sets things at a whole new level (despite some of the uninspired comedies with which De Niro has padded his resume). Our two stars play a pair of world weary police detectives who have no sympathy for the scum who make a mockery of the justice system. Apparently they aren't the only ones who feel this way, because our heroes are soon on the trail of a vigilante killer. As with most teasers it's hard to get a feel for the movie. We get the basic idea of the plot followed by lots of quick cuts set to The Stones' "Sympathy For the Devil." I'm still probably going to see this, but more for who's in the film than what's in the trailer. Here's Monika's take on the trailer.

The Incredible Hulk
The onscreen representation of Marvel Comics' jade giant has come a long way. I first saw him as a crappily animated character who barely moved in the Marvel Superheroes animated series in the 1960s, then as a body builder wearing grease paint and green tights (easier than applying makeup to his shins, I suppose). And let's not forget the 80s animated incarnation whose clothes would magically reappear when he returned to human form. The all CGI version seen in Ang Lee's Hulk made many mistakes, but I think the biggest one was to make his face too sympathetic. The Hulk is not a superhero, people, he's a monster and should look like one. That problem appears to have been addressed in this latest incarnation. This is one badass Hulk, and his foe -- the equally gamma irradiated Abomination -- looks pretty cool too, though his head is tiny. I never thought Eric Bana had much screen presence, and what we see of Edward Norton as the new Bruce Banner has a lot more appeal.

Ok, ok: Vegas and gambling and cards are still totally trendy and hip. Or at least, studios hope they are, because just yesterday a deal was signed for another gambling-based movie, this one about poker (yes, just like Deal, which was announced last month). Unlike Deal, though, which is a story of a mentor and student, and their epic poker battle, this new film is a "family comedy" about a family that is compelled by life to go to Vegas and play Texas Hold 'Em. What happened, see, is that their eight-grade son somehow lost all of his sister's savings (The Hollywood Reporter goes out of its way to emphasize that the boy had good intentions -- there is no sibling malice allowed in family comedies), and the family has no choice but to gamble to get it back. Obviously. In that situation, what wholesome family wouldn't roadtrip to Vegas? And "learn the true meaning of family along the way?" It's a no-brainer.

Yuri Zeltser and Cary Bickley will write the screenplay for indie group Bristol Bay Productions.

I wondered last week whether the Vegas/poker frenzy that has been gripping the US was finally coming to its end - ratings are down for the endless tournaments on TV, and some are wondering about the effectiveness of new, poker-based advertising. I never came up with an answer, but since there is at least one more poker flick on its way, we need to add a small production company and their cast and crew to the list of those who are fervently hoping the answer is "no."

As far as I'm concerned, even if poker is dead in the water the film, entitled Deal, has a chance for one reason and one reason only: it stars Burt Reynolds. Oh hell yes. Disappointingly, however, the plot sounds incredibly cliched, not to mention exactly like the one that drove the trying-really-hard-but-incredibly-boring ESPN series, Tilt. In the movie, Reynold's character - an ex-gambler - "teaches a hot-shot college student how to 'play the player,' vs. just the cards." You'll be stunned, I'm sure, to learn that the two have a falling out which eventually finds them "competing against each other in the World Poker Tour championships." Shocking.

The film also stars Shannon Elizabeth and Charles Durning, and is expected to start shooting in New Orleans early next week.

According to this morning's Telegraph, "The board of Pixar Animation Studios, the digital animations company, is set to meet tomorrow to approve the company's $7 billion (£3.9 billion) takeover by Disney." As we reported earlier, the deal - if it goes through - would make Steve Jobs Disney's largest shareholder (not to mention about $3.5 billion richer. Yes. Bilion.). Though the web is now treating this as a done deal, John Frost at the Disney Blog is a voice of reason, pointing out that we can't be "certain that the boards will approve the deal" (though since Jobs holds 51% of Pixar stock, it'll probably get by that board pretty smoothly) until the results of the meetings are officially announced.

If/when this goes through, we'll update you on the final, mind-blowing terms of the deal.

As Karina explained a couple of weeks ago, in order to be able to pay the roughly $1.6 billion that Dreamworks cost them, Paramount knew they would have to sell off the rights to their new acquisition's rather substantial film library, a collection that includes such hits as American Beauty and Gladiator. There was talk in December that a deal was near, but no names were known, and that deal either fell through or stalled, because no further information ever appeared. Until now, that is.

According to a new Wall Street Journal report, Paramount is in discussions with a "private-equity fund" headed by billionaire investor/financier/philanthropist George Soros. Though a Paramount spokesperson refused to comment on the story, it's understood that the talks are exclusive, and that a deal needs to be done by the end of the month. No matter who buys the library, Paramount will "continue to garner a fee for distributing the films in the library," so that, in addition to the initial payment for rights, the Dreamworks films will also be a source of long-term income for Paramount.