Jessica Biel (pictured) will portray an ex-flame of Faceman’s, and Patrick Wilson of “Watchmen” will play a CIA operative. Also in the cast: Liam Neeson (Col. John “Hannibal” Smith), Bradley Cooper (Lt. Templeton “Face” Peck), and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (B.A. Baracas).

While the premise of director Joe Carnahan’s “A-Team” will still center on four war vets wrongly convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, the tone will be slicker and less silly than the TV series (which, frankly, won’t be too difficult).

Production has already begun in Vancouver, with a release date of June 2010. I’m trying to decide whether I’m excited about this movie or not. The TV show was so cheesy, it’s hard to imagine a feature film coming out of it.

Image: Pacific Coast News

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But this is a great collection to own if you’re a fan of the Little Rascals and that era. The five DVD set includes all 52 shorts from 1938 through 1942. You can buy it here for $34.95. Here’s a little clip:

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The movie is set in futuristic Metro City, where Astro Boy (voiced by Freddie Highmore) is a young robot created by a brilliant scientist named Tenma (Nicolas Cage). Powered by positive “blue” energy, Astro Boy has super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed, and the ability to fly.

The young robot goes on a search which eventually leads him back to Metro City to save everything he cares about. Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, and Eugene Levy are also featured in the movie. Check out the trailer and see what you think. The animation looks fantastic.

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• The Office, Season 1
• The Office, Season 4
• Top Chef, Season 5
• Psych, Season 3
• House, Season 4
• 30 Rock, Season 1
• Friday Night Lights, Season 3 (HD)
• Battlestar Galactica, Season 1 (HD)

And lots more! Check them all out here: $5 Season Specials on Amazon

Image: Amazon.com

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Free tickets are being distributed online for special IMAX showings of a 16-minute trailer for Fox’s upcoming 3D sci-fi flick "Avatar."

Ok, admittedly, this is more than just any old trailer. It’s an extended trailer with an intro by director James Cameron.

Still, I’m sure it’s someone’s way of trying to build buzz for a movie that’s not getting a lot of great pre-press. But who knows…

Anyway, free tickets will be distributed online starting Monday, Aug. 17, and the trailer will hit 101 IMAX venues in the U.S. and Canada starting Aug. 21. Visit the official "Avatar" site for theater info and other tidbits.

And if you’d just as soon see the trailer for free … well, the more conventional 2D and 3D "Avatar" trailers will also hit theaters on Aug. 21.

The movie arrives in theaters Dec. 18, 2009. Directed by James Cameron, it stars Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, and Zoe Saldana.

Images: TM and © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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Most excellent DVDs and Blu-ray discs are hitting store and cyber-shelves this week. Here’s the rundown of my faves:

Watchmen (Director’s Cut): Someone’s killing former superheroes! Read my review of this dark and gritty comic noir film starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, and Billy Crudup. [Buy DVD] [Buy Blu-ray]

Coraline. Dakota Fanning voices the main character in this animated story about a little girl who finds an alternative reality right in her own home. It’s a little scary for young ones, but ok for kids 12 and older. Read my review here. [Buy DVD] [Buy Blu-ray]

Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods – Final Cut. This isn’t a movie per se; it’s the feature-length pilot episode of "Stargate SG-1" that’s been remastered and re-cut by series Executive Producer Brad Wright. [Buy DVD]

The pilot stars Richard Dean Anderson as Jack O’Neill, leading a team on a mission to Abydos to defeat fierce warriors led by the vicious Ra.  With the threat of the brutal Goa’uld hanging over the galaxy, the team must succeed, or General Hammond (Don S. Davis) will unleash an apocalyptic solution!

Product Features: 

• New Edit with Never-Viewed Scenes
• New and Enhanced Visual Effects
• Revoiced Performance by Christopher Judge
• Original Score by Joel Goldsmith
• Special Features includes: Commentary by Co-Creator Brad Wright and Actor Richard Dean Anderson and "Back to the Beginning" Featurette

After the jump, check out three clips…

Making the Pyramid:

Creating the Puddles:

Entering the Stargate:

Image: Amazon.com

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“Astro Boy” began as a Japanese manga series and TV show first broadcast in Japan from 1963 to 1966. The story follows the adventures of a fictional robot named Astro Boy and lots of other fun characters, too.

The movie is set in futuristic Metro City, where Astro Boy (voiced by Freddie Highmore) is a young robot created by a brilliant scientist named Tenma (Nicolas Cage). Powered by positive “blue” energy, Astro Boy has super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed, and the ability to fly.

The young robot goes on a search which eventually leads him back to Metro City to save everything he cares about.

“Astro Boy” also features the voices of Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, and Eugene Levy.

Images: TM and © 2009 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Bradley Cooper has been rumored for a while to play Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck, originally played by Dirk Benedict in the NBC series helmed by Stephen J. Cannell.

Liam Neeson is in talks to take on the role of Col. John “Hannibal” Smith, played by George Peppard in the TV series. The roles of "Howling Mad" Murdock (originally Dwight Schultz) and "B.A." Baracus (Mr. T) are yet to be cast. Original writer Stephen Cannell is on board for the script, with Ridley Scott and Tony Scott producing.

Directed by Joe Carnahan (”Smokin’ Aces”) from a screenplay by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt (”Wanted”), the big-budget flick already has a June 11, 2010, release date.

I dunno … I guess I can see it, but they’re going to have to pull out all the stops on stunts and special effects to get my interest. We’ll see who they get for the remaining roles. That’s pretty cool that Stephen J. Cannell is onboard, though!

Image: Amazon.com

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Movie: Land of the Lost * Trailer * Images * Official Site	In Theaters: June 5, 2009
Runtime: 93 minutes	Directed by: Brad Silberling
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and for language, including a drug reference	Gecko Rating:

If you’ve seen the 1970s series on which “Land of the Lost” is based, you know it’s low-budget and cheesy. The movie has some cool special effects, but overall, the plot tries to re-create the cheesiness of the TV series. It doesn’t really succeed, which is saying something. Or saying nothing, take your pick. Still, the movie has a few moments that click.

Like the TV show, the movie tells what happens when three people are transported to a world of dinosaurs and pod people. Only instead of a scientist and two kids, it’s a scientist and two mismatched adults.

As washed-up scientist Dr. Rick Marshall, Will Ferrell delivers his usual goofy humor. Anna Friel plays Holly Cantrell, an admirer of Rick’s research with tachyons and time travel. And Danny McBride plays Will Stanton, a redneck trying to make a living doing tours of his cheesy (there’s that word again) man-made cave in the middle of the desert.

During one of the tours, the three are sucked into a space-time vortex thanks to Marshall’s makeshift time-travel machine. But instead of being sent back or forward in time, they’re sent sideways, to a place where past and history meet.

The result is a prehistoric world where dinosaurs and pterodactyls exist in a wasteland of half-buried buildings, bridges, and Big Boy statues. It’s not as apocalyptic as it might sound. There’s still clear-blue water in a motel swimming pool, and the rear-end of an aqua-green vintage car gleams in the sun at an old-fashioned drive-in movie theater.

Once the trio falls into this world, they have to figure out how to get back. Thankfully, they’re befriended by a primitive “monkey-boy” named Cha-Ka (Jorma Taccone), who helps them fend off ferocious dinosaurs and sparkly-green alien-looking characters.

All of this is reminiscent of the TV show, only kicked up several thousand notches in the special effects department. Even though the plot is seriously lacking, the CG effects are so real that you actually find yourself cheering when the travelers evade dinosaurs and successfully navigate a nest of dino-eggs.

And the homage to the TV show is there, too. Upon being sucked into the vortex, the travelers fall down a giant waterfall in their yellow raft, the “routine expedition” phrase comes up more than once, and the theme song is even sung at one point.

And if you’ve watched the TV show – marathons of which have been playing on TVLand – you’ve probably screamed at the TV about how stupid Cha-Ka is, and how the travelers would be better off if they ditched him. Yep, that comes up, too.

Anna Friel is ok as the female/love interest of Rick Marshall, but a more well-known sidekick like Justin Bartha or Jonah Hill might have fared better in the Danny McBride role.

All of that said, “Land of the Lost” does have some laugh-out-loud moments, including a scene involving Cher’s voice-distortion machine on “Believe” and a running joke about the song “I Hope I Get It” from “A Chorus Line.”

And the computer-generated effects are fantastic!

NOTE TO PARENTS: At first glance, “Land of the Lost” seems like it would be a kid’s movie. Rest assured, it’s not. It’s rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and for language, including a drug reference. Trust me, it’s all there, which is why I don’t recommend it for kids younger than 14.

Sex and nudity: A running joke involves Cha-Ka feeling up Holly’s breasts, and the sexual innuendoes are rampant, including scantily clad women and a male character saying “you may get wet” to a female character (double entendre). We also see Will Ferrell in his underwear, thought it’s more gross than sexual. A character douses himself in dinosaur urine to mask his scent, and someone is swallowed whole and excreted by a dinosaur.

Violence: It’s mostly of the comedic variety, including several scenes of peril involving dinosaur chases and pod people. A blood-sucking insect bites a character, causing the spot to swell up like a football (it made me cringe!). A character is torn to bits by dinosaurs, and we see a few severed limbs flying around.

Language: There’s a lot of profanity, including “Goddammit,” “God,” “boobs,” “damn,” “bitchslap,” “gay,” “ass-ton,” “pissed,” “bastard,” “s–tty,” “p—y,” “dong,” “asshole,” “crapballs,” “dick,” “Jesus,”  “tap that ass,” “son-of-a-bitch” and others.

Drugs: There’s a reference to marijuana, and one scene involves characters ingesting a narcotic substance, then listening to Jimi Hendrix, playing in a swimming pool, passing out in the sand, and suggesting that two male characters French kiss each other.

Images: © Universal Studios

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At any rate, I’m a “Star Trek” fan from way back, and it’s fun to see people take an interest in the TV shows. Personally, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is my favorite, although “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” is extremely underrated. Really, they’re all good in their own way.

Now we have two new sets out, released on DVD May 12, 2009:

The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series (1 disc, 201 minutes, buy it on Amazon). While this set only offers four episodes of the original series, they’re four of the best:

1) “The Trouble With Tribbles” brings those cute Tribbles to the Enterprise, showing that you can indeed have too much of a cute thing. Elsewhere, a barroom brawl with Klingons takes center stage.

2) In “The City on the Edge of Forever”, Kirk, Spock and McCoy are sent back to the 1930s to try and save the future. In the process, Kirk falls in love with Joan Collins!

3) “Balance of Terror” gives a first look at the Romulans and their awesome cloaking device. But these new enemies are a lot like the Vulcans, and the Enterprise crew starts to mistrust Spock.

4) In “Amok Time,” the usually logical Mr. Spock loses all emotional control when he returns home to Vulcan to consummate his arranged marriage. Somehow, it all boils down to a fight-to-the-death between Spock and Kirk.

The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1 disc, 181 minutes, buy it on Amazon). Again, only four episodes here, which probably aren’t enough to satisfy diehard fans, but they’re a good introduction for Star Trek: TNG newbies:

1) “Best of Both Worlds, Part 1” gives us our first look at the Borg and their ominous Cube. In my view, the Borg were way worse than the Romulans. Ok, maybe not worse, just a different sort of collective evil.

2) In “Best of Both Worlds, Part 2,” Riker takes over as captain, since Picard is still “assimilated” into the Borg world. Still, he manages to offer a single clue to the Enterprise crew: “Sleep.”

3) “Yesterday’s Enterprise” finds the crew dealing with a severe space-time continuum that takes the ship 22 years into the future. It’s one of the two episodes that features two different versions of the Enterprise.

4) “The Measure of a Man” brings home the question of whether Data is a man or just a robot. Picard fights for the former, and calls a hearing to prove it.

Images: Amazon.com

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