When Kimberly Peirce gave us Boys Don't Cry, it was a critical explosion. She came, she moved us, and Hilary Swank came out of it with an Oscar. The film raised our expectations, and they rested there as Peirce moved out of the spotlight and worked behind the camera. The wait lasted almost a decade, but after nine years, she was finally back with Stop Loss -- another film in the cinematic, Iraq War whirlwind. While it was destined to fall under the weight of Iraq apathy, it was another example of Peirce's commitment to personal stories.

Stop Loss is the fictional account of a real problem: over a hundred thousand soldiers have been denied release when their time in Iraq is up. Instead of best wishes, they're sent back to Iraq, and life beyond the war's struggles becomes a distant, vague hope, rather than a present reality. Ryan Phillipe stars as Sgt. Brandon King, a man who is headed towards the end of his time in Iraq, or so he thinks. First, his unit is tricked and attacked. He loses some of his men, and struggles with the realities of warfare -- dead friends, and the fact that no matter how hard you try, innocent people will fall in the fight.

I'm frankly surprised that Lasse Hallström hadn't tried his hand at a Nicholas Sparks adaptation before now. Sparks' middlebrow weepies (so far we've gotten Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember and The Notebook) are perfectly suited for Hallström's slick, crowd-pleaser style and his prestige-picture tastes. Hallström and the producers of the forthcoming Dear John have clearly realized this, as the director has signed on for the film, which starts shooting in December.

Dear John is like every Nicholas Sparks plot rolled into one, with a shamelessly sentimental treatment of 9/11 thrown in for good measure. It's about a rebellious kid (played by Channing Tatum in the film) who joins the army for lack of anything better to do, but falls in love with a family-oriented college student while on leave in North Carolina. He decides that after his tour of duty is over he'll settle down and start a family with his new love, but September 11th gums up their plans and he has to choose between love and country.

Hallström is currently wrapping up Hachiko: A Dog's Story, where Richard Gere plays a college professor who takes in an abandoned dog. And Sparks is responsible for this fall's Nights in Rodanthe, starring Gere and Diane Lane, about a love affair between an unhappily married woman and a doctor trying to reconcile with his estranged son. I think I just swooned a little bit.

UPDATE: Check out all G.I. Joe images in our brand spanking new gallery!

Above: Lost star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty, who serves as the G.I. Joe Team's heavy ordnance specialist with a passion for classical guitars and Bach. He is described as being unafraid of any situation despite heavy enemy fire. (for a larger look, head over to Coming Soon).

Paramount has released a crop of new photos from the upcoming live-action G.I. Joe flick; most of which appear to be different from those that leaked online not long ago. This seems to be a pretty easy film to market -- there's, like, 250 characters to eventually show us, and so they may as well unveil them a little at a time. Still not crazy about this whole special-ops look, but what can you do. Who's not in this film? I'd love to list the entire cast (which also includes folks like Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller and Dennis Quaid), but I think my fingers will go numb. There's a lot of folks in this thing; trust me. After the jump, check out the three other photos, as well as a little bit of info via our good friend Mr. Wiki.

G.I. Joe is due out in theaters on August 7, 2009.

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Above: Ray Park as Snake Eyes in G.I. Joe

[Note: Other images removed at the request of the studio ... but picture a bunch of actors wearing black and looking tough.]

We're not sure if they were hoping to release these one at a time, but the website [Bad People Who Leak Photos Online] has gotten their hands on the entire batch of character photos from the upcoming live-action G.I. Joe flick. Included in the images are Channing Tatum (as Duke), Karolina Kurkova (as Cover Girl), Marlon Wayans (as Ripcord), Sienna Miller (as Baroness), Ray Park (as Snake Eyes), Rachel Nichols (as Scarlett) and Dennis Quaid (as Hawk). Almost all of them are wearing this same black, special-ops outfit, which leads us to believe they won't be showin' off the color when it's time to do battle.

G.I. Joe arrives in theaters on August 7, 2009.

With the news that Battle in Seattle will open the Seattle International Film Festival, and coverage of the recent Olympic protests on every channel, it couldn't be a better time to release the trailer for the protest drama. Movieset is currently hosting the full trailer for the film set during the infamous World Trade Organization riots in Seattle in 1999.

In 1999, the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened in Seattle, Washington for a global trade negotiation conference. Before anyone knew what had happened, over 40,000 protesters had amassed outside the conference buildings and the anti-globalization group, Direct Action Network, had total control over downtown intersections. Unfortunately, the protests erupted into violence and a state of emergency pitted demonstrators against the National Guard and local police.

Stuart Townsend's directorial debut has a huge cast including Ray Liotta, Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, Martin Henderson, Channing Tatum, André Benjamin, and Woody Harrelson. Judging by Eric's SXSW review it doesn't look like all that star power has helped the film all that much. Battle was originally scheduled to be released in March, but has been moved back to September. It makes much more sense to release this kind of 'earnest' political drama when everyone is finished with summer popcorn flicks and are ready for something with just a little substance, however heavy-handed it might be.

[via Coming Soon]

If you were hankering for more details about the big-screen G.I. Joe, then today is your lucky day, because Hasbro's Brian Goldner is feeling chatty. MTV news spoke with G.I. Joe's executive producer and managed to score some important details about the feature film. Goldner is chief operating officer at Hasbro, and was responsible for releasing Joe back in the 80's to millions of military-minded children everywhere.

First up -- what the filmmakers have in store for main bad guy, Cobra Commander. According to Goldner: "In effect, this is all about the rise of Cobra Commander. ... For fans, they're really going to love this, because we take them on a journey. ... We have to go through the first chapter and then build from there." Rumors currently have Joseph Gordon-Levitt taking over the role of Cobra, but that has yet to be confirmed.

But it's not just about the bad-guys. Goldner also hinted about some new back-story on some of the more familiar characters, including Baroness (played by Sienna Miller) and Destro (Christopher Eccleston). As for the 'rah-rah military' tone of earlier incarnations of Joe, Goldner says that while the original feel, will still be there, we shouldn't start looking for any metaphors about global politics or foreign policy. According to Goldner: "Clearly, the American military is involved, as are other forces. But at the end of the day, the force that matters is the G.I. Joe force, and the Pit, and all the things that relate to that."

Now, what would a G.I. Joe movie be without the toy tie in? Goldner confirmed that Hasbro will revive the 3 and 3/4 inch figures from the 80's. "[That size] gives people a chance to get all the figures but get all of the vehicles. So it's going to be in that scale. ... Very true to where we were in the 1980s, and then we'll take it forward" -- gee I can't wait for my Marlon Wayans figure with kung-fu grip. G.I. Joe is set for release on August 7th, 2009.

My goodness, it seems like everywhere you turn somebody else is signing up for the big-screen adaptation of G.I. Joe. Variety reports that Dennis Quaid has now signed to star as General Hawk. You know, your typical 'grizzled' military man. He's probably going to have a cigar chomped in his teeth for three-quarters of the film. The news came on the heels of official word that Channing Tatum had been hired to play Duke; the second in command of the elite team with 'kung-fu grip'. Yesterday, Erik had also reported that Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) will be playing Zartan, but so far there is no official word.

It looks like Quaid is technically one of the biggest name stars in the cast, which includes Marlon Wayans as Ripcord and Sienna Miller as The Baroness. Some of the other 'Joe' characters who will be making an appearance are Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who will play Heavy Duty, Byung-hun Lee as Storm shadow, Ray Park as Snake Eyes, and Said Taghmaoui as Breaker.

So far, there aren't many details about the plot, but what we do know is that Stuart Beattie's script will focus on "A European-based military unit known as Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity (G.I.J.O.E.), a hi-tech, international force of special operatives that takes on an evil organization led by a notorious arms dealer". There are still a few more spots to fill, but it looks like director Stephen Sommers has almost finished assembling his team. Just in time too, since the film is scheduled to start shooting next month. G.I. Joe is scheduled for release on August 7th, 2009.

UPDATE: IESB now says that David Murray (a theater actor, apparently) has landed the role of Destro in G.I. Joe. Destro is the main villain in the film, and is described as the "faceless power behind Military Armaments Research System, the largest manufacturer of state-of-the-art weaponry."

Well, it looks like we might finally have our next Real American Hero. Ain't it Cool News is reporting that Channing Tatum (star of She's the Man and Step Up) has signed to play Duke in the feature film version of Hasbro's iconic military men, G.I. Joe. News that Tatum was in the running for the part first sprung up on Latino Review, but AICN claims that they now have word that it's a done deal and Tatum will be playing the second in command for Team Joe.

G.I. Joe will be directed by The Mummy's Stephen Sommers, and while some of the details have been tinkered with ever so slightly in Stuart Beattie's script, for the most part it looks like fans will be getting the Joes they know and love. Just last week, some plot spoilers were leaked, so if you can't wait, you can check that out here. So far, the cast includes Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (LOST), Said Taghmaoui (The Kite Runner), Sienna Miller as The Baroness, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marlon Wayans -- and I don't think I'm alone in thinking that this is one eclectic cast to say the least.

If it's true, this will be a big role for Tatum, who so far has starred in some pretty crappy teen fare. Tatum's career is on an upswing lately, and has the upcoming Iraq drama Stop Loss hitting theaters this year, as well as a role in Michael Mann's Dillinger film, Public Enemies, with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. G.I. Joe is set to start shooting in Los Angeles in the next month, so we should get some official word soon.

MTV Movies Blog has the brand new poster for Stop-Loss, the upcoming film from director Kimberly Peirce. Outside of an episode of The L Word, Peirce hasn't directed anything since her highly acclaimed 1999 feature debut Boys Don't Cry -- the film that won Hilary Swank her first Oscar. The script for Stop-Loss was written by Peirce and Mark Richard (Huff), and the film stars Ryan Phillippe (whom I had never liked until last year's excellent Breach), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (one of the best young actors working -- see Brick, Mysterious Skin, and The Lookout!), and Channing Tatum (I intentionally missed Step Up, but he was great in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints).

Stop-Loss deals with soldiers who are "stop-lossed," meaning they are ordered to return to combat, even though they have completed their enlistment contracts. Phillippe plays a soldier who stands up to the government and refuses to return to battle. It is an MTV Films production, and the poster plays up the cast's beefcake angle, making the film look like Dawson's Creek Goes to Iraq. But I have a feeling it's going to be much better than that. I've been waiting to see another film from Peirce for a long while, and the trailer gives me goose bumps every time I see it. Stop-Loss is set for release on March 28th.

So much for all those casting updates for (and comments asking about how to get cast in) Pinkville, Oliver Stone's latest Vietnam war movie. Thanks to the writer's strike, the movie is now delayed indefinitely, according to Variety. United Artists put the stop on the production because both Stone and Pinkville screenwriter Mikko Alanne are members of the WGA, and more script-tuning is needed. Apparently the film is fully written, but there were expectations that things would be changed while filming is taking place -- something Stone is known for -- and that's not allowed to happen during the strike. The movie now joins Angels & Demons (aka The Da Vinci Code 2), which was the first major feature to be delayed because of the strike. Yet unlike that higher-profile film, Pinkville may not be easily started when the strike is over. There are now possibilities the cast will change or that United Artists will be less interested in doing such a serious picture right off the disappointment of Lions for Lambs.

It will be a shame if Pinkville is on hold for too long. And it will be too bad if the ensemble cast is broken up. Just last week I was getting all excited for Michael Pitt. Before that, I was already into the group of actors brought together: Bruce Willis, Woody Harrelson, Channing Tatum, Michael Peña and Xzibit (plus Toby Jones, who was announced with Pitt). However, with rescheduling now there may be a chance that Sean Penn could come back to the film, as he was originally reported to be attached.

The cast and crew was set to begin shooting in a few weeks in Thailand, so now obviously there are a lot of people out of work who are likely praying for the strike to end asap. Once given a new greenlight, Pinkville will be Stone's fourth feature film to deal directly with the Vietnam war, following Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven and Earth (unless he somehow squeezes another in before this one -- who knows how long UA will keep this on hiatus?). This time Stone is focusing on the terrible My Lai Massacre and the trial of the U.S. soldiers involved.

Oddly enough, The Hollywood Reporter has two new casting announcements today, despite Friday's announcement from UA. Jason Behr (The Grudge) is set to play Lt. Stephen Brooks, commanding officer at My Lai, and Cam Gigandet (Who's Your Caddy?) is cast as guilt-ridden soldier Fred Widmar.

I've been waiting for Michael Pitt to break out big for years now -- ever since Murder By Numbers, I think (he was noteworthy a year earlier in both Bully and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but not quite as promising). He still has a chance, especially if he takes the part of Lt. William Calley in Oliver Stone's Pinkville. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's currently in talks for the role, and if he's smart he'll just go ahead and grab it. Calley is the central figure in the Vietnam war film, which deals with the investigation into the 1968 Mai Lai Massacre; the Army officer was the one found guilty of giving the orders that sparked the incident. Pitt would join an ensemble cast that already includes Bruce Willis (or as I like to call him, Bruce Billis), Channing Tatum (another young actor continually teetering on the verge of stardom), Michael Peña (previously seen in Stone's World Trade Center), Woody Harrelson and Xzibit, who just joined on this week. Also joining the film is Toby Jones (Infamous), who will portray Lt. Andre Feher, the chief warrant officer who tries to convince Willis' character, Gen. William Peers, that the U.S. Army is responsible for the massacre.

With Pinkville, Pitt would be sure to make up for the mediocre year he's had. Between starring in Tom DiCillo's embarrassingly awful Delirious and the apparently abysmal Silk (it has an astonishingly sad 8% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes), the actor has been really struggling to get his due notice. He does have other intriguing projects in the pipeline, however; next year he can be seen co-starring in Michael Haneke's Funny Games U.S., a remake of the filmmaker's own earlier work, and he's set to star as a young Christopher Walken (sorta) in Abel Ferrara's King of New York prequel, Pericle il Nero. It seems that Pitt might prefer working outside of Hollywood, but the guy should at least do a good ensemble piece every now and then, and there's not many better Hollywood directors he could work with than Stone.

Cinematical was lucky enough to visit the set of Fighting last night in New York City, where Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard were shooting scenes for the new drama directed by Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints). It was a night shoot, and so this writer didn't leave the set until close to one in the morning (which was their lunch!), but before I bounced home to my bed, I managed to speak with Tatum for a bit about the role, and other -- more superhero-ish stuff -- that might be in store for the actor down the line. Of course, the first thing we were wondering was whether Tatum was among those who auditioned for the new Justice League of America movie.

Has he been approached to play any superhero roles? Tatum said, "Yeah, yeah, I mean a few, a few -- I don't know, I just can't quite see myself as that yet. I like that, and eventually one day I'd like to do it; I just don't want to do it yet." Did he audition for any of the Justice League roles? "No, none of the Justice League. The only superhero I've ever auditioned for was Gambit, for the third X-Men. They ended up pulling the character out of the movie. I don't know, someone told me about a crazy He-Man thing -- I don't know, I can't quite figure it out. I need to really want it. I can only go after something that I really want bad."

Tatum also revealed that there is one superhero-ish project that he is working on: "There is a hero thing that I'm actually producing. It's called Plucker. It's a graphic novel by Brom, and I got it set up at Temple Hill, and it's now set up at New Line -- it's going to be a crazy sort of fantastical story about a jack-in-the-box that saves this boy. It's a weird, sort of darker, trippier version of Toy Story." When asked if it would be animated or live action, Tatum replied, "I don't know, we have to find a director that has a vision for it first."

Could you see Channing Tatum in any superhero roles? If so, which ones?

With a title like The Plucker, there are a few routes this could take. The flick could be a feel-good tale about a struggling esthetician whose day feels meaningless as she plucks the errant hairs of the masses, but finds life at night as a professional dancer. (If she can be a welder, why not a plucker?) The movie could also be the story of some person who spends their days plucking the missed feathers off of Thanksgiving turkeys. Or, maybe it's the anthropomorphic quest of a pair of tweezers? Or, none of the above.

Variety reports that New Line bought themselves the rights to The Plucker, an illustrated novel by Brom that came out a few years ago. This isn't the story of some tweezers, but instead, a jack-in-the-box. The toy "awakens beneath its owner's bed and realizes it has been relegated to a place where undesired playthings go to die. There, he discovers the Plucker, a malevolent spirit from a mysterious new toy that has evil designs on the young owner of the toys." According to Amazon, this weird toy is a spirit doll. Obviously, this is not quite what I was thinking.

Brom is an artist who has worked on films like Ghosts of Mars and Scooby-Doo, so chances are he will continue to be involved with the project, but as of yet, no director or writer are attached. Channing Tatum's name is, however, linked to the film because he brought the book to Temple Hill Entertainment.

First, there was Platoon, the 4-Oscar winner classic about the horrors of war. Then there was Born on the Fourth of July -- a double Oscar winner about the life of paralyzed Vietnam vet Ron Kovic. Finally, there was Heaven & Earth, a Golden Globe winner about the true story of a Vietnamese girl struggling during and after the war. Now Variety is reporting that after almost fifteen years, Oliver Stone is heading back to Vietnam -- and he's taking the Live Free or Die Hard Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum (who just completed an Iraq film called Stop Loss) with him.

This time around, the flick is called Pinkville, and it's an upper of a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai massacre -- the mass murder of hundreds of defenseless Vietnamese people -- mostly women and children. (Some of whom were also tortured and mutilated.) Willis will calm his adventurous ways down a bit and play Army General William R. Peers, who supervised the investigation into the massacre, and Tatum will play defiant hero Hugh Thompson. Thompson was a helicopter pilot who spotted what was happening and landed his copter between the soldiers and remaining villagers before airlifting the remaining people to safety and reporting the atrocity. (Which, of course, didn't make him too popular amongst his fellow US forces.) We might also see a young Colin Powell, who was involved in the investigation of a letter from another soldier.

The script was written by Mikko Alanne, and will be his first feature film -- he previously penned a number of short films and most recently wrote Notorious, about the murders of Tupac and Biggie Smalls. The feature will go into production next year, and I'm sure that it is going to rile up a bunch of people. While it's a true story, there will be those war tensions to deal with, but it's not like that would deter Stone.

Here is your next interracial action buddy duo: Channing Tatum and Columbus Short. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the two young actors have been cast in an untitled movie for Columbia Pictures, and as usual the plot is being kept a secret. However, I'm sure you can guess the basic premise -- white guy and black guy are partnered against their will in order to thwart some type of crime, perhaps? They could be cops, they could be cons, they could be anything as long as they hate each other at first and then learn to work well together by film's end. Hopefully they aren't an ice cream man and a convenience store clerk, though, because we all know how the careers of Skeet Ulrich and Cuba Gooding Jr. went following the release of Chill Factor. The script for Tatum and Short's film was written by David Elliot and Paul Lovett, who worked together on Four Brothers. Neal Moritz, who gave us the buddy action pic Blue Streak, as well as the Fast and the Furious trilogy, is producing.

I'm excited about the possibility of this movie furthering Tatum's rise as a star. The first thing I saw him in was actuallly She's the Man, and I immediately recognized a talent not usually present in the guys cast as the love interest for that kind of movie -- pretty boys like Oliver James (What a Girl Wants; Raise Your Voice), Chad Michael Murray (Freaky Friday; A Cinderella Story), Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls) and Matt Long (Sydney White) are a dime a dozen, and acting range isn't a job requirement. Next I saw Tatum in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, and I was completely sold on his possible future in Hollywood. For much of America, though, it was Step Up, which I haven't seen, that made him a familiar face. Coming up, the guy has at least two high profile movies set for release by early 2008 and he's got 4 projects in development, including a Step Up sequel.

As for Short, well, I must admit I haven't really seen him in anything. He and Tatum both appeared in War of the Worlds, but each was in a bit part and I certainly don't recognize him from that. Films he's starred in that you might have seen include Accepted, Stomp the Yard and Save the Last Dance 2. This fall he appears in This Christmas and next year he'll be seen opposite Kate Beckinsdale in Whiteout.