That was one of the things that the producers of Pan said right before they inked Aaron Eckhart, AnnaSophia Robb, and Sean Bean. If you are anything like me and trying to immediately match these actors with the familiar roles, take a deep breath. The project is a re-imagining of the story in a very literal sense. According to this Screen Daily article, Eckhart will play Hook, “a tormented former detective on the trail of a childlike kidnapper.” Robb will play Wendy, the lone survivor of the kidnapper who aids in Hook’s pursuit. Sean Bean will be playing Smee, the only man Hook trusts on the force.

Hmmm. A childlike kidnapper sounds like it might just be the Peter Pan role. These producers just stepped on a steaming pile of “gritty” with this one. It will still be less than the Sandy Duncan version, though.

Guillermo del Toro, unsurprisingly, was originally set to direct this, but, in typical del Toro fashion, his eyes were bigger than his stomach and he found like three other projects he could use to freak people out. Ben Hibon, who is best known for crafting the animation sequence in Harry Party and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1, will be taking over helming duties.

“In the 1970s-set story, two crooks (Eckhart and Harris) flee to Baja, Mexico, after a robbery in a San Diego convenience store goes bad. There they encounter several American women, and they find themselves torn between the impulse to grift the ladies and romance them.”

The script was written by LaBute years ago, and definitely seems to be classic LaBute. Now it’s time for an obligatory reference to LaBute’s Wicker Man remake: Wouldn’t it be funny if The Geography of Hope featured Aaron Eckhart getting attacked by bees? (LA Times)

Bond smokeshow Olga Kurylenko has joined Eckhart in the CIA thriller Expatriate. Eckhart stars as a former agent who moves to Belgium to reconnect with his fifteen-year old daughter. He becomes the security head for a multinational corporation only to discover the corporation is fake and he needs to run for his life. Kurylenko will play his really hot former partner. Like really, really hot. (Variety)

“‘The Rum Diary’ tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Depp). Tired of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local San Juan newspaper run by the downtrodden editor Lotterman (Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked lifestyle of the late ‘50s version of Hemingway’s ‘The Lost Generation, Paul soon becomes entangled with a very attractive American woman, Chenault (Heard) and her fiancée Sanderson (Eckhart), a businessman involved in shady property development deals. It is within this world that Kemp ultimately discovers his true voice as a writer and integrity as a man.”

So it’s not a sequel or anything, but Depp is playing ANOTHER character based on Hunter S. Thompson. No matter what, it’s probably better than The Tourist. (via Deadline)

Battle: Los Angeles is exactly what you expect it to be and it delivers on that: Team of marines all with their personal issues, some civilians for the heart, rah rah patriotism and big explosions.

Staff Sgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is too old for this shit. He’s about to retire and has one last troop to train. He’s notorious because his last squad didn’t make it. He had to make a tough call and he’s living with it. We meet the gang. Lt. Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez) has a pregnant wife. Cpl. Harris (Ne-Yo) is planning a wedding. Everyone gets a defining prologue.

Then aliens land. Seeing an invasion of Santa Monica beach via news cameras is pretty cool. Then Martinez has to take the unit into battle on the streets of Santa Monica. They should call it Battle: Santa Monica. The military has a blockade at Lincoln Ave. and they’ve got three hours to evacuate civilians before an air strike.

The war zone effects look really good. It actually does look like the streets of Los Angeles are burning (downtown in wide shots, but mostly close up rubble.) There are some great shots of decimated freeways. The action escalates well. The finale really is the biggest battle, and there are plenty of thrilling sequences before. Nantz’s decoy mission with the walkie talkies incorporates tactics with alien drone ships.

The camera could shake less but it’s okay. At least the excuse could be it’s Black Hawk Down style, with brief glimpses of the aliens at first and disorienting perspective. It’s honest though. They teach you the geography and identify locations with on screen text. You can mostly tell who is who. Everyone has enough visible distinctions, including war paint, so you know it’s “that guy” even if you don’t remember his name.

Midway into the operation they run into civilians Michele (Bridget Moynahan) and Joe (Michael Pena) and his kid. There’s no juicy civilian drama. Nobody’s a reprehensible convict or anything. Just a veterinarian who can get her hands dirty on an alien carcass, and a family man with kids. Other military stragglers like Tech Sgt. Santos (Michelle Rodriguez) join up to explain how the alien ships work.

Somehow you do care about these characters. You want Lt. Martinez to make it back to his wife so no one has to deliver the letter he wrote to her. You can see that Nantz is visibly shaken by his alien encounter. You can totally tell who’s going to make it and who’s not by movie rules, but it works.

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Cast: Michelle Rodriguez, Aaron Eckhart, Bridget Moynahan

Synopsis: A Marine platoon faces off against an alien invasion in Los Angeles.

Release Date: March 11, 2011

We’ve also got a boatload more special effects in the ways of helicopters, alien walkers, aliens, and mass destruction. It’s no surprise that these effects are integral to the film, but it’s a relief to see they were done well and not in an absurd fashion a la 2012. If effects aren’t doing it for you, the autotune is back to play up some creepy angst late in the trailer. So apparently, this is going to be one of those battles where some good guys die too.

Oh, and there’s an absolutely colossal mecha-alien at the end that wraps up the trailer nicely. It’s not a overreaching to say audiences will want more after getting a bigger bite of Battle: Los Angeles. (Yahoo! Movies)

Here we see aliens attack major beaches (and cities) across the globe. As the trailer tells us, they conquer Moscow, Paris, Tokyo, Rio, and New York. That is why we cannot afford to lose Los Angeles. Also, because that’s where “Weird” Al Yankovic lives. If we can’t keep our premier song parody artist safe, the aliens have already won.

"How bad does it look?"

I don’t know why the fate of Two Face at the end of The Dark Knight was ever up for debate. Probably because it is a Christopher Nolan movie and people are all about obsessing over the ends of his films. But we now have confirmation that Two Face will not appear in The Dark Knight Rises. Not that we didn’t have it before by watching him die on film. Harvey Dent himself, Aaron Eckhart, got the answer out of Nolan in the best exchange ever:

“Chris and I had a meeting, on the beach, just the two of us. I said, ‘Chris, a lot of people are asking me if I’m in the next ‘Batman.’ And Chris said, ‘Yes?’ I said, ‘Am I?’ He looked at me and he said, ‘No.’”

Nolan then added, “Get off my beach.” (MTV)

Whe unknown forces suddenly and mercilessly attack the City of Angels out of nowhere, it’s up to a local Marine staff sergeant (Aaron Eckhart) and a new platoon of unseasoned soldiers to meet the threat. As the invasion hits the streets of LA, these Marines become our first and last line of defense in an intense battle against an enemy unlike any they’ve ever encountered before.

Lionsgate has dropped the trailer for Rabbit Hole, officially entering the 2011 Oscar race. The film stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as parents who try to cope with the tragedy of losing their child. John Cameron Mitchell directs a David Lindsay-Abaire script adapted from his acclaimed play. You know what that means, right? Actors acting, and acting hard! Look for Kidman in the Best Actress category this year.

Rabbit Hole hits theaters December 17th.

Check out the trailer after the jump…

Rabbit Hole Trailer – Watch more Movie Trailers

Director: John Cameron Mitchell

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest

Synopsis: Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.

Release Date: December 17, 2010

Battle: Los Angeles, the story of a planet-wide alien invasion, began its marketing campaign at this year’s Comic-Con. But for those who didn’t have the time to wade through a sea of virgins and scumbag Hollywood types, the movie posters are now available online.

The film features Aaron Eckhart as a Marine waging a guerrilla-style resistance movement after invaders "turn the streets of Los Angeles into a war zone," just like Laker fans do after their team wins a championship. But hopefully the aliens won’t wear all that tacky purple and gold clothing while they trash the place. (Empire Online)

See all the posters after the jump…