The second biggest story is yet another Colin Firth pic. I started the day off with a report that the actor has booked an Arthur Newman follow-up in the form of a supporting role for Matthew Vaughn’s Secret Service. His other Monday pickup seems to be Woody Allen’s next film which Emma Stone joined six days ago. It should be an even stronger addition to his developmental slate given Allen has had a bit of a career resurgence going back to Midnight in Paris two summers ago. That report comes out of Deadline.

Wrapping things up is another Deadline story, this one places Sam Worthington in another Wrath of the Titans follow-up that is not an Avatar sequel. The project is called The Keeping Room which happens to star Hailee Steinfeld of True Grit fame (and also Ender’s Game.) Daniel Barber will direct Harry Brown from a Julia Hart script that takes place near the end of the Civil War. Worthington’s role is that of a soldier who encounters a woman and is left to fend for himself (and I am assuming by the write-up this woman as well.) Naturally, we are more interested in this actor nowadays because Avatar 2 is expected to begin filming within the next year or two.

Added 4/29: That was not all as Oblivion star and former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko (Tom Cruise’s latest love interest) has been tapped to board a feature adaptation of Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters. This is based on a Six-Volume series from author Richelle Mead designed to tap into the YA demo. Other stars include Beautiful Creatures vet Zoey Deutch and an Aussie newcomer Lucy Fry who will play Rose and Lissa respectfully. Danila Kozlovski will fill the shoes of Dimitri. Olga’s role is that of the head mistress, Kirova.

Drift is an Australian film that tells the tale of a pair of brothers in the 70′s who get caught up in the drug business after struggling to grow their fledgling surf board company.  Oh, and this one does happen to star the guy from Avatar Sam Worthington so perhaps this one will impress those who found disappointment with Mavericks.  The trailer just hit the web, so let’s take a look at this movie directed by The Company cinematographer Ben Nott and The Factory’s director Morgan O’Neill.

Drift will release on domestic shores early next year.

Additional cast members include Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard, Dawn Olivieri (House of Lies,) and Joe Manganiello (True Blood.)  Today’s news from THR adds Dollhouse actress Olivia Williams to the cast.  While pretty unknown among the masses, she does have credits that include Hanna and The Ghost Writer (two really high quality, low-key efforts.)  Williams also has some biggies in development via Anna Karenina from director Joe Wright and a role as Eleanor Roosevelt in Hyde Park on Hudson opposite Bill Murray.

Update 8/23: Mireille Enos of The Killing fame has joined the cast of this one as well.  Deadline reports that the actress will be playing a member of the elite DEA team who is married to Sam Worthington’s character.  You may also know the actress from Big Love, but more so if you follow the trades as she has a booming film career with future endeavors that include Gangster Squad and World War Z.

The cast for this one is shaping up rather beautifully probably because of the buzz around his next film, End of Watch.  Breacher could easily be the film that puts Schwarzenegger back on top as it could prove to be far better than The Last Stand which is his first true starring vehicle back in showbiz.

More specifically, the Man on a Ledge actor has been offered a part in David Ayer’s action thriller Ten.  The film is somewhat based on Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, but ultimately centers on a DEA task force that gets picked off by an assassin one by one.

Variety says that negotiations are yet to enter formal status, so this could always end up not happening as we are yet to hear about Jim Cameron’s plans for the upcoming Avatar films which are presumed to start shooting sometime within the next year.  To be honest, we rather see Sam Worthington slide this film out before going into back-to-back-to-back sci-fi flicks.  At least this would go a long way in making the star a little more than another Mark Hamill (Star Wars.)

In case you were wondering about Schwarzenegger movies, he is next set to hit the big screen in August via The Expendables 2 and has already wrapped production on The Last Stand and The Tomb.  The latter of which pairs the actor with Sylvester Stallone and Jim Caviezel.  Both are scheduled for 2013 releases.

Wrath of the Titans

The acting chops displayed by the Zeus-Hades combination of Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes anchored this effort as they transcended performances from the rest of the cast.  Perhaps Sam Worthington’s Perseus did not get the memo that this was a franchise redeeming effort that would only spawn additional outings if audiences were overwhelmed by an unexpected upgrade in regards to quality.  He was certainly not awful, but the actor failed to make us care what happens to him which is a cardinal sin when leading an action film.

Even with that, Wrath of the Titans still would have been okay; however, the script was unbelievably bad.   The main plot was rather intriguing, but the path from beginning to end was littered with nonsense.  A 99-minute time frame for a feature that felt like it should have been longer seemed to be a major factor in the absence of key scenes required to bridge noticeable gaps in the film’s story.  More specifically (without giving anything away), a few sequences that should have ‘made the movie’ emotionally bypass going from A to B to C in favor of a leap from A to Z that will undoubtedly leave many questioning the blockbuster’s sincerity.

You would think that would detour an elitist snob like me who proudly shares his love of quality scripted television, but no.  I found the action sequences entertaining, the characters warm, and the scenery to be incredibly well-done to the point where the movie felt like a breeze rather than ‘clock watcher.’

In short, the Jonathan Liebesman-directed movie was a good time.   I heard the 3D on this one was rather good (a rarity,) so I sprang for the glasses.  Much to my surprise, it was a good call.  Warner Bros. did a fantastic job on the post-production conversion this time around.  Seeing movies in 3D usually leaves me indifferent, and I honestly cannot say I felt the same after my glasses-on experience with Wrath of the Titans.

Other gripes about the movie include complaints targeting the corny dialogue and farfetched plot which supposedly distracts theater goers from realizing the suspense that the film’s makers aim to create.

The line on this one is a 10% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes and a 36/100 on Metacritic as of post time.