Since How to Train Your Dragon, my interest in the output of DreamWorks Animation has piqued considerably on account of that film's all-around quality.  While DreamWorks labors on sequels to that film, though, there are some new properties they're introducing into the cinematic wilds, and now we have looks at promotional artwork for two of them, Rise of the Guardians and The Croods.  Neither image is quite polished enough to be a final poster ready for display at a theater near you, but they provide good ideas of what their respective worlds and characters will look like.

Synopsis: A rookie CIA agent responsible for a South African safe house finds himself in over his head when legendary agent and defector Tobin Frost enters his care.  The location is quickly compromised by a team of mercenaries with mysterious motives, sending the duo on the run and forcing him into a clash of wits and wills with Frost, who is alternately his friend and foe.

The first clip from Safe House has debuted online, and shockingly, it features not a single line of dialogue. 

Instead of introducing Tobin, the character played by two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, with a well-written monologue or an observant character note, it focuses mostly on his attempt to choke out Ryan Reynolds with a pair of handcuffs.  You might think of that scene in No Country for Old Men when Javier Bardem similarly chokes an unsuspecting rural cop, but this clip happens while Reynolds is trying to drive a car at inadvisable speeds through a metropolitan area.  Take that, Coen Brothers.

What's the best way to inform an audience that you've got this action movie starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds?  The first official poster for Safe House has to convey that both Washington and Reynolds are indeed in the film, and that the film will contain the requisite action.  How does it accomplish these tasks?  First, it gives Washington's face half of the poster and putting a concerned looking Reynolds on the other half.  In order to cover the action element, this poster engages in the time-honored tradition of having a character arbitrarily holding a handgun.  That's how you know there will be gunplay in the movie, in which Washington plays a renegade CIA agent who has come back into the fold.  Reynolds is the agent tasked with ensuring that the asset gets home safe, a charge that gets difficult when his South African safe house is compromised.

To comic book fans Ioan Gruffudd may be best known as the man who portrayed Marvel’s elastic hero Mr. Fantastic in 20^th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four franchise, but the classically trained Welsh actor also has a very impressive resume of non-superhero work to his credit. Gruffudd first gained attention for playing the title role on the A&E television series Hornblower, and eventually went on to appear in such assorted films as Black Hawk Down, King Arthur, The TV Set, Amazing Grace, W., Horrible Bosses, and Sanctum.

Gruffudd currently stars opposite Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Sarah Michelle Gellar on the popular new CW series Ringer. On the series he plays Andrew Martin, a man who unbeknownst to himself, is secretly married to the identical twin sister of his own wife, who took her place after she mysteriously disappeared. The classically trained actor now returns to the big screen once again with a pivotal supporting role in the new dramatic ensemble film Fireflies in the Garden, which opens in theaters on October 14^th.

Ryan Reynolds stars in the new film as Michael, a successful writer with a troubled childhood and a failing marriage, who returns home to face his demons and attend his baby sister’s college graduation. Upon arrival, his mother (Julia Roberts) is killed in a car accident and Michael must now deal with the aftermath that includes confronting his abusive father (Willem Dafoe), reuniting with his estranged aunt (Emily Watson), and forgiving his recovering alcoholic wife (Carrie Anne-Moss). Meanwhile, Michael discovers that his mother was having an affair with a co-worker of his father’s (Gruffudd), a college professor whose class she was taking. Eventually, Michael must come to terms with his childhood, his family and his own life before ha can move on.

Almost a month ago, the first official domestic trailer for the ensemble drama Fireflies in the Garden debuted online and indicated that the film will contain plenty of heavy familial drama, with Willem Dafoe as a thoroughly abhorrent father and Ryan Reynolds as his grown-up son returning home for the first time in years.  The trailer also suggested that despite the extensive dysfunctional horror, the film will contain some elegant visuals and ultimately hopeful moments.

A new poster for the film can't express quite so much, but it does feature a nicely melancholic image and the impressive cast lined up in a most presentational fashion.  Naturally, Ryan Reynolds and Willem Dafoe lead the line-up, followed by Emily Watson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hayden Panettiere, and Julia Roberts.

Last week, a bushel of unofficial pictures taken on the Boston, Massachusetts set of R.I.P.D. provided our very first look at Jeff Bridges in costume as Bo, an Old West gunslinger who has been patrolling the afterlife as a member of the Rest In Peace Department since his death more than a century ago.  In the film, he's partnered with a freshly murdered cop, played by Ryan Reynolds, and the two set out to figure out just who killed him and why.  Another round of set photos is now online, and it boasts images of both lead actors, but those of Bridges are of considerably more interest.

Bridges recently played a bloated, alcoholic US Marshall in the Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit, and we knew from previous pictures that R.I.P.D.'s Bo wouldn't be such a shambling mess, but these new photos prove that he'll be downright dapper.  He's got a sharp hat, some manicured facial hair, a sweet-ass belt buckle, and a golden gun.  All of these things, along with the more important fact of being played by Jeff Bridges, serve to tell the world, "I'm cool."

As Rooster Cogburn in Joel and Ethan Coen's take on True Grit, Oscar winner and all-around awesome dude Jeff Bridges ably portrayed a crusty but formidable old gunslinger in the Old West.  In the Dark Horse Comics adaptation R.I.P.D., Bridges plays Bo, another gunslinger whose been around for awhile.  This time, though, he's been dead for centuries and patrols the afterlife as a member of the titular Rest in Peace Department, a supernatural cop squad dedicated to supernatural policing. 

A new batch of unofficial photos from the Boston, Massachusetts set of R.I.P.D. have revealed our first glimpses of Jeff Bridges in costume as Bo, long with Ryan Reynolds as Nick, a freshly-deceased cop and Bo's partner who is looking to find out just who murdered him.  Earlier this week, we saw Reynolds shooting a scene with Kevin Bacon, who is playing the bad guy.

The supernatural action comedy R.I.P.D. is currently shooting on location in Boston, Massachusetts, and there are set photos to scientifically prove it.  Sadly, these pictures from the set do not involve Marisa Miller, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model and Victoria's Secret Angel who will play the earthly avatar of Jeff Bridges' thoroughly deceased gunslinger character.  Instead, we get a look at Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Bacon standing around a brand-spanking new Dodge musclecar.  Reynolds plays Nick, a cop who gets murdered and ends up policing the afterlife as part of the Rest in Peace Department.  Bacon, meanwhile, will be playing the villain, as he has been inclined to do in recent pictures such as X-Men: First Class and Super.

Lauren Shuler Donner has produced some of the most beloved films of the last thirty years including Mr. Mom, St. Elmo’s Fire, Dave, Free Willy, and You’ve Got Mail. But to comic book fans around the world she will always be remembered as the woman that successfully ushered the X-Men on to the silver screen.

Beginning with X-Men in 2000, Donner has produced every one of Fox’s mutant themed films including X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In addition, she recently reunited with Bryan Singer (director of the first two movies), and Matthew Vaughn (who almost directed the third) to make X-Men: First Class, a prequel to the long running franchise. X-Men: First Class tells the story of how Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) first met, and includes surprise cameos from Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) and Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), which helped to solidify the film’s place in the overall franchise. The film opened this summer to glowing revues and so far has earned over $350 million worldwide at the box office.