Two new projects from Terrence Malick now have confirmed titles and casts, but still no plot descriptions. First up will be Lawless, starring Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, and Rooney Mara; second is Knight of Cups, which brings back Bale and Blanchett, and adds Isabel Lucas. And that’s on top of his next film, which is still untitled and stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem and Rachel Weisz. One quick theory as to why Malick, who’d made five films since 1973, is now popping ‘em out: he’s finally bored with daytime TV makeover shows? Grade: A [Deadline]

Taylor Lautner is bouncing back from the underwhelming performance of his action movie Abduction by teaming up with Gus Van Sant for an indie drama?! Details are not yet available, but the movie is based on a New Yorker article that Lautner himself optioned. Our inside sources reveal the piece in question is Adam Gopnik’s nuanced 2007 exploration of the motivations and internal tensions of this one rad shirtless dude who totally roundhouse kicks a bunch of people in the face. Grade: A- [HR]

And today just keeps getting weirder! Famed contrarian auteur Harmony Korine (the title of his last movie, Trash Humpers, was literal) has Emma Roberts, Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez in talks to star in his project Spring Breakers, as college girls who rob a restaurant to pay for a beach trip. Also, James Franco will play “Alien, a rapping drug and arms dealer who bails them out of jail and entices them to kill his arch-rival.” Goddamit, why aren’t we watching this movie right now?! Grade: A+ [Showblitz]

Steve Carrell will star in Conviction, an action comedy about a top notch bank robber imprisoned for five years after a job gone wrong and eventually lured by the FBI to entrap his protégé as the kid attempts a multi-million dollar operation. Sounds functional but kind of bland. Can’t we toss in James Franco as a rapping drug and arms dealer or something? Grade: C [Deadline]

Brandy will co-star in Tyler Perry’s The Marriage Counselor, playing a co-worker of the title character’s husband, who gets cuckolded. By the way, Kim Kardashian is in this too which, you know, … awkward. Grade: C+ [Showblitz]

Niels Arden Oplev, the director of the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, has tapped his original Girl Noomi Rapace for the mob drama Dead Man Down. Colin Farrell stars as well, as a mobster’s hitman. He teams up with Rapace to go on a vengeful killing spree. When Rapace and Oplev, who have now booked a number of American projects, were asked what they miss most about their native Sweden, they both agreed that the food at the IKEA cafeterias were much better back home. Grade: B [HR]