The Producers Guild of America is known for aligning its picks with the Oscar nominations with the startling regularity that can only come when two groups share the same voting pool. That’s why groups like, say, the Hollywood Foreign Press (who I think actually nominated a nip-slip video this year) doesn’t match up at all. The PGA, which announced its award nominees today, went 9 for 10 last year, and by the looks of this list, they might just do it again in 2011.

Trash-pickers who take down major weapons dealers, animated villains looking to steal the moon, an angry one-eyed John Wayne and a team of tough guys who specialize in the ridiculous. This Week in Blu-ray is going to be a busy one. Then again, isn’t it always sort of busy for this column? With more and more classics being brought to the most modern format and a slew of pre-holiday releases hitting shelves, the war being waged against your pocketbook has never been more intense. Lucky for you that I’m here to help. I may not be a man with grit that’s true (and thus have never had a song sung about me by Glen Campbell), but I do have some knowledge about all things Blu-ray. I also have DVD reviewer extraordinaire Rob Hunter swooping in to help out. Now onward with this week’s release slate.

“Candy, Chicks and Rock ‘n Roll.” That’s the tag-line for Hop, the upcoming animated feature starring the voice of British comedian turned American movie star Russell Brand. It comes from the creators of Despicable Me, telling the comic tale of Fred (James Marsden), a lovable slacker bunny who accidentally injures the Easter Bunny (Brand) and must take over for him. It finally fills that gap in holiday movies, in which the Easter Bunny is unfortunately mis-represented. This one takes the premise of The Santa Clause and every other mystical holiday movie ever and applies it to Easter. It will surely overtake The Passion of the Christ as the must-watch Easter movie for families. Check the poster after the jump…

This week, on a very special Reject Radio, Landon Palmer grabs half a handle of expensive whiskey and gets nostalgic about Cinematic One Night Stands (those movies that you love but never want to see again). We also dig deep into the question of how a CGI character can be fired, debate who should direct Wicked, and discover Youtube. Plus, we manage to squeeze in a few minutes to review Despicable Me, I Am Love, and Predators. Check it out after the jump!

It’s time to put the skepticism to bed like the nice orphan of past failures that it is.  Just about every film this weekend performed either right around or above expectations, and some second, third, and even fourth weekend films had drops that were impressively minuscule.  As expected, Despicable Me was the big winner of the weekend, but even its take was head and shoulders above most analyst’s best guesses. Predators wasn’t a slam-dunk champion, but it performed on par given its rating and mid-range budget.  Even limited releases that didn’t break into the top 10 had notable debuts.  All in all it was a lucrative weekend to own a movie studio.

A short time ago I was given the opportunity to sit down and talk to Jason Segel of the Universal Pictures animated offering, Despicable Me. In the film, Segel plays the nerdy Vector  – the nemesis of the main character Gru (Steve Carrell). He is way too geeky to be as cocky as he is. Holed up in his sleek house/fortress, Vector can usually be found in his orange warm-up suit, playing video games while plotting his nextmove. His favorite weapon is a gun that fires live pira-nhas. Unfortunately for him, Vector has a hard timekeeping the carnivores inside the gun’s barrel… Click on through the jump to see what Segel had to say about the film, his role as Vector, and whatever else came to mind during a quick but informative Q&A. Below are some of the highlights of that event.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr found himself awake on a distant planet being hunted by macho Rastafarian aliens. Then he realized he was still dreaming. Sucked back into reality, he dove into the 3D experience of Despicable Me and reached for a dunce cap for Predators.

As is the case of the rest of the Twilight franchise, Eclipse‘s stay at the top is sure to be short-lived. Two new films hit this weekend, neither of which have the potential to set box-office standards but both that are sure to deliver more than dismal numbers. An animated film in Despicable Me and a return to an R-rated legacy in Predators. The top spot is sure to be a toss-up between the two. Thank God it’s not a hand-to-hand battle, because I feel the spear-wielding, shoulder cannon-blasting alien hunters from another world might serve as a challenge to Steve Carell’s plot to steal the moon. The minions might help though, and that could level the playing field if just for a bit. Full box office analysis and predictions after the jump…

I’ve been looking forward to Despicable Me for a while; having seen trailers, the 3D animated film out of Universal looked like it had the potential to be a lot of fun. While I was far from unhappy with the final product, what seems increasingly to be a universal truth surfaced once again — all computer animated film fare is measured against the visual and storytelling juggernaut that is Pixar… and they remain the unwavering king of the mountain. Despicable Me is the story of Gru (Steve Carrell), a past-his-prime villain heavy on unsavory aspirations but lacking in execution. One day Gru learns that every baddie, himself included, have been left eating dust when a mystery evil genius steals one of the Great Pyramids. Not content to be outdone, Gru devises a plan to infiltrate a secret base, swipe their experimental shrink ray, and steal the moon.

Over the weekend, FSR reader Josh L. dropped me a link to what he called “a very cool animated mashup” that paired the upcoming action barrage The Expendables with some of the most beloved animated characters of the modern era.

According to today’s final line-up press release, LAFF will welcome the world premiere of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third film in the popular glittery vampire romance franchise. But fans might be disappointed about how it’s scheduled to go down.

The folks over at Times Online (via /Film) have posted the latest international trailer for Universal’s upcoming animated crime comedy Despicable Me. And without sounding too oblivious, I must admit that I’m very confused.

Ever since Universal Pictures released the first teaser trailer for their upcoming animated comedy Despicable Me back in July, I’ve been curious about it. After trailer two, I’m interested.

Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for their upcoming animated comedy Despicable Me, which stars an all-star cast led by Steve Carell.