“You don’t wanna empty yer pockets for Haiti? Oh yeah? Well eat LEAD fatcats!”
That’s not really the message Penn is sending. That’s a still from Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad in which Penn plays kingpin Mickey Cohen. Buzz is really starting to build on the Warner Brothers film after the trailer dropped a couple of weeks ago. I think I’ve mentioned how much I’m looking forward to it.
The film, about an elite LAPD unit tasked with taking down mobster Cohen in the brutal LA of the late 40’s early 50’s, has an amazing cast, featuring Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña, Giovanni Ribisi and Anthony Mackie. We have some new images courtesy of our friends at HeyUGuys including new looks (actually they appear to be screen shots from the trailer) at ultimate moll Emma Stone, Brolin and Gosling.
I’ve watched the trailer a few times since it first arrived. There are still things I’m not crazy about but there is enough there to love, not least of which is this cast, that I’m still in. Gangster Squad raids theaters on September 7 in the US (a mere week after another take on the gangster mythos, Lawless.)
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I have been waiting for the trailer for Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad since we brought you the first set pic last year. Well, today we finally have it and I don’t know what to make of it. I like it, but I think it’ll take a few more viewings before I love it. It appears the film is part action film, part period drama, as compared to a straight noir like LA Confidential (which I must admit I was hoping for.) It might have been wrong for me to assume that and there’s nothing inherently wrong with taking the genre in a new direction. One thing seems clear to me, this is going to be an actor’s showcase packed with powerhouse performances from Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin and Emma Stone (smoldering!), with Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen leading the way.
The biggest question mark for me is why did whoever cut this thing use Jay-Z underneath it? Love Jay-Z, but he doesn’t scream LA at all, let alone LA in the lat 40's-early 50's. (IMHO that’s trying way too hard to court the almighty 18-25 yr old male demographic.) Oh well. I’m not giving up on this by any stretch of the imagination. Bring it on!
Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.
Under the direction of Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”), “The Gangster Squad” is a colorful retelling of events surrounding the LAPD’s efforts to take back their nascent city from one of the most dangerous mafia bosses of all time. The film stars Oscar® nominees Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “True Grit”) and Ryan Gosling (“Half Nelson,” “Blue Valentine”) as the LAPD’s Sgt. John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters; Academy Award® winner Sean Penn (“Milk,” “Mystic River”) as real-life mobster Mickey Cohen; and Emma Stone as Grace Faraday, Cohen’s moll and the object of Wooters’ attention.
The amazing cast also includes Nick Nolte, Giovanni Ribisi, Mireille Enos, Michael Pena, Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Robert Patrick, Troy Garity and Holt McCallany. The Gangster Squad will be released in the US on October 19 and in the UK on 9th November.
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Ryan Gosling is a hero in many hearts just because he's awesome. But to Laurie Penny of The New Statesman he's a hero. HER hero:
"I literally, LITERALLY just got saved from a car by Ryan Gosling. That actually just happened," "I was crossing 6th avenue in a new pink wig. Not looking the right way because I am from London. Ryan Gosling grabbed me away from a taxi."
He is like a Super Hero isn't he? Remember he also stopped a fight from occurring in New York City back in August and now he's saving lives one at a time. Laurie is from England and was not used to the traffic being on the opposite side. The shocked (and grateful) lady continued on her Twitter account:
"He did not say 'hey, girl.' He said 'hey, watch out!'" wrote Penny. "Identity of … Ryan Gosling confirmed by girl near me, who said 'you lucky bitch.'"
Lucky bitch indeed! As if you didn't have enough reasons to love Ryan?
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Nicolas Winding Refn is following up his critically acclaimed Drive with Only God Forgives, and is doing it with his star, Ryan Gosling. These pics are the first look at the film that is currently filming (and apparently, according to his Twitter account, Refn wants it “ready” by the end of August”. He didn’t specify why, but there’s a lot of speculation and really smart money would agree, that he’s aiming for Festival season, which kicks off at the end of August in Venice.
The film, set in Bangkok, finds Gosling as Julian, a former kick-boxer that now owns a Thai Boxing club with strong ties to the underworld (his mother, played by Kristin Scott Thomas is some sort of mob boss who makes Jacki Weaver’s Smurf Cody look like Mother Teresa), but he feels empty inside. When Julian’s brother kills a prostitute, he runs afoul of a local cop known as The Angel of Vengeance. Julian and the cop are then set on a collision course where things can only be resolved with extreme violence.
(Forgive me Baby Goose but looks to me like Julian couldn’t’ have been a very good kick-boxer. FYI, that's acclaimed French director Gaspar Noe in the blue shirt below. He appears to be consulting on the film )
Written and directed by Winding Refn, with Cliff Martinez (Drive) again handling the score, Only God Forgives will be in theaters sometime in 2012.
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Here’s a first look (such as it is) of Ryan Gosling in writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn’s followup to Drive, Only God Forgives.
“Bangkok. Ten years ago Julian killed a cop and went on the run. Now he manages a Thai boxing club as a front for a drugs operation. Respected in the criminal underworld, deep inside, he feels empty.
When Julian’s brother murders a prostitute the police call on retired cop Chang – the Angel of Vengeance. Chang allows the father to kill his daughter’s murderer, then ‘restores order’ by chopping off the man’s right hand.
Julian’s mother Jenna (Kristin Scott Thomas)– the head of a powerful criminal organization – arrives in Bangkok to collect her son’s body. She dispatches Julian to find his killers and ‘raise hell’.
Increasingly obsessed with the Angel of Vengeance, Julian challenges him to a boxing match, hoping that by defeating him he might find spiritual release… but Chang triumphs. A furious Jenna plots revenge and the stage is set for a bloody journey through betrayal and vengeance towards a final confrontation and the possibility of redemption.”
Production is currently underway in Thailand, but no word yet on when Only God Forgives will be released. The current consensus seems to be that Winding Refn will want to be ready to take it to Cannes in May, followed of course by Venice and Toronto and it will get distribution as a result. We’ll keep you posted.
Here’s another look at Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy. He appears to be about to get himself into a bit of a jam, but without context, who can know? As a fan of the previous three films as well as of Jeremy Renner and Tony Gilroy, I can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with. Add Rachel Weisz, not to mention Edward Norton, to the mix and frankly, I think they’d have to actively screw this up on purpose for me to not like at least some part of it. Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Alex Pettyfer, Joel Edgerton, Taylor Kitsch, Kellan Lutz, Josh Hartnett, Paul Dano, Luke Evans, Michael Pitt, Oscar Isaac and Benjamin Walker were all considered before Renner got the role. The franchise is in good hands with Tony Gilroy to be sure, but after seeing Renner in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, I have no doubt he’s the man for the job.
Writer/director Gilroy has crafted an original story set in original author Robert Ludlum’s world, in which we are introduced to “a new hero whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films.” The Bourne Legacy, also starring Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn (reprising their roles) as well as Oscar Isaac, Stacy Keach, Donna Murphy and Corey Stoll, opens August 3 in the US and 17th August in the UK.
Finally, we have a few photos with no people in them at all. They come from the set of Quentin Tarantino’s next and very eagerly awaited film, Django Unchained. (Oh that one up there? That's director Tarantino clowning with one of his stars. They released that as a publicity promo. Odd.) The set pics were taken by actor Garret Dillahunt while he was on a set-visit, the same set used for HBO’s Deadwood. This is to be film-buff Tarantino’s homage to Spaghetti Westerns and revolves around Jamie Foxx’s Django as an ex-slave liberated by a German dentist/bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) and who is then taught the business by his mentor. Meanwhile it is Django’s quest to find his wife. To do so he must “get past the villainous ranch owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), who runs Candyland, a despicable club and plantation in Mississippi where female slaves are exploited as sex objects and males are pitted against each other in “mandingo”-style death matches. Candie is a slave’s worst nightmare, and that is where Django’s wife Broomhilda is an abused slave.”
The cast of Django Unchained includes Foxx, DiCaprio, Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony LaPaglia, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The film is already being talked about in the hushed tones of awards-potential awe and it’s not even completed yet. Sorry, but I think, especially after this year, I’m not hoping on any bandwagons too early.
The film will open in the US on Christmas Day (opposite Playing the Field with Gerard Butler- just as an FYI) and on the 26th in the UK which, of course, puts it in prime awards contention territory. Oh and DiCaprio has another high profile film also set for release that same day, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. Somehow I think one of these will end up moving. (It will be a game of studio chicken I suspect.)
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Slim pickings this week my friends. We’ve got one big release noteworthy for the Golden Globes it was nominated for and for being the film for which Gorgeous George did not win. We’ve also got two releases that by all accounts were just plain dreadful, one niche film starring no one you’ve ever heard of but, that got surprisingly good reviews and another beautiful foreign art film that will be difficult to find.
The Ides of March, based on Beau Willimon’s play “Farragut North”, is about an idealistic staffer(Ryan Gosling) for a newbie presidential candidate (George Clooney) who gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. Also starring Philip Seymour Hoffman (who just earned a BAFTA nomination for the role), Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti, Marissa Tomei, Geoffrey Wright and Max Minghella, it was directed by Clooney and written by the BAFTA nominated team of Clooney, Willimon and Grant Heslov. I recommend this one. If you like political dramas like All the President’s Men, you’ll like it (and supposedly it was based on Howard Dean’s Presidential run.)
Special Features:
Commentary with George Clooney and Grant Heslov
Developing the Campaign: The Origin of The Ides of March
Believe: George Clooney
On The Campaign: The Cast of The Ides Of March
What Does a Political Consultant Do?
Abduction starring Twi-hard heart-throb Taylor Lautner, is a thriller centered on a young man who sets out to uncover the truth about his life after finding his baby photo on a missing persons website. It was a sort male version of Hanna.
Critics drubbed it but, director John Singleton (Four Brothers, Shaft, Boyz n the Hood, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Rosewood) does know how to do action, I'll give him that.
Special Features:
Abduction Application
Abduction Chronicle: On-Camera Production Journal with Taylor Lautner
The Fight For The Truth: Making Abduction
Initiation of an Action Hero: Taylor's Amazing Stunts
Pulled Punches: Gag Reel
Digital Copy Of Feature Film
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star is about a small town grocery bagger, going nowhere in life until he discovers that his conservative parents were once adult film stars! Armed with the belief that he has found his destiny, Bucky packs up and heads out to LA, hoping to follow in his parents footsteps. Also starring Christina Ricci, Don Johnson and Stephen Dorff.
Special Features:
Laughter Is Contagious
Behind The Teeth
Gary: Tough Customer
Bucky Sparkles
Courageous is a Christian themed film “from the writers of Fireproof and Facing the Giants comes a story about four law enforcement officers whose lives are deeply tested as they embrace their calling to serve and to protect. As crime fighters, they must face danger every day. Yet when tragedy hits close to home, they are left wrestling with their hopes, their faith, and their priorities as men. Like iron sharpening iron, the power of their friendship invites them to face their hidden struggles as fathers. It is out of this honesty that comes a life-altering decision. With action, drama, and humor, the fourth film from Sherwood Pictures embraces God's promise to "turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers". Your soul will be stirred and your heart will be challenged to be…Courageous!”
Since it was made for $2M and earned almost $35M domestically, it was actually a hit.
Special Features:
Commentary with the Kendrick Brothers
Deleted Scenes
OUTRAGEOUS: Outtakes and Bloopers
Courageous in 60 Seconds
The Making of Courageous
The Heart of Courageous
The Story Of My Father
The Mysteries of Lisbon follows a jealous countess, a wealthy businessman, and a young orphaned boy across Portugal, France, Italy and Brazil where they connect with a variety of mysterious individuals.
Offical synopsis: Raul Ruiz's masterful adaptation of the eponymous nineteenth-century Portuguese novel (by Camilo Castelo Branco) evokes the complex intertwined narratives of Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens. The core story centers on Joao, the bastard child of an ill-fated romance between two members of the aristocracy who are forbidden to marry, and his quest to discover the truth of his parentage. But this is just the start of an engrossing tale that follows a multitude of characters whose fates conjoin, separate and then rejoin again over three decades in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy.
It stars Lea Seydoux (Robin Hood, Mission:Impossible – Ghost Protocol)
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I found myself with a cache of movie related stuff, not all of which needed it's own post. So in the spirit of the season (and an attempt to be clever) I have set them all to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas"
On the first day of Christmas My true love gave to me: Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard
On the second day of Christmas, My true love gave to me:Two pics of Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard .
On the third day of Christmas My true love gave to me:Three Hungry Teens, Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard
On the fourth day of Christmas My true love gave to me: A Poster for the fourth Underworld Movie, Three Hungry Teens,Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard
On the fifth day of Christmas My true love gave to me: Fiiiive Super Hero Banners, A Poster for the fourth Underworld Movie, Three Hungry Teens, Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard
On the sixth day of Christmas,My true love gave to me: Six Fincher Teases, Fiiiive Super Hero Banners, A Poster for the fourth Underworld Movie, Three Hungry Teens, Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard
On the seventh day of Christmas, My true love gave to me: Seven Bonds a-swimming, Six Fincher Teases, Fiiiive Super Hero Banners, A Poster for the fourth Underworld Movie,Three Hungry Teens, Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard
On the eighth day of Christmas,My true love gave to me: Eight Misc. Posters, Seven Bonds a-swimming Six Fincher Teases, Fiiiive Super Hero Banners, A Poster for the fourth Underworld Movie,Three Hungry Teens, Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard
On the ninth day of Christmas,My true love gave to me: Nine Magic Beans, Eight Misc. Posters, Seven Bonds a-swimming Six Fincher Teases, Fiiiive Super Hero Banners, A Poster for the fourth Underworld Movie, Three Hungry Teens, Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard
Nine Magic Beans:
On the tenth day of Christmas, My true love gave to me: Ten lords a-leaping**, Nine Magic Beans, Eight Misc. Posters, Seven Bonds a-swimming, Six Fincher Teases, Fiiiive Super Hero Banners, A Poster for the fourth Underworld Movie, Three Hungry Teens, Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, My true love gave to me: Eleven Geezers Gunning, Ten lords a-leaping**, Nine Magic Beans, Eight Misc. Posters, Seven Bonds a-swimming, Six Fincher Teases, Fiiiive Super Hero Banners, A Poster for the fourth Underworld Movie, Three Hungry Teens Banners, Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard.
Eleven Geezers Gunning:
On the Twelfth day of Christmas, My true love gave to me: Twelve Cops & Goslings, Eleven Geezers Gunning, Ten lords a-leaping**, Nine Magic Beans, Eight Misc. Posters,, Seven Bonds-a-swimming, Six Fincher Teases, Five Super Hero Banners, A Poster for the fourth Underworld Movie, Three Hungry Teens, Two Abraham Lincolns and Sacha Baron Cohen with a stupid beard.
**Not really, it’s just Tom Hardy at the English Nat’l Ballet Christmas Gala. But it sounded good.
I thought filming had wrapped on The Gangster Squad since I knew that Ryan Gosling had moved on to Terrence Malick’s new project, tentatively title Lawless with Rooney Mara (not to mention jaunts to Paris). Taken last night on the mean streets of LA, these, I do believe are the best from the set of The Gangster Squad yet. Hey, there’s even one of Baby Goose with a smile!
The Gangster Squad is based on a seven-part 'LA Times' series by Paul Lieberman, and revolves around the LAPD’s fight to keep the East Coast Mob out of 1940's-50's era LA, and the creation of an elite unit called the “Gangster Squad”. Gosling stars along with Josh Brolin as his partner, John O’Mara. Together they are trying to take down notorious gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). Emma Stone stars as Cohen’s current moll and Wooters’ love interest, Grace Faraday.
Robert Patrick plays Off. Max Kennard (who replaced Bryan Cranston), Giovanni Ribisi plays Conway Keeler, the squad's tech geek (before there was such a thing), Michael Peña plays rookie Navidad Ramirez and Anthony Mackie plays Rocky Washington, a former LAPD Lieutenant.
Warner Bros. recently announced that the release date has been moved up from the vague '2013' and The Gangster Squad is now set for October 19, 2012 (prime awards season positioning, me thinks). Woot! Enjoy the pics *which also include some shots of Emma Stone in a vintage house dress).
