Trailer: Gangster Squad

I’ve been waiting for this.

FilmFodder has been following Ruben Fleishcer’s Gangster Squad (apparently they dropped the ‘The’ from the title) since day one, and so this is a happy day.

The trailer debuted moments ago, and let me tell you, this is exciting, tense, and thrilling. I’m so ready.

Sean Penn stars as gangster Mickey Cohen, who is the target of a Los Angeles police task force led by Josh Brolin. The film takes place in the 1940’s and boasts a cast of Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Michael Peña, Anthony Mackie, and Giovanni Ribisi.

You can catch Gangster Squad later this year.

Synopsis:

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. “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.

Trailer: End of Watch

This looks pretty damn cool.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena star as two partners who patrol the streets of south central Los Angeles when they stumble on a bust that makes them the Cartel’s number one enemy.

The film also stars Anna Kendrick, Frank Gillo, and America Ferrera.

This looks crazy intense, but the first person camera may get to be annoying, that’s all I’m worried about.

End of Watch hits theaters on September 28th, 2012.

First Look: The Gangster Squad

The next great mob drama film has began production, and first images of Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin have been released.

The Gangster Squad is probably my most anticipated film over the next couple years next to The Dark Knight Rises, so any information that comes out gets my excited.

The cast is beyond stellar, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, along with Michael Peña, Giovanni Ribisi, Mireille Enos, Holt McCallany, Robert Patrick, and Frank Grillo.

The Gangster Squad is based on a seven-part Los Angeles Times article written by Paul Lieberman that details how, during 1940′s corruption and chaos, the Los Angeles Police Department created a special unit called the Gangster Squad to prevent the East Coast mafia from infecting the city.

The film focuses on Mickey Cohen, a notorious Los Angeles gangster who grew to become one of the most violent, feared and famous mobsters in the nation. Jailed multiple times, including once at Alcatraz, Cohen laundered money, killed people and trafficked drugs — and had the guts to make television appearances while doing it.

The Gangster Squad hits theaters late 2012, just in time for Oscar season.

First Look at Jake Gyllenhaal in End of Watch

 

Everyone is shaving their head these days…following my lead!

Jake Gyllenhaal is coming off a great performance in Source Code and has a ton of great projects lined up.

Here we see an aggressive Gyllenhaal, toting a gun, and obviously the lack of hair stands out, but I dig it.

End of Watch is  a cop drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, Michael Peña, America Ferrera, Natalie Martinez, Cody Hornand Frank Grillo.

A powerful story of family, friendship, love, honor and courage, End Of Watch stars Gyllenhaal and Peña as young Los Angeles police officers Taylor and Zavala as they patrol the city’s meanest streets of south central Los Angeles.

Giving the story a gripping, first-person immediacy, the action unfolds entirely through footage from the handheld HD cameras of the police officers, gang members, surveillance cameras, and citizens caught in the line of fire to create a riveting portrait of the city’s darkest, most violent corners, the cops who risk their lives there every day, and the price they and their families are forced to pay.

End of Watch will hits theaters in 2012.

Review: 30 Minutes or Less

Sorry, time’s up.

Wrap your head around this, two guys, a delivery boy and a teacher, rob a bank, and try not to blow up, cool right? And it’s based on true events, WHAT?

Jesse Eisenberg plays Nick, a dead beat 20-something year old, who does nothing but get high, and deliver pizza’s. He has to deliver them within 30 minutes of the order or else it’s free.

That’s as far as the movie title, and the actual movie tie in. The film has literally nothing to do with the pizza angle sub plot whatever you want to call it.

Nick gets jumped by two hoodlums, Dwayne and Travis played by Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, and is told he has 10 hours to get them $100,000 or else he will blow up.

The plot seems pretty straight forward, but the movie is sloppy in putting things together, which usually is okay with comedies since they have the laughter to balance things out with, but the lack of said laughter here, threw it all off.

Aziz Ansari who is slowly becoming a household name when it comes to comedy plays Chet, Nick’s best friend, who helps out with the bank robbery.

Ansari is easily the funniest of the main four in the film, but without any one else stepping up with consistent laughs, the movie relies too heavily on Chet and thus doesn’t fully utilize it’s potential.

You can actually blame the studios and cash cows behind the film for ruining it a bit. The marketing for 30 Minutes or Less was stupendous, you couldn’t walk a block without seeing a bus roll by with it’s poster, or go through a commercial without the trailer.

But that devalued the film by exposing too much of it, and on top of that, the run time was an astronomically short 83 minutes.

I know coming into this film a lot of people who enjoy dirty humor are big fans of McBride and Swardson but these two together are pretty dumb and unbearable. I guess that’s kind of the point, but their dimwitted comedy gets rather tiresome after the first two sex jokes.

Michael Pena plays a role here that is really odd. You have to wonder why he would do this.

Pena plays Chango, a hired hitman, who comes across as gay on screen, and does an absurd amount of screaming for no reason. But that’s not why I’m questioning Pena, he is a very talented actor, and does great in drama films, yet he resorts to this slap stick comedy that doesn’t suit him at all.

I’m a huge Jesse Eisenberg fan, I’ll go watch him in any film, so it was good to see him not play the dorky, anal retentive, shy character he’s played lately. Eisenberg can be really funny, he has shown that in Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland, who also directed this film.

Eisenberg delivers some good lines, and has some really funny moments when pair with Ansari’s character, but there wasn’t enough of it.

I guess if we are talking about someone being typecast, then Danny McBride needs to be brought up. Here is a guy who has played the same exact dumb character every chance he gets. It’s getting really old, not to mention dry and unfunny.

You won’t be bored watching this film, but the lack of strong story line and character development doesn’t really make you leave the theater saying “I have to watch that again” or even want to rent it later on. Actually if I never see it again, I don’t think my life will be any different.

30 Minutes or Less was marketed as a big time comedy, and had four guys in it that you’d think could pull it off well, but a poor script delivered only a handful of really funny moments. The rest were either too dumb to laugh at, or a simple smirk and forget it. The lack of consistency, which is so vital in any comedy film, was completely off here.

This gets chalked up as a dud in my book.

Rating: 5/10

Ruben Fleischer Talks The Gangster Squad

The Gangster Squad is probably my most anticipated film over the next couple years next to The Dark Knight Rises, so any information that comes out gets my excited.

The cast is beyond stellar, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, along with Michael Peña, Giovanni Ribisi, Mireille Enos, Holt McCallany, Robert Patrick, and Frank Grillo.

Not too shabby.

Now director Ruben Fleischer, who currently has the comedy 30 Minutes or Less in theaters, is talking about this period piece.

Most notably, Fleischer made a bold statement, calling The Gangster Squad, “an iconic gangster movie.”

Strong.

Fleishcer then went on to talk about the tone for the film…

“It’s set in 1949 Los Angeles. So it’s a period gangster movie and it’s got those classic, beautiful 1940’s cars and tommy guns and those classic gangster tropes. But I think part of the reason I got the job was because of the action in Zombieland. There is quite a bit of action in gangster squad so I think it will be really fun to find a balance between these classic gangster movies and, you know, whatever my approach to the action in the film will be.”

Fleishcer did mention that this is a “huge, huge opportunity” and with the cast he has, it’s going to be hard to blow it.

The Gangster Squad is based on a seven-part Los Angeles Times article written by Paul Lieberman that details how, during 1940′s corruption and chaos, the Los Angeles Police Department created a special unit called the Gangster Squad to prevent the East Coast mafia from infecting the city.

The film focuses on Mickey Cohen, a notorious Los Angeles gangster who grew to become one of the most violent, feared and famous mobsters in the nation. Jailed multiple times, including once at Alcatraz, Cohen laundered money, killed people and trafficked drugs — and had the guts to make television appearances while doing it.

The Gangster Squad hits theaters late 2012, just in time for Oscar season.

Emma Stone Joining The Gangster Squad?

The Gangster Squad already has a major cast, with a tremendous plot and tons of hype behind it.

Now another big name is in the works.

Emma Stone is currently in talks for a major role in the story about Mobster Mickey Cohen.

The film will star Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi and Michael Pena, guess they need a leading female.

Stone would be a tremendous add.

The young red headed star would play the coveted role of Jean, “a sharp-tongued siren caught in a love triangle with Gosling’s character and Penn, who portrays famed mobster Mickey Cohen.”

This would be a big move for Stone, she would have to hold her own with the Oscar caliber cast, but I think it would really work.

Giovanni Ribisi Joins The Gangster Squad

Well he certainly has the look.

Giovanni Ribisi has made a name for himself in Hollywood, without ever having a gigantic, breakout role in any film.

He was tremendous in Boiler Room and Gone in 60 Seconds, while choosing his other projects wisely.

Ribisi has signed on to the already stacked The Gangster Squad, which will tell the story of LAPD Cops vs notorious crime boss Mickey Cohen.

Ribisi will play a cop named Conway Keeler, who is a “master of electronics and wires” and will join Sean Penn (as gangster Mickey Cohen), Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Bryan Cranston, Michael Pena and Anthony Mackie.

This is another great addition, and all signs are pointing to The Gangster Squad being one of the best and most anticipated crime drama’s since Goodfellas and Casino.

Anthony Mackie Joins The Gangster Squad

One of my favorite actors, Anthony Mackie, is joining a major film.

A film I’ve been following since it’s been announced, “The Gangster Squad” which will star Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin, centering around the Mob vs. LAPD.

Earlier in the week, Michael Pena also joined the cast.

The movie will be based on a series of articles in The Los Angeles Times written by Paul Lieberman back in 2008.

The articles examine an LAPD unit that’s set up in the 1940s to fend off the growing influence of the East Coast Mafia in the city.

This LAPD unit ended up becoming very powerful, as battles with the Mafia escalated, leading to massive amounts of chaos. The unit was a secret police task force who went after Meyer Harris “Mickey” Cohen, a high-profile gangster who was a member of the Jewish Mafia.

Gosling and Brolin are set to play the two lead cops, while Penn will play the gangster, Cohen.

Mackie will play former LAPD lieutenant Rocky Washington.

This is a very solid core cast already, and has the making for a great story and cinematic adventure.

I’m very much looking forward to “The Gangster Squad.”

Review: Everything Must Go

When you are so good at one thing, you should really just stick to it.

That’s the advice I’m giving Will Ferrell after watching “Everything Must Go.”

While, one of the, if not the biggest draw to the film for me was Ferrell’s different approach in a movie, I found this non-comedic routine to be to big of a stretch.

“Everything Must Go” really only has four characters, Ferrell, Rebecca Hall who plays Ferrell’s neighbor, Christopher Jordan Wallace, who plays Ferrell’s business partner and Michael Pena who plays a cop.

The film starts off on the day Nick Halsey loses his job only to come home to find all his stuff on the front lawn. Having no where to go he decides to live on his front lawn. Police come by and tell him what he is doing is illegal and if he wants to stay he is going to have to have to establish a yard sale or else he goes to jail.

We soon find out some other issues Halsey has been dealing with from a drinking problem that is often shown throughout the film, I hope PBR paid for all that marketing by Ferrell, and an anger issue as well.

“Everything Must Go” is a pretty depressing film as it centers around a self destructing man, who loses it all.

It kind of reminded me of “The Company Men,” which came out earlier this year, dealing with the issues of job loss and spiraling out of control, except here, there was less story and less talent on screen.

It’s hard to like this film on the surface when it just didn’t flow right, seemed way too long, and was beyond slow in it’s pace.

Rebecca Hall while being great in “The Town” was marginal here and Ferrell while being convincing to a point, just didn’t resonate with me.

I walked out of the theater saying “all I could think about with Ferrell is him yelling ‘we’re going streaking!'”

I’m always a person who is for actors and actresses to step out of the box and try a project that they are not typecast for, but this one really didn’t work.

Ferrell needs to stick to the comedies. It’s his bread and butter.

Rating: 6/10