Way #1: ask Liam Neeson some hard questions about his life choices.
Gangster Squad is based on the true tale of a group of LAPD officers and detectives in the late 1940s who used, shall we say, extra-judicial methods to smash the operations that allowed gangster Micky Cohen to control the underworld of the US west coast. The film is directed by Ruben Fleischer, who has mainly worked in the worlds of advertising and music-video production, but has two previous films (Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less) to his credit. An ensemble cast including Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte and Emma Stone play out a plot we get the feeling we have already seen before.
OH LOOK, it’s another European action film that’s been needlessly rehashed into a big-budget American dross rocket. Hurrah! Mark Wahlberg plays Smuggler Who No Longer Smuggles; guess what he’s going to do? That’s right! He’s going to punch and grumble his way through two hours of your life, which you will NEVER get back.
The Rum Diary is an occasionally funny, occasionally madcap film that essentially is neither very funny nor very madcap. Despite the promises of the trailer the film follows a narrative that is conventional and even a tad dull. All in all, it’s a bit of a rum deal. Ahem.
The buzz around Avatar has been almost unprecedented – James Cameron’s long-awaited return to sci-fi has been panned, praised and everything in between even before it was released. Approaching Avatar with an open mind, we discovered one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful and immersive films of recent years.
No – scratch that. One of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful and immersive films ever released.
OK, so over the past few days we might have been skeptical about Avatar. It’s only natural, cynical buggers that we are, that when a big-ol’ hoohar is made of a new film our shackles tend to go up. The louder the fanfare, we find, the damper the squib.
20th Century Fox have released a new featurette about the human technology that’s being employed in the hotly-anticipated Avatar. The three minute video features the usual big-upping platitudes from head honcho James Cameron, Richard Taylor from WETA and producer Jon Landau, as well as cast members Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi and Michelle Rodriguez.
Michael Mann’s expertly crafted tale of Depression-era gangster John Dillinger’s final exploits looks good on paper, with standout performances from Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. But it fails to get to the heart of one of America’s craftiest criminals.
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