Hello and Happy Monday TC readers! Can you feel it? The summer blockbuster season is quickly approaching and with it comes exciting movie trailers! A ton of movies are set to release to retail this week with a rather lax release schedule at the theaters. Don’t forget to check out my Community Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations here if you haven’t already. You can also check out my review on Oz the Great and Powerful here as well! Let’s get started!
In case you missed it:
The gang is back! A teaser trailer for The Hangover Part III hit the Internet last week with the trio back in action. The movie stars, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, and John Goodman and is set to release on May 24th, 2013!
A second official trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness hit the Internet last week that shows new footage as well as some additional plot details. Star Trek Into Darkness stars, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Chris Pine and is set to hit theaters on May 17, 2013!
A new trailer for DreamWorks’ The Croods hit the web last week with new footage and additional plot details. The Croods features the voice talents of, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, and Nicolas Cage and is set to hit theaters on March 22nd, 2013!
After Earth also received another exciting trailer with additional footage and more detailed plot points. After Earth stars, Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith and is set to hit theaters on June 7th, 2013!
Finally, Iron Man 3 released its second official trailer last week and it is action packed. Iron Man 3 stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsly, and Robert Downey Jr. and is set to hit theaters on May 3rd, 2013!
That does it for a glimpse of last week’s trailers. Which one is your favorite? Leave a comment below and let us know! Let’s go ahead and move on into home releases.
See anything that’s missing? Comment and let us know!
That does it for this week! Be sure to keep coming back every Monday and Saturday for new Thinking Cinematic content!
As always, I want to end with this. Thinking Cinematic is looking for more writers. Feel like sending in a guest post? Want to be apart of the Thinking Cinematic team? Send your emails to: ThinkCinematicReview@gmail.com
Those expecting a violent shoot out will be pleased to see that Gangster Squad does provide the thrills and shock that accompany most mob movies, but unfortunately will find little after that. The movie lacks any sort of meat to give the audience the cinematic experience that the strong cast is capable of providing. Ryan Gosling stands above the cast in this movie works well along side Emma Stone. Writing and bad characterization hinders the talent and keeps Gangster Squad from ever really being a hard hitting success.
Movies and TV Shows set between 1920’s and 1940’s are easily the most exciting for me. I’ve mentioned before that there’s something about the era that lends itself well to the big screen. The music, the clothing, and the general aesthetics of the city life are always pleasing in a cinematic setting. Gangster Squad brings us back to the 40’s in this latest crime thriller movie. I’ve had high expectations for this movie for quite a while, and having released just this Friday, I finally got the chance to check out Gangster Squad.
Gangster Squad tells the story of a crime-ridden Los Angeles, suffering greatly at the hands of Mickey Cohen. Cohen has been gaining control of the city by flooding its streets with cocaine and paying off anyone that stands in his way. It’s up to ex-Military hero, John O’Mara, to round up a group of vigilantes to bring justice to Los Angeles, even if it means breaking the law.
The movie brings the violent firefights, as well as the tortuous punishments to insubordinates, which does enough to satiate the thrill of mob movies. There are plenty of skirmishes throughout the movie, and surprisingly they’re not as gruesome as one would expect, especially given the negative reviews it’s been receiving for ‘needlessly violent.’ I only recall two scenes where I could agree a little bit but I don’t feel like anything was that over done however given recent events in the nation I can see how the violence might be unsettling. That being said, the movie lacks any significant meat to balance out the shoot em up style firefights.
My biggest problem with the movie is the fact that a lot of the choices the main characters make are based more on hot headed thinking than anything strategically planned. In fact, aside from, Sergeant Jerry (Ryan Gosling), a lot of the actions involving the other members of the gangster squad, can be seen as comical. The movie goes back to comedic well way too many times to make the gangster squad as intimidating as you would believe an elite force of cops would be, especially when their leader, Sergeant O’Mara, is an ex-military vet who lives his life strictly by the law and badge. It doesn’t help either that O’Mara spends his time making brash decisions and raiding Cohen’s various establishments seemingly on a whim, and then subsequently relying on false bravado and luck to pull his team out of tight jams.
Warning Major Spoilers Regarding the End
The thing that was the most off putting for O’Mara’s character is the fact that we’ve seen this guy give up everything he has to put Cohen behind bars. He’s repeatedly put his, as well has his pregnant wife’s life, in danger just by taking these risky jobs. We’ve seen him show reckless disregard for his teammates by rushing headstrong into sticky situations, and of course we’ve seen him willingly operate over the law just to get the job done. However, despite all of this, when everything is said and done with Mickey Cohen standing right before him, he tosses his gun to the side and risks everything he and others have worked for by engaging in a fist fight instead of apprehending Cohen immediately. It just seemed so out of place given his motivations for the entire movie.
End Spoilers
It doesn’t help that the characters aren’t exactly fleshed out either. Walking out of the movie I barely felt like I knew any of their names aside from Cohen’s. Everyone is pretty much a stock character operating under cliché or shallow motives. The movie tries to tug at our heartstrings by placing them in dire situations but I never felt like I got to know any of them well enough to be adequately in fear for them. There’s no real sense of teamwork or any kind of cohesion among the group either. The movie ends up feeling more of Sergeant O’Mara (Brolin) and Sergeant Jerry (Gosling) show instead of the whole team. It’s a shame that the characters are written so poorly given the fact that the actors that play them bring so much talent to such flat pieces.
Josh Brolin does well in this movie, despite my questions with his character’s motivations, but if I had to pick Ryan Gosling steals the show. Gosling fits the era really well and provided a lot of great banter, in particular with Emma Stone. Gosling is also one of the few in the group who had real dire motivations to take down Cohen and wasn’t operating under a macho guise. Sean Penn does a fantastic job as Mickey Cohen, even if some of his dialogue is questionable. The most outlandish line being, “Here comes Santy Clause,” as he tears down the lobby of a hotel with a machine gun. Although some of the lines are hard not to laugh at he still comes out of the movie being intimidating and commanding on screen.
Those expecting a violent shoot out will be pleased to see that Gangster Squad does provide the thrills and shock that accompany most mob movies, but unfortunately will find little after that. The movie lacks any sort of meat to give the audience the cinematic experience that the strong cast is capable of providing. Ryan Gosling stands above the cast in this movie works well along side Emma Stone. Writing and bad characterization hinders the talent and keeps Gangster Squad from ever really being a hard hitting success.
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Hello and Happy Monday TC readers! Got a lot of movies coming to retail this week! This week also marks the nation wide release of some previous pushed back movies! Let’s go ahead and dive right into the latest released movie trailers!
In case you missed it:
A trailer for a movie called, Side Effects, hit the Internet last week! The film stars, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Jude Law and is scheduled to release on February 8th, 2013!
Excited for the upcoming remake of the cult hit, Evil Dead? Check out the red band trailer that was released just last week! Again, the trailer is red band so watch with caution. Evil Dead is slated to hit theaters on April 12, 2013!
A Good Day to Die Hard also saw a new trailer last week and is shaping up to be a festival of explosion. A Good Day to Die Hard stars, Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, and Amaury Nolasco and is slated to hit theaters February 14th, 2013! A perfect Valentines movie!
A trailer for, Dead Man Down, hit the Internet last week! Dead Man Down stars Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Dominic Cooper, and Terrence Howard. Dead Man Down is scheduled to hit the theaters on March 8th, 2013!
Finally, we have a trailer for the upcoming movie, Ginger and Rosa! Ginger and Rosa stars Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, and Christina Hendricks! The movie is set to hit theaters nationwide in the spring of 2013!
That does it for a glimpse of last week’s trailers. Which one is your favorite? Leave a comment below and let us know! Let’s go ahead and move on into home releases.
See anything that’s missing? Comment and let us know!
That does it for this week! Be sure to keep coming back every Monday and Saturday for new Thinking Cinematic content!
As always, I want to end with this. Thinking Cinematic is looking for more writers. Feel like sending in a guest post? Want to be apart of the Thinking Cinematic team? Send your emails to: ThinkCinematicReviews@gmail.com
Hello and happy Monday TC readers! I want to start by apologizing for the lack of an update last week. Due to underestimating the length of my vacation I didn’t have enough time to prepare an entry on time. Anyway, let’s go ahead and start off as always on movie news at a glance.
In case you missed it:
Last week Marvel released the first trailer for Iron Man 3, which is set to debut on May 3rd, 2012!
A couple of weeks a teaser trailer for A Good Day to Die Hard, the latest in the Die Hard franchise, was released. Now we have a second theatrical trailer here for your viewing pleasure!
See anything that’s missing? Comment and let us know!
That does it for this week! Be sure to keep coming back every Monday and Saturday for new Thinking Cinematic content!
As always, I want to end with this. Thinking Cinematic is looking for more writers. Feel like sending in a guest post? Want to be apart of the Thinking Cinematic team? Send your emails to: Rrsolis@me.com
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