The gangster drama Killing Them Softly, adapted from the George V. Higgins novel Cogan’s Trade, tells the story of Frankie (Scott McNairy), a broke young crook who’s fresh out of jail, and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn), an Australian junkie who makes a living stealing dogs, who are recruited to steal from a mob-protected card game that’s run by Markie (Ray Liotta).  But, even though their plan seems foolproof, the mob feels otherwise and brings in seasoned enforcer Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) to send a message.  From writer/director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), the film also stars James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Sam Shepard and Vincent Curatola.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, filmmaker Andrew Dominik talked about what he most connected with in this story, how he approached adapting it for the screen, why he wanted Brad Pitt for the film, how easy this impressive cast was to assemble, his approach to the violence, deleted scenes, the test screening process, and film versus digital.  He also talked about his desire to make Blonde, about the life of Marilyn Monroe, his next film with Naomi Watts in the lead role.  Check out what he had to say after the jump. 

A new clip and featurette have debuted for writer/director Judd Apatow’s This Is 40. Starring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann in a spin-off film for their characters in Knocked Up, This Is 40 centers on the real-life problems of a mid-life marriage. The clip highlights some funny pillow talk between Rudd and Mann, while the featurette reveals Jason Segel’s role in the picture. Also starring Albert Brooks, John Lithgow and Megan Fox, This Is 40 opens on December 21st.

We also have a new clip from writer/director Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly. Centering on Brad Pitt as a mob enforcer, this clip reveals a conversation between Pitt and James Gandolfini’s character, New York Mickey, aka Mickey Fix-It. Also starring Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta, Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn, Killing Them Softly opens November 30th. Hit the jump to check out the clips.

A new trailer for director Andrew Dominik’s crime drama Killing Them Soflty has been released.  The film stars Brad Pitt as a mob enforcer called in to investigate the robbery of a high-stakes card game.  The film’s first trailer was pretty great, but this clip ups my anticipation level even more.  We see a bit more of the plot and character interactions, and there’s a scene set in the rain that shows off some fantastic visuals.  Dominik displayed tremendous talent with The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, and I’m highly encouraged by what we’ve seen of his second go-around with Pitt thus far.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film also stars Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Scoot McNairy, and Ben Mendelsohn.  Killing Them Softly opens November 30th.

The Weinstein Company has pushed back the release of director Andrew Dominik’s (The Assassination of Jesse James) crime drama Killing Them Softly yet again.  After previously being moved from September to October in order to swap with TWC’s The Master, the film has now been pushed to November 30th so that it may be better positioned for awards season.  Harvey Weinstein noted the attractiveness of the spot given that the Brad Pitt-starrer could open as the only major wide release that weekend, with the iffy John Cusack/Nicolas Cage serial killer drama The Frozen Ground its only real competition.

The Weinstein Company has a number of major players in the awards race this year—including The Master, Silver Linings Playbook, and Django Unchained—and it’ll be interesting to see how they play their cards.  Killing Them Softly premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to an extremely positive response, with many noting the film’s strong political undertones and dialogue-driven narrative, so the film could be a major player in the Oscar race.  Hit the jump to watch the pic’s trailer. 

This past week presented me with a couple of unique moviegoing opportunities. In addition to the ParaNorman showing I previewed the last time we met, I was also able to check out one of my all-time favorites, Jaws, on the big screen thanks to Cinemark’s “Fall Classic Series”. For as much as I enjoyed the pic long before this week’s showing, I have to say that viewing it as an audience member in a packed theater for the first time opened my eyes to a whole new appreciation. Not only was I genuinely startled in a few scenes that repeat television and DVD viewings had long left me numb to, but I also came to respect Robert Shaw’s timeless turn as Quint even more than I previously had. In short, my adoration for Spielberg‘s masterpiece was not only reaffirmed, it somehow found a way to expand.

But enough about my love of all things Jaws related. This week’s Top 5 includes the news that James Gunn is in talks to direct Marvel’s intergalactic tale, Guardians of the Galaxy, Sight & Sound’s personal Top 10 lists from some of cinema’s most revered directors (Spoiler Alert: that shark movie I drooled about in the opening paragraph appears on Tarantino‘s), a new red-band trailer for John Hillcoat‘s Lawless, Disney’s plans to reboot The Rocketeer, and an animated look at how The Dark Knight Rises should have ended. A brief recap and link to each can be found after the jump.

Earlier this month, a new “official” best film of all time was announced with the unveiling of the results of Sight & Sound’s most recent poll.  Every ten years, the film magazine polls a number of critics, academics, and professionals and then tallies up the results for an ultimate list.  The magazine also has a poll of directors for a second Top 10 list, and now they’ve unveiled the individual directors’ lists in an effort to occupy all the free time you have today.

After the jump you can peruse personal Top 10 lists from the likes of Edgar Wright, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Guillermo del Toro, Woody Allen, David O’Russell, Sam Mendes, Matthew Vaughn, Francis Ford Coppola, Marc Webb and more.  Hit the jump to take a look.

The first trailer for Killing Them Softly has been released.  Directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James), the film stars Brad Pitt as a mob enforcer hired to restore order following the robbery of a mob-protected card game.  We knew going in that Dominik was unlikely to make a straightforward crime pic, and this trailer promises something special.  There’s some great humor, strange characters, and a wonderful backing track provided by the one and only Johnny Cash.  We even get a shade of those political undertones that were singled out when the film premiered to a wildly positive response at the Cannes Film Festival.  As a big fan of Jesse James this one was already high on my list of anticipated films, but seeing Pitt, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta and co. in action I can already tell it’s gonna be an excruciating next few months waiting for this to hit theaters.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars James Gandolfini, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, and Vincent Curatola.  Killing Them Softly opens on October 19th.

Good news, everyone!  Paul Thomas Anderson’s ridiculously anticipated There Will Be Blood follow-up The Master will be hitting theaters a month earlier than expected.  Variety reports that The Weinstein Company has moved the pic up to September 14th from its previous release date of October 19th.  The film will open in limited release on the 14th before expanding the following weekend.  The possibly Scientology-centered pic stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman in what look to be two powerhouse performances.

The Master will open against Finding Nemo 3D, Resident Evil: Retribution, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Liberal Arts on that September date.  Hit the jump for more, including release date news concerning another extremely promising pic, Killing Them Softly.

In May 2010, we reported about two Marilyn Monroe movies headed into pre-production: Simon Curtis‘ My Week with Marilyn and Andrew Dominik‘s Blonde.  Dominik’s film was set to begin shooting in January 2011 with Naomi Watts attached to play the blonde bombshell.  However, Dominik’s project stalled, and My Week with Marilyn ended up making it way to theaters first with two Oscar nominations to show for it (Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor).  Usually, if two similar projects don’t begin filming around the same time, then the one that didn’t get the green light fades away and the director moves on to something else.  That seemed to be the case with Blonde since Dominik decided to go forward with an adaptation of the crime novel Cogan’s Trade, which reunited him with his Assassination of Jesse James star Brad Pitt.  The film, entitled Killing Them Softly, recently premiered at Cannes where it received positive reviews.

But it looks like Mr. Dominik hasn’t given up on Blonde, and now Pitt has come aboard to produce.  Hit the jump for more.  Killing Them Softly is due out in the U.S. on September 21st.

A new clip from director Andrew Dominik’s (The Assassination of Jesse James) crime drama Killing Them Softly has been released.  The film stars Brad Pitt as a mob enforcer who’s tasked with investigating the robbery of a high-stakes poker game.  The pic premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this week to a widlly enthusiastic response, and apparently Dominik has crafted the crime drama as a not-so-subtle critique of capitalism.  We got a look at the excellent minimalist teaser poster a few days ago, and this clip features a funny scene between Pitt’s character and Richard Jenkins in which the title of the film becomes crystal clear.  If you missed the Ray Liotta-enhanced first clip from the film, click here.

Hit the jump to watch the clip.  The film also stars James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Richard Jenkins, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy, Bella Heathcote, and Sam Shepard.  Killing Them Softly opens on September 21st.

Earlier today we got our first look at director Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly anticipated new film The Master.  The Weinstein Company showed off the first footage from the drama at the Cannes Film Festival today, where they’re also set to debut another incredibly promising property that’s set for release later this year: Killing Them Softly.  The film marks director Andrew Dominik’s follow up to his phenomenal 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and stars Brad Pitt as a mob enforcer who’s tasked with investigating the robbery of a high-stakes poker game.

The first clip for Killing Them Softly debuted earlier this month, but a stylish new teaser poster has just gone online.  It’s minimalist yet enticing, and I love the juxtaposition of the American flag with the pistol aimed right at the onlooker’s face.  Hit the jump to check the poster out in all its glory.  Killing Them Softly hits theaters on September 21st.

The full line-up for the 2012 Cannes Film Festival has been announced, and there are some heavy hitting debuts making their premieres.  As we’ve previously reported, Wes Anderson‘s Moonrise Kingdom will open the festival.  This year’s Cannes will also include Cosmopolis (directed by David Cronenberg), The Paperboy (from Precious director Lee Daniels), Lawless (from The Road director John Hillcoat), Killing Them Softly (from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford director Andrew Dominik), Mud (from Take Shelter director Jeff Nichols), Rust & Bone (from A Prophet director Jacques Audiard) and On the Road (from The Motorcycle Diaries director Walter Salles).

Click on the corresponding link for more on each film, and hit the jump for the full line-up.  The 65th Cannes Film Festival runs from May 16 – 25th.

Five new images from Cogan’s Trade have gone online.  Based on the novel by George V. Higgins and written and directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), the film stars Brad Pitt as Jackie Cogan, a mob enforcer who must investigate the robbery of a high-stakes poker game.  The film also stars Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini (both looking like they’ve slipped back into mob-mode), Richard Jenkins, Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom), Scott McNairy (Monsters), Bella Heathcote (In Time), and Sam Shepard.  With Dominik at the helm and this spectacular cast, Cogan’s Trade is one of my must-see movies of the year.  Although no release date has been announced, I’d be surprised if The Weinstein Company didn’t set the film loose on the festival circuit this fall.  Hit the jump to check out the images.

At the beginning of March, some blurry set photos from Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of Cogan’s Trade leaked online.  Today, an official-looking image from the film has been released and it shows star Brad Pitt in all his slicked-hair, shotgun-wielding majesty.  Pitt plays Jackie Cogan, a mob enforcer who is tasked with investigating the heist of a high-stakes card game.  The movie has an impressive cast that includes Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom), Scott McNairy (Monsters), rising star Bella Heathcote (Now), and Sam Shepard.

Judging by the image, the film looks to have the grittier feel of Dominik’s debut film Chopper rather than the lyrical, haunting pace of his previous work, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The Weinstein Company picked up the rights to the film and will likely release the movie in 2012.  Hit the jump to check out the image.

When we last left Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of George V. Higgins’ crime novel Cogan’s Trade, the film was stacking up a great cast led by Brad Pitt and costarring James Gandolfini, Sam Rockwell, Bella Heathcote, and Richard Jenkins.  Also rumored to be in the cast were Casey Affleck, Mark Ruffalo, and Javier Bardem.  Risky Business now confirms that not only are Affleck, Ruffalo, and Bardem in the mix, but Ray Liotta is getting in the game as well.

The story of Cogan’s Trade revolves around a mob enforcer (Pitt) who must investigate the robbery of a high-stakes poker game.  Liotta is set to play “Mark ‘Markie’ Trattman, the unfortunate hustler who runs the game in a motel room and finds things only going downhill from there.”  Filming begins later this month in New Orleans for an early 2012 release.  The only way I can see this cast getting any better is if the rumor about Bill Murray joining the film comes true.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel.