Considering that the film was bumped around from September to January due to a national tragedy, it would be nice to feel a little sorry for Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad.  The period film, which casts Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling as cops going against Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) for control of Los Angeles, has a great cast and period setting.  On top of that, The Untouchables is a great film and it wouldn’t be the worst thing to see more films like it.  And yet, Gangster Squad is a total miss.  My review of the Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Other than a tremendous amount of casting news, we haven’t seen too much out of the camp of Robert Rodriguez and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.  All that changed today when the sequel’s co-writer/co-director decided to tweet some behind-the-scenes images from the production.  Rodriguez treated fans to some “before and after green screen” images featuring Josh Brolin.

Starring Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Haysbert,Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta, Juno Temple, Stacy Keach, Eva Green and Julia Garner,  Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens on October 4th.  Hit the jump to check out the new images.

What’s the best course of action should you ever find yourself a boring married person who’s hesitant to cash in “movie favors” due to the fear that your return favor will come in the form of the next four Katherine Heigl movies? Align yourself with like-minded boring married people and schedule yourself a significant-other-free triple feature. This advice comes directly from my own playbook and is the reason why this week’s Top 5 is arriving a little earlier than usual; so that I can make time to check out Gangster Squad, Zero Dark Thirty, and Django Unchained all in one glorious day. While you likely didn’t come here for relationship advice, as an added bonus to an already robust palette of content, I’m confident that you’re getting your time’s worth and then some.

All creative thinking pertaining to movies and how we can watch them while in a relationship aside, this week saw the announcement of the 2013 Oscar nominations, a little Evil Dead remake set visit coverage, Gangster Squad interviews with Ruben Fleischer and more, a healthy portion of posters and images from Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers, and developing news regarding Christopher Nolan potentially taking on Interstellar as his next directorial effort. All of the above resides in brief recap and link form after the jump.

It’s a bit disappointing that Ruben Fleischer‘s Gangster Squad can live in such a rich setting and still feel so light.  As seen through a grand tradition of films dating back over 70 years, post-war Los Angeles was boozy, hedonistic, dangerous, and dark.  Gangster Squad waters down this colorful world, and simply coasts on being an amusing, frivolous action film.  There’s nothing wrong with that, and with a strong cast at his disposal, Fleischer finds a nice blend between the style he brought to Zombieland and the spirit of the time period.  Unfortunately, a thin plot and even thinner characters make Gangster Squad as intense as a drive-by shooting and just as fleeting.

With the film set to hit theaters tomorrow, a final extended trailer for director Ruben Fleischer’s crime drama Gangster Squad has been released online.  It looks to be mostly made up of footage that we’ve seen before, but this is the most comprehensive look at the film we’ve been given thus far.  If you missed any of our recent coverage, be sure to check out Steve’s extended interview with star Josh Brolin and Christina’s coverage of the press conference that included Fleischer, Brolin, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone.  Look for more interviews over the next few days.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film also stars Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Peña, Robert Patrick and Mireille Enos.  Gangster Squad opens on January 11th.

Opening this weekend is director Ruben Fleischer’s (Zombieland) Gangster Squad.  The movie is set in 1940s Los Angeles and stars Sean Penn as real-life gangster Mickey Cohen, who became the target of special task force known as the “Gangster Squad” made up of Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Peña, and Robert Patrick.  The film also stars Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, and Mireille Enos.  For more on the film, be sure to check out our set visit coverage here, and watch six clips.

During the recent Los Angeles press day, I landed an exclusive interview with Josh Brolin.  During our wide ranging conversation we talked about what the last few years have been like as he’s been in some high profile movies, how he got involved in Gangster Squad, what changed on set, future projects like Spike Lee’s Oldboy, Jason Reitman’s Labor Day, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Sean Penn’s Crazy for the Storm, Pitz and Joe, Under and Alone, a possible project with Jessica Chastain, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to read.

From director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), the crime drama Gangster Squad is set in Los Angeles in 1949, when ruthless mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) made a business out of drugs, guns and prostitutes, all thanks to the police and politicians being on his payroll.  He thought no one and nothing could stop him, until a small, secret crew of LAPD officers, led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), came together to take back the city and tear Cohen’s world apart.  The film also stars Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Peña, Robert Patrick and Mireille Enos.  For more on the film, be sure to check out our set visit coverage here, and watch six clips.

During a press conference at the film’s press day, actors Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, along with Fleischer, talked about finding the tone of the film, the most challenging scene to shoot, what they did to get into the time period, how they viewed their characters, assembling such a talented supporting cast, working with an actor as intense as Sean Penn, having a sensitivity about extreme violence in films, and the decision to reshoot one of the more intense scenes.  Check out what they had to say after the jump.

Yesterday, we reported the exciting news that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was set to co-star in Robert Rodriguez‘ Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.  Today, two more terrific actors have joined the cast.  Dimension has announced that Josh Brolin will play the lead role of “Dwight”.  The role was originally played by Clive Owen in the first Sin City, but since A Dame to Kill For is a prequel, it explains why Dwight looks different (it also explains how Mickey Rourke is back to play Marv).  In A Dame to Kill For, “Dwight is hunted down by the only woman he ever loved, Ava Lord, and then watches his life go straight to hell.”  Brolin is a great choice for the role, and I’m eager to see how his performance will compare to Owen’s.  Deadline is also reporting that Christopher Meloni has signed on to play a disreputable cop.  Look out for Evil Stabler!

Hit the jump for the press release.  The film also stars Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King, Dennis Haysbert, and Jamie Chung.  Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens October 4th.

The Joseph Gordon-Levitt news continues.  As the multitalented actor prepares to unveil his feature directorial debut Don Jon’s Addiction at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, he’s been the focus of quite a few news stories over the past week.  We learned last Wednesday that Gordon-Levitt had been added to the list of contenders for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and earlier today it was reported that he passed on a role in Warner Bros.’ Godzilla reboot.  Now it appears that Gordon-Levitt has settled on his next project, as he has committed to a lead role in director Robert Rodriguez’s upcoming sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For after turning down the Guardians gig.  [Update: Gordon-Levitt released a statement to explain why he is drawn to the Sin City world: "I love how the first movie uses VFX, not to make fake things look real, but to create a heightened world unburdened by the look and feel of reality.  Plus, nobody makes a badass like Mr. Rodriguez."]

Hit the jump for more, including further details on the cast of Sin City 2.

Warner Bros. has released six clips from director Ruben Fleischer’s upcoming period crime drama Gangster Squad.  The movie is set in 1940s Los Angeles and stars Sean Penn as real-life gangster Mickey Cohen, who became the target of special task force known as the “Gangster Squad”.  If you missed it, be sure to check out our set visit coverage here, and a bounty of images from the film right here.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Michael Peña, Anthony Mackie, and Giovanni Ribisi.  Gangster Squad opens on January 11th.

A new behind-the-scenes featurette has gone online for director Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad. In addition to a wealth of new footage, the video features commentary from the cast as they talk about gangster movies, the plot of Gangster Squad specifically and the lengths to which each of their characters will go to rid their city of crime, even becoming close to criminals themselves. Be sure to check out a host of images here and get caught up on Andre’s set visit here.

The movie stars Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Michael Peña, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, and Sean Penn as the villainous Mickey Cohen.  Gangster Squad opens January 11, 2013. Hit the jump to check out the new featurette.

When it was first announced that an American remake of director Park Chan-wook’s South Korean revenge film Oldboy was in the works, fans were understandably wary of the prospect.  Then Spike Lee signed on to direct.  If anything can be assumed of a Spike Lee film, it’s that it’s definitely not going to be a commercial cash-in.  Lee cares deeply about artistic integrity, so it’s with cautious optimism that his remake of Oldboy is being anticipated.

Steve sat down with star Josh Brolin last weekend to talk about his upcoming crime drama Gangster Squad, and the actor also took some time to discuss Oldboy.  During the interview, Brolin talked extensively about how Lee’s Oldboy differs from the original, reaching out to Park Chan-wook for his blessing, the action scenes, and he revealed that Lee shot some extended, improvised takes for Brolin’s scenes in the motel room.  The actor also talked a bit about writer/director Jason Reitman’s upcoming adaptation of Labor Day, in which he stars alongside Kate Winslet.  Hit the jump for the full comments.

I offered a similar sentiment following the tragedy at Aurora, CO back in July and I’ll do the same today: the event that unfolded yesterday in Newtown, CT is inexcusable and genuinely heartbreaking, even from a distance. The optimist in me wants to believe that any negative situation can be used to educate and improve the world we live in going forward. In this case, I’m hopeful but unsure that’s possible. On behalf of everyone here at Collider, I want to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who were lost yesterday.

As petty as it may seem, I feel fortunate to be able to offer a bit of diversion to your day with this week’s Top 5. Included in a trailer-heavy rotation this week is a new cut from Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel, The Hobbit interviews with Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis and more, the first trailer for Guillermo del Toro‘s Pacific Rim, Andre’s coverage from his Gangster Squad set visit, and the first look at Will Smith and Jaden Smith gallivanting across the human unfriendly Mother Earth found in M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth. A brief recap and link to each will greet you after the jump.

Warner Bros. has released a large batch of new images from director Ruben Fleischer’s upcoming period drama Gangster Squad.  The movie is set in 1940s Los Angeles and stars Sean Penn as real-life gangster Mickey Cohen, who became the target of special task force known as the “Gangster Squad”.  If you missed it, be sure to check out all of our set visit coverage including 15 things to know and our interviews with Fleischer, Josh Brolin, Anthony Mackie, Robert Patrick, Giovanni Ribisi, and producers Dan Lin and Kevin McCormick.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Ryan Gosling, Michael Pena, Nick Nolte, and Emma Stone.  Gangster Squad opens on January 11th.

For the set visit to Gangster Squad, we were driven from Hollywood to the middle of Bellflower, California, which had been dressed to look like 1940’s Hollywood. It was a cold night, but before we can get to set, we were hustled around the hundreds of onlookers near the edges of the shoot. Ryan Gosling was shooting that day, and that meant many of the people from the neighborhood wanted to have a look, and were trying to take picture or film him with their phones. It was impressive to that many people at considering that it was already ten at night and the weather was already cold.

We were on set October 20, 2011, and at the time we had no idea that Gangster Squad would ever become controversial. But how could we know that a shooting in the summer of 2012 would change and delay the film?  Such will explain why they talk about shooting a shooting in Grauman’s Chinese Theater, and why these interviews didn’t run months ago. At the time, spirits were high as they were halfway through the shooting process and Sean Penn has just started filming, though he wasn’t on set that night. To find out more about the things we learned on the set of Gangster Squad, read on after the jump.