HBO has released a new trailer for David Milch and Michael Mann’s upcoming horse-gambling drama Luck.  If Milch (Deadwood) and Mann (Heat) didn’t already get you excited for the show, here’s the cast: Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, Dennis Farina, John Ortiz, Richard Kind, Kevin Dunn, and Michael Gambon.  The main plotline focuses on as Ace Bernstain (Hoffman) a man who, after three years in prison, teams with his longtime chauffeur and muscle (Farina), to craft a complex plan involving the Santa Anita racetrack.  Of course, this is HBO where there are 3 or 4 plotlines per episode and you have to learn the names of 18 or 19 regular cast members.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Luck premieres January 2012.

Ben Affleck’s Argo began shooting today.  The film has a killer cast that includes Affleck, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, and John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Rory Cochrane, Victor Garber, Richard Kind, and Michael Parks.  I don’t really care about press releases announcing that filming has commenced (what’s newsworthy is when it looks like filming will commence and then it doesn’t), but this press release includes the first official synopsis for the movie.  Check it out:

Based on true events, “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis—the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades.  On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.

Okay, so that doesn’t point out that his plan is to use a fake movie as cover for the operation, but that’s the hook.  Affleck co-wrote the script with Good Night and Good Luck. screenwriter Grant Heslov.  Hit the jump for the full press release which includes a rundown of the behind-the-camera talent.

When you look at the caliber of talent behind the pilot for the horse racing drama Luck, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that HBO would order it to series.  Michael Mann directed the pilot from a script by Deadwood creator David Milch, with a cast toplined by Dustin Hoffman.  See what I mean?

According to The Live Feed, the cast is rounded out by Dennis Farina, John Ortiz, Kevin Dunn, Richard Kind, Jason Gedrick, Ritchie Coster, Ian Hart, Tom Payne, Kerry Condon, Gary Stevens, and Nick Nolte.  Production begins this fall, so Luck should debut on HBO sometime next year along with the fantasy series Game of Thrones.  Meanwhile, the Martin Scorsese-directed first episode of the Prohibition-era gangster series Boardwalk Empire premieres September 19th on the network.

It looks like 2009 Best Actor Nominee, Richard Jenkins, will be adding yet another Farrelly Brothers film to his resume.  Both Jenkins and Bruce Thomas (Kyle XY) have signed on to join an all-star cast in the upcoming comedy, Hall Pass.  Jenkins previously appeared in the Farrelly’s There’s Something About Mary, and Me, Myself & Irene.  The film will be directed by brothers, Bobby and Peter Farrelly, and also stars Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Jason Sudeikis, Christian Applegate, and Alyssa Milano. According to Variety, the story “revolves around two married couples whose wives give the husbands a ‘hall pass’ to engage in extracurricular affairs”.

And over at HBO, the horse racing series Luck continues to add to its already impressive cast list.  Richard Kind, most recently seen in the 2010 Best Picture nominee, A Serious Man, will portray a jockey’s agent.  Also, Ian Hart (Dirt) has been cast as a recently wealthy fast talker who provides funding for a number of Pick Six bets.  Created by David Milch, of NYPD Blue and Deadwood fame, Luck stars Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Farina, Nick Nolte, and John Ortiz as a group of guys and their obsessions in the world of horse racing. Michael Mann will serve as co-executive producer and will direct the pilot episode.

Regardless of the reception of Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man, one thing is clear: whatever creative or emotional bullshit led to their duo of moderate to mediocre to bad films (Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers) – whatever the dust, it’s been shaken loose and they are back on a filmmaking tear. A Serious Man is their most Jewish film (literally), and the humor is almost subterranean. It’s a darkly, philosophically funny movie about Prof. Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) and the drama in his life in 1967. It’s also about the irony of his life. My review of A Serious Man after the jump.

In just a few short days, a new Coen Brothers movie will premiere at the Toronto Film festival! It’s called “A Serious Man” and just like the rest of the world, I cannot wait to see it. Anyway, to help promote the upcoming release, Focus Features has released 4 clips from the film and you can watch them after the jump. Since I am about to see the movie, I’m refusing to watch any additional footage that could give anything away. But if you need a Coen Brothers fix, I’ve provided the clips after the jump. Take a look:

Sometimes you have to sell an article. Other times you can just say new images from The Coen Brother’s “A Serious Man”. They’re after the jump:

I don’t even know why there’s a trailer for this.  It certainly doesn’t need to be this freaking good.  Aren’t we at the point where you can have a trailer where it’s nothing but the words, “The Coen Brothers have a new film.  It’s called ‘A Serious Man’.  See it or you’re stupid and you smell funny,”?  I mean, I never took a class in marketing but I don’t think the Coens going up to a camera and throwing their Oscars and past films at the lens would be out of line.  They are legends and I was going to see “A Serious Man” no matter what.  Seeing a trailer like this just makes it worse.  I’d hold a grudge against the guys but that’s impossible.

See the trailer after the jump not because you need convincing but because you were going to anyway.