Formerly known as Cogan’s Trade (which I think it a far cooler title), here’s the first poster for the upcoming crime drama Killing Them Softly starring Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, and Ray Liotta.

Jackie Cogan (Pitt) is an enforcer; and when the Mob’s rules get broken, he gets hired to ply his trade — murder.  In the gritty, tough-talking pages of Higgins’s 1974 national best-seller, Cogan is called in when a high-stake card game under the protection of the Mob is heisted. Expertly, with a ruthless businessman’s efficiency, a shrewd sense of other people’s weaknesses, and a style as cold as his stare, Cogan moves with reliable precision to restore the status quo as ill-conceived capers and double-dealing shenanigans erupt into high-voltage violence.

The film is due to open on September 21st.

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First poster for KILLING THEM SOFTLY starring Brad Pitt HollywoodHubbub

Continuing in the spirit of the last couple of days here’s the trailer for Fox’s new serial killer show The Following starring Kevin Bacon, James Purefoy, Natalie Zea, Jeananne Goosssen, and Shawn Ashmore.

I read the pilot script a while ago, and whilst I wasn’t blown away by it, I do think there’s potential.  It certainly doesn’t hurt that they were able to land Kevin Bacon as the lead, although it looks like each season will only contain about 13 episodes due to Bacon’s desire to be able to continue filming movies.

THE FBI estimates there are currently over 300 active serial killers in the United States. What would happen if these killers had a way of communicating and connecting with each other? What if they were able to work together and form alliances across the country? What if one brilliant psychotic serial killer was able to bring them all together and activate a following? Welcome to THE FOLLOWING, the terrifying new thriller from creator/executive producer Kevin Williamson (“The Vampire Diaries,” “Dawson’s Creek,” the “Scream” franchise). When notorious serial killer JOE CARROLL (James Purefoy, “Rome”) escapes from death row and embarks on a new killing spree, the FBI calls former agent RYAN HARDY (Emmy-nominated actor Kevin Bacon, “X-Men: First Class”) to consult on the case. Having since withdrawn from the public eye, Hardy was responsible for Carroll’s capture nine years ago, after Carroll murdered 14 female students on the Virginia college campus where he taught literature. Hardy is a walking textbook of all-things Carroll. He knows him better than anyone; he is perhaps Carroll’s only psychological and intellectual match. But the Ryan Hardy who broke the Carroll case years ago isn’t the same man today. Wounded both physically and mentally by his previous pursuit of this serial killer, it’s been a long time since Hardy has been in the field. This investigation is his redemption, his call to action. In contrast to nine years ago, Hardy isn’t calling the shots on this case. He works closely with an FBI team, which includes all-business and tough-as-nails JENNIFER MASON (Jeananne Goossen, “The Vow,” ALCATRAZ) and young, razor-sharp MIKE WESTON (Shawn Ashmore, “X-Men”).

The team considers Hardy to be more of a liability than an asset. But Hardy proves his worth when he uncovers that Carroll was covertly communicating with a network of killers in the outside world. It quickly becomes obvious that he has more planned than just a prison escape, and there’s no telling how many additional killers are out there. The FBI’s investigation leads Hardy to CLAIRE MATTHEWS (Natalie Zea, “Justified”), Carroll’s ex-wife and mother of the criminal’s 10-year-old son, JOEY (newcomer Kyle Catlett). Close during Hardy’s initial investigation, Hardy turns to Claire for insight into Carroll’s next move. The tension rises when Carroll’s accomplices kidnap his intended last victim from nine years ago. Hardy becomes ever more determined to end Carroll’s game when he realizes that this psychopath intends to finish what he started. The thriller will follow Hardy and the FBI as they are challenged with the ever-growing web of murder around them, masterminded by the devious Carroll, who dreams of writing a novel with Hardy as his protagonist. The reinvigorated Hardy will get a second chance to capture Carroll, as he’s faced with not one but a cult of serial killers.

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Trailer for THE FOLLOWING starring Kevin Bacon HollywoodHubbub

NBC cancelled Awake the other day.  Well, strictly speaking they opted to not renew the show for a second season.

I was somewhat excited about Awake before it aired thanks to a decent amount of positive buzz which typically included phrases like “intelligent” and “thought provoking”.  In some respects Awake is/was these things, however it’s mostly a standard police procedural with a unique delivery method.

The concept of the show is that police officer Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs), his wife Hannah (Laura Allen) and their son Rex (Dylan Minnette) are in a car wreck.  Michael survives and following the accident he lives in two realities, one where Hannah survived and one where Rex survived.  Every time he goes to sleep he wakes up in the other reality.  Each episode contains one case in each of Michael’s two worlds which he sets out to solve, aspects of each case typically bleed together between the worlds even though they’re not always related, and Michael is forced to deal with either a grieving Hannah or his stereotypically distant emo teenage son.  It’s not a bad show but it’s not a spectacularly good one either.  It is also kinda depressing for the simple fact that every episode contained people grieving for either a dead mother or a dead son.

I don’t like police procedurals.  They don’t usually allow for serialised storytelling and their formula is duller than watching paint dry.  Needless to say, I was very let down by Awake.

Now, despite being let down by the final product after reading such glowing reviews before the show aired, I am disappointed that NBC decided to not bring Awake back for a second season.  I’m disappointed because for a network that’s doing as poorly as NBC I don’t understand why they wouldn’t at least try and do something different.  Awake is still a basic cop show at it’s heart and I don’t think there’s any denying that the general population like watching cop shows.  The thing that made Awake interesting, even if not for me personally, was the way it was trying to present the procedural genre.  It was still a show which revolved around good guys catching bad guys, but the delivery mechanism for these stories was as markedly different as it could be for this genre.  At least it was trying something different with a stale genre of television.

What hope is there for the arrival of the next great one of a kind show like Lost when creativity of even the smallest kind like that in Awake is stifled?

The sheer lack of imaginative ambition on network TV these days makes me truly angry.  No-one is willing to take a chance on something even slightly different.  No-one will let a show grow and develop and find it’s true voice.  Hell, I read on Deadline today that CBS will pass on Nick Stoller’s sitcom Entry Level, even though it was received well by the network, because it’s a single camera sitcom and CBS’s other comedies are multi-camera sitcoms (source).

And that’s why I’m disappointed that Awake isn’t coming back.  Not because it was especially good but because it was trying something slightly different, and that ambition seems to have resulted in it’s cancellation whilst a show like Whitney gets to live another day.

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NBC cancels AWAKE and why that disappoints me HollywoodHubbub

Gangster Squad
Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and–if he has his way–every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart. “The Gangster Squad” is a colorful retelling of events surrounding the LAPD’s efforts to take back their nascent city from one of the most dangerous mafia bosses of all time.

Argo
Directed by Ben Affleck and 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.

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Retro goodness with trailers for GANGSTER SQUAD and ARGO HollywoodHubbub

Joe Carroll, a former University professor who killed a bunch of female college students, escapes from jail.  Ryan Hardy, the man who caught him, is brought in after leaving the FBI to team with a Mason, a tough female FBI Agent, to recapture Carroll.  It turns out Carroll had help on the outside from a network of wanna be serial killers.

In an interview with Collider, Kevin Williamson had this to say about his upcoming serial killer show on Fox:

You’ll be routing for the FBI agent who is going to bring him down. It’s very emotional. It’s this huge, big, hybrid show like The Vampire Diaries, where it relies on the twists and turns, and the tears, where you just get so invested in the characters and you’re like, “No, not that one,” and then they die. It’s one of those shows.

The Vampire Diaries is probably my favourite show on TV right now, so a comparison by Williamson to that show piqued my interest.  After reading the pilot script by Williamson I see hints of his description, but I don’t know how it will develop into a “huge, big, hybrid show”.  To me it comes across as a standard kinda dark procedural.  I did experience a “no, not that one” reaction whilst reading the script, and I think if it can generate that reaction in me without any of the sensory factors which go along with actually watching a TV show, I think this reaction may be a common occurrence should the show end up running for a while.

I thought the flashbacks to when Ryan was tracking and caught Joe were done well, as well as the ones featuring other character like the student who survived, and Carroll’s wife, and they helped to introduce some of the characters who I assume will be major players going forward.

Whilst reading the script I couldn’t help but picture Carroll as being played by Jere Burns (Duffy from Justified).  He’s not written in any particularly definitive way, but it was the first actor that came to mind and I couldn’t shake it.  Likewise, I couldn’t help but imagine Robin Tunney playing Mason, in no small part because I don’t like Robin Tunney and I didn’t like Mason.

My initial impression whilst reading was that it will probably need to be toned down a bit.  First of all the language, ‘cos I’m fairly certain Fox doesn’t want a bunch of f-bombs being dropped each episode.  Plus it’s a little bit too gruesome in its depiction of violence against women.  I like violence in movies but I don’t like my TV shows to be too gratuitous.

I can say right now that I’m not going to enjoy the initial feeling that every new character introduced could be a potential serial killer.  That shit will get old real fast.

I’m also not too sure about the potential longevity of a show based in essence on tracking serial killers controlled and motivated by someone behind bars, especially if the authorities do what they should and place Joe in solitary to avoid him influencing people on the outside.  It seems rather limited and a bit freak-of-the-week to me.  Still, it’s just a pilot, and shows typically develop and evolve as time moves on.  The thing I always come back to is Seinfeld, which I thought was pretty damn ordinary for the first season and a half, and then developed into arguably the best TV show of all time.

I think that casting, and a commitment for the show to be something more than an ordinary procedural, will ensure that it develops an audience.  This in turn should keep the notoriously cancellation happy Fox from axing the show prematurely.  If both of those factors aren’t covered then I can see myself losing interest like I did with Prison Break and Fringe.

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My thoughts on UNTITLED KEVIN WILLIAMSON PROJECT serial killer script HollywoodHubbub

The new trailer for Tower Heist is out and it actually looks somewhat decent, despite being directed by that fucking hack Brett Ratner.

Is it just me, or does Eddie Murphy look meaner now?  A little older and a little thinner in the face.

Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Tea Leoni and Michael Peña also star.  It’s due for release on November 4th 2011.

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“No, I ain’t married. Wassup?” TOWER HEIST trailer HollywoodHubbub

Title: A Bittersweet Life

Written and Directed by: Jee-woon Kim

Initial Flickchart position:  #218 of 1403 overall.  My #6 film, of 51, from the year 2005.

What It’s About:
Sunwoo is no ordinary hotel manager. Decisive and efficient, he’s also the right hand man of underworld boss Kang. But tough guy Kang has a weakness; his young girlfriend Heesoo. Suspecting she’s unfaithful, Kang orders Sunwoo to take care of the problem.

General Comments:
Yet another superbly great Korean crime drama.  Everything about it is so beautiful, stylish and poetic.  There really is nothing else to say.

Watch A Bittersweet Life because it it’s further proof that no-one does crime dramas like the Koreans.  It’s a genre they’ve made all their own.

Rating:  7.5/10

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365 Day Unseen Movie Marathon – Day 80 – A BITTERSWEET LIFE (2005) HollywoodHubbub

Title: Secret Reunion

Directed by: Hun Jang

Written by: Joo-ho Kim and Kwang-young Choi and Hun Jang

Initial Flickchart position:  #339 of 1400 overall.  My #35 film, of 81, from the year 2010.

What It’s About:
A North Korean spy and a former South Korean agent form a tense partnership.

General Comments:
Another good Korean flick, this time a spy/action drama.  Pretty much all aspects of the film were good, although I think the fight scenes were a little underwhelming.  The gunplay was done well but the actual fist fights just weren’t that great.  There’s not much more to say about the film really.

Watch Secret Reunion because it’s yet another good Korean film, and it’s one that doesn’t end on a downer.

Rating:  6.5/10

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365 Day Unseen Movie Marathon – Day 79 – SECRET REUNION (2010) HollywoodHubbub

Title: King of New York

Directed by: Abel Ferrara

Written by: Nicholas St. John

Initial Flickchart position:  #284 of 1398 overall.  My #7 film, of 31, from the year 1990.

What It’s About:
A former drug lord (Christopher Walken) returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York’s poor and lower classes in this stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.

General Comments:
A surprisingly good crime drama with a great rap/hip-hop soundtrack throughout the film.  Walken is of course fantastic but I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of Laurence Fishburne as a young gangster working for Walken.  David Caruso, a guy I absolutely hate, played his usual slimy, sleazy, annoying bloodnut role.  I was so so happy when he got blown to shit with that shotgun at the funeral.  It couldn’t of happened to a more deserving guy.  One of the things I liked most about the film is the mood it conveyed.  There was a clear and obvious ’90s NYC vibe throughout the whole film and it really did a brilliant job of immersing you into that whole environment.

Watch King of New York because it’s a very good crime drama that oozes that early ’90s mood and is set in the greatest city in the world.

Rating:  7/10

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365 Day Unseen Movie Marathon – Day 78 – KING OF NEW YORK (1990) HollywoodHubbub

Title: The Chaser

Directed by: Hong-jin Na

Written by: Won-Chan Hong, Shinho Lee & Hong-jin Na

Initial Flickchart position:  #294 of 1395 overall.  My #17 film, of 63, from the year 2008 (but both rankings might be too high).

What It’s About:
Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts.  While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by a same client whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.

General Comments:
There’s never a happy ending in Korean thrillers.  Never.  I should know this by now but I guess I’m just tuned to the Hollywood way and then I’m always surprised when a film doesn’t end on a positive note.  Still, there’s no denying that the Koreans make really good crime/drama/thrillers, and this is another good entry.  It’s not really a revenge flick so to compare it to Oldboy or I Saw The Devil may not to totally fair, but it has to be said that it’s nowhere near as good as those two films.  Hell, The Man From Nowhere is better too.

Watch The Chaser because it’s a pretty decent crime thriller and it’s nice to take a break from the Korean revenge films, no matter how brilliant they are.

Rating:  6.5/10

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365 Day Unseen Movie Marathon – Day 77 – THE CHASER (2008) HollywoodHubbub