Growling Nick Nolte? Check. Foxy Emma Stone? Check. Tommy Gun Movie Theater shoot out? Check! Gangster Squad trailer hits!

Movies good.

Sean Penn looks nothing like Mickey Cohen if you ask me. Then again if the acting is good (it's Sean Penn so of course it is) it won't really matter. Frank Langella looked nothing like Nixon but he was fantastic in that role. I wonder if they'll play up Cohen's concern about his image. From what I read he was always trying not to tarnish his Hollywood image.

Everything else looks fun, though.

And what's w/ the black dude getting to play cop?

You beat me to it. He looks terrible in this. Also why the one liners?

Movie looks fucking awesome, but srsly does anyone else find it totally out of place for this trailer? Granted I know (or pray rather) it won't be in the flick but cmon man, were talkin apples and oranges here. Nothing against rap but you can't out a square peg in a round hole cause it just don't work.

I'm in. And I agree, SHIT music for the trailer.

The rap music. And the WAY overused "You're a cop, you gotta follow the rules/can't shoot me/can't pull the trigger/gotta arrest me" KERBLAM line.

Gives this trailer no cred

WHO IN THE FUCKING GODDAMNED CHRIST THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA. FUCK.

In fact, it made me want to watch LA Confidential. Think I'll pop in the Blu-ray later tonight.

WTF were they thinkin? That song choice was just as bad as the NIN song to the first Avengers trailer. Had high hopes for this film but not that excited anymore. Hoepfully it will be surprisingly good.

Now THAT'S a quality motion picture.

Ditto on the overused "It's not fair that he has so much while the rest of us have so little.". Even if it seemed tongue-in-cheek, we get it--Occupy Prohibition. Tired, and also in TDKR trailer.

....the movie rules. Sean Penn is killer, definitely his best role since Mystic River. The movie definitely gave off an Untouchables vibe, and there isn't any garbage rap music in it. Plus the one liner at the end about not being a cop anymore wasn't in the movie when I saw it and I hope it doesn't wind up in there once it gets released, cause fuck that line. But all told I really liked it a lot and I would highly recommend it.

Time to retire that line. The line is too cliche for the cop's response to be as badass as the filmmakers imagine.

Because Scarface is a mega-hit in urban communities, and some marketing team thinks this film is ready to catch the same wave.

Trailer was inspired...seemed a bit like a sequel to Untouchables complete with a "I'm gonna need some men" recruitment scene...you know the one where we get to know each of the recruits backstories and where we find out one is a loose cannon, another is an amazing shot, another is an introspective type with strong morals, and of course one is a playboy. I like the ensemble cast though. But that goddamn rap music...sheesh.

Agreed...rap music is fine...but we are like 30 years before "White Lines" came out so the rap definitely feels out of place. There is plenty of great period music out there that the producer could have used that would have made this feel more authentic and more exciting.

The rap music reminds me of that Simpsons episode where a Zorro movie ends with some mismatched rap tune.

Didn't Kick Nolte already make this movie?

this whole thing seemed pretty hard to take seriously. Pampered actors trying to play tough with bad accents and cliches.

Getting a very similar, although far more ballsy vibe.

It doesn't fit well. If (c)rap is in the actual movie, then I'll be pissed, but I doubt it will be released with improper music. Just a marketing technique. Anyways, I'm interested in seeing this one. It feels like a cross between The Untouchables and L.A. Confidential. Besides the excellent Atlantic City set HBO series Boardwalk Empire, we haven't had a good old timey cops and robbers or mobster flick for awhile. Not much since Road To Perdition which was ten years ago.

Is from the American Gangster soundtrack. Take it easy.

"Damn you kids and your hippety hop - get off my lawn!" I agree that it doesn't really fit with a period piece but damn, lighten up.

There are a handful of things that guarantee my ass in a theater seat, and tommy guns are near the top of the list. Add in a smoking Emma Stone as a femme fatale, a killer cast, and a talented director, and you've got one of the films I'm most looking forward to this fall.

I seriously doubt there will be any of that garbage in the actual movie.

However, I am unfamiliar with Rueben Fleischer. Any relation to the animation legends I wonder? The bitching about the rap is well founded. I fucking hate rap, and I hate it even more over a period piece. It ain't a racial thing either, yo.

It's Jay-Z from the American Gangster soundtrack. Stop complaining about stupid shit.

...they did the 'cool walk' with car exploding behind them that happens in every other action movie for the last 20 years. Now I'm very cautious.

I don't believe he's related to Max Fleischer (the Betty Boop/Popeye/40's Superman animation guy).

Hard to find a line in that trailer that isn't a horrible cliche.

...so 1995. But don't worry, it's just the trailer. You can relax.

Nick Nolte promoted to Bruce Dern. eh.

and i love rap and i thought it fit quite well. trailer music doesn't have to fit the period as long as it helps make it badass, which i think it did. and gosling sounded great, nothing compared to how awesome sean penn sounded, but that trailer was just awesome.

Mullholland Falls was the shit.

Reminds me more of Dick Tracy. Something about the tone of the film is comicbooky... too gimmicky. Looks alright I guess. The music choice of the trailer is a total miss.

;-)

What a great cast!

Director of Horror Show and Jason X and Pig Hunt.

The trailer conveyed a nice "Untouchables" vibe, and yes, the modern rap music was used to attract a different demographic and make it seem a little more bad a$$, which I think it did pretty well (you know, it IS the job for the studio to market the movie to more than a bunch of uptight geeks, after all. There are marketing people who get paid a lot more money than you non-open minded complainers to promote a movie like this to the widest audience they can) All of you complaining that that "hippity hop" music was out of place clearly missed the point and need to get laid and come out from your mom's basement. Rap music to help promote a movie like, say, "Prometheus"? Out of place. Rap music to sell a gangster movie? Quite appropriate, actually. While I will say that opinions are like elbows (everybody has 'em) and you are more than entitled to your own; especially on forums such as this that seem to cater to people who like to hide behind their keyboards and spew their negativity, I will end this by telling you to unclench and Lighten. The. Hell. Up. Oh, and the movie looked like it'll pretty good too....

Penn sounded like he was was mocking Stallone in the beginning. Add boxing, makes me feel weird inside. Then he turned into Al Pacino in dick Tracy. I want to watch Dick Tracy now. If I wasn't making comparisons to American Gangster, the Jay-Z song sure connected those dots. Ryan Gosling acting out a Dirty Harry reference was ugly. But now I know this film costars Ryan Gosling. Guess I'll be seeing it. This trailer reminded me that Superbad did something good, it made Emma Stone a bankable name. Her and Gosling's chemistry was great in Crazy, Stupid, Love; I hope it shines here too.

I don't want to live on this plant anymore.

Such a great cast and crew wasted on shoddy aesthetics. I truley feel sorry for all involved. Never mind that the trailer has rap music, RAP MUSIC!! (blarf) A genre that has been dying off ugly ever since 2Pac faked his death! First off, this garbage is obviously shot digitally and looks it. Apparently no one has learned from Michael Mann's mistakes. Oh it may not have the motion strobbing but make no mistake - it looks horrible. DO NOT, under any circumstances, shoot a period noir gangster film with freaking digital cameras! I'd like to kick Ruben Fleischer right in his imbecilic head for that! But wait, what's this? - add insult to injury and shoot everything in TVish medium close-ups with inexplicible slow motion for absolutely no reason or impact. And nice nose Sean Penn! Seriously, is he auditioning for Mumbles in Dick Tracy 2? And of course the hi-def cinematography calls all the more attention to its fakeness. Did I mention the trailer had RAP MUSIC!? Talk about disconnect! No, this has absolutly no chance of standing with L.A. Confidential. This couldn't even give Mulholand Falls or China Moon any competition. I don't care if the script is brilliant, the acting is revelatory and Carter Burwell wites the musical score of his life - this film is D.O.A. (the phrase, not either noir movie version with that title, which we should all be so lucky...). Completely hamstrung by inept decisions in craft. Filmmaking is, after all, ENTIRELY about craft. Ruben Fleischer proves himself way over his head. Maybe should have brushed up on the genre before defiling it. What a waste. I quit!

this is leaving out the key ingredient that defines DePalma's over the top - he does so with operatic glory, dense psychological imagry and dark sensuality. DePalma is what they call a "Cinematic Genius". Ruben Fleischer - not so much. This looks more like a rejected TV pilot with an A-List cast. How dare anyone campare this tripe to "The Untouchables"!

CONRAD MUTHA-LOVIN' HALL!

"The modern rap music was used to attract a different demographic or make it a little more bad a$$." - First, it's debatable that rap music makes anything more bad ass. It's an opinion thing. But for a movie set in the forties, it's a jarring anachronism. Out of place. "Marketing people get paid a lot of money to" I stopped reading the sentence right there. - Have you ever met a "marketing person"? I've met a few. One in particular is real bright, but in general it's not like they're this society of deep thinkers. This may surprise you, but some are vapid twits who charmed or nepotism-ed their way in, or otherwise were hired for reasons peripheral to their creative genius. "All of you complaining that hippity hop is out of place need to get laid and come out of your parents basement." - Hippity hop? I know more about rap than you, and I think it was out of place. And I love the one-two cliche punch... get laid AND come out of the parents' basement. I lived in my parents' basement until I was thirty (excluding four years) and now I make lots of money. People do move out, eventually. "Rap music to sell Prometheus... out of place." - What's the difference? It's a tonal thing, not a genre thing. If there was some horrorcore rap song with a dark feel or flow, by your logic, it would have to fit in Prometheus. If it's good for the 1940's, why not 2240's? "I will say that opinions are like elbows (everybody has 'em) and you're more than entitled to your own; especially on forums such as this... And semi-colons are like handguns. If you don't know how to use it, don't. "... that seem to cater to people who like to hide behind their keyboards and spew their negativity,"... You're sitting behind your keyboard and spreading jibberish. Both are offensive. And while this trailer will bring out the anti-rap superhonks, the fact that people think rap doesn't work in the trailer doesn't mean they are inherently wrong. "... I will end this by telling you to unclench and Lighten. The. Hell. Up." If someone uses the trailer to make racist comments or generalizations, that calls for a lighten-up. But if you score a trailer for a movie set in the forties with a song by a modern rapper, a republican who's so up his own ass he thinks he's a democrat, then you know ahead of time that people will scratch their heads. And I agree with you, the movie looks good.

"I truley feel sorry for all involved." -the_genteel-gentile HAHAHAHA! Misspelling aside, what a fucking pretentious film-douche thing to say. All the bitching aside, this looks awesome. Love the cast, especially Ribisi, who has always been great but underrated. Have fun watching the same four movies over and over, guys. Me and Quint and the rest will be at the Cineplex enjoying the hell out of ourselves.

but Darabont needs something to do now that they kicked him off "Walking Dead" (and it got way worse). Even if they do a series based on the "L.A. Noire" video game (with the same cast, I say) I would watch.

But not on this one. The colon line was bitchy, I apologize for that. And a correction... it only feels like I make lots of money because I'm 31 with no kids. I probably make less than those marketing people.

Is fine, there is good shit in all genres of music, get off your high horses for cryin out loud.

No complaints, and yeah, very heavy Untouchables vibe from this, but again, not a bad thing.

Lowest common denominator. Anyone who truely loves hip-hop and/or cinema ought to be insulted. Don't condescend me man!

"DriveL".

Because this junk bares no resemblance.

All break out hits. You dumb fucks don't realize how much the world digs hip hop. Get out your mom's basement every once and a while and go to a club.

It's a movie man. It's a movie that's being marketed as a movie, not as the greatest crime film since the godfather. Stop being melodramatic. No matter who you are I now have your username connected to a neckbeard that went to Dark Shadows tonight. He had a huge dracula cape, a cross pendant that he probably got from a magazine in the nineties, A stomach that no shirt can contain and a receding hairline. And now his visage is what pops into my mind when I read your posts. Calm down. And don't try to be clever. DriveL was worse than any line in the trailer. God, I feel stupid for even wasting time replying.

It's 2012. Not everyone wants to listen stringed instruments with some long haired asshole screaming over them. It's a shame a bunch a film nerds turn into neo-nazis everytime they play hip hop in a trailer.You're supposed to be open minded explorers of art and expression, not book burners.

It would've been a cool tribute to MCA and made the trailer stand out. Jay Z makes it seem like they're trying to copy American Gangster's path to success.

Are you being sarcastic? A hip hop/rap song being in a movie trailer has nothing to do with that movies success. And that's especially true for franchise films. personally I quite enjoy hip hop/rap. I can see why people don't and think how it's employed in the trailer is rather jarring but the way people are ignorantly attacking it, using cliches and ad hominem arguments, just makes them look like ignorant tools who listen to bands like Tool. Are y'all just fucking around? Is this real life?

"I can already feel the ability to dance and size of my penis grow, waaaaah!"

Yeah so my captain keeps telling me

Yippie ki aye mother hubbard

I'm sure they'll dig up some Beach boys for you for the next movie trailer they decide to do......something that's not to difficult to "dance" to and not act like you walked out of the stone age.

Fucking clown should keep his big fucking nose out of other countries business. If he likes Argentina so much he should try living there. Ill informed fuckwit.

doesn't always make a great tasting cake. This looks like balls.

You people hate any dude young, talented men. Stop acting like you haven't felt the embrace of a woman in a decade.

but with more shooting and less bromance.

Yes I'm being sarcastic.

I liked the tralier in-spite of the out of place Jay-Z cut. I'll probably check this out, but yeah that music didn't match to the trailer. They should've went with some jazz I just don't think modern music fits with a period piece like that. That's my main complaint about it, not the song itself. Love Jay-Z love rap but that was just out of place.

After seeing Drive Gosling definitely booked me as a fan. I think that was definitely my favorite movie from last year without a doubt.

Wtf is up with Penn`s face? This look like a comedy piss-take,with every cliche in the book thrown in.

True. 50 years ago you could slap the shit out of women without society thinking it was a bad thing.

I wonder if he can do an "Oh...my...GOD!" in a british-ish accent.

or in general. or whenever i watch an nba video on youtube and theres loud blaring much worse rap music than this playing over the video. just because i like basketball doesnt mean i want to hear your stupid fucking crack baby music.

(note: all subsequent use of the semicolon is meant completely sarcastically; well, at least until Franky or some other English major responds and schools me on it's proper use again. I know how to use a semicolon; Frank....) Franky, Franky, Franky; thank you for completely deconstructing my comment; which was, as you may recall, an OPINION. I think I said everyone; including me, had and is entitled to one. You think the "hippty hop" music (more sarcasm; I would think someone who took enough time to respond to every single point I was making would have recognized that; but I guess you were too busy informing me on the proper use of semicolons) is out of place; I respectfully disagree. Let's leave it at that, shall we? (wait, am I REALLY arguing with you over the less-than-a-minute use of an obscure Jay Z song in a movie that most of you mooks are going to see anyway? Ugh. I don't have time for this. Let me go upstairs; I think I just heard my mother say breakfast was ready...) Yes; the movie does look good though; at least we can agree on that (which is what all those marketing people I've met would've wanted...).

...I kept flashing back to "L.A. Confidential" and "Mullholland Falls" (seriously, how could you not?!), and then a couple of scenes reminded me of "The Untouchables" and even "The Rocketeer"(!). That's to be expected, I realize, setting a crime/gangster-based flick back in that era, with the fedoras, tommy guns and cars. But the dialogue and acting seemed like a spoof of all the above, and it just felt "off" somehow. As if every cliche and line from the above were pulled out, reworked and shot again in another movie. I don't know. I'll probably see it, because I like things set in this period. But something tells me I know how the entire thing will go, including which good guy(s) get killed, etc. As for the music in the trailer, it simply seemed odd and out of place for such a movie. Kinda like seeing a trailer for a western or some medieval knights movie with a Slayer song piped in. I'm not "hating" (and I live nowhere near a basement, so spare me the heavy-handed scolding schtick), but it just struck me as odd and misplaced...and more like a tacked-on marketing decision vs. a creative one (especially since, as mentioned a few times above, it doesn't appear in the movie). So it's a carrot-dangle toward a particular demographic, for whatever it's worth. Make a good movie, and it's universal. Everyone will find it and show up, regardless of the soundtrack, casting, fast-food tie-ins, etc. Or am I just being hopelessly naive? Wouldn't be the first time. **NOTE: Any idiotic typos, I blame them on my iPhone's zealous spell/replace function, along with the lack of an edit button in these forums.**

Good to know he's cleaned up his act.

Seriously. is it just me or are the majority of the talkbackers on this site racist pricks? The trailer for the film is dope. PERIOD. The addition of hip hop in the trailer was a good idea and, in my opinion took nothing away from it. Also, whoever made the comment questioning the validity of the black cop is a COMPLETE JACKASS. It's bad enough that they don't review films that have black people featured predominately on this site (THINK LIKE A MAN, GOOD DEEDS, ETC.), but DAMN, why is this sort of bullshit, prejudiced behavior actually even allowed on here in the first place? Do you all think us black people don't actually go to see films or have opinions on them? And, just for the record, that wasn't one of the JAY Z tracks from AMERICAN GANGSTER, that was something new altogether. Damn, not only are some of you completely out of touch with reality, but you are MISINFORMED individuals that are completely out of touch with reality.

And gosling looks like the goon-pie punk he is. Guy can't act for shit. Watch that Anthony Hopkins one to see him dying on screen. Worse than topher grace in that 80s soundtrack one where he is literally starting to decompose onscreen

And thank you, Internet forums, for perpetuating it.

Put the race card back in the deck.

How is it that people are allowed to say some of the most inflammatory shit I have ever seen about race in film on this site and you keep their posts, but I make valid points about the lack of different ethnic perspectives on here and you remove mine?? The fuck??

It has nothing to do with musical taste. And musical taste has nothing to do with racism. I hate opera; that doesn't mean I hate Italians.

What the hell is going on with the blatant racism?? That's all I ask...

'Our cast is lily white. How do we get the black audience?' 'All blacks like rap. Throw a rap song into the trailer.' 'Oh, snap! That idea is stupid fresh! For shizzle.'

There doesn't seem to be a single original idea on display here. I guess that's why Hollywood was so eager to make it.

Seriously, who would defend this?

Should white people have been insulted when EMINEM'S music has been used in seemingly EVERY trailer or preview that has a "hip" white antihero/protagonist (i.e. Contraband, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, etc.)?? As I said in a post that was deleted before, anyone got a chance to read it on here, hip hop music has become the epitome of pop culture music regardless as to if many of you want to be excepting of it or not.

Apparently you lump all hip hop into the "gangster" genre which it shouldn't be. There are socially conscious MC's such as Common, Nas, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and The Roots, but, of course, most of you are comforted by the notion that black hip hop music is some monolithic monstrosity that only discusses the "realities" of "hood" life and accumulating ridiculous amounts of material wealth. This is certainly not the case with the majority of hip hop music...

Guess what?? BON JOVI (yes, a rock group), did the soundtrack for that particular period piece. Wonder if any of you have any complaints about that.

And it's really unfortunate that you don't see that.

I didn't come on here to argue the merits of race in a period piece nor the validity of hip hop being used in this trailer. I'm a fan of the genre. The film looks excellent. Spot on casting, great set pieces. A little derivative in some spots, but what gangster flick in recent memory hasn't borrowed from others of the past? I know my lady and I will be there opening weekend.

Then clearly you have no business posting here!...This forum is for virginal, shut-in, basement dwelling nerds, or married sad sacks like myself.

is that they probably have never hear any good rap or hip hop in their entire lives. I'm talking about the stuff tha'ts actual wondrous poetry not the crap about bitches and hoes. All you bitching about rap music does is make you look like an ignorant ass, not the artist's who make the music, and not the production company that use's it in the trailer. And for the record, I'm black, gay, grew up in the suburbs and i cant fucking stand Scarface. oh yeah and this does look good, but Ryan needs to loosen up, between this, and drive he's backing himself into a corner with his method of acting when it comes to his thrillers and action films.

thank you!

Or that anything that isn't a guitar or a drum isn't an instrument. My sole argument is that rap in the trailer for this movie is an idiotic choice.

Some of you are getting very close to the "rap is crap" level of old-fogeyism. It's like you have no interest in having your opinions be taken seriously or something

that's a big reason why people get annoyed when it's shoehorned into a trailer to "tough it up". Of course having come up in the 80's I was exposed to a glorious buffet of groundbreaking Hip Hop. I'm talkin Quest, P.E. Jungle Brothers, Gang Starr, Mc Lyte, Stetsasonic, EPMD, Beasties, BDP, Main Source and countless others. The Rap landscape leaves much to be desired these days and theres alot of product and mediocre messages. I think they panicked since the movie is a period piece and they wanted to let the kids think it was still cool to watch. Personally I would have used the instrumental of "Paul Revere" but thats me.

at the time Mickey Cohen was going down, the hardest, baddest and smartest music American made was being created: Bop! Check out Charlie Parker and his Organization sometime. Rap is the bastard child of a deformed bastard child of Bop. Sela!

I agree completely ... plus, Warner's requested quite a list of re-shoots after seeing the director's initial cut ... Never a promising sign.

People are gonna see this just to see this villain. Haven't seen a serious over the top period villain like this in some time.

Way to toe the line, sellout! Don't ever tell me my business punk! "Gangster Squad" is, and will hang it's hat on, its undeserved steller cast. For the quality of actors assembled, this needs to be something akin to the "greatest crime film since the Godfather" to justify itself. Instead we get something that more closely resembles "Sky Captain And The World Of Tommorrow" minus that films knowing charm. A mash up of overwrought cliches, ineptly accomplished in a completely inauthentic and cartoonish manner. This trailer not only disappoints, it oppresses. It desecrates, disgraces and defiles the rich tradition of the noir crime genre. It infuriates and offends every fiber of me as a cinema enthusiast and aficionado. And I could care less what petty know-nothings fantasize I look like, all that matters is that I have vastly superior aesthetic tastes and cinematic knowledge than you will ever have. As it stands now rushinlimbo, your comments suggest you worship at the alter of The Jersey Shore. Probably some vapid axe body spray wearing, obtuse leather wristbad clad, douched out degenerate twink all tanned and waxed for his pleassure. The only time you need to be opening up your silly little pout is to take out the glowstick for some uncut cabassa. You'd do well to go set up shop in YOUR Mom's basement with a TV locked on TCM and study that which you defend. Grow a gut and a neckbeard and just maybe in the process you'll also grow some idea about what you speak. Ryan Gosling going from Drive to Drivel is plenty clever enough for these parts and obviously far to good for the likes of you. Stupid is a state you ought to feel perpetually. A waste indeed.

I am a black man. I consider myself to be a film "geek" as well as a music one, and I have generally enjoyed this site over the many years I've followed it (as far back at the late '90s). The trailer for Gangster Squad, taken as a whole, was entertaining; I'm always up for a period gangster piece set in L.A., as L.A. Confidential is one of my all-time favorite films. There just aren't enough movies made in this genre for my taste. The music, however, was a bit jarring and did take me out of the trailer for a second. I "get" what they were trying to do, match the bombast of the clip with music that equaled it. I think it's a miss, but what else could they have used? '40s swing? Jazz? I'm not so sure about those either. It's a first trailer, so maybe w/the second, there will be a different tone. An aside: I love hip-hop...I love rock...I love singer/songwriter...I love alt-country...I'm just a fan of so many types of music. It really irks me however, whenever something on this site at all references hip-hop and it's culture, the underlying current of racism that permeates throughout. Not by the writers and powers that be at AICN, but mainly through the Talkback section. I don't blame Harry et al for the things people say on this site, but they have cultivated this environment of "say anything you want, no matter how inconsiderate/insulting/racist b/c we're all about free speech here". I guess you can blame the internet for this as well, and it's sense of anonymity when bashing buttons on a keyboard that brought out the racist in many of my fellow geeks. I would bet almost everything I own that many of these keyboard racists would never spout any of their feelings in public. Hell, I'd even bet they have friends of color. This, unfortunately, is the world that we live in today. Carry on.

before my present incarnation, I was a professional guitarist of the Roy Buchanan Screaming Telecaster school. When other guitarists would get in a creative block, I'd advise them to sit down with Charlie Parker, and adapt 'Anthropology' to the guitar. Everything from the Byrd's 'Eight Miles High' to Steve Vai latest manic fingerings (if you transcribe Parker's saxophone licks to the guitar, you get sweep and shred) owe their start to the Bird.

Gangster Squad isn't "lily-white", like one TBer said. Anthony Mackie plays one of the detectives, and I'll be interested to see how he's portrayed and if his race is even an issue raised in the film. 1940's L.A. wasn't Paris for black folks, but it sure as hell wasn't Mississippi. There was more tolerance here for sure.

Raises some interesting points re the exposure to "black film" that this site lacks, though I don't really want or need to see Tyler Perry films on the site and things of that nature. That's just me though. I do feel AICN has been fair to actors/directors of color on the site, but I do have one question. Where is the post regarding the Jimi Hendrix biopic starring Andre 3000 that is a go and being filmed in Ireland as we speak? Or did I miss it?

...I remember when it was announced that it was based on a nonfiction book called LA Noir. I tried to get it from the library but it's listed as a reference book so they won't loan it out(in Denver anyway).

...shoulda been Louie's Jordan or Prima, or any number of great early '50s R&B artists. That's the trouble with 20/30-somethings picking the music...limited vocabulary.

Might as well have Pacino's Big Boy join the cast. Penn looks like he's about to pull off his mask ala Mission Impossible.

If the trailer had authentic period black jazz, we'd all agree with its appropriateness. But that's just a trailer, I'm far more annoyed at the digital cinematography, baffling use of unmotivated slow-motion, bad make-up and its made-for-TV barrage of boring medium close-ups. From a craft standpoint, this film is totally bankrupt as a valid representation of Noir Crime Cinema. And great filmmaking is all about craft.

Which this film clearly does not possess. Nothing is more important. Brilliant script and acting can do nothing for shoddy filmmaking. Whereas brilliant filmmaking can transend shoddy acting and script. In other words, I could discibe to you in detail a beautiful picture and provide you with a wonderful array of art tools, but if can't draw that type of picture - then it's all for not. Rueben Fleischer can not draw this type of picture. Better stick to tracing with crayon.

Smith basically plopped down a camera, it was the actors and dialogue that carried that film

...I'm sure this'll be better. And as for the trailer music...who really gives a fuck?

actually fits. The whole editing and camera work is more Fast&Furious style anyway. I love how it comes together. And Sean Penn looks great. I just saw Cheyenne. And now a badass gangster. A great actor he is, strong the force is with this one.

See, I don't think that's a good movie though. I'm not saying there isn't entertainment to be had, but it's not a good movie in regards to either story struncture, character development, or visual craft. While I aknowledge Kevin Smith's talent for dialogue, I don't think he's ever made a good film. To me, Smith would be better served doing dialogue punch ups for other people's scripts and pictures.

You really need to shut your dumb fucken mouth. Keep your black thoughts to yourself.

Apparently he wants to get you where you breathe! He wants you DEAD! He wants your family DEAD! He wants your house burned to the GROUND! He wants to go there in the middle of the night and PISS ON THE ASHES! Ennio Morricone simply wishes for you to die screaming like a stuck Irish pig. While Sean Connery merely desires to here endith the lesson by going the "Chicago Way" on your thieving wop anus with his Academy Award. Robert DeNiro is being far more gracious and has invited you to a seminar he's giving on Enthusiasms & Teamwork. "Never stop fighting til the fight is done!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVz211iI26o&t=1m33s

Yes, the rap is jarring and out of place, but it's only the TRAILER. If this was in the actual film, then you'd have a point. Right now, you sound like a bunch of whiny d-bags.

Cuz she be suckin' ma dick while the cops be crunking they licks Word to ya brothas ya sistas Bitch blow a cap in yo ass Huh uh yea

Or could you not notice? Cheap digital video television aesthetic.

Sean Penn with the fake nose had a CLASSIC, SICK Joker sneer at the beginning of that trailer. I'm not trying to knock or depreciate Heath Ledger's performance at all, but it makes you wonder... As for the rap music in the trailer, I noticed people mention Young Guns (although I'm barely old enough to remember that movie). Despite being a Western, that movie had an intentional hair-band vibe to it. Did anyone else forget the American Gangster trailer had a Jay-Z track in it when the film takes place in the early 70's? Or that A Knight's Tale had Queen and other classic rock all throughout the trailer and movie to the point of being its own gimmick, and was still a enjoyable flick to watch. Contemporary music doesn't necessarily take you out of the experience of the visual. Just picture this trailer with dry, two-note, somber piano keys playing in the background while everything is getting blown up with rampant gunfire and car chases for the final 30+ seconds of the trailer. Would you get nearly as hyped for it, regardless of whether you had a personal preference for either genre of music. My only complaint is that the music is OUTDATED. How many times are they going to interject decade-old Jay-Z songs into a trailer? If you're going to go with rap at all, at least use something more recent (not necessarily more "familiar").

Fuck yeah dude.Shit is fucked up.

Which IS a period authentic R&B classic track. Plus Jay-Z represents a regional and generational connection between American Gangster's story of New York criminal young black youths and that of today. He's a direct product of that world, just as Rap is a direct product of that eras Soul music. He's almost like the son telling the story of his father. Therefore he get's away with just by the skin-of-his-teeth. Whereas white cops & white organized crime of early 1950's Los Angeles has absolutely no connectin whatsoever to hip-hop.

Are you admitting to being an obese neckbeard? Are you taking pride in it? You understand it's possible to be attractive, healthy and intelligent right? What website are you on? aintitcoolnews. To assume I'm a "jersey shore" looking person isn't a very well thought out argument. I guess you were right to at least assume I'm a guy, but that's probably cause you're not used to girls talking to you (zing). If supposedly you watch a lot of movies and have a vast knowledge and shit then what's your excuse for judging a film by a trailer? You know directors usually don't cut their own trailers. They usually don't even give the scenes allowed to be used in trailers to the guys that make them. "You'd do well to go set up shop in YOUR Mom's basement with a TV locked on TCM and study that which you defend. Grow a gut and a neckbeard and just maybe in the process you'll also grow some idea about what you speak." deeply specific, deeply personal. "This trailer not only disappoints, it oppresses. It desecrates, disgraces and defiles the rich tradition of the noir crime genre. It infuriates and offends every fiber of me as a cinema enthusiast and aficionado." "all that matters is that I have vastly superior aesthetic tastes and cinematic knowledge than you will ever have." "For the quality of actors assembled, this needs to be something akin to the "greatest crime film since the Godfather" to justify itself." So a film that has a decent cast needs to be great or else it's pretentious. Think about everything you say and that word, pretentious. "See, I don't think that's a good movie though." Listen to yourself. You have an opinion dude, and that's fine. Try not to get so worked up about things and acknowledge that not everything is made to be the way you want it. I wonder what your favorite film is? Favorite foreign film? And also, since you're such an aficionado (you took that from a film website, lol) would you mind reminding me which 1949 western is praised to this day for its innovation in the lingering extreme close-up that Leone loved to employ in his spaghetti westerns. Surely someone as knowledgeable in film as you will know. The best part about all of your bitching and elitism is that your probably love the Avengers.

Fuck hip-hop, fuck the horseshit backwards-ass "culture" that spawned it, and fuck Jay-Z in his pathetic bitch ass. And fuck whoever cut this trailer together in an attempt to reach the single-digit IQ mouthbreathing demographic that likes that kind of shit. Oh, and fuck you.

.....(music that probably won't even be in any part of the movie, AT ALL!!!!) then, you're a Moron of the highest order who should be watching movies in the first place or even be doing anything that requires the use of a human brain. And the fact that there are racists who crawl out of their cesspools every time a black themed movie, rap music or a black actor centered story pops up in AICN shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that frequents this site. After all, they need something to do in between listening to Rush and Hannity rant and fucking their sisters. You can always tell who they are by their obligatory and requisite "I'm not racist but....", right before they spew the biggest truckload of racist and ignorant shit imaginable.

2 shots of Jack and a PBR.

Kai, couldn't have said it better myself. Well done. Theypeed, you are a complete and utter douche, and I will happily sleep tonight knowing you have to wake up to that fact every day. Cheers.

I love gangster movies! Who doesn't? And this may be a gem of a gangster flick, but since that cunt Sean Penn is in it, I will pass. Fuck Sean Penn! I wish nothing but agony on that silly Socialist stooge. The trailer protrays a cookie cutter type gangster movie with every over played cliche' thrown in for good measure. The rap music was just plain stupid. Rap music blows, but I can tolerate it in it's proper environment. Which would be a scene containing the typical ghetto dweller slinging dope in South Central. Oh yeah.. fuck Sean Penn! May his shriveled old man balls fall off from a virulent strain of VD he received from a diseased Venezuelan whore.

If you ain't killing for profit, you may as well be skinned and fried for dinner as we pray to Baby Jesus to bless us and Amen! "Papa, can you please pass the nigger." "Why sure I can, dumpling."

It's not quite "holding the mirror up" when you're blatantly resorting to sarcastic stereotypes about people you don't even know, then justifying it to yourself by acting like a condescending cocksucker to anyone stating simple facts to you. Do you genuinely believe ALL black people tawk lyke deizzz, either in person, or over the internet? Cut the shit... Did the trailer need to be cut with rap music? Not necessarily. But it is what it is. Get-the-fuck over it. I'll guarantee you won't walk into a period-themed rap concert once you attend a showing of this film. So why the hell are you this stressed or upset about a 2:30 minute trailer? Signed with love, N*gg*r lover

Though I wrote it faux-quoting an ad exec (I go out of my way to use single quotes since double quotes don't work on the site, and people still don't get it). The one black actor in a movie this white is what we call the 'token black', and is another thing I'm surprised anyone would defend.

Not to say you're wrong about the coverage of black film here, just saying it's not totally absent.

Unless it happens to be an almost ALL black movie (Tyler Perry movies, "Think Like a Man"-type), I think we're used to the idea of the occasional token in a mostly white film IMO. It's not so much a matter of "defending" that aspect in particular, necessarily. Long story short. I'll take it. There's enough stereotypes to go around for everybody in the movie and television industry, anyway.

the movie will be crap because there is rap in the trailer. They are saying the trailer is crap because there is rap in the trailer. At least that's what i'm saying. Also rap is in too many trailers and films and is so watered down now that it has lost all of its original taste for me.

Hey listen to my accent I'm a gangster now. Uh, no I'm not Canadian I'm a friggin' tough guy from Jersey can't you tell from my Jersey accent?

is a whole different topic all its own. But anyone with half a brain would agree with you on that... including myself, of course.

And shooting a period gangster noir with almost exclusively medium close-ups (the most mundane shot known to man) and superfluous slow-motion on a digital camera is an abomination. Especially when you've assembled such a steller cast and crew around it. The inept craft taints. Never mind the cutting of the trailer, that's not my main point of contention. Although likley emblematic of what's ailing the entire enterprise, the trailer is merely window dressing. But the actual meat hanging in the window is worse than rotten - it's imitation! I was hoping to carve into a juicy steak and instead got a cold plate of freaking tofu! It's not even about how "I" want it, it's about what the history and evolution of classical cinema as an artform demands. I'm simply in tune with those parameters. It's the opposite of pretentious - it's practical. Now what I'm being specific about is not my own personal appearance but rather you and your own personal hang-ups. You clearly believe vain narcistist are better human beings and more knowledeable than someone who perhaps neglects their body in service of intense study of something greater than themselves. I'm only curious as to why you would repeatedly conjure up an image that you clearly feel you are superior to, when that very image may actually imply cosmetic sacrifice to achieve something intellectually beautiful. Why would you infer good looking people to have a more valid reasoning and understanding of something as dense as a century's worth of art, when just about every savant one could possibly recall in any field were people none too attractive? I just find it totally naive that you would equate attractiveness with intellect, when knowledge is something sought out and strived for after not being placed on a pedestal for arbitrary cosmetic reasons. Intellect is about earning the pedestal of respect. You would appear, if nothing else, to be a deeply insucure person with body image issues who can't refrain from projecting. Hense the Jersey Shore equating. Just for the record, I could lose a few but there's no basement or neckbeard in sight. But so what if there were? Sure, although not relatively common, it's possible to be attractive, healthy and intelligent - but either way, what barring would that have over the validity of my assertions? I have no idea why you say I took the word "aficionado" from a film website. That makes absolutely no sense to me. Believe it or not, I am kind of learned. It's a word, I took it from language! If I were being pretentious I might call myself a "connoisseur" - of which I also do aspire worthy. I don't think I know everything, but I do know some things that go beyond conjecture and opinion. Indeed I do not have a clue as to what 1949 Western your alluding to. Please feel free to enlighten me. I would say Sergio Leone's style comes directly out of Akira Kurosawa by way of Raoul Walsh with a little Carl Theodor Dreyer spinkled in. I don't have a "favorite film". I have a revolving and refining 50-100 films that could be my favorite at any particular moment. But for your purposses in order to give you a taste of where I'm coming from, I'll name some mainstays: "Apocalypse Now", "Cool Hand Luke", "Empire Strikes Back", "Thin Red Line", "JFK", "2001", "A Face In The Crowd", "Braveheart", "Forrest Gump", "Rocky", "Back To The Future", "Fight Club", "Eyes Wide Shut", "Rope", "Shawshank Redemption", "Snow Falling On Cedars", "Alien", "Die Hard", "Dances With Wolves", "Road To Perdition", "Munich", "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly", "First Blood", "The Godfather Part II", "Gattica", "Gladiator", "Glory", "Nixon", "The War", "Lolita" (1997), "The Game", "El Cid", "The Mission", "Vertigo", "Pulp Fiction", "A Touch Of Evil", "Once Upon A Time In The West", "Casino", "Meet John Doe", "The Big Country", "The Apartment", "His Girl Friday", "The Big Lebowski", "Born On The Fourth Of July", "The Shinning", "Marty", "Heat", "Terminator 2", "Fiddler On The Roof", "Lethal Weapon", "Blade Runner", "Sling Blade", "12 Monkeys", "Jackie Brown", "Stand By Me", "Predator", "A Perfect World", "A Place In The Sun", "Kingdom Of Heaven", "Donnie Brasco", "There Will Be Blood", "Mission: Impossible", "Sugarland Express", "Spy Game", "True Romance", "Oliver!", Odd Man Out", Citizen Kane", "A.I.", "Days Of Heaven", "Chaplin", "Dark City", "Schindler's List", "The Iron Giant"... (it may literally never end, so I'll just stop) I know it seems like I just randomly picked a bunch of movies, but that's truely my tastes. However I'm sure there are some common thematic connective threads throughout (The personal within the historical. Underdogs. Distrust of power. A wandering, yearning, seeking sense of nostalgic meloncholy and romanticism. I guess basically, Man's place in the world and time as told through literate narrative). I'm more partial to a western sensibility, so my favorite foreign language films are from filmmakers that emulate that aesthetic while bringing to it a fresh perspective. While I recognise their indelible cinematic influence, I've never been too keen on the Avant Garde/New Wave/Neorealism of auteurs like Bergman, Truffaut, Godard, Fellini, Rossellini or Antonioni. As much as I love Vittorio Storaro's cinematography, much of Bernardo Bertolucci's work turns me off. I favor controled expressionalistic formalism mixed with classicalism. So pretty mainstream things with universally resonant themes like "Ikiru", "Kagemusha", "Cinema Paradisio", "Malena", "Hard Boiled", "The Killer", "Das Boot", "City Of Lost Children", "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", "Shanghai Triad", "Life Is Beautiful", "Pan's Labyrinth", "My Life As A Dog" and "Downfall". (Unless you want to count "Godfather II", "Passion Of The Christ" and "Apocalypto"?) Joss Weadon doesn't really do it for me (too snide, precocious and meta self aware - I prefer earnest), so I haven't rushed out to stand in line for "The Avengers" - but I may go check it out tomorrow. And, who knows, I just may love love it too. I'm by no means an elitisist. I think "Raging Bull" is one of the most wildly overrated films ever. I think Roger Deakin's is a mid level cinematographer for his career long apprehension to anamorphic lenses, shallow depth-of field and now - film. Much of my time spent on this site has been in defense of filmmakers such as Michael Bay, Roland Emmerich, Peter Berg, Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson. All people that pretentious know-nothings pethetically dismiss as a shortcut to being perceived as legit. I don't hitch my wagon to anything other than what I know to be my own acutely refined sense of aesthetics and film theory - born from abhorrently prolonged, exhaustive, untainted, patient, sober, open-minded, evolving, personal research, exposure and experimentation to and with the artform. I'm a fairly light-hearted person, and although I'm embracing of most any type of movie on its own terms, I do not take Cinema lightly. I can't. That should pretty much encompass all that ever need know about me.

When you reply without being overly dramatic I can understand where you're coming from and find your opinion valid. I would have probably agreed with you and not shown any hostility if you had been as coolheaded and less grandiose in your original post. But you weren't. You spoke like this film was the worst thing you had ever seen. Like it was Judah and you were Peter. And you hadn't even seen the whole thing, just small parts of scene out of context. What if some of those bland medium closeups are tracking shots that end up looking great? You can't judge a movie, especially so vehemently, by its trailer. And, it is just a movie and should be talked about as such. 1. don't knock tofu. Vegetarian up in this hoe and that shit's delicious. 2. No one makes movies so that others later will make movies that live up to its standard. And movies are inanimate celluloid and digital space, they're not judging and creating expectations of other movies. Don't say that this film lets down the "evolution of classical cinema as an artform." cinema isn't ever let down, only people who watch movies are. Plus shitty movies have been around as long as film has been a medium. Look at Ed Woods' work and Manos: Hands of Fate for some confirmation. 3. It's not even an intellectual thing. No one needs to make a "cosmetic sacrifice" to be intelligent or care strongly about things. Being obese shows that you don't care about your body and hence about yourself. You don't value what you've been given, the only vessel you have in life (atheist here, don't interpret what I'm saying as religious zeal). Plus if you truly care about your cause or what you spend your life studying then you should care about being healthy cause you can't keep at it when you die from a heart attack or diabetes. I don't think attractive people are inherently more intelligent, that's not what I said or implied. I said you sound like a neckbeard, and I implied that you sound like the type of person who would let their health go and are oblivious to the outside world and have poor social skills. Acting so angry about a movie shows that you have nothing better to feel passionately about and that you probably don't live a very fulfilling life. These are observations I made from your initial post, I wouldn't have made them if you communicated like you did in your last post. You actually sounded like a nice, likable person there. Oh and I can't trust someone with a neckbeard's opinion on aesthetic quality. Neckbeards are completely unattractive and having one shows a person has a warped sense of visual beauty. 4. I'm not the most attractive person, need to lose a few pounds, and would more likely be called a faggot than mistaken for a member of the jersey shore crew. I wasn't saying being overweight makes you disgusting and stupid, I was saying it was the culmination of all those details and the obvious lack of social skills that goes along with those details that makes someone unbearable to communicate with and take seriously. 5. You listing a bunch of movies is even better. A ton of the movies you listed I could site as being bland and boring, aesthetically unpleasing, lacking substance, lacking style, overwrought. There were a lot of obvious choices and your list looks something like the imdb top 250 sans foreign flare. But see that's my opinion, trying to make it sound lack fact instead of opinion and being belittling would be wrong and make me look bad and unlikable. 6. "I'm by no means an elitisist. I think "Raging Bull" is one of the most wildly overrated films ever. I think Roger Deakin's is a mid level cinematographer for his career long apprehension to anamorphic lenses, shallow depth-of field and now - film. Much of my time spent on this site has been in defense of filmmakers such as Michael Bay, Roland Emmerich, Peter Berg, Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson. All people that pretentious know-nothings pethetically dismiss as a shortcut to being perceived as legit." "I'm a fairly light-hearted person" "Joss Weadon doesn't really do it for me (too snide, precocious and meta self aware - I prefer earnest), so I haven't rushed out to stand in line for "The Avengers" - but I may go check it out tomorrow. And, who knows, I just may love love it too." Then why are you hating so hard on a movie because it had a bad trailer? Your point about The Avengers is hypocritical, can you see that? 7. Why can't you take cinema lightly? You can take something seriously and lightly at the same time. I take films that are meant to be seriously as such, but why take shitty films seriously, it's only gonna make you mad (which it I guess already did). 8. I Shot Jesse James by Samuel Fuller

In other words, if it's escapest fun or sophmoric raunch - it still has the obligation to live up to the previous standards set for such. Everything is based on what's come before and in order to be considered worth while must attempt to honor and build from that. I can tell just from the visual cues in the trailer for "Gangster Squad" that it is neither honoring nor building. It appears instead to be a tepid mimicry. I'm not a snob about what stories one might choose to tell, but I am quite particular about cinematography, and hold the belief that digital is sucking the life blood out of cinema. I hold 35mm anamorphically lensed 24fps film to be the aesthetic gold standard that should be everyone's prefered choice (exception do exist obviously). It's been perfected for over a century, so why willinging choose to expierment with an inferior method when there's no fiscal reason too? Why mess with perfection? The blueprint for period noir is already established, to deviate is to subject oneself to crutany (espeacially when the deviation is not bold or interesting). Sure, each subsequent camera generation is making improvements and there are some very savy filmmakers such as David Fincher that really have a grasp on how to utilize the formate to its full potential. But I don't base my "film purist" opinion on some dogmatic devotion to yesteryear, I truely believe two functioning eyes are all that's needed to clearly observe the inequities of digital. Specifically becuase digital's hi-def image must be so filtered to appear palpable and pleasing that it creates in the human face (the MOST important landscape) a dull vapidness in the eyes (particularly in the whites) and a smoothed over plastic texture to the skin. Whereas everything on film looks beautiful, even blemishes. This is why Michael Bay shot every actor close-up for Transformers 3 on anamorphic 35, even though it's a 3D venture mostly shot on native digital. He had the presence of mind as a supremely refined visual aestheticist (which Bay clearly is, and brilliantly so) to not compromise his images. Of course some movies may call for a digital look - which is fine. But period crime noir ought not to be among them. Yes I realise Fincher's "Zodiac" is a period crime thriller but that the exception (plus more of that movie was shot on film than people think). Because, once agan, Fincher is a supreme aestheticist and designs his films meticulously to accommodate his tools. Same for Martin Scorsese and Robert Richardson on "Hugo" (which by the way is the only time I've ever completely condoned going the digital route). So a mixture of the formate and the style with which it's being presented are my chief objections because I did initially have such high hopes for what "Gangster Squad" could be based not only on it's talent in front of the camera but also the inclusion of Dion Beebe as cinematographer and Carter Burwell as musical score composer. I thought director Fleischer's "Zombieland" has some promising stylistic flourishes about it as well. So everything was just seemingly stacked in favor of an excellent movie and then this trailer dropped and strongly implied otherwise. I do readily admit my favored sensibility is quite classical or even mainstream. I simply find too much of the so called "art" cinema to be reminscent of what I consider the empty indulgence and illusionary statis symbol nonsense found within the "fashion" world. I prefer something more straightforward, timeless, and tangible, that doesn't degrade a generation down the line and feel obnoxious. So what I'm saying essentially is that you can't adore something and then shrug when you see someone defecating all over it. I hope I am inflating this film's crimes, but it certainly doesn't look up to snuff. "The Avengers" trailer did nothing to visually or tonally betray what was expected of it and therefore did not offend me. Its appearence IS up to snuff. If anything, its marketing looked better than my expectations. So no hypocrisy on my part. The only Samuel Fuller film I recall seeing for sure was his director's cut for "The Big Red One", which was just okay for me. For some reason I think of Fuller in a similar respect as Sam Peckinpah (whom I carry some adversion toward - both stylistically and morally). Stylistically I find Peckinpah pioneering use of slow-motion to be arbitrary, over-indulgent and clumsy as a device exploitation rather than to highten the emotional impact of a moment (as appears to also be the case with "Gangster Squad"), while it's the fortitude of others that are responsible for refining it into a resonanting technique (Eisenstein, Kurosawa, Leone, Cameron, Woo, Howard, Zwick, Gibson, Bay, Yimou, Kapur). Much like the overrated maverick John Ford, I feel Peckinpah did nothing that his peers weren't simultaneously doing far better than him and with much more compassion and conscience (Curtiz, Walsh, Hawks, Fleming, Mann, Stevens, Wyler, Zinnemann, Leone). I like to make the argument that the difference between Peckinpah's blatant debauched misogyny and Michael Bay's is that Bay does so out of adoration and with a wink, whilst Peckinpah was just a mean old spiteful prick who truely hated women. Probably not fair to Fuller though, that's just the sense I kinda got from "The Big Red One" and his salty demeanor in interviews. But I'll have to look into "I Shot Jesse James" as you have peaked my interest with allusions at Leone (who I LOVE).

(Spelling... I'm sure there's more!)

Usually great artist are totally insecure and awkward and are intimately familar with shame and meloncholy.