Gangster Squad
Box Office Weekend: Hansel and Gretel Lead A Weak Box Office
Receipts were down this week as a whole, as a handful of new films hit the box office that did little to inject life into it. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters led the way with a fairly weak estimate of $19 million, though the $50 million film had a big enough opening overseas to ensure it made back on its investment. It was the only new film to break the top three, which belonged to box office w...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Ghost Over Guns and Mama is the Big Winner
With Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first starring role on the big screen since his political career ended (not including his ensemble role in The Expendables 2) and a noir thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe, the top draw was…a PG-13 rated ghost story? Yes, with a cast and crew whose biggest name is Gullermo del Toro as an executive producer, Mama led the box office, with an estimated $28....[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Zero Dark Thirty Knocks Out Django Unchained
While returns for the year are down from the end of 2012 and the new year’s debuts have failed to impress thus far, Django Unchained nevertheless failed to stay on top against one critically acclaimed film and two…well, not-so-acclaimed ones. Zero Dark Thirty, entering its fourth week of release with an expansion of nearly 3,000 new theaters, drew in the most crowds with an estimated $24 million. ...[Read More]
Movie Review: Gangster Squad
While certainly loud, somewhat sexy, and decked out in all the accurate aesthetic trappings of 1930s Los Angeles, Gangster Squad turns out to be merely a dim cousin to sincere works like L.A. Confidential or Michael Mann’s intimate Public Enemies due to a battery of corny, faux-noir line readings and the bludgeoning candy-gore sensibility of Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less director Ruben Fleisch...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Gangster Squad Looks to Deliver Stylish Period Crime Drama
After last week’s double-dose of superhero goodness, it’s time for something completely different. This week’s Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at director Ruben Fleischer’s cops-and-crooks film Gangster Squad. Premise: A vigilante police force within the LAPD fights to keep the East Coast Mafia, led by Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 1950s....[Read More]