We’ve been hearing about the filming of Gangster Squad for some time now and the film’s first trailer has finally dropped. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie and Sean Penn and is directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland).

Gangster Squad Trailer

The flick is based on the series of LA Times articles called Tales From the Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman. Fleischer’s film does not have a release date as yet. Warner Bros. has also just released the film's synopsis:

Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (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 (Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen's world apart. 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.

We’ve partnered with Vans to offer an exclusive giveaway to celebrate the arrival of the documentary No Room for Rockstars. Movie Fanatic is giving away two prize packs that include gift certificates for custom Vans as well as the coffee table book inspired by the movie that celebrates the Vans Warped Tour.

Here’s how to enter and win:

All you have to do is…

1. LOG IN or register with Movie Fanatic.

2. “LIKE” Movie Fanatic on Facebook

3. ANSWER this question in the comments section below: “If you could get a private concert by any music artist… who would it be and why?”

The winner will be selected at random from all valid entries May 21. We’ll email you if you’re the lucky winner and ship out your prize pack!

The film takes an inside look at the music tour that has rocked audiences for 17 years and featured some of the biggest bands in the world including Green Day, Blink 182, Eminem and No Doubt. Producers compiled over 300 hours of footage from the 2010 tour and crafted a modern rock doc for the ages. The film lands on VOD May 15.

No Room for Rockstars Trailer

Movie Fanatic is getting to spend a lot of time with Tim Burton lately and we could not be more honored. After our exclusive chat with Burton at CinemaCon, we visited the visionary this past weekend at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills for a talk that solely focuses on his latest film, Dark Shadows. The director chats about working with Michelle Pfeiffer again after two decades as well as his star, Johnny Depp, on their eighth film together and he also lets us in on what unique challenges he encountered bringing the cult TV soap opera to life.

Depp and Burton had talked about a Dark Shadows movie for some time, and the helmer felt he owed it to his number one star to sign on and bring a childhood favorite of both of theirs to life. “This was the first project that I ever remember Johnny saying that he’d wanted to play this ever since he was a little boy. He knew Barnabas Collins before he knew his own father,” Burton said and laughed. “It was one of those things where the show had a lot of impact for some of us. This was something that Johnny had had in his mind for a long time.”
 
The film also allowed Burton to hook back up with Michelle Pfeiffer, whom he hadn’t worked with for over two decades since she played Catwoman in Batman Returns. “It was weird because it reminded me how much I loved working with Michelle. It was a long time ago, but it just flooded back,” Burton said. He recalled how game she was for whatever he needed her to do on that superhero set. “She learned how to use a whip and jump around on roofs in high-heeled shoes, let live birds fly out of her mouth, and let cats eat her. It was very impressive stuff.”

Dark Shadows Trailer

Pfeiffer, too, was a fan of Dark Shadows the series, and placed a preemptive call to Burton begging him for a part, any part, in the film. “It was a real joy to get a call from Michelle before there was even a script and find out that she was a closet Dark Shadows fan. I knew she was weird, but that confirmed the whole situation,” Burton said, smiling.

“Michelle, Johnny and I, we were the only ones of the cast that knew Dark Shadows. You can’t really show Dark Shadows to anybody else that doesn’t know it ‘cause they’d probably run screaming out of the room. It was nice that Michelle, playing the head of the family, was a fan.”
 
It was not an easy task bringing a supernatural soap opera to the big screen. Certain elements remained, but others had to be left out. “It’s a tricky tone and we all recognize that. When we talked about Dark Shadows, part of its appeal was the weird nature of all the elements that went into it. It was very serious, but it was on in the afternoon, on a daily basis. There were certain reasons why we loved the show, but you couldn’t necessarily adapt to a film,” Burton said. “It was the weirdest challenge to get the acting tone and the soap opera nature of the tone. That’s a weird thing to go for in a Hollywood movie.”

In the end, Burton isn’t worried about reaching an audience beyond fans of the classic show. It’s a summer movie and he believes the audience will follow. “You can’t really make it with projecting what you think it’s going to be,” he said. “We made a movie that we wanted to see, and then you just hope for the best.”

Guillermo Del Toro, originally set to produce the Pinocchio film he cowrote with Matthew Robbins, will now join Mark Gustafson in directing the film.

The new Pinocchio film will be stop-motion animated. Del Toro, known for his directorial work on Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy series, is no stranger to the moodier, more fantastical elements of film, so viewers should likely not expect the Disney version of the story.

Del Toro co-wrote and was originally slated to direct the upcoming film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, until it was handed over to Peter Jackson after Del Toro left the project due to delays.

Over a year ago, an image from the Del Toro Pinocchio film was released. Whether or not the character design has remained the same is unclear, but shooting is not expected to begin on the project until next summer.

Men In Black 3 just keeps piling on the preview content! Just this morning, Columbia released a new MIB 3 international TV Spot, and now there's a new featurette, offering interviews from stars Will Smith, Josh Brolin, and Tommy Lee Jones.

Men In Black 3 Featurette

If all these sneak peeks aren't enough for you, Movie Fanatic will be releasing an exclusive visit to the Men In Black 3 special effects shop with Rick Baker, Make Up Effects Supervisor for the film, on May 21. Stay tuned!

The MTV Movie Awards have a host! And it's British oddball Russell Brand!

MTV will employ Russell's "Brand" (see what I did there?) of witty English comedy on June 3, the night of the awards. No stranger to hosting for MTV, Brand has twice helmed the MTV Video Music Awards. But it may be fun to hear him announce the best "fiwm" category.

Brand can will also appear this summer as part of the star-studded Rock of Ages cast. What do you think? Will Brand "Gervais"-out and insult his Hollywood peers? Or will he keep it jovial?

Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, writers of a series of popular spoofs including Scary Movie, Date Movie, and Disaster Movie, have announced that they will write and direct a spoof of The Hunger Games, called The Starving Games.

The film is sure to parody some of these Hunger Games quotes, but will also lampoon other huge films from the past year, including The Avengers and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2. Though there is currently no set production schedule, filming will likely begin soon, as spoof movies must move quickly in order to stay relevant.

What scenes from The Hunger Games would you like to see spoofed in The Starving Games?

Eva Mendes is a single mother in Girl in Progress and what she adored most about the story is how the film is equal parts discovery journey for Grace’s teenage child as it is for her character. “I think that it’s interesting that it’s a coming-of-age story for both a young daughter and her mother,” Mendes said. “I find that really touching.”

Mendes also appreciated the opportunity to flex her acting muscles and portray an individual who is emotionally all over the place. “When I read the script for Girl in Progress a couple of years ago, I really made a connection to the character of Grace. I thought, ‘Wow, this is a really human character that is really flawed.’ It’s extremely difficult to find these layered roles,” the actress said.

“I love Grace. I think she’s really incredibly human and incredibly raw. She makes really bad decisions and we have to see her deal with that and have her deal with the repercussions of those actions. I like her because she is absolutely trying her best -- most of the time failing [laughs] at achieving her desired result. But, she’s doing the best she can do.”

Girl in Progress takes place in Seattle and as we discover in the film’s opening moments, her daughter Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez) is giving a presentation about how every time her mother breaks up with a boyfriend, they move. The scene doesn’t exactly give the sense that the daughter believes her mother is all that mature and responsible. See… there’s that double coming-of-age story!

Mendes adored Ramirez and marveled at how a 13-year-old could cull such emotion, even before cameras rolled. “She’s so special. She’s so talented -- obviously beautiful, but she has got such access to her emotions. They were always there for her,” she said. “We’d be rehearsing and she’d have tears falling, and I’d be like, ‘How do you do that? That’s incredible.’ She’s a natural.”

Girl in Progress Trailer

One of the bad decisions Grace makes is to date a married man, played by Matthew Modine. “He’s just this creative force and great to collaborate with,” Mendes said of working with the veteran actor. She also was blown away at his ability to bring more to a performance that could have been one note. “He brought a lot of human qualities to this guy that a lot of people could have vilified him, but he played him really straight and in what I think is a very heartbreaking performance. He made it colorful.”

The timing of the film could not be better. It hits theaters 48 hours before Mother’s Day and Mendes believes that it will strike a chord, no matter one’s relationship with their mom. “I think that having a mother myself and still having her around, thankfully, and being just an eternal 16-year-old to my mother, I felt it’s such a complicated relationship,” she said.

“A mother-daughter relationship is so complicated. It can be great and fulfilling and beautiful, but it’s always complicated. That was our first home. That is where we come from. That is where it all happened.”

A new clip from the upcoming film Snow White and the Huntsman shows Charlize Theron getting into quite a huff over the missing fairest girl.

The Queen's all "Do as I say!"

And the Huntsman's all "Psh, what if I don't?"

And the guards are all *shink* "Swords!"

In short, the Queen means business.

Snow White and the Huntsman Clip: The Queen and the Huntsman

The clip gives us a bit more of Theron's performance as the evil Queen. It should be a fun role to watch when the film comes out on June 1.

From the looks of this clip, and the other Snow White and the Huntsman clip released a few days ago, do you think the film warrants its spot at number 4 on our Top 10 Movies of the Summer list?

Mad Men star Jon Hamm has signed on to star in the true story Million Dollar Arm, playing J.B. Bertnstein, an American Sports agent whose Indian reality TV series set out to search for Indian athletes with Major League Baseball potential.

The TV show took place in 2008, and granted actual baseball contracts to winner Rinku Singh and runner-up Dinesh Patel, two Indian hurlers who didn't even know what baseball was when the series began.

While Patel no longer pitches, Singh is still a part of the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league organization, and has hopes of becoming the first Indian pitcher in baseball. After the success of last year's Moneyball, perhaps this upcoming baseball film will be an unlikely smash hit.

Cameron Diaz and Benicio Del Toro are attached to star in a brand new action comedy, Agent: Century 21, from Exclusive Media.

The film centers around a recent divorcee who reluctantly agrees to preform a job given to her by her boss at her real estate company. The job accidentally lands the woman smack dab in the center of a Mexican drug war. I'm thinking Del Toro plays the suburban mom and Diaz plays some kind of Mexican drug lord. Could be wrong though...

While Agent: Century 21 prepares to begin production, Diaz can be seen alongside Jennifer Lopez and Elizabeth Banks in What to Expect When You're Expecting beginning May 18.

Meanwhile, Del Toro appears as (super-gasp!!) a Mexican drug lord in the upcoming Oliver Stone film, Savages. Take a look at the Savages trailer here.

Joel Murray first caught the eye of God Bless America writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait when he starred in John Cusack’s One Crazy Summer. Decades later, Murray now stars with Tara Lynn Barr in the stand-up comic’s insanely humorous and wicked social commentary. Movie Fanatic caught up with the two leads for an exclusive video interview that showcases how such a fantastic film can be made even when the budget is miniscule. But the heart of a cast and their cinematic leader will do anything to ensure audiences witness their wizardry.

Joel Murray and Tara Lynn Barr Exclusive Interview

Girl in Progress could be seen as an announcement of Eva Mendes as a serious actress. She is without question well cast as Grace, the immature single mother raising a 13-year-old girl in Seattle. She is barely making a living as a crab shack waitress, dating a married man (Matthew Modine) and completely not there for her daughter, who is going through more changes per day than she can emotionally or physically keep up with.

Cierra Ramirez is uncanny as Ansiedad, who routinely feels she is out-maturing her mother. The title of the film is brilliant as it reflects both women’s journey in director Patricia Riggen’s film. Even though Mendes is the star, Ramirez is a scene stealer. The young actress shows a range of performers three times her age. Many thespians have tackled teenage angst and anguish over the years, but few with the piercing power of Ramirez.

Girl in Progress does suffer some growing pains of its own. The film isn’t the smoothest through the second act. It is a piece of work with solid bookends and a so-so middle. The storyline is of Ansiedad finding her identity through a series of steps she believes is right, thanks to the classic coming-of-age stories extolled by her English teacher (Patricia Arquette). Her instructor may have highlighted a means to an ends through featuring literature's great child-morphs-into-adult tales, that is far from what she meant to inspire. As such, the film advertises where Ansiedad’s journey is going. That reveal hurts the overall arc of the story.

Girl in Progress Trailer

As Mendes told us in our interview, “A mother-daughter relationship is so complicated.” That is perfectly modeled throughout Girl in Progress and it is a fantastic movie to arrive as Mother’s Day is Sunday. Daughters and mothers will find something relevant throughout the picture. Even though their situation may seem unique in this movie, Grace and Ansiedad’s bond is not unlike the classically complicated relationship that is the matriarch and her female child.

Is Girl in Progress Mendes’ announcement? Almost. She is quite good in this unique role for her. She is right there, taking another step towards the elusive category of go-to Hollywood actress.

There’s something so effortless in the work of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. In Dark Shadows, one can sense their affinity for each other’s artistry in the film’s first moments. We meet Barnabas Collins (Depp), whose parents have moved to Maine from Liverpool and created a fishing dynasty in the New World.

Collins is smitten with Josette DuPres (Bella Heathcote), to the utter dislike of his occasional lover Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). Not only does the witchy Angelique put a spell on Josette that compels her to suicide, Angelique simultaneously curses Collins to a lifetime as a vampire. What’s a witch to do then? How about responding to her spurred affections by whipping the town into a frenzied mob that seeks to bury Collins alive?

By having Depp’s character unearthed in 1972, Burton and his lead achieve two things. First, they have the tone of the cult show that the film is based upon. Second, putting his favorite actor in a compelling fish-out-of-water situation has always worked well for Burton (Edward Scissorhands).

Depp’s Collins returns to his family mansion and discovers what’s left of his kin in the 1970s. They have allowed the family business to falter and their physical estate is in shambles.

Burton has impeccably cast Dark Shadows. He reunites with Michelle Pfeiffer for the first time since Batman Returns. Her Elizabeth Collins Stoddard is doing the best to continue a fading family legacy. Her daughter Carolyn allows up-and-coming Chloe Grace Moretz to continue her impressive rise (Hugo, Hick). Her teen would be considered weird and rebellious in any other family! It seems here though, she is the voice of reason.

Both Helena Bonham Carter (Dr. Julia Hoffman) and Jonny Lee Miller (Roger Collins) are brilliant, but grossly underused. Perhaps Carter’s Dr. Hoffman and Miller’s brother to Elizabeth aren’t necessary to have their roles expanded in the scope of this film, but their talents are so immense, we wanted more.

If anyone steals the film from Depp and his uncanny portrait of Barnabas Collins, it’s Eve. She is explosive and emotionally all over the place. She effortlessly moves from rage to adoration to seductress to cold-hearted killer.

As usual for a Burton film, the set design, make-up and costumes (by Oscar winner Colleen Atwood) are spot-on for the tone that the helmer is seeking.

Dark Shadows Trailer

The Depp-Burton tandem is such a joy to witness. To see their collective artistry join forces on a project both sought to make since they were boys watching the original show... is pure bliss.

Dark Shadows is not a perfect movie. But, it is fun, entertaining, easy on the eyes and watching Depp literally chew the scenery as a vampire makes the movie a solid continuation of what’s shaping up to be a great summer movie season. With last week’s kick-off by The Avengers, Dark Shadows continues Hollywood’s hot streak.

Most Americans are used to having to decide between a jerk and an idiot. Am I right? Politics.

Sorry to go on that political rant. It's just that the first trailer for this summer's political comedy The Campaign was just released and it got me all riled up.

The Campaign Trailer

The Campaign features Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as Cam Brady and Marty Huggins, two clueless rivals in a congressional election for a small North Carolina district. While this is the first official trailer, Warner Bros. did release earlier this week two fake campaign ads, compelling viewers to "Vote for Cam" or "Vote for Marty."

The comedy, which comes out August 10, is directed by Jay Roach, director of the Austin Powers films and Meet the Parents, as well as this year's political HBO film, Game Change. But The Campaign is not the only politically-charged comedy of the summer. Sacha Baron Cohen's, The Dictator arrives in theaters next week.

Do you know what the characters from the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man look like?

Okay, but do you know what they look like when they're trying to pretend like they're listening to you gab on about Pauline from work's new baby when really they're watching the King of Queens rerun playing on the TV behind you? They look like this:

"Uh-huh? Oh yeah? They thought it was twins?"

"Cloth diapers huh?"

"All over the leather couch, oh no!"

The new international posters show Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker, Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy, and Rhys Ifans' Dr. Connors (with a bit of the Lizard on his left cheek), all feigning interest in your boring story. To check out what these characters look like when they're doing awesome stuff, check out this Amazing Spider-Man trailer.

It was announced today that Imogen Poots (No, not the Imogen Poots you went to camp with. A different Imogen Poots.) will join Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000, in the upcoming Jimi Hendrix biopic, All By My Side.

Also joining the cast of the film is Captain America: The First Avenger's Hayley Atwell. Who the actresses will play has yet to be announced, but surely a Linda Keith character will play a part in the film. Keith, girlfriend of Keith Richards, is credited with discovering Hendrix in a manhattan club.

With cast members joining the production quickly, one has to wonder what other rock icons will be portrayed in the film, and who will play them. If you were casting director, who would you pick to play Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, or any of Hendrix's other friends and contemporaries?

Perhaps if Johnny Depp weren't so busy with Dark Shadows and The Lone Ranger, he could portray Keith Richards.

The Prometheus Facebook page now has 200,000 fans, though that surely doesn't quite reflect the number of people interested in this summer sci-fi smash. In honor of hitting the landmark, 20th Century Fox has released six new stills from the film. I can't think of a snarky remark about them. They look stunning. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.

For more on the Ridley Scott film that headlines our Top 10 Summer Movies list, check out yesterday's Prometheus featurette.

Bobcat Goldthwait may seem like the most unlikely of sources to create a searing social commentary comedy. But he nails it impeccably in God Bless America.

Joel Murray is Frank. To say he's having a rough patch is a little too mild of a description to capture his world as our film begins. The worst of his issues is he learns he's dying from an untreatable form of cancer.

Meanwhile Goldthwait paints a world much like ours where celebrity and reality TV rule pop culture, the news and daily personal conversations. In fact, Murray is given what we have learned is a three-page monologue in the film’s first act that is an astounding piece of writing and acting alone. Toss in the delight that is the rest of the film, and God Bless America is a cinematic moment to treasure.

One fateful night, after putting up with all he can take from a neighbor who does everything wrong and never believes anything is his fault, Frank steals the guy's car. What else made him snap was witnessing the behavior of the "star" of a My Super Sweet Sixteen-type reality show while his neighbor's obnoxiousness simultaneously reaches a fever pitch. Frank drives to the girl's hometown and parks outside her school. When she gets into her car, Frank approaches and shoots her dead. Witnessing the scene is Roxy (a stellar Tara Lynne Barr). She is missing something in her life and finds an affinity with Frank. In fact, she tracks him down to his hotel and begs him to include her in his mayhem.

When she barges in on him, Frank feels his mission is complete and is ready to commit suicide. Roxy convinces him that the murder of the reality TV brat is simply the beginning of cleaning up the world, as the tagline says, “One jerk at a time.”

The film reminds us in some ways of the Michael Douglas-starring Falling Down. Whereas Douglas’ William had his job taken from him and he feels more motivated by vengeance than righteousness, Frank and Roxy’s killing spree is -- in their minds -- a mission of mercy. The film works impeccably well in that manner. That is thanks to the wickedly sharp writing of Goldthwait.

God Bless America Red Band Trailer

It seems that it would be difficult to find an affinity for these two as they murder their way through the U.S. But, through the screenwriter’s storytelling, we are compelled to follow their journey and even -- dare we say it -- cheer them on. One of the reasons that happens is the parallel stories of Frank and Roxy. She is clearly missing a father figure and as established in the first act, Frank is hardly allowed to see his own daughter. They forge a bond over invoking social justice and find someone in the other that fills an emotional gap.

Above all else in this brilliant escapade of a film, Murray shines as a leading man. After a career of supporting roles and years of comedic training, he busts out as Frank. And Barr is a revelation as Roxy. Who else but Murray and Barr could make characters that spend much of the film extolling their brand of justice as bodies pile up in their wake so adorably charming?

Ever since Will Ferrell came out in character as Ron Burgundy on Conan to announce that Anchor Man 2 is a go, fans have been hoping to catch any info they can on the sequel of the 2004 comedy.

Well, a tweet by Adam McKay, director and co-writer of both the original and the sequel, hints that there may be a short Anchorman 2 teaser before screenings of The Dictator, which comes out next week.

Rumors circulating on the internet suggest that the teaser will feature some of your favorite Anchorman cast members talking, in character, about how excited they are for the new film. A release year of 2013 is also rumored.

Will Ferrell, who co-wrote the original and is co-writing the sequel, can be seen this summer alongside Zach Galifianakis (maybe Galifianakis will make an appearance in Anchorman 2?) in The Campaign. Watch the first Campaign trailer, which just came out this morning, for a closer look.

McKay has previously hinted that the plot of Anchorman 2 will involve a custody battle, but apart from that, not much is known about the film that as of last month was still being written.

Let's hear your predictions for what'll go down in the Anchorman sequel.