Posts Tagged ‘Josh Brolin’

Short Take: A muddled script wastes a great collection of talent

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Screenwriter: Will Beall, Paul Lieberman (book)

Cast: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Robert Patrick, Michael Pena, Giovanni Ribisi, Mireille Enos, Nick Nolte

Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes

The year is 1949. East Coast gangster Mickey Cohen’s (Sean Penn) reign of fear and terror has spread to the city of Los Angeles. To combat his growing influence, the Los Angeles Police Department sends no-nonsense Sergeant John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) to form an off-the-books squad to bring down Cohen’s criminal empire, and ultimately drain him of the resources he needs to rule the town.

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Short Take: Redeems the first sequel. A fun an fulfilling ride.

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Screenwriter: Etan Cohen; Lowell Cunningham (comic)

Cast: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson

Length: 1h 46m

Synopsis: Long before K (Jones) and J (Smith) became partners there was a nefarious alien named Boris the Animal (Clement), who by some stroke of luck was captured sans one arm back in 1969 by K and sent to a prison on the Moon. Now, forty years later, Boris has escaped and is looking to get revenge. His plan is to time travel back to 1969 and kill K, allowing himself to roam free and eventually lead his race to taking over the Earth. When J realizes K is missing, the MIB claim he had been dead for forty years. After traveling back in time himself, J must prevent K’s murder and help ensure the correct passing of events to protect the future. The trouble is, the younger K (Brolin) and ‘60s MIB have a hard time believing J’s predicament. In earning the trust of the younger version of the partner he’d known for years, J tries to take advantage of the opportunity to find out more about K than his older self would divulge. As it so happens, what he discovers changes their relationship forever.

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Short Take: Entertaining but sorely underdeveloped - It could have been considerably better

Director: Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who!)

Screenwriter: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Gamer, Crank: High Voltage)

Cast: Josh Brolin (Milk, No Country for Old Men), Megan Fox (Jennifer’s Body, Transformers), John Malkovich (Burn After Reading, Changeling), Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, Fish Tank, 300)

Length: 1 hour 23 minutes

Synopsis: The film begins with former Confederate soldier Jonah Hex (Brolin) forced to watch his wife and son burn to death at the hands of former friend Quentin Turnbull (Malkovich).  Left for dead, Hex is found and revived by a group of Crow Indians, but he’s a changed man.  Not only does he literally bear a brand of Turnbull’s betrayal on his face, but his travels between death and life left him with some unique abilities.  Hex can seemingly survive any number of bullet wounds and revive the dead for short periods of time with a single touch.  Hex devotes his life to taking revenge on Turnbull and when the U.S. government asks for his help in stopping Turnbull from using a powerful weapon against innocent citizens during the nation’s centennial celebration, he must find him before time runs out. Read the rest of this entry »

Jemaine Clement

Jemaine Clement of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords fame has reportedly been cast as the villain in the next Men in Black sequel.

Jonah Hex‘s Josh Brolin has also signed on to the project and will reportedly play a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones’ character K, though Jones and Will Smith will also return, along with director Barry Sonnenfeld.

Etan Cohen (Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder) has written the script, which some suspect entails time travel due to the involvement of Brolin’s alleged role.

Source: Ain’t It Cool News

Quick Opinion: I’ve heard many complain about how Men in Black II was not as good as the first, and not often were those complaints based on the film’s casting. The original Men in Black struck a chord with audiences because of how fresh it was, and MIB II might have failed simply because screenwriter Robert Gordon was unable to keep that element moving forward. Looking back, this is somewhat surprising being that Gordon also gave us the wonderfully self-aware Galaxy Quest. But come to think of it, a sequel to that film would probably not work either for the same reasons. So why be excited about MIB III? New pedigree has been added, again, in the form of Josh Brolin and Jemaine Clement, which is to be expected with Hollywood sequels. But the real upgrade might come through Etan Cohen’s screenplay. Idiocracy has become a sort of cult classic for its jabs at modern society and scarily convincing premise which suggests the meek may actually inherit the earth. Tropic Thunder was about as self-aware as movies get, de-glorifying the action and war movie genres as well as Hollywood in general. Because of this background it is fair to believe that Cohen can bring the freshness of the first MIB back to the series. On the other hand, I’m sure that’s what they were hoping for from Gordon. Like most things, this will probably be a game of “wait and see.”

Joel and Ethan Coen ("No Country for Old Men")

The Coen brothers are planning to film a remake of 1969′s True Grit, which Paramount will work to release for late 2010, and actors Matt Damon and Josh Brolin are currently in final talks to join a cast that already includes fellow well-known actor Jeff Bridges.

Reportedly, Damon is to be cast as Bridges’ fellow lawman trying with the help of a 14-year old girl to catch a killer, to be played by Brolin. The Coen brothers claim that their completed script is more loyal to the Charles Portis novel of the same name which the original film is based from.

Source: Variety

Quick Opinion: Western fans should be very excited just from knowing the directors and short list of known cast members attached to this project. Bridges, Brolin, and Damon are all fine actors and have shown the ability to mold themselves into their parts time and again. I believe we can trust them to continue their streaks. What may be just as exciting as finding out that the Coen brothers are writing and directing is realizing that big, respected names like theirs are being attached to the western genre. Westerns have not been the most popular genre in Hollywood over recent decades, but they’re hardly dead. 2007′s 3:10 to Yuma was considered by most to be a solid effort, and had moderate box-office success by at least breaking even (cost – $50million, gross – $53million). The status of the western should get a boost from having Oscar-winning talent in the directors’ chairs, which if the genre is to make some sort of cultural revival is a darn good place to get started.