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gangster squad 🔥🔥

The plot may be similar to that of either Brian DePalma's 1987 Untouchables or that of Warren Beatty's 1990 film Dick Tracy . Both movies had a good storyline with lot's of action and colorful characters , and good acting too ! That's where Gangster Squad parts company with the others . Gangster Squad is just a mean & ugly movie from start to finish . In 1949 a special band of Los Angeles detectives are brought together to form the Gangster Squad . Their orders are not to merely arrest and bring Sean Penn's terrible gambling & prostitution empire to an end but kill most of during the process . This is one of the most reprehensible and senselessly violent movies of all time . Short on substance but not lacking in gun play , Gangster Squad should be able to fill everyone's thirst for blood for a long time to come . If you are obsessed with playing ultra violent video games that contain nothing but machine gunfire , car chases , fiery explosions , bloody beatings , and murder after murder , this is your movie ! Although the setting is post war 1949 L.A., Gangster Squad would have looked less out of place if it happened during the Roaring Twenties or maybe the Great Depression of the early 1930's . If you love classic cars as much as I do you may be dismayed to see them get shot up . I felt sorry for that shiny new Packard that got banged up and a few of it's windows shot out . Gangster Squad is a movie that should appeal to every obsessed gun lover and video gamer in America right now . I wouldn't be surprised if the N.R.A. completely funded this worthless piece of trash . As I said before , if all you crave from a movie is machine gunfire, car chases, beatings, murder, extreme violence and very little substance , Gangster Squad is your movie ( not mine ) . I gave it a generous 2 stars because of the classic cars and late 1940's era setting . ....... Not Hot ! ... PWH

It's predictable, in that it's exceedingly formulaic, and laden with plot devices that are way overused for any genre. Drawing and quartering (halving, in this case) a man with two cars (in the opening scene) certainly could be considered one way to set the tone, however, after the first five dark, and rather grueling minutes, it quickly devolves to a sentimental buddy/action romp, and becomes impossible to be taken seriously. Even the cool noir-speak is abandoned once the action sets in. Once the plot starts rolling along, characters stop saying neat things like: "Who's the tomato?" (In reference to Emma Stone). Thoroughly disappointing. Sadly, Penn's performance falls spectacularly flat. Too much makeup, not enough emotion.

Review originally posted on InspirationRation.com - 'Gangster Squad' tells the story of a small team of Los Angeles cops who take on the task of waging war against the swiftly growing East Coast Mafia presence in their city. Set in 1949 LA, this war is fought with tommy guns, fedoras, and style. Sean Penn plays Mickey Cohen, a ruthless mob-boss with great ambitions. He has LA in his grasp. Hundreds of politicians, judges and cops are in his pocket. Still he wants more, and he is poised to take over all off- track betting revenue in the western part of the USA. Sgt. John O'Mara (played by Josh Brolin) receives permission to go after him, but he'll have to go outside the law. He gets together a ragtag team of honest cops, and starts a war. The acting is great in 'Gangster Squad'. Especially Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen is impressive; it is evident that he had fun playing such a dynamic and extremely volatile character. But Josh Brolin, Emma Stone and the supporting cast also truly hold their own here. It is not just the acting, but also the way the characters are written that really adds to the movie. As stated, the group of cops is pretty diverse, and each character has its own personality and quirks to play with. This in turn also allows for some good humour here and there. The only odd character one out in my opinion was Ryan Gosling's character, whom I didn't really 'get'. The film features some amazing directing; Interesting and stylistic, with some really great and creative camera shots. Dynamic camera-angle switches, indoor crane shots, long semi-complicated takes, and – most memorable to me – a close-up dolly zoom shot mid-punch in the middle of a fighting scene. A really cool effect. 'Gangster Squad' features plenty of impressive action. There are good era-specific gun-and fist-fights, but there is also some more extreme dual tommygun-wielding, stick-grenade hot potato play action going on. Both really nicely done and just plain entertaining. There is a car chase which I would deem uncharacteristically over the top ridiculous, but this is addressed in the plot as well, so I'll let it slide. All the action (as well as the rest of the movie) is accompanied by good music, not great, but satisfactory. As always with a period movie, I have to take a moment to address the impressive way in which they managed to portray 1949 Los Angeles. The empty skyline in the background, streets filled with old-timer cars, and the classic sign when Hollywood was still Hollywoodland. All combined 'Gangster Squad' is just an all-round great flick, one which I highly recommend you go see. The acting, directing, action, and style of the film are all tremendous. It never bores, but constantly entertains. And if that doesn't convince you, it has Emma friggin' Stone in it, so what more do you want? Go watch this! - Review originally posted on InspirationRation.com

Mickey Cohen seems to have an iron grip of Los Angeles. And no one is willing or alive to testify against him. So Police Chief Parker decides to form a special unit whose mission is to take down Cohen. He chooses Sgt. O'Mara, to lead the unit. O'Mara chooses four cops and asks another, Jerry Wooters to join him, but Wooters is not interested. But when he witnesses the murder of a young boy by Cohen's people, he joins them, and they decide to take apart Cohen's organisation. Cohen wonders if a rival is going after him, but soon he realises otherwise.... Oh the circle of life. Back in 1990, Madonnas was at her most famous, the Blonde Ambition tour, and her greatest performance in a movie, Dick Tracy. 23 years later, her ex, Sean Penn is at his lowest playing someone who looks like they wandered in from the Dick Tracy set. It's some of the worst make up I've ever seen in a big release movie. And then there's the rest of the movie, playing like some sort of Micheal Bay/De Palma/L.A Confidential hybrid, and it's as messy as it sounds. Brolin looks embarrassed to be in this, Jonah Hex had at least that guilty pleasure thing going for it, and Gosling is just as bad, making Drive seem like a long time ago. The rest of the stellar cast stand around waiting for the next set piece to arrive, and Penn spends the movie gurning and shouting at people. It's early days, but this is already a contender for worst film of 2013 (released here in the UK in January). Awful, bile inducing stuff.

Well I got back last night after watching it. It was a last minute thing too. Love Gangster movies and thought this looked great. loving Boardwalk Empire and enjoyed public enemy number one (suprisingly) so I was a little dismayed by the total lack of empathy with this movie upon leaving the cinema. It was running good right up to Brolins wife (excellent acting btw) began to help him hire the team of misfits. From there it pretty much fell away. the crew were average at best. The acting was strained. Brolin wasn't too bad. But even he was below average. Never looked too comfortable. I couldn't really put a finger on it but it never really got my blood pumping. A few plot holes I cant be bothered to go into and I wonder if this was the outcome of a total script re-write by the director. Who knows. Penn tried his best to give the movie some depth. But even his performance lacked the Scorsese touch. Jimmy the Gent he wasn't. Despite the obvious attempt. Average movie that could have been good. Never great.

January movies are traditionally terrible. With this fact in mind, I generally try to avoid theaters for one month out of the year. Unfortunately for me, the top-notch cast and original September release date tricked me into buying the notion that this could be a good movie. The fact that my friends showed up unannounced to drag me out to see it didn't help either. This movie aims to be something lasting, but for any serious movie buff, it falls well short of it's target. At times, it felt to me like a legitimate comedy. Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) is a mob connected ex-boxer who decides that L.A. is his for the taking. Sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) is a WWII vet who is tasked with creating a crew to take him down. The rest of the cast falls into the "good guys" category of cops, moles, and love interests. This includes (but is not limited to) Ryan Gosling, Robert Patrick, and Emma Stone. I was never bored during this film. Having seen many movies, even the terrible scenes kept me entertained by the sheer brilliance of over-used plot devices and clichéd character stories. Need a borderline cop who drinks, smokes, gambles, but has morals? Ryan Gosling has you covered. Old fashioned six-shooter cop with dead aim? Don't worry, Robert Patrick is there. Fear not, because the writer (Will Beall) has also included the 1940s tech guy, as well as a token black cop aggravated with heroin use in the community, and an apprentice to Patrick's character who just happens to be Hispanic. I blame the failure of this movie entirely on unimaginative writing, to the point of being almost insulting. It is not as if Brolin, Gosling, Patrick, or least of all, Penn, are bad actors. They certainly made bad choices signing onto this script, but I can't see the checks they are cashing. The entire plot is predictable. 15 minutes into the movie, anyone could accurately predict the next hour or more. The actors are given nothing to work with. Additionally, Emma Stone's character serves no purpose whatsoever other than to add an attractive female supporting. Though the film is well-shot (what isn't nowadays) and has beautiful set details, the writing is so laughable it is nearly impossible to enjoy much of this movie. I'm not one to give a movie anything less than 4-5 stars merely because I did not like it. Seems childish, but I couldn't give this more than three. The pace never slowed, good for a star. The setting was good, that's another. Finally, the cast did what they could with this script, that makes three. Can't find another strength to this movie. If you want to see the disowned child of L.A. Confidential be my guest. Re-watching something you actually like is probably a better option.

In 1949, in Los Angeles, the ambitious and ruthless kingpin Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) controls drugs, prostitution and gambling and has the local judge and police department in his pocket. When Sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) busts Mickey's brothel to rescue a naive newcomer in town, Police Chief Parker (Nick Nolte) summons him and offers to O'Mara to form an unofficial unit to destroy Mickey's facilities and shipments to take him down. O'Mara and his wife select four incorruptible cops to work with him. Then a fifth police officer joins the team in the beginning of a war against Mickey's empire of crime. "Gangster Squad" is an entertaining movie based on the biography of the powerful and violent gangster Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen. This criminal indeed ended his days in Alcatraz but years later, sentenced twice for tax evasion and not for murder. Unfortunately the true story was not written this way. The cast is magnificent, with names such as Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Robert Patrick, Giovanni Ribisi among many others and the art direction and costumes is also excellent. The plot has many clichés and works like a cartoon, with the bullets occasionally hitting the heroes, but all of that is part of the entertainment. Fans of "The Untouchables" will certainly enjoy this effective gangster movie. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Caça aos Gângsteres" ("Hunting Down the Gangsters")

The year is 1949 and Los Angeles is being run by mob king Mickey Cohen. Now, a secret team of detectives and cops form together to bring him down and bring peace back to the streets. Gangster Squad was a nice romp back to the days where detectives said funny lines, smoked indoors and held tommy guns. Here is a film that looks slick with a nice polish, a great ensemble cast and a story that has enough meat to it for us to chew on. Yet, people seem to be hating on it. Did they all expect another Untouchables? Sure, Gangster Squad has moments where the inspirations from past films peep through, but not once did this film try to be more than the sum of its means. Gangster Squad is a fun film, has thrilling moments and will entertain you. Josh Brolin plays Sgt. John O'Mara, a tough as nails cop who is willing to put his life on the line for truth and justice. This annoys his very pregnant wife, who seems ready to pop at any moment. She takes it upon herself to help form the team he needs in order to protect him. The team involves: Anthony Mackie, an officer who is deadly with a knife, Giovanni Ribisi, a smart wire tapper, Robert Patrick, an ace with a pistol and his protégé Michael Peña whose eager to learn. The last addition to the team is the young, hot and dangerous Ryan Gosling, who seems to have found himself entangled with the mob king, Cohen's gal, played by Emma Stone. There are obvious moments in the film where it tips its hat to predecessors like L.A. Confidential and the more obvious, The Untouchables. There is even a sequences involving a stairwell, although not as tense and more by the numbers shoot em up, the sequence is still one of the exciting pieces in the film. Both those films are more intricate with plot, characters and structure, by a mile. Gangster Squad doesn't focus on stuff like that, it wants to thrill you. Which is why some sequences in which we are suppose to care whether our characters live or die don't really pan out. It has a graphic novel feel to it, very film noir and for those who've played L.A. Noir, will get the same sense of style. While the film looks great in a lot of sequences, that same style has some short comings, mainly the use of CGI as movement for the camera. It's the most noticeable, at least for me, in two scenes. With Josh Brolin in an elevator early on fighting two crooked guys and the second is when Ryan Gosling decides to pull his gun out in the middle of a club. The second scene in question is in slow motion and focuses mainly on his face, but the jarring background movement opposed to the steadiness of his face is just that, jarring and it takes you out of the film and makes you realize you are watching a film. Everyone plays their roles respectively well, even if the team seems one dimensional. Sean Penn hams it up in a role that demands him to overact. The make up may distract some, but it added to the character for me. He was the one who seemed to have the most fun with his role. A lot of people scream style over substance and this may be true in some cases. I for one never went into the film expecting writing of another calibre and thus I found myself enjoying it a tad more. There are some laughable scenes due to how cliché they are. One involves a character throwing their badge away into the water and another has the classic, character yelling another character's name as they walk away, when that person stops and turns, no one says a word. Moments like these that are played out in numerous films make me yawn and roll my eyes. So go into Gangster Squad with an open mind, don't expect greatness, just a fun ride.