New Trailer for 'The Double' Gives Away EVERYTHING

Would great movies with shocking plot twists like The Usual Suspects and say The Sixth Sense have been nearly as good if we already knew going into the theater that Kevin Spacey was Keyser Soze and Bruce Willis was actually dead?  Absolutely not.  

Now I'm not expecting The Double starring Richard Gere, Topher Grace and True Blood's Stephen Moyer to be an Oscar nominated, four star movie, far from it, but I don't exactly want to know the spoiler stuff either.

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Noah Baumbach Tackles 'Emperor's Children'

Noah Baumbach's new film, Greenberg, is better than his last, Margot at the Wedding, but it still doesn't quite hit the high notes of The Squid and the Whale. He's now taking a stab at someone else's material, so we'll see what he can do with that.

The Wrap reports that Baumbach will direct the adaptation of The Emperor's Children, a 2006 novel by Claire Messud. And he walks into a pretty good situation with a cast already in place: Richard Gere, Eric Bana, and Keira Knightley.

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Movie Review - 'Brooklyn's Finest'

Brooklyn's Finest Starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, and Don Cheadle Directed by Antoine Fuqua Rated R

Finding the way out depends on where you're standing. The three cops in Brooklyn's Finest are each face to face with a situation they can't wait to escape: One feels he has nothing left to live for, another every reason to bend the rules for his family, and the third just wants his old life back after years undercover and under the gun. Each man has different stakes, and each one of their actions carry their own consequences. But the desperation, that need to get out, is etched on their embattled faces. Eddie Dugan (Richard Gere) has a week left on the job, and yet he can't find the will to break his morning ritual of a shot of whiskey and the muzzle of a revolver in his mouth. His wife's moved out, the world's moved on, and Eddie just wants to keep his head down for seven more days. And then, well, he's out. And that's that. After years of being undercover as part of one of Brooklyn's most ruthless drug gangs, Tango (Don Cheadle) sees a promotion and a desk job in his future, but when? As it often happens in the movies, he has one more hurdle to overcome first, the dangling carrot held over a cliff. And with his family growing faster and faster, far outstripping his ability to take care of them, the way out for Sal (Ethan Hawke) may actually get him deeper in. There's a lot of dirty drug money flowing through Brooklyn and as Sal says, he hasn't gotten a raise in four years. Why should seized drug money go to the city's excess fund to buy some government official a new mahogany desk and a Persian rug, Sal asks. He has twins on the way and three more mouths to feed on top of it. Tough to do that on an honest cop's salary.

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Trailer - Gere, Hawke, Cheadle Are 'Brooklyn's Finest'

At long last, Antoine Fuqua's Brooklyn's Finest will finally hit theaters early next year. It was originally going to be an early fall 2009 release, I believe, but by the time it gets here, it will be nearly two years after the film went into production.

Don't pin it on the film itself, however. Brooklyn's Finest was one of several independently produced movies picked up by Senator Distribution. That company didn't last very long, and in fact, the biggest release it had during its very short run was last year's The Informers. It bombed, the company couldn't raise money to market the rest of its 2009 schedule, and just like that, this film and a few others had to start the distribution marathon from scratch. Senator acquired this property at Sundance in January, and by June, it was more or less out of business. But Overture pulled this one out of the ashes, and is releasing the cop drama on March 5th. Because it probably didn't spend a lot to get the film, I'm not sure Overture will break the bank supporting it opposite Alice in Wonderland and sandwiched between Shutter Island and The Green Zone. There is probably hope that if it plays well with critics, the cast - Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes - as well as the advertising friendly line "from the director of Training Day" will bring audiences to theaters for a a few days. Here's the trailer:

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Movie Review - 'Amelia'

Amelia Starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, and Ewan McGregor Directed by Mira Nair Rated PG

Memorable only for the opportunity it has missed, Amelia manages to tell us everything about Amelia Earhart except what we might want to know. A great film can take the unvarnished details of an ordinary life and make them fascinating, so how can a movie about a woman so intersting and influential be so damn boring? The film never goes deeper than the things you understand before you buy your ticket: It's the story of Amelia Earhart, who died trying to become the first person to fly around the world. Hilary Swank looks a lot like the character she's portraying. The shame is that Swank is twice an Oscar winner, and was fantastic on both occasions (Boys Don't Cry, Million Dollar Baby). Almost without exception, though, Swank has been only passable or worse in her other films. How does that happen? You would expect a good deal more out her as Earhart; Amelia was one of the most important people of the 20th century, and Swank not only stars in this biography, but executive produced it as well. But the film never, not once, concerns itself with why anyone, much less a girl in a boy's world, would commit herself so totally to such a dangerous pursuit, fully aware of the pitfalls. What made Amelia get in a cockpit the first time isn't terribly consequential, but what made her continue reaching for the clouds is. We never get that here. Indeed, there is precious little motivation for anything. She marries her publicist, George Putnam (Richard Gere), though why they fall in love merits no explanation. Apparently, if you spend enough time around anyone of the opposite sex, no matter how fundamentally different they are, you'll fall in love. The same goes for Earhart's affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor), a society man with a shared love of flying. So, theoretically, if two people have the same interest, they're destined for a relationship, too.

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