Josh Brolin and Sean Penn in 'Gangster Squad'

Director of Zombieland, Ruben Fleischer is now tackling the gangster and film noir genres with Gangster Squad.  Ambitious especially considering he directed Bill Murray back to the funny side in a zombie film that wasn't Shaun of the Dead.  The film stars Josh Brolin and Sean Penn and we have our official first look.

Gangster Squad is described as "an action-drama about the 1940s cops who battled Mickey Cohen’s mob for control of the City of Angels, is the perfect mesh of the two."

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DiCaprio, Penn May Star In 'The Revenant' by Inarritu

So it seems that director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu wants to add a star-leading cast and has chosen very well.  His next film is based on the novel 'The Revenant' by Michael Punke and Inarritu wants to cast Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn as his two lead male actors.  A most welcome combination of star and acting power. 

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Sean Penn Criticizes Malick and 'The Tree of Life'

We all know Sean Penn speaks his mind all too often and now he's criticizing his role in Terrence Malick's latest film The Tree of Life. Penn complains of his characters purpose in the scenes set in the present where his younger portrayer Hunter McCracken acted across Brad Pitt's as the son who had a particular dislike for his father. The New Yorker posted the dialogue from the French newspaper Le Figaro: "I didn't at all find on the screen the emotion of the script, which is the most magnificent one that I've ever read," said Penn.

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Movie Review: 'The Tree of Life'

Tree of Life Starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn Directed by Terrence Malick Rated PG-13

How do you even begin in describing The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick? “An ambitious, if not sublime, representation of life as an everlasting cosmic entity and an important aspect of human life”, by that description I’ve already made the film seem heavy handed, but don't waver on deciding whether or not to see the film. It's beautiful, funny, terrifying and a strange depiction of a family in the 1950s. Some reviews have likened it to providing a sense of enlightenment by its meditative nature and to think that I (selfishly) wanted to let the film live on its own, without the need of contextualizing it in words. 

Don’t worry, there are human actors as well in the film and to say that the performances are truthful and reminiscent of your own life is to say the least. Brad Pitt plays Mr. O'Brien, a tough-as-nails father to three young boys who, more often than not, wants his boys to become men and without and doesn't quickly realize he's pushing them away emotionally. Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) is a presence of forgiveness, of life and love to her children, constantly racked with a need to love her boys unconditionally, even though a young Jack (Hunter McCracken) seeks the approval of both his parents. Defiant to his father, Jack begins a journey on his loss of innocence and Sean Penn portrays an older Jack, in the present time, surrounded by modernized landscapes of skyscrapers and working in glass-encased building, where a sole tree sits in front of the building.

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'The Tree of Life': Reactions from Cannes

Brad Pit in 'The Tree of Life'

Finally, after being shot nearly years ago and two years of tinkering with editing (with multile editors) Terrence Malick long-awaited The Tree of Life has landed at the Cannes Film Festival. Screening early Monday morning the film received on what was expected from its ecletic audience as The Hollywood Reporter put it best: "[Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life] was met Monday with scattered boos, an initial round of applause and then a growing chorus of appreciative reviews."

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