The first trailer for Rock of Ages, the latest movie musical based on a Broadway sensation, has been released. You can watch it here below.

Set in Los Angeles circa 1987, the story centers on a romance between two fame-hungry lovers (Diego Boneta, Julianne Hough) looking to break into the music industry in the decade where hair metal dominated the charts. Among the characters they encounter on their journey through the highs and lows of stardom are Alec Baldwin as a club owner, Mary J. Blige as another club owner, Bryan Cranston as the mayor of L.A., Catherine Zeta-Jones as the mayor’s wife and an anti-rock crusader, Tom Cruise (pictured above) as rock star Stacee Jaxx, and Paul Giamatti as Jaxx’s manager. The cast also features Russell Brand, Malin Akerman, and Will Forte.

Judging by the literal handful of people at the screening I attended, The Ides of March will disappear from theaters faster than Ryan Gosling’s last movie Drive. No doubt to make room for The Thing remake/prequel/whatever (I put gun to my head) or the WTeffingF Footloose remake (I pull trigger) due to infect theaters next week.

Too bad. Because The Ides of March asks the eternal question “To what benefit man inherit the Earth if he were to lose his…” yada, yada. Like you care.

See it because it has Ryan Gosling (again) and Paul Giamatti, along with Academy Award winners George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Marisa Tomei all at the top of their game. In that way it’s a lot like last month’s Contagion sporting its Oscar-studded cast, except this time the disease is… power. That was deep.

Eric Powell, creator of beloved comic book series The Goon tweeted a bit of interesting news Tuesday night when he linked new test footage from the film adaptation of his comic book series, which you can watch here below.

The Goon is voiced by fan favorite Clancy Brown and his little pal Franky is being voiced by Paul Giamatti in this rough test. It is important to note that this is not in any way final look at how the film will be. It’s simply test footage that gives a look and feel for how the movie will be. It’s made like a commercial and is utterly hilarious, so my excitement for the film has raised indefinitely.

The Goon is created by Eric Powell, creator of the Dark Horse series, and the film will be produced by David Fincher, and released through Blur Studios.

Ironclad
Directed by Jonathan English
Starring James Purefoy, Paul Giamatti, Kate Mara, Brian Cox, Derek Jacobi, Vladmir Kulich, Charles Dance, Jason Flemyng, Mackenzie Crook, Aneurin Barnard, Jamie Foreman
Release Date: June 8th, 2011

The name Jonathan English may not mean jack squat to you now, but after you see his latest film, Ironclad, you’ll remember it for goddamn sure. English is the writer (with Erick Kastel and Stephen McDool) and director of this latest entry in the medieval action genre that has gotten a major adrenaline fix recently with the success of the HBO series A Game of Thrones and the literal onslaught of blood and steel battle epics like Neil Marshall’s Centurion and Christopher Smith’s Black Death.

Armed with a tight script, a fantastic cast ready to chew scenery and kick ass, and buckets of blood and severed limbs, English saddles up to take on that hoariest of cinema sub-genres that’s easiest to do if you have little funding to work with: the siege movie.

Win Win
Directed by Tom McCarthy
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey, Alex Shaffer
Release: March 18, 2011

Reciprocity is what we find in all of director Tom McCarthy‘s films and very rarely found in others’ films. He is a filmmaker who recognizes and spotlights individuals who are of two molds: caretakers and people who need taken care of. What defines a film by McCarthy, though, is his ability to make a character both caretaker and one who needs to be taken care of. His two previous films, The Station Agent and The Visitor, displayed individuals who were emotionally destroyed and in shameful situations. But yet there still remained in them a spark of life that has the ability to make the necessary preparations for getting themselves and others whose lives have been stifling out of a grievous situation. Win Win is no different. The film doesn’t see the human spirit as triumphant, and while that may sound bleak it is the foundation in which McCarthy constructs his films on. He evaluates his characters in a burdensome state only to find in them qualities that may allow them to rise against adversity.

Win Win, a comedy-drama that takes into consideration the fragility of the human spirit, is a small film with, sad to say, small ambitions. It plays it safe with the material it has while room for expansion is evident and much encouraged. McCarthy doesn’t magnify his material but rather keeps it subdued while we want more emotion, especially when we have actors capable of exploiting their internal and external frustrations.