'First Love' (2019) Movie Review

If you didn’t know you were watching a Takashi Miike movie, the severed head rolling down the street, coming to a stop, and blinking at you with an opened-mouthed silent scream less than three minutes into First Love should be a tip off. True to form, and the uber-prolific Japanese director works in maybe his truest form here, First Love is down and dirty, violent, and weird as all hell. Wouldn’t have a Takashi Miike movie any other way. But he also delivers his version of a dark, twisted, mean-spirited romantic comedy. Which means, of course, it’s the most badass rom-com you’ve ever seen.

'Outrage Coda' Trailer: Beat Takeshi Returns To Shoot Gangsters...And A Fish

“Beat” Takeshi Kitano’s 2010 Yakuza opus, Outrage, is one of the prolific writer/director/actor’s (and comedian and author and painter so on) greatest feats. A grim gangster tale of honor, respect, loyalty, betrayal, intrigue, and corruption, it’s also darkly witty and bleakly comic. All of which plays through in the new trailer for the latest follow up, Outrage Coda. Check it out below.

'Black Mass' Movie Review

Anchored by a number of fantastic performances—and just as many squandered actors—Scott Cooper’s gangster saga BlackMass is by turns a compelling crime drama and a standard, by-the-book biopic. For all the positive elements, the picture is ultimately held back by the constraints of the form it takes.

This UK 'Legend' Trailer Doubles Your Tom Hardy

You’ve heard me say it before, but the only thing better than Tom Hardy in a movie is two Tom Hardys in a movie, and that’s exactly what this latest U.K. trailer for his upcoming gangster flick Legend delivers. Check it out below.

Tom Hardy Does Double Duty In 'Legend' Trailer As Real Life Gangster Twins

The only thing better than one Tom Hardy is two Tom Hardys, and that’s just what you get in the latest trailer from Legend, where he plays real life London gangster twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray. Check it out after the jump.

'Legend' Trailer: Tom Hardy Doubles Down As Real Life Gangster Twins

Tom Hardy has played a Batman villain, a notorious inmate, and gangsters of all stripes, not to mention Mad fuckin’ Max. In Brian Hegeland’s upcoming Legend, he doubles down, playing the real life crime boss twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray. Check out this dual role in this new Legend trailer after the jump.

The Kray Twins were a pair of identical brothers who ran organized crime in the East End of London during the 1950s and ‘60s at the head of their gang The Firm. Not only were they vicious gangsters, but in addition to armed robbery, racketeering, murder, and the usual gangster shit, they also hobnobbed with celebrities in the nightclubs they owned, rubbing elbows with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and various politicians.

In all likelihood, Ronnie was an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, and Legend purports to show them try to maintain a grip on their empire as pressure squeezes them from all sides. They face power struggles, general madness, and, of course, a woman comes between them, all of which led to their ultimate downfall. I can’t wait to see Tom Hardy in this double role. What can I say, the dude looks awesome in a ‘60s style suit with a sharp period hairdo.

Legend also stars Emily Browning, Christopher Eccleston, David Thewlis, Chazz Palminteri, and Taron Egerton, and hits theaters in the U.K. on September 11. There’s currently no word on a U.S. release, but Universal is handling the release, so hopefully we’ll hear something soon.

'A Most Violent Year' Movie Review: A Gangster Saga About Trying Not To Be A Gangster

From the very first frame, J.C. Chandor’s third directorial feature, A Most Violent Year, calls to mind the greatest gangster sagas of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and others. Hell, if you’re going to ape anything, it might as well be the best, and in doing so, Chandor has created a picture that may well stand alongside those movies before long. This is a quintessentially American story about trying to succeed while every exterior force wants to tear you down.