Gangster Squad! doesn’t actually include an exclamation point in its title, but it should. It really, really should. When you open your film with a guy being gorily drawn and quartered and then savaged by wolves, you’ve earned some punctuation. And since the rest of the film is as messy as that poor sap’s goify innards why not let that silly excess spill out onto the poster?

Yes, it is a mess, but a pretty fun one that gets more enjoyable with its bouts of seriousness than its more frequent inanities. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Josh Brolin is Sergeant John O’Mara, a good cop in post-WWII Los Angeles. Sean Penn is Mickey Cohen, the bloodthirsty Jewish gangster who controls the LA underworld. Ryan Gosling is Sergeant Jerry Wooters, who flings his Wooters at every dame in sight, and Nick Nolte is a dead ringer for Mark Wahlberg in 30 or so years.

Less importantly, he’s the LAPD police chief who wants Cohen’s empire brought down and recruits O’Mara to do it. O’Mara is a war vet with experience fighting in occupied territory. He has to work undercover and basically has the authority to kill indiscriminately, which I imagine is pretty useful in situations like this.

We told you before about the splitting of The Hobbit into three films instead of the previously announced two. We are still processing that bomb shell development, but Middle Earth news carries on.

Shortly after the announced extra split, Warner Brothers secured the domain names  for two potential new Hobbit titles, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies. Of course the new third film will need a subtitle, but what is interesting is the concept that they might rename the second film as well.

As of now it stands that the second film will be subtitled There And Back Again, but that title makes much less sense for a second film of a trilogy. Based on the natural climactic points in the story it could make sense to rename the second film The Desolation of Smaug and give the last film The Battle of the Five Armies. No official announcement has been made, but expect a decision sooner rather than later.

Also in The Hobbit news, Warner Brothers has decided to back off on the 48FPS presentations for An Unexpected Journey. That isn’t to say that 48FPS will not be an option for you in December, it just means that version of the film will be out in only a limited capacity. The studio wants to test the water on the format before committing thousands of screens to such a revolutionary new presentation.

Those who saw French director Louis Leterrier’s remake of the classic film Clash of the Titans were split straight down the middle on those who absolutely loved the film, and those who thought it was total schlock.

Not unlike the response to the original film, this has left a bad taste in the mouths of fans, to the point where talk of a sequel would only anger them. That’s where this bit of news should change some folks’ minds. It seems that the Brothers Warner will be planning two sequels to the film. The good news? Good writers are on the way. From THR.

Dan Mazeau and David Leslie Johnson, who co-wrote Wrath’s screenplay with Steven Knight and also share story credit with Greg Berlanti, have been enlisted to develop and write a treatment for the threequel, which would continue the adventures of Perseus, played by Sam Worthington.

We’ve seen real innovations in the way that films are being distributed as of late.  Many films are being rolled out for a pre-theatrical release via On Demand.  This helps build word of mouth and buzz before the actual opening date of the movie, and allows people to see the movie who might not otherwise have the opportunity until the movie is released on DVD.

Now comes word that online retail giant Amazon is poised to change the very way that movies are developed. The Los Angeles Times has reported that Amazon will start a new website, Amazon Studios, that will partner with Warner Brothers for a first look option at new movie scripts and sample movies.

Here’s how it will work: writers and filmmakers will be able to upload their scripts and sample movies directly to the site. The site community then will provide feedback and suggestions for the submission. The cream of the crop will brought to Warner Brothers, and if a film is optioned, Amazon Studios might end up producing the project.

Roy Price is the president of Amazon Studios, and he claims that the idea is to update the decades-old process of script submission and movie development, and bring it  into the digital age. There is a catch, though.  People who submit their ideas will be signing off on an 18 month exclusive right to their material by Amazon Studios. Still, for the creative type who hasn’t been able to get their foot in the door, this will be a viable option.

With the new season of Smallville fast approaching this Friday on the CW, The Flickcast took the opportunity to sit down with Justin Hartley, aka the Green Arrow. He was laid-back, insightful, and of course easy on the eyes.

DC Comic’s Green Arrow has made headlines recently for taking care of bad guys anti-hero style. Smallville‘s Oliver Queen is no different, albeit he had a certain explosive panache when he nixed Lex Luthor. The perceptive and pensive Justin Hartley had much to say about his character’s path towards enlightenment this season.

The Flickcast: What excites you the most about getting the green light another, final season?

Justin Hartley: The final season, we’re excited. I think I speak for everyone when I say that. The cool thing about this year, and I’m sure you’ve heard this before, is that there’s all these…little tidbits that haven’t quite been sewn up yet.

It’s interesting because usually they go, “Well we’re going to tie it up next year or at the end of it,” and they plan on tying it up whenever. But it’s like go-time so they kind of have to tie it up now. So hopefully we’ll get, maybe even one of those (questions answered) every episode. They’re doing it the right way.

It’s really cool, especially for all those people who have been watching the show for a long time, that we did find out that we had a final season and then we’re going to shoot it. Instead of at the end of nine finding out that there is no final season. So we have the opportunity to do that- which is pretty awesome.

Hard to believe that DC comics is celebrating its 75th year! Warner Brothers digital distribution wants to help you celebrate.There are an abundance  of Super Hero movies and television series available to watch, including those based on Superman, Batman, and more.

Warner Brothers will be highlighting Super Hero movies that are available for download on iTunes, WBshop.com, and On Demand (Comcast) and (Time Warner.)

Just a few of the titles available are The Dark Knight (with extras) on iTunes, the Superman movies, Green Lantern: First Flight, Batman Under the Red Hood, Smallville, Human  Target, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Warner Brothers has released this video montage featuring Superman Returns, V  for Vendetta, and The Dark Knight to celebrate. Watch after the jump.

Cerebral movie lovers can rejoice.  Christopher Nolan’s Inception handily won at the box office over the weekend, raking in over $60 Million. The film made over $3 Million on midnight showings Thursday night, and netted $20 Million on Friday, a true testament of the loyalty of Nolan’s fans.  Marketing a cryptic plot is no easy task, so Warner Brothers has to be happy about the opening weekend.

On the other hand, it might be a long climb to recoup the $160 Million budget.  The film will have to rely on repeat business from fans to maintain box office legs.  Everyone I know who really liked the movie has said they want to see it again, but it remains to be seen whether people actually follow through with those intentions. At any rate, it is nice to see an original film have a good opening weekend.

Despicable Me came in at number two, dropping about 42% from its opening weekend, which was a little higher than I would have anticipated.  It still earned a healthy $32 Million, and has grossed $118 Million in ten days. Disney’s wide release The Sorcerer’s Apprentice earned a paltry $17 Million, far below most industry expectations. The film opened last Wednesday, so its cumulative stands at $24 Million.  The film had a budget of $150 Million, so unless it performs well overseas, it stands little chance of recouping its budget.

Twilight: Eclipse dropped off 57% from last weekend, which is a fairly significant drop.  It managed $13 Million, and has made almost $265 Million in three weeks. Toy Story 3 is still doing well after five weeks, earning $11 Million over the weekend.  Its cumulative now stands at $362 Million.

Given the current spate of advances in genetic engineering, Splice seems eerily prescient. After all, we have already seen the rapid evolution of cloning. Supermarkets now carry cloned produce, and mammals are routinely and successfully cloned as well. Is it really unreasonable to assume we will see a human-animal hybrid in our lifetime? Who’s to say one doesn’t already exist?

It is hard to believe that director Vincenzo Natali (Cube) first conceived the idea for Splice almost 15 years ago, all because he was intrigued by the shocking image of the Vacanti mouse, that little white mouse that had a human ear growing out of its back. The result is this chilling sci-fi/horror hybrid that is teeming with the ethical and moral implications of genetic research.

Elsa (Sarah Polley, The Sweet Hereafter) and Clive (Adrien Brody, The Pianist) are gifted young genetic bio-engineers, who have successfully spliced the genetic material of different animals into a hybrid. A pharmaceutical company has sponsored them, in the hopes of developing new medications.

Frustrated, Elsa chomps at the bit to add a little human DNA to the next experiment, but the company shoots her down, deeming it too risky, not to mention illegal.

I did you a favor and refrained  from making a pun out of the film’s title in my headline, though I had to physically restrain myself from doing so. From acting to editing, to continuity and dialogue, this film was an awful mess.

I’ve grown to  enjoy and look forward to comic book adaptations over the last year. Watchmen and Kick-Ass were some of my favorite films of the last twelve months, so I went into The Losers (based on a comic by Andy  Diggle) with an open mind and high expectations.

Things went swimmingly well  for the first five minutes  or so, but then the movie had its first action sequence, and director David Sylvain embarks on a torrid love affair with ill-advised editing.  He loves slow-motion. He loves the fast edit. He loves the stop/go/stop again editing. Most of all, he just loves to edit the holy living crap out of any scene he can get his hands on. As long as the camera is moving erratically, he is like a kid in a candy shop, and it ruins the movie.

The editing tricks become the primary focus of the movie, and once you start noticing them, they will plaque you incessantly until the conclusion of the film. There is just no need for a lot of it.  For instance, there is a kinda-sorta hot love scene between Zoe Saldana and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Roland Emmerich’s epic disaster flick 2012 easily destroyed the competition this weekend. Since there were no other wide new releases, 2012 handily made over $65 Million, which isn’t really all that impressive, but factor in the international box office take ($160 Million) and you get an opening weekend gross of $225 Million. Looks like the film will make back its budget (upwards of $200 Million) and then some. Playing on over 3,400 screens, the per-screen was just over $19,000.

Crowds are beginning to warm up to Disney’s A Christmas Carol, which took in $22.3 Million, and only dropped off  25% from opening weekend. This is a very good sign for the movie, indicating it will stick around a bit, particularly with Christmas coming up.

The Men Who Stared At Goats dropped an even 50%, for $6.2 Million and third place. Precious continues to be a big story. A small expansion put it in 174 theaters, for $6 Million. What’s astonishing is that the per-screen average was $35,000. Compare that to The Men Who Stare at Goats, which only had a per-screen average of $2,500. Precious will roll out a wider opening next weekend.