Gear Patrol | Spirit of Adventure, Passion for Gear

Public Enemies

Johnny Depp plays John Dillinger in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, a film based on Brian Burrough’s nonfiction book “Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34.” As legend reality had it, Dillinger’s repeated escapes from jail, fast get-away cars, and superior firepower made him a gangster tour de force. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI had no choice but to brand him as Public Enemy No. 1. With the director-writer-producer of Heat and The Last of the Mohicans behind the wheel, expect nothing short of a frenetic masculine endeavor.

Release Date: July 1st, 2009

Sherlock Holmes

Joel Silver, one of Sherlock Holmes’ producers, stated that this film will be “like James Bond in 1891.” Sure, what do producers know? But Silver is totally right. Holmes, played by Robert Downey Jr., is not just a giant brain inside a tweed suit but a re-invented action hero, one with swagger and a fighting skills repertoire that includes bare-knuckle boxing and baritsu – a martial arts form derived directly from Sir Conan Doyle’s books. With Guy Ritchie as director, expect a film that is fast paced, but also faithful to the period (recall his obsession for British accents in Snatch & Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). Lets hope the calabash pipe serves Downey Jr. well.

Release Date: December 25th, 2009

Nailed

When you are a screenwriter for SNL and your father is Al Gore, you bet your ass you have what it takes (and the material) to win Emmy Awards for making people laugh. Kristin Gore teams up with David O’Russell, the director of I Heart Huckabees, to write the script for Nailed, a politically-charged comedy about a small-town waitress (Jessica Biel) who lobbies for better healthcare for the bizarrely injured after a nail was accidentally lodged in her brain. Under the shrewdly screwball direction of O’Russell, expect offbeat (read: f-ed up) humor that will not appeal to the masses but serve as welcome relief from all the teenage flicks re-hashing the same hipster and stoner jokes. Oh and did I forget to mention that Tracy Morgan will be in this film?

Release Date: TBA 2009

The Limits of Control

When Indie Kingpin Jim Jarmusch collaborates with Christopher Doyle, an acclaimed cinematographer who has done everything from DJ Shadow music videos to Gus Van Sant flicks, you get cult favorites like Ghost Dog and Coffee and Cigarettes. Expect no different with The Limits of Control, a film starring Isaach De Bankole as the French ice cream man, a lone wolf criminal undertaking a job in Spain. Other cast members include Bill Murray and Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores Perros, Y Tu Mama Tambien). Note: considering this is a Jarmusch film, there is a 10% chance members of Wu-Tang Clan will spit out some cameo rhymes.

Release Date: May 1st, 2009 (Limited)

Tyson

After a screening for the documentary Tyson, I had two questions for the fat, balding director who sat on his high stool quoting Walt Whitman: 1) How did you get close to Tyson, considering his distrust for “leeches” as he calls ‘em onscreen and 2) what kinda asshole asks a two part question at a screening, especially quoting a derogatory groupie remark? Wisely, I kept my mouth shut – for perhaps 30 min – as James Toback ranted about the orgy parties at Jim Brown’s house (to the silent and horrified imaginings of the audience) and the times he spent tripping on LSD in the surrounding areas of this Boston-area cinema. Afterwards, it all made sense. This director, of a riveting account on a prize fighter you most likely hate, was brutally honest in front of complete strangers. His film is no different and that is why it succeeds.

Release Date: Now Playing (April 24th, 2009) (NY, LA)

Biutiful

In director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s latest Spanish-language film Biutful, Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) stars as “a man embroiled in shady dealings who is confronted by a childhood friend, now a policeman.” Before you are discouraged by the shallow plot logline and the fact that there will be subtitles (I know, I know, it has to be City of God good), know this: before Iñárritu created 2000 Best Foreign Film Amore Perros, he was a full-time DJ mixing and matching beats. With that kinda life skill, he holds a comprehension for pacing as well as an uncanny ability to weave a compelling, non-linear tale as seen in English-language films Babel and 21 Grams.

Release Date: December 11th, 2009

Brooklyn’s Finest

If you were left wanting more after seeing Training Day, fear not as director Antoine Fuqua is set to release his latest cop thriller Brooklyn’s Finest. Made outside of the studio system, Brooklyn’s Finest stars Ethan Hawke, Richard Gere, and Don Cheadle as fractured souls of the badge caught in an underworld of violence and moral ambiguity.

Release Date: November 27th, 2009 (Limited)

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