Arguably the most anticipated film of this year’s Cannes Film Festival is one that on the face of it, though In Competition, has little chance of scooping the Palme D’Or by virtue of subject matter alone. Only God Forgives, the latest film from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, follows the filmmaker’s hugely popular 2011 Cannes In Competition entry Drive (which scooped Refn the Best Director award), yet is a baffling follow-up that evoked strongly divided responses at this morning’s jam-packed press screening.

James Toback and Alec Baldwin‘s fascinating documentary Seduced and Abandoned opens with a quote from Orson Welles, which attests that 95% of the time and energy expended making a film is actually devoted to securing funds rather than, you know, actually making the film. Toback and Baldwin aim to put this to the test here in a film detailing their visit to last year’s Cannes Film Festival to try and sell a Last Tango in Paris-esque jaunt starring Baldwin (ostensibly, in the Brando role) and Neve Campbell. Toback and Baldwin both attest that what we’re watching is neither a full-out documentary or narrative feature, but rather a crude amalgam of the two. What is certain, however, is that it’s a downright hilarious subversion of the act of filmmaking itself. Toback was smart to choose Baldwin as his brother in arms, because the 30 Rock star consistently steals the show here, trading witticisms and razor-sharp, self-deprecating jibes with the acclaimed director.

Our first full week into the summer movie season, and there’s a lot to talk about. The first really big blockbuster of the year (and likely still the biggest by year’s end), Iron Man 3, has inspired a number of discussions about itself and about other superhero and summer tentpoles in the future. Meanwhile, we continue to get first looks at major event films coming out later in 2013, including anticipated sci-fi flicks The World’s End, Ender’s Game and Gravity. And as usual, we’ve thrown some speculative fun into our content mixer, such as imagining Ryan Gosling playing the villain in a comic book adaptation. Rob continued his coverage of a new film festival for horror fans, we said goodbye to one of the most important effects artists in film history and as for review we were quite underwhelmed by The Great Gatsby. I’ve selected the ten best, biggest and most popular movie news and feature stories of the week, none of which was mined from outside the FSR gates this time. So, start your weekend right after the jump.

The worst thing about the Only God Forgives trailer is the “Coming Soon” tag at the end. This thing needs a US release date quick or Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling‘s fans are going to riot in the street. I’ll be at the front of the pack participating in some anarchy with whatever I can grab. In the movie, Gosling plays a gangster feuding with a man of the law (Vithaya Pansringarm) in the mean streets of Bangkok. To settle the score, the two men agree to take the fight into the ring. The trailer itself is aggressively sensual. Entire scenes bathed in red. A dreamy music-box-based song to go along with all the violence being shown. It also looks like it might have the best Kristin Scott Thomas performance since Tell No One.  Check it out for yourself:

Note: Andrew Robinson’s review originally ran during TIFF 2012, but we’re re-running it now as the film opens in limited theatrical release. Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines is broken up into three chapters. We open with Luke (Ryan Gosling) coming back into town with the circus and finding out that he has a son. He decides to stick around, but since he’s unable to make a living to support his family, he begins robbing banks using his skills as a professional motor bike rider. The narrative is then handed over to Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), a police officer heading into politics and struggling with family matters. The film takes its time in making sure that we get a good grasp on each character as there’s very little overlap in screen time between each. The reckless rise of Gosling’s bank robbing spree and the troubled rise of Cooper’s political/social standing in the world parallel one another beautifully. What the film truly discusses is what someone is willing to do selflessly for others. While, morally, Cooper and Gosling’s acts are complete opposites of each other, their motivations start out in the same place, the intention to provide for their family. Luke’s robbing banks was never about himself; he never wants to take credit for them, reflecting his clear shame. Cross’s actions are one of motivations head-butting his own desires, even at the expense of his son’s affection.

Facial tattoos and boredom-induced improvisation! Jack brings us an interview with Place Beyond the Pines star Ryan Gosling who discusses the consequences and magic of making mistakes. Plus, Screen Rant‘s Ben Kendrick joins us to discuss a few favorite movie pranks, we explore a personalized horror short story prank from author Jason Arnopp, and then celebrate the pure majesty of the too-often-maligned dumb action genre. Body massage machine go! For more from us on a daily basis, follow Ben (@benkendrick), Jason (@jasonarnopp), Jack (@jackgi), the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on the Twitter. And, as always, we welcome your feedback. Download Episode #12 Directly Or subscribe Through iTunes

Ryan Gosling seems to have a perfect love triangle going on. With Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) and Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), he couldn’t ask for better collaborators. Refn and Gosling made The Driver an instant icon of a character while Cianfrance and Gosling delivered on one of the most critically acclaimed films in the past few years with Blue Valentine. Obviously those filmmakers are people one would to surrounded themselves with after such positive experiences, which is exactly what Gosling has done. With Derek Cianfrance’s followup to Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines, Gosling continues to work in an environment that allows for big gambles. Those gambles include ridiculous facial tattoos and other foolish decisions that Cianfrance made Gosling live with. Here’s what the actor had to say about his directorial partnerships, being open to mistakes, and his upcoming directorial debut, How to Catch a Monster.

This contest is now closed. Thanks for entering! Want to see Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines for free? While also wearing a shirt from the film? And jamming out to its soundtrack? And decorating your home with its (Ryan Gosling-heavy) poster? Have we got a present for you! One person will win our The Place Beyond the Pines prize pack, which includes a $25 Visa Gift card to see the film in theatres, a t-shirt, a poster, and a copy of the film’s original soundtrack (with score by Mike Patton). In addition to Mike Patton’s score, the album features tracks by Vladimir Ivanoff, Arvo Park, Bon Iver, Ennio Morricone, and more. The Place Beyond the Pines, written by Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, Darius Marder; directed by Cianfrance; and starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Rose Byrne, Mahershala Ali, Dane DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Ben Mendelsohn, and Ray Liotta, will hit limited release on March 29, with a nationwide release to follow on April 12. Hit the break to read our very precise, meme-based, social media-fueled instructions on how to win your very own The Place Beyond the Pines prize pack (cool pictures of said prize pack included).

What is Casting Couch? It’s the casting news round-up that continues its jam-packed week with stories involving Jesse Eisenberg, Emile Hirsche, Matt Smith, Kristen Stewart, Pierce Brosnan, and even more. We’re bursting at the seams here, people. Hearing that übermensch Tom Hardy is going to get a chance to beef up and kick some ass on screen is never a bad thing, so rejoice in the news that he’s just been cast as the lead of an action film called Locke. Anthem announced today [via ComingSoon] that they’ll be financing the film, which comes from a script by and will be directed by Eastern Promises writer Steven Knight. Locke is said to be about a man named Ivan Locke who receives a fateful phone call one day that forces him to put his entire life on the line in a “tension-fueled ninety minute race against time.” Title is the main character’s last name, plot has a real-time element…yeah, this definitely sounds like it was supposed to be a Jason Statham movie. Looks like somebody’s got some competition.

Have you guys heard about this movie? The one where everyone’s darling, Ryan Gosling, has a facial tattoo and also rides a motorcycle and is also a bank robber and also Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes are there? No? It’s called The Place Beyond the Pines? And it’s from the guy who did Blue Valentine? Still not ringing bells? Then this first poster for The Place Beyond the Pines is for you. Admittedly, its Instagram-y feeling sort of works for me, though I would like this poster much more if it just jettisoned the ol’ floaty faces and stuck to the image below, of a tattooed, motorcycle-riding Gosling gazing at his small town’s bank. That’s your imagery right there. That will stick. Besides, everyone just looks so damn sad up top. Pep up, kids, if you can’t be happy in a dramatic, multi-generational film about violence and families, when can you– oh, nevermind. You’re right. The Place Beyond the Pines opens on March 29th. [IMDb, via FirstShowing]

This weekend’s Gangster Squad may invoke classical conventions of the mobster genre, but director Ruben Fleischer never set out to make an old school throwback. His dramatic action movie is a part of a new breed of period pieces, ones made with a very modern sensibility. They move at a bullet’s pace, are shot with feverish popcorn energy, and avoid any preconceived notions of being stuffy. Fleischer didn’t set out to make an epic like The Godfather, and after 30 Minutes or Less and Zombieland we wouldn’t expect that from him, but that doesn’t mean he settles into expectations either. Generally if you work in a genre more than once, you become distinctly known as, in Fleischer’s case, “the comedy” guy. While Gangster Squad has its laughs, it shows Fleischer working on a whole new level as a visual storyteller in a different genre . Speaking with Fleischer, he was obviously happy to escape the pigeonhole with his third feature film. Here’s what he had to say about seeing his movie 400 times, the hilarity of Sean Penn and why he’ll continue to shoot digitally:

It’s in French, and it’s only 20 seconds, but we take what we can get when it comes to anything Nicolas Winding Refn has to show. Plus, we have several translation programs, so we fear no French. Refn’s latest — as you probably know — shows him shoving Ryan Gosling into a violent world again, only this time he’s playing a gangster who seeks to settle a score with Bangkok policeman inside a Thai boxing ring. So far, all the marketing has featured black eyes and bruises, and it doesn’t appear as if the swelling will go down anytime soon. Check out this brief tease for yourself:

Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance’s latest film isn’t a tense drama about a marriage falling apart. But it does have Ryan Gosling in all kinds of tattoo’d wonder. The Place Beyond the Pines also seems to have a fair amount of tension thanks to its story, which follows a biker (Gosling) who turns to a life of crime to fend for his young son, only to get locked in the crosshairs of a rising star cop, as played by 2012′s breakout dramatic man Bradley Cooper. The best description of the film, from reviews at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, comes from Monika Bartyzel, who calls it “[Blue] Valentine’s spiritual offspring, a movement out of the worlds of love’s attraction and demise, and into the world of fathers, sons and consequences.” To say the least, Derek Cianfrance is still deep. As is evident in this first trailer.

What is Casting Couch? Despite the fact that the movie business seems to be slow to get back to work after the long weekend, it’s a column that’s managed to dig up a couple exciting casting coups. Bryan Singer out-scooped everybody in the news breaking business today when he suddenly started tweeting big updates on how the cast for his upcoming X-Men: First Class sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past, was developing. He started off small by first confirming that a few members of the First Class crew would be returning. He tweeted, “I’d like to officially welcome back James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, & Nicholas Hoult to #XMEN for #DaysOfFuturePast.” But then he got a little crazy and started confirming rumors that actors from his original X-Men movies will be joining the film as well by tweeting, “Thrilled to announce @ianmckellen118 (Ian McKellan) & @SirPatStew (Patrick Stewart) are joining the cast of #XMEN #DaysOfFuturePast #magneto #professorX More to come…” Do you think we could get scenes where old Professor X and Magneto meet young Professor X and Magneto? The head spins with awesome possibilities.

This one pretty much speaks for itself. Over at The Film Stage, a reader sent over a fresh look at Ryan Gosling in Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Only God Forgives and damn if it doesn’t sting. Much like their previous effort together, Drive, Refn doesn’t seem afraid to muss up his pretty boy star, and Gosling seems just fine rolling with the punches. Details on the project are scarce, but we know it centers on a Bangkok police lieutenant and a gangster who decide to “settle their differences” the safe way – with a Thai boxing match. The film is expected to arrive in 2013.

According to Variety’s Justin Kroll, Ryan Gosling won’t be involved in Nicolas Winding Refn‘s remake of Logan’s Run after all. It was set to be the third collaboration between the pair following Drive and the forthcoming Only God Forgives, but now the project – which is set up over at Warners – is in need of a lead. There’s not much information here, so trying to come up with a reason would be pure speculation, although Gosling is planning on directing for the first time with How to Catch a Monster in just a few months, so it could be a simple scheduling issue. The original, based off the novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, told the story of a future that’s (surprise) Dystopian in nature. Michael York played Logan 5, an enforcer charged with killing people who have hit their 30th birthday but have refused a ceremony called “Carrousel” which might be a chance at reincarnation or a front for pure population control. When they run, he chases them down. While the original film is a lot of depressing fun, a remake wouldn’t be such a bad prospect, especially with an insane person like Refn at the wheel. With Gosling gone, though, it seems all but certain that someone like Colin Farrell will fill the position. Did it just get more generic, or could a new actor bring an even better angle to the project?

“You’re going to be begging for a bullet before it’s over,” maybe isn’t the smartest line to end your preview with. Good thing it doesn’t look like The Gangster Squad is going to make for any kind of chore. This second trailer is packed to the brim with big hats, lots of bullets, and plenty of funny voices — all the famous hallmarks for a man’s man kind of movie. When you have a cast which includes Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Anthony Mackie, Nicky Nolte, and Robert Patrick, pure manliness is probably what you’re going to end up with. Check out the second trailer for The Gangster Squad to see how many times you can hear “good lord” before going nuts:

According to The Film Stage, Michael Fassbender has been spotted on set with Ryan Gosling for Terrence Malick‘s untitled movie about two love triangles colliding against the Austin music scene. It’s a small role, but he has just as good a chance as any to be cut from the final product. There’s a blurry photo of him if you’re interested. Malick has been on a tear lately, making movies at a rate 18 times faster than normal. To The Wonder is hanging out at film festivals, but he’s also got Voyages of Time and Knight of Cups headed for home plate even while he’s filming this new work which also includes Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. It’s unclear what’s prompted this increased productivity, but it’s hard to scoff when Fassbender’s involved. Even if his work might never see the light of day.

And you thought the most lasting piece from Drive was that tragic scorpion jacket hanging in your closet and all those College jams blasting out of your stereo! Turns out, the modern noir from Nicholas Winding Refn might have lit a fire in the belly of real human being and real hero Ryan Gosling, who has today announced details on his directorial debut, which will share both the fantasy noir nature of Drive and one of its leading ladies. Drive co-star Christina Hendricks will star in the Gosling-penned and -directed How to Catch a Monster, a film that will reportedly combine “elements of fantasy noir, and suspense into a modern day fairytale.” Monster is “set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city, [where] Billy, a single mother of two, is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town. Both Billy and Bones must dive deep into the mystery, if their family is to survive.” Producer Marc Platt describes the script as “beautifully haunting,” which sounds like a nice way to describe something that sounds just a bit bonkers but potentially wonderful.

Whether they needed to or not, Warner Bros. went into something of a panic after last month’s tragic theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado and made plans to scrap a key scene from their upcoming release Gangster Squad. You see, their crime film’s climax also concerned a shooting taking place in a movie theater, and the studio figured that creating a fantasy tragedy that so closely resembled a recent, real-life tragedy would have been in bad taste. After a bit of deliberation, the plan was to completely rewrite and reshoot the sequence, a process which would push the film’s release from September 7 to sometime in 2013 (now confirmed as January 11). Of course, given that reshoots necessarily pushed back the release date of the film, further discussion was created around the issue of whether or not a movie coming out in 2013 would need to change its content because of a shooting that happened in 2012. It’s an interesting line the studio is straddling between acting in good taste and censoring art. But, no matter where your opinion on the issue lies, what’s been decided has been decided, and director Ruben Fleischer and crew are going forward with the reshoots.