Brad Pitt 'In Killing Them Softly'

Brad Pitt In 'Killing Them Softly': The Reviews Are In!
Kevin P. Sullivan
November 30 2012
"Killing Them Softly," director Andrew Dominik's tale of a poorly thought-out heist and the mob enforcer (Brad Pitt) who has to clean up the mess, has proven to be a divisive film when it comes to the critics. Some have heralded the rise of a modern classic, while many, many others can't stand the heavy-handed allegory at the heart of the theme.
Whether the parallels to the 2008 financial collapse hold down the latest from Pitt and his "Assassination of Jesse James" director or raise it up is up to you, but this is what the critics are saying about "Killing Them Softly."
Brad Pitt "This is one of those effortless Pitt performances that exemplify how beautifully he manages to be both a serious actor and a superstar; the slicked-back hair, aviator sunglasses and gold chains are a showy shorthand to signify he's a dangerous guy, but the consistently surprising choices he makes with the rat-a-tat dialogue reveal his character's intelligence." — Christy Lemire, The Associated Press
The Director "Dominik is two directors in one, really: He'll sit back and content himself with framing simple, clean two-person verbal sequences when called for. He's also skillful in staging violence on the move, as in the scene where Liotta's bantamweight bigwig is dragged through and then out of his office trailer by extreme force. The picture offers some easy, brutal laughs and some harder ones, and now and then, it finds a way to make the laughter stick in your craw." — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
The Message "It's a clumsy device, a feint toward significance that nothing else in the movie earns. Perhaps the bankers and speculators who ruined the economy are linked in some way to the punks and lowlifes who ruin themselves, and maybe Cogan is the allegorical double of Ben Bernanke. Anything is possible, since the movie is more concerned with conjuring an aura of meaningfulness than with actually meaning anything." — A.O. Scott, The New York Times
The Final Word "Everything in 'Killing Them Softly' that springs from George V. Higgins' 1974 crime novel 'Cogan's Trade' is very fine: grimly amusing then shockingly brutal. It's when New Zealand-born director and screenwriter Andrew Dominik veers off course to give us his deep thoughts on the American character that it's a head-slapper. The effect is genuinely odd." — David Edelstein, New York

Birdman wants to drop 100 Cash Money Albums A Year

Birdman Wants To Drop 100 Cash Money Albums A Year

Rob Markman
November 27 2012

Birdman didn't get to the top of rap's food chain by thinking small. The Cash Money co-founder took his little indie label from the comfy confines of his native New Orleans and over time grew one of rap's biggest empires ever. But the #1 Stunna isn't done goal-setting. If the Birdman has his way, he will be releasing 100 albums a year — yeah, you read right.

"Right now, as we stand, we have [48 acts] between Young Money, Cash Money, We the Best," Baby told MTV News during an October interview in Las Vegas. "The goal is to keep developing and keep putting out, so to do that we have to keep buckling down, grindin' hard and stayin' focused. And that's a big challenge, to put a hundred out."

The music mogul recently raised a plaque that commemorated 500 million songs sold worldwide, and with a roster that boasts superstars Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj it's easy to see why the Cash Money brand is one of the most powerful in music. With all that CM has accomplished though, 100 albums in 12 months is still far-fetched. In 2012, the label put out five LPs if you count Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded and its rereleased The Re-Up, in addition to DJ Khaled's Kiss the Ring, Tyga's Careless World: Rise of the Last King and Busta Rhymes' free LP Year of the Dragon.

Outside of Cash Money's official roster the label has drawn a number of rap alliances, particularly with Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group, with whom they frequently collaborate with. Still, Birdman sees the music business as a very competitive place. "Everybody that's doin' this —

outside of who we done rocked with — is really an enemy to me. So if you ain't on the team, I'm after your head," he said. "If you're doin' what we're doin'. We wanna do the most numbers every year, each year, the most digital numbers. That's what we 'bout, if you doin' this music and you ain't rockin' with us, you're on the menu so that's just what it is."