Sure Shots: Gangster Squad; J.B. Smoove; Mikael Hafstrom to direct yet another thriller

* Everytime I see Giovanni Ribisi I'm reminded of his role as the gadgety sidekick in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Now he'll get to do something similar, although in a vastly different story. He's joined the cast of Gangster Squad, Ruben Fleischer's film about a special team of cops dedicated to curbing the influence of the mafia. Ribisi will play Conway Keeler, a member of the squad with a gift for electronics. He'll join Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie, and Michael Pena. Guh, what a cast. [Deadline]

* Just when I thought Curb Your Enthusiasm had hit a wall, along came J.B. Smoove(Pootie Tang) to spice things up. He's arguably funnier than Larry David, which is really saying something. Now he'll get to go head up with another improvisational genius, as he's joined Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator. He'll play a guy named Usher, which could mean anything. Maybe he'll do an Usher impression? Who knows. He joins Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, Jason Mantzoukas, Megan Fox, and John C. Reilly. [THR]

* I kinda dug Mikael Hafstrom's spooky hotel horror, 1408. But there's no doubt the guy is extremely hit or miss with thrillers like Derailed and The Rite sucking under his guidance. Well now he's at it again, and this one might be the worst yet. He's set to direct Wake, a film about a sociopath incapable of feeling fear. Put a costume on this guy and he sounds like Daredevil, which would be cool. That's pretty much all that is known about the plot. Take this under consideration as well: Christopher Borelli(The Marine 2) and Matt Sand(Ninja Assassin) wrote the script.