Thirty Second Cinema

Foreign Language Oscar List Finalized

For those who want to get an early start on seeing all the pictures eligible for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscars, here is the complete list:   

The 2009 submissions are:
Albania, “Alive!,” Artan Minarolli, director;
Argentina, “El Secreto de Sus Ojos,” Juan Jose Campanella, director;
Armenia, “Autumn of the Magician,” Rouben Kevorkov and Vaheh Kevorkov, directors;
Australia, “Samson & Delilah,” Warwick Thornton, director;
Austria, “For a Moment Freedom,” Arash T. Riahi, director;
Bangladesh, “Beyond the Circle,” Golam Rabbany Biplob, director;
Belgium, “The Misfortunates,” Felix van Groeningen, director;
Bolivia, “Zona Sur,” Juan Carlos Valdivia, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Nightguards,” Namik Kabil, director;
Brazil, “Time of Fear,” Sergio Rezende, director;
Bulgaria, “The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner,” Stephan Komandarev, director;
Canada, “I Killed My Mother,” Xavier Dolan, director;
Chile, “Dawson, Isla 10,” Miguel Littin, director;
China, “Forever Enthralled,” Chen Kaige, director;
Colombia, “The Wind Journeys,” Ciro Guerra, director;
Croatia, “Donkey,” Antonio Nuic, director;
Cuba, “Fallen Gods,” Ernesto Daranas, director;
Czech Republic, “Protektor,” Marek Najbrt, director;
Denmark, “Terribly Happy,” Henrik Ruben Genz, director;
Estonia, “December Heat,” Asko Kase, director;
Finland, “Letters to Father Jacob,” Klaus Haro, director;
France, “Un Prophete,” Jacques Audiard, director;
Georgia, “The Other Bank,” George Ovashvili, director;
Germany, “The White Ribbon,” Michael Haneke, director;
Greece, “Slaves in Their Bonds,” Tony Lykouressis, director;
Hong Kong, “Prince of Tears,” Yonfan, director;
Hungary, “Chameleon,” Krisztina Goda, director;
Iceland, “Reykjavik-Rotterdam,” Oskar Jonasson, director;
India, “Harishchandrachi Factory,” Paresh Mokashi, director;
Indonesia, “Jamila and the President,” Ratna Sarumpaet;
Iran, “About Elly,” Asghar Farhadi, director;
Israel, “Ajami,” Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, director;
Italy, “Baaria,” Giuseppe Tornatore, director;
Japan, “Nobody to Watch over Me,” Ryoichi Kimizuka, director;
Kazakhstan, “Kelin,” Ermek Tursunov, director;
Korea, “Mother,” Joon-ho Bong, director;
Lithuania, “Vortex,” Gytis Luksas, director;
Luxembourg, “Refractaire,” Nicolas Steil, director;
Macedonia, “Wingless,” Ivo Trajkov, director;
Mexico, “Backyard,” Carlos Carrera, director;
Morocco, “Casanegra,” Nour-Eddine Lakhmari, director;
The Netherlands, “Winter in Wartime,” Martin Koolhoven, director;
Norway, “Max Manus,” Espen Sandberg and Joachim Roenning, directors;
Peru, “The Milk of Sorrow,” Claudia Llosa, director;
Philippines, “Grandpa Is Dead,” Soxie H. Topacio, director;
Poland, “Reverse,” Borys Lankosz, director;
Portugal, “Doomed Love,” Mario Barroso, director;
Puerto Rico, “Kabo and Platon,” Edmundo H. Rodriguez, director;
Romania, “Police, Adjective,” Corneliu Porumboiu, director;
Russia, “Ward No. 6,” Karen Shakhnazarov, director;
Serbia, “St. George Shoots the Dragon,” Srdjan Dragojevic, director;
Slovakia, “Broken Promise,” Jiri Chlumsky, director;
Slovenia, “Landscape No. 2,” Vinko Moderndorfer, director;
South Africa, “White Wedding,” Jann Turner, director;
Spain, “The Dancer and the Thief,” Fernando Trueba, director;
Sri Lanka, “The Road from Elephant Pass,” Chandran Rutnam;
Sweden, “Involuntary,” Ruben Ostlund, director;
Switzerland, “Home,” Ursula Meier, director;
Taiwan, “No Puedo Vivir sin Ti,” Leon Dai, director;
Thailand, “Best of Times,” Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, director;
Turkey, “I Saw the Sun,” Mahsun Kirmizigul, director;
United Kingdom, “Afghan Star,” Havana Marking, director;
Uruguay, “Bad Day for Fishing,” Alvaro Brechner, director;
Venezuela, “Libertador Morales, El Justiciero,” Efterpi Charalambidis, director;
Vietnam, “Don’t Burn It,” Dang Nhat Minh.

Don’t feel bad, if you only heard of a few of the films on the list.   Most of the the films only get showings in their home country.   

The Production Ladder: Remakes of “Vacation”, “Predator”, “Showgirls” and Oren Peli Gets “Area 51”

As the recession continues onward, Hollywood marches forward with more branded entertainment properties.

The Hollywood Reporter is noting in its Heat Vision blog that Warner Brothers is developing a sequel to 1983’s “National Lampoon’s Vacation” with David Dobkin of “Wedding Crashers” attached as a producer and possibly director. The sequel will feature the now adult son of Clark Griswold, Rusty going on his own road trip vacation. Anthony Michael Hall played Rusty and Chevy Chase was the beleaguered dad in the original. Beverly D’Angelo played the mom. No casting announcements so far, but expect most of the original stars to return. “Vacation” also featured Randy Quaid, Brian Doyle Murray, Jane Krakowski, Eugene Levy and Christy Brinkley. Read more at http://www.heatvisionblog.com/2009/10/vacation-sequel-from-new-line.html

Robert Rodriquez will produce and Nimrod Antal (Kontrol, Vacancy) will direct a remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi flick “Predator”. The less muscular but infinitely more talented Adrian Brody will be doing the acting honors this time around. The script written by Rodriquez, Alex Litvak and Michael Finch still follows the original’s formula – a group of elite soldiers hunted down by a race of alien predators. Shooting begins next month in Hawaii then moves to Rodriquez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas. The film is set for a July 10, 2010 release date.  More at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091007/film_nm/us_predators_1

Proof that the Apocalypse is already happening comes with the announcement that a “Showgirls” sequel is already in the works. The Joe Eszterhas scripted, Paul Verhoven directed abomination is a frequent starrer on almost every list of the 100 worst movies of all times. Metacritic.com has it at 79 of its worst reviewed list. The German publication site Extratipp.com notes that the writer/director Marc Vorlander has developed a parallel story Showgirls: Story of Hope that follows one of the movie’s minor characters Hope, played and replayed by German model and actress Rena Riffel. Vorlander’s script has reputedly attracted two Hollywood producers and a $25 million budget for the Frankfurt, Germany shoot.  More at http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=28908

Oren Peli who is scaring up good grosses for his “Paranormal Activity” has signed to do another found footage film on a miniscule budget. Peli has a $5 million tab this time around, tiny by Hollywood standards. Still, that represents a more than 454 percent raise from “Paranormal Activity” $11,000 budget. “Area 51” is about three teens whose curiosity leads them to the notorious "Area 51" part of Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert. It starts shooting next week.  See more at http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009596.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562

Robert Pattinson Documentary “Robsessed” Coming to DVD in November

(John Shearer/Getty Images)

Robert Pattinson is getting a biography. The British distributor Revolver has acquired the rights to “Robsessed”, a documentary about the Twilight star. The DVD should be available in England and the US before the premiere of New Moon on November 20.

"Teenagers just can't get enough of Robert Pattinson and this broadcast-quality biography is guaranteed to deliver, whether on TV or home entertainment," chief executive Justin Marciano said to E! Online reporter Breanne Heldman.

Read more at http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b147703_get_robsessed_pattinson_documented_on.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Is Hollywood Running Scared?

Recent firings at Disney, Universal and Paramount Pictures are painting a portrait of Hollywood Studios in panic.

Dick Cook, the head of Walt Disney Studios, resigned under pressure a few weeks back when the Mouse House‘s underperforming production slate for the last two years pushed studio grosses to fifth and sixth place among the majors, its worst results this decade. Rich Ross, President of the Disney Channels worldwide, would be the new head of the studios. Ross’ tenure at the Disney channel spawned such franchise properties as Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Hanny Manny, The Wizards of Waverly Place and the Jonas Brothers.

Universal Studios gave pink slips on Monday to their co-chairmen Marc Shmuge and David Linde. Adam Fogelson, president for marketing and distribution at Universal, will replace them.

GE, the parent company of Universal, is so frustrated with its woefully performing entertainment unit (which also includes the fourth place NBC television network) that it is seriously considering a merger sale with Comcast, the giant cable provider.

In July, Paramount Pictures gave the boot to its most senior production executives, John Lesher and Brad Weston. In August, the MGM board fired its Chief Executive, Harry Sloan.

"There's been more change in the last 18 months than in the preceding 18 years," Mark Gill, CEO of the Film Department, an independent film finance company, said in an interview with The Los Angeles Times.

"You're not going to get away with the old business model," Hal Vogel, an entertainment industry analyst who runs Vogel Capital Management, also noted to The Los Angeles Times. "They still haven't found a new business model to replace the old one."

The rise of deals from branded entertainment (sequels and movies based on old TV shows, toys and other familiar themes) like View Masters, Battleship, Transformers and G.I. Joe means that the more riskier adult dramas with big name stars, and other highbrow and genre fare that are the lifeblood of studio specialty divisions like Warner Independent Pictures, Paramount Vantage, New Line Cinema and Miramax Films will become less frequent. Studios are going to stick with the familiar but lower cost ways.

"You're not going to get away with the old business model," noted Vogel. "They still haven't found a new business model to replace the old one."

"The world we live in now is so bloody public," Bill Mechanic, the former chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment and now an independent producer, noted to a Los Angeles Times reporter. "Every decision is magnified. Every decision is blown up on a global basis almost as soon as it happens. People start becoming defensive about their jobs. When you're always doing things on the defensive, it's very hard to do that job."

The decline of DVD sales, which compensated for box office losers in recent years, has some studios cracking under the pressure to find adequate sources of funding for future productions.

"The money that came into the business from new markets and enhanced [ancillary] markets mostly went to increasing negative costs, marketing costs and overhead, and not improving profit margins," said former Paramount Chairman Jonathan Dolgen to a Los Angeles Times Reporter.

“It does something radical to an industry when $12 billion to $14 billion suddenly goes away," said Gill to the Los Angeles Times. "That places an enormous strain on the system. And nothing is replacing it. It used to be 'let's get the Germans' and then the Germans went away, so it was 'let's get the Japanese' or 'let's get the insurance companies.' There was always going to be somebody else. Now it looks like it's not going to be someone else."

Read more at http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-moviebiz6-2009oct06,0,702751.story?page=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/business/media/06universal.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/business/media/06disney.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091005/film_nm/us_miramax_1

“Paranormal Activity” that Spooked Spielberg Being “Demanded” Elsewhere

“Paranormal Activity”, a horror film about a couple terrorized by a nocturnal demonic presence, made on a budget of $11,000, with little special effects and almost no violence is scaring up some good reviews and box office for Paramount Pictures.

The movie’s trailer shows a full house preview audience at Mann’s Chinese Theater screaming, jumping and clutching their loved ones.

One tale associated with the film, which is either true or very clever marketing PR, has Steven Spielberg not only scared witless by a DVD screener that he viewed, but thinking the disc was haunted when the door to his bedroom suddenly slammed shut and locked from the inside, necessitating a call to a locksmith.  Spielberg refusing to have the “poltergeist” disc anywhere near his home tossed the “screamer” into a garbage bag and brought it to his Dreamworks offices.

The Dreamworks team was impressed enough to want to hire the director, the Israeli born Oren Peli to remake “Paranormal Activity” with a bigger budget and better special effects. Peli agreed, but only on the condition that the studio hold one test screening. That screening had audience members walking out because they were too scared to watch the rest of the movie. Dreamworks scrubbed the remake idea and decided to release “Paranormal Activity” theatrically.

Peli (whose first name means wonder or marvel in Hebrew) dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to finish a highly successful commercial painting program. He later designed computer animation and game software.

The 2006 six-day shoot at Peli’s California home used only one camera, a crew of three and a small cast featuring Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston in their first feature.

Paramount, which holds the distribution rights after the Dreamworks/Paramount divorce, has been releasing “Paranormal Activity” with a unique advertising campaign that “demands” moviegoers to vote for the film to come to their town. The film has 33 venues so far, that show “Paranormal Activity” at mainly Thursday, Friday and Saturday midnight screenings.

During the weekend “Paranormal Activity “generated $535,000 in box office, earning a per theater average of over $16,000- the second most for any new film. The midnight showings for the next two weeks are mostly sold-out. Additional showings at 9:30 pm are being booked to accommodate the demand for tickets.

Read more at http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-paranormal3-2009oct03,0,7435653.story

Trailer Park: “Up in the Air”

Released today was the official trailer for the George Clooney starring Jason Reitman directed “Up in the Air”. The movie has been generating good Oscar buzz for its cast and crew. “Up in the Air” comes down to the ground in theaters everywhere on Christmas Day. 

Megan Fox to Work With Hitler Again

Megan Fox will be reteaming with Hitler again. In a grandiose announcement tinged with ironic barbs towards the world’s sexiest woman, Michael Bay announced that he is returning to direct Transformers 3. Fox in an interview a few months back compared Bay to Hitler because of his Führer control of the production.

Bay announced on his blog “Well its official: We have a great Transformers 3 story. The release date is now July 1st 2011. Not 2012.”

A few sentences later Bay has this to say about Megan Fox.

“P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.”

There was no word from the beauty about working with this beastly boy again.

Read more at http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b147145_megan_fox_cant_insult_her_way_out_of.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

 Kristen Stewarts Talks About Her Coffin

Interview Magazine

A vampire-like Kristen Stewart is on the cover of this month’s Interview magazine, were she chats with Dennis Hopper about her celebrity and the changes it has created in her life. Apparently, Stewart is getting quite bored and peeved with all the Twilight notoriety. The interview is so free of Robert Pattinson, it is almost the scorching truth. Enjoy the excerpts.

"All I'm thinking of is the fact that everything I say is going to be criticized—not criticized, just evaluated and analyzed,” she notes to Hopper.

"There's nothing you can do about it, to be honest," she says. "I don't leave my hotel room—literally, I don't. I don't talk to anybody about my personal life, and maybe that perpetuates it, too. But it's really important to own what you want to own and keep it to yourself."

"Some nights, I think, 'You know what? I don't care. I'm just going to do what I want to do.' Then the next day I think, 'Ugh. Now everyone thinks I'm going out to get the attention.' But it's like, no, I actually, for a second, thought that maybe I could be like a normal person."

"But I have a really strong feeling that this is going to go away, that this is the most intense it's going to get—and could get—and that it's fleeting. So in a few years, I will hopefully become more like the people I want to become like."

"The sad thing is that I feel so boring because Twilght is literally how every conversation I have these days begins—whether it's someone I'm meeting for the first time or someone I just haven't seen in a while. The first thing I want to say to them is, 'It's insane! And, as a person, I can't do anything!' But then I think to myself, 'God damn it, shut the f--k up.' "

Read more at http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b146958_kristen_stewart_bored_of_herself.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Disney Gets His Night and Day at the Museum

The Walt Disney Family Museum. Photo by Frank Anzalone.

Look around Disney World and you will see the Disney name everywhere but very little of the man. Yes, there is a statue of him at the end of Main Street just below the courtyard of Cinderella’s Castle- a space he shares while holding hands with his copyright, his icon, Mickey Mouse.

Look elsewhere and you might find the smiling Disney face with a halo of dwarfs dancing above or other creations to the right or left. His scripted name does not exist without a copyright logo or a registered trademark attached.

Change the name of the park to Mickey Mouse World and there will be barely a protest or petition launched. Mickey Mouse’s 75th birthday in 2003 generated record park visits. Walt Disney’s 100th in 2001 saw only flat attendance.

So the opening today of The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco on a spot in the Presidio is somewhat of a miracle. The project which cost close to $110 million, transformed an old army barracks into 19,000 square feet of gallery space that leisurely tells the story (for Walt Disney was above all a storyteller) of Disney’s life and art.

The museum was an original Disney idea, not generated at the corporate level, but at the personal and family one, by his daughter Diane Disney Miller, the head of The Walt Disney Family Foundation, a non-profit organization that exists independently from the Disney Company. The foundation was established in 1995 to promote education, scholarship and writing about Walt Disney.

The museum tries to stop the near erasure of Walt Disney the man from the minds of future generations familiar only with her father’s creations. It also attempts to rehabilitate Walt’s life from a recent spate of revisionist biographies that paint him in darker colors.

Most of the artifacts on display are on loan from the Disney Company, who owns and holds the copyrights.

The Museum consists of three buildings. The first houses the permanent collection, a 114-seat screening room, learning center, gift shop and café. The second building holds the Family Museum and Walt Disney Family Foundation offices. It will display temporary exhibits starting in 2012. The third building holds storage equipment.

The permanent collection holds 10 distinct galleries that depict Walt Disney’s life and career. The title of each gallery offers a catalog of his life: The Early Years; Hollywood; New Horizons: The Emergence of the Walt Disney Studio; The Move to Features: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; New Success and Greater Ambitions; The Late 30’s to Mid 40’s; Postwar Rebuilding: The Mid 40’s to the Early 1950’s; Walt and the Natural World; The 1950’s and 1960’s: The Big Screen and Beyond; and Remembering Walt Disney.

Among the items on display are 100s of original drawing, sketches, art books and cells. A two-story high “multiplane “camera used in creating the almost 3-D feeling of “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia” is a highlight. The Oscar designed for “Snow White” in 1938 is also on display.

Disney’s dream, imagination, struggle, novelty, energy and yearning now have a suitable home for all generations to come, see and experience anew.

Take the visual tour at http://www.mouseplanet.com/9001/The_Walt_Disney_Family_Museum_A_Photo_Tour

Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/arts/design/01disney.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th&adxnnlx=1254416489-i2S%20LDrGV9teSP6BYPJzlg

Sweden Fest Makes a Giant Ice Screen

Leave it to the Swedes, the home of practical brands like IKEA (furniture), Volvo (cars), Electrolux (appliances) and Ericsson (cell phones) to come up with an ice screen.   The full size movie screen made entirely of ice will be installed November 21st somewhere in Central Stockholm to honor the 20th anniversary of the Stockholm International Film Festival. 

The screen, harvested from ultra-clear slabs of ice from the Torne riverbed in Northernmost Sweden, will weigh ten metric tons and be almost five meters wide (16.40 feet). It will host a screening of two yet to be announced screen classics.

The expertise of the builders of the famous “Ice Hotel” (visit the site at icehotel.com) located in Jukkasjarvi in Northern Sweden will be utilized. The screen will cost 500,000 Swedish Crowns ($71,140).

"We wanted to do something spectacular that has never been done before," said Emelie Klein, spokeswoman for the Stockholm International Film Festival in an interview with Nick Vinocur of Reuters.

"It will be the first time a feature film is shown on an ice screen,” she continued.

Is she worried that the screen will melt before the festival was over? "Not worried now, but we may be afterward when we have to take it down."

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090929/film_nm/us_sweden_icescreen_3

Three “New Moon” Posters Released

Three new “New Moon” posters released today feature Pattinson and Stewart and the Cullen clan; Taylor Lautner and the werewolves; and the nemesis Volturi vampires.

The Cullen poster features Pattinson and Stewart in a love embrace with the Cullen clan in the background sporting the same defiant but supportive stare. Everyone except Jasper Hale (Jackson Rathbone). Is their treachery on his mind?

The werewolf pack poster features a t-shirt wearing but still buff looking Taylor Lautner.

The Volturi brood poster is so Harry Potterish that it could be a Slytherin recruiting ad. There are so many Potter echoes here, that I am not sure this group is even in “New Moon.”

Read more at http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b146467_robert_pattinson_kristen_stewart_all.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Roman Polanski to Get “His Lifetime Achievement Award” in Jail

Roman Polanski is apparently is going to be a dual award recipient. One award will be for his lifetime work in film.  The other reward will be a lifetime jail cell.  

The 76-year- old director of “Rosemary’s Baby” was attending the Zurich Film Festival  when much to his “Repulsion” (which Polanski also directed) he was taken into custody by Swiss police on a 31-year-old US arrest warrant that asserts he gave drugs and alcohol and had sex with  a 13-year-old during a photo session at Jack Nicholson’s Hollywood home.  The presumably “Frantic” (directed) Polanski had no comment.  

Back in 1978, Polanski proclaimed that the sex was consensual and that she was experienced.   The director spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric testing but fled the country.  His US visa has since been withdrawn.  

In January of this year, Polanski’s victim, Samantha Galley (married name Geimer) now 45 and a mother of three, filed a declaration asking that the charges against Polanski be dismissed in the interest of sparing her further trauma as the case is publicized anew.   Her request and a later request by Polanski also asking for dismissal, were rejected by a California judge. 

"The festival directors have received this news with great consternation and shock," the festival said in a prepared release, adding that the tribute to Polanski would go ahead so that festival-goers could express their solidarity and admiration for the film-maker.

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090927/en_nm/us_polanski_arrest_4

“The Fly” to Fly Again and “A Star Is Born” to Shine Once More

David Cronenberg’s disgust for a “Fly” remake apparently has been swatted down.   The artsy horror film director is in talks with 20th Century Fox (the studio that released his 1986 movie starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis) to develop a reboot of the 1986 classic, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  That film was also a remake of the 1958 Kurt Neumann picture that starred David Hedison and Vincent Price.  Both still creep me out.  

Cronenberg’s involvement with a “Fly” opera apparently unstuck his resolve. The Opera which had its world premiere in Paris on July 2008 and its US debut in Los Angeles on September 2008 was composed by long time Cronenberg workmate Howard Shore.  Their relationship stretches back 12 films to 1979 when Shore composed the soundtrack for “The Brood”. 

So far Cronenberg is only confirmed as a screenwriter.   His involvement as director is being negotiated.

The 1986 film was both a critical and commercial success that made $40 million at the box office and earned an Oscar for best makeup for Chris Walas.   Walas went on to direct the not well received “Fly II” which starred Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga.

Read more at http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/09/david-cronenberg-doing-reboot-of-the-fly.html

The Hollywood Reporter is also noting that Will Fetters has been hired to write the fourth screen iteration of “A Star is Born”.  Fetters also wrote the up coming Robert Pattinson drama “Remember Me”, which just wrapped shooting.

The first “A Star Is Born”, released in 1937 was directed by William Wellman and starred Fredric March and Janet Gaynor as the married starlets with marital troubles.   The picture was nominated for 7 Academy Awards and won one Oscar for its screenplay.  

The 1954 remake was directed by George Cukor and starred James Mason and Judy Garland and was nominated for 6 Academy Awards and won no Oscars. 

The widely panned but huge money earning 1976 third iteration was directed by Frank Pierson and starred Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.  It did manage to earn four Academy nominations in the technical categories of sound and cinematography as well as nods for best original score and song.   “Evergreen”, it’s theme song, won an Oscar for Streisand  and co-composer Paul Williams and became one of the biggest smashes of Streisand’s career. 

Beyonce, whose star turn in “Dreamgirls” charts the same rag to riches course as “A Star Is Born” heroine, has been mentioned as a possible lead.   Like the 1976 version, the newest remake will be set in the world of the music industry rather than Hollywood.  

Warner Brothers will be be making the film with the involvement of Jon Peters, Billy Gerber and Basil Iwanyk as executive producers.  

Read more at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3iac01dbe8df0edc22318c03071474e2f7

The New York Film Festival Opens

The 47th New York Film Festival kicks off today with Alain Resnais’ “Wild Grass” as the opening night film and Pedro Almodovar’s  “Broken Embraces” providing the closing night honors.   The centerpiece film will be the Sundance and Toronto  Festival award winning Precious directed by Lee Daniels.  

Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner “The White Ribbon” will also be screened.   Also, The Venice Fest Golden Lion film “Lebanon” is one of 28 main slate pictures making their American premieres.  

Other notable films making a festival appearance are Lars von Trier’s controversial horror film “Antichrist”, Marco Bellochio’s drama about Mussolini’s first wife “Vincere”, and Todd Solondz’s well received “Life During Wartime”.

A magnificently restored version of “The Wizard of Oz” is the revival section highlight.   The others:  Henri Georges Clouzot masterpiece “L’Enfer (Inferno), George Marshall’s Raymond Chandler mystery “The Blue Dahlia and a reconstructed version of the silent period “Crossroads of Youth” by the Korean director Cheongchun’s Sipjaro.

The Director’s Dialogues series will feature discussions with Marco Bellochio, Lee Daniels, Claire Denis and Michael Haneke. 

The Masterworks repertory collection will highlight neglected master filmmakers and films from China and India.  “Reinventing China” will feature 20 films from the “Seventeen Year” period- the time from the establishment of the communist People’s Republic of China to the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution.  The Hindi director Guru Dutt (1924-1965), the subject of a recent Film Comment retrospective, will be honored with screenings of nine of his most classic and popular movies.   

You can find the full festival lineup as well as show times and ticket information at the festival’s main sight   http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/index.html

Where Goes Bond and “The Hobbit” if MGM Goes into Chapter 11?

There are reports that MGM Studios, (the home of the James Bond series and much anticipated J.R.R. Tolkien “Lord of the Rings” prequel “The Hobbit” to be produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Guillermo Del Torro) is on the verge of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  Russ Fischer of Slashfilm.com is reporting that the studio executives held a long conference call with bondholders trying to resolve the issue whether it is better for the company’s lenders to file for bankruptcy or not.  MGM and its valuable film vault has been bought and sold numerous times since the 1980’s resulting in a debt loan and interest payment schedule that is over $4 billion.  The estimated auction value of the studio is about $2 billion, which will go to bondholders if their is a bankruptcy filing.     That definitely means that the company would forfeit the rights to the Bond series.  “The Hobbit”, which MGM is co-financing and distributing outside the US, will be put on hold until a rights sale can be negotiated.   The most likely candidate is New Line/Warner Brothers Pictures.

Read more at http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/09/25/mgm-on-the-verge-of-bankruptcy-where-does-this-leave-bond-and-the-hobbit/

Twilight finale “Breaking Dawn” Gets a Scribe and Maybe a Sequel

Now Now that Melissa Rosenberg has been set as the screenwriter for “Breaking Dawn” the last book of the Twilight Saga, E! Online is speculating that Rosenberg or the producers will pull a Harry Potter and break the finale into two movies. 

In an interview with Mark Malkin of E!, Rosenberg hinted that while the same cast will return for a fourth go round of the Twilight series, there seems to be a reluctance by some of them to doing a fifth film, even though everyone internally involved with the production is referring the future shoot as the “Breaking Dawn” films- note the plural.  

Of course, everything depends on whether Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner  are willing or can be convinced to sink their teeth into a fifth Twilight.    No director has been announced for the fourth installment.  

“Everything is up in the air,” declared an atypically coy Rosenberg.   

E! Online in a wild bit of speculation threw out Diablo Cody and Taylor Lautner (who has expressed a desire to direct) as possible script and directing choices for the fifth film.   

Read more at http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/the_awful_truth/b145721_source_breaking_dawn_screenwriter.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Barbie to Become a Real Woman

Mattel expressing a desire to make their iconic Barbie doll less plastic has announced a deal with Universal Pictures to do a live-action movie of the dolly’s exploits. Barbie has been featured in 16 direct to video animated titles- not counting the Todd Haynes biopic “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story” which used Barbie and Ken dolls to explore the singer’s collapse into anorexia and death.  The doll  even has her own Facebook page, Twitter account and You Tube channel. 

The Barbie doll and her  120 career wardrobe that stretches from mom, wife, soldier, doctor, nurse, teacher, astronaut to airline pilot has been empowering girls with the idea of some nontraditional career choices for 50 years.  Barbie’s real name is Barbara Millicent Roberts- so a similarly last named actress might be the perfect choice to bring the doll to life.

The Barbie doll enjoys an enviable 99% brand awareness.  Barbie is the number 1 girls property in the toy industry, the top selling doll in the U.S. market and the leading worldwide property in the traditional toy industry. 

“Barbie is the most famous doll in history, a unique cultural icon in the world of brands,” said Universal Pictures chairman Marc Shmuger in an interview with Mike Fleming of Variety.  “So many representations of Barbie frequent pop culture, but never before has she been brought to life in a motion picture. We’re grateful to Mattel for entrusting us with this extraordinary opportunity.”

Schmuger who produced “Julie and Julia” is aligning with Mattel executives Richard Dickson (the Barbie division general manager and a Mattel senior vice president) and Robert Hudnut (the vice president of entertainment for the Barbie brand) to executive produce the feature.  

“The brand wasn’t ready for a movie,” Dickson noted to Fleming. “In the last 10 years, Barbie has evolved from a toy into an intellectual property. We’ve already had enormous success in the entertainment industry. Barbie has a proven track record in home entertainment, there have been live stage shows, live symphonies and other non-traditional forms of entertainment. There is a flagship store in Shanghai. There are a lot of ways we are already communicating with Barbie’s audience, and there is a richness to the brand as an entertainment property.”

Ever the zealous and careful protector of the Barbie brand Dickson concludes the interview noting “The utmost concern is to make sure every detail is right.”  “Rather than a timetable, I’m more interested in making sure we deliver the right product.”

Read more at http://weblogs.variety.com/bfdealmemo/2009/09/u-turns-barbie-into-movie-star.html

3-D Set for “Titanic” Growth

With 3-D filmmaking becoming a permanent fixture in animation, family and horror films it is not surprising that studios are searching their closet of classics for films that can be updated with this newest accessory.   

The Disney Studios has put the new clothes on Toy Story and Toy Story 2.   The new Stories will be rereleased as a back to back bill that hits 1600 screens October 2nd for a two week run. (Ticket holders will have the option of holding on to their tickets to return one more time during the films run.)   It is all just a small fall preview to the summer unveiling of Toy Story 3 also in 3-D  on June 18th. 

"It's a huge value proposition for the audience," Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said in an interview with Carl DiOrio of The Hollywood Reporter. "It's a great day for the family because they can go out and enjoy two movies and have a ball."

Disney has had success in this market before.  The 2006 remastered 3-D version of the Tim Burton produced “The Nightmare Before Christmas” has rung up over $24 million in additional box office from its annual Halloween screenings. 

With the advent of 3-D capable television sets and DVD players scheduled for an early 2010 release, Disney might be positioning itself for an early lead in that much more profitable market.  The 3-D home entertainment platform could establish itself as a permanent household fixture in about 5 years- the same time frame it took the DVD to phase out the VHS video market. 

Until then Disney is being cautious and hasn’t committed other films to a 3-D rerelease.  "We continue to look at past properties to see if we have the right vehicles for this format," Viane said in the same Hollywood Reporter Interview. "But we want to see what happens with these."

At Fox, distribution boss Bruce Snyder said to DiOrio that the studio has "looked at some titles that we could think about maybe doing in 3D."

"You've got older teens and early-20s males who are rabid about technology right now," he said. "So it has the possibility of expanding from the family audience into that audience.”

"I know we're all watching this to see if there's something there," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said. "The uniqueness of 3D definitely brings something different to the table. But right now it's wait and see."

At Lightstorm Entertainment, the house that James Cameron built, there is interest in converting some of its films to 3-D.  The Hollywood Reporter noted that Lightstorm has done 3-D tests on “Titanic” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”  “Titanic”, the top grossing film of all time, is seen as the most likely first candidate.

"We are certainly interested in exploring the opportunity to re-release some of Lightstorm's past films in 3D," Lightstorm partner Jon Landau said to DiOrio of The Hollywood Reporter. "I don't think it's too far into the future. We're pretty far down the road."

With the eagerly awaited Cameron directed 3-D sci-fi  film“Avatar” being released on December 18th, the 3-D film format is poised for explosive growth.   Currently there are less than 2,000 3-D screens in the United States.

While Pixar handled the 3-D conversion for the “Toy Story” films,  ILM based In-Three did the 3-D processing for “The Nightmare Before Christmas” rerelease.  The George Lucas, California based In-Three has worked with other studios to create 3-D masters for new movies being released in a mix of 2-D and 3-D theaters.  Its executives are hopeful that other studios will follow Disney’s 3-D lead. 

" In-Three marketing vice president Damian Wader noted to DiOrio, "If you take a legacy film like 'Star Wars' or 'The Matrix,' you can't re-release it in 2D, only 3D."

Noting the cost of conversion and the inevitable growth of 3-D  In-Three’s Wader offered this advice “"If you have the ability to shoot something now in 3D, shoot it in 3D. Then you won't have to convert it."

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090923/en_nm/us3d_1

Buy Megan Fox Now!

Among the 14 items  of Megan Fox paraphernalia from the two Transformer movies up for auction in The Profiles in History lot are 8 outfits (opening bids from $600.00-$3000) worn by her, an LG Bluetooth headset ($200.00), portable butane and handheld torches ($300.00), the metal case used to cage Wheelie ($800.00), the motorcycle gas tank ($800.00), the 1977 Chevy Bumblebee Car ($12000) and a one sheet poster ($300.00) autographed by Fox.  The auction takes place October 8-9.  Bids can be placed in person at the auction in Calabasas, outside Los Angeles, by phone or live on the Internet (http://www.icollector.com/Hollywood-Auction-37_a5736).

Other interesting items besides costumes worn by Shia La Beouf, John Turturro and others, are prop guns used in the making of the movies, a fragment of the Allspark ($800.00), the rusty hood of an old car ($1200.00), a set of 6 Nest Team Stinger Missiles ($400.00), Tomb of the 12 head ($1200.00), two sets of Nest Team man-portable backpack flame throwers ($300.00) and the auction’s main item-  a full-scale screen-used Hero Bumblebee Robot ($60,000.00). A total of 83 items from the movies are to be gaveled off.  

If none of this is within your budget or beyond your social security and government salary (you know who you are) you can always have fun salivating over the detail description of each auction item.  

The one for the 1977 Camaro used in the first Transformer is a particularly fun and informative read: 

1977 Chevy Camaro Bumblebee car from Transformers. (Paramount, 2007) This fully functional 1977 Chevy Camaro, used as the Bumblebee car, is yellow with black racing stripes and has primer and rust patches, riveted cowl induction hood scoop, Cragar SS wheels up front, Eric Vaughn Real Wheels in the back, marine-grade vinyl seats, and even an eight-track player. This is the disguise that the courageous and loyal Autobot, Bumblebee, chose as he becomes Sam Witwicky’s (Shia LaBeouf) first car and ultimately his guardian, sent by Optimus Prime to protect Sam from the Decepticons. Sam and Bumblebee naturally form a close bond and Bumblebee eventually remains as Sam’s guardian even after the Autobots foil the Decepticons’ plot. Bumblebee spends the first part of the film as the 1977 model until Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), who had refused to sit in the driver’s seat during a sequence when Bumblebee was driving, rhetorically asks Sam, “If he’s like, this super-advanced robot, why does he transform into this piece-of-crap Camaro?” Mildly insulted, Bumblebee then transforms into the sleek and shiny 2009 model. Somewhat “studio-distressed” but entirely serviceable, this vehicle comes with a certificate of authenticity from Bay Films/Paramount Pictures. Sold “As Is”.

Here is the one for the Bumblebee Robot:  

Full-scale screen-used Hero Bumblebee robot from Transformers. (Paramount, 2007)  Standing exactly 16 feet 10 7/8 inches tall and weighing 3200 pounds, this screen-used hero Bumblebee robot is an incredible feat of engineering craftsmanship.  Built by renowned special effects company FXperts, Inc. (a.ka. John Frazier Special Effects), Bumblebee was the result of a direct request by Director Michael Bay for a full-size Transformer.  He was used prominently in all the critical scenes in the film:  when Sam and Mikaela are first introduced to all the Autobots; when Bumblebee is captured by Sector 7 with a helicopter; in the interior of the Hoover Dam; and on the back of a tow truck during the final battle sequences.  As a major character in the film, Bumblebee has become one of the most popular and beloved Transformers.  Since the opening of the movie, this Bumblebee robot has been on a worldwide tour, to such locations as Japan, Korea, London, Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago, New York, and Bolton, Mississippi.  He was also featured at the Los Angeles premieres, Universal Studios, Cannes Festival, and Indy 500, where he drew as big of a crowd at the Indy cars.  With poseable arms, Bumblee stands a full 16’ 10 7/8” tall and 13’ 5 13/16” wide when fully assembled.  He is currently de-assembled and housed in three large wooden crates.  Assistance with assembly can be provided, if needed.

Get the details at http://www.icollector.com/search.aspx?p=1&q=transformers

Michael Sheen’s Daughter Horrified That Dad Is a Vampire

Michael Sheen as Aro

It wasn’t so bad when your dad became a werewolf in the Underworld series, but when he is one of the vampires in “New Moon”, it is downright embarrassing.  Michael Sheen relates in an interview with Steve Weintraub of Collider.com the time when his almost teenage daughter learned that he would be the vampire Aro in “New Moon”.  Sheen originally took the role because he thought it would make his daughter happy.   Now, the poor child is probably the only teenage girl NOT looking forward to “New Moon's opening day.   Enjoy the excerpts.  

“I was mainly excited about it because I knew I would make my daughter very happy. Up front, that was the main reason. And then I read the books and I really enjoyed the books. I didn’t think I was going to, but I really did enjoy them. Then I was concerned that the fans of “Twilight” would be like, “But he’s played a werewolf; we can’t have him as a vampire,” and all that. But it hasn’t been like that. And because it was a very different character and I could sort of lose myself in it, hopefully people won’t have a problem with me having been in this other werewolf/vampire franchise. So when I went to do it, I just loved the character. I relished the opportunity to be there and be part of it. Now I’m just very pleased to have a whole new generation of people I can scare.”

“. . .I think she felt a whole combination of emotions. I think she was a bit overwhelmed by the fact that I was going to be in it. I think she was really excited, but, at the same time, I remember what this was like when I was ten, eleven. If there was something I was really into, the last thing I wanted was for my mom and dad to be into it as well. That’s just annoying. So she was very excited and she cried when I first told her about it. I think it was just her fantasy/imaginative world suddenly colliding with her reality. She didn’t know how she felt about it. She punched me I remember and kicked me. I think that was her sort of frustration with me. In fact it was her mother who said, “Is it because that’s your thing and now daddy’s getting in on it?” And she said, “Yes.” So it was her (as usual) very perceptive mother who got that. But then, very quickly, she made peace with that and then she was just very excited about going to the premiere.”

Michael Sheen’s latest film “The Damned United” is about Brian Clough,  a soccer coach, and his 44 day stint with Leeds United.   It opens in limited release October 9.  Sheen is also the White Rabbit in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland which comes out in March.  

Read more at http://www.collider.com/2009/09/21/michael-sheen-interview-tron-legacy-the-twilight-saga-new-moon-alice-in-wonderland-and-underworld-4/

From Meatheads to Meatballs- The Odyssey of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”, the 3-D animated film about a food invention that goes awry in a small island community, opened at Number 1 last weekend with a box office of little over $30 million. 

The directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have been friends since their college days at Dartmouth in the late 90’s.   An article in the Dartmouth alumni magazine profiled Miller who was the editor of the campus’ humor magazine and who also published his own daily comic strip.   It listed among Miller’s achievement, an internship at Industrial Light and Magic, The George Lucas effects shop where he designed dinosaurs and did some of the effects for Star Wars- none of which was true.   The article made it ways into then Disney CEO Michael Eisner hands, also a Dartmouth alumni. 

After a brief fessing up to the inaccuracies in the article, Miller sent some short student films he had co-made with Lord to Eisner.  It resulted in a development deal. They made some canceled Saturday morning cartoon series and then developed the idea for Clone High, which eventually ended up becoming a mainstay at MTV. 

When Sony Pictures was starting up an animation division of its own, it pitched some projects to the directing duo, none of which they liked.   But Sony did own the rights to “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” one of the duos favorite books as kids.  

"We got extra excited about it and grabbed them by the lapels and made them let us make it," Miller exaggerates in an interview with Martin Grove from Reuters.

“It's a highly visual story about an inventor who figures out how to turn water into food after his town's sardine cannery closes and there's only leftover sardines to eat. Picture meatballs and other tasty treats falling like rain from the sky,” Miller continues. 

"It's a no-brainer to make into a film," Lord acknowledged.

"You want to make sure you're showing the audience a world they've never been to before and they're experiencing something that doesn't seem like, 'Oh, this is another one of those type of movies.' ", observed Miller. 

“This should be treated like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, but silly,” Miller continued. 

"Silly on purpose,” clarified Lord.

"We knew what we were doing there," Miller pointed out. "We were actually for once in our career not in over our heads."

On the other hand, he concluded, "We're not comfortable until we are in over our heads! So let's go make a giant studio picture in 3D."

The two are still surprised that Sony said “yes” to the venture.   "I don't know that that speaks to their confidence in us or their gross negligence in executing their jobs!,” Lord exclaimed.  

"What they knew is that they liked the tone of the script we had written. It's hard to execute this sort of cheeky, envelope-pushing style comedy in a family film. So they thought, 'Well, let's give these young chaps a shot.' And we're very thankful that they did,” concludes Miller. 

"There are very few food-based, disaster animated comedy action movies in the marketplace,” Lord whimsically concludes.

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090922/film_nm/us_meatballs_2

Jackson “This Is It” to Get 15 City World Debut

“This Is It” the Michael Jackson concert film cobbled together from rehearsal footage, will get a 15 city world premiere on October 27.   New York, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, London, Berlin, Los Angeles and other to be announced world cities will host individual red carpet events noted Sony Pictures and concert promoters AEG Live.  The opening events will feature satellite transmissions of stars arriving at the red carpet premiere in Los Angeles.    London's premiere will happen after midnight local time on October 28, while Seoul's event is scheduled for the morning of that day.  Sony Pictures paid AEG Live and the Jackson estate $60 million for the distribution and film rights.   The proceeds from the concert film are expected to exceed $200 million.  “This Is It” will bow everywhere on October 28 and have a limited two week run.  

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090922/en_nm/us_jackson_2

Brad Pitt to Play Moriarity in  Holmes Sequel?

The Robert Downey Junior Sherlock Holmes film to be released Christmas Day has an already announced sequel.   Warner Brothers has leaked that they hired the brother and sister team of Kieran and Michelle Mulroney to write a screenplay.  The siblings recently penned “Justice League: Mortal” which is scheduled for a 2011 release.   They also directed and wrote “Paper Man”, the well received Jeff Daniels and Ryan Reynolds superhero dramedy that opened this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.

Even though there is no deal in place, Brad Pitt is in the discussion phase of being considered for the role of Moriarity, Sherlock Holmes evil genius nemesis. Downey and Jude Law from the original are expected to reprise their Holmes and Watson roles for the sequel. 

Several blogs have speculated that the mysterious shadowy figure seen in several shots of the Christmas Day Sherlock Holmes is really Brad Pitt in the role of Moriarity.  Those close to the production are keeping mum and only will say that the character is in shadow and can not be easily recognized.  

The Guy Richie directed film got good buzz when select clips were released at this year’s Comic-Con and is generating good internet hype. 

This would be the second franchise for Robert Downey Junior.  He has already starred in two Iron Man films.   Dreamworks wants him for a third franchise-  one based on the “Cowboys and Aliens” graphic novels.   

Read more at    http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/09/a-sherlock-homes-sequel-for-warners-its-elementary.html

Did Megan Fox Really Kill “Jennifer’s Body”?

“Jennifer’s Body” opened to a a weak $6.8 million dollars on the weekend, a performance so bad that the folks at E! Online are wondering who or what really killed “Jennifer’s Body”.  

Suspect one: Megan Fox.  Some speculated that if the body-ful Fox had gotten naked it might have drawn more of the young adolescent male hormonal element.  

But not so, according to Jeff Brock of Exhibitor Relations, a box office analyst and consulting detective E! Online brought in to solve the case.  “The failure of this film had nothing to do with what Fox did or did not wear,” said Brock, eliminating prime suspect number one.  

Brock determined that it was a double suicide.  He noted that the audience gets horror.  It also gets comedy.   But a horror-comedy is a fatal attraction at the box office.   

"The horror-comedy genre is the toughest sell in Hollywood," Bock says, noting flicks like Tremors, Slither, Shaun of the Dead, Eight Legged Freaks and the Evil Dead series.

“Many of those are considered critical and business successes, but none of them have brought in the megabucks that a simple horror or comedy can”, Bock says.

The movie’s rating was also a box office killer.   Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried may have made the perfect teen package, but “Jennifer’s Body” R Rating, kept that crucial element out of the scene.  

"So," Bock muses, "you have an R-rated film marketed to whom, exactly?"

You know the answer to that one. 

Read more at http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/ask_the_answer_bitch/b145273_did_jennifers_body_bomb_because_of.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

“New Moon” Soundtrack Has No Pattinson

Even though the “New Moon” Soundtrack album has Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner on the cover, none of their vocal styling's will be on the disc.  Instead their will be a elective mix of emo, indie and alt rockers.  The first Twilight album did go double platinum and featured a song sung by Robert Pattinson. The album gets released October 20.    

Check out the playlist: 

1. Death Cab For Cutie, "Meet Me on the Equinox"
2. Band of Skulls, "Friends"
3. Thom Yorke "Hearing Damage"
4. Lykke Li, "Possibility"
5. The Killers, "A White Demon Love Song"
6. Anya Marina, "Satellite Heart"
7. Muse, "I Belong to You (New Moon)"
8. Bon Iver and St. Vincent, "Rosyln"
9. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Done All Wrong"
10. Hurricane Bells, "Monsters"
11. Sea Wolf, "The Violet Hour"
12. OK Go, "Shooting the Moon"
13. Grizzly Bear, "Slow Life"
14. Editors, "No Sound but the Wind"
15. Alexandre Desplat, "New Moon (The Meadow)"

Read more at http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b145264_new_moon_no_swoon_robert_pattinson_wont.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Latest “New Moon” Trailer

Here’s the latest “New Moon” trailer.  Enjoy!

Disney May Not Be So “Marvel”-ous After All

Disney recent $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Comics may cost them more than they bargained for.   The heirs to the comic book artist Jack Kirby sent out 45 notices of copyright termination to both Marvel and Disney advising them of the heirs intent to regain copyright in 2014.  Jack Kirby, who passed away in 1994, was a creator of many Marvel superheroes such as X-Men, Fantastic Four and Captain America.  Other notices were sent to Paramount Pictures, Universal, 20th Century Fox and other companies that have been using Jack Kirby inspired characters.

The heirs to Jack Kirby are being represented by the legal firm Toberoff & Associates, notable as the attorneys that won a court ruling last year that returned a share of the copyright to Superman to heirs of one of the character’s creators, Jerome Siegel.  That ruling was overturned in July by a federal judge in Los Angeles. 

The Marvel rights are a pretty tangled web.  Sony has the film rights to Spiderman in perpetuity.  Fox has the movie rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchise.  Paramount has a distribution agreement with Marvel for the Iron Man franchise and a few movies that Marvel is producing on its own.    Hasbro has the toy rights to certain characters.  Universal has Florida theme park rights to Spiderman and the Hulk and some other characters.  

The window for serving notice of termination on some of the oldest of Marvel owned properties opened several years ago and will remain open for some time under copyright law.  Under current copyright law the heirs can begin a process to regain copyrights after a period of time after the original grant.  This would mean that Kirby’s four children, as co-sharers would be entitled to a portion of  film and other rights.   They might also be able to sell rights to certain other characters without Marvel or Disney consent- or the consent of the other studios that have film rights to Marvel properties.  

Everyone except Disney refused to comment on the situation.  In a brief statement Disney said ““the notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights 7 to 10 years from now, and involve claims that were fully considered in the acquisition.”

Read more at  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/business/21marvel.html?th&emc=th

Depp May Not Be a Pirate No More

Everyone in Hollywood was very shocked and surprised when Dick Cook, head of the Disney Studios, announced his immediate resignation.  Apparently Johnny Depp was the most surprised.   Cook and Depp have developed a deep relationships over the years.   It was Cook who was instrumental in wooing Depp to star in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.  Cook even supported Depp’s oddball interpretation of the Captain Jack Sparrow character to angry Disney executives who wanted him to change it or be replaced. 

In a phone interview from London Depp said "I didn't see this coming. There was no reason to see this coming." “I am shocked. . . and very sad.”

"He's (Dick Cook) instantly trustworthy. And you generally don't meet people at the studios you trust," Depp said. "He's a rare beast."

"When things went a little sideways on the first 'Pirates' movie and others at the studio were less than enthusiastic about my interpretation of the character, Dick was there from the first moment. He trusted me," continued Depp. 

Depp noted that Cook personally called him and told him about the news.  “He said, 'I'd like you to hear it from me before you hear it from someone else or read it,'" Depp said. "He said today was my last day. He didn't give me a reason."

Depp’s  interest in doing a fourth pirate movie has now waned considerably.   Deep noted that his deal for the film depends on both script approval and his passion for the project.   "There's a fissure, a crack in my enthusiasm at the moment," Depp said. "It was all born in that office."

Still, Depp is confident that Cook and himself will work again one day.  "He will be somewhere and I will always look forward to working with him. I consider Dick a friend inside an insane system. He's someone I understand and I think he understands me."

Read more at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/09/johnny-depp-says-hes-shocked-and-very-sad-about-dick-cooks-departure.html

The “Disgrace” of Being John Malkovich

An interesting article/interview with John Malkovich in the online magazine Salon tries to resolve the question of how an actor who essentially  portrays the same role of an nasty, above it all snob can make it true and unique in every role he plays. Malkovich’s is currently starring in “Disgrace” a story about a Professor who must come to terms with the bad after effects of a student-teacher affair.   It is based on the acclaimed novel by South African writer J.M. Coetzee and was made by the husband and wife team of the director Steve Jacobs and the writer Maria Monticelli. 

“I think a lot of times there's this idea that people only like the nice person, the hero, the person who does a good act, the person that can be relied on to save the day and do the right thing, etc.”, Malkovich states talking about his “Disgrace” character David Lurie with Salon film critic David O’Heir.  “In fact, not many people are like that, so when they see someone like that in a film, they're actually watching something in a language they don't speak. Everybody knows deep down that there's some complexity and contradiction to them. Painted in a stark light, many of the things all of us do could have the same result: We see we're not heroic.”

Malkovich theory on acting involves being entirely true to your character and not an idea.   “When you play a character, you can't represent white, public-school-educated South Africans, or Afrikaners or whoever. You can just try to be a person,” he noted.

Malkovich was a founding member of the famed Steppenwolf theatre troupe before he became a film actor.

“I do a lot of theater, and it's so much simpler. Not the directing of the thing, but the fact that you don't have years and years of blah-blah-blah before. If I want to do a play, I just call someone in a town and say, "I'd like to do this, do you want to do it?" They read it a couple days later and say, Yeah, sure, let's do it. Can you do it in April?" I say, "I can't do it in April, can you do it in June?" And they say "Yeah," and that's it.”

He notes that in theater “. . . you never dreamed of changing the material. In movies now, it wouldn't be at all weird to say, "You know, it's a good story and a good structure, but everything I say and half of what I do is garbage. Let's change it." See, that's something you just don't do in the theater. It's unimaginable. Once I started to avail myself of that possibility, then you're doing less things that you think are naff or useless, you know what I mean? You can have an impact on them.”

“As an actor, you're just part of a machine. It's nicer when the machine seems to work well and is pleasant to be a part of, but the only thing that really matters is if the film is good. What really matters to me, though, is what the experience is like. Because I can't control how the film is. I want a good experience with people I like to be around, where I feel I've exercised with them, in good faith, to the best of my limited capabilities. But even if you don't do that you can make a good film. And even when you do do that, the film can be terrible. I've had that happen quite a few times.”

“. . .But you get used to that as an actor. I've done a lot of movies. You go and see it -- for years, every time I saw a movie that I was in, my reaction would be, "Oh, that's what you wanted to make? Why didn't you say something?" In the theater, you know, you do it every night. It's always a little different, or a lot different. It's an organic, ephemeral thing, and I love that. Because it reminds me of life. You had to be there. And movies aren't at all like that. They're not organic, not ephemeral. That has its charm also.”

Read more at http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2009/09/18/malkovich/index.html?source=rss&aim=/ent/movies/btm/feature

Twilight’s Justin Chon Talks “Dark Eclipse”

The third Twilight series film”Dark Eclipse” is currently shooting in Vancouver, Canada.   It is being directed by David Slade (“30 Days of Nights”). 

In an interview with E! Online Justin Chon who plays Eric Yorkie talks about the darker difference director Slade is trying to impose on “Dark Eclipse”.

"He's done pretty dark films so that's where I see [Eclipse] really gravitating towards—more of a dark kind of moody film," Chon said yesterday at BAFTA's pre-Emmy tea party. "Just shooting the scenes that I'm in, the mood is definitely different."

"David is very set on how he wants this movie to be portrayed," Chon said. "It's a lot more refined and maybe not as loose as the last two—at least for us humans. I can only imagine what he's doing with everyone else."

About his supernatural costar Robert Pattinson, Chon notes that there has been increase security precautions taken.   Pattinson is living in a house while the production shoots.  

"Security has been increased a lot," Chon said. "They're a lot more protective…If Rob was to go out in public without anybody, I think it could be pretty dangerous."

“It takes him (Pattinson) a lot more time to get in and out of places," Chon said. "But he doesn't get angry. He's handling things great."

Read more at  http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/marc_malkin/b145116_twilights_justin_chon_dark_eclipse.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Toronto Film Festival Awards Announced

Taken directly from the TIFF site press releases area: http://www.tiff.net/livefromthefestival?newsId=67

The 34th Toronto International Film Festival announced its awards at the Awards Reception at the Intercontinental on Front Street today.
AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN SHORT FILM
The award for Best Canadian Short Film goes to Pedro Pires for Danse Macabre. Based on a concept by Robert Lepage, director Pires's exquisitely photographed morbid ballet pushes the traditional dance film to new cinematic heights. The jury remarked: "There was one film that had such devastating beauty, that watching it was having fireworks shattering your heart. A prayer for the dying, a love song to the living, everyone must see this beautiful work." The jury would like to recognize and support Jamie Travis for The Armoire with an honourable mention, an exciting filmmaker with an original voice and an exquisite vision. The award offers a $10,000 cash prize and is supported by the National Film Board of Canada.
THE SKYY Vodka AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FIRST FEATURE FILM
The SKYY Vodka Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film goes to Alexandre Franchi for The Wild Hunt for its assured, inventive and bold command of film form traversing contemporary and mythic landscapes marking the launch of an audacious new talent. Set in the fantasy-reality of a large role-playing game, this film captures the culture of costume play and the potentially dangerous intersection of the real and made-up worlds. The award carries a cash prize of $15,000.
THE CITY OF TORONTO AND ASTRAL MEDIA'S THE MOVIE NETWORK AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM
The City of Toronto and Astral Media's The Movie Network Award for Best Canadian Feature Film goes to Ruba Nadda for Cairo Time. Described by the jury as a superbly directed lyrical waltz of longing and desire across disparate worlds, with exquisite performances by Patricia Clarkson, Tom McCamus and Alexander Siddig. The film evocatively serves as an analogy for the intricacies of passionate romance that, for practical reasons, can never be realized. The jury is also honoured to recognize with a Special Jury Citation, the work of a master, Bernard Émond's La Donation (The Legacy). Generously co-sponsored by the City of Toronto and Astral Media's The Movie Network, the award carries a cash prize of $30,000.
CANADIAN FEATURE FILM AWARDS JURY
All three awards are selected by a jury of film professionals. The feature films jury consists of filmmaker Jerry Ciccoritti (Blood, Trudeau, Chasing Cain, The Life Before This), Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Director of Programming Sean Farnel, Canadian novelist Kerri Sakamoto (One Hundred Million Hearts, The Electrical Field), and filmmaker Peter Lynch (Project Grizzly, Cyberman). The short film jury members are Executive Producer of in-flight entertainment at Spafax and a Sundance programmer, Shane Smith, filmmakers Ingrid Veninger and Shane Belcourt.
PRIZE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF FILM CRITICS (FIPRESCI PRIZE)
The Festival welcomed an international FIPRESCI jury for the 18th consecutive year. The jury members consist of jury president Diego Lerer (Argentina), Jan Schulz-Ojala (Germany), Hynek Pallas (Sweden), Kirill Razlogov (Russia), Denis Seguin (Canada) and Jorge Gutman (Canada).
The Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Discovery is awarded to Laxmikant Shetgaonkar for The Man Beyond the Bridge (India). Far from the sensory overload of India's big cities, this film explores smaller but enduring dilemmas, drawing together keen environmental sensitivity with a nuanced view of village dynamics. A widowed forest ranger Vinayak develops an intimate relationship with a mentally ill woman, risking becoming an outcast. Director Shetgaonkar, immersed in the culture of the region, tells his tale with grace and attentiveness, taking the villages traditions and beliefs seriously, while casting a jaundiced eye on those who exploit them.
The Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Special Presentations is awarded to Bruno Dumont for Hadewijch (France). This film is a hypnotic study of the possibilities and consequences that arise from an absolute belief in God, and the fascinating dynamic that emerges. Hadewijch is beautifully conceived and rigorously developed and speaks to the present with care and insight. Dumont has previously played at the Festival with La Vie de Jésus (99), Twentynine Palms (03) and Flandres (06). L'humanité and Flandres were both awarded the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
CADILLAC PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
The Cadillac People's Choice Award is voted on by Festival audiences. This year's award goes to Lee Daniels's Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. From director Lee Daniels comes a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome. Set in 1987 Harlem, it is the story of Claireece "Precious" Jones, an illiterate African-American teenager who is pregnant for the second time by her absent father and abused by a poisonously angry mother. Despite her experiences, Precious has a dream that other possibilities exist for her and jumps at the chance to enroll in an alternative school. There she encounters Ms. Rain, a teacher who will start her on a journey from pain and powerlessness to self-respect and determination. The film stars Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz and introduces Gabourey Sidibe. The award offers a $15,000 cash prize and custom award, sponsored by Cadillac.
First runner-up is Bruce Beresford Mao's Last Dancer and the second runner-up is Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs (Micmacs à tirelarigot). The Cadillac People's Choice Award presents a free screening of the Cadillac People's Choice Award-winning film tonight. The screening takes place at 9 p.m. in the Visa Screening Room at the Elgin. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first served basis beginning at 7 p.m. at the Visa Screening Room at the Elgin. For more information on this screening, visit tiff.net.
New this year is a Cadillac People's Choice Award for Documentary and Midnight Madness. The Cadillac People's Choice Award - Documentary goes to Leanne Pooley's The Topp Twins. Fun, disarming and musically provocative, the Topp Twins are New Zealand's finest lesbian country-and-western singers and the country's greatest export since rack of lamb and the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. Runner-up is Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story.
The Cadillac People's Choice Award - Midnight Madness goes to Sean Byrne's The Loved Ones. A troubled teen's prom dreams are shattered by a series of painful events that take place under the mirrored disco ball, involving syringes, nails, power drills and a secret admirer in this wild mash-up of Pretty in Pink and Misery. Runner-up is Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig's Daybreakers.

Prizes Of The International Critics (Fipresci Prizes) Announced 2009 Fipresci

2009 FIPRESCI Prize includes Discovery and Special Presentations
Toronto - For the 18th consecutive year, the Toronto International Film Festival welcomed the FIPRESCI jury. FIPRESCI is the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (International Federation of Film Critics).
The Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Discovery is awarded to Laxmikant Shetgoankar for The Man Beyond the Bridge (India). Far from the sensory overload of India's big cities, Shetgoankar explores smaller but enduring dilemmas, drawing together keen environmental sensitivity with a nuanced view of village dynamics.
The Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Special Presentation is awarded to Bruno Dumont for Hadewijch (France). This film is a hypnotic study of the possibilities and consequences that arise from an absolute belief in God, and the fascinating dynamic that emerges.

The FIPRESCI Jury at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival:

Diego Lerer, Clarin - Argentina - Jury President
Jan Schulz-Ojala, Der Tagesspiegel - Germany
Hynek Pallas, Svenska Dagbladet - Sweden
Kirill Razlogov, Moskovskaya Pravda - Russia
Denis Seguin, Screen International - Canada
Jorge Gutman, Séquences – Canada

Toronto Festival Wraps Up

The Toronto Film Festival wraps up Sunday.  Even though several films bowed to good Oscar buzz (“Bright Star”, “Up In the Air”, “Precious” ) the number of distribution deals announced during the festival is way down.

Actors receiving good Academy Awards mention are George Clooney for “Up In the Air”, Robert Duvall for “Sweet Low”, Carey Mulligan for “An Education”, Gabourey Sibide for “Precious” and Anna Kendrick’s for her supporting role in “Up In the Air”.  

The rock n’ roll Vampire flick “Suck” and the Woody Harrelson superhero movie “Defendor” were among the few films who snagged deals.  Still lacking a distributor is the opening night film “Creation”, about Charles Darwin and his struggle to write his treatise on evolution.  

"I anticipated a slow market, but I guess I was surprised. I thought there would be a few more deals closed by now," said Steven Beer an entertainment lawyer with Greenberg Traurig talking to Reuters reporter Cameron French.

Weak demand and the still ongoing recession has kept the deal making down. 

"You'll see carnage from this film festival," David Garber, CEO of Lantern Lane Entertainment, told an industry round-table this week. "There are some very expensive movies there that are going to be wanting for distribution. And they'll make a deal that makes no real financial sense."

Plunging DVD sales have also created fewer sources of financing for independent films.   Distributors are cutting back the bigger budgeted movies and being more selective with their releases.

"(This) is a permanent change," said Beer. "The cost of releasing films continues to escalate, so the risk factor is so considerable that the industry has become very conservative."

Higher price actors are accepting lower pay deals.  Rodrigo Garcia’s well received “Mother and Child” had the star power of Anette Bening, Naomi Watts and Samuel L. Jackson and just a mid mid $5-8 million dollar budget.   

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090918/film_nm/us_toronto_deals_1

Disney Doesn’t Need This Cook

Walt Disney Studios Chief Dick Cook announced yesterday that he is resigning effective immediately.   Cook had a four decade career with the company starting out in 1971 as a ride operator on the Disneyland steam train and monorail, becoming president of Buena Vista Pictures distribution in 1988 and chairman of the studio in 2002. 

"I have loved every minute of my 38 years that I have worked at Disney,” Cook said in his farewell speech.  

The latest slate of Disney Studio films like “Escape to Witch Mountain”, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Bedtime Stories” have under performed at the box office.  

Cook said in a statement he's been contemplating leaving the studio for some time and will be moving on to "new adventures." It wasn't immediately known who would replace him.

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_en_mo/us_disney_studios_cook_8

District 9’s Nigerian Nightmare

District 9 has been extended a no welcome sign in Nigeria.   The movies portrayal of Nigerians as gangsters and cannibals has prompted Information Minister Dora Akunyili to ask movies houses in its capitol city of Abuja to stop playing the movie.  District 9 features an overlord called Obesandjo (a play on the name of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo) who in one scene attempts to eat the arms of the film’s protagonist in order to gain his supernatural powers.  Other scenes show Nigerian prostitutes courting alien johns.

"We have directed that they should stop public screening of the film," Akunyili said in a statement. "We are not happy about it because it portrays Nigeria in bad light."

"We have written to the producer and distributor of the film, Sony Entertainment, expressing our displeasure and demanded an apology," she said. "We have asked that the areas where Nigeria and Obasanjo are mentioned should be edited from the film."

Corlize Luttig, marketing manager for the South African cinema chain Ster-Kinekor, who represent Sony in South Africa, said they had no comment on the request by Akunyili. Ster-Kinekor does not distribute to Nigeria, she said.

The films portrayal of Nigerians has also rankled some bloggers.   A Facebook page called "Nigerians Offended by 'District 9,'" had 57 members by Saturday.  You can visit the link at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=265942795001&ref=search&sid=617571260.1011000781..1

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_en_mo/af_nigeria_district9_9

More Toronto Film Festival Buzz and Notes

Jean-Pierre Jeunet the director of the charming “Amelie” has received good buzz for his latest piece of winsome absurdity “Micmacs a Tire-Larigot” about a man and his seven little friends (the movie was inspired somewhat by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) who come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers.    It stars the French comic Danny Boon and is told mainly in pantomime and with lots of sight gags.   “Micmacs” will be released in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics. 

Krk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said “The script, written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, is a blueprint for complex cause-and-effect gags of increasing fantasy. In truth, the film is a tad exhausting. Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. But Boon holds it all together with gentle clumsiness and improvisational clowning.” http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090918/film_nm/us_film_micmacs_1

Norman Wilner of Now found it “. . .a giddy delight.” even though  “. . .an attempt to get serious about land-mine awareness falls uncomfortably flat. . .”  http://www.nowtoronto.com/tiff/listing_details.cfm?play_id=1930

Mike Goodridge of Screen Daily.com  said “Micmacs is a pleasing original comedy with charm to spare: Jean Pierre Jeunet’s breeziest film to date, even as it delivers a strong message against landmines and arms dealing.”  “. . .Micmacs has the added value of playing to a family audience and its ingenious plot machinations, imagination and broad humour will delight children as well as adults. After a mis-step with A Very Long Engagement, Jeunet is back on form with a pure entertainment that will find a very large audience.”  http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/micmacs-micmacs-a-tire-larigot/5005842.article

Rob Nelson of Variety noted “Turning the volume of his slapstick surreality down from 11 to 10, Gallic auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Amelie") hits the sweet spot with "Micmacs." The wacky tale of a brain-injured videostore clerk who brings down a pair of Parisian arms dealers with the help of some highly creative collectors of second-hand goods, "Micmacs" welds Jeunet's hyperactive imagination to the simpler structures of silent comedy and '40s-era studio capers, resulting in the director's most accessible work yet.”  http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941112.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

“Suck” Doesnt Quite Take a Bite Out of Twilight

“Suck” a vampire movie and Twilight knockoff that follows a group of rock n’ roll  wannabes in search of immortality and a record deal is getting some not so credible press in Toronto.   It is directed by musician turned actor Rob Stefaniuk and features cameos from Alice Cooper, Dave Foley, Jessica Pare, Carole Pope, Moby and Iggy Pop.  Malcolm Mcdowell also costars.  Jessica Pare turn as the vampire bass player Jennifer is the only buzz worthy note.  Maybe there be a “Twilight” part for her in the future?

Barbara Goslawski of Boxoffice Magazine noted “ Suck is a great idea for a film—on paper. Trouble is, writer/director Rob Stefaniuk bites off more than he can chew in this star-studded rock ‘n’ roll fantasy vampire flick. Juggling conventions, skewering clichés and referencing genre cues, Stefaniuk packs the film with so many insider jokes that what could have been a wild ride simply isn’t.”  http://boxoffice.com/reviews/2009/09/suck.php

Barry Hertz of The National Post noted “All the ingredients for a subversive cult comedy are there, but nearly every joke falls flat. At least Stefaniuk was smart enough to cast the entrancing Paré, who makes the Twilight gang seem like gangly nerds.”  http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2009/09/05/suck-1-star.aspx

Jason Anderson of Eye Weekly remarked “. . .when a rock ’n’ roll horror comedy musical has so few laughs, a minimum of gore and such unremarkable songs, it’s hard not to feel that Suck is not what it oughta be. The satirical potshots at the music biz and the nondescript alt-rock tracks by the fictional band — with Stefaniuk as conflicted frontman and a fun Jessica Paré as the newly immortal bassist — feel a decade out of date and there’s way too little of the fun and fury found in like-minded efforts. . .”  http://www.eyeweekly.com/tiff/article/71131

David D’ Arcy of Screendaily.com liked “Suck” enough to note “ While his directing indulges hamming and hokey humour (as in his 2004 feature debut, Phil the Alien), the comedy has a raunchy warmth that could draw in the audiences of Michel Gondry and John Waters, plus fans of rock satires from This is… Spinal Tap to Airheads. “. . as the vain skanky bass player who finds her true vocation lunching on the musical competition, Pare is wildly sexy in vampire-white pallor and throws back her lines with icy disdain.”  http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/toronto/contemporary-world-cinema/suck/5005591.article

Norman Wilner of Now enjoyed it and Pare enough to note that “Sure, it's a one-joke movie, but the joke is really funny, played out in every permutation imaginable by the deadpan Paré and her slack-jawed bandmates. (Stefaniuk's disappointed befuddlement every time she eats someone becomes its own running gag.)” http://www.nowtoronto.com/tiff/listing_details.cfm?play_id=1864

Rodrigo Garcia Is A Good Father to His “Mother and Child”

 Samuel L. Jackson and Naomi Watts in Mother and Child

Rodrigo Garcia’s (Passengers) “Mother and Child”, a drama centered around three women: A 50-year-old woman, the daughter she gave up for adoption 35 years ago, and an African American woman looking to adopt a child of her own is getting good press for its director and cast.    It stars Samuel L. Jackson, David Morse, Naomi Watts, Annette Bening and Jimmy Smits.  

From Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter:  “Writer-director Rodrigo Garcia is a master of multiple narratives whose storylines often crisscross in unexpected ways. He deploys this strategy most effectively in "Mother and Child," a happy-sad tale of a mother and daughter, separated at birth, who struggle with the damage done. Some may find the film overly schematic, but Garcia smartly uses three parallel narratives to probe the extraordinary nature of motherhood.”   http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090918/film_nm/us_film_mother_1

Tim Grierson of Screen International called it “Delicate, thoughtful and quietly absorbing, Mother And Child is above all things a wonder of good acting and finely-calibrated small moments. As with Nine Lives, writer-director Rodrigo Garcia populates his new drama with unpredictable, three-dimensional women, focusing on three characters living separate lives who may be more connected than we (or they) first realise. Mostly avoiding melodramatic contrivances, Mother And Child touches on themes of family, motherhood and destiny, looking fairly effortless in the process.”  http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/toronto/gala-presentations/mother-and-child/5005718.article

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised Jackson and Watts performance.  “Garcia's filmmaking is discreet, fluid and straightforward, but the performances jump out by virtue of their nerve and honesty. Watts, so notable for her emotional availability as a performer, has never shown anything near the steeliness of her characterization here, a quality later set off by an extraordinary calm. Bening's performance similarly extends across a huge range with much shading in between as Karen struggles to improve a life dominated by regrets. But perhaps the biggest surprise is Jackson, for the first time in memory playing a regular guy instead of someone extreme, and doing so with unprecedented restraint and deliberation. It would be great to see more of where this comes from.”  http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941105.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Three Tough Girls and the Women Behind Them

Three separate women directors have unspooled films that feature young women trying to come to terms with abuse or abandonment.  

“Crackie” from director Sherry White is about a young  woman who tries to reconcile her feelings about her mother abandoning her a few years back by befriending a little dog (a crackie as the local town folks call it).  But, The dog won’t reciprocate her friendship. 

The film was shot on the remote Canadian island of New Foundland were White was born and raised. 

"There are those people who don't have a voice, who don't seem to have anything to say,"White said in an interview about how she came to make the film.   "But it's just that no one is listening."

"The film is about looking for connection, that connection you have with your mother," White said. "Mitsy is spending her life looking for that connection and it is right there in front of her. Because she doesn't have it with her real mother, she can't see it's with the woman who raised her.", White noted later.   

In “The Unloved”, a first time film from the actress Samantha Morton, and based on her own childhood experiences, an 11-year old Lucy (Molly Windsor) is taken from her unstable and abusive father and placed in a group home.  She shares a room with a 16-year old who inducts her into a world of shoplifting, drugs and prostitution. 

“Precious”, also the debut feature for Lee Daniels and based on the Sapphire novel “Push” about a young woman growing up with a mentally and physically abusive mother and a father who raped her two times- each time resulting in a pregnancy, has Oprah Winfrey as an executive producer.  

"I recognized myself in that character," noted Oprah in an interview.  "Most of all I have seen the 'precious' girls of the world and they have been invisible to me," she said, echoing "Crackie" director Sherry White. "The 'Preciouses' of the world deserve to be heard and deserve a voice."