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Newsmakers (Goryache Novoski)
Howard Feinstein in New York
23 Apr 2009 07:00

 


Dir. Anders Banke. Russia/Sweden. 2009. 110mins.

The politics of media manipulation in the age of reality TV is evidently a hot topic. Hong Kong director Johnnie To addressed it with cinematic flair in 2004's Breaking News and Joel Schumacher is set for a Hollywood remake, but the Russians, who have major issues with the media in the age of Putin and his acolytes, got in first with this Russian-Swedish coproduction directed by Banke, a Swede who studied film in Moscow.

Unfortunately, although the setting is a well-captured central Moscow, the plot points and characters that worked in To's film have been altered by screenwriters Klebanov and Lungin in ways that dilute Newsmakers' impact. It is competently, if conventionally, directed, but Banke does not have the visual skills of To, whose moving camera transformed what is essentially a shoot-'em-up into a stylistic masterwork. Chances for much theatrical play outside of ex-Soviet countries, except perhaps for co-funder Sweden, seem remote.

In both films, the starting point is a botched police action against a gang of criminals which is caught on camera by a TV crew and broadcast to an outraged public. The police chief responds to an ambitious, young, and beautiful female PR who suggests that the force's image can be improved by photographing more positive actions against the gang (via mini-video cameras set into helmets), making it into what she calls "a show".

In Breaking News, Kelly Chen played this character as a tough, cold, no-nonsense bitch - credible in a concocted script idea - but Katya (Mashkova), her incarnation in Newsmakers, has been turned into a campy slut. That Mashkova gives a terrible performance only undermines the character further. Even more ridiculous is the gratuitous appearance of a Swedish media mogul who speaks to Katya and her boss in English and insists on buying the franchise.

Once the criminals enter a huge apartment block, Katya, as the show's "director", loses the control necessary to produce her propagandistic narrative, which she plans to air in prime time. (She even makes deals for product placement.) The gang goes into an apartment and takes a single father and his two kids hostage. Katya knows that if anything should happen to the tenants, the TV viewers' outcry would surpass their initial rage. The savvy criminals, meanwhile, begin to broadcast via computer and cellphone while Katya has to contend with an old-fashioned, duty-bound cop, Smirnov (Merzlikin), the hero of the film, who refuses her orders to leave the building so that the Special Forces she commands can do her bidding.

In To's film, a recurring cell-phone-computer hookup between her and the handsome gang leader makes their mutual attraction believable. In Banke's Newsmakers, however, it happens only once, so that it requires a tremendous leap of faith to buy into the instant bond they form once they come face-to-face.

Production companies

Tandem Pictures

Illusion Film

Film i Vast

Maywin Media

International sales

Cinemavault

+1 416 363 6060

Producers

Sam Klebanov

Anna Katchko

Screenplay

Sam Klebanov

Aleksandr Lungin

Cinematography

Chris Maris

Editor

Frederik Mordheden

Production design

Grigori Pushkin

Music

Anthony Lledo

Main cast

Andrei Merzlikin

Evgeni Tsyganov

Mariya Mashkova

Jury Shlykov

Sergey Garmash

Maksim Konovalov

David Stepanyan

New Int'l. Release
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Man som hatar kvinnor (Sweden)
By BOYD VAN HOEIJ
Read other reviews about this film

Powered By A Nordisk Film release of a Yellow Bird presentation and production, in association with SVT, ZDF, Nordisk Film, with the participation of Filmpool Stockholm Malardalen, Film i Vast, Spiltan. (International sales: Zodiak Entertainment, Paris.) Produced by Soren Staermose. Executive producers, Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Peter Nadermann, Ole Sondberg, Mikael Wallen, Jon Mankell. Directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Screenplay, Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson.

With: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber, Peter Andersson, Marika Lagercrantz, Ingvar Hirdwall, Bjorn Granath.
 A tomboyish punk hacker teams up with a disgraced middle-aged journo to solve a decades-old crime in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." With more than 10 million copies sold worldwide since 2005, it's no wonder this first novel in the late Stieg Larsson's culty "Millennium" trilogy has made it to the bigscreen so fast, though the pic version is more of an action-light whodunit than a real thriller, and more of a CliffsNotes version than a deeply disturbing portrait of what's wrong with contempo Sweden. Offshore success where the book sold well is likely, though not at local levels.
Boffo B.O. in Scandinavia, where the pic bowed in February and March, is now nearing 2.3 million admissions. However, the lack of star power and real bigscreen wow will mean less stellar results elsewhere.

The "Millennium" novels are probably the biggest international phenom to emerge from Sweden since Abba. Pic goes out in mid-May in France, where "Girl" was the bestselling novel of 2008, with Italy following later that month, and has already sold to many other Euro territories. However, it has yet to find a distrib Stateside.

The opening 20 minutes of the 2½-hour film race through the early setup, covering about a fifth of the 500-page tome. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), an investigative journalist and editor of Millennium magazine, is summoned to the home of Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube), head of a family of industrialists. The aging patriarch asks Mikael to investigate the long-ago murder of his niece Harriet; Mikael, recently convicted of libel, is being forced to leave Millennium and thus accepts Vanger's offer.

A parallel thread follows Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a 24-year-old pierced-and-tattooed wild child who answers to no one. She's also one of Sweden's best private investigators and hackers and, after decrypting one of the clues in the murder case, starts collaborating with Mikael.

Danish helmer Niels Arden Oplev and scripters Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg find some elegant visual shortcuts for Larsson's exposition-heavy prose, but also shear off much of its atmospheric detail. The viewer gets a relatively faithful version of the novel's ingenious construction but only glimpses of its scathing portrait of Sweden as a corrupt, bankrupt and misogynistic society. (The Swedish title translates as "Men Who Hate Women.")

Given the two scripters' highly atmospheric conspiracy thriller "King's Game" and Oplev's ability to find fresh takes on genre material ("We Shall Overcome," "Worlds Apart"), "Girl" reps something of a disappointment. Still, at least until the rushed final reels, the clean widescreen lensing, fluid editing and Jacob Groth's coolly modern score do drive things along nicely.

Watching a whole Pandora's box of past fascist and religious atrocities slowly fall into place remains fascinating. And as a whodunit rather than a noir, "Girl" ranks as a more-than-workmanlike Nordic crimer.

As the girl of the book's English title, Salander is by far the more interesting of the two protags, a woman full of contradictions who operates solely according to her own logic. Rapace turns her into a mesmerizing, highly intelligent yet absolutely uncontrollable animal with her own sense of justice. It's a testament to the actress that the character feels coherent despite some largely glossed-over moments -- notably, those with her predatory guardian, Bjurman (Peter Andersson). As her partner, Nyqvist makes Mikael even more passive than in the book, and their pairing doesn't exactly combust onscreen. Bit players are solid.

The lengthy feature was assembled from material shot for two 90-minute TV movies. Four more movies based on the other two novels, helmed by "Girl" second unit director Daniel Alfredson, are already in the can. Originally meant for the tube and ancillary, these also will now be released in Scandinavia as shorter, two-hour-plus theatrical features.

More than one option(Co) Nordisk Film
(Co) Nordisk Film Biografer (Denmark)
More than one option(Film) Millennium
1989 - Kris Kristofferson, John M Eckert
(Film) Millennium
(Tv) Millennium
More than one option(Film) Girl
1998 - Dominique Swain, Jonathan Kahn
(Film) Girl
(Film) Girl
Charlotte Vanden Eynde, Dorothee Van Den BergheMore than one option(Film) Al Tish'ali Im Ani Ohev
(Film) The Seventh Coin
(Tv) Worlds Apart
(Film) Worlds Apart
Camera (color, widescreen), Eric Kress; editor, Anne Osterud; music, Jacob Groth; production designer, Niels Sejer, costume designer, Cilla Rorby; sound (Dolby Digital), Peter Schultz; second unit director, Daniel Alfredson; casting, Tusse Lande. Reviewed at CineBelval, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, April 21, 2009. Running time: 148 MIN.

Mark Mylod ("Ali G Indahouse," TV's "Entourage") is set direct the Anna Faris-led romantic comedy "What's Your Number?" for Sony Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on Karyn Bosnak's book, "Number" centers on a woman who treks through her sexual past to find Mr. Right, exploring the idea of sexual quotas and whether such numbers matter.

Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan adapted the script, Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson are producing.

Denzel Washington is negotiating to star in drama "Unstoppable," the Tony Scott-directed that 20th Century Fox has on track for a fall production start.
Washington would play an experienced engineer who jumps in a locomotive with a young conductor to chase down a runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals. Mark Bomback wrote the script, which is loosely inspired by a true event.

Julie Yorn is producing "Unstoppable" with Scott.

The drama would reunite Washington and Scott for their fifth film together. Aside from "Crimson Tide," "Man on Fire" and "Deja Vu," the duo just completed another train-based thriller, "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," which Columbia Pictures releases June 12.

Washington has been filming "The Book of Eli" for Alcon Entertainment and Silver Pictures, with Allen and Albert Hughes directing the post-apocalyptic thriller that Warner Bros. releases in early 2010.

Washington is repped by WMA.

Robert Rodriguez wields 'Machete'
Director plans pair of pics
By MICHAEL FLEMING
Rodriguez


'Aliens vs. Predator' scored at the B.O. Robert Rodriguez will reinvent the franchise.

More than one option(Person) Robert Rodriguez
Sound, Original Music, Composer
(Person) Robert Rodriguez
Coordinator, Executive Producer, Production
(Person) Robert C Rodriguez
(Person) Robert Rodriguez
Actor
(Person) Robert Rodriguez
Catering

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More than one option(Film) Predator
(Film) Rovdyr
Robert Rodriguez is ready to cut a wide swathe, and his plans include re-launching the "Predator" franchise for Fox and co-directing "Machete."
For the later, the filmmaker will create a feature out of the blade- wielding antihero who appeared in a mock trailer that was part of "Grindhouse."

Rodriguez is eyeing a June start date in Austin for "Machete," a film that is financed and produced by Overnight Productions, with Danny Trejo starring as the title character.

Machete is a Mexican ex-Federale with a gift for wielding a blade, who hides out as a day laborer, who is double-crossed by a corrupt state senator.

Rodriguez wrote the script and will direct the film with Ethan Maniquis, his longtime editor. The film is being produced by Rodriguez, Rick Schwartz of Overnight Productions and Aaron Kaufman.

Not immediately clear is whether Rodriguez and Overnight will find a way to use the irresistible marketing slogan that appeared in the "Grindhouse" trailer: "This time, they fucked with the wrong Mexican." It is the first non-studio movie that Rodriguez has directed since "El Mariachi."

For Fox, Rodriguez has scripted "Predators," a film that will bring back the dreadlock-sporting alien hunter who originated in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger hit "Predator." While a sequel didn't become a hit, Fox kept the alien sharp by launching the "Alien Vs. Predator," a wildly profitable series that has racked up strong grosses and DVD sales, wit little or no gross out the door.

While Rodriguez juggles these projects, he's also directing his script "Nerveracker" for Dimension Films, with Bob Weinstein setting a 2010 release for the futuristic action thriller.

Stephen Dorff has boarded the porn industry comedy "Born to Be a Star" for Sony Pictures.
Adam Sandler co-wrote the screenplay and is producing.

Story centers on a small-town Midwestern nerd (Nick Swardson) who discovers his parents were famous porn stars. Christina Ricci has already signed on to play Swardson's girlfriend. Dorff will play "Dick Shadow," a legendary porn star.

Allen Covert and Swardson also penned the script.

Sony acquired the Tom Brady-helmed film as a negative pickup. Sandler's partner Jack Giarraputo is also producing -- though not through the pair's Sony-based Happy Madison shingle -- alongside Covert and Barry Bernardi.

Lensing begins next week.

Dorff is repped by ICM and Management 360.

Tribeca
Outrage
((Docu))
By JOHN ANDERSONRead other reviews about this film

Powered By A Magnolia Pictures release of a Chain
 An exploding bathroom stall of a movie, "Outrage" makes an excellent ipso facto case for itself: If closeted gay politicians vote against equal rights for gays to protect their own secrets, outing them is for the common good. The targets won't agree, but auds, regardless of their politics, will find Kirby Dick's filmentertaining, brisk, visually interesting and perhaps even thrilling: Who will be the next hypocritical homosexual to taste the wrath of Michael Rogers, gay blogger-outer extraordinaire? Whether Magnolia Pictures can spin all this closet-spelunking into something noble rather than seamy will determine whether "Outrage" is one of the more successful docs of the year.
Whom does Dick debunk? Larry Craig, of course, the embarrassingly unctuous Idaho senator whose flirtations in an airport restroom got him arrested (the police tape of Craig protesting his innocence plays over the opening credits). Far more controversial will be "Outrage's" dogged pursuit of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, whose sexuality has long been the subject of speculation, but whose alleged homosexuality is far more circumstantial than Craig's (in the case of the latter, Dick has assembled several formerly intimate acquaintances, whose testimonies ring of long-buried truth).

With an aptly modulated score by Peter Golub and the engaging graphics of Bil White, "Outrage" levels withering assaults at the likes of former New York Mayor Ed Koch, whose record on AIDS and gay rights was virtually nonexistent, despite a well-established affair with a man he subsequently ran out of town (at least according to David Rothenberg, a Koch confidant and the first openly gay candidate for New York's City Council). David Dreier, the California congressman and archconservative, and his ideological brethren, such as Louisiana's Jim McCrery and GOP operative Ken Mehlman, all take their lumps. The fact that Mehlman helped orchestrate the GOP's 2004 virulent anti-gay strategy is the kind of connection in which "Outrage" specializes.

Pic attempts to establish an ongoing media conspiracy to help keep these men closeted, and it doesn't quite pull it off. Dick seems to think the mainstream media can speculate about a politician'sclandestine sex life while reporting how said politician voted on a gay adoption bill or AIDS funding measure, but this exhibits an obliviousness about libel laws, much less journalistic ethics. A sequence in which two CNN broadcasts are shown side by side -- one in which comedian Bill Maher outs Mehlman, and another in which the outing was subsequently deleted -- only shows the perils of live broadcast, and the prudence of CNN's editors. Or its lawyers.

The docu also commits various sins of editorial juxtaposition: From a scene in which Crist insists on his straightness, it cuts to former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, who resigned in the wake of a gay sex scandal, talking about how important it is to be true to oneself. What can the viewer be meant to conclude but that Crist is being dishonest? From all the assembled evidence, he is, but manipulation is still manipulation.

At the same time, "Outrage" (which, one hopes, has its own legal team in place) is operating from a position of righteous indignation, and that indignation is infectious. In a near-poetic gesture, Dick brings in "Angels in America" playwright Tony Kushner and Ray Cohn's denials of his homosexuality, even while he was dying of AIDS co. Where Dick's film goes very right is in attacking self-denial, the essential vice practiced by those who've built careers on denying others their rights.

Production values are tops.

Camera Pictures/Magnolia Pictures presentation. (International sales: Magnolia Pictures, New York.) Produced by Amy Ziering. Executive producers, Tom Quinn, Jason Janego, Ted Sarandos, Chad Griffin, Kimball Stroud, Bruce Brothers, Tectonic Theater Project. Co-producer, Tanner Barklow.
Directed by Kirby Dick. Camera (color, HD), Thaddeus Wadleigh; editor, Doug Blush, Matt Clarke; music, Peter Golub; sound, Michael Boyle, Sean O'Neil, Ben Posnack, Len Schmitz, Bob Silverthorne; sound designer, Dane A. Davis; re-recording mixer, Alexander Gruzdev; associate producers, Ashley York, Tam Nguyen. Reviewed at Magno Review 1, Manhattan, April 22, 2009. (In Tribeca Film Festival -- competing; Hot Docs Film Festival, Toronto.) Running time: 90 MIN.
With Michael Rogers, Tammy Baldwin, Wayne Barrett, Jim McGreevey, Barney Frank, Andrew Sullivan, Tony Kushner, Larry Kramer, Larry Gross.

Partly Private
((Docu – Canada))
By ALISSA SIMONRead other reviews about this film

Powered By A 6291635 Canada production with the support of the Quebec Film and Television Tax Credit, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. (International sales: Filmoption Int'l, Montreal.) Produced by Paul Cadieux. Executive producers, Maryse Rouillard, Ina Fichman, Arik Bernsterin. Directed by Danae Elon.

With: Danae Elon, Philip Touitou, Howard Shaw, Buster Morango, Martin Bergmann, Amos Elon, Kamal Ozkan, James Williams, Dodi Ben Ami.
 Should male infants be circumcised? As the expectant mother of a boy, Israel-born, New York-based helmer Danae Elon ("Another Road Home") uses "Partly Private" as part of her quest to make "a big choice about his little penis." Encompassing trips to Israel, the Palestinian territories, the U.K, Italy and Turkey, her humorous personal docu goes beyond the Jewish rite of the bris to provide interesting facts about the hows and whys of foreskin removal. Although less pithy than Oded Lotan's similarly themed "The Quest for the Missing Piece," this provocative pic should see extended fest play before segueing to broadcast.
In the 20th century, routine neonatal circumcision became standard medical practice in the U.S., and was considered more hygienic. Now, many physicians find no health advantages to the procedure. Indeed, some believe it has a detrimental effect on penile sensitivity, and therefore sexual enjoyment.

Elon's partner, Philip Touitou, a French-Algerian Jew, favors circumcision more out of traditional sentiment than as a covenant of Judaism. As a practical matter, he feels it's important that father and son have, er, equipment that looks the same. Ultimately persuaded to have a mohel perform a bris in their apartment, Elon draws the line at the Algerian custom of putting the discarded foreskin in the couscous.

Wondering what normally happens to circumcision "debris," Elon visits a laboratory that harvests neonatal foreskins for scientific research in treating burn victims, and a clinic that makes anti-aging cosmetics with foreskin cells. She also interviews a mohel who collects his cuttings as heavenly proof of his good deeds.

Muslims, like Jews, traditionally practice circumcision, since uncircumcised males can't make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Although most operations are performed shortly after birth, Elon gets some poignant footage from a visit to an Istanbul "circumcision palace" where, after a shot of Novocain, a group of preteens in fancy dress have their foreskins removed in front of their proud families via a "hot gun" technique.

Pic adds in Middle East politics when Elon goes in search of the site of the first biblical circumcision. The trip permits a look at how tools of the trade evolved from prehistoric flints to high-tech steel blades from an aptly named manufacturer, Dick.

Elon effectively presents both sides in the "to cut or not to cut" debate, including some graphic footage and descriptions. However, some viewers may wish she spent more screen time on interviewees such as Briton James Williams, the inventor of SenSlip, an artificial retractable foreskin developed to re-sensitize the glans, and less on her own family.

Pic was crisply shot on HD; fluid editing works in synch with Elon's voiceover narration and jaunty score to underline comic moments.

Camera (color, HD), Andrew Dunn; editor, Miki Wanatabe Milmore; music, David Buchbinder; art director, John Tate, sound, Michel Lambert. Reviewed on DVD, Chicago, April 20, 2009. (In Tribeca Film Festival -- competing.) Running time: 82 MIN.

Kobe Doin' Work
(Documentary)
By RONNIE SCHEIBRead other reviews about this film

Powered By An ESPN Films release of an ESPN/40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks production. Produced by Spike Lee. Executive producers, John Dahl, Joan Lynch, Connor Schell, John Skipper. Directed by Spike Lee.
 Paradoxically, by focusing exclusively on an individual player in a single sporting event -- Kobe Bryant during a key regular-season game between his Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs -- Spike Lee has captured the essence of team sport. Normally, an athlete's analysis of his own game hardly constitutes high drama. But watching Bryant at work in a kinetic, think-on-your feet, moment-to-moment way, accompanied by his running commentary, fascinatingly fuses thought and action in a manner that found fictional expression in Hollywood genre films like "Objective Burma" or "Die Hard." ESPN pic airs May 16 prior to DVD rollout.
Inspired by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno's 2006 "Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait," which followed a soccer match by focusing exclusively on French superstar Zinedine Zidane, Lee eschews the Gallic doc's solely video flourishes, training 30 cameras and affixing several mics on Bryant, and covering the game -- an end-of-the-season contest with playoff implications, between the Lakers and defending NBA champion Spurs -- in real time.

Bryant's voiceover narration not only makes the proceedings comprehensible to basketball greenhorns, it lets the star define for fans the fast-changing nature of team strategy: Now that he is blessed with highly talented cohorts, he no longer feels the need to score all the Lakers' points. Rather, his job is to help others maximize their potential and form a flexible, intelligent force on the court.

To watch Bryant is to see someone constantly observing everyone else, coordinating their movements on the bench and on the fly ("I never realized I talked so much"), using his knowledge of teammates and opponents to plot out plays before they happen.

Kobe's passion for basketball is infectious, his appreciation of teammates' moves equaled only by his admiration for an opponent's perfectly executed play. The sometimes controversial Bryant, who has never been exalted a la Michael Jordan, here portrays himself in a convincingly selfless light as an ambassador of the sport, advising, encouraging or simply joking around with his United Nations of a team in fluent Serbian, Spanish or Italian.

Lee and longtime editor Barry Alexander Brown (aided by Bruce Hornsby's score) have pieced together a flawlessly paced work that, unlike a TV broadcast of a normal game, contains no dead time, thanks to fly-on-the-wall exchanges on the bench -- as passionately fast-flying as passes on the court -- and even a half-time devoted to the complex locker room interplay between Bryant and coach Phil Jackson.

Lee's relatively wide scope of action is largely due to what Bryant calls his "roaming" game; Kobe's penchant for going wherever needed let's Lee's camera intersect many plays that Bryant isn't primarily involved in.

But Lee also employs special effects to distinguish between Kobe the choreographer and Kobe the dancer: via snapshot black-and-white freeze frames and multi-angled replays of isolated action, Lee breaks down those moments when Kobe himself takes center-stage, halting the forward momentum to ratchet up suspense as to whether the ball will drop through the hoop or miss by a mile.

Camera (color, HD), Matthew Libatique; editor, Barry Alexander Brown; music, Bruce Hornsby; supervising sound editor, Philip Stockton. Reviewed at Tribeca Film Festival (Gala), April 25, 2009. Running time: 84 MIN.
With Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson, members of the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs.
Narrator: Bryant.

LONDON -- "Snakes on a Plane" helmer David R. Ellis has been tapped by former New Line exec Mark Ordesky to direct "Humpy Dumpty."
The 3-D sci-fi horror pic is about a half-human, half-alien creature who embarks on a murderous rampage after his alien mother is abused by two rednecks in the Deep South.

Ordesky is producing through his recently launched shingle Amber Entertainment along with Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones of the iDream Company and Darry Welch from Instinctive Film.

Fabienne Villette is co-producing. Billy Majestic is writing the script.

U.K. sales and finance entity Intandem Films is exec producing and handling worldwide sales on the pic, which is slated to go into production this September.

Stop-motion animation studio Aardman has begun production on its next two features, Arthur Christmas and Pirates! to be distributed by Sony.

Sarah Smith and Barry Cook are co-directing the computer animated Arthur Christmas, which takes place on Christmas night and offers a glimpse behind the scenes at Father Christmas' high-tech gift distribution enterprise.

Aardman is working closely with Sony Pictures Imageworks on the animation and Smith co-write the screenplay with Peter Baynham. Cheryl Abood is producing and Carla Shelley, Peter Lord and David Sproxton serve as executive producers.

Pirates! is co-directed by Aardman founding partner and Chicken Run co-director Lord along with Jeff Newitt based on a screenplay that Gideon Defoe adapted from his books. The story follows a hapless band of pirates in search of adventure

Julie Lockhart is producing and the executive producers are Carla Shelley, Sproxton and Lord.

Aardman and Sony signed a three-year first-look deal in 2007.

Roger Donaldson ("The Bank Job") is set to direct a screen adaptation of Seymour Reit's novel "The Day They Stole the Mona Lisa" for Phoenix Pictures says Variety.

The book centers on the theft of the world's most famous painting from the Louvre in 1911. It was missing for more than two years before an Italian carpenter named Vincent Perugia showed up with the painting in Florence.

The film will center on the conman who masterminded the theft. Robert Chartoff, Lynn Hendee, Arnie Messner, Brad Fischer, David Thwaites and Mike Medavoy will produce.

Danny Huston has joined the cast of Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures remake of "Clash of the Titans" says The Hollywood Reporter.

Huston will play the sea god Poseidon and will interact with the other deities of Greek myth such as Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes).

Sam Worthington, Mads Mikkelsen, Gemma Arterton, Jason Flemyng and Alexa Davalos also are in the cast in this re-telling of the Perseus myth.

Louis Leterrier ("The Incredible Hulk") helms the remake and filming kicked off on Monday outside London.

Basil Iwanyk and Kevin de la Noy are producing.

Paramount Pictures has acquired an untitled Tokyo-set thriller says Variety.

The story follows a CIA operative, stationed in Japan but on the verge of retirement, who is ordered to carry out a final mission. He finds himself caught in the middle of an international conspiracy.

Pierre Morel ("Taken") is set to direct from a script by Frank Baldwin. Alli Shearmur will produce.

Dva potpuno neuračunljiva trejlera...

http://dobanevinosti.blogspot.com/2009/05/toysrus.html

Ben Stiller to 'Spread Goodness'
Filmmaker to direct Participant pic
By MICHAEL FLEMING
Stiller


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Ben Stiller has been set by Participant Media to direct "Help Me Spread Goodness," a drama with comic overtones.
Script, about a Chicago banker who gets swindled in a Nigerian Internet scam, was written by Mark Friedman and developed by Participant Media exec veep Jonathan King and prexy Ricky Strauss before they took it to Stiller.

Stiller will produce with Red Hour partner Stuart Kornfeld and Jeremy Kramer.

While the project is meant to be entertaining, it sheds light on current issues in Nigeria and other African countries, fitting the Participant Media mandate to make films that compel social change.

Timing of when Stiller helms the film depends on the progress of "The Trial of the Chicago 7," the Aaron Sorkin-scripted drama that Stiller took over after Steven Spielberg exited as director.

Stiller last directed "Tropic Thunder," and is next expected to reprise his role in the Paul Weitz-directed "Little Fockers" for Universal. He next stars in the Shawn Levy-directed "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," which Fox releases May 22.

Participant Media's next release will be the Steven Soderbergh-directed Matt Damon starrer "The Informant," which Warner Bros opens Oct. 9.

Buried in a THR column yesterday, it was revealed Fred Durst (frontman of Limp Bizkit) is going to cut his teeth on the horror genre. He'll sit in the director's chair for a film entitled Psycho Killer written by Andrew Kevin Walker.

"It's not a throwaway slasher genre film," he says. "It's a very smart, really compelling story about a serial killer on a mission for Satan. It's really interesting and the way it's written - it's so unique. Andy is an incredible writer. It looks like we're going to go into pre-production around August."

Durst is currently out promoting the release of The Education of Charlie Banks, a drama starring Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Ritter and Chris Marquette. It opens in limited release via Anchor Bay Entertainment this Friday. Andrew Kevin Walker penned Se7e, Sleepy Hollow and this November's The Wolfman.

David Slade ("30 Days of Night," "Hard Candy") is attached to direct the horror/psychological thriller "Cold Skin" for Kanzaman says Variety.

Based on Albert Sanchez Pinol's bestselling Spanish novel of the same title, the story follows a European hired to spend a year logging wind conditions on a tiny Antarctic island.

The bookish young man soon discovers that he has a brutish neighbor named Gruner and the pair soon team to slaughter the humanoid killer amphibians that overrun the island each night.

Gruner keeps a humanoid female looking one as a pet and after fornicating with it repeatedly, the young man tries to befriend the creatures. Things soon turn into a dark orgy of murder and beastiality that when his replacement arrives, the young man has become as feral as Gruner was before him.

Jesus Olmo ("28 Weeks Later") penned the script while Denise O'Dell and Mark Albela will produce. The $25 million project begins shooting in March.

Slade has just been tapped to direct "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" which begins filming later this year.

Bruce Willis is being sought for three new projects - "Red," "Scarpa" and "Inventory" says Risky Biz Blog.

Based on the WildStorm/DC Comic, Summit Entertainment's "Red" would have Willis as an ex-black-ops agent who comes back into action when a high-tech assassin comes after him and the woman he loves.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are producing, Erich and Jon Hoeber penned the script and Richard Donner could potentially direct.

Morgan Creek's "Scarpa" looks at the life of Greg Scarpa, an FBI informant who went undercover in New York's Columbo crime family. Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day") directs.

NuImage/Millennium's "Inventory" has Willis' character as a detective going after a killer.

Warner Bros. has acquired "Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival," a book by Norman Ollestad that Ecco will publish in June.
Ollestad's memoir recounts how his father infused his love for extreme sports in him as a boy, pressing him to become a competitive surfer and skier, experience that allowed him to survive when a plane crash stranded him on an icy mountaintop at age 11.

The film will be produced by Storyopolis co-founder Fonda Snyder, literary manager Rob Weisbach and Gerber Pictures' Bill Gerber. Weisbach sold world rights to the Harper Collins imprint Ecco. Ollestad will be executive producer.

Ollestad, who is now 41 and the father of a 9-year old son, tells the story of his love/hate relationship with his charismatic father, who thrust him into extreme sports pursuits at age 3, and pressed him to excel in the world of surfing and competitive skiing that immersed them in the Southern California surf culture of the 1970s. Ollestad became his father's greatest creation, a fearless surfer and ski champion, and that fearlessness prompted him to not give up even after he saw his idol killed in the crash that left him alone in a blizzard in the San Gabriel Mountains.

"Nothing prepared me for how deeply Norm's story would affect me," Snyder said. "His gripping story forces you to question, given the protective culture of parenting today, how a father shapes a boy's definition of what it means to be a man."

CAA brokered the film deal.

Fox's "Used Guys" has a new lease on life.
Three years after the studio pulled the plug on the futuristic comedy that had Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller onboard to star and Jay Roach directing, Fox is aiming to rebirth "Guys," originally centered on a pair of obsolete pleasure clones, as more of a romantic comedy.

Stiller is now in talks to star and the "Little Miss Sunshine" team of Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton is in talks to direct. Reese Witherspoon's been approached to take the lead female role.

Stiller's also expected to produce through his Red Hour Films shingle.

Fox halted the film in May 2006, a month prior to the start of lensing, saying "Used Guys" wouldn't be ready for its scheduled start date because of its futuristic sets. And due to the delays, the studio said, "Guys" wouldn't wrap before Carrey and Stiller had other acting commitments.

But it turned out that Fox pulled the plug when the pic's budget sailed past $110 million, even though the stars and Roach had agreed to work at reduced rates. "All the parties remain committed to making the picture when time permits," the studio said at the time.

Stiller just signed on with Participant Media to direct "Help Me Spread Goodness," which he'll produce with Red Hour partner Stuart Cornfeld and Jeremy Kramer. He's expected to reprise his role in the Paul Weitz-directed "Little Fockers" for Universal and next stars in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," which Fox bows May 22.

British sketch comedy "Little Britain" is being turned into a US feature film via Ben Stiller's Red Hour Films says The Sun.

Creators & stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams have just finished penning a script for the film that sets the action in Las Vegas. "We're really happy with it, but the whole film project is still kind of dependent on how much we can raise our profiles in America" says Walliams.

First launched on radio and then on TV channel BBC Three in the UK in 2003, the series went on to become an international cult phenomenon with its regular group of characters and their signature catchphrases. Using extensive make-up, the pair played men and women of all different types throughout the series run.

In 2007 the spin-off "Little Britain USA" was launched featuring several of the old characters from the UK series along with some new ones. The show pulled in big numbers in the UK but only did so-so on HBO and US critics were harsh, especially towards two new bodybuilder characters satirizing repressed homosexuality manifesting itself through macho posturing.

The big question is which of their famous creations will be included whether it be 'the only gay in the village' Daffyd Thomas, Emily 'I'm a lady' Howard, obese socialite Bubbles DeVere, militant diet PR woman Marjorie Dawes, or the brattish Vicky Pollard.

Walliams says "We do have some new ideas for characters — a mum feeding her son to make him the fattest boy in America, a psycho American girlfriend, but without the bunnies, a woman who has everything Disney themed, and some annoying Scottish air hostesses."

A second season of "Little Britain USA" is in the works this Fall but the format of their airing has yet to be decided. Lucas is currently starring as the villainous Chancellor Dongalor in Comedy Central's sword & sandal fantasy satire "Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire".

The pair recently recorded new episodes of their musical interview satire "Rock Profile" which originally aired back in 1999 & 2000. Those eps will begin showing on funnyordie.co.uk from May 11th.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has picked up the North American rights to the live-action version of Japanese anime feature "Blood: The Last Vampire" says Screen Daily.

Gianna (My Sassy Girl, Daisy) stars in the film as a 400-year-old demon-hunter working for a secret Japanese organisation during the Vietnam War era.

Koyuki, Michael Byrne, Colin Salmon and Allison Miller also star. Samuel Goldwyn Films is set to release the movie this Summer.

Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy have joined Christopher Nolan's "Inception" for Warner Bros. Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter.

The contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a CEO-type character.

Watanabe will play the film's villain, a man who is blackmailing DiCaprio. Hardy is a member of DiCaprio's team.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard also star. Filming kicks off this Summer.

Watanabe previously played the villainous Ra's Al-Ghul in Nolan's 2005 effort "Batman Begins". British actor Hardy is best known for his role as the villain Shinzon in 2002's "Star Trek: Nemesis".

This afternoon our regular tipster just banged on my door and unloaded a bunch of casting for Dimension Films' Piranha 3D, which begins lensing next month in Arizona under the direction of Alex Aja. Read on to see who will be joining the previously announced Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames and Richard Dreyfuss in the forthcoming reboot that takes place in Lake Havasu, Arizona, where a tremor causes the lake's floor to open, setting free scores of prehistoric piranhas...


Bloody-Disgusting learned exclusively this afternoon of the following casting for Piranha 3D.

First, Dina Meyer, who you might remember as "Kerry" in Saw II-IV, will be playing "Paula".

The young Brooklynn Proulx will play "Laura".

Quinn Lord, who you'll see as "Sam" in Trick 'r Treat later this year and in Joe Dante's The Hole, stars as "Zane".

Lastly, Riley Steele rounds out the cast as "Crystal".

Elizabeth Shue will play Sheriff Julie Forester, Ving Rhames will play "Fallon" and Adam Scott takes on the character "Novak." The legendary Richard Dreyfuss cameos.

Here's the synopsis being used at this time: They're back! Every year the population of sleepy Lake Havasu explodes from 5,000 to 50,000 for a single, wild weekend - the 4th of July, a riot of sun, drunken fun and sex-crazed mayhem. But this year, there's something more to worry about than hangovers and complaints from local old timers. Havasu sits in the crater formed by a prehistoric volcanic eruption, and when earth tremors tear open a crack in the lake floor, all hell breaks through. Piranhas - a million ravenous, razor-toothed monsters, unchanged since the dawn of time. Unstoppable killing machines acting blindly under one primeval impulse: to hunt down anything that moves and strip it to the raw, bleeding bone. In seconds.

Piranha hits theaters March 19, 2010.

Source: Bloody-Disgusting

Rachel Weisz has signed on to star in indie political drama "The Whistleblower" in a part recalling the thesp's role as a crusading truth-seeker in "The Constant Gardener."
Larysa Kondracki will make her feature directorial debut.

Based on a true story, "Whistleblower" chronicles the trials of a female cop from Nebraska who serves as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and exposes a United Nations cover-up of a sex trafficking scandal. Kondracki and Ellis Kirwin wrote the film, which will shoot in Budapest. The pair based the screenplay on the story of Kathryn Bolkovac, who traveled to Bosnia in 1999 as a U.N. peacekeeper.

Primary Prods.' Amy Kaufman ("Sin nombre") is producing alongside First Generation's Christina Piovesan ("Amreeka") and Plum Pictures' Celine Rattray ("The Winning Season").

Project had originally been set up at Focus Features, where Kaufman had been an exec on the project. Then HBO Films scooped up the real-life tale in turnaround.

Nicolas Chartier of Voltage Pictures will handle international sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, while UTA is repping the U.S. sale.

Weisz will next be seen in Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" and Alejandro Amenabar's "Agora," which will unspool at Cannes.

Mark Lindsay's New York-based sales company Kimmel International has bulked up its Cannes slate with international rights to the espionage thriller Trust starring Kiefer Sunderland, Billy Crudup and Guy Pearce.


Robert Edwards is scheduled to start shooting in Los Angeles this autumn. The story follows two FBI counter-intelligence agents in 1969 Los Angeles who are stunned when a fellow American walks in and confesses he has been spying for the Soviets and volunteers to turn double agent.

Greg Shapiro who produced Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker and is in production on Bruce Robinson's The Rum Diary is serving as producer. CAA is handling North American rights.

"The world of Trust is one in which no-one – not the characters themselves, and certainly not the audience – is ever quite sure who is on the level and who isn't, or who is being double-crossed and who is doing the double-crossing," Edwards said.

The director is currently adapting John LeCarre's novel The Night Manager for Paramount and Brad Pitt's production company Plan B.

Kimmel International will also introduce the drama Hesher starring Natalie Portman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rainn Wilson, Piper Laurie, John Carroll Lynch and Devin Brochu. Spenser Susser was due to begin shooting this week in Los Angeles from a screenplay he co-wrote with David Michod.

The story centers on a 13-year-old boy and a twenty-something anarchist who walks into the youngster's life and helps him deal with loss, love, bullies and the difficulties of growing up. Portman is producing the film with Lucy Cooper, Matt Weaver and Scott Prisand.

Kimmel International's slate includes Mark Ruffalo's drama and feature directorial debut Sympathy For Delicious starring Christopher Thornton, Ruffalo, Orlando Bloom, Juliette Lewis and Laura Linney, as well as the inspirational drama An Invisible Sign starring Jessica Alba, and the comedy Paper Man with Jeff Daniels, Emma Stone, Lisa Kudrow and Ryan Reynolds.

The roster continues with the comedy All's Faire In Love starring Christina Ricci, Owen Benjamin, Matthew Lillard, Ann-Margret and Cedric the Entertainer, supernatural horror Don't Look Up from Fruit Chan, and Gregor Jordan's thriller Unthinkable with Samuel L Jackson, Carrie-Anne Moss and Michael Sheen.

Fortapasc
(Italy)
By JAY WEISSBERG

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'Fortapasc'

A 01 Distribution release of a BiBi Film, Rai Cinema, Minerva Pictures Group production. Produced by Angelo Barbagallo, Gianluca Curti. Executive producer, Gianfranco De Rosa. Directed by Marco Risi. Screenplay, Jim Carrington, Andrea Purgatori, Risi.

With: Libero De Rienzo, Valentina Lodovini, Michele Riondino, Massimiliano Gallo, Ernesto Mahieux, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gigio Morra, Gianfranco Gallo, Antonio Buonomo, Ennio Fantastichini, Duccio Camerini, Renato Carpentieri, Gianfelice Imparato, Marcello Mazzarella, Daniele Pecci.
  Marco Risi's long-in-gestation "Fortapasc" strikingly re-creates the last four months in the life of Giancarlo Siani, a young journalist whacked by the Neapolitan mob in 1985 for digging too deeply into their alliances. Though any Camorra movie will now inevitably be compared with Matteo Garrone's very different "Gomorrah," Risi has crafted his personal best with this hard-hitting take on the murder of idealism. Title (pronounced "Fort-apash" in dialect) references John Ford's classic western, "Fort Apache," and the lawlessness of Mafia-ruled Naples, here brought to Scorsese-like life. Critical reception has outpaced public interest, though Euro arthouses and ancillary should respond.
Siani (Libero De Rienzo, perfectly cast) is an idealistic adjunct reporter attached to the Neapolitan suburb of Torre Annunziata. His dream is to become a fully accredited journalist, but editor Sasa (Ernesto Mahieux) isn't interested in investigative stories.

When Siani stumbles on a pow-wow between local kingpin Valentino Gionta (Massimiliano Gallo) and big boss Carmine Alfieri (Gigio Morra), he seizes the chance to write a real expose. With the enthusiasm and courage of youth, Siani tries to trace Gionta's connections, from fellow Camorristas up to corrupt politicians and magistrates.

In the course of his investigation, Siani chronicles the open warfare between rival factions. He gains recognition from the "real" journalists he so longs to join, but also arouses the deadly anger of the mob.

Risi and fellow scripters Jim Carrington and Andrea Purgatori avoid creating a simple issues-based film, fleshing out Siani's professional and ethical drive with scenes of a more personal nature, especially involving his g.f., Daniela (Valentina Lodovini). While these side elements project Siani as a sympathetic regular Joe, rather than merely an anti-mob crusader, they occasionally feel unnecessary, as in Daniela's clumsy jealousy over a flirtatious cellist's glances.

The reference to "Fort Apache" first comes from Torre Annunziata's corrupt Mayor Cassano (Ennio Fantastichini), as he denies the lawlessness that's patently obvious. Risi doesn't over-emphasize the parallels -- there's no sense of the blind, rule-bound hubris at the core of Ford's classic -- but when Gionta and his cronies ride into town on their motorcycles like something out of the Wild West, the film's cinematic genealogy is clear.

While not featuring any bravura camerawork a la Scorsese, "Fortapasc" has plenty of cheap Camorra bling and swagger, which elicit knowing chuckles that are eventually silenced by sadistic rub-outs. At times, however, the pic feels overly scripted: When Siani talks to high school students, it's too obvious he's really trying to educate the viewer.

The film captures the run-down spaces around Naples, with their cheap glitz and heat-baked rubble. Risi's use of a cavern-like car park is perfect: Though not uncommon in the area, the space acts as a kind of Hades, a dangerous, primitive world lying just under the heart of the city.

Lenser Marco Onorato, also d.p. on "Gomorrah," here uses a richer palette, reflecting a more intimate story. Several cast members here also appeared in Garrone's film. Several cast members, apparently straight out of central casting, are also shared with the same film.


PainterCamera (color), Marco Onorato; editor, Clelio Benevento; music, Franco Piersanti; production designer, Sonia Peng; costume designer, Ortensia De Francesco; sound (Dolby Digital), Massimo Simonetti; assistant director, Dino Giarrusso. Reviewed at Nuovo Sacher, Rome, April 19, 2009. Running time: 108 MIN.

Racing Dreams
(Documentary)
By RONNIE SCHEIBRead other reviews about this film

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'Racing Dreams'

A Good/White Buffalo Entertainment/Fire Tower Films presentation of a Good/White Buffalo production. Produced by Bristol Baughan, Marshall Curry. Executive producers, Jack Turner, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Ben Goldhirsh. Directed by Marshall Curry.

With: Annabeth Barnes, Josh Hobson, Brandon Warren.
  Half lean, mean racing saga and half in-depth character study, "Racing Dreams" is a dynamite docu about three kids vying for the National Championship of the World Karting Assn. -- the unofficial "Little League" of NASCAR racing. Directed by Marshall Curry (whose "Street Fight," about a corrupt Newark mayoral race, nabbed an Academy Award nomination), the perceptively balanced "Dreams" transitions seamlessly from domestic drama to 70-mph heats. Winner of Tribeca's docu award, the pic promises a potentially wide audience base among fans of racing, fans of kids and fans of documentaries.
Curry has chosen three tweens who differ wildly in class, attitude and personality to represent the drivers of these extreme WKA karts, with winners often graduating to full-size racing cars well before they can legally steer the family sedan. Josh, at 12, already a four-time champ, is quiet and well behaved, performing well in school and brilliantly on the track. A pint-sized politician, he studies NASCAR pros as much for their interview style as for their driving smarts, well aware that his future in the sport depends on attracting sponsors.

Eleven-year-old Annabeth is new to the Nationals but not to the sport, having made karting headlines as a champion in a sport dominated by boys. The daughter of a retired racer dad and a self-confessed "NASCAR-addicted" mom, she grew up around the track, and is resolved to become the first woman to win the Daytona 500. Meanwhile 13-year-old Brandon arrives at the Nationals after having his victory the year before disqualified for rough driving. Brandon has issues with anger management, on and off the track -- the legacy of a troubled childhood.

Tracking this trio around the country to the five meets that determine the final standings, director Curry utilizes various graphic and post-production video effects to make the proceedings instantly understandable, including animated scoreboards and rendering his protagonists' vehicles in bright colors against their black-and-white competition.

But in Curry's edit, ultimate success or failure is tied to the resolution of dramatic changes the kids are undergoing at home. Annabeth bows to the pressures and joys of being a teenage girl, no longer content to forego parties and friends for long weekends of practice laps -- much to the consternation of her NASCAR-centric folks. Finally, she is drawn back to competing as much by her budding romance with Brandon as by love of the sport. Only Josh appears impervious to the onrush of puberty -- though not to the huge debts accrued by his middle-class parents in their support of his costly vocation.

Tech credits are superlative, with the docu almost too polished for the sense of immediacy it largely conveys. Curry frames the backwoods house Brandon shares with his auto-mechanic grandfather almost like a fiction film as their peaceful existence is disrupted by Brandon's father's release from prison.


Camera (color, HD), Alan Jacobsen, Wolfgang Held, Peter Gordon, Marshall Curry, editors, Matthew Hamachek, Marshall Curry, Mary Manhardt; music, Joel Goodman; sound, Al Nelson. Reviewed at Tribeca Film Festival (competing), April 29, 2009. Running time: 97 MIN.

Robert De Niro and Edward Norton are attached to star in the indie psychological thriller "Stone," to be helmed by John Curran.
Story centers on a correctional officer (De Niro) who is seduced by the wife of a convicted arsonist (Norton) up for parole.

Angus MacLachlan ("Junebug") penned the screenplay.

"Stone" marks the debut film of Mimran Schur Pictures, a company formed earlier this year by private investor David Mimran and longtime music biz executive and former Geffen Records prexy Jordan Schur.

Holly Wiersma ("Bobby") is producing alongside Mimran and Schur. Avi Lerner, Rene Besson, Trevor Short and Danny Dimbort are exec producing.

Curran is prepping the Keira Knightley starrer "The Beautiful and the Damned."

De Niro is on board for the latest chapter in the "Meet the Parents" franchise, "Little Fockers."

Norton will next be seen in the indie "Leaves of Grass."

James McAvoy, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney and Anna Friel are set to star in "The Details," a black comedy scripted and directed by Jacob Estes.
Story concerns a couple, to be played by McAvoy and Banks, who discover an infestation of raccoons in their back yard. Disagreements over how to deal with the animals lead to an escalating series of events.

Lensing is set to begin this summer in Seattle.

Mark Gordon is producing alongside Bryan Zuriff and Hagai Shaham.

The film is the first for Estes since his 2004 thriller "Mean Creek."

Estes was hired to rewrite another script for Gordon, who read "The Details" and boarded the project.

Gordon's producing the upcoming Roland Emmerich-directed "2012" for Sony and a Fox 2000 drama based on Patricia Cornwell's series of Dr. Kay Scarpetta novels.

Gotham-based shingle Ergo Films is financing the project. ContentFilm is handling worldwide sales.

Warner Bros. has set Alex Holmes to rewrite and direct "The Interpretation of Murder," an adaptation of the Jed Rubenfeld novel.
Paula Weinstein is producing.

Story follows a Sigmund Freud protege who discovers a trail of sadistic murders in turn-of-the-century New York.

Chris Kyle wrote the first draft of the screenplay. The novel was published in 2007 by Picador.

Deal marks the first studio project for Holmes, who co-wroe, helmed and was exec producer of "House of Saddam," a dissection of the ruthless reign of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The mini aired on HBO in the U.S.

Holmes is repped by ICM.

Jerry O'Connell has joined the cast of "Piranha 3-D" for The Weinstein Company says Entertainment Weekly.

Alexandre Aja helms the action-thriller which co-stars the likes of Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss and Jessica Szohr.

The story is set around Lake Victoria in the mid-West when a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish.

Soon, unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food, but our heroine (Shue) has just one chance to save the lake and her family from totally being devoured.

Filming kicks off next Monday at Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken and Val Kilmer have joined the mob drama "The Irishman" for Code Entertainment reports the trades.

The story is based on the life of mobster Danny Greene (Stevenson), a violent Irish-American gangster who competed with the Italian mob in 1970s Cleveland and ended up provoking a countrywide turf war that crippled the entire criminal underworld.

Walken will play infamous loan-sharking nightclub owner Shondor Birns, and Kilmer will portray a Cleveland cop who befriends Greene.

Jonathan Hensleigh ("The Punisher") will direct from a screenplay he wrote. Filming is set to begin on May 19th in Detroit.

Al Corley, Bart Rosenblatt and Eugene Musso are producing.

Rosario Dawson and Steve Coogan have joined the Greek mythology-infused adventure "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief" for Fox 2000 says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story is adaptation of Rick Riordan's best-selling fantasy-adventure book series that includes the world-saving quest of Poseidon's half-human son, Percy, in modern America.

Catherine Keener, Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Sean Bean, Kevin McKidd, Melina Kanakaredes, Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson already have been cast.

Coogan will play the nefarious Hades, and Dawson will play his imprisoned wife, Persephone, who has a flirtation with Jackson's character, Grover, Percy's best friend. Only the role of Ares, God of War, is yet to be cast.

Chris Columbus is directing.

Jeffrey Nachmanoff ("Traitor") is set to direct "Billy Smoke" for Warner Bros. Pictures and Thunder Road says The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on B. Clay Moore's comic book series, "Lost" star Matthew Fox is attached to star as an elite hit man who is nearly killed during a botched job.

He realizes that his only way to find redemption is to rid the world of all assassins. Eric Gitter is set to produce.

"Gossip Girl" star Jessica Szohr has joined Dimension Films horror film remake "Piranha 3-D" says E! Online.

Szohr plays a hot young townie caught up in the excitement of co-eds who have descended upon lakeside town for spring break. Unfortunately they haven't realised it has been overrun by man-eating razor-toothed fish,

Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) directs the remake which also star Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Adam Scott, Richard Dreyfuss, Dina Meyer, Brooklynn Proulx, Quinn Lord and Riley Steele also star.

Shooting kicks off in Arizona later this month.

Guillermo del Toro is in negotiations to produce the horror feature "Mama" for Universal Pictures says Risky Biz Blog.

Andy and Barbara Muschietti are writing the English-language script based on their acclaimed Spanish-language short with Andy directing and Barbara producing. The Muschiettis are currently working on the script.

The plotline for the full feature is being kept under wraps, but the short centers on two girls, Victoria and Lily, who are on the run from a ghostly woman who appears to be their mother in a Gothic home.

If Del Toro signs on, the arrangement would be similar to his involvement in Juan Antonio Bayona's well-received 2007 supernatural thriller "The Orphanage".

Due to Del Toro's commitment to "The Hobbit", it's quite possible "Mama" will also shoot in New Zealand to allow more involvement by the "Pan's Labyrinth" filmmaker.

"Quantum of Solace" helmer Marc Forster and producer William Horberg are reteaming on the tech thriller "Disconnect" for Nala Films.
Penned by Andrew Stern, script explores the mystery of how people live in today's wired world, where the technology meant to bring them together only forces them further apart.

Nala's Darlene Caamano Loquet and Emilio Diez Barroso optioned the script and will finance and produce the film. Brad Simpson and Forster are also producing via their Apparatus shingle alongside Wonderful Films' Horberg.

Nala, whose recent credits include "Dan in Real Life" and "In the Valley of Elah," is in post-production on the supernatural thriller "Shelter," starring Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Forster, who is not expected to return for another James Bond installment, is developing "World War Z" for Paramount Pictures. His credits include "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Finding Neverland."

Simon West will direct Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff's update of "The Mechanic."
Winkler and Chartoff produced the 1972 original, in which Charles Bronson played a highly skilled -- and massively detached -- hitman who finds himself training the son of one of his victims. Jason Statham is taking the Bronson role in the remake.

Pre-rights to the project were being sold at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

West, who last directed a remake of "When a Stranger Calls," will begin lensing this summer in Shreveport, La., where Nu Image/Millennium is building a studio.

William Chartoff and David Winkler are exec producing along with Nu Image/Millennium's Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson and Avi Lerner. Karl Gajdusek penned the script.

Marisa Tomei and Liv Tyler will topline indie psychological thriller "10A/10B," produced and financed through Christopher Mallick's Oxymoron Entertainment.
South Korean director Chul-soo Park will helm the adapted script of his original 1995 film "301/302."

Film will explore the relationship and consequences that result when a culinary perfectionist, portrayed by Tyler, and an actress with a failing career, played by Tomei, become neighbors in a loft apartment building.

Mallick and Intl. Production Co.'s Dan Frisch and Philip Waley will produce along with Floyd Byars and Unjoo Byars.

Filming will begin in Los Angeles on June 1.

Oxymoron will show its comedy "Middle Man" at Cannes.

Objectified
(Documentary)
By RONNIE SCHEIBRead other reviews about this film

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'Objectified'

A Swiss Dots production. Produced, directed by Gary Hustwit.

With: Paola Antonelli, Marc Newson, Dieter Rams, Alice Rawsthorn, Jonathan Ives, David Kelley, Karim Rashid, Andrew Blauvelt, Naoto Fukasawa, Chris Bangle, Dan Formosa.
(English, German, French, Japanese, Dutch dialogue)
  In a decidedly secular spin on the theory of intelligent design, Gary Hustwit's "Objectified" riffs on the premise that everything in our man-made environment has been deliberately preconfigured. In contrast to his 2007 "Helvetica," which expanded the notion of a simple typeface to encompass the universe, the helmer starts with a totality of objects to arrive at basic precepts. Interviewing influential designers of everything from potato peelers to iPods, Hustwit poses fascinating questions about what George Carlin irreverently dubbed "stuff." This witty, engaging and exquisitely crafted docu, which opened May 8 at Gotham's IFC Center, could achieve wide ancillary appeal.
While designers from around the globe articulately espouse their philosophies and approaches, Hustwit's camera frames chairs, coffee pots and spoons like objects found on an alien, quasifuturistic landscape, where even huge factory machines appear sleek and spotless. The camera roves through consumer displays in huge department stores in Tokyo, Stockholm and Berlin.

Some designers seek to improve existing products to make them more user-friendly, while others are inspired to fabricate something that has never before existed. Some, backed by commercial interests, want to create the ultimate "now" model of infinitely disposable techno-gear, while still others value sustainability. As one preserves tradition by sewing buttons on a boxy divan, another questions why we stubbornly cling to outmoded ways in a microchip world that renders those concepts obsolete. In one designer's view, we simply cannot keep producing more stuff for 10% of the planet when 90% lack even basic services.

Consultants' free-form brainstorming leads from a bristle-replaceable toothbrush to every conceivable variation on dental care. A computer designer waxes poetic on the multifunctionality of a plastic keyboard grid. A car engineer likens automobile models to classical sculptures while, to another, they symbolize drivers' visions of themselves.

But the biggest sea change in the nature of design comes from ecology and accompanying problems of recycling and disposal. As the camera roves the streets of Hoboken, N.J., past rows of discarded appliances half-covered in snow, Hustwit's film shows how artistic, sentimental, environmental and commercial priorities struggle for pre-eminence amid concerns for planetary survival.

More than one option(Person) David Kelley
Assistant Director, Assistant Camera Operator, Production Assistant
(Person) David Kelley
ActorCamera (color, HD), Luke Geissbuhler; editor, Joe Beshenkovsky; music, Kristian Dunn; sound, Lou Teti; sound designer, Brian Bracken. Reviewed at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, New York, April 4, 2009. Running time: 75 MIN.

James McTeigue ("V for Vendetta," "Ninja Assassin") is tipped to be helming the upcoming "Conan the Barbarian" reboot film for Nu-Image/Millenium says

The news comes a few days after it was revealed that "Rush Hour" helmer Brett Ratner has left the project. The concern now is that $120 million dollar budget for the film may be slashed as McTeigue's resume doesn't guarantee a hit as much as Ratner.

...od jutros netom cirkulišu dva primamljiva naslova - bugarski neo-noir ZIFT (1 CD, DVD Screener, hardcoded engeski titlovi) i THE HORSEMEN Jonasa Akerlunda (1 CD, dvd rip)...

Akerlund obećava!

opa! ko bi očekivo omaž ruskom ratnom klasiku u američkom horor filmu?! 

Up
12 May, 2009 | By Mike Goodridge

Dir: Pete Docter, US, 2009. 104mins


The tenth feature film from Pixar Animation Studios – and the first in which flesh-and-blood (non-superhero) humans are the key protagonists – Pete Docter's Up is a marvel of a movie which will enchant cinemagoers around the world and remain a family favourite for decades to come. A highpoint of ingenuity and storytelling in the Pixar canon and indeed the animated form, this is a fitting opening to this year's Cannes Film Festival; indeed it will be hard for any other film there to match the storytelling genius and gorgeous 3D imagery which Docter and his team have achieved.

Box office greatness is assured for all Pixar films these days, thanks to the strength of the brand combined with that of its partners at Disney. But, although all have been blockbusters, there's a wide Pixar range: last year's Wall-E, widely, for example, took $222.8m in the domestic market and $311m in international, but even that $535m total was $330m less than Finding Nemo in 2003. Quite where Up will fall in the range is anybody's guess, although its strong emotional connection to audiences will likely drive it up into the higher end of the studio's grossing scale.

Although there are plenty of animated films still to come this year — Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox and Walt Disney title The Princess And The Frog among them — Up should be the strongest contender for the animated feature Oscar next March, and could even pitch for consideration in the best picture category as well.

Up has humour and action aplenty to enthrall children, but it should engage adults in equal quantities who will respond to its rich emotional content.

The prologue is a heartrending 10 minutes set in the 1930s, when we meet a young child named Carl Fredricksen who longs for the adventures played out by his hero, real-life explorer Charles Muntz, in exotic locations such as Paradise Falls in South America.

The young Carl makes friends with a feisty girl called Ellie who has a similar longing for adventure. The two form a bond which will see them getting married, trying (and failing) to have a baby and growing old together, until Ellie gets sick and dies. The film essentially begins with the 78-year-old Carl struggling with loneliness after her funeral.

Carl's grief is exacerbated by the fact that developers are trying to get their hands on his city-centre house and ship him off to a retirement home. When he loses his temper with one of  the construction crew, he is served with a court order to pack up and leave.

But on the night before Carl is due to move out of his home, he hatches a plot to pursue the adventure he never had. By inflating thousands of balloons, he lifts the house off its foundations and flies away.

Unbeknown to Carl, also on board is a persistent eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer called Russell who is desperate to do a service for Carl and win his assisting-the-elderly badge. The two of them head off to South America, land in Paradise Falls and begin an adventure which changes their lives and their outlooks.

Superbly voiced by Edward Asner, Carl is a new kind of hero for any animated film: a grumpy old man with rigidly square features — even square ears and square liver spots — and a bad back. His relationship with the neglected but hardy Russell (endearingly voiced by newcomer Nagai) grows slowly and authentically as they encounter various rare birds, packs of talking dogs and an ageing Charles Muntz (voiced by Plummer).

The colours of the film are ravishing and some of the compositions are painterly, while the 3D enhances the images without playing any in-your-face tricks on the audience. Michael Giacchino's memorable music themes will be rattling around your head for hours after the film is over.

The Pixar canon is so impressive because of its insistence on story. Avoiding distracting star names in the voice cast or contemporary pop culture references, the films are timeless and eminently valuable assets in the Disney library, and they represent a golden era for animation which will go down in film history alongside the early Disney greats such as Snow White and Fantasia. With Toy Story 3 set for release next year and two Pixar films for 2011, one can only expect the consistency of quality to be sustained.

Hanway Films will handle international sales on Takashi Miike's samurai pic "Thirteen Assassins" reports Variety.

Based on Eiichi Kudo's 1963 film and set in the shogun era, the story follows thirteen assassins who come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord, is b

Jeremy Thomas and Toshiaki Nakazawa ("Departures," "Sukiyaki Western Django") will produce.

Shooting kicks off this July in Japan's Yamagature Prefecture.

Dark Castle is revisiting the haunted house genre, pairing with Todd Lincoln, who will write and direct "The Apparition" for Joel Silver's genre label.
Details of the project, an original idea developed by Lincoln, Dark Castle exec Alex Heineman and producer Daniel Alter, is being kept under wraps, but the plot is said to be based on true events.

"Apparition" marks the second project Lincoln and Alter have conjured up at Warner Bros.-based Dark Castle over the past month, after setting up sci-fi thriller "The Nye Incidents" there. That pic will be based on Whitley Strieber and Craig Spector's graphic novel.

It's also one of the first projects Dark Castle has picked up since former Rogue Pictures prexy Andrew Rona was tapped prexy of Silver Pictures and co-prexy of the genre label late last year.

Dark Castle has previously ventured into haunted house territory with "Thirteen Ghosts" and "House on Haunted Hill."

Silver, Rona and Heineman will produce through Dark Castle with Alter. Final producing credits are still being worked out.

Alter also has an adaptation of "Johnny Quest" set up at WB with producer Adrian Askarieh. Duo collaborated on "Hitman" at Fox. Alter and Askarieh also have adaptations of the Devil's Due books "Hack/Slash" and "Lost Squad" set up at Relativity-owned Rogue.

Lincoln, who established himself as a musicvideo and commercials helmer, had previously been attached to a remake of "The Fly" at Fox.

Joel Silver's Dark Castle is developing the remake "I Saw What You Did" for Warner Bros. Pictures to release says Variety.

Based on the 1965 William Castle-directed "I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are!", the story revolved around two girls who innocently pass the time making prank phone calls to unsuspecting people until they call the wrong guy.

Joan Crawford star in the original which was based on Ursula Curtis' novel "Out of the Dark". Silver, Andrew Rona and Steve Richards will produce.

"My Bloody Valentine 3D" duo Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer will write and Lussier will direct.