ZNAK SAGITE — više od fantastike — edicija, časopis, knjižara...

Alex Holmes has been tapped to steer a biopic of car designer John DeLorean that Time Inc. Studios and XYZ Films will produce.

Holmes, who most recently wrote and directed the HBO and BBC miniseries "House of Saddam," developed the DeLorean script with co-writer Rob Warr. They had previously collaborated on the BBC TV series "Dunkirk."

The DeLorean film will tell the story of how the auto industry maverick's glamorous life came crashing down when he was caught in an FBI drug trafficking sting, only to be acquitted on grounds of entrapment.

Holmes envisions the pic as a crime thriller with a tragic hero at its heart.

"As a kid, John DeLorean seemed an almost mythic figure to me. His dreams brought him head to head with both the British and American establishment, and they destroyed him," Holmes said.

The producers behind the pic are working closely with DeLorean's son Zachary DeLorean, the executor of the DeLorean estate. Film is also based on the carmaker's unpublished memoirs, articles from Fortune and Time, as well as Hillel Levin's book "Grand Delusions."

Time Inc. Studios prexy Paul Speaker; XYZ partners Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer and Aram Tertzakian; and Tamir Ardon, who is also producing a docu on DeLorean, will produce the pic. Time Inc. Studios is the video and film production arm of Time Inc.

The project is racing to get to the bigscreen before other DeLorean pics, including one from Brett Ratner that James Toback is scripting and Robert Evans is producing, and another from David Permut based on life rights from DeLorean's longtime attorney, Mayer Morganroth.

"There are other producers out there trying to make a movie about my father," said Zachary DeLorean, "but this is the only one I'm standing behind, and the only one the DeLorean estate is allowing."

Holmes is also adapting Robert Mazur's book "The Infiltrator," about Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel, for 2929 Prods., and will write and direct "The Interpretation of Murder," based on Jed Rubenfeld's novel, for Warner Bros. and Paula Weinstein.

Christopher McQuarrie has been tapped by 20th Century Fox to write the sequel to "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," the film that Hugh Jackman is developing to reprise his role as razor-clawed protag Logan.

The studio hasn't yet determined timing or whether Gavin Hood will return as director. McQuarrie has a history with "X-Men," as he worked on the first film with director Bryan Singer but didn't take a credit.

He pitched his take several days ago for a storyline that is set in Japan and based on the Chris Claremont-Frank Miller comicbook series "The Samurai." Story centers on Logan's evolution into a samurai.

Jackman is producing with John Palermo and Lauren Shuler Donner. McQuarrie most recently scripted and produced "Valkyrie."

Universal Pictures has set Bryan Singer to direct and produce a feature version of "Battlestar Galactica."

It's not clear whether Ronald Moore, exec producer of the recent series, will be invited to write the screenplay, but Singer will clearly put his own creative stamp on the project, as the studio indicates that the film will be "a complete reimagination."

Glen Larson is aboard to produce.

The original version of the series ran for two seasons on ABC beginning in 1978. Singer had long been intrigued with "Galactica" and flirted with relaunching it into a TV series right after he directed the original "X-Men" (Daily Variety, Feb. 22, 2001). At the time, he was teamed to exec produce the series with Tom DeSanto and to direct the pilot of the new version.

The director got busy on other projects, but he was prescient, at the time calling the Galactica brand "a sleeping giant." Moore became the executive producer of the 73-episode series, which had a successful run on the then-Sci Fi Channel starting in 2004.

The move negates a prevailing rumor that Singer was flirting with the idea of returning to the X-Men series by taking the reins of "X-Men: First Class," which focuses on the younger mutant characters seen fleetingly at the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning.

"Gossip Girl" creator Josh Schwartz wrote the first draft of that script.

Singer's repped by WME and attorney Dave Feldman.

Legendary Pictures has tapped Christopher Weekes to rewrite "Waterproof," the family actioner that "Enchanted" helmer Kevin Lima will direct.
Project revolves around a man who unwittingly unleashes a cadre of mythological creatures upon his town.

Legendary initially picked up "Waterproof" as a pitch from Gregg Chabot and Kevin Peterka, who took the first stab at penning the script.

Weekes first attracted attention around town for his script "The Muppet Man," a fictional account of the final days of Jim Henson.

"Waterproof" is expected to be Lima's next directing effort.

Lima will produce the pic with Chris Chase, as well as Daniel Bobker and Ehren Kruger.

Legendary recently attached Sam Raimi to helm "Warcraft," based on the "World of Warcraft" videogame franchise, and is currently in production on the reboot of "Clash of the Titans," "Sucker Punch" and "Jonah Hex" at Warner Bros. Shingle's "Where the Wild Things Are" goes out Oct. 16 and "Ninja Assassin" bows Nov. 25, also through WB.

Steve Leff (TV's "Two and a Half Men," "Curb Your Enthusiasm") has sold his comedy spec script "Doc & Howie Whack a Granny" to the Montecito Picture Co. says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story revolves around two men who inadvertently kill a frail elderly woman when they neglect to help her carry groceries up stairs.

On the plus side, the incident puts them in position to get closer to the woman's attractive granddaughters.

Another Badass Added To THE EXPENDABLES??


Merrick here...


For a while now we've been hearing scuttlebutt (what the hell kind of word is that, anyway?) that Bruce Willis would make some kind of appearance in Stallone's THE EXPENDABLES. The film's cast already includes Stallone, Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Eric Roberts, and Terry Crews.

Although rumors of his involvement were persistent, the below quote represents the first officialish comment on the matter...coming from Bruce himself.

The "Die Hard" star confirmed to MTV News that he is leaving time open on his schedule to shoot a cameo for "The Expendables," the ultra-violent, star-studded action flick written/directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone. Sly is currently putting the finishing touches on the movie, which also stars Jason Statham, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke as mercenaries overthrowing a South American dictator. Willis said that the he will soon join Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger to shoot a very special scene for the flick.

"Not yet, I haven't united with them," said Willis. "I'm waiting for a call from Sly about when we're going to try and make that happen."

...Willis told MTV's Movie Blog HERE.

With this cast, and the promise of breathtaking carnage, is Sly making the ultimate man movie here? I get that feeling...

Neil LaBute will write and direct an adaptation of "The Burnt Orange Heresy," Charles Willeford's crime novel set in the world of modern art, with William Horberg ("The Kite Runner") producing.

Project re-teams LaBute with Horberg after the duo worked on the remake of "Death at a Funeral."

"We had a great experience making 'Death at a Funeral' together for Screen Gems and were looking for something else to do together," Horberg told Daily Variety. "We discovered that we were both big Willeford fans."
More than one option

    * (Co) Daily Variety
      Filmography, Year, Role
    * (Co) Daily Variety

Willeford's novel, set in Palm Beach, centers on a corrupt art critic's attempts to finagle an interview with a legendary but reclusive French painter.

Horberg noted that he was an associate producer on "Miami Blues," another Willeford adaptation, bringing the project to Jonathon Demme and George Armitage at the start of his career. He was an exec producer on "Milk" and is currently exec producing "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" for Miramax.

LaBute's directing credits include "In the Company of Men," "Nurse Betty" and "Lakeview Terrace."

He's repped by ICM.

Warner Bros. and Hollywood Gang Prods. have set "Shoot 'Em Up" helmer Michael Davis to direct "Outland," a remake of the 1981 Sean Connery sci-fier.

Chad St. John, who scripted WB drama "The Days Before," will pen the redo.

The drama revolves around a police marshal stationed at a remote mining colony on Jupiter's moon Io, where he uncovers a murderous conspiracy threatening the entire Outland with collapse.

Hollywood Gang's Gianni Nunnari is producing; Craig J. Flores exec produces.

"We loved the original sci-fi film with Sean Connery," Nunnari said. "At its core, 'Outland' is a version of 'High Noon' in outer space, as two courageous people take a stand against a gang of ruthless conspirators at the highest level."

Davis, who wrote as well as directed the Clive Owen action film "Shoot 'Em Up," said, "We're staying true to the thematic heart of 'Outland' while expanding the space frontier concept."

Takashi Shimizu has heard the sound of his next horror film. The director behind "Ju-On" and the English remake "The Grudge," will direct a thriller about a haunted song that Phoenix Pictures will produce.

Chris Philpott penned the script, based on an idea by producer Taka Ichise and Shimizu, about a haunted song that drives its listeners to suicide. Project does not yet have a title.

Phoenix picked up the script from Ichise, who will produce through his Ozla Pictures banner, along with Phoenix's Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer and Brad Fischer. Phoenix will finance the film.

Ozla's VP Erin Eggers will exec produce, while Steve Zegans serves as co-producer.

Shimizu is wrapping up Japan's first live-action 3-D feature, "The Shock Labyrinth," which will be released in October by Asmik Ace.

Ichise, who produced Sony's "The Grudge" and its sequel, as well as New Line's "Shutter," is producing Paramount's first Japanese-language production, a remake of the studio's "Ghost."

Summit Entertainment is in advanced talks to acquire world rights to "The Beaver," with Mel Gibson starring for director Jodie Foster.

The dark comedy, written by Kyle Killen, centers on a depressed man who finds solace in wearing a beaver hand-puppet. In addition to helming, Foster will play the role of the man's wife.

Foster boarded the project and brought it to Gibson, with whom she co-starred in 1994's "Maverick."

Anonymous Content's Steve Golin and Keith Redmon are producers on the film.

Project is currently in rehearsals, with shooting slated for late September in New York.

Rosario Dawson will star alongside Denzel Washington and Chris Pine in Fox's runaway train drama "Unstoppable," directed by Tony Scott.

Dawson just wrapped Chris Columbus film "Percy Jackson" and is currently shooting "Zookeeper" opposite Kevin James for MGM and Sony. She was last seen in "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith.

Washington formally withdrew from "Unstoppable" in early July, then came to terms two weeks later to put the pic back on track for a fall start. He's playing a veteran engineer who jumps into a locomotive with a young conductor (Pine) to stop an unmanned runaway train loaded with toxic cargo.

Julie Yorn is producing with Scott and Mimi Rogers, and Chris Ciaffa is exec producer. The script, penned by Mark Bomback, is loosely inspired by true events.

Dawson is repped by ICM and Untitled Entertainment.

Disney, Zemeckis board 'Submarine'
Duo to remake pic based on Beatles' music
By MICHAEL FLEMING

Disney and Robert Zemeckis are looking to catch the wave of Beatlemania, floating a new 3-D "Yellow Submarine" for the bigscreen, with merchandising in tow and prospects for spinning off both a Broadway musical and a Cirque du Soleil stage production.

Disney hopes to have the film ready to premiere around the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The deal has been months in the making, with armies of Blue Meanies — er, lawyers — sorting out the complicated rights clearances necessary to remake the 1968 psychedelic toon.

Key to the deal is Zemeckis' access to 16 classic Beatles tunes, ranging from the title song to "Baby You're a Rich Man," "All You Need Is Love," "When I'm 64," "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Zemeckis plans to use the 3-D performance-capture format he utilized on the upcoming "A Christmas Carol," in which Jim Carrey plays Scrooge as well as the ghosts that haunt him. His ImageMovers banner would produce.

Though the Beatles broke up in 1970, interest in their music has remained high, as reflected in such recent projects as Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe" pic and Cirque du Soleil's "Love" production in Las Vegas. September will bring a flurry of remastered Beatles albums and the release of vidgame "The Beatles: Rock Band," which incorporates some 45 of the band's songs.

The storyline of the original "Yellow Submarine," directed by George Dunning, was set in Pepperland, an undersea paradise protected by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. When the band is captured by the music-hating Blue Meanies, a soldier is sent to Liverpool to fetch the Fab Four, who hop in the submarine and save the day.

The Beatles appeared only in the film's closing live-action scene. Actors provided the voices for the animated incarnations of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Transmission
(Hungary)
By ALISSA SIMON


A Filmpartners production, in co-production with Laokoon Film and TV2, with the assistance of the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary. (International sales: Filmpartners, Budapest.) Produced by Gabor Kovacs. Executive producer, Judit Stalter. Co-producers, Agi Pataki, Gabor Rajna, Gabor Sipos. Directed by Roland Vranik. Screenplay, Vranik, Andras Barta.

With: Karoly Hajduk, Zoltan Ratoti, Sandor Terhes, Kata Weber, Eva Kerekes, Hanna Becker, Boroka Korodi, Szabolcs Thuroczy, Ferenc Lengyel.

A population mysteriously deprived of its telecommunication capacity crumbles into chaos in the mesmerizing dystopian drama "Transmission." Magyar helmer Roland Vranik ("Black Brush") sets his second feature in an anonymous seaside town in the not-too-distant future, conveying a sense of unease through disturbing, beautifully composed visuals, an eerie soundtrack and shocking moments of violence. Although stronger on atmosphere than story and character development, the pic is an intriguing fest item that could develop a cult following in ancillary.

The loose narrative centers on three brothers who rep differing responses to the new reality. The eldest, Henrik (Sandor Terhes), is nearly immobilized by insomnia without television's narcotizing effect. Middle brother Vilmos (Zoltan Ratoti) must cope with two frightened young daughters as his wife (Eva Kerekes) goes increasingly mad. Otto (Karoly Hajduk), the youngest, starts a relationship with Julia (Kata Weber), who seems surprisingly pert considering she suffers a vicious attack during the pic's opening moments. Elsewhere in town, some of the elderly inexplicably are beginning to disappear. Shot in the remarkable silver light of Constanca, Romania, elegant lensing by Gergely Poharnok ("Taxidermia") and a hypnotic score are critical to the ambience.

Camera (color), Gergely Poharnok; editor, Wanda Kiss; music, Realistic Crew, David Hegyi, Csaba Kalotas, Krisztian Vranik; production designer, Gabor Vallcz; costume designer, Sosa Juristovszky; sound (DTS), Tamas Zanyi. Reviewed at Sarajevo Film Festival (competing), Aug. 14, 2009. (Also in Hungarian Film Week -- competing.) Original title: Adas. Running time: 90 MIN.

Warner Bros. has closed a deal to remake the 1981 John Boorman-directed "Excalibur," with Bryan Singer producing and developing the picture as a potential directing vehicle.

The deal comes as Singer gets serious about making the New Line-Legendary co-production "Jack the Giant Killer" his next directing effort.

WB and Legendary Pictures have labored for months to pull together the rights to the film, which Singer will produce with Julie Yorn. Also a producer is Polly Johnsen -- who was Polly Cohen when she was the WB exec who presided over the Singer-directed WB/Legendary collaboration "Superman Returns."

Inspired by Thomas Malory's 15th century work, and scripted by Rospo Pallenberg and Boorman, "Excalibur" explores the myth of King Arthur, complete with the Knights of the Round Table, Merlin the wizard and the quest for the Holy Grail to save Arthur's life. The original picture broke such talent as Helen Mirren (who played the evil Morgana), Liam Neeson (Sir Gawain), Gabriel Byrne, Patrick Stewart and Ciaran Hinds.

Singer hasn't set a writer yet.

Matt Reilly is overseeing for WB, Erik Olsen for the Yorn shingle, and Singer's former partner Alex Garcia is overseeing for Legendary Prods.

Singer recently signed on to develop to direct and produce "Battlestar Galactica" at Universal; he'd been eyeing that project since he originally made a deal to godfather a series revival in 2001. At the same time, Singer has been flirting with directing "X-Men: First Class," a 20th Century Fox spinoff that got a first script draft by "The OC" creator Josh Schwartz.

It looks like his next directing assignment might well be "Jack the Giant Killer," a riff on the Jack and the Beanstalk legend that was developed by New Line with scripters Darren Lemke and Mark Bomback and producer Neal Moritz. The story revolves around a young farmer who leads an expedition into the land of the giants to recover a kidnapped princess.

Singer is repped by WME.

HBO has set Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson to star in "The Sunset Limited," an adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy play. Jones will direct.

McCarthy adapted his play into a script. Production will begin next month in New Mexico.

Jackson plays a man who saves another man (Jones) from throwing himself in front of a Harlem subway train. The act begins an exchange of ideologies as the two men from different backgrounds debate the worth of their lives.

Barbara Hall will produce, and Jones will be executive producer.

Jones and Jackson previously worked together on "Rules of Engagement." The project marks Jones' third collaboration on a McCarthy-penned piece. Jones starred in the Coen brothers-directed adaptation of "No Country for Old Men" and also adapted the McCarthy novel "Blood Meridian" as a feature script.

McCarthy's play "The Sunset Limited" opened in 2006 at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater and moved Off Broadway later that year.

Jones just wrapped the John Wells-directed "The Company Men" with Kevin Costner, and he's adapting to star in and direct the Ernest Hemingway novel "Islands in the Stream." Jackson just wrapped "Unthinkable" and "Mother and Child." After he completes "The Sunset Limited," he'll star in "Vengeance: A Love Story."

Zach Galifianakis is in talks to join "Dinner for Schmucks" opposite Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and Lucy Punch, with Jay Roach directing.

"Schmucks" is co-financed by DreamWorks, Spyglass and Paramount and is set to shoot this fall for a summer 2010 release.

Based on the 1998 French film written and directed by Francis Veber, "Schmucks" centers on the most pathetic guest to ever grace one man's weekly dinner gathering. Galifianakis will portray an assistant manager of a mattress store who is dating Carell's ex-wife.

Following his breakout success in Todd Phillips' "The Hangover," Galifianakis also signed to play one of the two leads in Warner Bros.' "Due Date." Phillips also directs this comedy, which focuses on an expectant dad and his unlikely travel companion racing cross-country in hopes of making it home for the birth of his first child.

Looks like John Landis has his leading man for his first feature in 11 years: BURKE AND HARE!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with an interesting little tidbit about the next flick from one Mr. John Landis. Dread-Central spoke with Landis over the weekend and he dropped a bit about his upcoming flick BURKE AND HARE about a pair of 19th Century murderers who sold the bodies of their victims to the Edinburgh Medical College for dissection.

One, it's great news that Landis has another feature in the works (I greatly enjoyed his documentaries MR. WARMTH and SLASHER, but I've missed his comic and horror voice in narrative filmmaking) and two, it apparently will have one Mr. Simon Pegg as the lead.

John Landis and Simon Pegg seem to be a match made in heaven. I'd love to see Landis make a big come back. For some of the iffy features he's put out in the last 15 years the dude still made some of my favorites... KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, THE BLUES BROTHERS, COMING TO AMERICA, THREE AMIGOS, TRADING PLACES, ANIMAL HOUSE, SPIES LIKE US and Motherfuckin' THRILLER... when you've put out that many great flicks there should be a fund to keep you producing material just in the hopes that the magic he's produced is recaptured a few times more.

What do you folks think about the pairing of Landis and Pegg? I wonder who will play the second lead? As much as I love Pegg and Nick Frost together, I'd like to save their next pairing (after PAUL) for Edgar Wright. Plus I'd love to see Pegg's chemistry with someone else. Who could hold the screen with Simon? Thoughts?

Susan Sarandon is negotiating to join the Oliver Stone-directed "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps" for 20th Century Fox.

Sarandon will play the mother of a young Wall Street trader (Shia LaBeouf) who falls under the seductive influence of Gordon Gekko. Michael Douglas and Frank Langella also star. Production begins next month in New York.

The drama was scripted by Allan Loeb. Stone and Douglas produce with Edward R. Pressman and Eric Kopeloff.

Sarandon is currently shooting "You Don't Know Jack," the Barry Levinson-directed HBO biopic of Jack Kevorkian that stars Al Pacino and John Goodman. She'll next be seen in the Peter Jackson-directed "The Lovely Bones," starring with Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci.

Filming has begun on Kevin Macdonald's Roman epic The Eagle Of The Ninth. The 12-week shoot started yesterday (August 25) on location in Hungary.


The film, which will also shoot in Scotland, stars Channing Tatum, Donald Sutherland and Jamie Bell. It tells the story of centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum), who crosses Hadrian's Wall into savage Caledonia to solve the mystery of the Ninth Legion, which disappeared 20 years earlier.

Co-financed by Film4 and Focus Features, The Eagle of the Ninth has already sold in virtually every territory after a successful Cannes Marche earlier this year. 

Macdonald's previous films include The Last King of Scotland, which earned Forest Whitaker an Oscar for best actor, and the mountaineering documentary-thriller Touching the Void.

The Eagle of the Ninth sees Macdonald reunited with Jeremy Brock, screenwriter of The Last King of Scotland.

Duncan Kenworthy, who previously scored successes with Four Weddings And A Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually, developed and is producing the film. Anthony Dod Mantle is director of photography.

Snow White and Russian Red
Wojna polsko-ruska (Poland)
By BOYD VAN HOEIJ


A Film Media production in association with Polish Film Institute. Produced by Jacek Samojlowicz. Directed, written by Xawery Zulawski, based on the novel by Dorota Maslowska.

With: Borys Szyc, Roma Gasiorowska, Maria Strzelecka, Sonia Bohosiewicz, Michal Czernecki, Magdalena Czerwinska, Dorota Maslowska.

A fast-talking loser on speed is rejected by both his girlfriend and a country stuck in a post-commie funk in "Snow White and Russian Red." The visually splashy sophomore effort of Polish helmer Xawery Zulawski ("Chaos") is just as helter-skelter as the spiky local literary sensation that inspired it, but is finally too thematically anemic to provide any real dazzle. Though it was crowned best Polish feature at the Era New Horizons fest and was a bona fide hit at home, the pic will struggle to break out of the lower regions of the international fest circuit.

With its staccato stream-of-consciousness narration -- imagine early Bret Easton Ellis stuffed through a meat grinder and served with generous helping of nihilistic, post-1989 angst -- "Snow White" hit a nerve not only with the Polish ADD generation it describes but also with the local literati. Author Dorota Maslowska, who wrote the novel when she was 18, sketched a portrait of her peers being sucked into the void between a communist past they never knew and the garish excesses of Western capitalism of the present.

In this ideological twilight zone lives the ever-ranting bum Silny (Borys Szyc), who has to hear from a femme bartender, Arleta (Magdalena Czerwinska), that his blonde g.f. (Roma Gasiorowska), has dumped him and that a war is on between the Russkies and the Poles -- though the real war takes place inside the protags' heads.

In a typical postmodern twist, the characters are all the creation of a novelist heard in v.o. (providing the only real glue for scenes that are rarely more than perfunctorily connected). Combined with generous substance abuse all around, the narrative sleight-of-hand gives the characters possibilities and powers that defy the laws of logic and nature.

After receiving the bad news double-whammy, Silny, in a fit, hurls Arleta against the walls as if he were an angry superhero. One of the film's best scenes has a horny, foul-mouthed Silny engaging in a conversation with his penis, with a p.o.v. shot from his underwear. Not much later, the vegetarian "S&M goth bitch" (Maria Strzelecka) he has picked up vomits shiny black rocks into his bathtub.

Zulawski, son of France-based helmer Andrzej Zulawski ("Possession"), keeps things visually interesting throughout. He often uses Hollywood-borrowed tricks -- "Fight Club" being only the most obvious source -- such as in a well-staged scene of cartoonish violence in the parking lot of a "Polski Burger" outlet.

The film's main problem is that it remains a 110-minute feature about listless people with no clear narrative arc, and no amount of wacky occurrences can substitute for any deeper insight or suggest possible solutions. This makes the film totally static on a thematic level, despite its pumping soundtrack, roving camera, often psychedelic lighting and snazzy (though thankfully not hysterical) editing. Effects work and wire-fu fight scenes add to the generally off-the-wall tone.

Thesps are extremely game, and Maslowska herself plays the novelist when she puts in an appearance, disguised as a police typist, at the end.
More than one option

    * (Film) Kaos
    * (Film) Chaos
      2003 - Rachida Brakni, Coline Serreau
    * (Film) Kaosu
    * (Film) Chaos
      2005 - Chantal DeGroat, David DeFalco
    * (Film) Chaos
      Bolec, Xawery Zulawski
    * (Film) Chaos
    * (Film) Chaos

More than one option

    * (Film) Snow White
      1987 - Diana Rigg, Michael Berz
    * (Film) Branca de Neve
    * (Film) Snow White
      Stefan Gubser, Samir

More than one option

    * (Film) Possession
      2002 - Gwyneth Paltrow, Neil LaBute
    * (Film) Possession
      Isabelle Adjani, Andrzej Zulawski
    * (Film) Possession
    * (Film) Possession

Camera (color, widescreen), Marian Prokop; editor, Krzysztof Raczynski; music, Jan Komar, Filip Kuncewicz; production designer, Joanna Kaczynska; costume designer, Anna Englert; sound (Dolby Digital), Jarek Bajdowski; line producer, Bozena Krakowka; associate producer, Andrzej Szajna; assistant directors, Ludwik Plater, Marta Kownacka, casting, Marta Kownacka. Reviewed at Karlovy Vary Film Festival (Forum of Independents), July 10, 2009. (Also in Era New Horizons Film Festival.) Running time: 110 MIN.

Meat Grinder
Cheuat gon chim (Thailand)
By DEREK ELLEY

A Phranakorn Film presentation of a Film Guru Co. production. (International sales: Phranakorn, Bangkok.) Produced by Thawatchai Panpakdee, Poj Arnon. Executive producer, Thanapol-Wichai Thanarungroj. Directed, edited by Tiwa Moeithaisong. Screenplay, Samonggu.

With: Mai Charoenpura, Rattanaballang Tosawat, Tirachaya, Duangta Tungkamanee, Somchai Sakdikul.

The torture-porn genre gets its first wannabe art movie with "Meat Grinder," a kind of femme-driven hybrid of "Sweeney Todd" and "Bun Man" set in the old back alleys of 1970s Bangkok. Already a cause celebre in its native Thailand, where it was initially banned then snipped for March release, this strikingly lensed and designed psychochiller by thirtysomething d.p.-turned-helmer Tiwa Moeithaisong (lenser of "Bangkok Love Story") is likely to challenge (and confuse) ratings boards worldwide with its mixture of unblinking grisliness and arty aspirations. Imagine Joerg Buttgereit's early movies remade by Wong Kar Wai and you're halfway there.

Pic introduces its title character -- plump, middle-aged Buss (Mai Charoenpura) -- when a young guy from the country arrives to meet his fiancee, Aoi, who's been working at Buss' noodle shop. Buss tells him Aoi ran off with her husband; after inviting him in, she chops off one of his legs, nails him to the floor by his fingers and then stuffs him, still alive, with herbs.

In fact, as later becomes clear, the trashy Aoi and Buss' no-good, gambling husband tried to drown Buss in a garden pot, but instead she killed them -- very slowly. Exactly when her killing spree started is left vague -- and not helped by the movie's fractured chronology, endlessly moving back and forth -- but when the film begins, she's already reached a point of emotional numbness, derivingneither pleasure nor pain from her work.

Non-Thai auds may have trouble recognizing the period in which the pic is set, though one sequence of police at odds with democracy activists places the story in the '70s.

The film's first hour largely fills in Buss' backstory: a life of abuse since childhood -- especially at the hands of her brutal mother (Duangta Tungkamanee) -- that she's now passed on to her own daughter, Bua (Tirachaya). It also constructs elaborate, almost rhapsodic slaughter sequences (including an extraordinary one with a debt collector, played by Somchai Sakdikul) and sketches in Buss' relationship with Bua, a cripple who has matter-of-factly grown up amid the body parts.

In a transition, the desperately lonely, psychopathic Buss is finally hauled in by the cops but released for lack of evidence. This leads to the final act, as Buss takes revenge on a neighbor's pretty young daughter for stealing away a young demonstrator, Attaporn (Rattanaballang Tosawat), whom Buss has become rather fond of.

The finale is the closest the film comes to standard ultra-violence, and reps its least distinctive section. The almost religioso climax, which takes Buss out of her enclosed world and into public, shows there isn't all that much percolating under Moeithaisong's fancy visuals (cold, grungy colors, black-and-white segs, negative fogging, frequent fades/dissolves) and Waragon Poonsawat's superbly stygian production design (all dank cellars, steel doors and things on hooks).

Still, the movie does stick to the ribs, and not just because of Charoenpura's gutsy lead perf: She not only gets down and dirty with the violence but also, in the second half, manages to evoke some sympathy for what initially seemed a one-dimensional genre character. Equally memorable is the way the pic conjures an enclosed, self-sufficient world (didn't the neighbors ever see anything?) in which any extreme becomes possible, even acceptable.

In staying true to its own universe, "Meat Grinder" follows genre conventions to the letter, but surprisingly never attempts to push the story into social or political allegory, despite the '70s setting. Moeithaisong seems most at home when dwelling on physical, fleshy minutiae: human meat carefully diced for cooking, fingernails prised up, bodies filleted half-alive. Beyond that, "Meat" doesn't have that much substance.


Camera (color/B&W), Moeithaisong; music, Giant Wave Co.; production designer, Waragon Poonsawat; art director, Chaiwat Boonsongnoen; costume designer, Daranuch Sutthirak; sound (Dolby Digital), Thornthund Phlongphlab; sound designer, Giant Wave Co.; special effects, Poonsub Bualieng; makeup effects, QFX Workshop. Reviewed at PiFan, Bucheon, South Korea, July 19, 2009. Running time: 104 MIN.

PiFan
Blood Pledge
Yeogo gwidam 5: dongban jasal (South Korea)
By DEREK ELLEY


A Lotte Entertainment release and presentation of a Cine 2000 Film Prod. production. (International sales: Finecut, Seoul.) Produced by Lee Chun-yeon, Kim Bok-geun. Directed, written by Lee Jong-yong. Story, Jeong Ah-mi.

With: Oh Yeon-seo, Jang Gyeong-ah, Son Eun-seo, Song Min-jeong, Yu Shin-ae, Park Jeong-yun, Choi Min-seong, Oh Jeong-weon.

Four years after the B.O. flop of "Voice," South Korea's "Whispering Corridors" franchise tries once more for resurrection with "Blood Pledge," centered again on ghostly goings-on in a girls' high school. Inexplicably roasted by local crix, this fifth entry, focused on a suicide club, still managed a moderate 700,000 admissions in its June release (considerably more than "Voice" and "Memento Mori") and ranks as solidly entertaining, if hardly original, horror fodder. Ancillary, perhaps as part of a series boxed set, beckons in Western markets.

Despite its up-and-down B.O. fortunes the past 11 years, the franchise has held to its policy of using first-time directors and actresses, several of whom have gone on to make their names. "Pledge" marks the debut of Lee Jong-yong, who has worked for Park Chan-wook as an a.d. ("JSA") and scripter ("Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance"), and who helms smoothly and orchestrates the shocks effectively here, though without any personal signature. Among the leads, Oh Yeon-seo, 22, stands out for her chiseled looks and screen presence as the suicide group's leader.

Confusing opening -- replayed in full only at the end -- shows a bunch of classmates at a Catholic girls' school planning a group suicide by candlelight. But only one of them, Eon-ju (Jang Gyeong-ah), falls to her death that night from the church roof. Afraid of being stigmatized, the four "survivors" refuse to talk about Eon-ju's death.

As pressure mounts from fellow students and elders, Eon-ju's ghost gets to work, picking off some characters and saving others. Flashbacks gradually reveal that the suicide club was riven with deep jealousies, and the original plan was not exactly what it seemed.

The plot basically spins on the gradual revelation of elements deliberately withheld at the very beginning, and the characters are moved around the board at the writer's convenience rather than properly developed.

Still, the whole thing is done with such smoothness -- gliding camerawork, fluid cutting, Baroque-like religioso music -- that the thinness of the material hardly seems to matter at 88 minutes. Sensibly, given the circumstances, the action focuses on the central characters, to the exclusion of almost everyone else (especially teachers) in the school.

Putative lead Son Eun-seo, as the dead girl's supposed best friend, is pretty but bland; Yu Shin-ae is better as Eon-ju's younger sister. However, as the strong leader of the group, Oh has little competition in the screen stakes.

Camera (color, widescreen), Gang Seung-gi; editor, Kim Sang-beom; music, Lee Jeong-woo; art director, Yun Byeong-jin; sound (Dolby Digital); visual effects supervisor, Yun Jae-hun. Reviewed at PiFan, Bucheon, South Korea, July 18, 2009. Running time: 88 MIN.

Missing
Shiljong (South Korea)
By DEREK ELLEY


A Cinergy release of a Haldong Sajin, Team Works production. (International sales: Showbox/Mediaplex, Seoul.) Produced by Jo Seon-muk. Executive producer, Lee Yeong-seon. Directed by Kim Seong-hong. Screenplay, Kim Yeong-ok.

With: Mun Seong-geun, Chu Ja-hyeon, Jeon Se-hong, Oh Seong-su, Nam Mun-cheol, Hwang Eun-jeong, Son Geon-woo, Lee Bong-gu, Son Yeong-sun.

Amid all the super-gore and heavy atmospherics of contempo horror pics, "Missing" stands out for its simplicity and lack of exaggeration, like a glass of pure water -- and no less bracing. Straightforward yarn of a taciturn farmer who kidnaps, rapes and murders young women, with no sense of remorse, is closer to South Korean dramas such as Bong Joon-ho's "Memories of Murder" and "Mother" in its depiction of the dark areas of the Korean psyche beneath normal country life; a fine perf by noted actor Mun Seong-geun also elevates this above pure genre fare. Free-thinking fests should take a look.

Helmer Kim Seong-hong has a solid commercial record, starting as writer of the popular "Two Cops" series and then for thrillers like "The Trap" and "Say Yes." But "Missing" -- based on a real-life case that took place in summer 2007 -- is in a different league altogether. Shot for only $1.3 million, the film did moderate biz locally in its March release.

Spoiled Seoul-ite Kang Hyeon-ah (former beauty queen Jeon Se-hong) and her film director b.f., Hong (Son Geon-woo), stay at a small country retreat run by poultry farmer Jang Pan-gon (Mun), who lives with his sick mom and has a rep in town for being a quiet, devoted guy. Without much ado, Pan-gon strangles Hong, splits his skull with a shovel, then drugs and cages Hyeon-ah in a cellar.

Pan-gon first keeps her in the dark for days, then hoses her down and buys her a silver negligee before himself dressing up, crooning a song and raping her.

Ten days later, Hyeon-ah's elder sister, the very together Hyeon-jeong (Chu Ja-hyeon), arrives looking for her sibling. A local goodtime girl (Hwang Eun-jeong) reports seeing her at Pan-gon's place, but a visit there with the police turns up nothing. Later, however, Pan-gon lures Hyeon-jeong back to his farm on a phony excuse.

With slight nods to "The Collector" and "Psycho," but using the simplest means, the film conjures and sustains tension over the question of whether Pan-gon will get away with his crimes and whether Hyeon-jeong will live to tell the tale. Most of the movie is set in broad daylight, in the heat of summer, but a sense of threat is ever present beneath the pic's matter-of-fact approach.

Mun turns a potentially cliched role into a tour de force of minimal acting. As the elder sister who just won't give up, Chu makes a determined femme lead sans genre heroics.

Camera (color), Jeong Han-cheol; editor, Gyeong Min-ho; music, Angelo Lee; art director, Jo Yun-ah; costume designer, Jeong Su-yeon; sound (Dolby Digital), Han Myeong-hwan; special effects, Yun Yeo-jin; action director, Kim Cheol-jun. Reviewed at PiFan (World Fantastic Cinema), Bucheon, South Korea, July 22, 2009. Running time: 98 MIN.

Sultans of the South
Sultanes del sur
By RONNIE SCHEIB

A Maya Entertainment release of a Warner Bros. presentation, in association with Filmax Intl., of a Lemon Films production, in co-production with Warner Bros. Pictures Mexico/Castelao Production, in co-production with Salamandra Films/Via Delphi. Produced by Marco Polo Constandse, Julio Fernandez, Bill Rovzar, Fernando Rovzar. Executive producers, Alex Garcia, Jose Ramon Elizondo, Carlos Fernandez, Julio Fernandez. Co-executive producer, Antonia Nava. Directed by Alejandro Lozano. Screenplay, Tony Dalton.

With: Tony Dalton, Ana de la Reguera, Silverio Palacios, Jordi Molla, Celso Bugallo, Oscar Alegre.
(Spanish dialogue)

Mexican helmer Alejandro Lozano follows his darkly comic debut, the kidnapping-gone-wrong thriller "Matando Cabos," with the somewhat more sober bank-heist-gone-wrong actioner "Sultans of the South." But there's irony aplenty in the plot's many twists and turns as the pic startlingly shifts axes and changes its focus. Less off-the-wall than his compatriot Robert Rodriguez, Lozano nevertheless displays an inventive touch with genre setpieces, be they meticulous robberies or spontaneous car chases, any less explosive interaction kept lively by a diverse cast. Released as part of the Maya Entertainment package, this Spanish-language caper film could score on cable.

The opening heist, choreographed by mastermind Leo (Jordi Molla), unfolds like clockwork. While Leo and cohort Sanchez (Tony Dalton, reprising his dual function as Lozano's star and scripter) calmly shepherd bank officials to the soon-to-be-emptied vault, Monica (the always impressive Ana de la Reguera) holds a bankful of hostages quiet with one machine gun and lots of imperious attitude.

Escaping through a tunnel that's been dug by the fourth team member, the diminutive, garrulous Dominguez (Silverio Palacios), the gang boards a plane for Argentina. Leo, superbly in command, negotiates via cell phone with the clueless police, who still believe they have the robbers trapped in the bank.

Once in Argentina, where the team plans to launder the money, events rapidly spin out of control. A currency exchange, rife with mutual paranoia, is suddenly interrupted by a bullet-spraying band of masked desperados; theensuing high-speed chase is shot with dizzying handheld immediacy from multiple angles.

The Mexican robbers, their number dwindled by hostage-taking and summary execution, now find themselves at the mercy of Buenos Aires' two rival criminal factions. The thieves' survival depends on whether they can rip off one side to recompense the other without getting killed.

"Sultans," constructed as a series of surprises, keeps viewers scrambling to catch up to the action -- whether it evolves according to the characters' plans, erupts chaotically or occurs obliquely in offscreen bastions of power.

Lozano neatly sustains this high level of dramatic unexpectedness, though the pic's final rug-pulling reversal registers as anticlimactic in its overexplanation.

Tech credits are excellent, lenser Juan Jose Saravia imaginatively treating Buenos Aires as an alien landscape.


Camera (color, widescreen), Juan Jose Saravia; editor, Luis de la Madrid Soria; music, Xavier Capellas; music supervisor, Lynn Fainchten; art director, Stella Iglesias; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Pedra Marra; sound designers, Enrique Greiner, Eric Dounce; re-recording mixer, Jaime Baksht. Reviewed at New York Latino Film Festival, Aug. 1, 2009. Running time: 95 MIN.

Rob Zombie ("Halloween," "The Devil's Rejects") will write, direct and produce a $30 million remake of 1958 horror classic "The Blob" for Genre Co. says Variety.

In the original Steve McQueen classic, an object from space crashes into a field, containing a red blob-like substance that absorbs the humans it contacts and grows exponentially. Zombie's new version however will take a different tack, the director refusing to disclose details but confirming that "my intention is not to have a big red blobby thing -- that's the first thing I want to change."

Zombie, Jack H. Harris, Richard Saperstein, Judith Parker Harris, Andy Gould and Brian Witten will produce.

The original scored a much gorier remake in 1988 by director Chuck Russell and co-writer Frank Darabont. Three years ago Paramount Pictures announced a remake (since aborted) with "House of Wax" scribes Chad and Carey Hayes penning the script.

No distribution deal is in place but one is expected shortly, while the film itself will go for an 'R' rating. Production will begin next spring.

Hayden Christensen has signed on while Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo are in negotiations to join the indie thriller "Vanishing on Seventh Street" says The Hollywood Reporter.

Director Brad Anderson ("The Machinist," "Transsiberian") helms and co-wrote the story set in a once-thriving city where shadowy forms cause residents to inexplicably disappear. Five survivors fight to stay alive while grappling with the meaning of existence.

Christensen is playing a reporter. Newton would play a desperate nurse and Leguizamo a subway operator.

Anthony Jaswinski co-wrote the script while Celine Rattray, Tove Christensen and Lawrence Mattis will produce.

Shooting is set to begin mid-October in the once-thriving city of Detroit.

Former "Smallville" showrunners and "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" scribes Al Gough and Miles Millar are set to pen "I Am Number Four" for Dreamworks Pictures reports Variety.

Based on the James Frey and Jobie Hughes novel about a group of nine aliens who flee to Earth, disguised as teenagers, when their home planet is destroyed.

The refugees assimilate into a high school on Earth when they discover that the enemy which wiped out their planet is now hunting them on their new turf.

Michael Bay will produce and possibly direct the film. Chris Bender and JC Spink will serve as executive producers.

Maggie Grace ("Taken," TV's "Lost") is in negotiations to join the presently untitled Wichita project for 20th Century Fox says The Hollywood Reporter.

The spy thriller centers on a lonely woman (Diaz) whose seemingly harmless blind date suddenly turns her life upside-down when a super spy (Tom Cruise) takes her on a violent worldwide journey to protect a powerful battery that holds the key to an infinite power source.

Grace is playing Diaz's sister, who is getting married, excited that Diaz will take the place of their late father and walk her down the aisle.

James Mangold is helming the film which kicks of filming this October in Boston.

Actor Jason Winer (TV's "Samantha Who?," "Modern Family") is in negotiations to make his feature film directorial debut on "Shining City" for Warner Bros. Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter.

Seth Greenland penned the comedic novel about a recently unemployed suburban milquetoast dad whose brother dies and leaves behind a dry cleaning business.

He discovers that the business is a front for a prostitution ring, takes it over and starts yuppifying it -- giving the girls 401(k)s and health benefits -- and bringing on his wife to help run things.

When a rival madam finds out about the burgeoning operation, she threatens to take them down.

Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel ("Hot Tub Time Machine") are writing the adaptation while Donald De Line is producing.

Danish helmer Nikolaj Arcel is on tap to bring "Deadman" to life for Warner Bros. with Guillermo del Toro, Angry Films' Don Murphy and Murphy's partner Susan Montford producing the DC Comics adaptation.

Deadman is the ghost of a murdered circus acrobat who has the power to possess the living in order to seek out his killer as well as to help the innocent. The character first appeared in 1967 and was created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Carmine Infantino.

Warner Bros. set up the project three years ago as a potential directing vehicle for del Toro, with Gary Dauberman penning the adaptation (Daily Variety, Dec. 4, 2006).


Arcel's directing credits include Danish films "King's Game" and "Island of Lost Souls."

He's repped by ICM.

Director Steven Soderbergh has committed to next direct "Knockout," a spy thriller that will mark the screen starring debut of Gina Carano, the mixed martial arts circuit fighter. 

Relativity Media will fully finance, and Soderbergh plans a late January production start. Domestic distribution is expected to be locked quickly.   

Soderbergh locked in the film just as his Warner Bros. comedy, "The Informant!," made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The Matt Damon-starrer opens stateside on September 18.

Scripted by Lem Dobbs, "Knockout" casts Carano as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is given a second chance to use her skills for constructive purposes. The film is a closer cousin to "La Femme Nikita" and "Kill Bill" than "Million Dollar Baby," in that it doesn't take place in the fight ring. Rather, Soderbergh considers the film as a flat out action film in the James Bond mold, and will shoot in locations around the world that include Ireland, Turkey and the U.S.

Soderbergh will surround Carano will name actors in supporting roles. 

The MMA circuit is where Soderbergh discovered Carano, a lightweight division slugger with movie star good looks. The Muay Thai-trained fighter has compiled a 7-1 record. Though Carano suffered her first loss in a title fight last month, she is considered the face of the fledgling women's mixed martial arts fighting circuit.

Dobbs previously scripted "Kafka" and "The Limey" for Soderbergh.

The film will be produced by Gregory Jacobs, Soderbergh's longtime collaborator. Relativity topper Ryan Kavanaugh will also be a producer, and Tucker Tooley is executive producer.

In his deal, Soderbergh waived his upfront salary and will share any ownership stake with Relativity Media.

"We couldn't be more thrilled to be working with Steven Soderbergh on this project, which is clearly right in his sweet spot," said Relativity's Kavanaugh.

"This deal creates a true partnership between us and Steven, where together we will make a mainstream action film with universal appeal for a reasonable budget, and with the incentives for the studio and filmmaker totally aligned," said Tooley.

Soderbergh, who earlier this summer exited a plan to direct "Moneyball" for Columbia Pictures, most recently directed "The Girlfriend Experience," a pic that starred Sasha Grey in her first performance in a legit film.

Carano so far has appeared as herself in the docu "Ring Girls" and the Oxygen reality series "Fight Girls." She also served a stint as Crush on NBC's "American Gladiators," and had a role in the upcoming Michael Jai White action film "Blood and Bone."

Carano is repped by Gersh, manager Scott Karp and attorney Gary Stiffelman, while Soderbergh is repped by manager Michael Sugar at Anonymous Content and attorney Michael Adler.

Harry Brown
13 September, 2009 | By Allan Hunter



Dir. Daniel Barber. UK. 2009. 97 mins


Michael Caine follows in Charles Bronson's footsteps as a vigilante pensioner in Harry Brown, a morally dubious thriller that is uncomfortably torn between social realism and lurid sensationalism. The feature debut of director Daniel Barber is sure to gain media attention for its grim portrait of a lawless Britain, but the graphic violence and often grotesque approach to the subject matter will prove off-putting to many viewers.

There is no mistaking the quality of Caine's performance
Caine retains a loyal following in the UK and positive reviews for his performance should ensure a decent theatrical life for the title when it opens domestically in November. Internationally, it could face a rougher ride.

Harry Brown feels like a film of two halves. The first offers a portrait of a lonely old age to rank alongside Bryan Forbes' The Whisperers (1966). Caine is the consummate professional and gives a performance devoid of vanity as he plays the elderly Harry.

Living in a hellhole of a London housing estate, Harry's life revolves around hospital visits to his ailing wife and games of chess with his old mate Len (David Bradley). Ashen-faced, with rheumy eyes and a shuffling walk, Caine is every inch a man at the end of his days.

When his wife dies and Len is killed, the world closes in around him. And when the police are unable to prosecute the youths who murdered Len, Harry decides to take the law into his own hands. Like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, he's a former Marine who is handy with a gun or a knife and he's also merciless in his approach to young offenders.

A film that initially shows an affinity with the social concerns of a Ken Loach feature slowly begins to venture into Michael Winner territory. Harry's brutal encounter with sleazy scumbag Stretch (Sean Harris at his most repellent) tips the balance away from reality towards the more outlandish.

The estate becomes a place overrun with feral young lads, dealing drugs in the local pub, spitting in the face of authority and brandishing guns at the slightest provocation. The police are either well-intentioned but ineffectual like inspector Alice Frampton (Emily Mortimer) or smugly complacent in the case of Superintendent Charles (Iain Glen).

It almost feels as if Barber has pushed the portrait of social decay to Bosch-like extremes as a way of justifying the violence that Harry unleashes and letting the film off the hook. Harry Brown is ultimately a celebration of a vigilante ethos, suggesting that when there's a junkie on every corner and decent folk are too scared to leave their homes, then we need a maverick like Harry to come along and commit mass murder.

Cinematographer Martin Ruhe does an effective job of depicting a Britain in shades of black and grey and Barber has a talent for milking tension from an individual scene although there are enough moments that fail to ring true (including a police raid on the estate) to undermine the film's overall credibility.

But while Harry Brown is a film that leaves the viewer with doubts and misgivings, there is no mistaking the quality of Caine's performance. He is completely believable as the character, whether conveying his frailty or his dead-eyed determination to stand up and be counted. He gives the film a stamp of distinction that it otherwise struggles to deserve.

Harry Brown
(U.K.)
By JOE LEYDON


A Lionsgate (in U.K.)/E1 Entertainment (in Canada) release of a Marv production in association with Prescience, the U.K. Film Council's Premiere Fund and Framestore. (International sales: HanWay Films, London.) Produced by Kris Thykier, Matthew Vaughn, Matthew Brown. Executive producers, Christos Michaels, Reno Antoniades, Tim Smith, Paul Brett, Steve Norris, Tim Haslam. Directed by Daniel Barber. Screenplay, Gary Young.

Harry Brown - Michael Caine
D.I. Frampton - Emily Mortimer
D.S. Hicock - Charlie Creed-Miles
Noel Winters - Ben Drew
Sid Rourke - Liam Cunningham
S.I. Andrew Childs - Iain Glen
Leonard Attwell - David Bradley
Marky Hathaway - Jack O'Connell

It's tempting, and not entirely inaccurate, to describe "Harry Brown" as a geriatric "Death Wish," though many wags more likely will blurb it as Michael Caine's "Gran Torino." Either way you look at it, this bleak, gripping, sporadically exciting drama about a retired soldier who takes aim at young hoodlums (and their not-so-young enablers) in his London public-housing complex could generate respectable theatrical coin and impressive homevid action. Pic should skew toward older auds, though many younger ticketbuyers may be curious to see ass-kicking by the actor they know best as Batman's butler.

Caine is effortlessly and authoritatively credible in the title role, a stoic pensioner who's introduced during his death watch for his hospitalized wife. Resigned to spending his twilight years alone, he tries to ignore the drug-dealing and violent outbursts that are increasing common in his gone-to-seed apartment block. (Pic was filmed in and around the notorious Heygate Estate of London's East End -- ironically, not far from where Caine grew up.)

But when gang members brutally dispatch Harry's friend Leonard (David Bradley), after the old fellow unwisely brandishes a knife while traveling through their "territory," Harry realizes he can't rely on help from a largely impotent police force represented by a well-meaning detective inspector (Emily Mortimer) and her cynical partner (Charlie Creed-Miles).

"Harry Brown" is the work of first-time feature helmer Daniel Barber, a Brit filmmaker who cut his teeth on TV commercials and earned a 2008 Oscar nomination for "The Tonto Woman," a dramatic short based on a Western story by Elmore Leonard. There's a discernible Western flavor to this drama as well, with Harry bearing more than a passing resemblance to the genre archetype of a long-domesticated fellow who must strap on his shootin' irons one more time to face down outlaws. After he begins his one-man crusade, his experience as a Royal Marine comes in very handy while he's gunning down armed miscreants or gaining necessary info through enhanced interrogation techniques.

To their credit, Barber and scripter Gary Young infuse the cliches with a fair degree of conviction. "Harry Brown," like its eponymous hero, is a slow-burner -- Harry doesn't actually hurt anyone until a half-hour into the storyline -- and the filmmakers don't move too fast or push too far while building up to the action sequences. They're especially impressive while ratcheting up suspense during a deliberately paced sequence that shows how Harry manages to acquire firepower before disposing of drug-addled gun dealers.

Barber doesn't shy away from depicting violence, but he doesn't dwell on it to a needlessly off-putting degree. He's also subtle about getting across plot points that help define characters: Without beating viewers over the head, he provides ample explanation for why Harry might interrupt his guerrilla war, and actually risk capture, to aid a young woman near death after a drug overdose.

Although overlaid with a mood of despair that's only partly relieved by a relatively happy ending, "Harry Brown" remains, for all its touches of gritty realism, a revenge fantasy about someone aptly described by another character as "a vigilante pensioner." Still, the supporting cast -- including many first-timers cast as young hoods -- is solid, and the moody lensing by Martin Ruhe ("Control") vividly conveys the no-hope squalor of a contemporary urban wasteland.

More important, Caine neatly balances ferocity and frailty, so that a viewer is never quite certain whether he's up to completing the bloody business at hand. Caine often has evinced an ability to turn on a dime from tearful anguish to fearful rage. But he's rarely had a role, or been in a movie, that required him to put that talent to such frequent use.

Camera (Deluxe color), Martin Ruhe; editor, Joe Walker; music, Martin Phipps, Ruth Barrett; additional music, Pete Tong, Paul Rogers; music supervisor, Matt Biffa; production designer, Kave Quinn; costume designer, Jane Petrie; sound (Dolby Digital), Simon Hayes; assistant director, Richard Styles; Dan Hubbard. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Special Presentations), Sept. 14, 2009. Running time: 102 MIN.

Solitary Man
By JUSTIN CHANG

   
A Millennium Films presentation of a Nu Image, Paul Schiff production. (International sales: Nu Image, Los Angeles.) Produced by Schiff, Steven Soderbergh, Heidi Jo Markel. Executive producers, Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort, Boaz Davidson, Trevor Short. Co-producer, Jared Goldman. Directed by Brian Koppelman, David Levien. Screenplay, Koppelman.

With: Michael Douglas, Mary-Louise Parker, Jenna Fischer, Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots, Ben Shenkman, David Costabile, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Arthur Nascarella, Alex Kaluzhsky, Anjelia Pelay.

For a story about a guy who keeps disappointing the people he loves, "Solitary Man" is a movie of no small generosity: It offers audiences the pleasures of a screenplay whose every acerbic line is firmly rooted in character, and it hands Michael Douglas one of his best roles in years. And the actor more than returns the favor, delivering a dryly funny turn as a bull-spouting, skirt-chasing ex-businessman having a late-in-life family/career meltdown. While it plows familiar coming-of-old-age terrain, this sharply etched ensemble dramedy is an unassuming winner that should parlay cast names into modest arthouse returns.

Pic reps a polished sophomore feature for helmers Brian Koppelman and David Levien eight years after their debut, "Knockaround Guys." The duo's scripting credits include "Rounders," "Runaway Jury" and two films ("Ocean's Thirteen," "The Girlfriend Experience") directed by Steven Soderbergh, credited as a producer here.

A prologue introduces Ben (Douglas), aka "New York's honest car dealer," as he receives some unsettling medical news. Six and a half years later, he's about to turn 60 and still going strong, though much has happened since that fateful doctor's visit. Corporate malfeasance has liquidated his auto business; philandering has ended his marriage to Nancy (Susan Sarandon); and chronic unreliability is threatening his relationships with his daughter (Jenna Fischer) and her young son.

Ben's current g.f. (Mary-Louise Parker) asks him to accompany her college-bound daughter, Allyson (Imogen Poots), to his alma mater so he can pull a few strings with the dean. While on campus, Ben is very much in his element, offering techniques on how to score to nerdy sophomore Cheston (Jesse Eisenberg); visiting an old school chum (Danny DeVito) who's had a less illustrious but more stable life; and sparring verbally with Allyson, a thorny, headstrong type who nonetheless proves receptive to Ben's often provocative advice.

What happens next is at once logical and surprising, and Koppelman spins out the ensuing ramifications in a series of fraught one-on-one conversations between Ben and the characters we've met so far. Through it all, Ben remains a gregarious smooth-talker, boasting of his business savvy and pragmatic approach to relationships, even as his power-player facade begins to crumble and he starts to need money as well as emotional support. Fortunately, Koppelman's bracing script presents Ben's friends, family members and sympathetic strangers as smart, strong-minded individuals in their own right, more than capable of seeing through his blather and calling him on it when necessary.

While their protag's gradual descent is tightly constructed, the helmers make meaningful use of silences, dissolves and occasional downtime, allowing scenes and relationships to breathe even as the noose tightens around Ben's neck. If the last scene bookends the first one a bit too glibly, the filmmakers are honest enough to avoid easy resolutions yet wise enough to extend hope.

Douglas tosses off every self-serving pronouncement and phony promise with silver-tongued relish without chewing the scenery, in a characterization that fits neatly into the actor's gallery of oily corporate rogues ("Wall Street," "Disclosure") even as it serves as something of an implicit rebuke. Although Douglas appears in every scene, he never overpowers his co-stars, and the script, gratifyingly, doesn't let him monopolize the good lines.

British actress Poots ("28 Weeks Later"), who resembles both Kate Winslet and Scarlett Johansson, is a knockout in every sense, and reps Douglas' most satisfying opponent here, with sterling pros DeVito and Sarandon running a close second. Fischer and Eisenberg movingly embody younger types who, because they see Ben as a father figure, are more susceptible to emotional wounds. Olivia Thirlby shines in a late-breaking role as Cheston's g.f.

Alwin Kuchler's cinematography is functional yet elegant, acquiring a darker, moodier cast as Ben's journey dictates. Gotham-shot pic plays the titular Johnny Cash tune over the opening credits.

Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page and Liv Tyler are set to star in "Super," a comedy that takes aim at the superhero genre. James Gunn wrote and will direct, with production set for December.

Pic will be produced by Ted Hope, through his Gotham-based This Is That banner.

Wilson, who last worked with Page in "Juno," plays an average guy who takes on the pseudo-superhero alter ego of the Crimson Bolt, after watching his wife (Tyler) fall under the spell of a charming drug dealer. Lacking super powers, he compensates by swinging a trusty wrench.

Gunn scripted "Dawn of the Dead" and two "Scooby-Doo" films, and made his feature directing debut with the 2006 comic horror film "Slither."

The picture was packaged by UTA and HanWay Films is selling international territories.

HanWay CEO Tim Haslam adds "Super" to a Toronto fest slate that includes the Paul Bettany-Jennifer Connelly starrer "Creation," the Scott Hicks-directed "The Boys Are Back" with Clive Owen and the Michael Caine starrer "Harry Brown."

Hope is partnered in This Is That with Anne Carey. The company most recently produced the Greg Mottola-directed "Adventureland," and are in production on the Anton Corbijn-directed untitled project about Italy, which stars George Clooney.

Youth in Revolt
By PETER DEBRUGE

   
A Dimension Films release of a David Permut/Shangri-La Entertainment production. Produced by David Permut. Executive producers, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Nan Morales. Co-producers, Steve Longi, Miranda Freiberg. Directed by Miguel Arteta. Screenplay, Gustin Nash, based on the novel "Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp" by C.D. Payne.

Nick Twisp - Michael Cera
Sheeni Saunders - Portia Doubleday
Estelle Twisp - Jean Smart
George Twisp - Steve Buscemi
Jerry - Zach Galifianakis
Lance Wescott - Ray Liotta

An "Arrested Development"-age Michael Cera would have been perfect for "Youth in Revolt," being the firsthand adventures of sex-obsessed 14-year-old Nick Twisp, but sometimes the material is so right for an older star (like Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate"), you just have to accept the stretch. From "Superbad" to "Juno," Cera's certainly perfected his socially awkward, virginity-averse adolescent shtick, and while "Youth" doesn't echo the deeper themes of those pics, Cera and his gifted comic co-stars elevate the mediocre source material into a semi-iconic coming-of-age story. Oct. 30 Dimension release looks promising, though its R rating excludes the ideal teen aud.

Adapted by Gustin Nash (whose "Charlie Bartlett" reflects a similar adolescent smart-aleck attitude from the opposite end of the economic spectrum), the arc of "Youth in Revolt" ages Twisp two years and encompasses the first three volumes in C.D. Payne's six-book series. The novels, presented as Nick's journals, document the character's oft-recurring erection and ideas on where he'd like to stick it; indeed, the pic opens with a masturbation session vigorous enough to establish the mindset of its libidinous protag.

In Twisp's world, everyone seems to be having sex but him. The unfortunately named teen shares a house with his equally one-track-minded mother (Jean Smart) and her latest live-in boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis), while Twisp's divorced dad (Steve Buscemi) dates women closer to his son's age than his own (his latest tart, Lacey, is played by "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" scene stealer Ari Graynor). But on a family trip to a trailer park in Ukiah, Calif., Nick meets Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), an aloof non-virgin who shares his hipster tastes and condescending attitude toward adults.

Like Charlie Bartlett, Twisp affects the vocabulary of a more enlightened soul, while his impetuous bad judgment belies his immaturity; Twisp's best dialogue traces back to the books, though some will surely accuse Nash of Diablo Cody-esque embellishment.

When Twisp and Sheeni are separated, he devises an elaborate regimen of rebellion, thinking he can manipulate his mother into banishing him to Ukiah. Twisp's partner in crime is Francois Dillinger, the cigarette-smoking, Jean-Paul Belmondo-inspired manifestation of his id (also played by Cera, with the fetching additions of a pencil moustache and spine), whose suggestions lead him on a path of grand theft auto, arson, drug use and cross-dressing.

Director Miguel Arteta is smart to play up Twisp's outsider status (does any teen actually think he fits in?) before his actions spiral out of control, giving auds an anchor amid the tsunami of transgressive behavior that follows. Through it all, Twisp remains eminently relatable, even admirably proactive in his pursuit of Sheeni, and despite having popped his cherry in at least three previous films, Cera still comes across as asexual enough to excuse the character's carnally motivated misdeeds.

Seducing Sheeni may be his aim, but there's something chivalrous about the lengths to which the lad will go to earn that right, backed by Twisp's quaint determination to marry the poor girl. Obstacles abound, of course. MTV and Fox produced a "Youth in Revolt" pilot a decade earlier, no doubt intending to spread Twisp's many setbacks over a proper season, but the show fell through. In this condensed form, the plot feels episodic, but not in a bad way, with Arteta squeezing an impressive number of setpieces into 90 minutes. Well-placed animated sequences -- a mix of stop-motion and CGI -- keep things moving along at a perky clip.

Whereas the book grows tedious with the constant interruptions of every-seven-seconds sexual thoughts, the pic feels more innocent, focusing instead on Payne's knack for unique detail and keenly observed human behavior. It doesn't hurt that Fred Willard, Ray Liotta, Justin Long and Mary Kay Place are on hand to help make the eccentric ensemble credible. Events transpire in a quasi-retro twilight zone where cell phones don't exist but Ashlee Simpson does, and the kids watch movies on DVD and collect music on vinyl. Michigan doubles for the Golden State, with production design and other departments supplying unobtrusive yet vital support throughout.

Universal has set July 1, 2011, for the release of "Battleship," confirming Peter Berg as helmer of the live-action pic based on Hasbro's naval combat board game.

Deal is part of a two-picture pic pact Berg has made with U, where he'll follow "Battleship" with an Afghan war drama "Lone Survivor."

Universal's date declaration positions "Battleship" to become the second film release from the studio's multiyear deal with Hasbro to turn its classic games into features. The studio previously set an April 11, 2011, release date for "Stretch Armstrong," with Steve Oedekerk about to deliver a script.

"Battleship" is the latest in Universal's strong push toward branded entertainment films, and Hasbro has fast become an increasingly important cog in that campaign.

"This is a powerful brand, and in an era where brands have become the new stars, 'Battleship' is a big opportunity," said U Pictures chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde.

Aside from "Battleship" and "Stretch Armstrong," U is separately developing "Clue" with Gore Verbinski, "Monopoly" with Ridley Scott, "Candyland" with director Kevin Lima, and "Ouija" with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes. As a board game, "Battleship" was launched by Milton Bradley in 1967 and has sold more than 100 million units.

Scott Stuber and his U-based Stuber Pictures will produce "Battleship" alongside Hasbro's Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir, Berg and his Film 44 partner Sarah Aubrey. Script was written by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber ("Whiteout").

Deal reunites Berg with Stuber, who produced the Berg-helmed "The Kingdom" with Michael Mann. Production on "Battleship" will begin next spring.

For Berg, the picture realizes a passion for ship-bound war stories that he picked up from his naval historian father.

"I've been consumed with doing one of these since I tried to convince Tom Rothman at Fox to make a film about John Paul Jones, the founder of the American Navy," Berg said. "As a kid, I was dragged from Navy museum to museum, and spent so much time on ships, listening to my father talk about the great battles of WWII, I did my high school thesis on the Battle of Midway. When this came up, it didn't take me long to find a take for a film that is filled with raucous action-packed naval battles."

Berg called the pic "a contemporary story of an international five-ship fleet engaged in a very dynamic, violent and intense battle" -- but he would not disclose any details about the enemy force.

The film will be the next directorial assignment for Berg, who last helmed "Hancock."

Berg made something of a quid pro quo pact with the studio to follow "Battleship" with "Lone Survivor," a fact-based story he scripted about a Navy SEAL team that is sent to Afghanistan and is ambushed.

"It was pretty obvious to me they weren't jumping head over heels to make a war film in the Middle East right now," Berg said. "So they said, 'what if you give us 'Battleship' for July 2011, and we guarantee you'll follow with 'Lone Survivor?' I already loved the take we had on 'Battleship,' so that wasn't a hard deal to make.' "

Other projects percolating for Berg, including "Dune" and "Hancock 2," will come later.

"Let the Right One In" helmer Tomas Alfredson will direct Nicole Kidman in true-life sex-change drama "The Danish Girl."

Script is written by Lucinda Coxon, based on David Ebershoff's novel about Danish painter Einar Wegener (Kidman), who in 1931 became the first person to go through a sex-change operation to become a woman.

However, Charlize Theron, who had been attached to play Wegener's wife, Gerda, has left the production.

Pic will be produced by Kidman and Per Saari, head of Kidman's Fox-based Blossom Films shingle, along with Anne Harrison, Gail Mutrix and Linda Reisman.

"We have been in talks for close to a year, and we are soon going into production," Alfredson told Daily Variety.

Alfredson said that he planned to shoot "The Danish Girl" before his previously announced John le Carre adaptation, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" for Working Title.

In a seven-figure deal, John Logan has been set by Fox 2000 to adapt "The Passage," the Jordan Ainsley vampire novel being developed for Ridley Scott to potentially direct. It marks the first time that Logan and Scott have collaborated since the Oscar-winning "Gladiator."

Fox 2000 acquired the book two years ago, paying seven figures for the three-book series right after its publishing rights sold to Ballantine for $3.75 million (Daily Variety, July 9, 2007). Ainsley -- pseudonym for PEN Hemingway Award-winning author Justin Cronin -- sold the book based on the first 400 pages and an outline, but the film adaptation awaited his completion of the book, which is nearly 1,200 pages.
More than one option

    * (Co) Daily Variety
      Filmography, Year, Role
    * (Co) Daily Variety

In the novel, terminally ill patients become healthy after they are bitten by bats in South America, and the government conducts secret tests on human subjects to see if the virus can cure illness. The result is an apocalyptic unleashing of bloodthirsty vampire test subjects that include death row inmates.

Logan, who scripted "Gladiator" with David Franzoni and William Nicholson, most recently scripted the Gore Verbinski-directed animated Paramount film "Rango," the Juan Carlos Fresnadillo-directed "Bioshock" and "Empire" for Michael Mann. Logan's play "Red," will debut at London's Donmar Warehouse on Dec. 3 and runs through Feb. 6.

He's repped by CAA.

LeBron James will make his feature starring debut, playing himself in "Fantasy Basketball Camp," a Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment comedy.

Brian Grazer is producing. Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel are writing the script.

Pic is a comedy about five guys from different backgrounds who come to Vegas to live out their fantasy by attending the LeBron James Adult Basketball Camp. While it should be enough that these dreamers get to breathe the same oxygen as their hero, the campers drag James into their various life issues, ranging from serious to idiotic.

Grazer said the picture came out of meetings he had with James and his partner Maverick Carter, encounters that left Grazer feeling confident the Cleveland Cavaliers star could make the same easy transition to the screen that Eminem did in his screen debut on "8 Mile," which Grazer also produced.

"I initially sought LeBron out because my 8-year-old son, Thomas, and I were just dying to meet him, but I felt that beyond being one of the world's great superstar athletes, here was someone so relaxed and comfortable with himself that he would have the capability to be that way onscreen," Grazer said. "Later, when I watched him host 'Saturday Night Live,' and saw his advertising work, it was clear he can do this."

James will be executive producer along with Carter and Imagine's Michael Rosenberg and Kim Roth.

The intention is to begin production next summer.

James is also the focus of the documentary "More Than a Game," which explores his high school years in Akron, Ohio. Lionsgate is releasing the doc starting with Oct. 2 openings in Los Angeles and New York.

Micmacs
Micmacs a tire-larigot (France)
By ROB NELSON


A Sony Pictures Classics (in U.S.) release of an Epithete Films, Tapioca Films presentation, in co-production with Warner Bros. Entertainment France, France 2 Cinema, France 3 Cinema, with the support of La Region Ile-de-France, in partnership with CNC, with the participation of Orange Cinema Series-France 2-France 3. (International sales: TF1 Intl., Paris.) Produced by Frederic Brillion, Gilles Legrand, Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Screenplay, Jeunet, Guillaume Laurant.

Bazil - Dany Boon
Nicolas Thibault de
Fenouillet - Andre Dussollier
Remington - Omar Sy
Buster - Dominique Pinon
Elastic Girl - Julie Ferrier
Francois Marconi - Nicolas Marie
Calculator - Marie-Julie Baup
Tiny Pete - Michel Cremades
Mama Chow - Yolande Moreau
Slammer - Jean-Pierre Marielle

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. Following its surefire French release on Oct. 28, this Sony Classics pickup should translate well Stateside, given the paucity of its dialogue and the purity of its gags.

Jeunet, though working again with co-screenwriter Guillaume Laurant, has turned away from the obsession with capital-F Fate that informed "Amelie" and its follow-up, "A Very Long Engagement." Here, the slender plot is set swiftly in motion by a stray bullet that lands in the head of clock-punching Parisian Bazil (Dany Boon) during his umpteenth screening of Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep." Comatose in the hospital, Bazil doesn't notice when his callous surgeons flip a coin, thereby determining that they'll keep the slug lodged in the patient's skull --this at the risk of his sudden death at any time.

An apparently new sensitivity to visual stimuli allows mild-mannered Bazil to recognize a weapons manufacturing company's logo as identical to that in an old photo taken by his late soldier dad, who hit an explosive land mine years ago while fighting in the Sahara. Acting like his detective hero, Philip Marlowe, Bazil spies on the company's two chiefs, including one Nicolas Thibault de Fenouillet (Andre Dussollier), who absurdly collects the body parts of key historical figures and is currently angling to reel in Mussolini's eye.

Meantime, sleeping along the Seine under a blanket of cardboard, Bazil falls in with a merry band of junkyard tinkerers, each with his or her own eccentric specialty: Slammer (Jean-Pierre Marielle) is an ex-con and expert lock-picker; Remington (Omar Sy) types on an old electric; Buster is an obsessive record-breaker (Dominique Pinon); Calculator (Marie-Julie Baup) does the math; and Elastic Girl (Julie Ferrier) literally bends over backward for the crew.

In the spirit of these ingenious recyclers, Jeunet has charmingly repurposed the 65-year-old "Big Sleep" score along with snippets of other '40s film music, all composed by the great Max Steiner. Just as delightful, if more unique, are the tools of infiltration -- ropes, pulleys, bottomless suitcases, makeshift fishing poles, and other bric-a-brac -- with which Jeunet and Laurant have outfitted the gang.

The movie's zanier scenes are allowed to work so well in part because Jeunet has given them sufficient room to breathe; unlike the director's more aggressively hyperactive work, "Micmacs" carefully apportions its visual jokes rather than bombarding the viewer with them.

In a production of enormous size and minute detail, tech credits are top-caliber, most notably the elaborately funky production design of Aline Bonetto. Though little more than props themselves at times, the actors in Jeunet's fantasia perform capably -- or, in the case of Ferrier's memorably contorting Elastic Girl, limberly.


Camera (color, widescreen), Tetsuo Nagata; music, Raphael Beau; additional music, Max Steiner; production designer, Aline Bonetto; costume designer, Madeline Fontaine; sound (Dolby/DTS), Vincent Arnardi; sound designer, Selim Azzazi; visual effects supervisor, Alain Carsoux; special effects, Duran Duboi; animated sequences, Romain Segaud; stunt coordinators, Patrick Cauderlier, Jean-Claude Lagniez; assistant director, Thierry Mauvoisin; casting, Pierre-Jacques Benichou. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Gala Presentations), Sept. 16, 2009. Running time: 104 MIN.

Trash Humpers
(U.S.-U.K.)
By ROB NELSON

   
An O'Salvation Cine (U.S.)/Alcove Entertainment (U.K.) production. (International sales: O'Salvation, Nashville.) Produced by Charles-Marie Anthonioz, Amina Dasmal, Robin Fox. Executive producer, Agnes B. Directed, written by Harmony Korine.

With: Rachel Korine, Brian Kotzur, Travis Nicholson, Harmony Korine, Chris Gantry, Kevin Guthery, Paige Spain, Dave Cloud, Chris Crofton, Charlie Ezel.

Pity the festival-going fool who stumbles unawares into Harmony Korine's patently abrasive, deliberately cruddy-looking mock-documentary "Trash Humpers." All others -- that is, those familiar with Korine's anti-bourgeois oeuvre and know what they're in for -- will have a glorious time. Named for a band of cretinous vandals in old-folks masks who favor gyrating against garbage cans (and worse), "Trash Humpers" is a pre-fab underground manifesto to rank beside John Waters' legendarily crass "Pink Flamingos." Theatrical distribution is virtually inconceivable -- though, in part for this reason, any fest devoted to maintaining its rep among cult-film completists will simply beg for it.

Lacking the slightest hint of narrative, the film amounts to a series of scuzzy screwball vignettes in which the masked miscreants and assorted hangers-on (including an incognito Korine) perform for the camera -- bashing TVs with sledgehammers, blasting an empty wheelchair with a self-serve car-wash gun, "killing" various plastic dolls, spanking a trio of women in lingerie, lighting firecrackers, singing, cackling incessantly and other taste-challenged ephemera.

The result, riveting beyond all rationality, is something like "Jackass," except that here the stunts are dangerous only to standards of good taste -- which, of course, is precisely the point.

Rather shrewdly, Korine ("Gummo," "Julien Donkey-Boy") has met the inevitable accusation of garbage-peddling head-on, having characterized the film as one that could've been found on a trash heap. (At the artier extreme, Jean-Luc Godard said exactly the same of his apocalyptic "Weekend" in 1967.)

Shot on low-grade VHS tape, complete with pesky tracking problems and VCR playback info, the pic has been transferred to 35mm in all its milky, degraded glory; the look of the film has no small share of perverse beauty, particularly for those who miss the charming imperfections of videocassettes in this squeaky-clean digital era.

The question of whether "Trash Humpers" would've risen from its cesspool without Korine's hipster celebrity is but one of many that the pic provokes. Another, equally unanswerable, is the extent to which the onscreen mayhem was scripted (even though Korine is credited as writer). So, too, the question of what the eventual presence of dead bodies onscreen has to do with the trash humpers is fairly open to interpretation. Maybe it's an art film after all.

Across the board, tech credits are appalling -- in a good way.


Camera (color, VHS-to-35mm), Korine; editor, Leo Scott; sound, Alex Altman; assistant director, Michael Carter. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Visions), Sept. 12, 2009. Running time: 77 MIN.

Michael Douglas talked to Empire Online about the return of his infamous character Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps".

"Gordon has done about eight years in jail and got out in about 2001. The picture predominantly focuses on these last couple of years on Wall Street, which nobody anticipated. We shot the first one in 1986 and it was a wild, wild colourful time. And here we have both a train crash and a larger-than-life period leading up to that train crash. It's an exciting time to make a picture about Wall Street" says Douglas who began shooting his scenes this week.

Shia LaBeouf, Frank Langella and director Oliver Stone were spotted filming in NYC's Central Park last week with photos of that up at Accidental Sexiness.

Eamon
(Ireland)
By ALISSA SIMON

   
A Zanita Films production with the support of the Catalyst Project, Film Base, the Arts Council, FAS Screen Training Ireland, TV3, with the participation of the Irish Film Board. (International sales: Wide Management, Paris.) Produced by Seamus Byrne. Directed, written by Margaret Corkery.

With: Robert Donnelly, Amy Kirwan, Darren Healy, David Martin, Deirdre Monaghan.

A family holiday at the Irish seaside brings the tensions between a little boy with behavioral problems, his selfish mother and his sexually frustrated father to a blackly comic peak in "Eamon." An entertainingly horrific vision of the Oedipus complex in action, this confidently stylized debut feature from writer-helmer Margaret Corkery plays like the offspring of Aki Kaurismaki and Todd Solondz. With further fest cuddling and cult status in ancillary assured, this small but perfectly formed pic might even find specialty playdates offshore.

Angelic-looking 6-year-old demon child Eamon (Robert Donnelly) certainly knows the answer to the question "Who is Mommy's boyfriend?" His self-involved mother, Grace (Amy Kirwan), allows him to share her bed while maintaining a hands-off policy with slavish partner Daniel (Darren Healy).

Always shrilly demanding attention (and going ballistic if he consumes sugar), Eamon is the one who gets to rub tanning lotion onto Grace's fleshy, bikini-clad body while Daniel glowers nearby. After Grace sets her sights on a well-muscled fellow swimmer and Eamon drinks a cola, the dysfunctional family spins out of control.

Corkery's tight script and confident direction create a pitch-perfect combination of comedy and suspense, full of surprising twists and felicitous details that never strain. Among these are the primal parent-child dialogues, which will sound familiar to adults everywhere but are delivered here in a tone that is both unsettling and funny.

Droll thesping is completely in tune with Corkery's comprehensive stylistic concept. The three fine leading players, in particular, bring an intense ferocity to their characterizations.

Filmed on location at the rugged coast of County Wicklow, the outstanding production package is led by David Grennan's clean, sharp lensing and Paki Smith's eye-popping primary-color production design.


Camera (color), David Grennan; editor, Mairead McIvor; music, Colin J. Morris, Miriam Ingram; production designer, Paki Smith; costume designer, Angel Concepcion; sound (Dolby Digital), Karl Merren. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Discovery), Sept. 14, 2009. (Also in Karlovy Vary Film Festival.) Running time: 85 MIN.

Machotaildrop
(U.S. - Canada)
By DENNIS HARVEY

   
A Fuel TV Experiment (U.S.) presentation, in association with a Friendly Fire Prods., of a Machotaildrop Prods. (Canada) production. (International sales: Machotraildrop, Vancouver.) Produced by Oliver Linsley, Alex Craig, Jared Valentine. Executive producer, Shon Tomlin. Directed, written, edited by Corey Adams, Alex Craig.

With: Anthony Amedori, James Faulkner, Rick McCrank, Lukacs Bicskey, John Mackey, Vanessa Guide, Jeff Halliday, Fred Mortagne, Zsolt Pal, John Rado.

So many indie first features strain for quirkiness in a forced, derivative fashion that it's rather shocking to stumble across something like "Machotaildrop," which really does come out of a left field entirely of its own vivid imagining. Even if this delightful whatsit's charms fade somewhat in the last third, Corey Adams and Alex Craig's writing-helming debut remains a bracingly loopy exercise that lives up to its Toronto fest billing as a skateboarder's "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Whether such an unclassifiably surreal comic-fantasy jape has commercial prospects is anyone's guess, but adventuresome distribs are urged to find out.

Small-town lad Walter (an innocently blank Anthony Amedori, like many here an offscreen pro boarder) sends his skateboarding highlights video to the titular corporation owned by a wheelchair-bound former tightrope walker, the Baron (James Faulkner). Walter's soon whisked by private plane to Machotraildrop's lavish island HQ, where he's marketed as its new global idol -- much to the chagrin of his predecessor, injury-sidelined Blair (Rick McCrank).

But there's a sinister underside to the company's athletic salesmanship, as Walter finds out. His eventual, disillusioned escape coincides with a raid by a gang of lunatic skateboarding thugz who refuse to be co-opted into the Baron's vision of a genially exploitative theme park.

Once that comparatively conventional collapse-of-mad-genius'-lair climax begins revving up, the pic loses a bit -- but not too much -- of its initial, unpredictable appeal. Shot on novel locations around the world, from Carlsbad-type caverns to palatial Hungarian estates, pic is a fable as goofy as they come.

If the midnight-movie circuit were still extant, "Machotaildrop" would immediately assume a privileged place: Its temperament and aesthetic rep an ideal halfway between "Eraserhead" and "Harold and Maude." You can sense the joy various contributors felt in working on something so unfettered, notably production designer Jeffery Halliday, costume designer Melinda Doman and music supervisor John Katovsich. Pic looks like a million bucks and then some, though it was actually made for less.


Camera (color, HD), Craig Trudeau, James Liston, Peter Hagge; music, Stefan Udell; music supervisor, John Katovsich; production designer, Jeffery Halliday; costume designer, Melinda Doman; sound, Eric Paul; assistant director, Andras Szucs. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Canada First), Sept. 12, 2009. Running time: 92 MIN.

The Blood and the Rain
(Colombia-Argentina)
By LESLIE FELPERIN

   
A Efe-X, E-Nnovva/RCN Films, Pato Feo Films (Columbia)/LagartoCine (Argentina) production, with support of the Hubert Bals Fund, the Sundance Institute, FDC. (International sales: Rezo Films, Paris.) Produced by Jorge Navas. Executive producers, Julian Giraldo, Wilson Gomez, Carolina Barrera, Hugo Castro Fau. Directed by Jorge Navas. Screenplay, Navas, Carlos Henao, Alize Le Maout.

With: Gloria Montoya, Quique Mendoza, Hernan Mendez, Julio Cesar Valencia, Weimar Delgado, Juan Miguel Silva. Spanish dialogue.

A cracking slice of genre filmmaking that nods to vintage Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese as well as the new generation of Latin American filmmakers, "The Blood and the Rain" unfolds over one night on the mean streets of Bogota, Colombia. Tale of a cabbie and a good-time girl caught up in a gang war starts out steady but quickly accelerates to produce a tense, wham-bam climax. Handled right, the pic could have slender, shapely legs offshore, and at very least rep an impressive calling card for Colombian writer-helmer Jorge Navas, who's made docus, commercials and musicvids.

Grieving for his dead brother and thinking of revenge, taxi driver Jorge (Quique Mendoza) picks up coke-addled barfly Angela (Gloria Montoya) but has an accident just after dropping her off. Angela takes Jorge to the hospital and ends up tagging along as he investigates his brother's murder and prepares to meet the probable killers later that night. Compelling pace and strong perfs help gloss over the script's minor faultlines. Strong sense of Bogota as a place reps a major plus, even though the plot is eminently remake-friendly. Tech credits are solid throughout.

Camera (color, widescreen), Juan Carlos Gil; editor, Sebastian Hernandez; music, Sebastian Escofet; art director, Jaime Luna. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (Venice Days), Sept. 11, 2009. Running time: 109 MIN.

Forever Waiting
Hoy no se fia, manana si (Spain)
By RONNIE SCHEIB

   
An Izaba Films, Muxika production, in co-production with Fair Films, ETB. (International sales: Izaba Films/Muxika, Madrid.) Produced by Elisabeth Perello-Santandreu, Francisco Avizanda. Directed, written by Francisco Avizanda.

With: Carolina Bona, Jesus Noguero, Albert Prat, Alfonso Torregrosa, Jose Maria Asin, Carmen Leon, Carmen San Esteban.
(Spanish dialogue)

Francisco Avizanda's brilliant debut feature, "Forever Waiting," set in 1953 Spain, explores the vast network of spies and informers deployed under Franco to stifle any shadow of dissent. Unlike "The Lives of Others," which centered on a professional information-gatherer, "Waiting" zeroes in on an amateur -- a pretty young secretary at a radio station, one of thousands who betrayed fellow citizens for God, country, advancement or simple survival. As played by a chillingly opaque Caroline Bona, Gilda reps the ultimate offspring of the fascist state. Austere pic would require strong critical support to reach wider auds.

An orphan raised by church and state to obey unquestioningly, if cynically, Gilda spends her spare time listening at doors and noting what people let slip in conversation, ever ready to sneak names to her "uncle" (Jesus Noguero), the chief of police. (The hints at childhood sexual abuse by cops and cardinals register as less horrific than Gilda's jaded acceptance of it.)

Gilda's ambition is simple, and she clings to it with the obstinacy of the dispossessed: to get a job as an announcer at the propaganda-spewing Catholic radio station where she toils as a secretary.

Avizanda often films his heroine in closeup, but her lovely mask of a face -- Bressonian, but without the soul -- is beyond interpretation, less because she adeptly hides her feelings than because she appears to lack any inner life. It is hard to empathize with her even when she is being exploited, since she displays no empathy toward others.

Avizanda's genius lies in his ability to portray Gilda (the reference to the Rita Hayworth noir is deliberate) as both monster and victim. The myriad exchanges she brokers with others become power games with varying stakes and styles. Her concierge's chummy complicity proves no match for Gilda's dispassionate blackmail, and even Franco's master manipulator ultimately underestimates the ruthlessness of his pretty pawn.

Jon D. Dominguez's lensing of Madrid's massive, drably grandiose architecture is an apt fit for the impenetrable Gilda. On the soundtrack, march-like pasadobles, popular at the time, musically mark out the beat of joyless collectivity. Nevertheless, Avizanda's overall vision of Franco's Spain never quite equals his sure-handed grasp of his unforgettable main character.


Camera (color), Jon D. Dominguez; editor, Santos Salinas; music, Goran Kajfes, David Osterberg; art director, Idoia Esteban; costume designer, Juana Buendia; sound (Dolby digital), Imanol Lopez, Ivan Mayoral; sound designer, Pedro Barbadillo. Reviewed at Montreal World Film Festival (competing), Sept. 2, 2009. Running time: 122 MIN.

Kieran and Michele Mulroney ("Justice League: Mortal," "Paper Man") are attached to pen a sequel to the upcoming action-heavy take on "Sherlock Holmes" for Warner Bros. Pictures says the trades.

Guy Ritchie helms the film which stars Downey as the title character, Jude Law as his protege Watson, and Rachel McAdams as love interest Irene Adler. Most if not all are expected to return for the follow-up.

Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, Lionel Wigram and Simon Kinberg all worked on the first film's script which is set in the world created by Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but doesn't use a specific mystery of his. It's unsure whether the sequel will use a similar approach or more closely follow one of the more notable adventures such as 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' or 'The Final Problem'.

Brad Pitt has also had discussions with producers to star as Holmes' nemesis Moriarty, but no deal is in place for him to take the part.

A Moriarty cameo in the first film is scripted and was apparently shot, but according to the script you don't see his face. The filmmakers are expected to use a trick similar to James Bond's nemesis Blofeld in the early Sean Connery-era films such as "Thunderball" where the character's face remained in shadow and obscured.

"Prison Break" hunk Wentworth Miller and "Heroes" babe Ali Larter have joined the cast of "Resident Evil: Afterlife", the fourth film in the franchise says Blackfilm.

Cast member Boris Kodjoe told the site the news whilst doing promotion for his work in this week's sci-fi thriller "Surrogates". In the film, Kodjoe says "I play the leader of the survivors in Los Angeles. Milla Jovovich's character, Alice, is roaming the world looking for survivors and she's wound up in LA, which has been burning for three years. She comes across an LA jail surrounded be these half-dead with a couple of survivors trapped inside. She lands on top of the roof and partners up with me to fight the guys that are coming after them. We're trying to get all of the survivors out of the jail to safety."

Miller plays one of the trapped people whom they lock up in a cell as they aren't sure if he's succumbed to the virus or not. He becomes a key element of their eventual escape. Larter reprises her role of Claire Redfield from the previous film "Resident Evil: Extinction".

Shooting kicks off this week in Toronto under the helm of returning first film director Paul W.S. Anderson.

Summit hires Justin Lin to direct and Neal Moritz to produce Highlander
23 September, 2009 | By Jeremy Kay

Summit Entertainment has hired Fast & Furious director Justin Lin and producer Neal H Moritz to the reimagining of Highlander.


As previously announced, Iron Man screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway are writing the script and longtime Highlander series producer Peter Davis will produce.

Summit acquired the rights to remake the cult classic from Davis-Panzer Productions in May 2008.

The new version will develop the core mythology of immortals battling on Earth and is being eyed by Summit as a potential franchise.

"We are privileged to have this amazing opportunity to reinvent one of the great franchises," Summit Entertainment co-chairman Patrick Wachsberger said. "Neal and Justin have proven more than once that they can deliver an entertaining and exciting blockbuster."

Lin and Moritz are represented by CAA.